And the winners are...

Corey Seward, Will "SciFantasy" Frank and Jo Van!!

Good job, y'all! I'll be making your truffles by hand on Sunday, and will be sending them out on Monday. Congratulations, and thank you again!

And the answers...

On my own, I'll dream my life away - Monaco - Bert's Theme

We can make a party last all night - Madonna - Where's the Party

Some might say that sunshine follows thunder - Oasis - Some Might Say

I realize that nothing’s as it seems - Sting - Desert Rose

You like tomato and I like tomahto - Louis Armstrong (or George and Ira Gerswin!) - - Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

I’ll start a revolution from my bed, ’cuz you said the brains I had went to my head - Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

It’s such a gorgeous sight, to see you eat in the middle of the night - The Cure - Friday I'm in Love

Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! - The Mock Turtle's Song - Lewis Carroll

And they throw away money on spectacular shows - Bruce Cockburn - Dancing in Paradise.

You live in a world where you didn't listen - Anastacia - Sick and Tired

When the horizons darkens most me all need to believe there is hope - Lunar: Silver Star Story - Original Soundtrack - Winds Nocturne (The Boat Song)

Lay down your money and you play your part - Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart

Only poor boys take a chance on the garden's song and dance. - Guns N Roses - The Garden

You're my sunshine and I want you to know my feelings are true - Queen - You're My Best Friend

You became the light on the dark side of me. - Seal - Kiss From A Rose

I came to get a case of factory outlet beer - Modest Mouse - Mice Eat Cheese

When you're chewing life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle! - Monty Python - Always Look On The Bright Side of Life

Now's the time that we need to share, so find yourself, we're on our way back home - Supertramp - Give A Little Bit

Everybody here is out of sight, they don't bark and they don't bite - Dancing in the Moonlight

I think tonight we can take what was wrong and make it right. - Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing Ring Around the Roses, and I'll whup the guy who says it isn't so. - Woody Guthrie - Just the Facts, Ma'am

Love you, such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing - Ohio Express - Yummy Yummy Yummy

Keep holding my hand, it's so we don't get separated. - No Doubt - Running

Hips start shakin' and movin' all around - The Black Eyed Peas - Dirty Dancing

Treat him well, he is your brother - Abba - He Is Your Brother

Who can say when the day sleeps if the night keeps all your heart? - Enya - Only Time

Into the darkness - Nobuo Uematsu - FFVII Original Soundtrack

Sing to me the song of the stars. - Mandy Moore/Switchfoot - Only Hope

I got no car and it's breaking my heart, but I've found a driver and that's a start - The Beatles - Drive My Car

Yeah the band's so hot they won't play nothin' slow - Chely Wright - Sea of Cowboy Hats

And everyone would have a friend, and right would always win, and love would never end... - Carly Simon (or Amy Grant) - Grown Up Christmas List

Your love is better than chocolate, better than anything else that I've tried - Sarah MacLachlan - Ice Cream

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair - Scott McKenzie - San Francisco

Standing on the corner, I didn't mean no harm - Jerry Garcia - Blue Yodel #9 (Standing on the Corner)

And I will see you when the sun comes out again - Sophie B. Hawkins - As I Lay Me Down

You’re a heart attack, just the kind I like - New Radicals - Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough

In the middle of the night, I go walking in my sleep - Billy Joel - River of Dreams

I was looking through the window I was lost, I am found - U2 - I Will Follow

I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete - The Goo Goo Dolls - Slide

Let me see that I.V. Here we go - time to operate - Weird Al - Like A Surgeon

Oh, slip me a slug from the wonderful mug - The Inkspots (or Manhattan Transfer) - Java Jive

Who holds the stars up in the sky? - Jonathan Freeman/Mandy Moore (or The New Radicals) - Someday We'll Know

It's just that I think my heart and soul are kind of famished - Nick Cave - Thirsty Dog

Too much information running through my brain - The Police - Too Much Information

Out of the stillness, soft spoken words - Donna Lewis - I Love You, Always Forever

What a lot of fun, you guys have been real swell! - Sweet's Departure - Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Once More With Feeling (For bonus trivia, Sweet was played by Tony award-winner Hinton Battle.)

