Knight's Yarn

The New Year

2012-01-17T14:55:00.000-06:00

So, 2011 sucked - big time. On January 25th, my husband left me for another woman. We had been together almost 17 years and I thought he was my soul mate. I felt I was one of the lucky ones to be so happily married. It was all a fantasy. But I was happy. And then I didn't think I would survive the sadness, hurt, and betrayal. For three weeks I was so upset I couldn't eat - I lost 22 pounds. At least some good came out of it. With the weight loss, I began to feel my teenage self returning. Remembering how much fun I used to have going out and hanging out with friends.

And now, life has settled into a slow, steady gait. I am no longer debilitated by the depression, but I'm not excited about life either. I've gained back some of my weight and part of me just wants to give up. But I can't - for my girls. I need to prove to them women do not need men and women can be hugely successful and happy without men. So, to get me back on track with the healthy eating and exercising I should have been doing all along, I will perform this knot spell to get rid of this fat.

Weight Loss Knot Spell

And my hope is that while losing weight and becoming healthy, I will also get back to my novel writing and update my blogs at least once a week. My year and a day of mourning is almost over - time to move on and stop giving him so much power over me.

Things Left Unsaid

2010-10-27T15:54:00.000-05:00

From the age of 18 until 26 or so, when my parents and I weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, one friend’s parents took me under their wings. They opened their house, their kitchen, and their hearts to me and to so many others that I realized I wanted my future home to be as full and as welcoming as theirs was. The father gave me a job and entrusted me more than anyone else ever had, though I don’t know if he realized it. The mother played that pivotal role of mother and friend that so few mothers can play. And then a few years later when I had my first daughter, these wonderful people were the grandparents she knew better than any others. But as the years went on and we fell out of touch, I hoped they remembered me with kindness and I wondered if they realized how much they shaped that part of my life. And now I can never tell the father any of this - he passed away unexpectedly yesterday. My heart breaks for the loss the family is trudging through. The pillar of the family is no longer here to support anyone. I hope they can make their bonds even stronger and be pillars of strength to each other. The father’s love will live on in each of them.

Simple Pizazz

2010-10-25T17:00:00.001-05:00

I have little problem finding a vegetarian breakfast or lunch I can fix quickly for myself. My girls, having been raised vegetarian, have no problems with what I fix them for breakfast or lunch either. I run into problems with dinner. My husband and I are both used to having dinner be the grandest meal of the day which was fine and dandy when I could base the meal around a meat. However, one can only eat Mexican and pasta so many times a week before getting bored. Plus, I'm trying to eat five smaller meals a day now and to accomplish that, dinner must be smaller than what we are used to.

Sure, I can rely on the Quorn veggie chick'n or Morningstar Farms veggie meats or even scrambled tofu, but I'd like to venture further. I'd like to see what I can do with garbanzo beans or tofu (other than scrambled) or even seitan or TVP, but that is out of my comfort zone. I've tried a few recipes, but most have ended up "yucky" and a few were "bleh". I need some simple pizazz. I need recipes that have ingredients that can be found in my local grocery store, not in a specialty store that is 50 miles away - I can only get to that store once a month. I need a cookbook for lazy vegetarians. Maybe I need to go do a websearch....

Ooooo! I just found a new blog - The Lazy Vegetarian - I added it to my links on the side. I'll have to peruse her site and see if I can find some new meals!

Quarterlife Crisis

2010-06-22T19:18:00.002-05:00

My office is back in order and is set up even better than previously - it's darn near perfect. So, I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. I did just finish reading a book called, Quarterlife Crisis by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner. The gist of the book is that college does not prepare one for real life in the working world. The authors don't offer any solutions, they just want everyone aware that this crisis exists and, gee, wouldn't it be nice if employers could slowly integrate college grads into their businesses?

No, college does not prepare you for the real world - that's what part-time jobs are for, that's what volunteer work is for, that's what your parents are for. Having read this book simply reinforces my drive to have my daughters think seriously about what they want to do with their lives long before they think about entering college, maybe even putting college off for a year or two and "live life" to better be able to make that kind of decision. And with homeschooling, who knows when they will graduate from high school - they might be 16, they might be 18. But they will have the freedom to take a bit of time to decide what's best for them and not have to worry about counselors or teachers pressuring them to make a decision too early.

A Harmonious Office

2010-04-28T16:45:00.004-05:00

When we decided we would take our house off the market and stay here for a few more years, we rearranged all the rooms to put them back the way we like them. I decided to paint two bookcases, one small desk, and a small cabinet that holds my Craft supplies. The bookcases are finished, but I'm letting them dry a few more days before putting books back on them. The cabinet and desk are close to finished. Everything will match now - I'll have an actual design in my space.

The problem with having a disorganized office is that I'm letting my writing sit idle, my tarot studies have ceased, the girls' lessons are not as streamlined as they should be, I'm relying on quick meals instead of trying new, healthier meals, and I haven't exercised. I keep telling myself that as soon as my office is in order all will return to normal, even better than normal. I need my harmonious space to get any real work finished. Hopefully I can get everything in order this weekend.

Steampunk Mania

2010-02-08T22:52:00.003-06:00

We have less than 9 weeks until the first ever Steampunk Convention comes to St. Louis! Just this weekend I found a pair of black pants with white pinstripes at a thrift store for $3.73. They had wide legs and were a bit big, so I turned them into a long skirt with help from some red satin. I already have a white Victorian-styled blouse I found at Target on sale for $8.00, a black caplet from the early 1900's, which I found at an antique store for $10.00, and a mini top hat from a mall store, also $10.00. I have some old keys which I will turn into necklaces, as well as a large brass locket. I also have an old charm bracelet with square brass charms I found at a friend's jewelry shop. I am in the middle of making a corset (my first ever). All I need now are some old goggles, possibly some vintage glasses, some leather straps and buckles for my skirt, and either boots or spats. Then, of course, I need a name. I think I'll wait until I have to costume complete and will then look in the mirror for a name.

My husband is finally coming up with a costume of his own. We found a trench coat at Goodwill for $5.00 recently. He also has an earthy-colored vest. I cut the collar off of one of his white dress shirts (w/o a pocket) and it looks Victorian. All he needs are pants and a hat. He likes a bowler hat he saw on-line, but might make a top hat out of metal, if he gets inspired. Then he's thinking about a cane made out of bolts and pipe. And he needs those goggles, of course.

Some Goals for 2010

2009-12-31T15:57:00.003-06:00

Finish creating my family cookbook/story book. (That will take awhile, but I'm determined to finish it before summer!)
Lose at least 5 pounds a month for an ultimate goal of losing 60 pounds by 2011.
Create steampunk costumes for both my husband and myself.
Finish final edits on my "End of the World" novel and publish it through Lulu.
Finish writing "Dragons of Aneirin" with the goal of getting an agent to publish it with a brick and mortar publishing house.
Sell our house and buy a new one more suited to our family!!!
Learn to play guitar.

Autumn

2009-09-22T16:50:00.003-05:00

Autumn is my favorite season. I love the colorful trees, the crisp air, the wind blowing those red and golden leaves through the air, the quietness from lack of noisy bugs, and the smell of bonfires. I love Halloween with jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and witches (real or made-up), and I love the harvest moon, which will appear on my birthday this year.

We currently live out in the country, far from any big city, far from city lights, city noise, and city regulations. I have loved the nature of the country, but have felt very isolated. We are planning on moving back to the city, to be closer to work and places we frequent. Hopefully we will find a house we like in a suburb we like, but to get a house we adore and can afford, we may not get our first pick of towns. I may miss out on getting big trees in my yard. I most likely will not be able to build a bonfire or even a campfire. I may end up with nosey neighbors who will question a backyard shrine.

But hopefully I will get a house better suited to five very independent people. Hopefully I will find a home I can truly call a home. I have never felt at home, not even in this, MY first house. Probably because I knew coming in that this would only be our first house, and not the house we planned on keeping forever. I have lived in so many houses and apartments that I seemed to change houses as often as I changed my wardrobe. I'm still trying to find something that fits just right. Hopefully soon I will find my home and that home will have a view of wonderful autumn colors every year.

Passion for Cooking

2009-07-29T13:33:00.004-05:00

I truly envy those who have a passion for cooking. I caught up on some blogs today, several of which are vegetarian or vegan cooking blogs. Their meals, side dishes, and desserts look so amazing and yummy, and they love preparing them. Me? I don't really like to cook. It's too much preparation and too little time enjoying the food. You spend at least an hour coming up with a menu for the meal, prepping the food, then actually cooking it, and then you spend at most 20 minutes eating all your work, and then you have to clean up the mess you made cooking and eating.

I need a chef to go find wonderful recipes, do all the shopping, the prepping, the cooking, and the cleaning up. But my family is stuck with me - the woman who can cook wonderful meals and desserts, but who really doesn't like to. I threatened my husband the other day that I would start burning meals so I wouldn't be expected to cook anymore. He smiled, like the good husband he is, knowing I wouldn't do that. When I'm rich, we will have a chef!!!

Our Stuff

2009-06-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

This is a wonderful video that explains our "stuff" fairly simply.

The Story of Stuff

It really makes you take a look around and say, wow, I have way too much stuff.

A New Distraction

2009-05-29T16:24:00.002-05:00

As if I didn't have enough things distracting me from writing and menu planning, I just joined Facebook about two weeks ago. Oh my goodness, that place is addictive! I've been on MySpace for years, but hardly did anything with it. Now it's just a place where I befriend new authors and a few new bands. But Facebook is where all the friends hang out. I uploaded about 3 dozen photos on Facebook from my high school days and tagged a bunch of friends - I loved the reaction of the friends when they saw themselves!

What's really amazing is noticing how people have changed and matured over the years. I mean as teenagers few of us had recognized our core beliefs yet. It's intriguing how some people have taken a completely different route from what you expected. Of course I'm sure people have looked at my info and gone, Really? And then there are the people who seemed not to have changed at all, for good or bad. Very interesting.

Yet Another Reason to be a Vegetarian

2009-04-29T16:47:00.003-05:00

Now we have to worry about Swine Flu. When are people going to wake up and realize the factory farms are beyond appalling, beyond cruel, beyond unethical, they will end up killing millions of humans, one way or another. On that note, here's a nifty little video about bird flu.

Pandemics

We don't have to worry about saving the earth, the earth does a wonderful job of healing itself over time. Earth will remain and thrive long after we're gone. We have to worry about making sure there are some humans remaining 100 years from now.

Chaos Magic

2009-04-27T16:09:00.002-05:00

When I met some new pagan friends a couple of years ago I tried describing to them what I believed. One friend said it sounded as if I would end up as a Chaos Magician. With as busy as I am, I never gave that statement much thought. But now I'm trying to get back into my pagan studies and I found this article today on Witchvox.

Chaos Magic

And it does seem that this may be the path I'm on. I started with Wicca, because it seemed the most basic and most popular path. (And 15 years ago the book stores didn't have much else.) I still hold many of those beliefs and I'm still studying, but many paths intrigue me. I love all things Celtic; I am curious about Faeries; Buddhism has a certain allure; Native American, Greek, Viking, and even Japanese mythology fascinate me; and I love to belly dance. Perhaps one reason I haven't studied as much as I want to is because there are so many things that interest me, I don't know where to begin. I have numerous books on my shelves that I haven't read, but I can't wait to read each and every one.

Juice Detox

2009-04-24T15:27:00.003-05:00

I just found this blog and thought I'd pass it along - she seems to be doing something right:

Healing with Juices

I may look into a juice fast again, but do more research this time. I did a short one last year but couldn't do it for more than 3 days - I did lose a pound a day when I did it, but then I gained it right back. I was probably missing some important info. I'll post here if I find more reliable info.

Weight-loss Blog

2009-04-23T17:10:00.002-05:00

I just started a new blog to document my journey to a new, healthy, thin me. It's at:

Knight's Transformation

The scariest thing was putting up that Before Photo - I'm very embarrassed that I've let myself get this big. But more importantly, I want to be a good role model for my children. I want my daughters to be proud of me, not be disappointed because I can't keep up with them when we play outside. I want to be healthy - I want to be around for a very long time. I don't want to feel these heart palpitations and wonder if I'm having a heart attack. My daughters need me, so I need to be as healthy as I can be.

