Accountability April: Wrappin' It Up

Tomorrow is the end of the month, so I'll be telling you about my tragedies and triumphs.

OK, so it wasn't all that dramatic. I'll be letting you in on how I did. If you want to go back and see what my goal was, here is the original post.

Apparently my goal was to read, edit, and finish writing my NaNoWriMo novel. Gosh, Lisa, that won't take any time at all! What was I thinking? I mean, granted, I wrote what I have -- just over 50,000 words -- in a month, but still.

I want to be honest and give you the good, the bad and the ugly, so here goes. And I'm gonna save the best for last. It's my blog, and that's the way I'm gonna roll.

The ugly: I wrote not a single word. Not a one.

The bad: I did not incorporate edits back into my master document.

The good: I did finish reading the whole thing (last night), and I red-penned changes throughout.

The biggest surprise: One night, as I headed into my bedroom (I read before bed each night), I was remembering the plot and characters of this cool book I was reading, and looking forward to picking it back up. I was startled to remember that I wrote it! While there are certainly a lot of major edits to be made, maybe there is the germ of a decent idea in there somewhere. Maybe the characters and story are worth keeping. I'll polish it up a bit and see if it shines.

So, my friends, how did you do this month? Did you make progress on your April goals? I can't wait to hear about it -- leave me a comment and let me know how you did! I want to hear all about it!

Fun on the YouTube

I've seen way too many cool YouTube videos today, so I'm gonna do the lazy thing and share.

The first one is some bicycle riding that simply defies the laws of physics as I know them.  But then, I'm a middle-aged American woman, not an amazing Irish stunt bicyclist.  I rarely watch videos more than once, but I did this one.

Next, I really had to share the work that Dave Barnes (whose music I lovelovelove) is doing with the Mocha Club in Sudan.  It's heartbreaking that there is so much left to do, but so great that you can get involved for the price of a coffee or two each month.

And of course, I was reading BooMama today, as I so love to do, and she linked to this interesting and odd video.  Not my usual thing to watch, but the end is interesting.  If you click over to to her post (I linked to a specific post, not just to her blog), you'll see that she met the gentleman in the video.  She's all famous and stuff, doncha know.  And I met her once, so I'm famous and stuff by proxy.  Or something.

Anyway, here's the video she linked to.

Lastly -- and this video is one that can't be embedded -- if you've been buried under a rock and are not one of the literally 38 MILLION people (as of right now) who have seen Susan Boyle try out for "Britain's Got Talent," then you really should.  It's kinda cool. And touching.  And all that emotional stuff.

Go ahead, make the clicky.  You know you want to.  All the cool kids are doing it.

Accountability April - Halfway Point

Wow, how did it get to be April 15?

We're halfway through April and I'm, um, shall we say NOT halfway to my goal for the month. Granted, it was a large goal: Read, edit, and finish writing my NaNoWriMo novel.  But I got a little sidetracked.

It seems that Heather Armstrong came to town to talk about her new book, and while I had a migraine and bonded with my meds and my pillow, my fantastic friend Andrea camped out, bought books and had mine signed. Naturally, since she went to so much trouble, I had to drop everything and read the book. I haven't been reading Dooce long enough to have read about Heather's pregnancy with Leta or the aftermath thereof, so I fell in and didn't fall out for a few days. My bad.

But you were wondering about my progress. I'm almost halfway through the writing and editing of my NaNoNovel, which is OK progress. However, I'm afraid the writing is what's going to take the most time, and with 15 days left in the month, I need to get my rear in gear.

I'm happy to say that Karina has done far better (at least in the last week) than I have. I'm also quite curious how Becky is doing with her April resolutions. And if you have something you want to get done this month, jump in and let me know in the comments, or link to your own post!

Larry's Benefit, Part 2

I know I'm way behind on this post. I had such an exhausting weekend, and last week got away from me too. I want to talk a little about the actual day of Larry's benefit.

First I'd like to show you Larry's wife Susan (my hubby's sister). She's in the middle in this picture, flanked by two of her good friends. She's holding her son's football jersey, which may have been the signed one that was auctioned off that day; I'm not sure.

Yes, it was March in Houston, and yes, it was COLD. In this picture, Susan had just arrived, so this was prior to greeting, hugging and chatting with something like 400 people that day. It was a really long day for her. Good, but long.

