Progress!

Hi all!  Sorry for being off line last week, but when you look at the pictures below, I am certain you will understand my absence.  We have been remodeling our upstairs into a bedroom for my son.  While it is not quite done yet (who knew one kid could have so much stuff to sort through!), we are a longs ways from where we were last week at this time.


Last Monday when I left for work, the room looked like this:

When I came home from work it looked like this:

When I went to bed it looked like this:

Tomorrow I'll share the transformation my son's old room has been going through (as well as the rest of my house!)


PS!  Special thanks to Regina for the blog award on Friday!  I promise to share more about it by early next week!

Sorry!

Blogging this week is going to be spotty from me.  Sorry about that.

We just got back from a quick trip to Southern PA and Baltimore, MD over the weekend.  Then it snowed (again), and we had to clear the rest of the stuff from the room upstairs so it can get carpeted tomorrow (Yeah!!) and become Dear Son's room!

So, tomorrow before work I have a few more things I need to help hubby moved out of the way, and after work we will be moving stuff up to transfer the room.  As you can imagine, this won't allow for online time.  But, it means I am that much closer to having my own office to write to all of you from.

I'll be sure to take pictures so you can see my progress as I transform the boy's room to my room.

Hope you all have a great week.  I'll be back in as soon as I can!!!!

Recipe Friday!

Welcome to all of my new followers, and welcome back to my regulars.  I hope you all had a splendid week.

First I'll share with you the "Heart Shaped Bread Bowls" I made for Valentine's Day (although they didn't quite turn out the way I wanted), then I'll give you an easy cinnamon bun recipe.


Bread Bowls
Thaw a loaf of frozen bread dough.  I let mine rise in a ziplock (gallon size) bag over night.  Pull the dough into 3 (or 4) sections and shape into a heart (or a circle) and place on a greased sheet pan.  Grease the outside of 3 (or 4) ramekins and push into the center of each dough shape. Let rise for about 15-30 minutes. [Here is where I made my mistake. I should have let the dough rise a bit more, but I didn't.  That, and I pushed too hard with my ramekins and broke through the bottom of the dough.]  Bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven (or until browned as you like).  Remove from oven and remove ramekins.  Fill with stew or chili.  Enjoy!


Cinnamon Buns
Frozen bread dough
1 stick Butter, softened
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Raisins (optional)

Thaw two loaves of frozen bread in a gallon ziplock.  Mush down and spread on a greased sheet pan.  (You want to make a long, thin rectangle, but not too thin.  [If you are using raisins, place in a bowl, cover with water, and put in the microwave for about 30 seconds to plump them up.]  Brush all the butter over the bread dough, leaving about 1/4-1/2 inch border all the way around.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and spread on a layer of brown sugar.  Add raisins, then roll up (from the narrowest side is how I usually do it).  Cut into sections and set upright on the sheet pan.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes (or until browned as you like).

In a bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 Tablespoon of water.  You can add a few drops of lemon juice and cream cheese to make it more like frosting.  Pour (or spread) over the baked cinnamon buns.  Enjoy!

A Day Late...

OK, so this blogfest was happening yesterday, and I meant to get this post up, but work, life and writing intervened (I'm sure you all understand!)

Well, here are my answers to the Bernard Pivot Blogfest from  Nicole's One Significant Moment at a Time.

1. What is your favorite word? I would have to say my favorite word is asinine.  I just love the sound of it.  
2. What is your least favorite word? Hmm.  My least favorite is quit.  I never want to give up on something.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?Music.  Definitely.
4. What turns you off? Negativity.
5. What is your favorite curse word? Well, I don't really swear that much, but I do like the British word wanker.
6. What sound or noise do you love? I love to hear my son's laughter.
7. What sound or noise do you hate? Wind chimes-- or any incessant noise that really  doesn't create a song.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I wanted to be a lawyer when I was younger.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Taxi driver.  Between the people and the other drivers.... Yeah, not for me.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome home!  It's good to see you!


How about you?  How would you answer these questions?

WCC Wednesday

Wow!  It's the 16th of February.  Where is the year going???  I got some very good feedback for my WIP, The Ruby Dagger this week.  I am working at applying the comments, while moving forward in the story.  Over the weekend I outlined the rest of the chapters for the story (now, if they stay that way is yet to be seen).  I need to have a basic road map of where I am going, but I still let my characters run down those side roads to see what's hiding in the shadows.

Take yesterday, I was writing a scene where they are looking for the male MC, and, with some really cool magic, they found him.  As I was writing their entrance into where he was being held, I looked down and saw my notes for the next chapter and had an "Oh, crap!" moment.  I had totally forgotten I didn't want him to be there.  But, with some quick thinking, I was able to make that happen.  The magic was totally not expected, nor was the speed with which they would succeed.  But, in the end, I was able to take that side road back to my main road-- a little detour, but one I think will work well.

Trisha and Lindsay have finished their WIP (I still have 3 more chapters to go with it!) and let me just say, Wow!  I really loved what they did.  What a great tale-- it kept me guessing in parts, and never failed to keep me turning the pages (or hitting the page down button, as is more accurate!)

Fiona is really finding her footing in the center of her WIP.  I am anxious to see what the changes are that she has made to parts I've already read.

Jackie is still working through her outline.  She is a bit more of a planner than I am-- but hey, differences are what make it all so interesting!

Katie is being incredibly patient.  She's working on another WIP while I go through the remainder of her story. I've managed to get another chapter off to her, and hope to get a couple more out this week!

How about you?  How have your WIP's gone this week?  Are you planning or panstering?  If you plan, do you give your characters a chance to stop and smell the roses along the way, or march them down a specific path?