But this isn't something I can change overnight. I realize this journey will be truly that, a journey. I'm in this for the long haul, so I'm starting by making small changes. Follow those changes at my new blog. I'd love to have some comments.

We still need to be aware of products with MSG

2009-04-22T14:25:00.002-05:00

I found this article today and thought I would pass it on:

Still Beware of MSG

Make sure to scroll down to at least see all the other names for MSG and all the products that contain MSG - I had no clue MSG was in all of these items.

Steampunk

2009-04-18T17:15:00.002-05:00

New blog to follow - it's all about Steampunk!

Wings of Steam

Steampunk is the newest interest in our house. This will be tons of fun, especially since there's a Steampunk convention coming to St. Louis in April of 2010!

Rose Society

We're already on the lookout for costume pieces - there are so many cool Steampunk sites on the web, I'll be researching for days!

Don't Move - Rearrange!

2009-04-08T16:33:00.003-05:00

Growing up I changed schools 22 times because we moved a lot, for various reasons. The longest I had ever lived in one house was from the summer of 1982 until March of 1986, so 3 years, 9 months. (I still changed schools each year, though for different reasons.) Then the first apartment I shared with my husband (then fiance) lasted 2 years, 9 months. A move to Florida and back brought us to another apartment that lasted another 2 years, 9 months. But now we have lived in our first house for 5 years and 4 months. To me, that's forever in the same place. Since we have to stay here until we pay down our debts, what do we do when I get that feeling to move?

We rearrange rooms in the house. We've done this a few times already, but I believe this was the last time. We tore out the carpet and installed laminate wood floors in the smallest room of the house, which used to be my office, and turned it into our bedroom. Then we moved my husband's office into our old bedroom. Then we had to re-paint his old office before moving my office into it. (The three girls still share the largest room of the house which was intended as a living room when the old owners built it. There are French doors that separate that section of the house from the rest.)

And just rearranging rooms like this gives a whole new feeling to the house. Now, if this can last the three years it will take us to pay off debts and save up for a down payment, I will be extremely happy! And we have discovered that we feel cozier in a smaller bedroom as long as we have separate offices. All you need in a bedroom is a bed and a bookshelf (or dresser, but since the girls' room is a living room, it has no closet, so their closet is in our bedroom, my husband's clothes are in his office closet, and my clothes are in my office closet and since my closet clothes were there, my dresser is also in my office ). Sounds strange, but this house is not laid out in the best way, so we make do the best we can.

Homeschooling is Reward Enough

2009-03-31T15:17:00.003-05:00

These are two wonderful essays about homeschooling:

Mr. Pointy Nose

Mr. Pointy Nose Returns

I can completely relate to homeschooled children knowing the proper use of terms and the logic behind the science. Our daughters impressed their father this weekend with their knowledge. Our almost 8-yr-old daughter explained what the small weights were attached to the ceiling fan blades and why they were there and one of the twins (6 1/2 yrs old) explained that static electricity made the stray hairs on a brush all stand up on end. Then our other twin picked up a book and read it cover to cover without any prompting to do so. She just wanted her daddy to know she could read well.

I wouldn't give up homeschooling for all the money in the world!!! What have your children learned today?

Eat Less Red Meat and be Healthier

2009-03-25T16:14:00.006-05:00

I saw this article today and thought it might be interesting for those who say they'll eat meat until the day they die - your life could be considerably shorter than mine.

Study Reports Eating Less Red Meat is Healthier

The funny thing is, the people who eat red meat everyday are the ones least likely to want to give it up.

1000 True Fans

2009-03-10T16:05:00.004-05:00

I read an interesting article over on the Simple Dollar today. To oversimplify, the idea is that to be successful all you need is 1000 True Fans - 1000 people who will read your blog, buy your books/art/music, and spread the word about your greatness. Here's the full article.

1000 True Fans

The author says he started his blog simply because he wanted to write down his thoughts/insights/experiences of dealing with personal finance and hoped maybe a few people would like what he had to say. He has far exceeded his goal.

My quandary is, with so many blogs and websites on the World Wide Web, how does one, such as myself, ever hope of having more than a dozen (if I even have that many) readers? The obvious answer is to write wonderful posts that entertain, inform, or enlighten readers. I guess once I can keep my blogs updated at least once a week, then I can start figuring out how to market them to those billions of people on the Web.

Well, I'm off to my first Yoga/Pilates class - I will lose all this weight this year!!! (I'm much too embarrassed to mention how much I weigh - maybe once I've lost all the weight I will post the numbers.)

Where Will Humanity be by 2012?

2009-03-08T21:55:00.004-05:00

While working on editing an old novel (started in 1997) in which humanity is destroyed by all sorts of natural disasters, I've been thinking more and more about where the world is headed, and if you believe all the "models" of a warmer world, it looks like we're in for a true test of our humanity.

Check out this article:

4 Degrees C Warmer

It makes you want to consider moving closer to one of the poles - I'm thinking Canada.

My Darling Daughters

2009-02-11T16:35:00.003-06:00

Well, D#1 still loves homeschooling. She had a blast at Bring-a-Friend-to-School Day, but still prefers being home to learn, which pleases me to no end. I must be doing something right.

I did let the three of them play in the mud over the weekend when it was 70 degrees. All that snow melting left lots of sticky, gooey mud everywhere and D#1 loved it - she even got mud inside her rain boots from splashing in the mud puddles. But that's what childhood is all about, right?

I love having them with me everyday, I love their very specific personalities, I love their sense of humor, their logic, their ability to love with all their hearts - to see little bits of me running around, independent, makes me sit back in awe sometimes. They're mine, they're really mine (well, a part of them is their father's) and I can't believe how lucky I am.

Bring a Friend to School Day

2009-01-25T18:35:00.003-06:00

My friend's children both go to a small Catholic school walking distance from their home. She went to a small school growing up and liked that family feel and loves that she can give that feeling to her children. They seem to like school as much as any kid. Well, this small, private school is having a Bring a Friend to School Day and her daughter, who is the same age as my oldest, invited Daughter #1. D#1 has been counting down the days for the past two weeks. I think she's more excited about going to school with her friend than she was about Christmas. It's only for an hour and they are doing some sort of art project and then it's time for the friends to leave. My friend will be picking up D#1 and dropping her off, which will afford the girls time to ride in the same car, too. I will be very interested in how D#1 perceives school. I am confident in homeschooling all three of my daughters, I'm just curious what someone who has never been to school would think of school. Of course this visit will be tainted with the thrill of going with her friend and doing a cool art project instead of, say, a reading lesson.

Once I have a car and can enroll the girls in some extra curricular classes and take them to play groups I will feel much more secure in answering that pesky question, "But what about socialization?" I mean they get complimented every time we go to a store or restaurant on their wonderful behavior and with the three of them practically the same age they share and cooperate and resolve their differences better than any group of school kids I've ever seen. But there are those "well-meaning" friends and relatives that think my girls can't possibly be getting everything they need from life without interacting with children their own age on a daily basis. I'd rather my children learn from me, a mother who loves them dearly and who has their best interests at heart than from a myriad of children raised in different households with different moral codes. Have you heard what some of these children say to their parents? It's unbelievably disrespectful. We will all be much happier to spend some quality time once a week or so with other homeschooled children than for them to be subjected to school kids just because some people believe my children aren't socialized.

Religion in Classrooms, Part 2

2009-01-11T14:17:00.004-06:00

One of my step-sisters and I are having an e-mail discussion about this and she pointed out something that I hadn't really considered. Other gods are already in school in the forms of studies of ancient cultures - Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc. In school I do remember learning about Native American beliefs at Thanksgiving and vaguely remember some Egyptian studies (I moved a lot and most of my schooling is a blur). At the time, I just considered it history - learning about a dead culture. But from the vantage point I have now, I can see that most people consider the Bible to be a true account of history. (I happen to believe that the victors wrote history and so the Bible is far from a complete historical account, like so many other historical stories.) So, in that respect, yes, if the mythology of other cultures are studied, then so, too, should the history of the Bible, as long as it is presented as one culture's set of beliefs and not the be all and end all.

People should be able to live their beliefs as long as they still respect others' beliefs. If a Muslim wants to say, "Praise Allah" when he gets an "A" on a test, or a Wiccan wants to say, "Gaia Bless," when she leaves her friends for the day or a Catholic wants to say, "God Bless You," when someone sneezes, that is harmless and would be acceptable. But it's when that Muslim gets beat up after school or when the Wiccan is almost raped because the boy thinks that Wiccans have group orgies when they pray to the Goddess that we have to wonder what to do. Learning about a belief system in a classroom is different than actually living your beliefs in public. I mean why is it okay to wear a cross necklace and not a pentacle? (Although I think a lot of schools are getting with the program and allowing all jewelry.)

This is an issue that doesn't have an easy answer, as I had previously thought. I guess when I thought about those who wanted God back in school, I perceived it that they wanted to say prayers at lunch, say the National Anthem every morning, and hold prayer sessions during school hours. That is what should not be allowed unless all religious traditions are accommodated. But I do feel that all children should learn about all the different cultures and religions in order to be more knowledgeable people, more tolerant members of society - whether they learn that in school or not is an issue for debate.

Children's Resale Shops Saved!

2009-01-10T12:32:00.002-06:00

CPSC Clarifies Requirements of New Children’s Product Safety Laws Taking Effect in February

Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.

Here's the full article:

CPSC

Let's jump for joy!

Religion in the Classroom

2009-01-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

I recently received an e-mail stated to be a transcript of what Ben Stein said on the CBS Sunday Morning Show. Whether it's really from him or not is unimportant. What's important is that it basically implies that society is going downhill, in huge part, because we banned reading the Bible in school. And, more importantly, a lot of people seem to believe this as well, if receiving this e-mail multiple times is any clue.

Now, here are my thoughts:

If you let one god in school, you must let ALL gods in school. If you force over-worked and under-paid teachers to instruct your Christian child on the Bible, you will also have to force that poor teacher to instruct all the children on all the different world religions, unless you just designate class time for any religious study. And then you must deal with the parents who don't want their children exposed to any other religious ideas. I mean there are parents who don't want their children taught the Theory of Evolution - how are they going to handle their children being exposed to a multitude of differing religious beliefs?
If you want your child to have a high moral standard, YOU, the parent, must build that within your own child. You send your child out to school where strangers, of whom you know very little, educate him or her. Not only do you expect these strangers to educate your children, now you want them to install moral values in them as well? Give me a break! If you are unhappy with what your children are exposed to in school, then educate them yourselves at home! Then you can designate as much time as you want in spiritual development or religious studies.
People are still very prejudiced, even if they say they aren't. As long as you are like them, believe what they believe, and live how they live all is good. But if you dare believe in a goddess as well as a god, look out! Someone whom I considered a good friend stopped all communication with me once I revealed I was Pagan. I had known her for years, but never let on how much my religious views differed from hers. Can you imagine the chaos that would be unleashed if children were allowed to share their religious views with each other? Actually I believe the children would be much more open-minded than the parents.
If you really believe a school can educate your child better than you and you want God in school, send your child to a private Christian school, end of story.

Lead Testing Gone Extreme

2009-01-08T15:27:00.003-06:00

For anyone who hasn't heard, Feb. 10, 2009, could be a very sad day for small businesses and anyone who wants to sell anything to children. I depend greatly on the resale shops - I buy ALL of my children's clothes second-hand (with three girls the same size I can't afford new clothes), I sell my girls' gently used clothes and toys through these same resale shops and make good money. And I also donate quite a few not-so-perfect clothes to Goodwill. If these businesses had to pay to test everything on their shelves for lead, they would go out of business.

What about the people that depend on Goodwill and Salvation Army and their local churches for clothes and toys and anything for their children? These people can barely afford used items, they will not be able to afford everything new.

And local yard sales and flea markets would become as common as drive-in theaters since easily half of everything for sale tends to be kid-oriented.

I truly hope this is re-written in such a way as to not affect the resale shops and anyone who makes and sells things for children in their homes.

Below are some links with more precise information.

Nat'l Bankruptcy Day
This one has a pretty simple synopsis.

Save Handmade Toys
This one is another simple one and has some comments from others.

Duane Morris Alerts
Lots of legalese on the act.

Comments
You can enter your comments here on the issue.

