Welcome to the Winner's Circle

Well, friends, it is done! I have finally finished the National Novel Writing challenge! One day early. I have the certificate to prove it and they even gave me winner logos! Aren't they so pretty? I think I love yellow.

Whew, am I glad that is done. And you know, at the end, the story is a potentially good one. I may do something with it at some point but just to get this far is fantastic. Last year, I didn't make it and I was so disappointed. So this year, I had to try again. I am so glad I did.

Skeeter, keep going! You got one more day. And there is NEXT YEAR!

I encourage all of you who love to write, who want to write, or who want to challenge yourself, in 2008 join me at NaNoWriMo!

Lord have mercy, that was fun!

Let's Take a Christmas Trip

All right, I've been seeing those Christmas blogs pop up everywhere! So, in the spirit of that, here are a couple of websites that you Christmas fanatics will enjoy. If you have children, or if you are a kid at hear, you'll enjoy this. I encourage you to visit the Disco Santa.

http://www.northpole.com/
http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/index.htm

And for you Christmas cooks, what could be better that borrowing Ms. Claus' Cookbook! Be prepared, it will take you until next Christmas to cook all this stuff!

http://www.northpole.com/

Have a great time!

Nose Pain

Yes, I'm back at the grind stone. Without the bells on either. I came in to a stack of papers nearly three inches thick and several problems that couldn't be resolved without my assistance.I have managed to solve those and sort through the pile, file some, and am now processing the remainder.

LUNCH TIME!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and holiday. A week off is not good for someone who has no choice but to work. I am no looking forward to another vacation. December will be a long month.

I worked a bit more on NaNo last night before I went to bed and so I am a teensy bit ahead of the count for today but that is what I want for the next four days. I am so nervous I have butterflies thinking about getting it done. Ideally, it would be done by Thursday. We'll see.

Health Warning

Someone sent me an email today with a health warning. When I get such warnings I always check the story out before I even think about forwarding it. This story states that eating soy products causes a number of health issues, the most serious being thyroid cancer.

Now, I am not into health foods and don't believe I use many things with soy in it. So, I wouldn't normally worry but my granddaughter is unable to drink regular milk because of lactose intolerance. Some people have suggested we get soy milk but we just bought DairyEase, regular milk with no lactose for people with this disorder. So, in part, because of the potential for her to be put on soy milk by well-meaning physicians, I thought it wise to research the story.

So, I have done the research on the web to find any mention of this and was shocked that I did. Soy is such a largely used product in the food industry it is impossible that there would be any harm in it, particularly when it is touted as a heart health food.

I am not going to relate every symptom here but I am providing the links to the sites where the information is. There appears to be a smoke from this fire. So, if you or someone you know uses soy products, READ THESE CAREFULLY and do your own research. These sites all have additional links. You can do a search on Ask.com or Google for "soy and cancer". In this instance, the more information you have the longer you might live.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy.htm
http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/mens-health-forum/soy-info-links-134240576-print.html
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/02testimonies.htm

I'll be checking my pantry.

Late Nite with NaNoWriMo

Once again, the word count is progressing. Someone mentioned wanting to read this when the competition ends. It probably won't be posted on a public blog. However, I may put it on another invitation only at Blogger. I have one already that some of you were invited to read. I want to get back to that next week, after the 30th.

As for what will happen to Shakedown, I don't know. I liked the story in planning. I like parts of it now. But it is so far off my original plan that I am not sure I can finish it. We'll just have to see.

This has made we want to pick up last years NaNo project and work on it but first, I have to do the project I started before that one!

Is this not confusing?

O.k. here is how it goes. I started a novel. I think it is a good one. I was working on it when NaNo2006 began. The book I started for that NaNo turned out to be a sequel to the first work! NO! Not on purpose. It just happened. Now, as it turns out, a character in this year's NaNo is linked to the main character in two previous works!

I'm tired. Even explaining it is exhausting.

So, that is were I am with this mess. Notice the word count has gone up again. Tonight I must have 40,008 by midnight. I'll get it.

Hasta manana!