son of a...that's gonna leave a mark.

Sometimes I look at Ethan and see Jacob all over again and sometimes I see a completely different face. But I took this picture of Ethan last night and had a flashback, rightly so. Jacob was several months older than Ethan when his picture was taken, but you get the idea.

Ethan, Jacob...in that order:

 

"Wong has always been able to take well-loved and highly recognizable dishes and put a spin on them, and nowhere is this talent more apparent than at The Pineapple Room." ~ Jo McGarry, Midweek.

    
    photo credit: Tina Yuen, PBN

Pictured above is internationally acclaimed chef and restaurateur Alan Wong, whose name is synonymous with the best of Hawai'i Regional Cuisine. Last month when we were on O'ahu, we treated ourselves and nine of our favorite relatives to dinner at The Pineapple Room, one of three restaurants Wong owns in Hawai'i.

  

Though I had dined before at his flagship restaurant in downtown Honolulu (an Obama favorite), and loved his creative dishes which blend different ethnic cooking styles, this was my first time at The Pineapple Room. 

( Read more... )

What?

Milo's favorite trick lately is to pull down any sweater or coat left on the back of the kitchen chairs. He takes the sleeve in his teeth and tugs. Then he makes a bed-pile on the floor. I'm constantly picking up that black wool coat, as it's his favorite.

The bright Thanksgiving print is the edge of the kitchen tablecloth--please don't start pulling on that, Milo!!!

Last winter I knit a bamboo baby hat for a friend. I liked it so much, I made another one for Allison. Then a few weeks ago an lj-friend asked if anyone would be interested in knitting a warm hat for her baby. She requested wool, but I told her about my bamboo hats and she said it sounded nice.

Several IRL friends saw the hat before I mailed it and said I should sell them. I was very hesitant, but finally said that I'd give it a trial run, and if it doesn't work out, no harm done.


So, uh, here goes ...

Do you want a bamboo baby hat? Maybe for the holiday season?
I decided I'd take orders through November 22 to ensure holiday delivery. (Hanukkah orders get priority. If it's a Hanukkah order, please mention that!)

The specs:

Yarn is a bamboo/acrylic/rayon blend, (85 percent bamboo) and is machine-washable. These hats are SUPER-soft!
Colors are oatmeal, sage green, yellow, white, blue, rose and baby pink.
Sizes are small/medium or medium/large. The small/medium I made for Allison still fits her and she's almost 8 months old.
Prices are $10 plus shipping for a basic hat. Add $2 for a contrast color stripe. (Cuurently not pictured, but if someone orders one, I'll add photos of it before I send it out.) Add $4 for a rush order, mailed by Nov. 30.

Also available without the I-cord tail. Please specify if you do NOT want the 6 inches of cord at the top of the hat.



Would you like to see the hat? Of course you would! Good thing I have a resident model whose always happy to help out. This is actually the hat I recently made for my friend's baby, Piper, but I put it on Alli for a minute just to show how well the small size fits her. Oatmeal seems to be a popular color!













Available in rose, blue, sage green and yellow. White and baby pink are not pictured.

I think that possibly I will only write about things that happen at the grocery store from now on because it's kind of more interesting than the things that happen at my house.

My house is like a bat cave:
 You can guess which one I get to be.

Seriously. There is no light in there. It's so bad that sometimes I step out into the driveway and realize that not only do my socks don't match, but my shoes don't match! 

Yes, I do turn on the lights.
No, they don't help.

I think pretty soon I'm going to end up looking like this: 

This might actually be an improvement. He's kind of cute.

But this transformation probably won't go over well on the book tour because instead of talking about my books and characters and how cool it would be if NEED was turned into a movie, I'll just be all, "SCREECHING_BAT NOISE_ SCREECH!"

This may be an improvement too actually.

Anyway, the ATM/CREDIT machine broke today in the grocery store FAST/EXPRESS lane, which made it not so fast/express.

The guy behind me was:
1. Cute
2. Impatient to get to lunch
3. Buying toothpaste.

