Thank you for all your lovely comments this past month to help me celebrate Tecun’s release! I gathered all the comments from all the guest posts this past month, put them in a spreadsheet, and then used random.org to pick comment #136.
Betty Hamilton for her comment at Books N Kisses.
Betty, drop me a note at joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com and we’ll work out which eReader you’d like. If I don’t hear from you in 3 days, I’ll pick a new winner.
Silviya has done it again – she’s made an incredible cover. I just love it. Meet Yiorgos Michelopoulos, my zombie billionaire.
I’ve been interested in grinding my own whole wheat fresh (especially for bread) for months now. I wasn’t willing to invest in a NutriMill that *only* grinds wheat — because I just wasn’t sure how likely I’d actually stick with it. I mean, I adore adore adore homemade bread. Dangerously adore.
I could eat the whole loaf right out of the pan. No joke.
But after reading about all the nutrients in freshly ground wheat I was determined to try. That’s one of the reasons I settled on investing in a VitaMix. With the dry blade, I’m supposed to be able to grind any grain.
Yet after several disappointing attempts (tortillas that were more like frisbees, a brick loaf) I’d kind of given up. It didn’t taste all that great. I wasn’t able to get the flour fine enough. I was sick of wasting all those ingredients!
My SIL gave me a recipe months ago that she swore would make the best whole wheat bread. She’d taken a class through her church (which I plan to take too, next class!!) and learned all the tricks to getting whole wheat to rise.
Then of course I lost the recipe.
I finally found it last week and set out to try again. I dragged out the dry blade container and my wheat berries. This time, I refused to be afraid of burning the VitaMix up. I’ve watched youtube videos of people grinding for minutes on high without any issue. So I ground my wheat up really good, going longer than I ever had before. (Deep down, I think I was afraid of making flour paste or something.) One small batch was maybe a little too coarse but the rest was fine.
And the bread. *dies* It’s soooo good. Lots of honey make it sweet. The grains are incredible. I used coconut oil too, along with an egg to help make it smooth. It’s not only the best whole wheat bread I’ve ever made…it’s the best BREAD. Period. And so healthy! (Sorry, I don’t have permission to share the recipe online or I would!)
Of course I overate the first loaf (Middle loved it so much she also ate 3 pieces the first day), but I’ve still got half of the second loaf in the fridge.
With that victory, I ground more flour over the weekend and used up all the ripe bananas to make a batch of banana bread and 2 dozen banana chocolate chip muffins for the kids’ lunches. There’s only 2 left… so I think they went over okay.
Of course it’s a little tricky to count all these whole grains on WW. I can do the math, sure, but it’s crazy to see the number of points. Honey is more points than artificial sweetener. I didn’t want to cut the coconut oil out — but it is pointy. However I know it’s healthy all the way. Could I find “cheaper” (less points) diet bread at the store? Sure. But I’m not eating that crap with all the preservatives and fillers when I can have freshly ground wheat at my fingertips.
I just have to figure out how to only eat one small piece…
Do you have a favorite whole wheat recipe that I can add to my list?
I loaded the artwork to the original giveaway post, but I don’t know if people are going back to look. Don’t forget, too, that I’m adding ongoing blog posts to that entry. I’ll accumulate all comments from all guest blogs listed in that entry if you want more chances to win.
Reviews or ratings anywhere online can get you another entry – just post the link in comments so I can find it.
Aren’t these cute? My thanks to S. J. Collins for creating such fun Ents!
This is one tradition I can definitely do without.
Every single year, there’s ONE item that is a pain in the backside to procure. I end up hitting several different stores to find this item. It’s different every year, so I can’t “prepare” by stocking up on the missing item months in advance. Did that the year I couldn’t find Expo markers and there were buckets of them everywhere the following year. Naturally.
What peeves me off is that the school supply list is never a huge shock. I mean, every year, I have to buy generally the same basic things, plus one or two extras (like this year, Princess needed a flash drive). So why is it always a very basic thing that’s impossible to find? Why do I have to roam the entire store looking for the items on the list? I mean, would it be so difficult to have everything I need in one or two aisles?
Seems to make sense to me. But whatever.
