Joplin Journal Volume 12-2, Issue 2

From the Editor's Desk:

The sun is shining this morning and the wind is blowing though not as strong of gusts as yesterday. We're back to winter today. Such crazy weather we have here. This might be a shorter journal today as not a lot has been going on.

Weather Report:

This week we've had winter, spring, and are back to winter. On Monday it snowed heavily almost all morning. Thick, wet flakes fell in showers. But it was 34º out so while it did stick, it was also melting too. By afternoon we had blue sky with not a cloud to be seen and it was in the 50s. Sarah and I went and walked and only had to be careful in a few places where it was still wet or had a little bit of snow still. On Wednesday it was spring! I went out and trimmed the salvia. Crocuses are blooming. Sarah and I walked in the afternoon, and then I walked another mile that evening with Angela. And then Friday came with strong winds and cold. Today it's not supposed to get out of the 30s. But at least it's sunny!

"Genius Burns":

I'm already over 6k for this week. And need 4k more to reach my 20k goal for this month. I did write a "No Clue" story. It's short and was rather fun. Now I'm working on several different stories. Yesterday I wrote a short story just because I had an idea. I'm making good progress on "Nan's Ice Cream Shop" which started out as just a short little story but my readers demanded more. Now it's over 30k words long. I really don't want it to become a novel. But maybe it will be nice and stick with being a novella. One can always hope.

Project Prognosis:

How am I doing?

• Work on Blog Posts for 2024 – February's posts are done and I've started work on March's posts. I still need some ideas for posts.
• Update Website – I need to add my new books. I'll get to that.
• Tidy – Did that. All the things for the Luncheon are put away for another year.

Hoops:

Today is the last day of regular season games. Drew has two games and James has one. I'm not sure if everyone will be in town for those games and if I'll have little ones here, or if Jimmy will come in with the two who are playing and the rest will stay home. I guess I'll find out.

Babysitting:

Last Saturday afternoon, after the luncheon, Lucas, Grant, and Kinsley came over and built and played lego during the last games. Lucas was ready for a break from all the people, and the youngest two just wanted to play. Grant and I built an ambulance and an ambulance airplane for Kins. She was very happy about that and then got to use a house that Kailyn had built as her "hopital."

Out of the Mouth:

As Kins was playing with the lego people she had one of them do something and Grant said, "People can't really do that, Kinsley."

Kins looked up. "God can. He can do anything. 'Member that song, BehBeh?" And she started to sing, "My God is so great, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God can not do."

The Music Stand:

The ladies sang last week, and tomorrow the orchestra plays.

Widows' Luncheon:

The Luncheon went off well. We didn't have bad weather, and only one widow ended up not making it because she was sick. A few of the secret sisters couldn't make it because of sickness or being out of town. But we had 28 people there!

Since our pen names were all musical terms we decorated with a theme of red and black with music. It turned out really pretty.

Now I'm getting things ready for a new year. Hard to believe I'm going into my 8th year of organizing this! We're adding several new secret sisters this year and a new widow who started attending church last year.

KDWC:

Registration for camp opens on Monday! Hard to believe it's that time already. I have my devotionals written and scheduled and my one Motivational Meadow prompt scheduled.

Sewing Room:

Sarah sewed a bunch of skirts for a shop in Japan! A lady was coming to the States and has a shop in Japan selling clothes and wanted to buy a bunch of skirts from Sarah to take back. Sarah couldn't get 40 made in time, but she did 10 to start with and has stacks of fabric cut out for more. They are all patchwork skirts using a lot of Sarah's scraps, which is nice as she has a LOT of scraps. Sarah also has other sewing projects for other people going on.

Read Another Page:

You've seen all my publishing news. I don't have any other stories published yet. I need to finish writing them first. :)

Book Nook:

Reading is so nice! I'm trying to get a lot read now as once writing camp starts I tend to not read as much though I still try to get some reading in. But my shelf of books for the last two weeks looks like this: Four Girls at Chautauqua (favorite author!), Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life (great tips and information for anyone), Village of Scoundrels (WWII story set in France - interesting), Elizabeth's Anniversary Week (sweet story), All the Moore (good romance), The Chautauqua Girls at Home (so good), Snowman (interesting horse story), and I just finished reading The Sound of Silver (good but haven't reviewed it yet). That's 8 books. Not bad for two weeks of reading.

Farewell:

Dad is off to get his truck that has been stuck in the storage building for two weeks (they couldn't get the garage door open!) and then to Lowe's to get some cabinets for the kitchen. Mom and Sarah will be heading off to basketball games soon. And me? Well, I have some papers for the widows' ministry to print so I can make copies tomorrow. I just got the last secret sister signed up. And then I have violin to practice, and I might be putting those cabinets together once they arrive. I seem to have become the master of putting furniture together. ;) I know I won't be writing next Saturday as it will be Super Saturday at church, but I hope you all have a great rest of February!