And the woman in front of me was:
1. Cute
2. Patient
3. Buying $10 worth of things.

I was merely buying this:


Yes, it is that kind of day.
So, I said to the cashier clerk man who JUST had to go through a similar 20 minute ordeal with the machine where everyone in the entire grocery store had to come fix it, "I'll buy her stuff and my Mr. Bubble Bubblebath for sensitive skin and his toothpaste."

Everyone looked at me.

And I said, "I have cash!"



Which I did! Amen! And the cute lady who I love hugged me and the cute man was all, "Thank you, you didn't have to do that." He looked at me like I was this super angel person, which I am not, but it was nice to have someone think that.

And I have decided now that cash is a very good thing.
So is bubble bath.
Bats don't like bubble baths, right? So, I am still human, right?
Just checking.

So one of my LJ friends, vurumai , posted this picture today:



aaaaaaaand let's just say it reminded me a little of a picture I took several months ago of Jacob:



I guess all men are built the same?

Some friends have asked for more recipes and Crock Pots came up so here's 2 of my favorite Crock Pot recipes that you will love, guaranteed!

I love Mexican food...it's my fav, by far. At restaurants I order shredded beef tacos and decided I had to figure out how to make this stuff at home. It shouldn't be too hard, it's basically just spicy pot roast. I tried several times on my own and it was always pretty bland. Then I found this recipe. WIN!! 

Spicy Shredded Mexican Beef

Ingredients

• 1 (2 1/2 lb)  boneless beef chuck roast (can use a 3-pound roast)

• 1 (14 ounce) can chopped diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 cup spicy salsa
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno chiles, drained
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 cups beef broth
• black pepper

Check the website for more detailed instructions but basically dump it all on the Crock Pot and turn it on. The end. Shred it up and it will make the yummiest soft tacos you've ever had. For extra yummy, pair it up with the homemade salsa I posted last week. This is seriously EASY and delicious for a party, btw, if you're sick of serving the same old stuff to a crowd.

________________

Next- Chicken. Who doesn't love a home cooked chicken dinner? This might be the ultimate comfort food. This is probably the easiest thing I make that actually tastes really good.

My Crock Pot Chicken

4 chicken breasts (frozen or thawed, doesn't matter)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup white wine
Kosher salt
Pepper
Dried parsley

Ummm there is nothing more to this recipe than throwing the chicken in the Crock Pot (even if it's frozen solid), and then mix up all the other ingredients and pour it over. Turn it on.  If the chicken is thawed turn it on Low and cook for 6-8 hours, if it's frozen turn it on high for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

______________

Bonus recipe: I can't make that chicken without making my roasted carrots as a side dish. No this isn't a crock pot thing but oh well.

Carrots- peeled, sliced in half on the thick parts and then in pieces. Rule of thumb: Make them the size of your thumb. :-p
Olive oil
Kosher salt- a generous amount but don't give yourself a heart attack
Pepper
Dried thyme- same as salt...use plenty of it, you almost can't over-do thyme. Almost.

Coat carrots in olive oil and then sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Roast at 425 for about 30 minutes or until they get browned. I usually turn them a couple of times.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

I don't have to tell anyone how much this isn't good for their writing.  I also don't have to tell anyone how hard it is to gain that confidence back.  Now, what made me lose mine?  I wish I could blame it on someone, but the truth is I've never lost confidence in my writing because of what someone has said.  I guess I'm just not that type.  Before I started my first book I'd spent a lot of time in book discussions, book groups and online.  I knew very well what the fans had to say about storytelling.  True, I didn't understand the process behind a book, but when I first started I knew I'd never please everyone.  Knowing this will never make me think I can't write.  Seems kinda silly to let such a thing happen in the first place, doesn't it?

I love Supernatural.  Der.  Y'all know that.  I'm falling head over heels in love with Vampire Diaries.  And no, I certainly don't expect everyone I come in contact with to love these shows like I do.  I don't even expect them to like the shows.  Certainly, I won't dislike a person because they don't like what I like.

