What If?

A Random Conversation:
About ten years ago I was working the day shift at a residential facility.  When the second shift came in to relieve us, we let them know how the residents had done and then we just chatted until our shift ended.  One of the women told us about a garage sale she'd gone to where she'd found a wonderfully old wooden ironing board.  She bought it with the idea of refinishing the wood and painting a skinny Santa Claus on it, then using it as a Christmas decoration.

Back in the days of wooden ironing boards, they were kept covered with several layers of cloth padding to keep the wood from warping or burning from the hot irons.  (And I'm old enough to remember those layers of padding...sigh)
 

When she peeled off the layers of dusty old covers, what she found underneath was $164.  We speculated for a while about what the money might have been put there for and why no one ever took it out.  And then we went our separate ways.

But I couldn't get the idea of that ironing board out of my head.  Why did someone hide money under those covers?  Was it to surprise someone else?  Or maybe a vacation she was saving for?  Or was it her "escape from a bad situation" money?  It was obviously a woman, because back in those days a man would have never, ever ironed.

But the even bigger question?  Why was it still there?  She'd been saving it for something...but she never used it.  Why?

For the next several years those questions plagued me until I finally had to write about it.  My mind went in all directions while I did the "what if" thing.  And that's where the idea came from for my novel "The Ironing Board".  The story delves into the lives of 3 present day baby boomers whose futures are changed forever after finding an old ironing board with money and diary pages hidden under the pads.

While I'm actively seeking an agent that will enjoy reading The Ironing Board as much as I enjoyed writing it, I've started on my second novel...no title yet.  And I've been trying to come up with an unlikely friend for my 10 year old main character.  But this time I found my answer in a television commercial.  Who would have thought?  There he was, a character in a commercial.  So I grabbed my yellow legal pad and wrote the scene that was playing out in my head...before I forgot it....cause I'm smart enough to know that in my old brain, the idea won't reside for long before it's flitted away into the land of the forgotten.

Ideas can come from a multitude of places and circumstances but only if, and that's a big IF, you're keeping your eyes and ears open to the possibilities.  So, if you're a writer, where do your ideas come from?  Do you "people watch" or eavesdrop on conversations?  Do they come from old memories?  Or maybe the ideas just pop into your head.  Where did the idea for your latest novel come from?

Recipe of the Week:
I  haven't added a recipe to my posts for some time and I have one to share today.  It's my mother's Chocolate Frosting.  This is by far the best chocolate frosting I've ever tasted.  Creamy and delicious.  And it's enough to cover a 9 x 13 sheet cake with thick, rich chocolate goodness.
The ingredients are:

6 T butter or margarine                          5 T Hersheys Cocoa
1/4 t. salt                                               2 t. vanilla
1 lb. (one box) confectioners sugar         6 T milk

Have your margarine at room temp and cream well.  Add the salt, cocoa and a little of the sugar.  Mix with a mixer on low speed.  Add the vanilla, more sugar and 2 T of the milk.  Mix with mixer.  Add rest of sugar and milk alternately and mix on high till fluffy.  The use of an electric mixer is key as it puts air into the frosting and that's what makes it so fluffy. 

Even if you're a die-hard canned frosting user, you will be blown away by the taste of this frosting.  If you have any left over after you've slathered a thick layer over your cake, spread it between two graham crackers for a really delicious treat the kids will love.  I've even cut the recipe in half and just done the graham cracker thing when I had a lot of kids still at home.  And be sure to lick the beaters and the bowl!  The best part! 

