December 12th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Baby it’s cold outside! It’s only 20 at the moment, even with the sun up, but I’m not going to complain, because it’s 7 at my daughter’s college, and one of my readers posted it was -16 by her. Just think, it’s only 98 days until spring! J

I’m so proud of myself. I only have one Christmas present left to purchase, and I will be doing that before my writing group on Tuesday because the store is right around the corner from the Princeton Public Library. Now the trick is going to be finding the few gifts I “put somewhere safe”.

 

All I’m missing is a jar of preserves I picked up for my mom while I was in VT – we call her Grannie, and the label was from Grannie’s kitchen or something like that, so I got it; and the two signed Monty books I got for my great niece and my cousin’s daughter – those I’m most worried about, because that was their main gift. UGH! I hate when I do that, and the sad thing is, I do it every year. I’m pretty sure that would fall under the “definition of insanity”.

 

I have about an hour’s worth of cleaning to do today, no sweat, and I still have to get the door prizes done, but that can wait until Saturday if necessary. The one thing I did forget about, which absolutely has to be done today or they won’t set in time, is the Venetian layered cookies. These will be my contribution to the cookie exchange, because they are a favorite.

 

I still have no clue how many are coming. I sent the evite through Facebook, and I don’t think a bunch of people I invited got the message. I know when I went back over the list, there were six people I had sent invites to, but their names were not highlighted and I had to resend the invitation. A couple of people I talked to said they never saw it, and sure enough, their names weren’t highlighted either, so I had to resent those as well. I’m convinced FB hates me.

 

Update on my quest to hit the 500 mark by Christmas – I only need 56 more. It has been a whirlwind 36 hours, because just like I do on Twitter, I try to do on Facebook – if you “like” or “follow me, I reciprocate. Speaking of Twitter, is there anyone out there who can give me Twitter 101? I am completely baffled. I went through about three weeks where I was getting several new followers every day – don’t know what I did to trigger that, but I wasn’t going to complain – and now I haven’t had a new follower in a week. Okay, not true, I have, but my number of followers hasn’t gone up so I guess a couple unfollowed me. Probably because I’m Twitter illiterate and inadvertently snubbed them somehow.

Okie-dokie, I had better get this show on the road. I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Battling the storm with French toast…

 

Oh no, there’s a storm coming! Let’s all run out and buy up all the milk, eggs and bread they have at the store. Seriously folks? Really? Your idea for weathering a storm is by making tons of French Toast? How’s that going to help?

Perhaps fifty years ago, when modern conveniences weren’t as readily accessible, this approach would have made much more sense. Then, if a major storm hit, you could have gone without power for a couple of weeks, but now, unless you're getting hit with something the likes of Super Storm Sandy, chances are pretty good, you’ll be up and running again in a day or two.

Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy milk, eggs and bread before a storm if you happen to be out or running low, but is there really a need to purchase multiples? If, by some freak accident, you are out of power for over two weeks, the milk would be spoiled and the bread would be stale anyway.

Wouldn’t it make much more sense to stock up on non-perishables and things like bottled water, candles and matches? I’m just saying…

 Your Next Challenge is:

My life is a (Sit-com, Drama, Soap Opera, Broadway Play, Reality TV Show, Musical, whichever) and why.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 4th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Well, I survived. Boy was it cold out there yesterday! I spent part of my day doing my Tigg’r imitations – bouncing up and down to try to keep the blood flowing. It didn’t help. I made the mistake of sitting on a metal chair when I first got there, and that was the end of me. After my butt froze, I couldn’t warm up for the rest of the day. You would think I’d know better.

 

The Peddler's Village Apple Festival was almost as huge as their Scarecrow Festival. The place was packed all day, and all day people were going by with the most heavenly smelling apple dumplings. I was hooked. Come the end of the book signing, I had to have one. So after I packed up my stuff, I went on a dumpling hunt.

 

 

Here's the line I encountered. It stretched from the lower patio, up the stairs and into the main courtyard. There were at least two hundred people in line. I began to feel defeated when I noticed the sign for the bakery across the lower patio. There were only a few folks standing outside, so I went over to investigate. Sure enough, there was a line inside, but there were only about thirty people in it, and they were selling dumplings inside. There was a fifteen minute wait for the next batch of dumplings to come out, but I didn't care. I was inside, out of the wind and I was warm for the first time in six hours. It could have been half an hour wait and I would have stayed.

 

While I was there waiting, I chatted with one of the bakery's employees and she told me they were just short of 6,500 dumplings sold that day and they still had several hours left. The dumplings were selling for $6 with the custard sauce. That is $39K worth of dumplings. They sold almost 9,000 the day before, so it was feasible for them to have sold A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of apple dumplings in two days. Mind boggling! And dumplings weren't the only things they were selling; they had apple pies, strudel, fritters, kuchen, zeppole and more.  

It was a good day. I sold a bunch of books and I got to meet two new authors. Barbara Steingas wrote two books. The Healing Puzzle was about how she battled Crohn’s disease and won, and Germans Are Funny Too!, the story about her crazy German family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah K. Jones wrote a historical pictorial about a recently torn down landmark entitled Byberry State Hospital. Both women were really sweet and it was a pleasure chatting with them.

 

Standing out in the cold all day really took it out of me, that and the normally thirty-five minute ride home which took an hour and twenty minutes. I came home, popped two Motrin and went to bed. I was out until four-thirty this morning.

Other than my blog, I did not get any writing done yesterday, so I really have to crank out some words today, but the first thing I am going to do is pull something out for dinner. I forgot to do that yesterday before I left, so my husband and daughter had to fend for themselves last night. (They went to Applebee’s.)

I hope you have a fantastic day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge:

 

 

I wasn’t expecting it when I woke up this morning, but there it was. The undeniable sign winter was on its way and there wasn’t a dang thing I could do to prevent it. Sure it is beautiful and the air is so crisp you can taste it, but it’s just so darned cold.

I’ll admit it, when I first saw the view, the child in me got all giddy, jumped up and down and yelled “SNOW!”, but then the adult side of me got annoyed, flopped down on the couch and groaned, “SNOW!”.  Sure it’s pretty now, but in a few hours it will have turned into a muddy, sluggy, yucky muck.

The snow signals the beginning of long, cold, dark days, of slippery roads and treacherous walkways, of hibernation and isolation. Yes, there are a few holidays interspersed in the long months of winter to keep you from teetering completely onto the side of depression, but they are barely enough. In the warm weather, there are picnics, barbeques and get-togethers aplenty. It is a happy and social existence. For the next few months we will be huddle in our caves for warmth, with only rare occasions which warrant us bearing the cold.

 

Can you tell I am not a fan of the cold weather?

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

I remember it as if it were yesterday…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.