This year, it was paper folders with brads. Yep, you know, those 20 cent folders in rainbow colors. How hard is that?
They had plastic ones (no brads). Paper ones (no brads). Decorated ones with holes (no brads).
I went to Wal-Mart. Target. Struck out. Luckily my GROCERY STORE had them. Yes, my grocery store. How sad is that?
Don’t even get me started on how much it cost to send three girls back to school.
($118, not including any shoes, clothes, or even backpacks. This was ONLY supplies.)
I can’t believe my week is almost over already. I’ve been in the home office this past week, training for two days and then visiting all my coworkers, going to meetings (instead of just the voice on the phone), and generally having a blast.
Tuesday night, I got to meet my friend’s son for the first time and see her little girl I hadn’t seen since she was a baby. Last night my area had a happy hour after work. The book that shall not be named (50S) was a hot topic, and all the guys had to quiz me about it after the ladies were gone. Then I hooked up with Barbara Longley for some incredible Thai food and great biz talk.
But tonight… Ah. The BEST time. I meet up with my dear friend Wanda (you’ve seen me dedicate several books to her!) for a long, leisurely dinner. I ate a delicious, healthy salad with wild rice, cranberries, almonds, and chicken. A weird (to my MO sensibilities) mix, but it was so yummy. Then we decided to take a walk.
We walked. And walked. And talked books. And walked. She thinks we probably walked a good three miles!
A year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to make it that far.
There are some people that it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen them, you can talk and laugh just like you saw them yesterday. That’s how it is with Wanda. I’m so blessed to have you as my friend! Plus I got some great activity points for my team’s challenge. 
Now I’m back at the hotel packing up and nearly in tears because I’ll miss everyone so much.
The funniest comment this week when a friend/coworker saw me for the first time: “DUDE, you’ve lost half yourself!” Ha, not quite, but I nearly will by the time I hit goal!
Since Tecun arrives 8/6, I’m going to celebrate ebooks the entire month! I’ll be doing several guest posts again throughout the blogosphere, so this entry will be updated as those links become available.
What’s up for grabs: WINNER’S CHOICE EREADER up to $200 (USD) value.
The winner picks whichever eReader you want. I will ship internationally, but please make sure the device you select will work in your country and that I’m allowed to ship it there without violating any customs regulations. I do not retain names or email addresses after the giveaway closes.
How to enter:
I’ll accumulate a spreadsheet of everyone who comments throughout the month on the above posts and use Random.org to select the winner on Sept 1st. The winner will have 3 days to respond. If I’m unable to reach the winner, I’ll pick a new name until I have a contact.
To get the comments started: are you an ebook lover, a possible convert to electronic reading, or a take-my-paperback-from-my-cold-dead-hands reader?
Comment at these guest posts for an extra entry:
Artwork courtesy of S.J. Collins
NSV = Non Scale Victories.
Let’s face it – we can do everything right all week. Track our food. Stay in our points. Exercise. And the scale doesn’t cooperate. It’s especially important to have other victories to celebrate that have absolutely nothing to do with the scale.
I admit the NSVs have been pretty few and far between lately. I’m not losing quickly enough to jet down into a new clothes size. I’ve been hard at Power 90 for a good 30 days now, but I haven’t seen any huge changes in measurements. (In the last round, I saw the most changes in the 60-90 day range.)
I’ve been playing the up and down game since RT in April, with very little consistently downward trends. Today, I’m up a total of 3 pounds. I’m not sure why. It could be because I missed a few days of exercise last week. I hurt my foot a little, so I was scared to work out too hard for fear plantar fasciitis would come back. (It didn’t.) We had lots of errands this weekend preparing for school to start, so we ate out more than usual. Plus I was under the gun at the Evil Day Job on a late project, while I’ve got a business trip next week AND a release.
When I’m stressed out, I don’t typically see good numbers on the scale, even if I’m within my points.
Plus I’m having a problem sticking to my new daily points. I typically eat 4-6 points over each day. I have weeklies and activity points to use, so I’m still technically “within my points”, but I don’t always lose well when I eat over, especially when I’m missing a few days of exercise.
