New Afghan Started

Cooler weather is starting and I've returned to the one thing I love to do while watching the hubs and kidlet play video games or we watch TV.

Crocheting.

I've actually picked up a hook after ten months recovering from my last crocheting frenzy of 15 afghans (4 patterns).

The one I wanted to start was so confusing in the pattern instruction that I gave up after about six tries. I found another pattern, bought more yarn to be on the safe side, and started crocheting this weekend at the kidlet's swim meet.

I made 9 of these:

Looks like a snowflake, doesn't it?

Now, I have to make 36 more with the colors on the inside rotating in four different color patterns, before I crochet them together.

I think it'll be a good sized afghan in soothing winter colors.

That's it for today. We're having all our siding ripped off the house and I don't know how much writing I'll be getting done. They were right outside my computer window yesterday and it was BAD!

I'll post the project when they are through, complete with pictorial.

Later, Peeps!

Swim Meet -- Turkey Gobbler

This last weekend we spent both days at the Jenks Natatorium.

The bulkhead marks the 25 yards on the pool.

And my daughter had a GREAT SWIM MEET! There is something about that pool that she really likes.

Okay, I already schooled y'all about short course vs. long course, right?

This is short course season, which means the pool length is either 25 meters or 25 yards. If a swimmer is swimming a 100 meter event, then there are 3 turns for each stroke . . . and three chances to screw up. :-)  The important thing to realize that in short course that if you don't have good turns you can easily add A LOT of time.

This is actually something my horse friends would understand. You hit a fence too far away, your horse either 1) takes the jump, but it throws their rhythm and might take a rail, 2) adds a short step and 'chips' the jump, which throws the rhythm off and might still take a rail.

The right answer to all of this is pacing. If a rider can count strides--this is learned ability--they can adjust the horse's stride evenly, longer or shorter, on the way to the jump until you hit the perfect 'spot' to take off from, comfortably, evenly and in rhythm.

The same goes for swimming.

You have to hit the wall hard and in stroke to get the most out of your turn.

Out of the kidlet's eight events she qualified for OAG's in the 13-14 age group in three of them.

...erm, my daughter isn't 13 yet. .

And all three of them are in the 200 meter length . . . she missed qualifying for the 200 Breast stroke by 3 seconds. :-( She had never swum the 200 breast before, so this was a VERY good time even if she didn't qualify!

A couple of weeks ago, she moved up to the 'gold' team, which is composed of 13 and older swimmers. She's swimming with older kids and high school swimmers AND she swimming for two hours every day instead of 1 1/2 hours.

She took time off every event. I think it's working for her.

Here's the breakdown of her events:
Event -- time -- +/- time

100 Yard Free -- 1:05.67 -- -3.14
*200 Yard IM -- 2:36.99 -- -6.62
100 Yard Back -- 1:15.87 -- -3.89
200 Yard Breast -- 3:03.64 -- no previous time

----------------------------------------------------

*200 Yard Back -- 2:34.86 -- no previous time
*200 Yard Free -- 2:20.89 -- -7.65
100 Yard Fly -- 1:15.15 -- -2.24
100 Yard Breast -- 1:27.93 -- -0.78

* Qualified for Oklahoma Age Group finals March 2014

Again, she had a great meet! She missed qualifying for the 200 Breast by 3 seconds. Most of the 100's she missed by a second or two, with the exception of 100 Breast which is 4 seconds off pace. BUT she knew she messed up. After the meet she confessed that she thought it was a 200 instead of 100, and had been conserving her energy. She did turn it on during the last 25 yards, but it was too late . . . and she still shaved time off her previous time!

That's it for now.

Later, Peeps!

Foodie Friday -- Potato Chip Casserole

I started writing this blog on Thursday, got busy on Friday and never finished it other than the title.

Here's the dealio:

Casseroles are comfort food. Most casseroles can be thrown together from the stuff you have in your cabinet.

And if you don't have soup, then make a roux with equal amounts of flour and butter, cook it for a minute or two and add milk, but keep it on the thick side. If you add too much milk, cook it down. If you want it to be chicken flavored, add some concentrated chicken base and some chicken. For cream of mushroom soup, add diced mushrooms.

It's not that hard.

BUT a couple cans of cream of whatever soup in your cabinet will almost NEVER hit the expiration date. Jus' sayin'.

Casseroles tend to be non-measuring recipes. Chop a little of this. Add a little of that. And bake at 350 degrees for anytime between 40-60 min.

