Though I often crave caffeine, I can only tolerate it until noon, when I must stop drinking it or risk lying awake until two in the morning. Fortunately, I glanced at the clock on the stove: just after 10:00 a.m. I had time.

I spooned some caffeinated black tea into a paper loose tea filter, lowered it into the deep pottery mug, poured steaming water from the electric tea kettle over it and let it steep while I answered a few e-mails. A few minutes later, I returned to the kitchen and drizzled some honey into the mug and stirred. Breathing in the aroma, I knew this would keep me going for a few hours.

Both physical and virtual paperwork awaited, as well as phone calls and e-mails. Later in the day, an errand or two. The to-do’s of the day were flowing like the steady stream of a kitchen faucet—not as forceful as a fire hydrant nor as annoying as a drip, but I had to pay attention or the sink would fill and overflow, figuratively speaking.

So I kept at it, task after task, decision after decision, e-mail after e-mail, errand after errand. These things weren’t overwhelming; just steady. Somewhere in the afternoon, though, I needed a pause.

My cup, as it were, was empty.

I’d drained my literal cup of tea, and I had drained my figurative cup, my very self, of rest.

Life needs pauses.

I’d scheduled tire rotation and a medical test for my daughter, shopped for groceries and filled the gas tank; I printed off papers for my daughters’ schoolwork and agreed to bake brownies for a church function.

But…a pause. I needed a pause.

Late in the afternoon I returned to the kitchen and opened the cabinet to stare at my boxes of tea. I saw some chai tea. Decaf. By then it was past 3:00 p.m., so I could only handle decaf.

Filled the tea kettle.

Instead of racing around the corner to my desk, I leaned against the counter while the water boiled.

I waited.

Paused.

How easy it would be to check my phone for e-mail while the water boiled.

But, no. I paused.

And when the electric kettle bell dinged, I lifted the plastic kettle from its base and poured hot water over the tea bag, watching the bag rise with the waterline, all the way to the top, before it was soggy enough to sink. I took hold of the tag and dipped it down and up several times then let it settle at the bottom.

I briefly considered carrying my drink to the desk, but changed my mind. Instead, I walked to the table and sat for a moment, both hands hugging the mug to warm my palms.

Tea, I decided, is necessary.

Tea, I realized, is a slow-down solution.

Tendrils of steam drifted up from the glimmering dark surface of the tea and dissipated.

I lifted the mug and blew across the top, making ripples.

Then I tilted the mug and the tea touched my lips.

Slowly, I sipped.

_______________________________

Is every hour rush hour at your house?

Explore the jarring effects of our overcommitted culture and find refreshing alternatives for a more meaningful family and spiritual life.

Find a pace that frees your family to flourish.

“Not So Fast is a gift to every reader who takes the time to slow down and breathe in its pages.”

—Lee Strobel, best-selling author of The Case for Christ

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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes.

The post Food on Fridays: Tea Is Necessary appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

My minivan awaits.

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This post is written in community with L.L. Barkat’s On, In, and Around Mondays writing project, Laura Boggess’s Playdates with God, and Michelle Derusha’s Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday.

The post A Sacred Pathway appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (sorry for the delay on the promised button battle…more later on that) to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

Food on Fridays with Ann

When the kids were little, I’d been a sale-seeking, coupon-clipping mama, rooting out the cheapest peanut butter and oatmeal in town. I turned to the Frugal Zealot, Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Tightwad Gazette, for ideas and instruction on how to live frugally.After a few years our budget wasn’t quite so tight, so we loosened up a little. But the squeeze everyone is feeling these days is squeezing us, as well, and so we’re cutting back in several areas, including groceries.I don’t know if I’ll renew that intensely zealous approach right away, but we happily ate a meat-free meal yesterday (it’s healthy and saves money), and I found pork chops and chicken on sale at Kroger.I haven’t made pork chops in ages, but there they were, offered at a ridiculously low price. So I bought them.An Internet search for “pork chop recipe” turned up several interesting prospects, which I cut-and-pasted into Evernote until I decided which one to try.After consulting with the kids, I settled on a slow cooker recipe, but I’ll tell you what—my pictures don’t look as dreamy as the Taste of Home glamor shot. Mine show you the results of an average cook trying something for the first time.The recipe says you have to coat each pork chop in a flour mixture, then brown each side before placing in the crock pot.The first were fine, but as I progressed, I went from “browning” the chops to almost “blackening” the chops, at least in spots.But they worked out fine. I layered them and then poured a flour-broth mixture over them that would create a sauce or gravy as they cooked the rest of the way through in the crock pot.They cooked a long time, longer than expected, but turned out really lovely, forming a sauce that we ladled over brown rice.A lettuce salad served with the meal included a hearty helping of homegrown tomatoes from the garden topped with a homemade dressing.A simple, tasty, affordable meal.Here’s the recipe, which I doubled:Slow Cooker Pork Chops(source: Taste of Home)Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper blend
• 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 4 boneless pork loin chops (1/2 inch thick and 4 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 1/2 cup flour, mustard, pepper blend and seasoned salt. Add chops, one at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil on each side.
• Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Place remaining flour in a small bowl; whisk in broth until smooth. Pour over chops. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 3-1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
• Remove pork to a serving plate and keep warm. Whisk pan juices until smooth; serve with pork. Yield: 4 servings.

