Welcome 2011!

Well, I survived NaNo another year. And yes, it really was more like survival this year. Some sort of GI virus swept through the household the weekend before Thanksgiving, which left me decided to toss in the towel. However, some folks wouldn't accept that and badgered, er, I mean, encouraged, me to finish it out. I wrote over 22,000 in two days and finished the event in at Donkey Coffee with a couple of friends so tired that I was loopy. I'll need to go back and revisit the novel later, finishing it up and doing some revision before I let anyone really read it, but I still think there's a lot of good material there to work with. (Note to self: Sex scenes get boring to write at around the 5000 word mark.)

I also started another long term sub position at the end of November, which became a regular job for me in mid-December. Yep, I'm not regularly gainfully employed as an educational aide at the school, working mainly in a kindergarten classroom. It's great. And at only 4 hours a day, I still have time for writing and to help our eldest with her online academy work. (And I can start paying on those student loans again. Yes!)

Christmas was great. Since I was working, the normally barely there budget got tossed out the window. We didn't go crazy, but it was nice to have some extra to spend. Drama Queen got her keyboard and some of her American Girl wishlist. Monkey Girl got Steps High from American Girl plus her cell phone. (Look out world, she can text now!)

And then, the week after Christmas, my father-in-law had a heart attack. They life flighted him to Riverside, where he got two stents put in and seemed to be making a recovery. However, his heart never really got its function back. Sometime this past Saturday his body started shutting down. He passed away Sunday morning. I'm in a bit of a disconnect over it all, as the last time I saw him was Christmas Eve as we were opening presents. A particularly lingering upper respiratory infection started to set in the day after his heart attack and I never made it up to Columbus to visit. Nor did the girls. It makes it all a little odd as to how to process everything. And even though he had health issues, it still seemed a bit sudden. I cared a great deal for the man, although we sometimes had our differences. He could be bull-headed and stubborn, but he was also very kind, generous, and caring. And totally dedicated to his family. He will be missed so very much.

Okay, I've got myself all teary-eyed now. Time to end this thing. Here's wishing you all a wonderous new year.