NaNo Day Eighteen

End of Day 18
Lisa - 26,755
David - 18,100
Emily - ????
James - 955
Suzy - 1304

I wrote Tuesday, at the library while I was waiting for James at Young Marines. I think that's all the writing I did Tuesday. Tonight I did two 1000 word sprints. I am not caught up to where I should be, but I should be able to get 2000 words each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sunday will be my catch up day.

The story is getting better, I think.

David continues to churn out 1000 words a day, even though he has passed his goal. He's caught the writing spirit! It's quite something to see. Tonight I found him frantically rummaging through some stuff and asked him what was wrong. He said that one of his characters was doing something frantically and he wanted to see what it felt like so he could write about it!

Emily typed some of her own story today. She types painfully slow. I have offered to type it but she will not let me. By Monday, I'll have her figured out one way or another.

James also typed some of his own story today. He is enjoying writing too, but it is a slow process. I am proud of him for sticking to it. I will make an effort tomorrow to help him, either by typing while he dictates or by offering some plot development ideas. He needs a burst of word count happiness!

Suzy has also reached her goal! Her story is not quite done, but I don't know how much longer it will go. Probably not much.

The question is.....

Here are the answers. Can you guess the question?

• Painted the dining room
• Scrubbed the linoleum on my hands and knees
• Painted a cabinet
• Painted the picnic table
• Rearranged the entire living room
• Ironed 3 valances and 7 shirts
• Sorted through all the VHS tapes
• Started reading two books
• Watched two movies
• Played countless rounds of Word Twist

So, what's the question? Did you guess it?

The question is:
What has Lisa done lately INSTEAD of writing?

Yep, I haven't done any writing today. Or yesterday. Or most of Saturday.

Back to it Tuesday. Really.

Unless there are more shirts to iron.....

Simple Woman's Daybook - November 15

For Today... November 15, 2009

Outside my window... Overcast. Amazing how that dampens my spirits. Hoping for sun later on.

I am thinking... that I need a part-time job or some money from all this time writing/blogging/thinking

From the learning rooms... More writing. Math, science and history continue.

I am thankful for... James feeling better and everyone else being healthy!

From the kitchen... snacks for one of my Spanish classes - it's their last week of the semester. Also the girls are making Snickerdoodles right now.

I am wearing... Jeans, black v-neck top and pink hoodie

I am reading... listening to A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Disc 39 of 48) by Diana Gabaldon (#6 in Outlander series). Reading The Murder of King Tut: The plot to kill the child king (A non-fiction thriller) by James Patterson

I've been watching... Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Be Kind Rewind, The Core

I am hoping... that preparing my Spanish lessons doesn't take too long today.

I am creating... A heartbreakingly-mediocre epic saga of ho-hum-ness

I am hearing... The Jonas Brothers?! A Camp Rock song came up in my Pandora station. Not a huge surprise since it's a High School Musical station and both are Disney productions. :-D Uh-oh, now it's Miley. How long can I stand it?

Around the house... Yesterday, we painted the dining room a sunny yellow and decluttered it when putting it back together. Also set up the "new" TV on a cabinet that we painted badly. lol

One of my favorite things... foamy soap in a pump

A few plans for the rest of the week... Writing. Writing. And maybe some more writing. Oh, yeah, life does go on - normal stuff like lessons and Spanish, too. Last week of one of my Spanish classes - at least until January.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you.

NaNo Day Fourteen

End of Day 14
Lisa - 23, 493
David - 16,190
Emily - ????
James - 708
Suzy - 964

I'm back on track, exactly where I should be according to NaNo's daily word count. Yay! Today was busy and tiring, but word-sprinting with Jennifer gave me the motivation to get my word count back up where it should be. The story is a little more interesting too.

David was the only kid who wrote today. And he passed the goal he set for himself this month. His original goal (set by me) was 9000. However, he decided he would be able to write 1000 for every day of lessons during this month. There were 16 lesson days so 16,000 words. It's Day 14 and he's already arrived! WOO HOO, DAVID!!!

Tomorrow marks the halfway point for NaNoWriMo. I am considering a write-in with my NaNo Writer's Group, but am not sure I want to drive to Flint. I maybe would get a lot of writing done though. Or maybe not. I'm talking myself out of it.

Virtual Owl Pellets

Do you remember when we did our owl pellet dissection? Very cool, but pretty messy and some would even say gross. Not everyone is willing or able to do a hands-on owl pellet dissection.

But how about a virtual dissection? If you have a computer and internet access, you can do this easily. And you may just learn something AND have fun.

The website is Kids Wings. Awesome awesome place!

What can you do at Kids Wings?

• Learn about owl pellets and complete a Virtual owl pellet dissection - click HERE
  
Be sure to stay with it until the very end (all those little bones can be tedious!) for a top-notch animation!

• When you are on that page, be sure to click "MORE PELLETS" at the very top. (Although don't miss the main attraction - the virtual dissection.) You'll get a drop-down menu of ELEVEN different pellets you can dissect online.
  
