Fiendish Friday: Grief

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 7 Comments

A lot of people consider me a cold fish. I’m not really outwardly demonstrative of my emotions. When the hubs had his rush to the emergency room – lost vision in one eye incident, I took the kiddo to co-op, I smiled and nodded and literally no one knew what was going down. Part of that is my anti-drama reaction.

When my MIL got diagnosed with the big C, I spent a couple of hours researching. Her brand of cancer, 16 month average life expectancy for ALL stages. And hers wasn’t caught early. I grieved, quietly, at home, while everyone else talked about how she was going to beat this, next year the family would, etc etc etc.

But I am the one she talked to about dying because I could let her without denying it or crying hysterically. I could let her vent her grief without laying mine upon her because I had already grieved.

A good friend just got diagnosed with the big C. I immediately researched her brand. It’s probably going to be ok. But when I got done researching, I spent the afternoon grieving. Sure, some would say that’s creepy, or premature, or ridiculous but now I’m prepared. When she needs to talk or needs someone to take her kids for the night, help her into the shower, or clean up her vomit, I’m prepared. I’ve grieved and my emotional needs won’t keep me from helping her. And if she doesn’t need me, if everything goes easy….It will be a pleasant surprise for my emotional base.

Wednesday Writer’s Update 10/12

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Happy Wednesday to you, happy Wednesday to you, happy Wednesday dear readers, happy Wednesday to you, and many more from channel 44.

Someone other than me must remember that….

Ok, moving on. Monday my friend C and I went to How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse class. It was mildly amusing. Mainly I think due to the incredible instructor who managed to keep a straight face no matter what was asked. Seriously, he must teach Junior High boys for a day job or something. LOL. What I came away with was this…even in a Zombie Apoc the gov’t can’t get it’s story straight. The CDC wants you to tag any Zombie you kill but the hunting license says you don’t need to tag and there’s no limit. shrug. what’s a girl to do. Batter up (with a spike in the end of the bat).

Missed write in tonight because the hubs asked me to stay home. Seems he got promoted and wants to celebrate. Aww, isn’t that sweet.

I’ve decided to report on my stated 2016 goals each Wednesday for a little prod of accountability.

– Participate in one flash fiction challenge per month.

√ sigh. I might just have to admit defeat on this one, this year.

– Prepare and teach “Nano to Publish”.

√ Almost done. Last class this year on Saturday. Well and a party in December. But we’re going on next year though. smiles. First Saturday of the month, 1130 AM, North Bend Library.

– Any time I am not actively working on my 2015 Nano Novel, write 2500 words per week on my spy novel until it is done. (After four years, it’s time to put this mess to bed.)

√ Working on editing it.

Non writing goals

– Prepare and teach two classes at the coop for the 2016-2017 school year.

√ Going swimmingly well. I actually am gaining students. But I have to say the hours I put in are crazy. On the other hand I won’t have to do this again, should I teach this exact same class. LOL.

– Take better care of my body, ie. stop compulsively painting, crocheting, and writing until my back or shoulder is so tore I can barely use either.

√ Doing well except for the 3 hours I spent carrying legos upstairs to empty the kiddo’s toy room before the painters come to paint.

– yoga daily.

√ check, check. Namaste.

Book Review: Grilled for Murder

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Still on that cozy mystery trend. Grilled for Murder by Maddie Day. Second book in the Country Store Mystery series, I was quite ok having not read the first one, although I might go back and read it now that I liked the second one. LOL.

The main character, Robbie Jordan, had just opened her life long dream, country store and restaurant, in the small town her aunt lives in. She reluctantly agrees to cater an event at her store and the next morning finds a dead body.

Some things I liked about the style.

-Robbie has no desire to be an investigator. She isn’t begged into it by anyone. She tries to stay out of things.

-You know what Robbie knows, when she knows it. Nothing is kept from you. You can make all the deductions Robbie does.

-Someone very unpleasant is killed. Someone very unpleasant did the murder. I never like it the story line has the wonderful person die, killed by someone backed into a corner. Give me nasty gets what’s coming to them, every time.

Things I didn’t like about the style:

-It’s a little repetitive.

-Author Day isn’t quite careful enough with tracking her facts. There are a few “but, wait” moments.

℘℘℘℘ – Solid four pages. Read it Sunday in between household chores. Enjoyable. Amusing. Has curl up with a good bottle of wine on a rainy night written all over it.

 

 

Sunday Sup: Cheeseburger Pie

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In our house there are winter meals and summer meals. But this one, the hubs asks for year round and almost every week. I’m not sure why the obsession but since it’s tasty, warm, and I can make it super low carb for myself with almost no extra effort, I indulge him.

The original comes from Emily Bites but of course I changed it. LOL You can see her version here.

Cheeseburger Pie

Preheat your oven to 375. Spray a pie plate and a couple of additional ramekins with olive oil. (use two pie plates if you got them and no one wants low carb.)