Psst...just between us...if you make this while the kids are in school, you get to lick the beaters and bowl yourself without having to share.  :)

Quotes of the Day:
Writing is truly a creative art - putting word to a blank piece of paper and ending up with a full-fledged story rife with character and plot. ~ William Shatner

Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth. ~ Khaled Hosseini
Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations. ~ Ray Bradbury

The Best Writing Instructors

Let Your Authors Teach You How To Write:

I have always been a big fan of suspense...the kind that makes you keep flipping the pages while holding your breath.  I love good, strong characters that get inside me and make me root for them, characters that have faults and humor and insecurities.  I love listening to them talk, hear their thoughts and watch how they try and maybe fail, but continue to try.  I hate when these stories come to an end.  I want them to go on forever.  James Patterson's books do this to me as do Harlan Cobin's and J.D. Robb's and that's how I felt when I finished my latest...Iron House by John Hart.  He's a new author for me but I am definitely going to be sure to see what else he's written.  Since this is only his 4th novel, watch for this author to rise up in the ranks of suspense.

I get my books from my local library, mainly because my budget won't allow me to buy all the books I want to read.  Not even on my e-reader.  And I don't have enough bookshelves to keep them all in.  But in a few cases I have bought the paperback of a book I've read just to go back through and see how they held my interest.  Was it the characters?  Or the action?  How did they make me want to keep turning the pages?  How did they make me sit on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next?  And this is how I learn.  

I've read a lot of writing hints by popular authors from Stephen King to James Patterson and they all go back to the basics of read, read, read.  And write, write, write.  You can read all the books about how to develop characters and action and dialogue and so on, and there are a lot of good ones out there to teach you. 

But until you actually see and read an author put it all together in a good novel and experience how he does it, its just words on paper.  It's like reading about something as simple as changing your own oil.  You can read about it and think you've got it, but if you can actually watch someone do it, it makes it much easier to remember when you try it on your own.  You'll remember it a lot longer after the visual tutorial. 

So read your favorite authors, and enjoy their books, but then learn from them...learn how they got you to keep turning the pages...and how they made you love their characters...and what it is about their writing that makes you keep coming back for more of their stories.  Cause the ones you love to read are really the best teachers of writing.  Don't you agree?   

A Disappointing Read:
After reading suspense for several weeks, I'm usually in need of something a little quieter, a little more relaxing, but for just one book.  Then it's back to my favorite suspense.  This week my quiet book was the latest by Danielle Steel, Hotel Vendome.  I've read every book written by Steel and have enjoyed quite a few of them...until this one.  Her characters experience things normal people experience...not like in my suspense books.  After all, how many of us are actually going to be running from a killer.  But "normal' people can experience broken hearts or family problems.  Hotel Vendome, though, made me do something I've never done with her novels before.  I closed the book about 1/3 of the way through and I'm done with it. 

The story just didn't grab me.  It was much more showing and not telling.  The problems facing the characters just weren't that interesting.  And each problem lasted for only a few pages, then it was off describing some spectacular scene.  Not much conversation, but a lot of show.  I was actually bored with it.  And I found her repeating herself throughout the chapters I was reading.  She had described in chapter one how the male character was such a hands-on owner of this fantastic hotel...and she described it in great detail, over several paragraphs, but then she did it again in several more chapters.  It's like she thinks I've forgotten what she said and she wants to remind me...again and again.  I've noticed this a lot more in her last several books and I think this will probably be the last of her books I'll read.  I know she's a #1 best seller but in my opinion, her latest books just haven't been up to par. 

And that's just my opinion.

Recipe of the Week:
Actually I'm not going to write out a whole recipe this week but give you an addition to try.  When all my many kids were still at home, we made a lot of tacos.  Everyone was a fan.  One meal would be about 50 tacos...but then, if you've been reading my blog, you know I had a lot of kids to feed.  And we never used pre-formed hard shells.  I bought packages of flour and corn tortillas and we rolled our own.  Actually, I heated them in the skillet and my husband was in charge of filling and rolling.  We had hamburger, scrambled eggs, onion, lettuce, tomato, refried beans and sour cream.  There was just not enough room in our kitchen for everyone to do their own.  So let me give you a little example of taco night:
Me to 1st child:  How many and what kind?
1st kid:  3 corn, 2 flour
So I heated those.
My ex:  What do you want on them?
Kid:  Meat, cheese, eggs, onion, lettuce, tomato
And in a couple of minutes, the first kid is off with his.  Usually to eat in front of the TV cause our table only sat 6.
And this was repeated 8-10 times.  It usually took about 1/2 an hour to get everyone's food to them and then I could eat. 
But did you notice our addition that most people scoff at?  Scrambled eggs.  Yes, that's right.  I got that little tidbit from a neighbor of mine who was Mexican and she's the one who actually taught me how to make tacos years earlier.
Try it!  They're a great taco addition.