If it calls for potato chips, but you have tortilla chips, then by all means go for it. If it works, woohoo! and if it doesn't then you've fed your family for one meal.

If you use fresh vegetables: many of them need time to cook into softness (celery, carrots, onions, potatoes), so chop/slice/dice them into smaller than normal pieces.

Also fresh vegetables are full of liquid--which means your casserole will have excess liquid when it starts cooking.

Have you ever made sautéed or creamed spinach? You take a huge bag of spinach and sauté it in butter and garlic only to end up with about a cup of the final product? Yeah, like that.

So when you make a casserole think of the flavor profile you want to end up with. Try not to get totally freaky-deaky with it, but have fun. You don't want to add so much of one thing that it overpowers the combination.

All righty then, you've waited long enough for this recipe.

Potato Chip Casserole

Cooked and cubed chicken
celery, thinly sliced
green onions, thinly sliced
mushrooms, diced
black olives, chopped,
can of Cream of chicken soup
Milk
Shredded cheese
crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the first five ingredients in bowl. Add soup, and add about 1/2 soup can of milk. Mix together. Spray or lightly oil 9-inch square pan with vegetable oil.

Add 1/2 of mixture, sprinkle layer of cheese, crush a layer of potato chips. Repeat.

Place in oven for40-60 minutes, or until brown and bubbly. You might want to check it at the 30 minute mark to see how your oven is cooking it.

Enjoy!

Tips & tricks:

• don't a too many onions if your family is cranky about onions--oops!
• be sure to cook long enough so veggies aren't crunchy -- oops!
• leave out any ingredient family hates-- yay! they don't like olives, so I left them out. I like olives, but I guess Mom doesn't get a say in all this!
• don't be afraid to experiment--I thought about making a Mexican casserole with taco meat, ranch-style beans and Rotel tomatoes and layering it with crushed tortilla chips and cheese. If you try it, let me know how it works!
• Not a fan of tuna, but I overheard one lady making a tuna potato chip casserole.
• I wanted to make an Italian casserole, but I would have to experiment with uncooked pasta noodles to see if it would work. I have a feeling the dry ones would need a lot of liquid, but there are frozen and fresh noodles I could try.

Add your own twist to it. It's winter season, time for comfort food!

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday -- Sabotage!

Sabotage!

 

It happens to all of us at one time or another.

 

We tend to blame our spouse, our kids, society, or whomever, but do you know who is really responsible for weight loss sabotage?

 

You are.

 

Sorry, Peeps, but this isn't a "Poor little boo-boo did that mean so-and-so make you eat that custard from Andy's? Or eat that Big Mac meal, or the entire bag of kettle cooked potato chips, or whatever?" blog.

 

Blame the person responsible.

 

You.

 

I'm so sick and tired of people not taking responsibility for their actions. It's in the news all the time, the least you can do is take responsibility for your own weight.

 

The only exception is if someone is force feeding you like a goose.

 

Grow up. Grow a backbone. Get real.

 

Quit whining about how everyone is working against you.

 

Only YOU can set yourself up for failure. Only YOU can allow others to influence your choices.

 

Are YOU really that weak-willed?

 

 

Something to think about.

 

Later, Peeps!

 

 

 

Writing and a Snippet

Well, peeps, I'm writing.

Not NaNo speed, but I am writing . . . on two stories, with a goal to finish them by the end of the year.

The first one is DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER, the fourth book in The Goblin's Apprentice series. I'm currently at 20,414 words, and I expect to hit 65,000-75,000 words at the finish. It's a little long for MG (middle grade), but that word length isn't too hideous. TROLL (book three) came in at 66,000 words.

And only JK and her editing team knows how long the Deathly Hallows is . . . well, lookie there, Answer has the answer to everything. Book 1 Sorcerer's stone--76,944 words, compared to book 6 Deathly Hallows--204,796, but the longest was Order of the Phoenix at 257,046.

Who knew, right?

I was slightly stuck in this story, and to be perfectly truthful, I don't like how I wrote through this particular scene, but the story is almost to the point where I know exactly how I want to write it. Oh, that doesn't mean there won't be misbehaving scenes, but hopefully they won't stop me cold.

The other story is called FIRE WITHIN. It's under the Mystic Elements tab on my blog's home page. It's technically a "New" adult urban fantasy.

What is "new" adult?