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Photos by Ann Kroeker.

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On Four Things that Bring PeaceCHRIST. My son, I will now teach you the way of peace and true freedom.THE DISCIPLE. Lord, instruct me, I pray. I am eager to learn.CHRIST. My son, resolve to do the will of others rather than your own. (Matt.26:39)Always choose to possess less rather than more. (Matt.10:10)Always take the lowest place, and regard yourself as less than others. (Luke 14:10)Desire and pray always that God’s will may be perfectly fulfilled in you. (Matt. 6:10)A man who observes these rules shall come to enjoy peace and tranquillity of soul.THE DISCIPLE. Lord, in these few words of Yours lie the whole secret of perfection. If I could only faithfully observe them, no trouble could distress me. For whenever I am anxious- and weary, I find that it is because I have strayed from Your teaching. All things are in Your power, and You always long to bring souls to perfection. Give me your grace ever more richly; help me to keep Your word and advance my salvation.(From The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis; my emphasis of words in bold)

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Back from vacation, where everything our family of six needed fit comfortably into a minivan and pop-up trailer, I begin to study my belongings. What can I eliminate?

Browsing my bookshelves, I pluck a title and consider. Keep? Sell? Give away?

I toss it into the give away box.

One thin volume from a vast collection, but it’s one less thing. One less possession.

Always choose to possess less rather than more, wrote à Kempis. It’s one way, he claims, to enjoy peace and tranquility of soul.

I live in a land of acquisition, and those who acquire must store, protect, maintain, and repair the things acquired. When I survey all that I’ve acquired, I realize that it’s nothing but stuff. Stuff. And this stuff does not lead to peace and tranquility. Rather, it demands my time and attention: I’m frequently thinking about it, researching it, arranging my space to accommodate it.

I don’t want a life revolving around stuff.

My friend and I passed through the garage one afternoon as we headed to the pool.

“Behold, our junk,” I said, a hint of disgust punctuating the word “junk” as I waved my hand toward the stacks of boxes, piles of drain pipes, and haphazard collection of toys, bikes, rakes, garden tools and paint cans.

“Wow,” she marveled, “it amazes me how we can end up with so much stuff.”

So. Much. Stuff.

To be burdened by too much stuff. A first-world problem, for sure.

Embarrassing. Humiliating. Exhausting.

To enjoy peace and tranquility of soul, possess less.

I’m slowly letting go, emptying, possessing less.

How strange that I am looking forward to this tangible result to mark progress: the luxury of an empty shelf.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moth and rest destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”(Matthew 6:19)

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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (My daughter doesn’t quite have the new one ready, and now a second daughter wants to battle it out by offering her own version! Until they’re ready, grab the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