This picture is one I've wanted for years. Our oldest nephew (son of hubby's other sister) actually looks more like him than our own sons, I think. In fact, he looks almost identical to my hubby at that age. Since my nephew has now grown a beard, it's even more striking.

You can't tell, but their eye color is the same, too.

This is Larry with several of his hunting buddies. His friends have really been great, very supportive.

There was a barbecue lunch (all food was donated, so proceeds went to the benefit fund), a silent auction, live auction, bake sale, t-shirt sales, jumping castle, even a cotton candy machine. Son the Younger manned the cotton candy booth all day, flagging down everyone who passed to buy some of the sweet stuff. His most interesting customer question: "Are there any carbs in this?" Ummmm...

There were lots of interesting items being sold in the live auction, including a signed Tom Brady jersey, two dirt bikes, a hunting trip to a turkey farm, and lots of other cool things. In a couple of cases, the donors of the items bought their own items back. Those are supportive friends.

Before we left the park at the end of the day, my niece Courtney, who put together the entire event, was playing with her daughter. I took a bunch of pictures, but this one was the most fun.

My apologies for the blurred pic below, but I wanted to include it. I tried all day to get a good one, and this was, sadly, my best attempt. This is my nephew Andrew (Susan and Larry's son) and his girlfriend, who is wearing his letter jacket. I tried to take their picture in the park but couldn't get a good one, so this one is in Susan's kitchen. I only wish it had come out better.

We hung out at Susan and Larry's for a while that evening with both families and stayed long enough to give Susan a short shoulder rub and chat with her and Larry for a bit.  It was great to catch up with them, since we're out of town and don't see them as often as most of the family does.

Larry has come a long way but still has a lot of progress left to make for a full recovery, and Susan has assumed all the responsibilities of caregiver, mom of teenager, keeper of the home, and probably four other roles while working full-time. The funds from the benefit will help a lot with the nursing care that Larry needs, which is a huge help. I can only hope that Susan gets some real and present help for some of her roles, and soon.

There but for the grace of God go I, and my prayers are with her.

Tomorrow: Accountability April!

I know I promised y'all a post about Larry's benefit. And I shall deliver one. Unfortunately, I'm farther behind on another promised post, and I've already advertised this one on twitter.

About a month ago, Karina (a blogging friend) and I discussed our goals for our NaNoWriMo novels. We both wanted to read them, finish writing them, and do a round of editing. But that takes motivation, energy... things that are lacking a mere four months after finishing the insanity that is NaNoWriMo.  So Karina, being the brilliant idea chick that she is, came up with the idea of Accountability April.  

How many people, she wondered, started a New Year's resolution only to see it falter a couple of months into the year? How many people would like to lose 10 pounds or start journaling or read more or pray more or ________ [fill in your goal here]?

If your goal can be accomplished -- or kick-started -- in a month, then comment on this post and join us in April as we encourage each other to reach our goals. I'd love to hear about what everyone has in mind, although you're welcome to keep your goal private if you'd prefer not to share it.  You can still check in and let us know how you're doing as well as seeing how others are doing.  And oh hey, leave your twitter name if you have one too so we can all follow each other there as well. Mine (linked earlier in this post) is lisareid, and Karina's is CandidK.

I can't wait to see what happens next month!

What I Did This Weekend, Part 1

This weekend we attended a benefit for my brother-in-law Larry, who I've talked about before once or twice.  To recap briefly, Larry suffed a spinal injury in late November and is still working toward what we still hope will be a full recovery (one never knows with these things).  

It's now been four months since Larry's car accident, and he's been sent home from the rehab hospital; the insurance will no longer cover it.  Unfortunately, insurance will also not cover the home nursing care he requires, so my niece Courtney pulled together a benefit for her uncle complete with two bands, two t-shirts designed just for the occasion, a live auction, silent auction, BBQ lunch, jumping castle for the kids, and assorted other attractions.  I have no idea how she did it all in two months.

Her request to me was simple: could I please make a jewelry set for the silent auction?  Why yes, Courtney, I believe I can handle that.

What, you just meant one set?  I believe you're talking to the wrong person.  I only wish I could have done more.

This first necklace is green Czech glass with some unknown brown gemstone bead and black rondelles.  As with most of the jewelry, my mother-in-law outbid the competition and walked away with it.

