Pep Talk

As I mentioned before, Elvira is doing a writing challenge this month called Script Frenzy. I was going to do it too, but just couldn't seem to get the whole format to work for me, though I did come up with a killer idea for a plot. It will make a really great script if I can stick with it. Next year for sure!

I received an email that there would be a Write-In for Script Frenzy participants at our local Barnes & Noble. We got there a few minutes late, but couldn't find anyone who looked like they were writing anything at all. Never ones to waste a trip to the book store, we both found plenty of things to explore.

But the best discovery was local author Brandon Sanderson signing his books. Ever since he spoke at Elvira's middle school a few years ago, she has been a big fan of his. I really wanted her to meet him, and at the very least tell him how much she enjoyed his books. She loves getting reviews of her stories--why should he be any different? She felt a little awkward going up to him empty-handed though, so that cost me the price of a book. He was very gracious, inscribed it to her, and when he found out she was a writer (hmm, wonder how that bug got in his ear) gave her lots of encouragement and advice. The man could not have been kinder. She walked out of that store with the biggest grin on her face and has been writing non-stop since then (which she does anyway, so I can't really credit him with that).

I love it when people inspire my kids. Sometimes Sweetie and I need to help orchestrate such encounters, but it's well worth the effort. Someday Elvira will be signing her own books somewhere, and she'll remember how happy she felt when Brandon Sanderson took the time to give her a pep talk. I hope she passes the tradition on.

Which Of These Have You Done?

Holly posted this "game" on her blog, and since it's a slow news day I thought I would give it a whirl.

The game is, you copy and paste it into your blog and bold the ones you have done. If you don't have a blog, either start one, or, as a backup plan, leave a comment. :-)

Give it a try if you have a few minutes.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

Saboteur

Who needs a gremlin? I'm the world's best saboteur.

Why is it that when something is going well, I feel this compulsion to watch it self-destruct? I've been "working" on something for about three months now, and in the past the longest this "something" ever lasted was exactly two months and three weeks. Then it got hard, I doubted if it would last, and I just quit. So this time around, at precisely two months and three weeks, I just knew it was destined to collapse. I put my head under the proverbial pillow, fell off the radar, and waited to be proven right.

But at the last minute, I couldn't do it. I decided I wasn't going to give up without a fight, and if it didn't work it wasn't going to be because I didn't give it my all. So this weekend I got back on track. And you know what? It felt good. It felt great, in fact! And now that I'm over the "expiration date" I can keep going.

The curse is broken!!

The Payoff

At first glance, I have a pretty unusual group of friends who have been in my life over the years. Although I think all of them are pretty darned good-looking, it's really their brains that first attracted me. I am drawn to interesting people, and the more unique their personalities are, the more I want to get to know them. Tell me stories! Speak to me in languages I can't understand! Entertain me with all the weird things you learned from the natives (and the scary things you ate)! I love it all!

I've had countless roommates and met thousands of people between all the places I've lived and worked, but I'm still in touch with only a fraction of them. Of those, I can't think of one that isn't smart, funny, and accomplished. That's just my thing. I don't collect snow globes, Precious Moments figurines, or shot glasses, but I have an enviable and priceless collection of friends, in my opinion.

One of these is my dear Brent. Although he grew up in St. Louis too, I didn't meet him until we were in college. It was in January 1983, and I was standing barefoot in the snow in front of my apartment. I think I was wondering if powder snow was less cold than wet snow or some other stupid question that doesn't hold up very well with time. One of us must have been wearing a Cardinals shirt or something because we figured out quickly we were from the same place. That's all it took. He has been one of my dearest friends for 26 years now. Brent is one of the smartest, funniest guys I know, and very strong. Whenever I annoyed him (which was often), he would scoop me up and throw me in the nearest bush. Didn't matter how scratchy, snow-filled, or poky it was, I was going in it. He stuck with me through trauma, heartbreak, getting kicked out of college (long story--I got back in), graduation, our marriages, our babies, you name it. We hung out in St. Louis in the summers and at BYU during school. We went to a Cubs game in Chicago and Cardinals games in the bleacher seats in St. Louis. Sweetie and I visited Brent and his lovely wife in Maryland, they visited us here in Utah.

Which brings us to today. I popped over to Stover Hall (my old stomping grounds) at BYU and Brent's son Tom took Drummer Boy on a tour of the dorms so he can make up his mind about where he wants to live next year. Seeing our sons talking and laughing together was the best payoff I can imagine. Who would have thought 26 years ago that we would still be good friends and that now our children would know each other? When I mentioned this to Brent on the phone tonight and observed how smart, focused, and on-the-ball the boys were, he said that Drummer Boy must take after Sweetie's side of the family.

Thanks for being my friend, my dear. You're the best!

Aebelskivers

Okay, I need help. I had never heard of these things until Angie, Sally, and I went to the Provo School District Pan Sale yesterday. There was a fetching little cast iron pan that I had no idea what it's use was for (how's that for bizarre sentence structure?). "What the heck are aebelskivers?" I asked, with nary a trace of irony in my Utah twang. Angie makes them all the time for her girls, she said. Easy peasy, yummy, can't go wrong.

So I bought a pan. Seasoned it in the oven just like the directions said, made the batter just like the recipe said. They were disgusting, and they stuck to the stupid pan.