So no.  Regarding my writing, differing opinions don't shake me.

I also know that some people can't dislike something without being nasty about it.  That is just how they're made.

I am what makes me lose confidence in me. I lose interest in my story and its mission and I lose that drive that I once had.  For me, writing a book is like a marriage.  At first, I'm all googly-eyed and it's all I can think about.  After a time though the honeymoon's over.  I have to decide if I want to work at really loving my book, give it up in some flight of fancy since the grass is always greener, or stick with it because I'm stubborn and in the end wind up hating it.

This emotional battle is what makes me lose confidence in my writing.   If I can't commit then I'm worthless.  If I can't work at making it the best it can be then I'm a lazy slob.  If I make myself do something I don't want to do then I'm only hurting myself in the end.  And the circle goes round and round.

Until, eventually, thank the fiction gods, it evens back out. 
 

I see it all the time... on blogs, on Twitter, on forums... agents say they get more queries than ever before. And I see a few folks reply that its probably the economy that has kick started so many people to finally write a book.

WRONG! (In My Opinion, of course)

Agents get more queries for one reason and one reason alone (In My Opinion, of course)...

Because its Easier to Write a Book. (Notice I didn't say 'good' book or 'okay' book... that part is as difficult as EVER. Believe me/you!)

Don't believe me. Talk to someone who's been writing for more than ten years (like myself).

Now hear out my reasoning.... I could, of course, be wrong.

1. Research.

I remember when I started to write back in 1994, a fantasy book. I wanted to research castles and such. I had to go to the library. Many libraries. Go through the card catalog. Dig through shelves. Or go to the bookstore and PURCHASE a book on castles.

Today it's a click away. You can research ANYTHING if you have the Interent. Easy, peezy, Mac and Chezzy. It's actually fun to research. And go in depth. It's fast. And convenient.

2. Setting.

The first book I ever finished (BALLOON SMUGGLERS... I still think it's good), takes place in Los Angeles, CA. Hardly any libraries had anything other than tour books about the City. I didn't know anyone who lived out there. It wasn't easy trying to make my setting a part of the  book. Turned out, for me, that my brother-in-law was going to a week long conference out there and had an extra bed in his hotel room. My wife gave me the green light and I spent a week drving around the city.

Physcially going to the setting of your book is still the BEST way to learn about it, but its not necessary anymore. With the Internet, Digital Photos, Blogging... most of us can dig up all kinds of information about our setting without leaving the house. Amazing.

3. Software.

When I started to write BALLOON SMUGGLERS, I bought a few pens and a few spiral bound notebooks... and proceeded to write by hand. Then I would type it into a Brother P-touch typewriter and it would print out the manuscript. Took! For! Ever!

Now we have Word and Wordperfect and Notepad... so much easier. Spell and Grammar Check and, jeez, it's amazing how much easier it is to create a manuscript. And printing is so FAST!!! Some authors still write by hand... God Bless them... Everyone.

4. Agent Research

The only way I could research agents way back when was to go to the bookstore and purchase a copy of Writers Digest Guide to Literary Agents. About 20 bucks. And then to send out material... I had to label everything by hand, purchase postage... it was a real pain in the patoot.

The Internet has made finding information about agents very, very easy. But you have to go to the right sources... I'm sure there is also a LOT of bogus information out there.

*****
I know I'm missing a bunch of stuff... If you can think of anything else, please feel free to comment and I'll add it to my list.

I think the inundation of queries is due more to these reasons than to the economy. At least a lot of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to

marirene74

and

mela_lyn

            

Had a lovely time at Sara Lewis Holmes's booksigning yesterday at Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Virginia. It was a gorgeous day -- warm and sunny, in the 60's, and lots of folks strolled in to meet and congratulate Sara on the publication of her second middle grade novel, Operation Yes (Scholastic, 2009), which, BTW, was just named one of Booklist's Top Ten Art Books for Youth!


Sara signing books for my contest winners, Marjorie Light and Jeannine Atkins.

