Let's hope this year is calmer than... ok... maybe not!

Well, Christmas went well around the Kidder household, and relatively calmly since it was just the two of us. Significantly we made it through our first post diabetes diagnosis Christmas without too much trouble over the yummy food (though Lisa is basically having to finish a box of See's candy by herself...).

And then the new year started, and was pretty calm until about 10:00 AM on January first!

Words 'n junk...

This month I'm editing that novel Johnson Farm that I started as a NANOWRIMO project in November and I started on the first. So far the revisions are pretty good! There is one three line change and a couple of paragraph re-formats but those are the biggest items in the first 50 pages. I'm moving at about double the pace I was writing at, so the first editing pass should be done in about two weeks. The goal is to have the book ready for people to read by the end of February. Then in March I have special plans for the book that I will be officially announcing in a couple of weeks (if the events of this month haven't killed me by then...)

Also in March I will be doing final edits for my chainmaille book that's do to be published in April... I am also cranking away on the videos, but not as fast as I would like... Still I have one that should be up on the YouTube channel in a couple of weeks at the latest.

Since Lisa's dissertation has a lot to do with her work she's been doing less writing and more 'thinky stuff' over the break. Note: you don't really understand the value or real nature of 'thinky stuff' until you've done serious writing (and a fair amount of it). But she's moving forward again. She has also been doing A LOT of knitting. Don't worry no sheep were actually harmed in her efforts but a few  really resent the bad haircuts ;-)

The rest of the story...

That gets us up to January 3rd which was supposed to be a 'day of rest'. Well for Lisa it was, she was home sick... For me it was the day that they informed the members of the stake that all the ward boundaries are being redrawn... There's more to it, but I officially don't know about anything else until the official meeting next week...

I say officially because, lets face it, I've been a ward clerk for the better part of the last 15 years and a data analysis guy for longer than that... If I can't put together a thing or two by myself then there is a problem...

The first hint was at the beginning of December when they announced that all the wards were to have all the end of quarter and end of year stuff done by January 3rd... (we usually have at least until the 15th for a lot of it...

So to quote Apocalypse Now..."I wanted a mission, and for my sins they gave me one." This is quite probably the only process I've never had to deal with as a clerk. This is happening fast and I'm fairly close to the center of it.

Yes, the bishop has more responsibility. But, I'm the one that gets to make sure that all the records, data, ordinances/ordinations/callings, and related stuff get moved; happen; get recorded; or whatever else is necessary (and that it's all done by the book...). On the bright side, I'm sure that I won't get stuck with a calling I don't want in the next few months; and at least I'm not the executive secretary ("I have two phones and neither one will stop ringing!!!").

That's about it for this one...
Till next time...
This just seems like the thought to end on...

A thought for the season

This week is a short one... Basically one thought that I had at church yesterday.

You can apply this to hymns, carols or what ever else you need, but...

When you sing songs about Jesus Christ you are singing to him. Give the best you have/can in the song.

The Little Drummer Boy in a carol of old played his drum for the young Savior as he had no other gift to give. I submit to you here and now that this is what we should be doing when we sing to our Savior.

It doesn't matter if you think your voice is good or bad. It definitely doesn't matter what the person next to you, or any other mortal being, may think. You are singing to Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savoir. As long as you give him your best your song is accepted by Jesus Christ the Lord. That is what matters.

I wasn't going to include a video in this one, but Lisa pointed out one of the videos I've linked to. So let's end by taking a look at a few variations on giving your best...

Till next time God bless...






 

Thanksgiving week and Nanowrimo

First off, happy thanksgiving and merry Christmas everyone.

This week we had Marisa up here for the holiday and mayhem ensued...

Actually a lot of the mayhem was mine and would have happened anyway....

I 'won' NANWRIMO (and about a week early!). What that means is I wrote a complete novel of over 50,000 words this past month. More precisely I wrote a novel of 58,201 words (238 pages) in 22 days (I didn't write on Sundays). Winning NANOWRIMO also means that I'm getting a bunch of free stuff and discounts that are writing related AND!!!!! THREE PUBLISHING COMPANIES WILL BE CONTACTING ME ABOUT THE BOOK. I should be getting all the relevant info via email tomorrow.

The original was hand written and then transcribed so technically I have my first edit pass done as well. One more thing I should say about this and then I can let it go (until I start the serious editing in January).

No non-diet or caffeine free soda was harmed in the creation of this book! Diet Dr Pepper not so lucky...

We survived our first dealing with diabetes thanksgiving pretty well. I even made the stuffing I usually make (of course since I'm fooling with cooking again I may try modifying it some, so stay tuned...)

Lisa and Marisa did a lot of knitting, a lot of staying up late and a lot of shopping...
Which leads us to the answer of this years where is the weirdest place I went rock hounding this year...

Parking lot of an Idaho Falls surplus store! The one with the holes is a fossilized corral (please don't ask me what that was doing there! I didn't expect to run into any of these little buggers). So once again I'm out pick'n rocks in literally freezing weather. At least this time it wasn't snowing! It was a nice reward for finishing the book (Ok, 238 pages... 22 days... you didn't really expect me to drop that this quickly did you?)

Lisa should be proposing her dissertation here soon. She has her full committee now. She might have a few things to say about the week which she can add to the post (or issue a rebuttal) as she sees fit.

That's it for this time everyone...
Until next time thanks for reading... Unless...
If you really want to know what the book is about...

It has two main themes that I've found two videos that sum them up pretty well...
Thanks to Billy Joel and INSOC respectively...






If you want to know how these fit in with the book (and they really do) you'll just have to read it. I'm done talking about it for now (for sure this time).

And that really is it until next time. And, thanks for reading.