It's one of those catch words that editors and agents toss around. Basically it's not YA (young adult), which is usually considered a high schooler, mid- to late- teens, though sometimes it can go a little younger or a little older. I consider the age of the character to be in their early twenties. Out of high school, but still unrealistic as to what life is all about.

This was the story I worked on the most this week. It's a lot more hard hitting with nasty language to boot. Sorry, but that's the way the character needs it to be. She's at a hard place in her life.
This is a rough draft, so there might be mistakes, booboos, and errors.

Please forgive, but there is a reason it's called "the writing process".

If you have any kids (12 and under) who read my blog, then you might want to keep them from reading this little excerpt.

****

The Fire Within

 

Chapter One

Footsteps echoed down the metal corridor. Quincy Jones’s eyes opened as she listened to the cadence of two pairs of heavy steps. To her knowledge, her cell was the only one occupied at this end of the hallway. They were coming for her. She would have company in three, two, one . . .

The small metal window in the steel door scraped open. “Warden wants to see you, firestarter.”

God, she hated that name almost as much as she hated the asswipe who used it—Cunningham. “I don’t suppose Warden thought to provide me with some clothes, did he?” In first two days she was imprisoned, she had burned up five sets of scrubs, the mattress covering the bare springs that formed her bed, and she had blistered the paint off two-thirds of the cell walls. Other than acquiring a fire retardant blanket, nothing else had been replaced.

“You’re in luck today. He didn’t want to see your lily white ass traipsing down the halls disturbing the other patients.” Cunningham gave a greasy chuckle.

Patients, my ass, this place was more like the Hannibal Lector wing for criminally insane psychopathic murderers, she thought, as a set of gray scrubs were shoved through the hole. At least it wasn’t one of the bright orange jumpsuits that the total loser whackjobs wore—besides orange would have clashed with her maroon hair. “You have exactly two minutes to get dressed. If you aren’t ready, then too bad, you can walk the gauntlet naked.”

The metal springs on the bed squeaked as she rolled off the frame and padded over to the door in her bare feet. Long ago, or was it just days?  She tried to hide her nudity, but soon gave up. Cameras watched her every move. Cunningham called it ‘suicide watch’. Maybe it had been valid when she first arrived, but not any longer. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to suspect they watched her just to jacked off in the control room.

Perverts.

Veteran's Day

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend . . .  and a few of you get one more day because today is Veteran's Day here in the states.

If you are a Veteran, Freebie Girl has a list of all the businesses who want to thank you for your service.  Just click here.

Thanks to all the veterans for your service.

Necessity Equals Invention

This last weekend I was reminded of a movie called Robots.

The quote, "Find a need, fill a need." resonated with us this weekend. I probably have the quote wrong, but who really cares??

It all started when the hubster wanted to clean the grout on the kitchen floor . . . no, it's not originally brown.

Some moronic builder decided that light tan would be a good color for the grout. Who in their right mind would use light tan in the one room of the house that gets the MOST foot traffic??

A builder who doesn't cook, that's who.

We've cleaned the grout before and then subsequently sealed it. The first time, I hand scrubbed it. The second time, we paid Stanley Steamer to power wash it.

And this time, the hubster wanted to power wash it himself, while using the wet/dry vac to suck up the excess water.

So he bought an attachment.

Those of you who don't know the hubs, should realize he is a man who believes in the right tool for the job. If he can't borrow or rent it, he'll buy it.

This is why we have a carpet stretcher. One that you pound with a rubber mallet. And don't ever touch the bottom of that thing unless you have a desire for serrated fingers. There are tons of curved razor sharp spikes on the head.

Sorry, I digressed.

Which is why he bought an attachment for our power washer . . . for our purpose that of cleaning the grout, it sucked. Every time he hit a grout line, it sprayed water outside the brushes. We have 6-inch tiles. There are always grout lines.

So he invented a 'doohickey'. {sorry, no pictures.}

He took two small rectangular Glad containers (for added strength, and cut a hole on the side for the wet vac to suck out the excess water, and a hole in the bottom (which became the top) where the nozzle of the power washer went.

It worked!!

We have relatively clean grout that I sealed Sunday night.

One more task off the to-do list.

The moral of this blog is that if you buy something and it doesn't work as you expected, use your imagination and invent something that works for you!

This isn't the first time he invented something, but it is the safest . . . don't ask about the chainsaw he duck taped to the end of the pool pole . . . yeah, I made him buy a good extended saw after I observed what he was doing.

Later, Peeps!