New Year Goals

2008-12-31T13:39:00.002-06:00

I don't do resolutions, I do goals - they seem less intimidating. Here are my top goals for 2009:

Create a Family Stories Recipe Book
Edit my 2008 NaNo novel
Write 3 other rough drafts of new novels and edit one for publishing
Exercise daily in order to lose weight
Journal daily with Tarot-a-Day
Update my blogs a few times a week
Read all my New Age/Metaphysical books
Plant a vegetable/herb garden
Finish re-decorating my house
Build compost bins
Create faery gardens with my girls

I even broke them down into quarterly goals so I can be more focused. I like lists.

Happy New Year!

Non-Meat Loaf - Belly Bomber Style

2008-12-28T08:00:00.002-06:00

Growing up, my mom made a wonderfully delicious meat loaf that tasted like White Castle hamburgers. That was one of the meals I missed when I became vegetarian, so I came up with a non-meat loaf that's just as good without all the unhealthy red meat.

Non-Meat Loaf - Belly Bomber Style

1 pkg. Quorn Crumbles, slightly thawed
1 can of cream of onion soup - low sodium
1 Tbs. organic soy sauce
1/4 white onion, finely chopped or 1/4 Cup frozen, chopped onions
Dash of Pepper to taste
Fresh bread, broken into pieces (I remove the crusts), about 6 slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients, except bread, together in bowl - using your hands may be the best method. Fold bread pieces in last, just enough to be well mixed.

Shape into a loaf and put into a lightly greased (I use non-stick cooking spray) glass pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 40 minutes, give or take a few.

I like this served with mashed potatoes and a green veggie.

Laura Knight copyright 2006

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2008-12-27T08:00:00.002-06:00

My grandmother made the best pineapple upside down cake. This is my version of her recipe.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/2 Cup Smart Balance (or other margarine)
1 Cup light brown sugar
1 small can of sliced pineapples
3 eggs’ worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer prepared per box directions - divided in half
1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla
5 Tbs. pineapple juice from the above pineapple can

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium/large size iron skillet melt 1/2 Cup Smart Balance. When melted, add light brown sugar and mix. Lay pineapple slices around the skillet in a single layer. You can add maraschino cherries to the center of each pineapple ring, if you like.

Using half of the prepared Egg Replacer, combine with granulated sugar, flour, salt, baking powder and pineapple juice.

Beat the second half of the prepared Egg Replacer until foamy. Pour into the batter and fold in.

Bake in oven for 35 - 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Laura Knight copyright 2006

Vegetarian Stuffing

2008-12-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

I love, love, love stuffing! Before we were vegetarians we would buy Stove Top all the time. But, after our transformation, I looked at the ingredients on even the non-chicken flavored stuffing mixes, and they all had chicken broth in them - Ugh! So, I came up with my own, scrumptious recipe.

Vegetarian Stuffing

3 stalks celery
1 Tbs. Smart Balance spread
1/4 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parsley
sprinkle of sea salt
1 tsp. pepper
4 cups dried, cubed bread (Country Hearth Unseasoned Crouton Style Stuffing)
14 oz. can of vegetable broth
4 oz. water

Sauté celery in Smart Balance.

Mix herbs and water with broth.

In a casserole dish, sprayed with cooking spray, add stuffing and mix in the broth mixture until well coated.

Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. (May place pats of margarine on top of stuffing before baking.)

Once finished, take out and cover until time to eat.

Laura Knight copyright 2007

Flaky Cinnamon Pie Crust

2008-12-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

My husband's all-time favorite dessert is cherry pie. I'm not big on pies because I always thought the pie crust was too plain to be a dessert. So, I came up with a pie crust with flavor.

Flaky Cinnamon Pie Crust

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/8 Cup powdered sugar
1/8 Cup cinnamon
1/2 Cup plus 2 Tbs. Smart Balance (or other margarine)
4 Tbs. cold water
2 Tbs. vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, brown sugar, powdered sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in Smart Balance, mixing until crumbly. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and water then add to the flour mixture, blending just until a soft dough forms.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

If dough is sticky and hard to handle, cover and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness and transfer to a pie plate. Prick bottom and sides of crust with fork.

Bake at 450 F for 9 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned (hard to tell with the cinnamon). Use with any pie recipe where you like the extra sweetness and cinnamon flavor.

*When making a cherry pie with canned pie filling, I add 1 tsp. almond extract and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to the filling to take away some of the tartness.

Laura Knight copyright 2008

Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookies

2008-12-24T08:00:00.002-06:00

These cookies taste just as scrumptious without the overly sweet butterscotch chips.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Cookies

1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Cup Smart Balance - softened (or other margarine)
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
2 Eggs’ worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer (prepared per box directions)
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
3 Cups quick or old-fashioned oats
11-oz. package of butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.
With mixer, beat Smart Balance, sugars, and vanilla or almond extract in a medium bowl. Stir in Egg Replacer. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Fold in oats and optional chips.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

Laura Knight copyright 2008

Vegan Potato Salad

2008-12-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

I loved my mom's potato salad as a kid. Of course back then, I ate eggs. But now that I don't, I came up with a new version of my mom's recipe.

Vegan Potato Salad

8 Medium Red Potatoes
Extra Firm Tofu, drained and chopped, to take the place of eggs. Use half or less of a 14 oz. container. (You can use the remaining tofu to make tofu scramble for lunch.)
1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
3/4 cup (2 stalks) of celery, chopped
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
2 Tbs. pickle juice
1 1/2 cup Vegennaise (may need more to get the right consistency)
Salt and Pepper (1 tsp each, or to taste)
Paprika, sprinkled on top for decor

Potatoes - unpeeled.
Scrub gently.
Place in cold water with 2 or 3 tsp of salt per quart and bring to a boil.
Cook for 25 to 40 minutes uncovered until tender.
Drain water, cover with a clean, folded cloth, and shake pan over low heat to allow potatoes to dry.

Cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Add all of the above ingredients and mix well - you may have to use your hands to combine everything well. Be careful not to crumble the tofu too much. Sprinkle paprika on top for a decorative finish.

Laura Knight copyright 2006

Recipe Copyright

2008-12-22T13:27:00.003-06:00

Over on the Vegetarian Parents Yahoo Group, there are a few published cookbook authors who gave us some insight on recipe copyright infringement. The posting of recipes from cookbooks and other websites happens frequently in that group. Most people think nothing of it, especially since most of the posters state the origin of the recipe. However, one author decided to enlighten us. She even polled four other cookbook authors for their opinions.

3 of the 4 authors would like anyone posting their recipes to first get their permission and then put a link to either their website or their book on Amazon.com. This is how they make their livings, creating and publishing recipes. Posting their recipes without their permission is the same as posting a chapter of a published book without the author's permission - very few people would think it acceptable to post a chapter of a published book.

One author said she didn't mind if people posted her recipes, as long as they give her the credit - she likes the free marketing.

The other important factor in recipe copyright is that the ingredients themselves are not copyrightable - only the way in which the author words the combing of the ingredients is copyrightable. Her or his flair for easy or even funny directions are all that are technically copyrightable.

So, I had to go back through the recipes I have posted here and tried to figure out if I changed the recipe directions enough that I was safe to post them. I think I have. There are only two that might be questionable and I took those off of my sidebar list, but left them on the blog in their original places.

From now on, I will only post recipes that I consider truly my own. I've been going through my binder of recipes and have pulled out a few that I will post in the next few days. And of course if I come across a published recipe that I really like, I will just post a link to the website or book instead of posting the recipe.

Non-chicken and Farfalle Pasta Dish

2008-12-22T12:44:00.003-06:00

This is one of my husband's favorite meals. I usually bake some bread to go with it.

Non-chicken and Farfalle Pasta Dish

1/2 pkg. Quorn Chk'n Tenders or 2 Quorn Naked Chk'n Cutlets, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 or 3 Tbs. Canola Oil (may need more as it cooks)
1/2 of a 1 pound pkg. of Farfalle Noodles
Sea Salt and pepper to taste (I add lots of pepper)

Boil noodles according to pkg. directions.

Dice green bell pepper as big or as small as you like - I like tiny bits. You may also like to add other chopped veggies such as onions or red bell peppers.

In a large skillet, add the 2 or 3 Tbs. Canola Oil and Quorn Chk’n. Cook according to pkg. Add green bell pepper (can be added at the same time as the Grillin Chk’n).

When Quorn’ Chk’n and noodles are finished cooking, add noodles (drained) to the skillet with the Chk’n and green pepper. Simmer for a few minutes, mixing well. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.

(You may need to add more oil as Chk’n cooks - don’t let it cook dry.)

Laura Knight copyright 2007

Better Banana Bread

2008-12-22T12:00:00.000-06:00

I have another version of banana bread earlier in my blog that uses Bisquick and Splenda, but this recipe is much better.

Better Banana Bread

3/4 Cup sugar
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbs. Smart Balance - melted (or other margarine)
1/4 Cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Cup mashed bananas (2 large or 3 small)
1/3 Cup vanilla soymilk plus 1 tsp. lemon juice (to make soy buttermilk)
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 2 1/2 eggs (3 1/2 tsp. powder and 5 Tbs. water)

Spray an 8x4 or 9x5 loaf pan with non-stick spray.
Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix all the wet ingredients, except the Egg Replacer, in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, stir. Add the prepared Egg Replacer and stir just until combined.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 325 F for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Laura Knight copyright 2008

Amazon - Still Interested in Customer Happiness?

2008-12-15T17:28:00.002-06:00

For those of you who don't check out my other site, you may be interested in this post. The head of Amazon seems to be making some bad choices.

http://lkknight.blogspot.com/2008/12/has-amazon-turned-to-dark-side.html

Chocolate Swirl Non-Cheesecake

2008-12-12T13:03:00.003-06:00

This is my version of a one-bowl swirl cheesecake recipe I found in a magazine - I believe it was a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe.

Chocolate Swirl Non-Cheesecake

4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate (I used Baker’s.)
2 cartons (8 oz. each) Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, divided
1/2 cup organic sugar, divided
2 eggs’ worth of Egg Replacer (prepare per directions on box), divided
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 ready-to-use chocolate crumb crust

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Microwave chocolate in a large microwavable bowl on High 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring halfway through. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Mix 1 carton of Tofutti, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and 1 egg’s worth of Egg Replacer into the melted chocolate with wire whisk or electric mixer until well blended. Pour into crust.

Mix remaining Tofutti, sugar, vanilla, and Egg Replacer in the same bowl until well blended. (If you want the nice yellow color of eggy cheesecake, add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring. Or for Valentine’s Day you could add a few drops of red food coloring.)

Spoon plain batter over chocolate batter; use a butter knife to swirl batters together, taking care not to cut the crust.

Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool before refrigerating. Chill in fridge 3 hours or overnight. Makes 8 servings.

Added Recipe List

2008-12-03T16:27:00.002-06:00

I just added a list on my sidebar of the recipes I've posted on this blog. I hope to post more recipes more frequently, but this is the list I have for now. My next recipe up here will be for the Chocolate Swirl Non-Cheesecake.

I Wrote a Novel in 28 Days!

2008-11-29T11:21:00.003-06:00

Yep, I did it! On November 23rd I had only 33,678 words and then I didn't get back to writing until Nov. 27th - Thanksgiving Day, only being Vegetarians we didn't have a big dead carcass on our table, but I did make some Match non-chicken cutlets, with my own special vegetarian stuffing and rolls and I made a chocolate swirl cheesecake with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (non-dairy) which I thought was scrumptious and the twins liked it okay. My husband had to work, but he got off early and then took the girls to his aunt's house for a few hours while I hammered out some scenes. I wrote over 6,000 words by the end of the day and then on the 28th I wrote over 13,000 words!!!

It is a very, very, very rough draft with almost no character development, but I'm going to try to edit it and flesh it out enough so that I can take advantage of Create Space's free proof copy - it would be awesome to see a book I wrote in actual book form!

As far as that non-cheese cheese cake, I'll write up a recipe and post it here at some point. It still has chocolate, so it's not vegan, but it's much healthier than a real cheese cake.

My New Favorite Sandwich - VBAT (Vegetarian Bacon, Avocado, Tomato)

2008-11-10T08:00:00.002-06:00

Lately I’ve been having a craving for my grandmother’s egg sandwich. But seeing as we don’t buy eggs anymore, I came up with something that still reminds me of her sandwich.

