LOVE cookies

Simply dip your favorite cookies into white chocolate, then hold a stencil up to the cookie

Pour your sprinkles on top - the warm white chocolate will act like glue for the sprinkles.

Oh yeah, make sure you have wax paper underneath the cookies - it will help so much with the mess. You'll simply be able to throw it away.

Then pop your pan in the fridge to chill for about a half hour.

Take them off and put them in a pretty box and WAH-LAH!!! LOVEly Valentine's Day gift :D

Make sure you put wax paper between the layers of cookies inside the box so they don't get stuck together.

Writing is a lot like Baking

These are two loaves of bread, baked in the same oven, at the same temperature and using the same recipe. The only difference: one package of yeast was obviously faulty. I tried to make the loaf on the right-hand side better by drizzling honey over the top--it was no no use, no hope and terrible. I had to throw the loaf away, well I composted it. I didn't even want to give it to the birds--it was soooo dense I think they might have broke their little beaks trying to chip away at it. It was hard as a brick.

I should have taken pictures of the dough as it was set to rise...it never did and I should have known just by looking at it that it was going to be horrible. But I went ahead and baked it and this is how it turned out:

I know, it looks like a flat, gooey, YUCKY mess - and it was.

My whole point of this post was to tell people that sometimes you can do everything right and still everything go can horribly wrong. I know people who have baked one loaf of bread and then "never again" because that one didn't turn out. Well, it could have been a simple fix - the yeast. Seriously.

The same goes with writing. I know lots of writers who have written a story, sent it out trying to get it published. Then they've gotten a few rejections and :( gotten horribly discouraged. They give up before they've even given themselves a chance. Sometimes you have to rework a recipe (story) and move things around. As you perfect your craft you'll only get better. And who knows it might not even be your fault that it isn't picked up. It might be that it's "just not right for the list," "it doesn't suit the needs," or it could even be personal taste. You might make the best lemon meringue pie in the world but if the person tasting your pie hates lemons...well, sorry charlie, it's not going to be picked up. That doesn't mean you should give up. The next person who tastes your pie might think it's the best thing on the planet.

It's the same with stories. I LOVE Stephen King's novels but none of my girlfriends will even read his books. I know, It's hard to believe but it's true.

I'm in two book clubs and I have been recommending S King books over and over again. Finally, my girlfriends said, "Kim, we are never going to read Stephen King. We are single ladies who live alone and when we curl up at night it's not going to be with a ghost, ghoul or serial killing maniac."

That got me thinking...tastes can be so different and sometimes things can go horribly wrong...even when you do everything "write" ;D But keep at it and you'll only get better...at baking and writing.

Birthdays SUCK

Birthdays sorta suck at my age so I figured why not make the memory a little sweeter.

This is how I made the sucker/flower bouquets for my friend Chris.

Simply use some tootsie roll pops and Mike and Ikes plus it doesn't hurt to have a little flower foam on hand.
Then you slice the Mike and Ike's in half and stick them on the tootsie roll pops. You have to stick them on pretty quickly or the "stickiness" wears off and you want to keep them edible and not have to use glue so do it fast. Only cut a couple at a time.

Then I took a mason jar and filled it with birdseed, since she likes birds and the garden and tied a ribbon on the package. I also made one with a tiny planting pot and just stuck the suckers right into the floral foam. I sprinkled left over Mike and Ike's over the floral foam to cover it up.

Super simple sweet gift for a birthday :D

Word for Wednesday

It's time to play a word game. Guess the meaning of this word...


Word: Fussilade  


Do you know what it means?


If not, scroll down to find the meaning....




FURTHER....



FURTHER...



FURTHER . . . 



OKAY IT MEANS:

Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	barrage
Synonyms:	battery, bombardment, burst, cannonade, crossfire, enfilade, firing, fussilade , gunfire, hail, round, salvo, shelling, shower, storm

     

Lisa Nowak to Speak at Young Willamette Writers

  Lisa Nowak Speaks to Young Willamette Writers

     Lisa Nowak will be the speaker for the February meeting. In addition to being a YA author, Lisa is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smart-aleck. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are.

Lisa says that there are many important aspects to writing a great story, but the bottom line is, if the reader doesn't care about your characters, all your clever plotting and amazing prose will lose its impact. Lisa plans to show the YWW's how to use collages, interviews, and their own experience to create characters who come across as real people.

The Young Willamette Writers meet at the same time as the adults, from 7-8pm at the Old Church in downtown Portland. 

Movie Review Monday - Hansel & Gretel

Hansel and Gretel was a fun Van Helsing sort of movie. The sets were great and the costumes wonderful and it was a way over-the-top action-packed movie.

Now, the believability was out the window way more than a James Bond sort of film but, come on, it's a fairytale...right?

So, if you're looking for a fun fantasy getaway kind of film and you don't mind a little blood (or maybe a lot of blood), then this might be a good film for you.

I wouldn't say it's a great dramatic film but you wouldn't expect that from Hansel and Gretel, now would you?

It's like reading a dark Grimm's Fairytale and seeing it put to motion in a Van Helsing sort of film.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to recommend seeing it on the big screen because those tickets are expensive but I'd definitely see it when it comes to the little screen - at home - just for the costumes and sets, if nothing more.

So there you have it, Hansel & Gretel comes to life on the big screen :D

OREGON WILD

On Wednesday night I went out to help support Oregon Wild. Oregon Wild was founded in 1974 and it's mission is to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife and waters as an enduring legacy for all Oregonians.

The guest speakers were from Uncage the Soul Video Production. This is the group that did Finding Oregon, Ascending the Giants and Finding Portland.

Finding Portland from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

It was fun to see the projects they've been working on and to see the helicopter they use for filming time-lapsed video.