Growing Up

It seems like so far, we've been trying hard to keep our children alive and healthy. So far we've succeeded. Yay! Now come the harder lessons... Ones that I'll admit I'm not very good at. How to live. Showering without needing reminders would be nice. Okay I'm good at that one. But there are bigger ones. Ones that will help them when they are out on their own. Cooking, helping make repairs around the house, maybe even go and get the oil changed on the car, learn to pump gas. 5 more years and my oldest will be a driver. Fair warning to all of you that live near by. ;) Manners and man, do they need help on this one. I wish my neighbor growing up were still around for that one.

This year they both are helping Phil with the vegetable garden. They help do chores around the house like putting away and loading the dishwasher. Sweep the floors, since they are the ones who are messiest. And when company's coming, they rock at helping clean the downstairs. We still need to work on Lady Jane's bedroom which got out of control and needs organizational help.

But today since it is Lady Jane's 8th birthday, we are going to head out to the store to buy her a new bike. Her brother wants to use his allowance to buy her something, which is cool. (something we've been working with Little Man on is respecting other people's feelings and trying to empathise. Some people come by it naturally, others need to learn it) They are growing up fast. Ten years and they'll both be in college. Hopefully they'll be prepared and able to maintain a house on their own and not have to rely on Mom to come once a month to save them from the pit of papers they've let accumulate.

PS. Thanks Mom for saving me from the pit of papers I let accumulate. I'm getting better. I swear :)

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

In 1995, Sarabi and I set out from Illinois to St. Louis. For a while it was just me and her. This little kitten who always pounced my feet just as I was falling asleep. She used to surf the walls as a kitten in our first apartment. We went through a lot together. 3 apartments, 2 houses, boyfriends that didn't last and the heartache that went with that, marriage, children, 3 more cats, the death of one of those cats, a year of separation when I went to England and had to leave her here. Hours of writing time together. Where my other cat that passed away was my love. Sarabi's been my friend. Renal failure has ravaged her body making her weak and feeble. She's lost 2/3s of her body weight in the past year.

She's always been there with me, every step of the way. I'll miss her.

Caramel Shortbread Squares aka Millionaire Cakes

It was a lot easier to get these in England than to make them but they are definitely worth the effort. I'm still tweaking the recipe that I got from allrecipes.com submitted by Julia. However, I'm getting there. She says ready in 35 minutes and I laugh my butt off.

Making the shortbread layer takes 5-10 minutes of prep followed by 15-20 minutes of cooking time. Then while that cools in the freezer you work on the caramel sauce over the stove which takes around 15-20 minutes and you pour over shortbread. Ideally you would put this in the refridgerator for a while before doing the next step (a while being 15-20 minutes). Then melt the chocolate chips. I don't recommend doing this in the microwave because the first time I did, I killed chocolate. Which is a sin and should not be done. So doublebroiler if you have it, otherwise metal bowl over boiling water in saucepan. This will take between 5-10 minutes. Then you pour that over the cooled caramel. You have to work fast and have enough chocolate to spread the top over and not accidentally mix it with the caramel layer. After some time (I have yet to get this step down properly), score the chocolate and then refridgerate until completely cool and cut into bars. All in all you are talking about at least an hour of prep time including some waiting time between steps. I'm sure you could make the shortbread at one point and then wait to make the next step and wait to coat with chocolate. So here it is.

Like I said I still have a little tweeking to do...a little more shortbread for the jelly roll pan. The chocolate is the amount for the bigger pan, but who doesn't love more chocolate. :)

Caramel Shortbread Squares Recipe


Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

23 oz bag of milk chocolate chips



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).

2. In a medium bowl, mix together 1-1/3 cup butter, white sugar, and four until evenly crumbly. Press into a 13X9 baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes. Alternatively for thinner treats, press into jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. After cooked, cool in freezer while preparing the caramel sauce.

3. In a 2 quart saucepan, combine 1 cup of butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condense milk over low heat until blended. Increase to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes. Pour over baked crust. Cool until begins to firm. Put in refridgerator while preparing chocolate

4. Melt chocolate in a double broiler. Once chocolate is completely melted pour over the caramel layer and spread evenly to cover. After a few minutes, score the top of the chocolate in about 1-2 inch squares. Let chocolate completely cool in fridge. Take out of pan using parchment paper and cut using a sharp knife on lines formed in chocolate.