Of course Cornelius came along (he has a big crush on Sara). Happily, there were a lot of little green men about for him to play with.


Above is the awesome book Sara's agent (Tina Wexler) made from LGM photos.

Sara gave an interesting presentation about the genesis of the book, referring to a tack board full of newspaper clippings, drawings, and notes. These bits and pieces of inspiration, along with high school memories of memorizing Shakespeare, a real-life incident of little green men, and of course, first-hand experience with the kinds of challenges kids in military families face, all served as fodder for her imagination.

       

Audience members were given lines to read at Sara's cue.

She then read a chapter from the book, during which time something you don't normally see in a bookstore happened -- Sara dropped to the floor (in tight jeans and heels no less), effortlessly breezed through ten push-ups, then jumped back up and continued reading without missing a beat. She wasn't even out of breath. Aren't you impressed? Now there's one beautifully toned, fit writer -- a fine specimen of athletic prowess. Yes! I want her to be my bodyguard. ☺



Meanwhile, Cornelius was busy checking the bookshelves for more copies of Operation Yes.


Mmmmmm! Trish made brownies again!


And he got to meet Sara's husband, the ever famous Mike Holmes. Cornelius was thrilled and proud to pose with a real-live Air Force fighter pilot!


As always, a nice event at this wonderful indie bookstore. With all the friendly people, loads of great books to read, and an endless supply of brownies, one could just about live there. Congratulations again, Sara. I'm sure your book is inspiring lots of readers to think about their lives a little differently, and to definitely say YES! 


To Sara's right is the board containing some of the things that inspired Operation Yes.

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, order one from your nearest indie bookstore! ☺

Copyright © 2009 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabet soup. All rights reserved.

 
I worked hard on my copyedits this weekend, but I also drove down to Massachusetts on Saturday to see my parents and my daughter.  It's nice to see that my mom and dad are settling so well into their new home. My daughter is recovered from the flu, but still tired. 

Driving down the Maine Turnpike, I was mulling over a few things in TOUCH BLUE when a truck passed me.



I decided to take it as a good omen. :-) 

It reminded me of a December day a couple years ago when I came down to the Scholastic Book Fairs warehouse in Maine and signed RULES during a day of their warehouse sale.  Lots of people who work there came over to meet me, including one of the truck drivers. 

"So, if I see a truck on the road, it's you?" I asked.

He glanced wryly at his boss beside him then grinned at me. "Um, well, if the truck's going the speed limit, that'll be me. If it's speeding, it's one of the other guys."


HOT ROD HAMSTER will be in that truck next Spring!

Julia and I were planning to visit the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, MA, but they're having renovations. So we decided we'd visit that museum another time, and we went to Northampton, MA. I'd never been to that town before, but it's a cool, artsy place.

     
  Not many towns have such an impressive town hall.

And where else could you see goats in coats, ascending penguins, or buy an octopus lamp or an umbrella raining cats and dogs?

  
     I bought the umbrella!

And L. K. Madigan. . . looky, looky what I found in the bookstore!!!



The New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council is part of the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA). You're a favorite of theirs!  Congratulations!

So I got a lot of work done on my copyedits this weekend, but I also had a nice visit with my daughter and parents. 

 Next time, Em.
Emily Dickinson's House

Have it? Add me...

miss.fetish@yahoo.com

Yes, I've done it again... I dyed my hair.  But you'll have to go under the cut to see.  (Unless you follow my Twitter, then you know.) And my mom doesn't know yet, so please don't tell her.  I get to 'surprise' her in the morning.

Pray for me.

 

( The Evolution of Missy's Hair in Picture )

Via batty69 who actually is Batman.



Who will win in this battle of "The Most Cute Thing You'll See All Day?"

(Post your favorite animal vs inanimate object video!)

Jimmie wrecked!!!!