Bakery bread of your choice
half of a medium avocado, sliced into thin strips
Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Bacon, about 4 slices
2 slices of organic tomato
Smart Balance spread, about 1 Tbs.
Vegennaise, about 2 Tbs.

Here’s how I do it. Microwave the package of veg. bacon on a bacon cooking rack (I love this contraption; it’s easy to use and easy to clean). For 9 slices on high temp cook for 3 minutes, 40 seconds. (I always just cook up the whole package cuz I like to snack on it right out of the fridge.) I use about a third of a loaf of my grocery store’s bakery bread. Slice it in half and trim off some of the crust so it will fit in the toaster (my toaster has wide slots). When golden brown, spread 1/2 Tbs of Smart Balance, or your margarine of choice, on each slice. (My grandmother always spread butter on the toast before adding mayonnaise and I really like the flavor the buttery spread adds.) Then spread 1 Tbs. of Vegennaise on each slice of toasted bread. I put the avocados on first, then the tomato slices, then the bacon as it seems to stay stacked better that way. Place your top piece of bread on then slice the sandwich in half and enjoy!

NaNo Day 9

2008-11-09T18:05:00.002-06:00

I finally got around to updating my info on my NaNo page. So click the link on the side bar and go check out my novel summary and an excerpt.

Many Small Changes Can Help

2008-11-09T17:07:00.001-06:00

I just read an article in Organic Gardening Magazine that discussed a recent study comparing greenhouse-gas emissions. What it comes down to is that more energy is used to transport grain to cattle on feedlots than is used to ship food to grocery stores even across state lines.

“The authors concluded that eating just 13 to 15 percent less red meat and dairy products would reduce an individual’s output of greenhouse gasses as much as eating a diet comprised entirely of locally produced foods.”

To me, this is an amazing find. The question is how to convince a country of carnivores that they can help the earth by substituting a few of those meat-centered meals with something like bean and soy cheese burritos or whole wheat spaghetti with marina sauce? Most won’t give up their dependence on cows as a food source just like they won’t give up those SUV’s. People just don’t get that if everyone made a small change, we would see huge results.

Divided America

2008-11-03T16:27:00.003-06:00

My husband found this great article and I wanted to share it.

Blue States vs Red States

It's something to think about.

You Know You Love Books When...

2008-10-27T16:45:00.002-05:00

You feel like a thief for getting so many cool books from the library. I just requested a cookbook with Remy, the rat from Ratatouille, that in the bookstores is shrink-wrapped so you can't even flip through it to see if you like the recipes before buying the book. My Eldest loves her kitchen play set and her play food, but is extremely picky - I'm hoping I can spark her interest in cooking real food and maybe she'll try it because she's cooked it.

I also just finished reading Acheron by Sherilyn Kenyon, which was a 759-page book, that I borrowed from the library. That is the best way to read a best-seller that you're not sure you want forever. While it was a good read, I don't know that I'd ever read it again, which just proves how wonderful libraries are. (I tend to only buy reference books now, books that I will go back to again and again, like cookbooks and writing reference books, etc.)

We live in a county that has a decent library, but we pay the out-of-county fee to go to the libraries in St. Louis, which is just $50.00 a year. And I can request practically any book I can think of, which helps when preparing the home school lessons. I have to find a wide variety of books on a multitude of subjects that can keep my girls interested. And Bill Nye the Science Guy rocks!!! Each time we go to the library we get one of his DVD's.

I'm even finding older books from my favorite romance writers that aren't in my local bookstores anymore. Sure, I could order them, but why spend the money when I can borrow them from the library? There have been times when I've read a book I liked so much that I went out and bought it, but lately a book has to be superb to earn a spot on my bookshelf with as many books as I have.

My New Blog!

2008-10-25T21:49:00.003-05:00

Okay, I have my new writerly blog set up and ready to go! The site is L.K. Knight.com . I also have a link set up in the sidebar under "My Other Sites".

Since I have this new blog devoted solely to writing, I probably won't blog about any of my writing endeavors here, as that would just be redundant to people who would read both blogs. But if something's really interesting, I may direct you over there.

Now to crank out the pages of stories and novels so I can have topics to blog about. Life is grand!

Setting (up) New Sites!

2008-10-24T19:51:00.002-05:00

I'm not quite back in the swing of things yet - I decided I needed a new blog devoted solely to my writing pursuits. (I do have a website, but as it's time-consuming for my husband to update, I figured I'd better establish something I'll be able to easily update.) It's almost ready - there are still a few things I need to tweak. And then I need to decide what sort of content I will put up there on a regular basis. I have a few ideas and I hope I can keep with it and write my novel and still accomplish all that other stuff that consists of my life.

As soon as it's up, I will let you all know the url.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

2008-10-12T17:50:00.002-05:00

Isn't vacation wonderful? And coming home is great, too. It's the disruption of my nice, neat little routine that always throws me. I was out of state for almost two weeks and have been back home almost two weeks and I'm still not fully back. I think I'm almost there - just need to get to bed earlier so I can get up earlier. I liked all the time I had to just read novels and now I'm reading way too late into the evening.

While we were gone, I had nothing to worry about. I didn't write any e-mails, I didn't post any blogs, I didn't write any stories, I let learning come spontaneously to the girls, I rarely had to cook as we ate out a lot, and I most certainly did not surf the web. I bought a few new books and read those in the quiet moments. I read those for awhile during the long drives from state to state, too. (We traveled from MO through IL, KY, TN, and GA to FL. Then we drove through FL, GA, AL, and LA to TX. Then we drove from TX through OK to MO.) It was a wonderful trip.

And now I'm back home trying to get back to my routine of homeschooling, blogging, keeping up with e-mails, trying to squeeze in reading time and trying to figure out when to write my stories. I have to figure that one out quickly as November is swiftly approaching and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) will be here before I know it. And I already have a story in mind to write for NaNo.

So, here's getting back in to the swing of things!

Your Political Compass

2008-09-16T16:12:00.003-05:00

Here's a really cool way to see where your political compass really points. I took it and I come out pretty close to the Dali Lama - kinda cool. Try it if for no other reason than to see where historical figures have fallen in comparison to yourself.

Political Compass

Cool Poem

2008-09-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here is a very cool poem by a very cool person.

There have been days when that is exactly how I felt and I could not have expressed it better myself. Thanks, Anne, the Merlin of Berkley Springs.

Got an Agent?

2008-09-14T20:26:00.004-05:00

I just read a post about why writers who want to get published need an agent.

Read it here for yourself.

There are tidbits listed in there that I had never considered before. While I am far from having a novel ready for publishing, I know now I will find an agent first.

Follow My Blog

2008-09-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I just put in the widget to see who is following my blog. Currently no one is "following" it, but this is a brand new feature. Hopefully I will get some people to join up as "followers" soon. It would be nice to know that people are actually reading my blog. I know at least one person is. I guess I just need to get out there and leave comments on others' blogs to get more people here, but, wow, does that take a chunk of time out of the day. But if I can take the time to read a few blogs, I should take the time to comment. So, here's me, going off to find a blog on which to comment.

Reading Others' Blogs

2008-09-04T17:07:00.002-05:00

I want to be connected to the world somehow - I am a very blessed stay-at-home mom who homeschools her three young daughters and whose husband takes our only vehicle to work five days a week for 10 hours a day. When the weekend comes I usually want to high-tail it outta here and interact with some grown-ups. But, as the few friends we still have are so busy with their own very interesting lives, we are lucky if we see them a few times a year. Which means I have to go somewhere else to get that adult interaction. The easy choice for me then is to enter the blogoshpere.

Lately, I have become addicted to a few blogs - I've added a few more to my list of blogs that peak my interest. And some of these bloggers post very interesting pieces on a daily basis. If I sat here and read each of my favorite blogs every day, I'd end up devoting at least an hour, or more if I click on links, to just that.

These people inspire me. They make me want to be more, do more, experience more. They make me want to write my novel, delve into more spiritual activities, research cool topics for my girls schooling, get up early to exercise, and try new recipes. And so, what happens? I read these inspiring words, feel jazzed for a few minutes, and then look at the clock, realize it's past dinner-preparation time, throw my hands in the air (actually I run my hands through my shaggy hair) and tell myself that I will do more tomorrow. The question is, will I actually do more tomorrow, or will tomorrow be just like today?

New Library Widget

2008-09-03T17:28:00.003-05:00

I just added a library widget. I only added a few books that are on a shelf in front of me in my office - these are books that I really like. I haven't yet decided if I'll change it to be just what I'm reading right now or just have my absolute favorites up there, but I'll figure it out soon. I doubt I'd ever put all my books on this database, as that would take months, but I'll put up a good selection.

Why We Became Vegetarians (This post is a bit long)

2008-09-02T17:58:00.003-05:00

When I first meet people, if they are not already vegetarians, they ask me what prompted me to become vegetarian. So, here is that answer.

Succinctly, we became a vegetarian family because animals have just as much rights as we do to live long, happy lives; eating plant-based foods is one significant way to help save the planet; and since humans were not designed to eat meat, and chemicals are added to most meat, following a vegetarian diet leads to a healthier lifestyle. Following are more details of the above reasons:

The majority of the animals raised for human consumption live short, substandard lives. They are crammed into pens, mutilated to keep them from maiming each other, and are fed things that made me gag just thinking about it. (There is a neat little video of cartoon animals on a Matrix-like adventure at www.themeatrix.com, as well as a second installment, The Meatrix II: Revolting.) Animals should not live like that just so humans can have another option for dinner. (According to the Animal Rights Handbook, the average American will consume 1 calf, 3 lambs, 11 cows, 23 hogs, 45 turkeys, and 1,097 chickens in a lifetime.1)

Human beings are designed to eat plant foods, not meat. “Our closest living relatives from the animal world, apes, are vegetarians....The structure of our skin, teeth, stomach, and bowels, and the length of our digestive system, are all typically vegetarian.”2

“Livestock consume 70 percent of U.S. grain production. Twenty million people die each year as a result of malnutrition and starvation. Americans could feed 100,000,000 people by reducing their intake of meat by just 10 percent. One acre of prime land can produce many pounds of edible product. Here are a few examples: 30,000 pounds of apples, 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, or 250 pounds of beef.”3

“U.S. livestock produce 230,000 pounds of excrement per second.... The amount of waste created by a 10,000-head feed lot is equal to the waste of a city of 110,000 people. World livestock production is now a significant factor in the emission of two of the four global warming gasses: carbon dioxide and methane. Every steak we eat has the same effect as a 25-mile drive in a typical American car....It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one edible pound of beef. It takes 49 gallons of water to produce one edible pound of apples.”4

“Eighty percent of the meat produced in the United States contains drugs that are passed on to you when you eat it....Animal products contain large quantities of saturated fat and cholesterol and have no dietary fiber. The U.S. Surgeon General has stated that 68 percent of all diseases are diet related. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains (and free from animal products) can prevent, improve, and sometimes cure breast cancer, osteoporosis, prostate cancer, impotence, and obesity....Seventy-five percent of federal poultry inspectors say they would not eat chicken.”5

“The only thing milk is designed to do is to turn a fifty-pound calf into a three-hundred-pound cow in six months. If cows don’t drink milk, why should we? Think of how strange it would be to drink something like orangutan’s milk? Yet, it would make more sense for us to drink orangutan milk because we are closer to them as a species than we are to cows. Humans were never meant to consume anything other than human breast milk, and that only while we’re infants. We are the only animals that drink milk of another animal. Milk is a food of convenience, and in our quest for convenience, we have made ourselves one of the sickest animals on the face of the earth.”6

“If the true cost to society of producing animal products for human consumption were passed on to consumers, few of us could afford to put these foods on the dinner table. At least we wouldn’t be able to afford the amount that we presently consume. Fortunately for those who have a hankering for ham and eggs, the government subsidizes many of these foods to keep producers in business and consumers satisfied.”7

When we first became vegetarian the meat and milk were easy enough to eliminate. We switched to drinking Silk Vanilla and Very Vanilla Soy Milk and replaced most of our meat-centered meals with meals that have a great deal of cheese, such as cheese pizza, pasta with cheese, Mexican meals with lots of shredded cheese, etc. Eliminating cheese would be darn near impossible for us right now. I have been reviewing my vegetarian cook books as well and have found that many of the recipes in these books use eggs and cheese. (Aghhhhh! What’s a vegan wannabe to do? Especially a picky one!) We have found acceptable vegetable and soybean-based substitutes for chicken patties, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and hot dogs, (Morningstar Farms has excellent products which Target sells at reasonable prices, my favorite is the Spicy Black Bean Burger) but to extend our menus beyond those meals without resorting to cheese will take more investigative work. I do know that our ultimate goal is to live an almost vegan lifestyle. (Have you ever noticed just how many prepackaged foods have eggs or cheese in them? And dining out isn’t easy as someone who eats NO animal products or bi-products.) We weren’t able to grow our own vegetables this year, but we will be building raised beds this fall to have ready by spring. Currently our menu options are limited since we live far from any of the large specialty/nutritional stores that carry a grand variety of vegetarian foods. But, we’re doing what we can with what’s available and that’s more than most Americans are willing to do.