But I am intrigued, nonetheless! Since I already make Yorkshire Pudding to honor Travis' English mom, I might as well learn something Danish for his dad, right? Google "aebelskiver" and people are absolutely poetic in their love of these little things. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong.

So send me your recipes and your cooking tips. Or maybe I'll just pop over to Angie's some Saturday morning and have breakfast with the girls!

Check Engine Light

I've been running myself ragged a little too much lately, and this week was the week to pay for it. I just completely ran out of gas.

Too much stress, too many errands, too much running around, too little sleep. Bad combination. So I'm taking it easy for a few days. I haven't walked for nearly a week, am going to bed earlier, and cut out non-essential errands. I even took a break from blow-drying my hair and let it go nuts in the rain.

I tried to read a book I'd seen recommended, but it was unbearably stupid. But I did try! I think I'll pop in a DVD tonight, pop some popcorn, and watch something that doesn't have the name "Disney" in it anywhere. It feels good to spoil myself a little.

Gone-All-Afternoon Beef Stew

I get lots of requests for this recipe because it's very easy to make, has an adjustable cooking time, tastes sooo good, and makes the whole house smell fantastic. This is actually going to be our Easter dinner tomorrow since we are picking Travis up at the airport that afternoon and I won't be around to cook.

2 lbs. top or petite sirloin (or any stew meat), cubed
3+ med. carrots, sliced*
2 onions, chopped
3+ potatoes, peeled and quartered*
1 bay leaf
1/4 c. dry red wine**
1 beef bouillon cube
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1/2 - 1 soup can of water
1 tsp. salt
dash pepper
dash Worcestershire sauce
10 oz. pkg. frozen peas or any leftover frozen vegetables

*I usually add lots more carrots and potatoes than this calls for, and sometimes celery.
**You can substitute red grape juice or cranberry juice if you prefer.

Combine all ingredients except frozen vegetables in a lightly greased 3-quart casserole dish with tight-fitting lid. Stir ingredients and cover.

Bake in preheated oven at 275 degrees for 4 hours (or 5 hours at 250 degrees). Technically, you can also bake it at 300 degrees for 3 hours, but the texture and flavor are off a bit. Add frozen vegetables 15 minutes before time is up so they retain their color.

Serves 6-8

(Pictures coming soon)

Ginger Cookies

This has become my favorite cookie recipe. It's very popular at work!

3/4 c. butter flavored Crisco
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. ground cloves
3/4 t. ginger
either granulated or decorator's sugar

Combine shortening, sugar, egg, & molasses. Mix thoroughly. Measure four and sift in dry ingredients. Stir into shortening mix. Use medium scoop to form cookies.

Place on cookie sheet. These will spread, so allow room between them. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size.

Here's where your personal preference comes in. If you like a sweeter cookie, dip the top and sides of the cookie in decorator's sugar before baking. The sugar looks very pretty, but it does bake more sugar into the cookie and diminish the spiciness of it a bit. If you want a spicier cookie, wait until they come out of the oven and sprinkle granulated sugar on the top while still hot.

(Pictures to come)

Let's Get This Party Started

Things have been very quiet here comment-wise. Shall I spice things up a bit?

My sister Suzanne recently saw "Food, Inc." at a film festival in Durham, North Carolina. I haven't seen it yet, but I think it kind of does to the FDA what "Super Size Me" did to fast food, which is to take a good look at the man behind the curtain (note the clever "Wizard of Oz" reference). "Super Size Me" had quite an impact on me and my older kids. We have almost completely given up fast food since watching it.

When I was 22, my brother and I took my niece to the Lincoln Park Zoo's "Farm-In-the-Zoo" area to see all the animals (this was right around the corner from my first apartment in Chicago). My brother, who at the time was a devout vegetarian, told me all the ways each animal was raised and slaughtered. My niece was really too young to care, so we didn't worry so much about that. Although I didn't give up meat entirely, I haven't had veal since that day in 1986, and never will again. He also had me read "Diet For A Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe, which was hugely influential for me as well.

Here's a clip. Please watch it and let's discuss. This is a film written by Eric Schlosser, the author of "Fast Food Nation." It's scheduled to go into limited release in June, and I'm very curious about it. This is very timely for me since it's planting time in our garden. At least I know where that food is coming from! You'll want to pause the playlist first before you start the clip.

I also have a really inspiring clip on Ambrosia. Pop on over and visit me there.

Urban Homesteading

I still want to have chickens and bees. Should I start thinking about goats? What do you think, Sue? Would the noise bother you?

Here's a link to Anais Dervaes' blog.

Photo Mosaic Challenge

I visited Jason Z's site the other day and saw his mosaic post. So I decided to do it too!

This is fun to do, but a little labor intensive. Fortunately I would much rather play with this than do housework, so it works out fine for me! The challenge is to choose nine photos that represent you (or me, in this case).

Here are the rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Mosaic Maker (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).
d. Save the image and blog it!

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your favorite color?
4. Favorite drink?
5. Dream vacation?
6. Favorite Hobby?
7. What you want to be when you grow up?
8. What do you love most in life?
9. One word to describe you?

This is a lot trickier than it sounds. Sometimes you have to play with the search parameter a bit.

Here is mine:My photos are: 1. Diane 2. Ginger cookies 3. Tiffany blue :) 4. Water 5. La Push, Washington 6. Writing 7. Question Mark 8. Family 9. Lucky

If you decide to do this, leave me a comment so I can come visit your blog and see it!