The next necklace is the only one I was unsure of.  It's unusual enough that I wasn't sure anyone would really go for it.  Apparently I needn't have worried; there were several bids.

When I showed him what I'd made, my roommate pointed out that I didn't have anything in spring colors; it was all earth tones.  So this pink and purple glass necklace was the last one I made.  I love pink and purple and have always loved the bead I used as a pendant; I had a hard time giving this one away.

Turquoise will always make people happy in Texas.  This is turquoise, onyx, and blue lace agate -- a lovely stone with bands of light blue and white.  Pretty sure this one ended up with my mother-in-law too.

The long animal-print-looking beads in the next one came from my friend Cindy, who helped me bead several of these.  We wanted strong colors to go with the black and white beads, so she picked the malachite.  We had a hard time finding another strong color after that though; red was too Christmasy, and most other things looked wrong.  Fortunately I had these great royal blue cats-eye glass beads that were just right.  Larry's niece, who lives near me, bought this one.

I loved this necklace, made with unakite and garnets. I felt the bidding was too low, so I bid on it myself -- and won it! I haven't decided whether I'll keep it or use it as an item for another silent auction (for my church's women's retreat) in a month.

Again in this necklace, the main beads were my friend Cindy's.  She had looked for beads to go with the striking striped wavy yellow beads, but nothing seemed right until she found my oval wavy black beads. A match made in heaven! My mother-in-law thought so too.

Courtney had specifically asked me to create a necklace using beads I made, and this is it: there are three of "my" beads in this one (the pendant and the two lentils).  The base glass is dark purple, with lots of decoration in the silver glass I've been enjoying so much.  They're strung with purple shells, neon pink pearls, and green aventurine.  This one was the most popular of my pieces; my mother-in-law complained that it was priced out of her range.  The winner beamed and the woman with the second place bid was none too pleased (I did give her a business card, of course).

These simple black and white earrings are striking and fun.

These purple earrings have gold dots on them and purple Swarovski crystal dangles.  Again with the purple!  I wanted to keep them too, but they looked great on my mother-in-law; she wore them to dinner that night.

And last but not least, I really did love these beads when I made them.  I wanted them but always had a sense they wouldn't be mine.  I'm glad they went to a good cause.  They are three different types of the fun silvered glass -- sort of an experiment that turned out really well.

So now you've seen what I made for the benefit.  Tomorrow I'll post the pics I took while I was there and tell you a bit about the day.  It's really too much for one post.  It was a LONG day.

Ah... I will leave you with one more thing.  This is the web site for Larry's benefit.  You can click around and see some of the different stuff... but don't miss the video under the "Larry's pics & videos" link.  He's come a long way.  He has a long way to go, but he's come a long way. 

[Note that I had to view the video using Internet Explorer; it wouldn't work for me using another browser.  It's kind of picky that way.  But it was worth it, at least to me, to see it.]

A Bit of Heavy Weather

Here in central Texas, we don't get earthquakes, or tsunamis or hurricanes -- although occasionally we get the leftovers from a hurricane.

We do, however, get tornadoes. And hail. And today was one of those days.

When we got the weather report and heard the first small hailstones on their way, I sent my hubby outside to cover the car with our thickest, heaviest blanket. It weighs about 15 pounds when it's not soaking wet. The side you can't see is all quilted denim, handmade by my aunt. No, it's probably not the sort of thing you might think of to put on your car, except that it's the thickest blanket we have, and I knew it would protect the poor car. (Only one car fits in our junk-filled garage, and that's my precious convertible two-seater sports car. This car, although newer, is relegated to the driveway.)

Hubby stayed outside to watch the storm. I couldn't bear to watch hail damage as it was occurring, although once the hail really started, it was so loud that I had to go outside and see it.

We had heard the hail was going to be 2.5" in diameter. But seriously, when was a weather report on hail ever NOT exaggerated? I've heard of "golf ball sized hail" many times, but I've never seen it.

However, this hail was impressively sized: enough to cause damage. I grabbed my camera and made my hubby into a hand model.

The car didn't sustain any damage that I saw. I hope my roof survived as well. Many of the roofs in my neighborhood have been replaced in the last couple of years due to hail and windstorms. We were thinking this might be the last straw for our roof. I guess we'll see tomorrow if any shingles blew off.

So, how's the weather where you are?