Food on Fridays with Ann

When we vacation, we usually camp. And we like almost everything about camping except the cooking and clean-up.I would sigh to my friends after a trip and say, “My dream is to find a beautiful place we can camp, where I don’t have to cook. That would be perfect.”One day about eight years ago, I said this to a friend, and she said, “Seems like you need a family camp.””I’ve thought about that,” I said, “but I don’t want to pay a huge amount of money, and I don’t want a lot of activities and programming. It seems like most of them are highly programmed and costly.””Do you know Katie Henderson?*” she asked. We all attended the same large church, but I’d never overlapped with Katie. “Well,” my friend continued, “she and her family go to some family camp up north every year, and it sounds like it might be just what you’re looking for.”I phoned Katie and explained about the beautiful setting and the food hassle and the preference for little to no programming. “If someone else was making, serving and cleaning up after meals,” I said, “I’d feel like I was really on a vacation.”“This is your place,” Katie assured me. She said the food was good, the setting was gorgeous, and there was very little programming. “There’s no speaker or music or chapel. Just a service on Sunday morning, and an optional Bible study two days of the week. Actually, there’s so little programming, we call it ‘Heathen Week,'” she said, laughing.”Perfect!” I said.So our family took the risk. We signed up, paid what seemed to be a reasonable amount of money for the week, and drove north. But it was a long drive and we didn’t have Google maps back then, so we underestimated how long it would take to get there. We rolled in late, just as the opening activity—Saturday evening dinner—was ending, but we’d phoned to say we were running late and they saved food for us. I was stressed out, and when they brought us a high chair for our youngest and set out the food that they’d reheated, it had to be the most delicious, nourishing chicken dinner I’d ever eaten in my life. If we’d rolled into a campground and had to fix our own meal, I would have done it with cranky, needy kids tugging on me. And I would have done it all in the dark. Thinking back to being served with such compassion and attention, I’m sure I cried: from relief.We slid the pop-up between slender cedar trees and went to sleep that night hearing the water of Lake Huron lap against the shore. Next morning, we woke up to dim dawn light revealing colorful kayaks lined up along the sand; shore birds laughing; a green boat anchored and bobbing in the water; the gray-green lodge and dining hall; Adirondack chairs lined up on a porch overlooking the bay.So this is vacation.I didn’t have to think about breakfast. I just had to listen for the bell to ring, mosey to the lodge, and there it would be: a delicious, warm meal that I didn’t have to plan, shop for, prepare or clean up after.Relax, play, rest, read, swim, boat, chat…listen for the meal bell…show up and be fed.Perfect.I thought I would use this post as an excuse to show you a few photos from the trip that have something to do with food…food I didn’t fix.This isn’t at family camp, but Biggby Coffee is a chain we’d never heard of that is big in Michigan. We stopped en route to try some. Two of the girls got lattes and loved them.Quiche for breakfast one morning at family camp—one of many options. The cook accommodates dietary needs, providing options on the buffet for vegetarian campers or those who deal with allergies and food intolerance.A favorite hot breakfast of mine: Red River Cereal, made with three grains: cracked wheat, cracked rye, and whole flax. So simple. Some tease that it’s birdseed, but I love it.Two afternoons they set out food for us in the morning so that we pack lunches for later that day. Some people drive to local tourist spots, but we just stayed on property, hiked out to this beautiful spot, climbed a big rock, and ate lunch together overlooking Lake Huron.S’mores fixin’s provided on the last night during campfire.Cocoa, teas, coffee, and cold drinks like fruit punch and lemonade are available 24 hours a day. Kids and adults alike grab mugs, serve themselves something refreshing, and sit on the porch to read.I didn’t really think to take a lot of photos of food—I was too busy eating it, I guess.

We left family camp and stopped by a couple of other places in Canada, including Niagara Falls, before winding around into New York and Pennsylvania, sliding along the edge of Lake Erie.

The Belgian Wonder exited the freeway and drove on a scenic road that offered tantalizing glimpses of the water. We longed to drive close and dip our feet into the water, but he’d turn onto a road that looked promising only to discover it was a private drive.Finally, we found a little public park where we could stop, get out, stretch our legs, and eat our peanut butter sandwiches and carrot sticks packed from our own meager provisions. The tiny concession area sold only pop and chips, but I was so grateful that they were maintaining this pretty little place where we could pause, I broke down and bought a Coke and a Sprite as a small thank you.We lingered for a while.Then realized we had to get on the road.We munched on snack food on the long drive home.We’d been gone for nine days, camping in a beautiful setting, and the only thing I had to fix was a stack of peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and instant oatmeal that we ate with plastic spoons from paper bowls on the morning we drove home.I can handle that.

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* Name changedAll photos by Ann Kroeker except Lunch on the Rock, by P. Kroeker.

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The post Food on Fridays: Vacation Food appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

“Be still and know that I am God”: the Latin imperative for “be still” is vacate. As Simon Tugwell explains, “God invites us to take a holiday [vacation], to stop being God for a while, and let him be God…God is inviting us to take a break, to play truant. We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and leave it to him to be God.”

Work Cited:Yancey, Philip. Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. E-book.

Image credit: S. Kroeker

The post Vacate appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

After a tragic banquet-hall collapse, of which he was the sole survivor, Simonides was asked to give an account of who was buried in the debris. When the poet closed his eyes and reconstructed the crumbled building in his imagination, he had an extraordinary realization: he remembered where each of the guests at the ill-fated dinner had been sitting. Even though he made no conscious effort to memorize the layout of the room, it nonetheless left a durable impression. From that simple observation, Simonides reportedly invented a technique that would form the basis of what came to be known as the art of memory. He realized that if there hadn’t been guests sitting at a banquet table but, say, every great Greek dramatist seated in order of birth — or each of the words of one of his poems or every item he needed to accomplish that day — he would have remembered that instead. He reasoned that just about anything could be imprinted upon our memories, and kept in good order, simply by constructing a building in the imagination and filling it with imagery of what needed to be recalled. This imagined edifice could then be walked through at any time in the future. Such a building would later come to be called a memory palace.

