Musical Blending

I hope all you American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. The story today happened during meal preparation. My seventeen-year-old daughter was helping. At one point she was using the kitchen blender. I heard the machine pulse and stop. Pulse and stop. Pulse and stop.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Things aren't going to get blended properly like that!"

She grinned. "I'm playing 'Jingle Bells' on the blender." She demonstrated again and sang along with it.

Sure enough, it sounded like Jingle Bells.

"Okay," I said. "You're going to have to find something a little slower so the blending goes longer."

"How about 'Silent Night'?"

Perfect!

Before I go, I want to let you know that my publisher is having a special. My book, Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China is included.

Check out her website for details:

 

Clueless

My mom and her husband came to visit this past weekend. Since it was raining, we decided to play board games. One of the games was Clue. A game where you have to guess who committed a murder, with what weapon it was committed, and in what room of the mansion it was committed in. It's a game of strategy that involves a process of elimination. The answer is a set of cards that is hidden away in a "confidential" envelope. You all might be familiar with the game.

As we played the game, it seemed that the location was pretty much pinpointed. All of us thought the murder was done in the Billiard room. Well, it turns out that my son, Bubba, was holding out on us.

He accidentally showed my daughter that he was holding the Billiard room card. Even though previously going around the table revealed that nobody had that card.

"Dude!" my daughter exclaimed. "You had it the whole time?"

Bubba laughed. "Yeah. I kind of forgot about it."

"Forgot about it? It's right there in your hand. How could you forget about it?"

"I'm clueless!"



Before I leave, I would like to share my SCBWI Book Stop page for Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China. There's a contest to see who can get the most likes and comments. If you feel inspired, please stop by and like or comment on the page. Thanks! Click on this link.

Nick-O-Lantern

My kids insisted on getting pumpkins to carve for Halloween. Three of them. Guess what? All three are still sitting in front of my house perfectly whole. Not a mark on them.  This doesn't surprise me. Yours truly has always been the official pumpkin carver.  And yours truly was too busy to do any carving this year.

"What are we going to do with these pumpkins?" I asked.

My son, Bubba scratched his head. "I can take them in the back by the creek. There's a patch of land and maybe if we dump them there, they'll turn into a pumpkin patch."

Not a bad idea.

"When are you going to do this?"

He shrugged.

Translation:  Whenever he gets around to it. Probably by next Halloween.

So, I came up with another idea. "How about we carve them for Christmas? We can make snowflakes or Christmas tree cut outs."

Bubba grinned. "Or we can carve faces on them and call them  'Nick-O-Lanterns!'"

(For St. Nicholas, in case you didn't get that.)

Before I go, I'd like to thank all who were part of my month-long blog tour for Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China: Those who hosted me, those who visited, those who shared. I really appreciate all the help in getting the word out!

Congratulations to Yolanda Renee, Danielle Hammelef, Christine Rains, Meredith Miller, and Michelle Wallace who were the winners of my giveaway.

My book is part of the SCBWI book promotion. To visit its page go here. Any comments or likes (or shares) would be appreciated!

 Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. This month's IWSG question is, "How has your creative process changed through the years?"

Uh. I dunno. I think I'm still creative as I have always been. But I think it's tempered by technique considerations. I'm more careful about word choices and making sure that my characters are reacting in an emotional way that is consistent with whatever circumstance they are in. I'd say I'm a little more right-brained these days. Not just spewing out words on paper.