Goal Reached!

Oh yes... I just finished up 50k!  I cannot describe how exhilarating it is.  And I found out what the secret it... FIRE!  I have been in NaNoWriMo for five years, and won every year except one.  That year my trusty electric fireplace bit the dust.  No fire, no muse.  At least it seems so for me.  This fall Dale replaced that little fireplace, and voila!  My muse apparently returned.  I hit 50K, once again find myself with an unfinished novel.  And since this is a continuation from previous 2 years worth of NaNo, you can imagine that it is a bit of a opus.

So, please note the new button on my side bar.


*BIG SMILE*


Viva la pluma.

~Lisa

Whoa... is that a POST?????

Don't faint... yes, I'm actually posting.  It has been a LONG time!  So much has been happening, that I can't keep up with it.  It probably goes without saying, but this post will be picture heavy as I try to encapsulate over 4 months of our lives into one post.  Even though things have been out-of-control busy, we have still taken a few moments to enjoy some of God's beauty around, like this sunset.  The pic really doesn't do it justice.

For those who don't know, last Fall my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and has been undergoing some very intense Chemo treatments.  I have been making trips out to the Boston area to help her after the treatments, as they rough her up pretty good.  Then I come back home, and jump back into the circus of our crazy schedule. I'm happy to say that according to the last CAT scan the treatments seem to be doing good things, and hopefully after two more treatments she can go to radiation therapy.  

Meanwhile back at the ranch, life is going on with its' usual busyness.  Last November, the kids participated in the school play, which was a take off from Patch the Pirate Goes West.  Here they are in costume.  Ben was chief Halawasa, Josiah was a hilarious Cactus Patch, Jerusha was a prairie dog, Esther was one of the 4 lost girls from school, and the others were all Indians.  They did a great job!  

Esther's Solo  :)  She has such a pretty voice!

Benjamin had a solo too!  Nice deep voice for his part.  

Also, last November, our family did a concert for a church in New York for their Harvest Banquet.  We did 50 minutes of music...whew!  The kids did great, but I think it tuckered them out a little.

Sometimes Mr. Greene preaches for chapel and you can almost always expect the unexpected from him.  Believe it or not, the following pics were part of a devotional he gave last November.  

Ramp, obstacles, behind paper

Crazy teenager willing to participate (Nice outfit, eh?)

Here we go!

 He made it!

Thankfully the battery in my camera died there, so I can spare the rest of the story which had to do with rope and more boxes.  :)

Also in November, Benjamin, Esther, and Elizabeth, along with another girl from the school, Heather Greene, auditioned and were accepted into this year's Pennsylvania State Choir.  They practiced for many hours, then spent two days in Harrisburg and practiced with the rest of the 125 participants, under the talented Dr. Ledgerwood from Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, WI.  Dale travelled down with them, and I went down for the concert on Saturday, taking the rest of the kids, on a 4 hour trip just to hear a one hour concert.  IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!  They performed in the rotunda of the Capitol building in Harrisburg.  It was beautiful!

Bad shot of the choir... a couple dozen people missing on each side of the pic.

From left to right, starting in the back row:  Benjamin, Elizabeth, Heather Greene, Esther, Dr.Ledgerwood, and Dale.

Of course, if you are a grandparent, you already received the CD of their wonderful performance and Dale's letter with some background about the music and experience.  Hope you enjoy it!  We are wearing ours out.  Can you say, "Proud Parents"????

As has been my tradition, I had, in the midst of all the November madness, taken it upon myself to participate in NaNoWriMo.  I'm happy to say that I met the goal of 50K words!  Wasn't sure if I would make it or not, but just plugged away at it and "got'er done" as Dale likes to say.  

We have had a pretty cold winter here thus far, but that doesn't stop us from having a good time in the snow.  Benjamin and I are also in the ski club at school, but do you think I have taken any pics?  Something about a new skier (Benjamin) and a camera is irresistible, but I haven't brought it with us yet.  I missed two sessions last time I was out in Boston, so Josiah went in my stead, and seemed to like it!  

The twins are on the Girls' basketball team, and Jerusha is a cheerleader!  In fact, the only official cheerleader for the team.  Worked out that she was the only eligible girl in the right age group and had her grades up enough to cheerlead.  She is SO adorable!

I have a ton of blurry pics from actual games.  :/  None of them worth repeating here.  I really need to invest in a camera with a high speed feature!

Here is our Christmas Cactus in bloom.  We have tried our best to kill the poor thing, but it has proven to be quiet hardy.  Esther loves the blossoms!