Pour a defrosted bag of hashbrowns (the fam likes the TJs ones the best) into a bowl. Add a three count of olive oil and 6 grinds of sea salt. Mix together with your hands. Press the hashbrowns into the prepared dishes. Leave a couple of small ramekins without hashbrowns for low carb. img_20160923_145104

Plunk them down on a cookie sheet and slide it into the oven. Cook 35 minutes.

Dice a sweet Hawaiian yellow onion, small size and small dice. Saute for five minutes in light olive oil, careful how much oil you use at this stage because when the onions are a little brown you’ll add 1 pound ground beef to the pan. Break up the meat. Add some Worcestershire sauce and McCormick’s Montreal steak seasoning to the pan to taste.

While the meat browns, put a 1/3 c of mayo, 1/4 brown mustard, decent shake of paprika, and one tiny diced pickle into a bowl and stir. Use a big bowl. Dice a tomato or 1/4 a couple of handfuls of grape and cherry tomatoes, toss into the dressing bowl.

When the meat is done browning, let it cool a bit. Just before the oven beeps add the meat to bowl of dressing and tomatoes and stir until well incorporated. Add the mixture to the prepared hashbrown “crusts”. Top with shredded img_20160923_204532cheese of choice. I’m lazy so I use a pre-shredded four cheese blend. Slide the pan back into the oven for ten minutes.

The boys decimated the pie plate before I could get a pic, so you get the bowl with a wedge removed. LOL

Fiendish Friday: Ickaroo

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So I’ve been reading this fun Ken Jennings book lately, the book review will post eventually, and in this book he is debunking all the things adults tell kids that may or may not have a basis in fact.

Our our third date, I cooked for the hubs. He used my bathroom and didn’t put the lid down. I called him on it and he started to give me shit, why couldn’t I put the seat down, he put it up. I was aghast. No, no, close the LID, every time, before you flush. When you flush microscopic particles of ick fly all over the room. He gave me this very long look and then said ok. Knowing my hubs as well as I do now, I can practically guarantee he went home to google it up. He never said a word about it again but the LID is closed every time.

Jennings covers the toilet spraying germs thing. I am vindicated. LOL

Wednesday Writer’s Update 10/5

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Greetings and Salutations most fabulous readers. I have done a 180. From the depths of despair to contented productivity. And to ice that cake I just read an article that explained so much to me about me lately. I love this article. It just, perfectly explained me to me. And since it did it better than I could, I’ll link to it here so it can explain me to you.

Moving on: writing. I started edited my spy novel again. Some of my beta feedback is very clear and definitely moving my novel in the direction I want it to go. And that’s really what matters, where I want this novel to go. I still have some on the fence questions. Is the sex too much? Do the spies really have to kill every bad guy they encounter and if they do, does that make them unlikable? Does two G starting names really cause that much of an issue? And what the heck do I rename Gareth if two G names really is a problem? But aside from that, I need to fatten up the second half of my novel. It isn’t even a walking skeleton because it has no tendons or muscles. It’s just a barely articulated skeleton. LOL. I rushed it. I set a hard goal for myself and made it by cutting corners. Gotta fix that.

Taught my first Nano to Publish class at the coop. Got an email from a parent, who was sitting in on the class, the next day. “I don’t know how good a writer you are but you are one hell of a speaker.” Laughing. If I just combine that with the people who say I write just like a talk…that’s one hell of a compliment.

I’ve decided to report on my stated 2016 goals each Wednesday for a little prod of accountability.

– Participate in one flash fiction challenge per month.

√ October just started, I have time still, don’t get all pushy on me now.  LOL

– Prepare and teach “Nano to Publish”.

√ Yep, almost done now. The October meeting will be a wrap up and an intro to Nano for new folks. We are continuing on next year with less emphasis on a time line. The workshops will be more, come as you are and we’ll help you get to the next place. First Saturday of the month, 1130AM-1PM, North Bend Library.

– Any time I am not actively working on my 2015 Nano Novel, write 2500 words per week on my spy novel until it is done. (After four years, it’s time to put this mess to bed.)

√ Rockin and Rollin. Next goal: Ready for readers in 6 weeks. If you want in, let me know.

Non writing goals

– Prepare and teach two classes at the coop for the 2016-2017 school year.

√ This is going pretty well. Had a student drop my Geo class, but three others turned up to add it. LOL. Nano is a blast. I made my students write a description of a setting in 30 words or less. They were wigging hard. “30 words!! But that’s so little.” Yep. Mwahahahah.

– Take better care of my body, ie. stop compulsively painting, crocheting, and writing until my back or shoulder is so tore I can barely use either.

√ Doing ok on this but my shoulder is still tweaked from all the house painting.

– yoga daily.

√ 5 days this week.

Book Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel

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I recently powered through Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond in preparing for the Geography/History class I am teaching at the coop this year. I know the book is 20 years old but I was getting my degree when it came out. LOL. I didn’t have time to read it then and it fell of my radar with a toddler under foot.

It is well written. His arguements are painstakingly laid out. I found him a bit repetitive at times. And his additional chapters were superfluous responses to criticism.

In short Diamond’s arguement is this: societies are shaped by what they were lucky enough to find in their physical geography. He makes a compelling arguement. Does he cover every possible permeation? I don’t know. I don’t know everything. But I will say this, his arguement agrees with my preconceived notions. LOL. Which is what everyone likes right?