A memory palace! That’s what I need—an imaginary palace in which I can store the treasures of Scripture or the names of people I meet. But…a palace? I don’t know the layout of any palaces to use for my memory work.Not to worry! The author clarifies that these so-called “memory palaces” don’t need to be palatial; in fact, they don’t even need to be buildings. “They can be routes through a town or signs of the zodiac or even mythical creatures,” he says. “They can be big or small, indoors or outdoors, real or imaginary, so long as they are intimately familiar.”It could be, therefore, a building such as my childhood or current home, or a path such as my standard running route. I suppose it could even be the layout of my favorite grocery store.In that “palace,” I would paint scenes within its rooms and along its hallways, each scene “so unlike any other it cannot be forgotten.” I personally don’t have the goal to memorize material quickly, like the author did, but I would like to do it accurately. The author stated that many competitive “mnemonists” who enter speed memory contests claim that “their skills are less a feat of memory than of creativity.”He explains:

[O]ne of the most popular techniques used to memorize playing cards involves associating every card with an image of a celebrity performing some sort of a ludicrous — and therefore memorable — action on a mundane object. When it comes time to remember the order of a series of cards, those memorized images are shuffled and recombined to form new and unforgettable scenes in the mind’s eye. Using this technique, Ed Cooke showed me how an entire deck can be quickly transformed into a comically surreal, and unforgettable, memory palace.

The author is a bit crass in developing memorable images to help him make connections, but he practiced a lot and became a memory champion. I wonder if I could employ the basic ideas—without the crudeness—to improve my ability to memorize Scripture or names?Reacting: Gas prices may be soaring to $4/gallon in the months ahead. This has me thinking about our weekly schedule and driving habits, wondering if we should plan ahead and simplify in any way.Also, another study exploring the health effects of low-level radiation emitted from cell phones is “among the first and largest to document that the weak radio-frequency signals from cellphones have the potential to alter brain activity.” I recall the conversation I had  yesterday with a friend, chatting by cell phone. I had that gadget pressed against my head for half an hour or more. New resolve: locate my earpiece and use it!Writing: I’ve been working on four messages for a women’s retreat (March 4-6). It’s such a different process, writing something to be delivered by voice instead of the page or screen; but I’m looking forward to a weekend with a lovely group of ladies!There you have it. A Curiosity Journal that reveals what I’m reading, playing, learning, reacting to and writing.

Credit: Palace of Versailles image by Aaron White. Used under Creative Commons license via Flickr.

The post Curiosity Journal: Feb 23, 2011 appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

I’m inviting you to join me as I embark on a “Slow-Down Fast”: a season dedicated to humbly and boldly simplifying and slowing (schedule, habits, activities, thought-patterns) in order to experience a more focused and intimate relationship with God in my everyday life.The “fast” will begin Ash Wednesday, March 9, and end on Easter Sunday.I’ll be preparing and planning for the next two weeks, publishing Slow-Down Fast posts on Saturdays in conjunction with Cheryl’s Simplify theme. To participate in Cheryl’s Simplify “carnival,” pop over to Culture Smith after writing and publishing something about simplifying your life. She’s got a linky up already for today.You can also link up ideas for your own “Slow-Down Fast” here:

Ann’s Personal Slow Notes:

I fill the tea kettle. Dishwasher sloshes, dryer whirrs, both machines working in the background as I sit to think, to write, to pray.It hits me: How rare to be alone.As a part-time freelance writer and editor, I work from home. I’m also, however, a home educator; thus, many hours are devoted to planning and guiding my children’s academic requirements; holding them accountable to assignments; helping them manage their time; listening to them practice piano, flute or saxophone; preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner; holding them to their chores and inspecting their work.Though this lifestyle may sound complicated, most of the time it is relatively simple.But it is a peopled life. As I said, I’m rarely alone in the house.On most days, I manage to carve out a few minutes for myself, slipping away to a quiet spot in the context of a full house. Some mornings I exercise in the basement on a stair-climbing machine; I try to read, pray and journal at the table before the kids come down for breakfast.But sometimes I just want the whole house to myself.Sometimes I want to sit at my desk—which is situated in the middle of a high-traffic area because we have no extra rooms for an office—and know that I’m not going to be interrupted. I’d like to finish composing a blog post or retreat message without the pounding of piano keys working out a tough solo a mere two-and-a-half feet from where I sit.I flourish in the simplicity of silence and solitude.Though this is no sacrifice on my part, I’m going to ask my husband if he can help me find a way to have regular time alone in the house during my slow-down fast.And I’m going to bask in it now.How will you slow down or simplify?

The post Slow-Down Fast & Simplify: Silence & Solitude appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

I’m sending you to Cheryl and inviting you back here again thanks to inspiration from Charity at Wide Open Spaces, home of There & Back Again.

The post There & Back Again: Slow-Down Fast & Simplify appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Yesterday at High Calling Blogs, Michelle of Graceful posted a story about how she was caught fake-listening to her son.

• How often do I tune in or out?
• How guilty am I of fake-listening?
• What are my canned responses “interjected at appropriate moments to maintain the illusion of conversation”?