Random Quotes of the Day:
A friend is someone who will bail you out of jail.  A best friend is the one sitting next to you saying "boy was that fun." ~ The Maugles

When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always. ~ Rita Rudner

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

Foster Parenting

Foster Parenting:
As I've mentioned before, in the late 80's and early 90's my ex-husband and I (and we remain on good terms...smile) were foster parents for 13 years. We were privileged to have 69 children share our home with us. Most of them were teenagers as the agency has a hard time placing older kids. With teenagers from a dysfunctional home, it's like rolling the dice. You never know what you're going to get. But honestly, of those 69 kids, there were only 5 that we had any problems with. The rest were like adding spice to our family. So many different personalities, so many laughs, a few tears, but overall a very rewarding experience. And 4 of those kids became permanent members of our family because of fact that they had no where else to go.

We had 4 children of our own and when it became known that those 4 would be with us for the long-term, the agency made us a group home so we could still continue to help them out.   And that's why some of the recipes I've posted here are for 8-10 kids and 2 adults.  I had to learn to cook for a team.
 
Boyd came to us when he was 16 and is now in his 40's.  I'm still Mom to him and I like that.  He's married with 2 adult sons, Devin and Tyler.  And they have both made me a "foster great-grandma".  Devin has a brand new son, Deacon, and Tyler has two sons, Cooper and Jaxin.  They are all 3 beautiful and wonderful boys and are being raised in loving homes.  We had a bump in the road (more than a bump, actually) a while back though with Cooper.  He had to undergo surgery for a brain tumor.  (Much more than a bump.) But this amazing little boy is bouncing back and things are going extremely well for him.

Jacques and his brother, Derrick, both in their 40's now, were our first 2 foster sons, and came to us at the ages of 8 and 10.  Both are grown with wonderful families.  Jacques' 4 kids Kenzie, Trenton, Peyton and Quinten, live out of state with their mother but we got to see the 3 boys last summer and hopefully we'll get to see all 4 of them this coming summer.  And Derrick is a college professor and lives with his wife and 3 children, Gregory, Teresa and Andrea in New Orleans so we only see them once a year too.

And Eric, sweet Eric, was 2 years old when he first came into our family but was back and forth with his mother until we adopted him at the age of 4.  But tragedy followed Eric, and his mother (and 5 siblings born after he was taken from her) died in a fire when he was only 12.  Eric had suffered what authorities said was an attachment disorder and he was unable to bond with us.  When his mother died, he suffered survivors guilt as well and wanted nothing to do with me, his second mother.  When he turned 18 he left us and moved to Arizona and I have not seen him since.  I miss him.

Fostering for us brought us such joy and so much fun that I encourage you, if you've had thoughts of fostering, to give it a try.  I think you and your family will benefit greatly from the experience as well as helping countless children through times no child should have to go through.  But trust me, the only downfall is that you will learn to love these kids and saying goodbye can be heartbreaking.  But well worth getting to know them.

What I'm Reading Now:
Iron House by John Hart.  I've never read Hart before and on further study, found that this is only his 4th novel.  But I'm sold.  Let me give you the back cover description:

"At the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, Julian survives only because his brother, Michael, is fiercely protective.  When a boy is brutally killed, Michael flees and takes the blame with him.  For two decades, Michael has been an enforcer in New York's world of organized crime.  But the life he's built unravels when he meets Elena.  He wants a fresh start with her.  The mob boss who gave Michael his blessing to begin anew is dying, and his son is intent on making Michael pay for his betrayal.  Michael spirits Elena back to Julian and to the place he's been running from his whole life: Iron House."