1. Raymond, Carole, Student’s Vegetarian Cookbook. Three Rivers Press,
2003, p. xvi

2. Henner, Marilu, Healthy Life Kitchen. Regan Books, 2000, p.12

3. Raymond, Carole, Student’s Vegetarian Cookbook. Three Rivers Press,
2003, p. xxiii

4. Raymond, Carole, ibid. p. xxiv

5. Raymond, Carole, ibid. p. xxiv

6. Henner, Marilu, Healthy Life Kitchen. Regan Books, 2000, p.15-16

7. Havala, Suzanne, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being Vegetarian.
Alpha Books, 1999, p.21

Busy or Not Busy is all in your mind

2008-08-27T15:26:00.002-05:00

I read something today that made me stop and think. Whether you think you are busy, or even too busy, is all a matter of how you qualify your day in your own mind. You can be doing many things, checking them off of your list as you go, and not feel busy, just accomplished, or you can spend all day on one activity, not getting to everything on your to-do list and feel too busy to even breathe.

I used to feel extremely busy. I always had a to-do list with at least 10 items on it and worked as quickly as I could checking off those items. There were times when months would go by before all the items were checked off, because, of course, other items would come up that had to be added before older items could be finished. I would go to bed categorizing my next day to figure out how to get the most accomplished. This was also how I handled the second year of homeschooling my three girls and how I started off this third year. How can we get the most accomplished? How can we get the most checked off that Second-Grader Knowledge checklist?

Then I saw my girls' enthusiasm for learning fading quickly. We were doing too much - the fun had been zapped out. So, I decided to change tactics. I have eased up on the mundane daily tasks (math worksheets, phonics worksheets, French Lessons, etc.) and declared Fridays unschool days. Through the week I guide them on what they learn and on Fridays I allow them to do whatever they want and I observe and see how they learn on their own.

Last Friday they practiced writing by writing letters to their dolls. (They had to ask for help with some spellings, but did very well on their own.) They prepared well-rounded meals for their dolls with the myriad of plastic and wooden foods and they sang wonderful improvisational songs in the voices of their dolls. They used math as they equally divided up the desserts among the dolls, even though one doll kept insisting she should get more. And playing badminton and practicing using a bow and arrows finished up the afternoon. And not once did they complain about doing school work.

As for me? I currently have only three things on my to-do list and I'll get to them when I get to them. And if I don't get to them? Well, then my hair will continue to be shaggy, dust will collect on trinkets, and my raised-bed gardens won't be built. Although I fully intend on doing these things, my life won't fall apart if I don't. And in the end that's what it's all about. Knowing that I can relax, breathe deeply, and even daydream and my life will not fall off the tracks.

Take Time to Eat Healthy

2008-08-22T15:51:00.004-05:00

This is a link to a nice article on how one man tries to cross America shopping at only Mom-and-Pop stores, restaurants, and gas stations.

http://zenhabits.net/2008/08/is-our-addiction-to-saving-money-destroying-the-real-america/

That led me to thinking about how my ideals have changed since I became a vegetarian. Actually my ideals began changing way back in my early teens when I realized my beliefs were not the same as most of my family and friends, but I actually did something with my beliefs when my family and I became vegetarians.

I started really thinking about where my food comes from - not just the fact that I didn't want to contribute to the horrible conditions of cattle and chickens and pigs barely surviving in overcrowded pens and cages, but also that most of the big companies cut costs wherever they can, including not taking care of their employees. Unhealthy additives are added to just about every packaged food to keep it on the shelf longer. And even when there are decent studies showing how one additive or another is harmful, companies ignore them or try to discredit them so they don't have to change how they do business. Big companies don't care about the health of their customers, their employees or Mother Earth, they only care about their bottom line.

Which has led me to very slowly (I couldn't very well do it all at once - too much of a shock to the family) find ways to create meals and snacks from fresh sources rather than buy pre-packaged food. For example, I found a wonderful vegan chocolate cake recipe that tastes just as good as any chocolate cake I've made and tastes much better than the Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes I used to love. And I know each ingredient that went into the cake. I've also started baking breads, making my own hummus, pita breads, guacamole, chili, and all sorts of things that I used to just buy pre-packaged. Another thing I've discovered is that not only is my home-made food healthier, it tastes better, and it's much less expensive. The only way in which one could say something negative is that it takes more time to create and prepare meals. But then if we all took a little more time to think about what we eat, Americans wouldn't be the unhealthiest people in the industrial world.

New Band

2008-08-20T14:40:00.002-05:00

I just found out that a friend of mine has started a new band. Here are two of their links:

http://www.virb.com/brickshy

http://www.myspace.com/brickshy

I didn't have much else to blog about today, so go listen to some cool music.

Automatic Writing

2008-08-18T15:45:00.002-05:00

Last night I began reading Christopher Penczak's book, Spirit Allies. (His is just one of the many books I have bought but have yet to read.) He has little exercises to practice using your psychic abilities. I did several and was pleased with my experiences, but the one that shocked me was the automatic writing. I've never attempted that before and wasn't quite sure if I believed it could work with me, seeing as I've never had anything "paranormal" happen to me. (I've performed spells which worked as expected, but when the results came about I just said, "cool" and went about my life as usual.) Anyway, I asked my spirit guides who "come for my highest good, in perfect love and perfect trust," to give me a message I needed to hear. At first nothing happened, so I relaxed a bit more, went a bit further into my meditation, and tried again. Still, just little nudges - it was more that a message would enter my brain which would then move my hand. Then, all of a sudden, my hand felt the need to write. (I had my eyes closed so my eyes could not direct my hand.) My hand began writing long strings of symbols and kept writing line after line. In my mind I'm saying, "Oh my Goddess! This is cool!" Then I began to wonder how long it would continue. I didn't open my eyes until my hand stopped at the end of the page.

Upon reading what I had written I was disappointed to discover that it was all just scribbles, but the scribbles repeated a pattern. It seemed each line had the same pattern of scribbles. But I couldn't really pick out any letters. I realize that since was my first attempt it could just be that I need practice, but it was still really cool.

One Person Can Make a Difference

2008-08-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

If you're sitting at home one night wondering what to watch on TV or if you should rent a movie, I highly recommend watching this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

I found the link on a site called: http://zenhabits.net/ which my husband had recommended. This man, Randy Pausch, is so wonderfully inspiring, has lived his short life so well, that you can't help but wonder how can I be more like him? In short, he gives this last lecture on his childhood dreams, how he accomplished them, lessons he learned from them, and how he helped others achieve their dreams. The amazing things he dreamed, how he realized those dreams, and the people that helped him on his way, in addition to how he helped his students, just shows you that often times life is more wonderful than fiction.

I want to be the kind of person who can sit back at the end of my life, no matter how long that may be, and say, I had fun, I did the things I wanted to do and I helped others along the way. So, I'm going to sit down tonight and figure out what my "childhood" dreams are (cuz real-life grown-ups don't have dreams, they have goals, right?) and then figure out how to turn them into reality. I hope people who read this will do the same.

Renaissance Costumes and History

2008-08-16T14:19:00.002-05:00

This is one of the coolest stores:

http://www.renstore.com/currentad.asp#continued

Not only do they have wonderful costumes they have cool historical articles they e-mail you with their monthly ad. The above link, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, takes you to an article on Beguines from the 13th century. Sometimes they show you how to make a Renaissance craft or spotlight some Renaissance-themed wedding. For anyone even vaguely interested in the Renaissance, you really should check them out. Yes, their costumes are a bit pricey, but I have gotten many ideas on how to make my own for much less by just browsing their store. Then when I realize I just can't make something, like a lace snood, I know where to go to order it.

They also list some Renaissance and Pirate Faires around the country. Perhaps there is one close to you on the list? If so, you really should try to find a way to go. They are so much fun!

My Bookshelf

2008-08-13T17:30:00.002-05:00

My husband asked me if I had any beginner books on a certain subject of new interest to him. Of course I did, and upon searching my shelves, trying to find the best one, I realized how many of my books I have not yet read. Each one I picked up I flipped through, remembered why I bought it, and felt eager to read it. Now, staring at my many shelves I realize I may have only read half of the books I own. Luckily, I have stopped buying new books, telling myself I either have to find new books at the library or I have to read several of my own books before buying more.

Lately I have been devouring my fantasy/paranormal romance books - I've read about 30 since January, mostly my own, but some from the library - but I have not read any of my reference books for quite awhile. Perhaps it's because when I read one of my reference books (writing, witchcraft, mythology, dream interpretation, etc.) I like to take notes. If, when I've finished reading the book, I have lots of notes, I keep the book. If I only have a few notes, the book leaves the house. I only keep my favorite or most useful books.

Now, how to squeeze more time out of the day to read my reference books....

Do No Harm

2008-08-12T08:55:00.002-05:00

In one of the many newsletters I receive I noticed the following website:

http://www.donoharm.us/index.html

Many people in my community need to look at this website. People here are all about, "What can you do for me?" and have very little regard for others. It's the reason I no longer want to be on the Beautification Committee, a small group of people who organize and fund holiday events and try to clean up the subdivision. So many times I've wanted to tell people, "Just be nice and see what happens," but they want revenge for some minor wrong or they just want to be right at all costs.

Do No Harm - that's a good motto, but I would also add, "Pass on a Smile". Ever smile at someone who's grouchy and they look at you like you have two heads? Some people just can't believe that others can be nice even when they are not.

So, the next time you're out see how many smiles you can pass on. I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Flexible Flyer's Plymouth II Swingset is practically worthless!

2008-08-08T13:33:00.002-05:00

Here's a letter I wrote to the Customer Service Dept. of Flexible Flyer expressing my extreme displeasure with their product:

To Whom it May Concern:

When we tore down the 35-yr-old swing set in our yard that came with our house we thought surely we would find a better swingset to replace it. We have three children so the Plymouth II with three swings, a slide, a trapeze bar, a glider, and a see-saw seemed perfect. And we were initially happy that we found something made in America. I have never been as displeased with a product as I am with yours. Let me list the multitude of problems that came with that $450 set.

1. The holes in the 16 x 79 top bar were not drilled correctly - they were 3/4 of an inch off. We decided to cut the end off to make it fit, hoping that was the only problem we would encounter - WRONG!
2. One of the Mounting brackets for the glider would not fit over the 16 x 79 bar. My husband had to bang the bar with a hammer to dent it enough that the bracket would slide on top. Needless to say he took out some of his frustration with your set that way.
3. The (2) 2-1/4" screws were completely missing from the Hardware bag for the see-saw.
4. The holes on the slide did not line up with the ladder legs nor the ivory set legs. At this point my husband took the slide and threw it in the dumpster.
5. Your anchoring instructions are ridiculous. We spent the extra $15 to buy the Ground Anchors to anchor the set and cemented the anchors in as instructed. First, the metal strap slid down the legs of the swingset, making the anchoring system obsolete. Then we found a pre-drilled hole on the leg, inserted some screws, put the strap above that, and that seemed to work for about 15 minutes. As the children swung, the legs sunk into the ground so that soon the strap was even with the grass. Finally we realized the only way to anchor the set was to set each leg in cement. By doing that, we were unable to attach the see-saw since the pre-drilled holes on the set would now be at ground level.

