Joplin Journal Volume 12-2, Issue 1

From the Editor's Desk:

Welcome to February. It's windy this morning. Angela and I just got back from a one mile walk. It was spitting and sprinkling at first but now it's just blowing! The eastern sky is light, but everything else is gray. Feels like a good day to curl up with book and read. Only I have other things to work on and can't just read all day.

Weather Report:

Spring! This week has been SO nice! After not seeing the sun at all last week, having blue skies this week was wonderful! Temperatures were in the 50s, 60s, and then 70s! I wanted to go ride bikes, roller-skate, climb trees, swing, or something like that. But today is cloudy and windy. We might get some rain beyond sprinkles. Last night some people felt the shock of the earthquake in OK.

"Genius Burns":

I was able to get 23k words written in January! That's 3k more than I was trying for. I'm going to try to get 20k written again this month. Yesterday was not a good writing day. I only got 600+ words in. But I'm still at 2k for the month since I wrote 1,557 words on Thursday. My problem is . . . What to work on? I need to write a Vacation story for a new collection, and if I can come up with an idea, I'd like to write a short story for a "No Clue" collection. Right now I have no clue what to write. :P

Project Prognosis:

How am I doing?

• Work on Blog Posts for 2024 – I'm trying to work on February's posts.
• Update Website – I need to add my new books.
• Tidy – I'm not going to bother until after the Widows' Luncheon next week because most of the things out are for that.
• Clean Out My Kindle – I think I deleted 20-30 books off my doc files on my kindle. Some were duplicates, others were ARC copies that I had gotten later, others were stories I'd read but don't plan to read again. It felt nice. Of course I've added more stories since then.

Hoops:

Last Thursday-Saturday, James's team played in a tournament down in OK. Joel got pulled up to play with them too since one of their regulars was gone the first two days. They ended up coming in 2nd, but on Saturday they had to play 4 games in 9 hours! They had their regular player back, but kept Joel, and pulled in at least one other player from Joel's team to help. Now they are back to regular games on Saturdays. This afternoon there are two games. I think Drew's team plays Lucas's team. And then James's team plays. Maybe Joel has the weekend off.

Babysitting:

I hadn't had any of the kids over during games since it had been so cold, but last Saturday Megan asked if the 3 younger ones could eat their lunch over here while Lucas had his game. I said sure. The girls ended up staying here all afternoon but Grant got picked up and went to the tournament.

Out of the Mouth:

Kinsley has quite the imagination, and the things she says sometimes crack us up!

She told me: "I sent the bad guys to the jail and told them the captain was there."

Me: "You let the bad guys get the captain?"

Kins: "No! They go to the jail and we locked them up and let the captain go."

(Be careful if you are a bad guy, she might have a trap set for you.)

Later that day, Kailyn had tied a blanket around my neck like a cape and I declared I was super woman and was off to save the world. Kailyn just laughed, but Kins came up to me and very seriously informed me that I couldn't save the world because her army guys were saving it.

Me: "Can't I just save part of the world?"

Kins: "Well . . ." She thinks a minute. "There are two worlds. The army guys are saving one and you can save the other."

She's so accommodating and doesn't want to hurt BehBeh's feelings. :D

The Music Stand:

We had orchestra practice last Sunday. Tomorrow we have ladies ensemble practice.

Widows' Luncheon:

it's hard to believe it's that time of year again! Next Saturday is the Widows' Luncheon! I'm working on getting things ready for that. We are doing red & black music theme this year since our pen names were all musical.

KDWC:

I am starting to get ready for camp. I created a new an improved Camp Journal. That was fun. Two years go I had designed some journals, but they were for just one camp and I had two different kinds. After getting some feedback about them, I designed one that will work for a year's worth of camps and has new pages that will hopefully work better. It also has pages from both the journals, so no one has to decide which one to get.

Sewing Room:

The sewing machine is staying busy. Lots of patchwork skirts that are really cute are being made. Sarah has some deadlines and has been busy. She even fixed some skirts for someone who had gotten skirts from someone else.

Read Another Page:

Last time I shared the cover for Heroes without Capes. But now it's published!

And not only that, but I published another new book! This one I have kept secret for months. I'm so excited to finally tell the world that The Graham Quartet and the House on Old Elm Road is finally out!

A suspicious bill, a coded plea, and the Graham Quartet are ready for action!

Out along the lonely stretches of Old Elm Road, the Graham Quartet feels a mystery brewing. When a string of strange happenings continues to point in the same direction, Elsa, Matt, Selena, and Tim are determined to get to the bottom of things. But are all of these oddities really connected? Or is the Quartet so eager for another mystery that they're making up trouble out of nothing? When their old friend Guy Fox steps in to investigate, things take a startling turn. Will the four siblings have the right clues to piece everything together before the crooks get away?

Book Nook:

I managed to read 15 books in the month of January. That was rather fun. I know I mentioned this first book in the last Joplin Journal, but I hadn't reviewed it, so in case you want to read my review, I'll start with it. A Very Bookish Romance (reviewed all 5 stories), Honor Bound (enjoyed it), A Rebel's Beacon (the cover made me think I wouldn't like it, but it was better than the cover), False Claims at the Little Stephen Mine (fun to read), Car Alarm (super-heroes with a twist), It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own (not a favorite), Where the Deer and the Antelope Play (oh, the drama!). And now I'm rereading a book by my favorite author as well as reading a non-fiction bok. I'll review them after I've finished them.

Farewell:

This brings this Joplin Journal to a close. I think I'll work on something else. I'm teaching Children's Church tomorrow and need to finish getting the lesson ready. And there's a blog post I should work on, and names cards for the Luncheon, and corsages to make, and books to read, and stories to write. I'd better get busy. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!