Patricia Cornwell says, "If you crave thrillers that are vividly beautiful, graphic, will make you bleed, try John Hart."  I am only about 2/3 of the way through this novel, I am completely immersed in the characters.  Writers that can make their characters stand out in a story like this man does, have the gift of magic.  I will absolutely read his other 3 novels.

A Quickie Recipe:
I have a really quick way to make deviled eggs that are absolutely delicious!  As usual, you boil your eggs and then cut them in half and remove the yolks (carefully...so the white remains intact). Smash the yolks in a bowl and simple add Henri's Tasty Salad Dressing until its the desired consistency.  You can find Henri's Tasty in the section with all the other salad dressings.  Then just spoon the mixture back into the eggs.  Mine are requested at every family get-together.

Quotes of the Day:
We love the fact that our house is full. The kids in my house didn't do anything wrong. Their parents did. They're not in foster care because they're juvenile delinquents. They're here because no one cared. ~ Tom Brown

If foster care called them it didn't matter what time of night it was when they got called, they were always willing to take them. ~ Tammy Griffins

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Senior Perks

11/22/63:
I've finally finished reading Stephen King's newest novel (11/22/63).  It's really a long one, but I'm so glad I took the time.  What an adventure it was!  The premise of the story is a man going back in time to stop the assassination of President Kennedy.  But the journey to get there is full of problems and joys.  He goes back to the present before the assassination attempt and can see what the little changes he made in the past have done to the future.  But when he goes back in time again to save Kennedy, everything has reset as if he'd never been there.
                                                                                                          
What a great read and I would recommend this to anyone that would like to take a trip back in time to the 50's and 60's and to see what just might happen if we could change the past.

Arby's Senior Discount:
When I turned 50 and received my application for AARP, I think I cried.  But when I received my Golden Buckeye card when I turned 60...wow...what a shock.  Was I really that old?
 
My kids took me out to eat for my 60th birthday and let the waitress know that I was eligible for a senior discount...thanks kids.  But the next week when I took one of my clients out to eat, I was automatically given the discount.  They didn't even ask!  I think I colored my hair the next week.

But this week I went through the drive-thru at Arby's for lunch.  The menu and little "ordering box" are at the back of the restaurant.  When I gave her my order she asked if I was eligible for a senior discount.  I said "How old do I have to be?"  "Well, I guess a Golden Buckeye card would work."  "Okay then.  I guess I am."  When I got to the window I asked her if they have a camera back there where you order.  "No, we don't."  "So does that mean I even sound old now?"  WTH!

Well, she was all apologetic, and I assured her (with a smile) that it was fine, that she didn't offend me. 
But, damn, this was a low blow...cause in my head I'm still in my 40's.  (That was said with a smile, too  :)

Bread Dressing:
If you made the sub sandwiches from last week and still have left-over bread, or even if you didn't, I have a wonderful recipe for dressing that can be stuffed in chicken or turkey...or just baked in a casserole dish. 

Way back in the 60's I used to read True Story magazine...in fact in the 80's they published my first attempt at a short story and I got a check for $375 for it...wheeeee...I was on cloud 9 for a very long time.

Anyway...they had featured this recipe.  I tried it, loved it, and have been making it every since.  I'm posting the original recipe here, but just for the record, I have to multiply it times 5 or 6 when I'm stuffing my turkey for our family Thanksgiving.  But for myself, the single recipe works fine.   So here it is:

1/3 c water - in small saucepan and add...
1/3 c chopped onions
1/3 c chopped celery
When vegetables are tender, do not drain but add to pan...
1/4 c. butter just until butter melts.  Remove from heat.
In medium bowl  put 4 cups soft bread crumbs (app. 4 slices broken into small pieces) and add...
1 egg (beaten) and mix well
Pour in melted butter mixture
Add...
1 t. salt
1/8  t. pepper
1/8  t. sage and mix well
Pour into casserole dish (or stuff turkey or chicken)
Casserole dish will bake covered at 350* for 45 min or until top is browned nicely.
If you use this to stuff a turkey, remember stuff it right before it goes in the over.  Stuffing cannot be put in the turkey the night before as it produces an enzyme (oh Lord what is it)...anyway it's not good for you. 
And enjoy!!

