Kids Say

Enchil-la-las
We have a great casserole recipe from Dan's mom that is called Enchiladas, though the tortillas are the only really Mexican part about the recipe.  No matter, it is delicious. Lynn, however, cannot say Enchilada and has rechristened them Enchi-la-las.

Recipe:
1 lb. hamburger browned and drained
2 cans Hormel Chili No Beans
1 package flour tortillas
1-1 ½ cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Combine Chili with browned and drained hamburger in a skillet and heat through.  Place a spoon full of meat mixture and a sprinkle of cheese in a tortilla.  Roll up tortilla and place in a microwave safe casserole dish.  Continue placing rolled tortillas next to each other in the dish until it is full.  Pour remaining meat mixture over the rolled tortillas.  Sprinkle cheese over top of entire dish.  Cover and heat in microwave for 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is heated through.

And in things a 6 year old should never say….
Joe has moved beyond most of the cute/funny word mix ups that he used to have.  However, I am pretty sure that Lynn may be featured in "Kids Say" indefinitely.  Bless her funny language goofs.

Here is a conversation we had just after she had been put to bed the other night.  She stayed in her room and we were in ours.  Thank goodness she couldn't see us so we didn't have to explain to her why we were busting up laughing at the end of the conversation.

Lynn: Mom!
Me: What Lynn?
Lynn: There's a hooker in my bed.
Me (laughing): What?
Lynn: A hooker
Me: Do you mean a hanger?
Lynn: Oh, yeah.
Me: Just put it on the floor. We'll put it away in the morning.

And hopefully we never have to talk to either of our children about hookers ever again.

Spring Break 2014

As I am sitting alone in my house in the middle of a weekday...wait what?  Yeah, this is weird and really awesome!  I watched a movie by myself this morning, a grown up movie.  Blue Jasmine is the only Academy nominated movie (for adults) that I have seen this year.  (I've seen Frozen, twice.)  I'm really glad I watched it, but it ended rather abruptly.  My book club book from last night, The Other Typist, ended strangely too.  I still don't think any of us really know what happened.

Anyway, this week has been filled with little blessings that truly have made it feel like a vacation.  Lynn got to celebrate her BFF's birthday at a bowling party on Saturday.  It was sweet to see the girls interact.  They literally squeal every time they see each other.

After the party we headed to Des Moines to stay the night en route to Dubuque.  The wonderful car ride was a blessing that was repeated Sunday morning and on Wednesday coming back.  I'm not being sarcastic here.  The kids were amazing in the car.  Finally, they can occupy themselves without driving anyone too crazy.

Mimi time in Dubuque was relaxed but fun.  We visited a bounce house on Monday morning for a couple of hours.  Later, we had dinner together at Texas Road House.  Joe's quote of the night was, "Ahhh, the sweet smell of Texas."  After dinner, Mimi took the kids home where they camped out on the living room floor to watch movies and stay up late.  Dan and I headed out to the casino.  I was up for awhile, and then I was down, and then just when I was about to quit, I won $97.  If I had an addictive personality, I would probably still be there trying to win more, but I was happy to triple my money and walk out the door.  When we got back Joe was still up.  This was our indication that we are in fact, old.  He told us we should have stayed out longer, but 9:30 is past my bedtime.  It was nice to sleep in a little on Tuesday morning.

Early Tuesday, Dan took Joe on a little drive.  They went to three states in about 10 minutes.  Dubuque is on the border of Iowa with Wisconsin and Illinois.  So, over two different bridges they went.  Joe was thrilled by the novelty of this.  Later in the day we went to the Mississippi River Museum.  There was a turtle exhibit that we all loved.  We also got to see something that doesn't happen very often.  The alligator that they have at the museum was being fed for the first time in a few months.  This was because they had given her a hibernation period where they didn't feed her and they lowered the temp in her enclosure to simulate the wild.  They fed her three or four big white rats.  The volunteer who was explaining things to us said she wouldn't eat for another few weeks, so we were lucky to see it.