If we could have returned the set to the store, we would have. As it is, the swingset sits very securely in the ground and the children can swing, but only after we punched holes through the plastic covering of the chains to hang them higher off the ground. But they are very disappointed that they don't have a slide or a see-saw. And they were really looking forward to playing on the see-saw since playgrounds these days don't have see-saws.

I plan to tell everyone I know, including all my Yahoo Groups members, and to post on my personal blog the horrible quality of your American made playset.

A Very Disgruntled Customer,

Laura Knight

I'm a Favorite!

2008-08-08T13:27:00.002-05:00

It's a cyberspace first for me - my blog is a favorite on someone else's blog, and I don't even know the person! To know that people beyond my few friends and family members read and actually like my blog is just mind boggling. So now I will really have to try to keep my blog updated. Having several topics to choose from helps and today's second topic will be "Expressing your displeasure with a product". See next entry.

To Unschool or Keep Going As-Is

2008-08-07T16:53:00.004-05:00

I just found this Unschooling blog today. It is: http://school-is-hell.blogspot.com/.

I am considering the idea of unschooling and these parents unschooled their children and the oldest went to college, graduated Magna Cum Laude, and has led a great life. I'm still in research mode, but more and more I'm being pulled in that direction especially since the curriculum that I ordered for the girls this year just isn't enough for them. I had never ordered a curriculum before and I had ordered Oak Meadow's second grade curriculum to help me mostly with the planning, but I'm finding I still need to supplement with library books and videos to keep their attention. There are still a few days when they will ask when it's time to play, so I guess it's still too structured for them, but what's an "A" type personality to do? I like having everything organized and planned and all the hours counted to be able to show the world, "See? We finished all 1,000 hours of school this year," but something is whispering in my ear, something is saying, "look how much she loves to play with her kitchen set, listen to the wonderful stories they tell as they play with their dolls, look at the wonderful artwork that comes, unbidden from free little hands".

But how do I "score" all that? Is the storytelling an hour of Literature/Language? Are the pencil and crayon masterpieces really an hour of art? Are the plastic menus prepared and set out so nicely really an hour of Home Ec? Perhaps they are. The question is when does the real learning take place? Is it in the few hours we read books and do worksheets or is it in the many hours after when they are free to play and learn on their own?

Sesame Twist Bread Recipe

2008-07-19T08:00:00.003-05:00

This recipe is my version of Pillsbury’s Onion Lover’s Twist from The Complete Book of Baking, 1993. I changed a few things around to satisfy my taste buds. One of the things I love about this bread is that you don't have to knead it!!! I love this bread with the onions, but my husband doesn't. This recipe makes two loaves, so I put onions in the filling for one and not the other.

Sesame Twist Bread

BREAD
4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp active yeast
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup plain Silk
1/4 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread
1 Egg’s worth of Egg Replacer, prepared per directions on box

FILLING
1/4 to 1/2 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread, depending on how buttery you want it
1/2 to 1 cup chopped onions (may be omitted if you don’t like onions)
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/8 to 1/4 cup Sesame Seeds
1/2 tsp garlic salt

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; blend well. In a microwavable bowl heat water, Silk, and 1/4 cup margarine until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F) about 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately add warm liquid and prepared Egg Replacer to flour mixture. With electric mixer blend at low speed just until moistened; then beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour to form a soft dough - may need slightly more to have a non-sticky dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85 degrees) until light and doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes. (You can preheat oven to 250 degrees F while preparing dough then turn off the oven and leave a bowl of warm water on the lower rack of the oven and place bowl of dough on upper rack.)

Grease large cookie sheet. Melt 1/4 to 1/2 cup margarine in microwavable bowl. Stir in remaining filling ingredients. Set aside. Stir down dough to remove all air bubbles. On floured surface, toss dough until no longer sticky. Roll dough into 18x12-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle in half crosswise to make two 12x9-inch rectangles; spread each half with filling. Cut each rectangle into three 9x4-inch strips. Starting with 9-inch side, roll up each strip; attempt to pinch edges and ends to seal (I’ve never been able to get mine to seal.) On a greased cookie sheet, braid 3 rolls together; pinch ends to seal. Repeat with remaining 3 rolled strips for second loaf. Cover; let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, approx. 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover dough. Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown and loaves sound hollow when thumped. Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

Enchilada Casserole Recipe

2008-07-18T08:00:00.004-05:00

This was delicious! We would definitely have this again. I found this recipe in my Vegan Family Favorites cookbook by Erin Pavlina, but changed around some things to please our taste buds - my version is not vegan.

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

Serves 4 or more

Box of Zataran’s Spanish rice, cooked per directions on box. (need a can of diced tomatoes)
-Or you could just use 2 cups of cooked rice - I like the Spanish rice for the extra spices.
One package of Quorn Chik’n Tenders, cooked per directions
16 oz can of Old El Paso Vegetarian or Fat Free Refried Beans
2 cups of your choice of any Kraft Mexican blend shredded cheese
10 oz can of Old El Paso Mild Enchilada sauce
3 Buena Vida Organic Flour Tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large skillet, cook the Chik’n Tenders as directed. Add refried beans and half of the enchilada sauce until beans are heated through, about 3 minutes on med/low. Add rice and half of the shredded cheese. Mix. Remove half of the mixture to a bowl to cool for dinner another night.*

In a round casserole dish the size of your tortillas, spray on some non-stick cooking spray, then spread 1 to 2 Tbs. of enchilada sauce around the bottom to coat. Place a tortilla in the dish. Spread half of remaining bean mixture on top. Layer with another tortilla. Spread the rest of the bean mixture on top, and then add the final tortilla on top. Spread some sauce on the top tortilla, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. You may need to take the lid off the last few minutes to thoroughly melt the cheese. Let stand 5 minutes, then serve in wedges. Serve with sour cream if desired.

*There is enough of the Chik’n and rice mixture to actually make two dinners of this. Use half one night and the other half in a few days - just layer it again with 3 additional tortillas and bake as before. You’ll need more cheese for the second day dinner to layer in the tortillas.

Avocado Fudge Recipe

2008-07-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

I found a version of this recipe on-line and revamped it. For those who want to sneak in some veggies - you cannot taste the avocado in this!

Avocado Fudge

Serves many

1 avocado, ripened (the avocado will have a dark skin and will feel slightly mushy to the touch when ripe)
1/2 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
3 cups Florida Crystals Organic Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Peel avocado by cutting it in half, spooning out the seed, and pulling the peel away from the fruit. You may want to cut in into quarters before placing in the food processor or blender to puree.

In a medium pot liquify the Smart Balance over scant heat.

Once the Smart Balance is liquified, add to food processor and puree with avocado. Verify that all chunks of avocado are obliterated. This may take a couple attempts of scraping the sides and mixing again.

Return mixture to pot over miniscule heat and blend in the remaining ingredients, except the walnuts, adding the powdered sugar a little at a time.

The mixture should be thick after all sugar has been added.* Add walnuts if desired, and transfer to a loaf pan. Refrigerate until firm. It may take several hours before it is firm enough to cut into squares.

*The first time I made this, it turned out perfectly. The second time I made it, I doubled the portions and I guess the consistency was a little off because it didn’t firm up like it did before. So be careful - you may need to add a bit more powdered sugar if it doesn’t seem thick enough.

Finished the Blog Roll

2008-07-16T15:31:00.002-05:00

Well, I spent a few more hours searching for cool blogs and for now, I am finished with that. I'm sure as I routinely surf the web I will come across other blogs I like, but for now, this list of 14 will do. Besides, any more than that and anyone looking at my blog may not even click on any of the links. Not that all that many people ever actually come to my blog, but maybe I can change that soon.

I was most impressed by the writers who actually keep up with a blog. Several have MySpace pages, which is fine if you don't actually want to interact with your fans - throw up a sound bite here and there and the fans will keep the site going all on their own. I have a MySpace page, but it's pretty useless except to find others who are interested in the same things I am. I like finding other neophyte writers and reading their excerpts and realizing that I have a better handle on storytelling than they do - and some of those have even published books.

At least on MySpace you can see how many times people have looked at your site - if you can do that here, I don't know how.

Anyway, time to actually work on my stories. Don't know which one will end up as that precious finished treasure, but the only way to figure that out is to write.

Blog Roll

2008-07-16T08:00:00.002-05:00

I'm slowly catching up to this whole Blogging thing. I just created a blog roll of blogs that have peaked my interest. I still want to find a few more writer's blogs and homeschooler blogs, but this is a good start.

I realize that I have yet to master this weekly (or even monthly) blogging enterprise, but ever so slowly, I am organizing my schedule so that each day I will have time alloted for writing, surfing the web, on-line research, answering and composing e-mails, and blogging in addition to the usual homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, reading, and whatever else lands on my to-do list.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Irish Creme Tea Recipe

2008-07-15T18:33:00.006-05:00

I created a drink!!! I've never come up with a drink recipe all on my own before - I'm pretty impressed with myself. My husband was trying to figure out how to finish off the Bailey's Irish Creme that he bought to go with some ice cream. So, I came up with this:

Chocolate Irish Creme Tea

Serves one

8 oz of Bigelow French Vanilla Tea - sweetened to your liking*
2 Tbs of Bailey’s With a Hint of Mint Chocolate Irish Creme
2 Tbs of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup

Stir and enjoy ice cold!

*I brew up a whole pot at a time. I use 3 tea bags for 2 quarts of tea and I add 1/2 cup of sugar to sweeten.

Laura Knight copyright 2008

Trials by Fire

2008-01-01T16:56:00.002-06:00

(A Shakespearian Sonnet in honor of William Patrick Devon Harris and his everlasting optimism.)

How can we be certain of what truly matters
In Life if every obstacle is easily evaded,
If every opportunity arrives on a silver platter,
If the shimmering love of relationships never fades?

How can we kindle a loving passion if
Our paramours bow before us, succumbing to our desires?
How can we have a passion for Life if
Nothing challenges us, nothing mires?

How do we rise above the crowd, make our mark
On a world entrenched with unconcerned mortals?
How do we find that divine inner spark
In a world vacant of mysterious portals?

How do we acknowledge the majesty of the human soul
If the trials by fire never play their role?

by: Laura Knight 12/31/07

Before and After

2007-12-14T17:37:00.000-06:00

Okay, after playing Chinese Jump Rope with my daughters for about 15 minutes, I was winded and felt like I had run a mile when all I did was jump a few times. I don't want to be the mom who can't play with her children. So, one of my goals for this year is to get in shape (I'm sure many people have that same goal, but how many people ever reach it?) I don't want this to be another year that I make that goal and not succeed. Therefore, to push me toward my goal I want to do Before and After pictures. At this point I'm not sure if I will post the pictures while I'm working toward my goal or just once I've reached it. Maybe I'll do one photo a month to show progress - I haven't figured it out yet.

All I know is I want those Before and After pictures to be so different from each other. I want to be able to keep up with my children, not just watch from the sidelines. The way to do that is to exercise and lose this 50 pounds that is making me so unhealthy. Being vegetarian I don't have to make many adjustments to what I eat (less bread and cheese would probably be all I'd need). We even bought a Total Gym a few months ago, which is really fun to play with, now I just need to do a real workout.

So, if I decide to post the photos throughout the year, I will just do one of those nifty slide shows. If I decide to wait, well, then, there will only be two photos of me at the end of the year.

Chinese Jump Rope

2007-12-14T17:05:00.000-06:00

Anyone out there ever play Chinese Jump Rope in the 80's? I learned it at one school then moved and introduced it to my new school and soon everywhere you looked girls were playing Chinese Jump Rope. For those of you who don't know what in the world I'm talking about, you take a huge eleastic band, strap it around the ankles of two people, standing about 4 feet apart and then a third person jumps in, out, side to side, on, in, and out of the rope. There are several different levels - skinnies (elastic on just one ankle), fatties (elastic stretched as far apart as the kids' feet will go), marchies, scissors (you twist the rope between your feet before you jump) washer (you spin back and forth as you jump) and many others I have forgotten. You then move the elastic up to the knees and start all over again. If you make it through all those, the rope moves up to the waist. Whenever you miss a jump or step on the rope when you're not supposed to your turn is over. On your next turn you start at the place you missed.