Preview:
Since I mentioned each of my grandchildren in the last post, I'm going to mention my foster grandchildren in my next post.
 
Quotes of the Day:
But I'm kind of comfortable with getting older because it's better than the other option, which is being dead. So I'll take getting older. ~ George Clooney

Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough. ~ Groucho Marx

If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it's going to happen anyhow. ~ Mitch Albom

New Toy

My New Toy:
Do you ever find yourself driving in your car and an idea, or something you need to do, pops into your head but by the time you get home you forgot what it was?  At my age, that happens all the time.  And not just in my car. 
Hence the reason for Post-It notes in every room in my house....and a notebook in my purse...and scrap paper in my car.
The problem with the paper in the car though...try writing a note to yourself while you're driving.  Doesn't happen...or it shouldn't.  I've tried writing a short note to myself on the steering wheel at stop lights but usually end up honking my horn.  Oops, sorry, didn't mean to do that. 
And when I'm walking my dog and a great idea comes along, I'm screwed.  I don't carry notebook and pen when I'm dog walking. 
So I went looking for a new toy. 
Now keep in mind that I am extremely technology challanged.  I have let the I-Pod (that's the music one, right?) and the I-Pad go right by me.  I have a radio and a computer so I figure why bother. And even though I have a cell phone, I can't seem to let go of my land line. 
So this past weekend I went to Best Buy and asked the sales guy if they still made tape recorders...or did some new techie thing come along and pass me by.  He looked at me strangely and said, "Umm...we don't have any here...and umm...I don't think they make them anymore."
"Okay, then let me tell you what I need."  And I explained my problem. 
"Oh!" he said, and I actually saw the light bulb go on.  "I know what you're talking about and we have them right back here." 

And what do you know?  A digital voice recorder!  No tape, small enough to fit in my pocket (actually smaller than my cell phone) and 2 gigs of memory!  Wow!  Perfect for what I need and its in my budget.  So I get it and I'm excited.     
Now I can chat away, record my grocery list, maybe something I want to blog about or best of all, record that scene I just pictured in my head for my character in my new manuscript...whether I'm in my car, at work or walking Maggie.
Hey, a new idea!  I can even tell myself what row my car is parked in so maybe I won't lose it again when I go shopping.
Now...if I can just remember to take it with me.


Sub Sandwiches:
Another recipe from the land of plenty of kids.  I'm not sure why we called them subs.  They don't look like subs you get from, say, Subway.  But I guess we couldn't come up with anything more original.  I had to double this recipe for 8-10 kids and 2 adults but I've cut it down today for a normal family and I'll tell you later how I cut it down for 1 or 2.

Preheat broiler and move oven rack up.
1 loaf french bread - cut in half and remove the center bread leaving the sides and bottom.
2 lbs ground beef
1 green pepper - diced
1 med. onion - diced

Brown the gr. beef, gr. peppers, onion and salt and pepper to taste.  Drain grease.
Add 2 cans tomato soup and stir till bubbly.
Place the bread on a cookie sheet and pour the sloppy joe mixture into the wells of the bread. 
Slice 2 large tomatoes and lay slices across the top of the subs.
Use 2 packages of sliced Mozzarella cheese and lay slices across top of tomatoes.  I overlap them a little.
Put in oven on top rack and leave door ajar.
Broil till cheese begins to melt and browns nicely.
Slice into large servings and enjoy.

For just me...I cut the recipe in half and use store-bought sub buns.  You only need 3 buns.  This makes 6 small subs that can get me through several meals.  So delicious!

And the extra bread?  You can either use it to feed the birds in your yard or save and freeze it for use in my dressing recipe.

Quotes of the Day:
I hate to mention age, but I come from an era when we weren't consumed by technology and television. ~
Jimmy Buffett

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.” ~
Stewart Brand