Joplin Journal Volume 10-4, Issue 1

From the Editor's Desk:

Good morning! It's a cold (below freezing at the moment) morning, but the sun is shining and the wind has died. It's supposed to warm up and I have plans to work onside in the yard today. There's some grass that needs mowed, things to trim, trash to pick up, and more. Is anyone else having trouble believing it is April? I was going to write last Saturday, but didn't. And now I can't remember why. Oh well.

Weather Report:

Well, if spring consists of cloudy days, of days of really strong wind, of snow falling when it's 40º outside, and of flowers and trees blooming, then it's spring. We've had a little bit of sunshine this week. Not a lot and most of it was on Tuesday when I was sitting at the polls all day and couldn't get outside to walk.

"Genius Burns":

This week it hasn't burned so well. In fact, I haven't written a thing. I got sort of stuck on Don Wood, and then was too busy with other things or gone when it was time to write, so I didn't even stop and really think about it until yesterday. Now I need to read back through the 33k words I have written and do some editing and changing as the brainstorming I did with Mom and Sarah got things a little clearer so I can cut out the distractions and do a little rearranging. Hopefully that won't be too hard. It's nothing like the work and changes I had to do with Phil Wood! This might be more like Lake Wood.

March ended with 31k words written.

Project Prognosis:

Let's see how my projects are coming this week.

• Work on Blog Posts – Help! I managed to get 1 maybe 2 posts written this week which is good because I had nothing for next week! I need more posts!
• Design a Journal – I did do that. Just have to check the line spacing size before I upload it.
• Direct KDWC – Did and Done

Spring 100:

I've been getting my miles walked. They said the average distance you need to walk a day is 1.1 mile. Well, I've been doing about 7-7 1/2 miles each week. This week I've done 6 miles. Hoping to get at least one more mile in today. This challenge has certainly made me walk more. Even when it's been cold and cloudy I've gotten out.

Babysitting:

We had the kids, except Krista, over Friday, March 25th around mid afternoon. They got to spend the night and were so excited. Then on Saturday, late morning, Krista was dropped off so Jimmy and Megan could go shopping for a new suit or something like that for Jimmy. The kids all got picked up before lunch. It was fun to have them over again.

Out of the Mouth:

Kinsley is talking and pretending and making us laugh. While they were over . . .

She was playing with a play onion from our play food. She offered it to me and I made a face and waved it away saying, "I don't want it!" This made her giggle, and she did it again. Her giggle turned into laughter. Soon she was laughing almost hysterically when I refused the onion. She turned away and almost staggered over to Sarah and exclaimed rather hysterically, "Her don't want it!"

We have a little zebra the little kids can ride on. Kins has ridden on it before, but when they were here, she suddenly exclaimed, "No! Go 'way, bebra!" before scrambling into Sarah's lap where she said, "Bebra going to get mine!" and proceeded to hide her face on Sarah. After that, if we asked her if she wanted to ride the zebra, her eyes would get big and she'd cling to us and say, "No!" Silly girl.

The Music Stand:

We did our first special with a trombone a few Sunday's ago. You can watch it HERE.

Now we are practicing for an Easter special that will include trombone and French horn.

The ladies ensemble is also practicing for an Easter special. We have music and choir practice on Sunday

KDWC:

Another camp has wrapped up. We had two tents reach their tent goals and my tent set two new camp records by getting the highest percentage for a tent goal (151.85% even though two girls weren't able to get anything done) and the highest number of campers in a tent to reach their goal. We had 17 of us in Tentalizing Tales and 13 of us reached our goal. They were all pretty excited! But now camp is over.

Sewing Room:

It's very busy in the sewing room these days. Sarah is swamped with orders for Easter and up through the end of April. When it's nice out she tries to take a break and go walk a mile with me. She's currently working on matching patriotic skirts for some sisters who are going to attend their brother's Marine Corps graduation.

Read Another Page:

Hymns in the Hills is back in productions. My producer is re-recording it all and it is so much better! Now I actually look forward to listening to the next chapter.

I haven't heard anything from the producer of By Paths Unknown. If I don't hear from him in another week, I'll contact ACX. I really liked his voice for this story, but it's not going to be any good if he only does the first 3 chapters.

I'm also working on getting some journals published. I'm thinking of having a few different ones.

Teacher's Lounge:

Classes are going well. So far both students have gotten A's on every paper. We'll see how they do on the latest assignments as they are longer. I think if they pay attention to their check list they will do well.

Book Nook:

It's a short shelf this time. One of the books I read was really long, and I've been rereading (rather like skimming) some of my own books (because I am trying to make a list of all the names I've used in my books). But I did get three books read. The House on Harmony Street, A Poppy in Remembrance, The Red Canary (I didn't end up really liking this one.)

Farewell:

This brings our Joplin Journal to a close. I have yard work to do, and some walking to get in. And a violin to practice. And hopefully I can write or at least work on editing Don Wood. Sarah is already in the sewing room, Mom is eating breakfast, and I think Dad is getting ready to go outside and work. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and can enjoy some sunshine and spring weather!