I have been knitting and doing some quilting as well, but have taken no pics whatsoever of my projects. I'll see if I can change that soon!  

Congratulate yourselves if you made it through this "catch up" post!  Lord willing, I'll be able to keep a bit better.

Have a wonderful day!  Enjoy the winter while it lasts.  :D

The End of National Novel Writing Month

I'm sorry to see November go! I loved the writing experience, and rekindled my old literary addiction.

I was able to meet the 50K, though around Thanksgiving, after a few days where I had trouble finding time and energy to get around to typing, I wondered if I would be able to finish up after all. It was a point of determination. I had been going strong all month and I was NOT going to lose it in the final few days and few thousand words.

So, I am happy to announce, that I am an official 2011 NaNoWriMo Challenge winner! Woot! Okay, I hit the 50K, but the story isn't over yet. I'm sorry, I just couldn't wind it up that fast. Dale said I should finish it up as I find time. Well, I haven't touched it since I hit the 50K on Wednesday, and thus begins my frustration. I really need to FINISH what I have started because I don't want to forget what all is coming next, and the event I want to happen to bring it all to a conclusion. Plus I left my heroine in an extremely precarious position, and Elizabeth, who has read up to that point said... "You can't leave it like that. It isn't fair!" (picture a teenage whine there). So, Lord willing, I am going to try and finish it up before too much time passes and I no longer have a clear vision on how the story should finish playing out.

Of course, we have hit the wonderful holiday season, and the schedule is all ramped up again, and I'm finding myself already stressing out. That can't be right, this early in the month. I've also already informed the family that if I don't get cooperation and help, I'm cancelling Christmas, and we are doing extra schoolwork and chores that day.

We did get a good deal of decorating done today, despite the fact we had to take Benjamin for an orthodontist's appointment to have his braces tightened. He could still talk after, so I guess the Doc didn't do a very good job. Tomorrow promises to be another insanely busy day. My basic schedule is up early, to the gym to workout, then to meet the trainer at 9a.m. I strained/pulled a hip muscle doing running intervals on the treadmill Tuesday, and she is going to show me some good hip flexor stretches. Then I get home, Dale leaves for visitation, and I change, and we go over to church to decorate as much as we can before Dale gets back. We'll do lunch, then we have some errands to run in the afternoon, then home for dinner, and I NEED to tackle a pile of ironing that has been sorely neglected for longer than I want to admit.

Hopefully I will get in some writing time. Somewhere, somehow.

Oh, and I've been working on some projects in my "spare" time. Ha!

Let's see I made a..... Oh wait, I can't tell you that right now.

And then there was a ..... OOOPs... can't say anything about that either.

I'm working on a..... ummm.... nevermind.....!

And a..... hmmmm... well, I guess you all will have to wait until after the holiday to see pics of that.

Speaking of pics, the camera is now working, no thanks to the Ding Bat who didn't charge the battery enough and didn't think to check it until last week.

Clever, eh?

An Award!

Thank you to IHaveBeenBlessed for this award! I am honored, and if you have found any encouragement, humor, or something to make you smile here, then even better.

Here’s what I found out about it (Thanks to Christina's research):
The Liebster award (“Liebster” is the German word for friend or love) originated in Germany. The aim of the award is to bring more attention to blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

There are a couple ‘rules’ for the award:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog
2. Thank the giver by linking back to the blogger who gave it to you – Thank you Rachel at We Will Walk Forever Holding Hands
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. (will list below)
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

In essence, it’s like a chain letter for bloggers. But I am willing to play along!!!

Now I am SUPPOSED to re-award this five times, according to the rules. So, Here it goes:

1. For her lovely quilts and creations, CatLoveAndQuiltMaker .

2.The Opulent Poppy

3. The View From Hidden Valley

Well, duty calls here, and I must end this now. Looks like I didn't make the required five recipients, but oh well.

Everyone have a blessed day!

Been There, Done That, Bought the T-Shirt

Guess what?

I did it! I managed to get in a lot writing yesterday, despite lots of interruptions. However, even those were a blessing as they gave me some ideas for dialogue and events in my sad little tale.

I made the challenge! I hit 50K while Isaac was napping. The story wasn't over yet, but I was close, and was able to finish it by supper.

NaNoWriMo challenge?

Been there, Done that, bought the T-shirt.

Literally.

After your word count is validated a new page on the NaNoWriMo site opens up just for "winners". You get to download buttons, a certificate, and you can purchase t-shirts declaring your winning status for 2010. I had to do it. I couldn't resist!