How often do I tune in or out?This is tricky, because as a work-from-home writer and editor, I don’t keep regular office hours. Worse, my desk is situated in a large shared room with the piano and comfiest couch, so someone is often in the room while I’m tapping away. The result of this arrangement? To get anything done I have to tune out! When I need to work uninterrupted for a chunk of time, I alert the family and they have respected my need to focus.Other times, when I’m doing light editing or answering e-mails, the kids come and go with various requests. Sometimes I’m in the midst of composing an e-mail (or blog post!) and need a few minutes to finish a thought. In those cases, I ask for five minutes to finish so that I can give them my full attention. When they have something to say and I’m able to break away, I do try to swivel away from my laptop in order to look them straight in the eyes.How guilty am I of fake-listening?I grew up with a family member who told and repeated long stories. The stories dragged on and on; as a result, I developed pretty impressive fake-listening skills. I could be generating a storyline in my head and still give the illusion of listening. When I was in top form, this person seemed to believe I was completely engaged, though perhaps the speaker was also pretending—pretending I was listening to the story in order to have an excuse to continue talking. That’s possible. We humans are pretty desperate to be heard. I’m not proud of my fake-listening skills and do not want to be practicing them with my husband and kids.But I have moments. Two of my four kids in particular love to have an ear and can go on and on. I’ve had to snap to attention and get my brain lined up with their stream of words. At the same time, I’m trying to teach one of them to summarize and pick up on clues from others, especially adults, who are trying to break away–important “emotional intelligence” skills to develop in order to relate well to people. What are my canned responses “interjected at appropriate moments to maintain the illusion of conversation”?I share “Really?” “Wow!” and “Hmmmm” with Michelle as three top responses. Maybe even “That’s interesting.”But my top response is “Oh.”I like its versatility. It can be expressed with a hint of surprise: “Oh!”Or it can invite the speaker to elaborate: “Oh?” Sometimes it’s a way to communicate that I get a person’s joke or learned something new: “Ohhhhhh” (a grin and knowing nod accompany this one). In this use, the “Ohhhhhh” occasionally morphs into an “Ahhhhhh.”This handy word (or is it just a sound?) can also acknowledge that I heard them and there’s not much more to say in response other than a simple and earnest, “Oh” (or “Ah”); as in “Oh, I see” or “Ah, yes.”I’ve even noticed one of my kids picking up on this use of “Ah” as a means of acknowledging that he heard and processed my response. For example, today my youngest asked, “What does ‘promote’ mean, Mom?”“We could look it up,” I said, “but it means to cause someone to kind of move up to a better job or position. A boss can promote someone at work.”“Ah.”I admit that my use of “oh” can be a way to fake-listen. But it can also be a legitimate response after truly hearing what my child (or anyone) is saying.Yesterday afternoon I was feeling extremely tired, so I headed up to my bed to lie down for a few minutes. I was planning to let my mind wander a little in the quiet of my room.“Mom?” my son called out to me. “Mom? Where are you?”Sigh.“I’m upstairs.”He bounded up the stairs and stood in the bedroom doorway. “Can I come in?”“Sure.”He slipped to the side of the bed. “Are you okay?” he asked.“I’m fine. I just came upstairs to lie down for a few minutes. You can join me, if you like.” I folded back the covers and scooted over. He climbed in and lay there staring at the ceiling for a minute.“Percy Jackson had to defeat a Hydra in some building in Nashville, Tennessee,” he began, reviewing some key scenes from the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. “And then he went to some garden where he defeated Medusa.”I was relaxed and reflective, but I was listening. “Hmmmm,” I murmured.“I think it was in Michigan,” he continued, “but I’m not sure.”“That’s interesting,” I replied.“But his mom got out of Hades and he got the lightning bolt back to Zeus.”“Really?”“Yes, and then it ended with him practicing fighting with Athena’s daughter.”“Ohhhhh,” I replied. “That sounds nice. Did he get to meet his dad?”“His dad? Poseidon? Yes, he did.”“Ah.”Same words as my canned responses, but these weren’t canned. I was listening. And in spite of how hot it was that afternoon, I let my son snuggle close and kissed him on the cheek.“listen to me…” photo by Michela Mongardi. Available under a Creative Commons license through Flickr.com.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to research plantains or papayas, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnWhen we planted our garden, we put in three zucchini plants.“I can’t wait to eat zucchini bread!” my son exclaimed. “I looooooove zucchini bread.”That was back in May. When we would go out to weed or water the garden, he’d ask if the zucchini was ready.“Not yet,” I’d reply.“Awwww….I was hoping we could make zucchini bread.”“We have to wait until we get a bunch of them,” I said, “or a couple of big ones.”I sent out my son with peelings and egg shells for the compost. “Do we have any zucchini?” I asked.“Nope,” he replied. “I looked. Not yet.”The other day I was invited to Charity’s house for tea. But she didn’t serve just tea. She made brownies, as well.Zucchini brownies!They were fantastic! I eagerly and shamelessly accepting a second piece when she offered!I told her that my son often asked if the zucchini was ready, but we got our garden in late and so…no zucchini. In fact, I told her I’d seen blooms but no fruit, so I wondered if they needed pollination. She described how she successfully pollinated hers the year before. I thought about enlisting the help of my science-minded daughter for that task.“For now, I have more than enough to share,” Charity said, “so I’ll send some home with you and you can make zucchini bread with your son.”What a fantastic offer: I’d be bringing home zucchini for my little boy.After the brownies, we got involved in discussions about blogging and art. We forgot all about the zucchini. I left without it.Fortunately we saw each other a couple of days later, and fortunately Charity kindly remembered the zucchini.What’s more, the very next day I discovered our first zucchini of the season, ripe and ready for picking. Right there in our garden!Suddenly, we were awash in zucchini (cucumber, too, but that’s another post)!So I set my son to work making the zucchini bread. He said he wants to be a great cook, so we decided he should learn to make the things he likes, to share them with his friends.He followed this recipe, underlining where he was and checking off what he’d done:I pulled down some of the ingredients for him, but my son did it all himself…everything except pouring it into the pans.He even handled cleanup, which is important for a beginning cook to learn.And the breads turned out great.He was only interested in learning to make zucchini bread, not the brownies.But I was interested in making Charity’s brownies.The batter looked kind of weird and wormy at this point, with the shredded zucchini mixed into the batter. My picky-eater daughter refused to touch it.For some reason it looked better when spread into the pan.I snapped a picture after it was baked. It’s no thing of beauty, but boy was it moist, rich and fudge-like.We’ll be making these recipes again, not only because we’re about to be inundated with zucchini, but also because they were delicious.Charity’s Zucchini BrowniesFrom Simply in Season