5. Serve.

Why the Heck Not?

I'm currently at the first gymnastics lesson of the school year and so don't want to write on the book which is almost finished. Instead I'm going to blog. I've been all over the place lately. June was rough after the surgery and only being able to use crutches. I graduated to the cane and now I'm weaning off the cane. Though I'm still having pain and still taking pain meds daily on a set schedule or else. Regardless the surgery has seemed to help, only time will tell.

July is RWA Nationals month. I went. I signed. I had a good time all around.

Before I recovered from Nationals, we made a 3 day trek to Breckenridge, Colorado. It's beautiful up there even if you can't breathe. We had a huge house for my husband's parents and his sister and her family. Everyone had a really great time. It was a good vacation.

Last week was back to school. I made some crazy goals for writing and for the most part am keeping them. The children are settling back into a routine. We put dry erase boards on their doors with a list of everything they need to do before they come downstairs in the morning. I've been really impressed with the effectiveness. Part of Little Man's problem is he can't keep a list of things in his mind, especially when that list gets too long. Therefore an actual list until it becomes habit.

In other news, well, nothing much... Basically just plugging away at the status quo.

Old news--Blankey recovered. The unfortunate Blankey was found hiding behind pillows in mommy and daddy's room and recovered by Grandma several weeks ago. The reunion was joyful and Lady Jane is being very careful not to misplace Blankey again.

Boldly Fighting Dragons

It's quiet in the house. I'm up late and everyone else is asleep. In seven hours, I'll be in prep for exploratory surgery on my hip. I've had trouble with it for the past ten years and since no one can seem to fix it, this seems the logical next step. I'm a little anxious. I just finished revisions on a story and need to complete another which is 3/4 of the way done and start on a third. I worry that the pain meds are going to knock me out for days and cause me to be non-productive (I don't care if it's a word or not, that's not the point.)

I'm not worried about the outcome. I'm not worried that they won't find anything. I'm not worried they'll find something. I can't worry about that stuff. It's out of my hands now. Either they will or they won't and either way I'll be in pain for days. Do I hope they'll find something they can fix? Hell, yeah. Am I going to go all-in on this surgery being the cure for pain that has plagued me for ten years? Meh. I'll be happy if it does and not shocked if it doesn't.

So instead of worrying about the results, I'm worried about my writing. Did I mention my debut book just hit the shelves? That RWA National conference is at the end of July? That I want to continue to write and finish these books that are driving me nuts? So I'm awake and wondering if I should spend the night writing. It will probably be more coherent than what I'll be able to put together over the next couple of days. But I have to wake up in 5-1/2 hours. Granted I'll be asleep most of the morning. :)

Outpatient surgery, crutches for a while after, physical therapy starts Tuesday. Maybe this time I'll ride the dragon. See you all on the other side.

BTW Blankey is still missing.... the investigation into the disappearance seems to have come to a stand still.

Going to England

For a visit this time around, but should be extra special because my mom finally gets to go with me. Yay! The timing just wasn't right when we were living over in England for my mom to come over and visit while we lived there. My grandparents' health was failing and she wanted to be on hand if they needed her, which I completely understand and love her for. Every place I went I knew my mother would love to see and I took pictures and wrote about them on this blog, but it's not the same as experiencing these places.

At first it was just going to be me and hubby going over. Then we added on the kids after much scrambling. And finally my mom. We are staying at the apartment building we lived in when we first arrived. Self-catering serviced apartments. We are renting an automatic so that I can drive. The kids are going to their old school for a day which should be awesome for them. I need to get a couple of notebooks for the kids because both their teachers would like them to give a little presentation.

The most exciting thing will be taking my mom to all the nearby castles and ruins that the kids and I haunted while we were there. Originally I was thinking of going to a couple, but with mom, everything will be new and so cool to see with her. We'll spend a day at Chatsworth alone, bring a picnic lunch (picnics are huge over there), do an easy walk through the peak district, walk down the street in Hathersage, play at Millhouses Park and get a cake from the cafe. Personally I want to go to city centre and find a fabulous dress for the Harlequin party at Nationals. I didn't buy clothes when we lived over there, but I love their fashion. Oh, we'll be above the bridal shop again. Peeking in the windows was so much fun while we lived there and Lady Jane adored it. That's the other one, Lady Jane will reestablish her memories of living over there, making them clearer in her 7 year old mind. I can't wait.