But in the end, the whys don’t really matter. It is what it is. I’m in this for the long haul, and I can’t lose every week. I can’t concentrate on the number. It’s just a number, after all.
Instead, I’m going to celebrate a victory that I’m still pretty pumped up about. Many years ago when I was on Atkins for the first time (about 8 years ago I’m guessing), I was working out fairly regularly (for me) at a local fitness place. I got tired of the treadmill, so I tried an elliptical machine. Imagine my shame when I could only make it 5 minutes.
Yep. 5 minutes. I thought, wow, how sad that I’m THAT out of shape!
Because it was so physically hard, I only rarely did it. Much better to plod on that hateful treadmill than face my inability daily. Then of course I quit going all together.
A few weeks ago, That Man started a workout routine at our local community center. The kids swim, while he works out. Now usually I’d leap at the chance to stay home and get some writing done, but I need to keep working out and I was curious. I wanted to see if my fitness level was any better now that I’ve been doing Power 90, not to mention that I’m down 80+ pounds.
The ellipticals were all taken, so I tried a cross trainer machine that was more like a stair climber. I was shocked at how hard it was. My legs were burning in 5 minutes. The intensity was much harder than I anticipated, and I was like, uh oh. No good. I haven’t improved at all. Sigh. Pretty bummed, it took me a few more days to decide to go back.
This time, an elliptical was free. Filled with trepidation, I hopped on. I took it easy the first 5 minutes, afraid the intensity would get too much too quickly, but hey, I made it. Then I made it 10. 15. I was sweating and definitely feeling the workout, but it wasn’t the same killer thigh intensity that the other machine had been. That first time, I made it 25 minutes. I was pretty proud of that!
Yesterday, we went again and I jumped on that elliptical. I’m getting the hang of it, trusting my body and the rhythm. I pushed a little harder this time. And I realized I LOVED IT.
It feels like I’m running like I always wished I could, but couldn’t. I’ve never been a runner, even in high school at much lower weights. I tried. But the pounding was too hard on my knees even then. I hated that sick feeling I’d get from pushing too hard. (I once threatened to throw up on the coach’s shoes.)
The elliptical gives me that flying freedom of a fast run that my body can’t really physically pull off. It cushions my knees wonderfully. My calves and achilles do begin to tighten up, but even after two times, the tightness is much better/bearable (plus I concentrated on arching my foot more, stretching that area out when it starts to ache).
Last night, I made it 40 minutes. AFTER I’d already done Power 90 strength over my lunch. I was dripping sweat but the closest to “pumped up” I’ve ever been from exercising. Now THAT is a NSV! Me, Queen Couch Potato, pumped up from exercise!
Starting next month, I’m participating in an exercise competition at the Evil Day Job, where my team gets points for exercising. I figured I’d need the help to stay on track with the business trip next week. Now I have no excuse whatsoever not to take my Power 90 cd. I just hope the hotel also has an elliptical!
Who knows. I might even look at buying one for the house. I liked it that much.
I can’t believe the kids are going back to school in 3 weeks. (I haven’t even started school supply shopping.)
I have a release in two weeks.
I have an Evil Day Job business trip the SAME WEEK.
I’ve got to put my promo together before I go, because I’ll be so busy that week, eating dinner out with friends, getting up early to get ready (after years of working from home, I have to remember how to fix my hair and makeup!).
I *must* get my mailings done before I go. I promised RT goodies to people months ago! *hangs head in shame*
Two of the monsters are away at church camp this week – a first for them. I hope they have a wonderful time, but I also plan to use my evenings to get caught up on all my admin-type tasks. I hope they don’t get hurt. Middle was given a third-tier top bunk. I can only imagine how many new wounds she’ll come home with.
Speaking of which, I’d better get cracking on her story. If I don’t get at least a few more pages done, she’ll send me to time out when she gets home.
This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I even tried to get it off and running awhile ago, but the dog (literally) ate our homework. Then the summer just flew by and it’s almost time to start school again. So before we get too busy with homework, etc. I’ve decided to start.
You’ve heard me talk about Middle for a long time now. She’s hilarious, dangerous, and challenging in the best of ways. She can walk across a room, trip, and almost kill herself. A daily mantra around here is “You only get one little body – take care of it!” We used to joke that she was the boy we never had — she has many typical “boy” personality traits, while also enjoying makeup, Team Jacob, etc. just like her sisters (except they’re both Team Edward).