So, I was thinking about this game a few weeks ago and realized you can't find Chinese Jump Ropes anymore in stores. (I did a quick Google search and turned up a few books, but none of them sounded exactly like what I used to play.) So, I mentioned it to my mom and she sent me a box of elastic she had collected over the years. A rounded elastic about 3 yards turned out to work wonderfully. So, having three young daughters, I fastened the rope around their ankles and showed them how to play. They liked it until they got to skinnies and kept stepping on the ropes. They are 6 and 5, so I'll give them another year or two before they get really excited about it - I started playing when I was 8.

Homeschooling three young children through the cold winter months can bring on cabin fever if said children don't like playing out in the cold. Thus my search for activities we can play inside in a small house with no basement or garage. I loved playing outside as a kid and it never felt as cold to me as it does now - funny, isn't it? I'd attempt to introduce jacks to my daughters, but I'm afraid the little bouncy ball will end up bouncing off ceilings instead of the floor.

The Last Day of NaNo

2007-11-30T16:51:00.000-06:00

Well, November 30th arrived quietly, with no rush to finish a novel. This just was not the month for me to write a novel. I did manage to find two old short short stories that I've been polishing to send to the Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition. I had completely forgotten about them - they were hidden in an "Unfinished Stories" folder on my computer. Problem is, to enter the contest, they have to be post-marked by Dec. 3rd, which means I have to finish polishing by this weekend to get them in the mail Monday. Then I'm also wondering if they're worth enering - they're okay, but there are no life-altering epiphanies in them. And it's a $12.00 entry fee for each entry, so then I have to decide if I want to enter both or just one. I'm aiming for 11th through 25th place with these - for that you win $50 in Writer's Digest Books, and I love books! Of course 1st place is $3,000.00 and a publishing package from Trafford Publishing. That would be nice.

8477 Words - Will I Make It?

2007-11-16T16:01:00.000-06:00

I have yet to write today, but I combined two story ideas together yesterday to bring my word count up to 8,477. On top of everything else, my brain isn't cooperating with me - neurological mysteries are confounding my doctors. But I still don't want to give up on NaNo. I hate quitting - I can't even stop reading a bad book - I have to finish the book just so I can say I finished it.

Will update again soon.

NaNo is Here!

2007-11-05T16:08:00.000-06:00

It's Day 5 of National Novel Writing Month and I have yet to write one word. (This is the latest I have ever started in the four years of participating.) I had a very long list of things to do before I could sit down and write. I'm a rather "A" type personality in that way. I have to have everything "clean" before I can focus on something as huge as writing a novel. I had to clean the house from top to bottom, finish a belly dance costume I started many months ago for one of my daughters, send out birthday portraits of my twins, file articles that I tear out of magazines to save in 3-ring binders (I had last filed about 6 months ago, so I had a huge stack), put away Halloween decor, check out library books on home design for the dream house we will build sometime in the future, look at websites I thought might be interesting (I had a full-page list), come up with the next couple weeks' worth of homeschooling lessons for my daughters, plus a miscellany of small tasks. The last was to update my blog - so now I can write - as soon as I prepare dinner, eat, do the dishes, put the kids to bed....

A Bit of Fine Tuning

2007-08-28T17:38:00.000-05:00

Since I am not using this blog to its full advantage, I've decided to re-focus it a bit. It seems I post most about my adventures in writing and then write about my other "selves" when the mood strikes. So, I've deleted a few posts that didn't relate to any of those "selves" and tweaked my tagline. Perhaps with a clearer focus, I can entice myself to post more often.

Harry Potter Mania

2007-07-23T21:54:00.000-05:00

I just had a Harry Potter date. No, not a date with Harry Potter, but a date involving events related to Harry. First, my husband and I dropped off our children at Grandma and Grandpa's house at 11:30AM (yes, we were getting an early start and this would be their first sleep-over without Mommy and Daddy). Then my husband and I caught the 1PM showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the small theater down the way. (Great movie, BTW!) Then we headed into the city to do some shopping. We dropped by Borders, where I had reserved my copy of HP and the Deathly Hallows, and picked up our line ticket for later that evening. Then we ate and shopped some more and returned to Borders around 9:15PM - the Grand Ball was due to begin at 9:30PM. While we were not dressed up, many others were. There were some excellent costumes (a baby dressed up as a mandrake root and a huge, bushy Hagrid, as well as many splendid Harrys, Hermiones, and Rons) and there were some really pathetic costumes (such as a guy wearing aluminum foil glasses, a towel for a robe, and a piece of paper for a cap) but all in all people had fun.

The book went on sale at midnight and since we had the letter "V", we did not get to purchase our book until after 2 AM. (But the tickets had gotten as high as "HH".) People were leaving (probably the ones with the double letters), going to Wal-Mart, coming back and telling everyone still waiting that there was no line at Wal-Mart for the book and everyone should go there instead. But since we no longer shop at Wal-Mart (the Evil Empire), we stayed and bought our book from Borders. While this was an interesting evening, I know I will most likely never do anything like this again. (Of course who knows what kind of phenomenon will appear when my children are pre-teens?)

I did read the 759-page-book in one day and I can't say much more than WOW! (I don't want to spoil it for anyone.) I am a little depressed, though, knowing that there will be no more stories about these characters I love, but at least there are two more movies to be made. And this is making me feel as though I need to create some characters I love as much as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Dobby! But really, those are some huge shoes to fill.

The Step from Vegetarian to Vegan

2007-06-12T15:19:00.001-05:00

On the Vegetarian Parents on-line group, a member directed interested persons to go to a website with lots of information on how bad cow's milk is for humans. If you read nothing else on this site, you must read this: http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html.

It's a long letter, but if you can get through it I wonder how many of you will relish your next drink of milk, your next slice of cheese, or your next scoop of ice cream. We personally have not taken the next step to becoming vegan, but when we became vegetarians we decided that we would not drink milk at home either - we drink Silk Soy Milk. But we do still eat cheese and, sorry to say, lots of it. Reading this letter and all the things the very informative vegan parents post on-line really makes me want to give up all dairy. But in this society that is very difficult.

Giving up cheese would mean we would have to give up our favorite dining-out meals such as Domino's and Aldo's Pizza, the delicious Five Cheese Ziti at Olive Garden, and various non-meat options at Taco Bell. I realize that vegans would point out that these meals are not healthy choices anyway, but I really like eating out and I'm not a big fan of vegetables (I know, being picky is not helpful when going vegetarian!) So, while I know that going vegan is the best choice for our health, for the poor cows and for the environment, my tastebuds are revolting. They do not want to give up the taste of cheese, just like so many carnivores do not want to give up the taste of meat.

I'm struggling here. I know what I should do, but there's the little voice that tells me I am doing so much better than all those carnivores who don't recycle and who don't pay any attention to what they buy and from whence it comes. I'm doing so much more for the environment than the average American, so why take that next step when it would eliminate all dining-out options for us? (My husband already complains that I told the world we would no longer eat eggs - he really liked eating eggs at places like Denny's.) Why take that next step that would end some very joyous mealtimes? I know the most obvious answer is to save the cows and calves and because dairy is not healthy (and perhaps that is why I have not lost weight since becoming vegetarian). But, boy, that's a big change on top of the other changes we've made in the past year and a half.

I still have to think about it, even though my logical brain tells me there's nothing to think about. My husband and I need to sit down and really talk about it. Then there's the fact that we would be taking away one of the few foods that our oldest daughter eats. One of the foods she loves is pizza, but only specific pizzas - I tried making the pizza with veggie cheese and she would not eat it. Her only other foods are peanut butter, crackers, warm cereal, french fries, and apples and grapes. Not a wide variety. The decision may not be made for awhile yet, but we at least need to discuss going vegan.

Harry Potter Theme Park

2007-06-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

I love Harry Potter, just like so many other millions of people around the globe, so I was thrilled to read about Harry Potter's Wizarding World coming to Universal Studios in 2009! Can you imagine stepping into Harry's world? I love the theme parks that bring storybooks and movies to life like Seuss Landing in Universal's Islands of Adventure and the Jurasic Park ride at the same park, not to mention the awesome rides of Walt Disney World. I can't wait to see my girls faces as they enter Harry Potter's Wizarding World!

But what astonsishes me most of all is the fact that one woman with a story to tell started this all not so very long ago. Did she ever dare to dream that she would create such an empire? Should I dare to dream so grand? I have stories tumbling around inside my head, begging to be released, but something keeps me from opening the door - perhaps I'm afraid of failing, of writing what I think is an awesome story and have no one want to read it. But, then again, J.K. Rowling was denied many, many times before finding a publisher who believed in Harry. I should just dive in and write with abandon - I should let nothing stop me.

Script Frenzy Starts Today!

2007-06-01T16:29:00.000-05:00

While I am not a script writer, I love what Chris Baty has done with National Novel Writing Month and I'm sure his new project, National Script Writing Month will be just as cool. Check it out - there are about 7060 people signed up so far.
http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/

Letter to the Editor

2007-03-05T20:25:00.000-06:00

I have seen my name in print! And it feels wonderful! Okay, so I wrote a Letter to the Editor of my local newspaper and they printed it on February 10th in the Missourian, (for anyone who wants to see it, go to www.emissourian.com and search for the title, "Shades of Gray") but still, I now have a clip to show prospective agents and publishers! Baby steps here, folks. I won an honorable mention in a national short story contest a few years back and now this, so slowly I'm working my way into the writing world. Plus I am putting myself out there, expressing my opinion, making my mark on this society, and it really does feel wonderful to be true to yourself.

Have You Heard the Secret?

2007-03-05T20:07:00.000-06:00

If you haven't heard the buzz about The Secret DVD, then you must not tune in to your local TV stations. Oprah even made a big toodoo about it recently. But I imagine all witches understand this secret - the Law of Attraction - though it has been described in a slightly different fashion. If you want something to enter your life, you do a spell to bring it to you; and most of what a spell is can be simplified down to envisioning what you want - the power of positive thinking. Of course there are herbs, chants, elementals, and Gods and Goddesses that can help you bring about your desires, should you decide to use them.

What fascinated me about this DVD is that they took this Law of Attraction, boxed it up in fancy wrappings, and presented it to the average Jane and Joe. Look at this amazing Secret and what it can do for you! But the backlash this DVD, and book, have received comes from the same sort of people who will not believe in magic or spells of any kind. While I am not a person who performs many rituals, I do quite a few simple spells that have worked time and again. Non-believers chuck it up to coincidences, but there have been far too many coincidences where a myriad of events had to fall into just the right spot for my desired outcome for me to believe in coincidences. I wanted it to happen, I sent my will out into the universe via a spell, and I was granted my wish.

To people like Oprah who are just so hyped up about this, I want to say, us witches have known about this for centuries - it's no secret.

2007 is the year I get published!

2007-01-08T16:38:00.000-06:00

The holiday hustle is over and now it's time to get back into the swing of things. I have an article pending acceptance at one magazine, I'm polishing a short short story for a children's magazine, and I'm writing the first draft of a short story I will submit to a magazine debuting in August.

I am also in awe of the power of Legos - they have spellbound all of my daughters! Of course my girls don't want to take apart their creations when they've finished, so we run out of the good Legos by the end of the day. They will learn soon enough that in order to create something new, sometimes you must destroy something old.

Here's to a wonderfully fullfillilng 2007!

Winner of NaNo 2006!

2006-12-01T15:25:00.000-06:00

I wrote a 50,000-plus-word novel in one month! This is my third year winning National Novel Writing Month and it feels wonderful! The only problem is while I love the world I have created, I'm not thrilled with the story or the characters. So, what I will probably end up doing is fully developing my wolrd and then finding awesome characters to fill it and tell their stories. I could write a few short stories about them to send off to contests or magazines or I could just work on it as a whole novel and then work on the second book of the series for NaNo 2007. I'm not sure where I will go from here. I wil need December to prepare for the holidays and to research more subjects with which to fascinate my daughters. I figure I'll pick up my novel again in January. I definitely feel better knowing I can write a novel even with as busy as I am everyday. All it takes is to stick to my early-morning writing schedule and all is right with the world.