He argues that any theory that attempts to explain societal differences based on race is erroneous. That populations are the same. They have the same capabilities. Why one population is more developed than other had nothing to do with their innate abilities. It is all dependent on what materials were there to work with. The larger a population you can support as a society, the more outliers you might have. Mathematically speaking if 1 in a hundred is an outlier and you have 50 people in your area…odds aren’t so good. But if you can support 5000, you’re going to have a number of outliers. And it’s the outliers that make the big jumps in invention for a society.

He talks about other factors as well. But I’ll let you read his book and get the full run down.

℘℘℘℘ – Four Pages. Good book. Lot’s of good info for my class.

Sunday Sup: Baked Oatmeal

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Sometimes I think my kiddo is pretty weird. He doesn’t like much fruit except berries. He LOVES berries. So when I found this recipe on How Sweet It Is, he initially said ick. Peaches.
But then I mentioned I could make it with Blueberries and it was on like donkey kong.
If you want to see the original recipe, click here. What follows is my bastardization…
Baked Blueberry and Cream Oatmeal
Turn your oven to 350, preheat.
Put 1/4 cup of good butter in 2 quart baking dish.
Slide the dish in the oven. Yes. Put it in. All will be well.
Now in a big bowl measure 3 cups oats, 1/2 c coconut or maple sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and a dash of nutmeg. Stir.
In a little bowl whisk together 1 & 1/2 c whole milk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla (more or less).
Add the wet to the dry.
Add a generous amount of frozen blueberries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, or even peaches).
Remember that dish in the oven, yep, check on it. Your butter should be just about melted and your oven should be just about 350 now.
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Add the bowl of glop to the butter dish, stir.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
img_20160919_185608
My kiddo likes it with whipped cream.
If you compare the two recipes, you’ll notice I change or remove all the cane sugar products. They don’t agree with me.

Fiendish Friday: Typecasting

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

I think I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have actual TV. I watch things as the season comes out on Netflix, generally a good chunk of time after broadcast TV. LOL “Broadcast”. Moving on. So lately I have been watching Hawaii Five 0, from last season.

The second I saw Julie Benz on the screen, I wondered who she was really working for. Yeah, right, SF PD is going to start a squad like Five-0. Sure. I buy that. But they wouldn’t send her if they did. Hello, It’s Julie Benz, she plays I’m your friend because I’m using you better than almost anyone.

Roswell: Topolsky – trust me as your friendly neighborhood school guidance counselor it’s not like I want to lock up your alien boyfriend so we can perform experiments on him and his friends.

Buffy: Darla – Seduced Angel into becoming a vampire. Enough said.

I’m pretty sure she was the bad guy in all the CSI episodes she guest starred on. She’s just bad. Every time.

Sigh. Poor Chin so easily led around by his…surfboard…

Wednesday Writer’s Update 9/28

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I made it cafe tonight. I was later than all get out, but I got here. I managed to break away from gravitational force that is my kiddo. Want to know how? I spent 2.5 hours sorting through legos so kiddo could rebuild a set that had been dismantled. So when daddy got home and I announced I was going to cafe, kiddo gave me a hug and let me out the door. Woohoo! If only I had 2.5 hours every Wednesday….

So Monday after my second geography class, I was checking with a mom to see if she got the notes I emailed out and she told me her daughter couldn’t stop talking about my class last week. Huh? Who knew teenagers actually listen….

I find I am spending about 3 hours of prep time per 50 minutes of class. On the plus side if I teach this again in a few years, I’ll be good to go. LOL.

I’ve decided to report on my stated 2016 goals each Wednesday for a little prod of accountability.

– Participate in one flash fiction challenge per month.

√ Um…did that short one earlier this month, about writing, so I am good for 3 more days. LOL

– Prepare and teach “Nano to Publish”.

√ So this year has gone, not quite according to plan. I think only 2 people are publishing this year and I am not one of them. However, we are going to do the class again next year with a more relaxed time frame.

– Any time I am not actively working on my 2015 Nano Novel, write 2500 words per week on my spy novel until it is done. (After four years, it’s time to put this mess to bed.)

√ So my beta edits are waiting for me. I’ve looked at them a bit. I’ve at least decided which ones I’m throwing out. I know where my book is going, I know what I want it to be.

Non writing goals

– Prepare and teach two classes at the coop for the 2016-2017 school year.

√ Teaching. First Nano class is this Friday. I feel like it’s so short til Nano, I really wanted more time to talk plot and characters with them, to go through some exercises, but we have only 4 classes before the writing begins in earnest.

– Take better care of my body, ie. stop compulsively painting, crocheting, and writing until my back or shoulder is so tore I can barely use either.

√ I have done something horrid to my right shoulder. I think it’s some sort of hang over from all the painting I’ve been doing around the house. And I’m still not done. Oh well, we used good paint, with a little luck my shoulder will recover before I have to do it again.

– yoga daily.

√ eh, more like every other day. Whatever, I’m showering every day, mostly. LOL. Priorities right?