I sure miss the good old days of not being sick. I feel like I've been sick for months. I keep going back and forth about whether or not I should go to the doctor. I know bronchitis eventually goes away on its own whether or not you take antibiotics. I finished the antibiotics like 5 days ago and I still have a cough and a snotty nose :/ It's really frustrating. Jack and Keira are for the most part over their colds. Jack still has a cough some times and I have to wipe his nose once in a while.

Keira is back to being an awesome sleeper! Hooray!! She's gone to bed nicely for the last several days :o)
She's starting to talk quite a bit more and say things more clearly. She picks up on new signs very quickly too. Yesterday morning she and I slept in together. She usually wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 and I bring her to my bed to give her milk and some days we go back to sleep together. Yesterday we fell back asleep until about 7:30 and then she was stirring a little and I noticed she was signing for milk but hadn't even opened her eyes yet :o)

I had Brooke and Dylan for a few days this week. It was fun but both kids had colds so Dylan was not his usual happy self and I ended up having him strapped to me most of the time in a mei tai carrier. He just wasn't content to be anywhere else. Jack and Brooke and Keira had lots of fun though. My mom took them for a walk to the park one day which was nice. We managed to do a craft project during one of Dylan's naps :



Mine is on the bottom, Jack's is the top left and Brooke's is the top right.
We started out with caterpillars and then added suns, flowers, leaves and clouds.
We added the branches last. It was lots of fun!

I decided to start working with Jack on some letters. He knows his letters obviously, but I decided we're going to focus on a letter or 2 a week. We'll talk about the sound the letter makes, do some color pages, some projects and some work sheets where he can practice writing the letter. We'll also try and eat some foods that start with that letter. This week we started with the letter A. We made a tree and some apples out of construction paper. Each apple has a letter of the alphabet on it. He had fun coloring the letters and gluing them onto the apples. Then he got to glue the letter A apple to the tree. Every time we move onto a new letter he'll get to glue it on the tree. He loves to glue things and cut things with his scissors. Yesterday we did a craft project with a print out of an alligator and a toilet paper roll tube. He colored the pieces and I cut them out and we glued them on together. He did really good practicing writing the letter A and he also did the number 1. This week we'll work on B and 2 and depending on how much time we have to spend on it....at some point we'll do C and 3 too. There's some pretty good sites out there with letter writing practice sheets, activities ideas and color pages. If you know of any good ones, please let me know. Thanks!

We've been checking out a ton of books lately. I'm currently reading 3 different books, Jared's reading one about Wyatt Earp and the kids have a bunch of books. We checked out some books about Thanksgiving. Jack really likes I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie.
I'm reading Lovely Bones (alright), Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (very interesting) and The Discipline Book (very good). I think anyone raising a little boy should read Rasing Cain.
I also Raising Boys but haven't started it yet.
Very interesting stuff!
I have a whole list of books on raising girls I want to read too. It's nice to actually have time to read again :o)

The other night we got Keira some supplies for her beauty salon at Walmart. I have been looking for supplies for her but haven't found much other than a comb, mirror, brush and a headband. We found a cute kit with a hair dryer that actually turns on and blows the slightest bit of air, a curling iron, a straightening iron, some curlers, a brush, some perfume and some lipstick!! I was pretty excited even though it's princess themed. I don't like to buy her princessy stuff.

She has been playing with all of it ever since. Jack especially likes to play with the hair dryer since it turns on :P



( few more )

We got Jack a fireman costume for 75% off so it was only $3.50. He's been having fun with it. He insisted on wearing the hat and bringing the axe to Cub the other day :P

Yesterday morning I went and did some cleaning for Nan & Pop. Then in the afternoon I took the kids to the mall. Old Navy is having a 50%off outerwear sale and Jack needed a winter coat. He also got a scarf and Keira got some new jammies as well as a hat and mittens.

Rob & Barb are babysitting for us this coming Saturday night. We haven't been out since my birthday! That was the end of August!! I hope I feel better by then :/

and here's what I have to say about it.

Clicky clicky.

Sunday Morning Service! 8am EST (5am SLT) The Lost Continent in SL check it out here if you aren't on SL: http://85.25.149.102:8504