I am already thinking ahead to next year. I think I will try and get an outline of sorts started and some research. The rules are you can't start writing the actual story before Nov. 1. Outlines, research,interviews,etc, are allowed before then. I've always wanted to write a book. Now I can say I have. :D

Don't I sound cool, calm, blase, non-chalant?

Ha! I probably won't have to do any exercise today for all the "goodie goodie" dancing I am doing.

Meanwhile... the sewing pile is calling me and I need to get busy. Back to your regularly scheduled life.

Thank You!

I received this award from my pal, Amy from The View from Hidden Valley. Check out her wonderful blog, and THANK YOU, my friend!

Now I am supposed to nominate several people for this award, so here it goes:

Winona at Cat Lover and Quilt Maker... her sewing is wonderful to look at! I get so inspired by her creativity and beautiful quilts and crafts.

Amandajean at CrazyMomQuilts... can you ever get too much of looking at quilts and getting fantastic ideas?

Regina at Homeschoolmummyx3... She is a creative mom and wonderful example of a godly wife. Her blog is like sitting down for a visit over tea.

Jenny at Jengi33... she is the one who got me addicted to knitting! I love to see the work of her hands. She is very talented!

Unfortunately, that is all I have time for right now... baby is crying and duty calls. There are so many uplifting, encouraging, and creative blogs, that it really is difficult to choose!

Oh, I am supposed to list 7 things you may not know about me. Well, I guess you'll just have to read my blog to find out!

Awarded....

Thank you to A Joyful Chaos for the Bella Award!

Thank You, Ginger!

My friend Ginger gave me this award:



Thank you Ginger! How sweet! BTW.. stop by Ginger's blog. She is doing some lovely photography. :)

I would like to pass this award on to:

1.AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts
2.Winona at Cat Lover and Quilt Maker
3.Regina at Homeschoolmummyx3
4. Evening Shade Morning Latte
5.Dell at PrairieBlog
6. Dana at the 50 Lb. Feedsack
7.Jenny at Prairie Mama
8.Amy at The View from Hidden Valley
9.Abbi at Proverbs 31 Living
10. Anne at Under the Elm

Have a great weekend everyone! Today we are on to the Birthday Bash! Can't wait!

Thank You!

... to HomeschoolmummyX3 for the above award!

The award is as follows:"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

The rules are:


Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Each of the following ladies, I simply love. They each have faced their own challenges in their lives and the way they encapsulate their experiences endears them greatly to my heart.

I see on Regina's blog that she reads most of the same blogs I do! LOL... so, I may have to break the rule. I haven't been reading a lot of blogs online for the last several months for some strange reason. As far as charming blogs go...

1. Proverbs 31 Living

2.Jengi33

3.Hands and Hearts

4. The View from Hidden Valley

5. The Savage's Lair

6. The PrairieFrog Blog

7. Melissadsc's blog

8. Evening Shade Morning Latte

God's Provision, Finished Project, and awards Thank You

Every so often in a digest I get, someone writes in about not eating unclean meat, as if we were still under the law. Recently someone said something against eating rabbit meat. I chuckled to myself thinking that in our area, there are many that have no problem eating rabbit meat. We don't, because we don't hunt rabbits. There is also various times that "you shouldn't eat pork" has come up. Really? Well, then, I guess God made a big mistake when He provided 500lbs of pork for us a couple years ago. In this same digest, someone was once whining that they couldn't bear reading the posts about deer hunting because it was just so terrible for her, and could we please not write in about that? Good grief! There are a couple thousand ladies that are part of this group. One bleeding heart gets to dictate what we write in about? Personally, I feel that if God provides it for us, then we eat it. Like the deer meat that was just given to us tonight. Dale figures it is 25 to 30 lbs. of venison. One of the men our church shot it and dressed it for us. That's a lot of work! We feel very blessed to have received that love gift, and are thankful for it. His wife is a woman after my own heart. She is taking the hides from the deer they shoot and treating them, making nice soft skins to make some mocassins and maybe a coat.

Enough of the soapbox... onto something lighter, like.. I FINALLY finished the girls' matching dresses Thursday night. They wore them today for church, so I took a quick pic before dinner. I am working on my matching jumper. Not sure how much time I'll have for sewing this week, but it won't be near so involved as those dresses, I know that!



As a third part to this hodge-podge post, I would like to thank Heart 4 My Home for these two awards:


The is the Marie Antoinette Award, given to those who are brave enough to be transparent in blog land.

This next one is a Butterfly Award.



I am blessed, Thank You!