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Combine in a large bowl.2-3 cups zucchini (shredded)Stir in.

• 1 egg
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine in separate bowl and beat with fork. Stir into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly into greased 9×13 inch pan.

• ½-1 cup semisweet or mint chocolate chips (Ann’s note: I used semisweet and mixed them in instead of spreading on top)
• ½ cup nuts (chopped; optional)

Sprinkle on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350F until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.NOTE: I (Charity) used yellow squash instead of zucchini. I stirred in a whole bag (12 oz) of chocolate chips rather than pouring on top. Also, I had to bake for close to 45 minutes.My Son’s Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

• 3 c. flour
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 c. grated zucchini, unpared
• 3/4 c. oil
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (we left out the nuts)
• 6 oz. chocolate chips

Mix all dry ingredients together; then mix eggs, oil, vanilla and zucchini in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix well. Add nuts and chocolate chips.Grease pans. This batter can be poured into 2 loaf pans or 4 to 5 mini loaf pans, or into muffin pans (about 24). Bake at 350 degrees. Large loaves take about 50 to 60 minutes; mini-loaves about 30 minutes; and muffins about 15 to 20 minutes.

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The post Food on Fridays: Zucchini Recipes appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

(smaller button below)

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to take a photo of black raspberries (I hear they’re in season around these parts), that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnWe need to “defrost” the deep freeze (read: melt away the massive hunks of snowy-looking ice attached to the interior walls).In order to defrost the deep freeze, we need to clear it out.In order to clear it out, we need to eat the food that’s in it.So we’re digging around trying to get creative with the things I’ve stashed in there over time.This morning I found a roll of sugar cookie dough (so much for cooking from scratch) and decided to make something that I’d seen before. I don’t know the official name of this treat, so I’m calling them “Sugar Cookie Cups.”This is how they turned out:This is how I made them:

1. Plop a blob of sugar cookie dough (or cut a thick “slice” into fourths or halves?) into mini muffin tins.
2. Bake for about 10 minutes. Maybe 12. I can’t remember.
3. When they are kind of brown around the edges, pull them out. Try not to squish the edges of the cookies with the oven mitt like I did.
4. Stuff something chocolate-y into the center when they’re still hot (could be mini Reese’s cups or kisses leftover from Easter). I shoved into the dough pieces of Hershey’s bar broken in half.
5. Watch the chocolate pieces get gooey.
6. Dig the Sugar Cookie Cups out of the muffin tins.
7. Pour a glass of milk to wash them down, because these babies are rich.

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• Use my stainless steel water bottle. Stainless steel water bottles are often ridiculously expensive, but about a year ago I found some reasonably priced and bought five all at once. So I already own the bottles; we just need to start using them. Except for the plastic bottles that fit in a special holder attached to the frame of our bicycles, I’m going to donate or recycle all of our reusable plastic bottles.
• Look for Fair Trade chocolate. Tracey provides a lot of eye-opening information about the chocolate industry. She convinced me to find a store that carries it—it could be that Target might sell it; I just haven’t looked.
• Goodbye, paper towels. We use sponges, dish towels or rags for most cleanup, but we do usually have a roll of paper towels on hand for occasional spills. Years ago my uncle said that instead of using paper towels, he bought a stack of  “bar mops” for kitchen cleanup. “It’s how they taught us to do it in the Navy,” he explained. So just today I bought two packs of “bar mops.” They look like basic white towels. Then I went to Goodwill and bought a rectangular basket in which to store them. They’re on the counter, ready to swipe up splatters and blobs.
• Environmentally gentle dish-washing detergent. I’m going to pay a little more for Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers or Ecos brand detergents that Tracey recommends.
• Compost. We used to faithfully compost kitchen scraps, then I don’t know what happened. I guess I got lazy. I resolved to begin again and pulled out a plastic tub with a tight-fitting lid we can use while collecting peelings and egg shells during meal prep. The kids can run it out to the garden.
• Cloth shopping bags. I hate when I forget these, and it’s always when I’m standing at the checkout with my items rolling along the conveyor belt that I remember them. I will figure out a way to make this a habit.