Tuesday night we all camped out to watch Frozen since it was delivered in the mail that day.  I shouldn't complain about seeing it twice since I do like the movie and because it was Mimi's 3rd time seeing it.  She is a great Mimi.

On Wednesday we headed home, leaving snow for the warmer weather of Kansas City.  The drive was uneventful and perfect.  Then I got to go to book club.  And now here I am, alone.  I think I will go take a nap, in my hammock.  Bye!

Write the Dream Writer's Conference Experience

This past weekend I had one of the most fantastic experiences of my life.  I attended the first ever Write the Dream Writer’s Conference, hosted by Studio Z Publishing at Bartle Hall, here in Kansas City, MO.  It was their first conference and my first conference.  Writers from all over the area were in attendance. There were writers with little to no publishing experience, like me, writers with dozens of publication credits, and writers everywhere in between.

In my daily life, people know I like to write, but I don’t ever call myself a writer.  I’m a teacher and a mom and a wife, who likes to plunk out some creative words from time to time.  But at this conference, I was a writer who happens to do all of those other things.  I didn’t feel like I was bragging when I talked about the three pieces I've published.  I didn’t feel silly talking about my genre or lack of genre.  People weren’t poking fun or joking when they said, “That could be a book!”  They meant it, and I realized, that could be a book!

 

Cady McClain, best known for her roles on several soap operas, but who is talented is so many other ways, was the keynote speaker on Friday night.  I was in awe of her from the moment I realized in my online search that she played “Dixie” on All My Children when I was a kid.  Visions of the TV in the little apartment where my babysitter, Alice, watched my brother and me flashed in my mind.  Dixie was a young blonde character wearing bright puffy sleeves in the show we watched over lunch.  Somewhere up in Heaven Alice was smiling down on me as I listened to Cady’s inspirational words.

 

After hearing her speak, I have decided to take her advice, which you can find in full here on her blog.  My writer self is a child that I have to nurture with kind words and feelings.  I will not listen to the bully voice that tells me I am not good enough.  I will put that voice aside, protect my writer from it.  I will find a way to feed the fire of creativity everyday.  And, I will thank God and Alice that I went to this conference because of their nudge.

On Saturday, I spent the day listening to several speakers hurry through information about a myriad of topics.  In the whirlwind that it was, I learned about where to get started with self-publishing, how to market, what to write off on my taxes, where to spend my money if I have it to spend, and so many other little things that I filled 10 pages in my journal with notes.  All of the information was invaluable.

On Sunday, I skipped church and spent some time with God.  I’m not kidding here.  The workshop led by Cady was called “Dreamscaping.”  I literally had a dream while I was wide-awake.  Cady led us through a visualization of a scene.  She prompted us to think about all of the senses involved in the situations she was suggesting to us. 

After the visualization, which could have only come from a higher power, we all sat to work writing down everything we could remember.  I came out of it with several pages of scribbled notes followed by a few more pages of all the things I forgot about.  This first writing was emotional, but I was not prepared for the emotions that would flow when the group of six of us came back together to share our experience aloud.  I am not going to tell you any of their stories, nor will I tell you mine at this point.  It was all much too intense and personal.  I will say that I won’t soon forget the images and the tears these words produced for each of us.  Pictures of beach grass, red birds, horses, white bags, picket fences, golden angels, and lakes will exist in my memory files forever.

During this discussion Cady gave individual suggestions to each of as to how we could expand on the ideas the dream gave us.  She suggested things like poetry, exploration of another character involved, or writing from the point of view of someone or something else in the dream.  This process yielded yet another round of touching pieces, more discussion, and finally more suggestions for taking the work further. 

I cannot comment as to the effect this had on the other members of the group in specific terms, but I do know we all experienced something profound.  We are now linked to each other because of the words we trusted ourselves to share.  I will feel the presence of their encouragement each time I sit to write and when I feel the fear of being rejected by my inner critic.  They will be there rallying for me to keep going.

As I write this, images of the play I have been encouraged to create are flashing frantically through my head.  I am scared to write it, but not so scared that I won’t try.  And for that, I will be forever thankful.