When it comes to school, she’s a physical learner. e.g. instead of buying flashcards to practice multiplication, we made our own. Part of her learning requires hands on approaches. She learns better if she makes things herself and really understands how things go together. To learn to count to 100, we practiced with pennies, etc. and physically moved them around, made piles in different ways, etc.
One of her struggles at public school is reading and writing. As a baby, she was constantly sick with ear infections and ended up with 3 surgeries before she went to kindergarten (two ear tubes, one tonsillectomy). As a result, she was a little delayed in speech and to this day, she still says some words wrong. She’s not the world’s greatest speller, either, which handicaps her writing assignments at school. It’s not that she can’t — it’s that sometimes she just can’t be bothered. Her attention span is short. Frilly silly girl books cannot hold her interest, unless they’re cartoon style or manga. While her sisters read Junie B. Jones, Middle read Captain Underpants and Teacher From the Black Lagoon.
In short, she has typical “boy” tastes in books, but likes some “girl” frills. It’s been difficult to find a series that she really loves as much as she loved Biscuit (the dog) books in kindergarten.
So what does any writer do when she can’t find the books she wants to read? She writes them, of course.
I tried this a year or two ago but Middle just wasn’t quite ready. She was excited about the idea, but interest waned. She left our story notebook out on the floor, and the dog ate it. I think at some level she was relieved. But I think she’s ready to try again. She’s been drawing a lot more, and the same old Captain Underpants books just aren’t going to cut it in 5th grade. We need more. We need something meaty and exciting.
So we’re writing a book. Together.
Filed under “know your child” and “learn from past mistakes”, I’m loosening up my “requirements” this time around. Last time, I had more selfish reasons. I really wanted something “publishable.” So I pushed a litte too hard to come up with a unique high concept idea, and by the time we got around to the idea, she was bored already. This project isn’t for me. It’s for her. So I’m giving in on some of what I would require in a story before I wrote it. If it’s a little fanfiction-ish, that’s okay. If she’s obviously the protagonist aka Mary Sue, then that’s okay too. I just want to get a project that she loves, that she’ll have fun with, and that will most importantly, HELP HER. We’re working on her writing too. We’re working on her reading ability. That’s key. Not whether Mom can sell this book.
Middle adores notebooks (gee I have no idea where she got that, I protest sheepishly) so I picked out one my personal favorite notebooks I’d been saving “for a good cause” that she’s had her eye on for awhile. It’s small, hardcover, with a big spiral so it’s easy to turn the pages. It’s also dividied with some cool pockets that she adores. I’m giving her one of my favorite magical purple pens. And I’ve listed out some little “homework” pages that should be fun for her.
She’s only 10, so the key is to keep it easy. I didn’t list more than 3 things for her to do on a single assignment. (Remember, her attention span is short!!) I listed some generic things to get us started. After I read what she’s got so far, I’ll tailor more assignments to pinpoint what she wants this book to be about.
So far, here’s the first easy assignments I’ve given her, if you’re interested in doing this with your kid.
1. Things I love to read about.
2. Things I love to do.
3. My character is a boy or girl? How old?
4. Hair color, eye color, special abilities.
5. At night in bed, this scares my character:
6. Best friend, person or animal.
7. Family.
8. My character lives… in our time/world? In the past? In a castle? In the future? On another planet in space? Anywhere! Tell me about it.
I figure this might take her a few days to fill out. I listed each mini assignment on its own page, with lots of room for her to doodle and write in her own words. If she gets inspired, she can also write on the back of each page. I’m going to encourage her to draw if she wants. Clip pictures from newspapers, etc. and stick them on the pages, or use the pockets to add ideas as she gets them.
She already knows about “Beginning, Middle, End” of good story telling, so I’ll probably have her direct the whole thing. We’ll brainstorm the plot at her level and speed, and I’ll probably write as we go. Depending on what we get (and if she gives her permission), I’ll share it here.
Mostly I just hope she has fun and that we end up with a project that helps her writing, reading, and creative interests!