Things we already do:

• Wash (most of) our clothes in cold water. I started doing this mainly because I was shrinking almost everything! Sometimes I do a load of extra-dirty whites in hot, but cold water has been working fine. And blouses are staying their normal size!
• Hang clothes to dry. This, too, I started because I was shrinking clothes and thought I should avoid the dryer. Plus, I like going outside in the quiet morning to hang them up and love the way they smell when they’re dry.
• Recycle. Apparently we recycle effectively, because our neighbors couldn’t believe our family of six could fit all of our trash into one container. We didn’t tell them that many times, the container isn’t even full.
• Cook from scratch. Because I usually cook from scratch, we use less packaging than if I used mixes and prepared foods. I like to think it’s healthier, without all those additives and preservatives.
• Buy organic and local. Whenever possible, I try to buy organic and locally grown foods. Shopping at the farmer’s market in the summer makes it easy. An organic farmer has a stand, and so far his produce hasn’t been much more expensive than the others.
• Bike whenever possible. For nearby errands, we are trying to use our bikes instead of driving the van. We can easily bike to the library, piano lessons, grocery stores, Goodwill, Barnes & Noble, Officemax, several restaurants and many other shopping destinations.
• Shop secondhand. Speaking of shopping (and Goodwill), I think of my Goodwill shopping as recycling. I buy 90 percent of my clothes from Goodwill (the remaining 10 percent represents swimwear, undergarments, socks, and a few nicer speaking outfits). I also buy books secondhand. And furniture. And cars.
• Glass storage. I’m trying to transition from plastic storage containers to glass. We aren’t totally there, but we’re moving in that direction.
• Travel mug. For tea or coffee, we are trying to use travel mugs. We usually make our beverage at home, but we’re also trying to grab the mugs if we’re off to church and will fill them there instead of using Styrofoam cups.
• Minimal A/C. I prefer relying on open windows and fans in the summer, but my husband does like to bring down the humidity with air conditioning sometimes. This morning, however, I came downstairs and he had opened all the windows to enjoy the morning breeze.
• Garden. We have a vegetable garden again this year. I’ve never been an amazing gardener, but I keep trying, year after year. We usually get a fair amount of tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers, and it is so rewarding to pick stuff for dinner from my own garden plot.
• Consolidate errands. Whether I’m in my minivan or on my bicycle, I try my best to minimize errands, doing as much as possible in a given outing.
• Natural cleansers. For cleaning, we use really basic, natural products.

We do a lot of “green” things that are so normal to me, it doesn’t occur to me to identify it—I’m sure I could add lots of things on the list that we’ve been doing for years. It’s kind of fun to think about what’s become normal for us, or habit, and what we could do to change even more.Be sure to drop by the book giveaway post and read Tracey’s thoughts on “Slowing Green.”

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Simple Ways We've Gone Green appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s book.

The post Learning to Pray Like a Child appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

I was talking with a friend of mine about how people relate—or don’t relate—in our world today.

I’m friends with little 82-year-old Miss Jessie Parker, who came from the deep southern parts of Georgia, complete with a southern-fried accent and a heart of gold. And this woman simply amazed me. She did her own gardening, she still drove, she became very computer savvy…We would have many, many conversations in the middle of the day, in the middle of the yard, sometimes on the back porch and on occasion, over a nice little café for lunch … I learned a lot from talking with Miss Jessie Parker… she taught me that the early years of her life were very, very simple and uncomplicated. And she was completely fine with that simple way of life. She didn’t ask anybody to come along and add all this technology and all this crazy business of trying to make our lives easier. This easier way of life for us, so it seems, has really kind of messed up her world. And she would say things to me like:“Jill, when I was a young mother, we had time to carry the children down to the park in the buggy. We washed their diapers out, sterilized and boiled their glass bottles and somehow still managed to come home and make dinner and have it on the table in time for our husbands when they came home…”Thinking about this simpler life, I said, “Miss Jessie, where do you think it all … where did it all become unraveled for you?” And she didn’t even have to think about it … She knew exactly the answer and she said, “Jill, we used to have land for miles and miles. We didn’t have television and we didn’t have a radio, and so after supper, after the dishes were done, we would go out, and we would visit with the neighbors … for the rest of the evening until the lightning bugs would come out.”And she said the minute these privacy fences went up, we all stopped wanting to get together at night and chat and visit. Suddenly everybody wanted to be by themselves and be alone and be private. She couldn’t understand it.