• One is the Barred Owl's pellet. You will get photos of REAL pellets being dissected as you work. Only NO MESS for you, just coolness!
• Be sure to check out the Teacher Resources, like downloadable charts, owl pellet dissection video to download, Birdwatching Bingo game, and more more more!

But that's not all! You can learn about

• bird skulls
• bird nests
• feathers
• bird calls
• and more!

If you found Kids Wings to be a useful site, you can consider a donation to the author. There is a paypal donation link on the home page. I know hosting a website costs a lot, especially one as cool as this one, so show her your appreciation for making it available at no charge.

And from their site, I linked to Owl Brand Dissection Kits. You can get 10% off with a code you will find on that page. But here also is a cool page of freebie coloring sheets and activity pages at Owl Brand. More awesomeness!

But I'm not done yet! From Owl Brand, I linked to this very clear and helpful guide to owl pellet dissection. Much information on where to find pellets, how to identify the owl that made the pellet, safety tips, dissection information, and bone diagrams so you can identify the remains you salvage.

Lots more resources on Owl Brand's RESOURCE page. I ran out of time and couldn't go through it all, but you'll find lots of cool things.

And one last thing - some strangeness for you. Did you ever want a crocheted owl pellet? Well, this person clearly thought it would be a good plan.

NaNo Day Thirteen

End of Day 13

Lisa - 20,729
David - 15,167
Emily - ????
James - 708
Suzy - 964

We're not even halfway through the month! Wow, seems like these first thirteen days have lasted a long time!

I didn't write today. Bob was home today, other than running a few errands. I did some lessons with the kids, went to the library and the post office, helped James and Suzy paint a piece of furniture we are going to use to put the "new" TV on, made a Mexican casserole for dinner, worked on the bills, and then started on my insane new project. So, no words for me today.

Plus, my book is BO-RING.

Emily still hasn't brought me her writing, but not for lack of me asking or lack of her having some.

James wanted to write today, but things never coalesced for him. So no new words for him either. He's a little behind, but he was sick this week, after all.

David is the writing MACHINE. Right now his characters are driving cross-country.

NaNo Day Twelve

End of Day 12

Lisa - 20,729
David - 14,009
Emily - 720 + U.H.A.
James - 708
Suzy - 863

Suzy wrote (dictated) about 100 words today. She loves loves loves her book! LOL

James wrote a page long hand and then LOST it somewhere. Oh, the agony! Why hadn't someone told him to put it in his NaNo folder? What's that you say? Someone DID tell him? It was his mom??? Go figure.

Anyway, then he asked if he could write on the computer. So he did. He asked me how to spell a few words, but other than that he just typed a bunch - about 150 words!

Emily remains an enigma.

David is sticking to his goal of 1000 words per day. He is totally self-motivated this year.

I did about 1100 words first thing this morning, as I had planned to do yesterday and was unable to do. That was a good thing! I felt a huge sense of accomplishment all day because I had gotten that done. The rest of the writing was between 11:25pm and midnight!

Jen asked about the cartoons. Check out Inky Girl for more.

General Science Experiment

After a rough start, Emily (age 12) is doing better with her Apologia General Science. She found out she can do most of the experiments on her own and that writing her experiment journal isn't as terrifying as she imagined.

She asked for pictures to be taken of this experiment and posted on my blog. :-) So you can share in her joy.

NaNo Day Eleven

End of Day 11

Lisa - 18,703
David - 13,002
Emily - 720 + U.H.A. (no writing today)
James - 558 (no writing today)
Suzy - 765 (no writing today)

I got up at a decent time today, and then looked at my laptop thinking, "Wow, I could probably write an hour before I have to do lessons with the kids." Then I remembered poor James and his symptoms and figured I should see if the doctor's office was open yet. Yes, they're open and bring him in at 9:15. So much for my early writing. And the day was filled from there on. I didn't actually sit down to write until about 10:30, but I still logged 1400 words before midnight.

David bore the brunt of the child care today - while I was at the doctor for 90 minutes with James, while I took Emily to get James his medicine and do some errands, and then again when I went for a run. So, he didn't get any writing done during the day either, although he started when I did and churned out ONE THOUSAND WORDS! He is awesome, isn't he? :-)

Oh yeah, and when I got home from the doctor with James, I looked at Suzy and saw bright red cheeks, so red I figured she'd been into the play makeup. But no, it didn't wash off. I knew right away - Fifth Disease (aka human parvovirus). I didn't take her in; there's no treatment. So that has to run its course. Then I had to go get the meds and some foodstuffs, and by then the day was mostly over. So the little kids didn't get any writing done either. Tomorrow we are staying HOME. Nobody else better get anything that requires medical attention.

Rooftop View

Ever wondered what our neighborhood looks like from thirty feet in the air?

Well, too bad. You get to see!








David and Bob were reinstalling our TV antenna. Yep, we still have an antenna. Our antenna rotor broke and we were unable to turn the antenna anymore, so Bob reinstalled it permanently faced in the most opportune direction. At least we hope so.

That's not a one-man job, so my teenage son got to help out. And being who HE is, he decided to take some photos from up there. I never plan to go up on the roof, so it was cool for me to see.

How about you? Ever take rooftop photos?