Dreams could never fool me, not that easily

Cause a thousand words
Call out through the ages
They´ll fly to you
Even though we can´t see
I know they are reaching you, suspended on silver wings - Sweetbox - 1000 Words (FFX-2 Original Soundtrack)

Whatever lies beyong this morning is a little later on.

Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all. Nothing's like before. - Utada Hikaru - Simple and Clean (Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack)

...and for bonus points, the song snippets throughout the 4:00AM entry:

And every night, I think of you
You're everything to me
And every day, I think about
The way it used to be

- Monaco - The End of The World

...which had led to the LiveJournal entry written through tears, which led to my participating in Blogathon this year.

With deepest gratitude to all of my sponsors,

--Missy

Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on.

Dearest Sunshine,

It's done.

One post, every 30 minutes, for 24 hours.

Forty-nine posts.

Fifty-one song references.

Facts about kidney disease and transplants that I don't think either one of us knew. Some slightly squicky videos.

A lot of tea. A lot of chocolate. A great whoppin' bit of silly.

But mostly, a lot of love.

Stay tough, dear one, but don't forget that you have people who truly care about you, to lean on when things get hairy. And some of us...well, you're kinda stuck with.

Love you.


-- Missy, who is quite exhausted, thank you, but thinks you're worth it.



Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all. Nothing's like before.

Dreams could never fool me, not that easily

I owe so many of you a debt of gratitude - for your contributions to the NKF, for your commentary here, for your encouraging e-mails, for your extra links and for the time you've spent reading along on this adventure.

When I first determined a year ago that I would participate in a blogging event for the NKF, come Hell or high water, I wasn't sure what I ws going to write about. I knew that I would talk about David, since I was going to write in his honor, but I didn't really want to tell the whole world everything. Yes, I'm terribly selfish - he's MY best friend, dammit, and I'm not so sure I want to share all of the things that make him that with a whole bunch of other people. Y'all might get ideas and try to run off with him, after all.

As it happened, the writing came easier than I thought. I caught a groove and just went with it...and now here we are, very nearly finished.

One post to go. That one is reserved for David, for whom all of this has been all along.

To all of you - my sponsors and readers and everyone who sent a kind note along the way - my deepest thanks, from the bottom of my incredibly exhausted heart.

I couldn't have come this far without you.



Cause a thousand words call out through the ages. They´ll fly to you even though we can´t see. I know they are reaching you, suspended on silver wings.

What a lot of fun, you guys have been real swell!

Good morning!

Just a reminder: All of my sponsors are eligible to participate in a game.

All of my titles have been song references - either lyric snippets or song titles.

The rules are simple - identify the reference. If it's a lyric snippet, please identify the song and the artist. If it's a song title, please identify the artist and the album or soundtrack.

The three sponsors who identify the most song references will receive a one pound box of my (almost) famous truffles, made with only fine chocolate, fresh, heavy cream, and real butter.

Answers MUST be submitted NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT EDT on TUESDAY, AUGUST 9th, since Blogathon is accepting pledges until sometime on the 9th. I will post the answers and the winners' names sometime on Wednesday. Send them to: maggie.brazeau@gmail.com

Good luck, and thank you for your generous support of the National Kidney Foundation!

Out of the stillness, soft spoken words

So...David has been undergoing evaluation for a kidney transplant at Stanford University Medical Center.

Stanford, it seems, leads all other US transplant centers in one year patient survival rates. Again! They've also been using stem cell research to help reduce patient reliance on anti-rejection drugs. Yup, stem cells. An FDA study is pending. Wouldn't it be wonderful if researchers were able to develop a stem cell treatment that would bypass transplantation altogether?

Too much information running through my brain

Mdevnich writes:

You go girl! BTW, are you doing all this research on the fly, or are these links that you already had?

I had intended to have a whole bunch of links on hand, just in case things got too crazy. As it happens, things got plenty crazy well before Blogathon, so I had just two links - that of the NKF and that of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

So, yes, I've been doing the research on the fly - along with playing with my dog and breaking my coffeepot. This has been helpful in keeping me awake (though, the busted coffeepot, not so much).

Corey has some links for us:

Here's links for the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Irish Kidney Association, too.

Thanks Corey! Now "But I live in Ireland!" is not a valid excuse for not getting involved.

Almost done.

It's just that I think my heart and soul are kind of famished

Look who's keeping me company! Everyone say Hi to Murphy!