NaNo Day 6

2006-11-06T15:35:00.000-06:00

I surpassed the 10K mark - my word count is now 10,413! Things are still going smoothly, I'm right on target with my word count, and I'm only on page 2 of my 8-page outline, so I've got plenty of story left to surpass that 50K mark. I think when November is over, I will still try to keep up this writing schedule and post my progress here (instead of on NaNo's site like I am now) in order to feel like I have some sort of deadline - maybe I'll give myself a monthly word-count-goal to keep myself at it. I keep very busy with homeschooling the three girls and trying to work on a Family Scrapbook on the computer and orgainizing small home improvements, but I've got to make my writing a daily priority, just as important as homeschooling, if I'm ever going to publish anything. My predicition is that 2007 will be the year I make huge leaps into my writing career - I believe I will publish something, even if it's just an article in a magazine. Wish me luck!

NaNo Day 3

2006-11-03T17:39:00.000-06:00

Things are going along just as planned here in NaNo-land. I've been getting up at 5:30 AM, as planned, and have been exceeding my daily word counts each day so that I am about a day ahead - this morning my total word count hit 6491. The story is developing its own new plot twists and the characters are basically running the show, going in directions I hadn't considered. I love this writing thing - I really should make this a permanent schedule. Writing for an hour and a half in the morning is perfect for me, as long as I get myself to bed by 10:30PM. Hmmm...if I can write a novel in a month under this schedule, I wonder what I could do every month with this schedule. Maybe 2007 will be the year I write and edit my first publishable novel.

National Novel Writing Month

2006-10-17T16:32:00.000-05:00

I am gearing up for November 1st - the first day of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNo for short). The whole premise is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Actually, it’s fairly easy to do since we are not creating polished works here. The idea is to sit your derriere in a chair everyday and write, write, write. Ignore your inner editor and write whatever spills forth. I’ve found that I can type about 1700 words in an hour and a half, which is the minumum daily word count one needs to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Now, as long as a story is cruising along on autopilot those daily word counts are a breeze. It’s once I run into a problem that I slow down. But, in NaNo, you can overcome those writer’s blocks by any means necessary, even it if means your heroine all of a sudden has to fight off monsters suffering through menopause with teenage monsterlets nagging them. You can always go back December 1st and get rid of anything that doesn’t belong and keep the stuff that has promise.

So, if my blog becomes even less active during November, don’t worry, I will return in December. I had originally planned to post a blog twice a week, but it seems I’m lucky if I am posting on a weekly basis now. I’m not likely to solve that in November, but come December, I will be so overjoyed at having successfully completed NaNo for the third year in a row that I will want to tell you all about it.

And please check out my spot on NaNo’s site by clicking on the 2006 NaNo icon on the side bar. And if anyone wants to try her or his hand at writing a novel in 30 days, just sign up. There are tons of forums and it’s a lot of fun!

Booger-eating Moron

2006-10-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

This summer the Wall Street Journal ran an article about how the melting glaciers are affecting Earth. Today I found a blog Psyche, Science, and Society by a researcher that mentioned this article. That’s basically all the entry was about - he quoted part of the article and had a link to the rest. End of his part. The interesting part is after. People commented, and one “booger-eating moron”, as one of the commentors called him, left a ridiculous comment which fired up everyone else. I thought it was rather amusing, so I figured I’d put a link here for you to read. Be glad you’re not a “booger-eating moron”.

First Novel Kerplunk

2006-09-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

Well, I created an outline for my old, dusty book and thought for many days about what could be done and if it was worth doing. In the end, while the story has several scenes, ideas, and characters I like, there’s not enough there to deem it worthy of continuous effort. So, I have officially filed away my first attempt at a novel and chalked it up to a learning experience.

Of course, letting go of years of work was not easy, but at least at this point in my writing adventure I have the wisdom to know when I have to give up a piece of writing and move on. I doubt I could have given up this first book a few years ago - I would’ve held on, screaming, “No, I’ve put so much into it - I have to finish it!” - all the while just resenting the book more and more until I burned it, and that would not have helped me. So, here I am, a wiser and more experienced writer and I am free to develop my next book.

And my next book will blossom sooner rather than later. National Novel Writing Month is November and I have successfully completed NaNo for the past two years. Granted, those two books I wrote in one-month’s time are not exactly great masterpieces, but one served its purpose and the other will be developed into a wonderful book at some future date. October 1st starts the sign-up for this year’s NaNo and when I set up my page this year, I will post a link here. Please come and peek at this new novel that I have not yet imagined, beginning November 1st.

Banana Bread (Cake) and Busy Lives

2006-09-22T10:17:00.001-05:00

It’s been eleven days since I last posted here and initially I had planned to post at least three times a week. We had a yard sale last weekend and that took several days to prepare, but we sold most of what we needed to and gave a lot to Goodwill, while only repacking a few items for the next yard sale. So now, time to get back into my routine!

To start, I thought I’d present a banana bread recipe I discovered in some old papers. The recipe is so old it tells you to put the batter in coffee cans to bake it, so I had to adjust some things. I also had to replace the eggs and I used Splenda in this recipe since we have diabetics in our extended family. I also added the cinnamon and vanilla, therefore it tastes more like a cake to me, but it is so yummy!

Laura’s Banana Bread (Cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine 1 Cup Splenda
The equivalent of 2 Eggs using Egg Replacer
2 Tablespoons Smart Balance Spread
1 Cup mashed, ripe bananas (about 2 1/2 medium/large bananas)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat all above ingredients together. Then stir in 2 Cups Heart Smart Bisquick All-Purpose Baking Mix just until all ingredients are blended. Pour batter into a greased 7 x 9 inch glass pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so. (If you use a metal pan or have a temperamental oven, you may have to adjust baking time.)

I like using the Heart Smart Bisquick, but I still need to try to find a recipe to make completely from scratch so I can compare, but this cake is so light and fluffy and so yummy, I’m not in a hurry to try anything else.

When you try this recipe, I’d love to hear from you!

My First Novel

2006-09-12T16:08:00.001-05:00

Eight years ago I began writing my first novel. It progressed quite nicely for awhile and then I hit a huge road block - one of my characters didn’t fit the story. He started out intriguing, but became boring and started holding the story back. By this point I had already written half of the story. To revise and remove him from the book would require hours of work. Thus, my first novel has remained inside my Mac, only reviewed once a year. Each review ends with the same conclusion - I like the story but it would take too much time to revise it, so I leave it alone.

I pulled it out for its annual review a few days ago and decided to make a decision once and for all about this book. Either I would take the time to fix it or I would file it away as a good try and never attempt to fix it again. I have typed all of my handwritten notes into the computer and reviewed all of my character sketches. A diamond hides inside this rock, but it will require lots of patience and labor to reveal it. I plan on writing up an outline based on current work and past notes. (I have a binder full of research notes and character sketches and possible scenes.) My villain needs a refresher course in Villainy for Dummies and my hero needs to take control of the situation. And the Prophecy sucks, to say the least. But I will fix that and everything else or I will just hide it away and consider it a learning experience and move on. So, here’s to mining for diamonds!

My New Short Short Story

2006-09-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

I just finished writing a short short story. It started out as one of my writing prompt exercises, “write a story for a children’s picture book”, which I polished, and now it waits for me to decide its fate. It’s 644 words - about two pages - well under the 1500 word limit for a short short. There’s a short short story contest that I’ve entered before with a deadline of December 1, but they don’t usually select children’s stories for the winners. I did just buy the 2007 Writer’s Market Guide so I’ll probably look through it to find a children’s magazine that might be interested in a story about a sprite and a little girl. But I’m not sure if this particular story is good enough to send out. I like it, but while I wrote it, I imagined the beautiful watercolor pictures that would go along with the story. It needs the illustrations to do it justice.

Last October there was a contest to write a children’s story of 500 words - I could not get my stories down that low. The lowest tally I could muster came in at 650 words. I pulled out two of my daughters’ books that I really like - The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch with 519 words and The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegan with 486 words - and compared my attempts with those wonderful stories. I did not come close. I get too involved with the characters - I want to know my characters inside and out and to let them develop slowly, but you can’t do that in a children’s book. Perhaps I’ll have to study how to write children’s books because I’d love to entertain children with my fantasies. Then again, maybe I should just devote my time to doing what I already know and love - short stories and novels. We’ll see.

And if anyone is interested in reading my new story, send me an e-mail and I can e-mail you the story - I can’t put it on my website if I want to publish it because being on a website is a form of publishing and publishers want to be the first ones to publish something - they’re funny that way.

The Fates and Destiny

2006-09-04T16:38:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite meditation books is The Real Witches’ Year by Kate West. I flipped through it today and came across an entry about the three Fates - the spinner, the weaver, and the snipper of the Thread of Life - and how they must ensure people fulfill their Destinies. Now, I’ve often thought about Destiny, why things happened as they did in my life. Just the circumstances that brought me to my husband originated before my birth.

My 5th birthday fell four days after the Kindergarten deadline, so I had to start Kindergarten one year later than my mother planned (and, oh, was she upset!). Fast-forward to my senior year of high school where, upon moving to a new school, I met my husband . Had I started Kindergarten early, I would have graduated high school before meeting my husband.

And that’s just one example. Imagine, if you will, the Fates truly are lining up the cosmos so people will encounter certain people or opportunities at just the right time. Now whether we accept or reject these opportunities is still up to us, but often other paths will open up when we miss out. Some paths may be more difficult than others, but in the end whether you’ve fulfilled your destiny or not is in your power.

At this point in my life I feel I am still at the beginning of my journey, unsure of my Destiny. But I am open to the opportunities the Universe sends me. Are you?

Faerie Rings and Strange Things

2006-09-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

I’ve never actually seen a faerie ring before, but I believe one has appeared in my backyard. About a week ago I stood on my back porch, gazing around the yard, and noticed a large dark quasi circle on the grass near the tree-line. At first I discounted it as the upturned ground of a mole tunnel, but upon closer inspection I realized the five-foot-diameter circle was caused by hundreds of tiny gray spores attached to grass blades. I kicked a few blades of grass and watched as spore puffs scattered. I figured the coming rains would wash them away.

Well, yesterday the circle was still there, but I mowed over it anyway. The strong spores clung to the shortened grass blades - the circle still prominent.

Then, this morning around 4:15, my husband and I awoke to a crying/moaning coming from outside. Then the doorbell rang. My husband got up to answer the door. A boy of about 17 stood there moaning - he was hurt. He had fallen somewhere, hurt his arm, hit his head, and lost his cell phone. Thinking he lived nearby, my husband attempted to drive him home, but the boy was confused and couldn’t tell him where he lived. My husband asked for the boy’s driver’s license, which showed the boy lived about 25 miles away. Back to our house they came for the boy to call his parents. Call made - Dad was reluctantly coming and would meet his son at the end of our road.

In the meantime, my husband grabbed a flashlight and our cell phone and walked with the boy, trying to find where he fell in order to to retrieve his cell phone. Calling the boy’s cell, they located it two houses up from ours in the gravel drive of a house under construction. Then my husband drove the boy to the end of our street and left him there, as he felt this was all a little fishy.

Why would a teenager be that far from home, alone, without a car, that late at night at a new unfinished house? And what made him ring our doorbell when he had to pass by two houses with porch lights on and cars in the driveway? Our house was dark, our van hidden in the car port. Perhaps the faeries led him to us.

Country Living

2006-08-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

I love when the weather cools off and I can open the windows to let the scents and sounds of nature mingle in my home. As the woodsy aroma of bonfires wafts indoors, the stress of the day just melts away. We have 36 acres of overgrown grazing land behind our property, which the owners say they'll never sell while they're alive. And this miniature forest becomes a symphony hall each summer evening. First you notice the steady whir of cicadas. Then, soon after sunset, you hear the chip chip-chip of frogs. Just outside the window a bug wizzy-wigs and another further away responds. And if you listen carefully you will hear the gentle whistle of crickets. Then, from deep in the woods, an owl calls hoo hoo-hoooo, hoo hoo-hoooo. And some nights a wild turkey gobbles back to the owl.

What's really fun is trying to identify a sound you've never heard before. Just last night, shortly after the owl's hooting, I heard squealing in our backyard. I thought perhaps the owl had snatched a rabbit for dinner. My husband and I went to the back door to investigate. Through the screen I saw something small and white - was it a big mouse? We opened the door and stepped onto the porch. My husband noticed first - two skunks running away from the porch. (I had only seen the white on the back of one in the dark.) Then I caught the faint whiff of skunk perfume. I guess Mrs. Skunk told Mr. Skunk to go jump in the lake. We slowly walked back inside, not wanting to antagonize the cute couple.