You’ll note that Miss Jessie did mention the absence of TV and radio opening up time for visiting. But she emphasized the advent of the privacy fence as a turning point. I have to admit that we’ve loved the privacy fence. It keeps our big dog contained. Our kids can play in the yard without wandering off, which mattered a lot when our youngest was little. I can enjoy long quiet times on the back porch uninterrupted. I can examine the garden in my jammies.But I don’t talk as much with our neighbors.Thanks to Miss Jessie Parker, I plan to spend some time sitting on the front porch swing with some sweet tea, more visible and accessible. She’s reminded me how important it is to take a walk with the kids and wave at whoever is out doing yard work, in case they can visit for a few minutes.I can enjoy the privacy, bit it’s more important to have relationships.Yesterday afternoon, we were working inside the privacy fence in the garden, putting in our tomato plants. One of the neighbors walked right in through the gate without hesitating and asked to borrow the extension cord so he could finish trimming his bushes. We gladly loaned him ours, and I was relieved that the privacy fence didn’t hold him back. Maybe our privacy fence isn’t so isolating and private after all?Given that, I think I’ll don a robe before heading out to check the garden tomorrow morning.

“spying on the neighbors” photo by cjc4454, available from Flickr through a Creative Commons license.

The post People and Privacy appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to list what’s in your crisper drawer at the moment, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I’ll do my best to update this post by hand. In the meantime, please click on the Mister Linky logo to view the complete list.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

My in-laws just left after staying with us for several days. My mother-in-law is a clever cook, making the most of every little tidbit, nourishing people creatively.One night I made Mexican food, per Christy’s suggestion. My mother-in-law advised me to leave behind a bit of the sauce from browning and preparing the spiced ground beef. I transferred the beef into a bowl, leaving a dribble of the tasty red sauce in the skillet. She pulled out some leftover brown rice and dumped it right into the sauce, added a few crumbles of the beef, chopped up a tomato to toss in along with a bit of red and green pepper, onion, and some corn. She heated it all up, cooking the vegetables a little (it didn’t take long, they were chopped so small), and in seconds it was ready to serve. “When I’m making Spanish rice at home,” she explained, “I just use a little of this and that. Whatever I have in the fridge. I don’t want anything to go to waste.”I love that. I used to host “Make-Do Mondays” in an effort to encourage a make-do mindset. As a missionary, my mother-in-law often has to make-do, and it seems I learn some new solution or idea every time we’re together. In this case, we made the most of the odds and ends in the vegetable drawer to create a delicious side dish—such an great way to make the most of our resources! She taught me a simple, new way to add interest to our Mexican meals, and I’m delighted to share her easy, frugal, make-do Spanish rice “recipe” with you today.

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1. Hosting: We’re hosting out-of-country guests for several days–my in-laws from Belgium are here! What a privilege to spend time with them, catching up after a long separation (we only see them every few years).
2. 31 Days Project: Several of my friends at HighCallingBlogs.com (HCB) are participating in a 31 Day to Build a Better Blog project. With guests in town during much of the month, I knew I could never keep up. But one of the assignments was the create a list post, so this is mine. I created a list post over at NotSoFastBook.com, as well. Today’s assignment is to join a forum and participate. HCB serves as my forum.
3. End of School Year: Like many of us, I’m wrapping up the 2009-2010 school year. Wrap-up includes work with our homeschool co-op where I facilitate an American Literature class as well as our work at home. In fact, as soon as I publish this post, I’m grading a stack of papers. In addition, invitations to open houses and graduations are rolling in. May is maxed out.
4. Mini Marathon: I mentioned on Twitter here and here and Facebook that our family (except The Boy) finished the Indy 500 Mini Marathon, the nation’s largest half-marathon. The two older girls walked it; the Belgian Wonder and I “wogged” it with our youngest daughter.
5. Ann Kroeker Facebook page: I set up an Ann Kroeker Facebook page (which is unfortunately known as a “fan” page … please don’t think I’m picturing myself as a celebrity with fans!). It’s just a place where anyone can visit me on Facebook. Feel free to pop by and “like” the page. If you do so, updates I post there will show up in your news feed. You don’ t have to friend me on Facebook to follow my updates. Also, you can post your own links and such right on the Ann Kroeker page, so if you have a “slow-down solution” you’ve found, for example, or if you write a relevant blog post, post it there; the Ann Kroeker page can be a place where we connect on that Not So Fast topic, as well other ideas and themes. I’m just starting to tap into its potential and look forward to developing it when I get through May and enter the freer summer months.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird: The last book of the school year that we’re reading for the co-op is To Kill a Mockingbird. Re-reading it for the fourth time with the students, I find myself reading a chapter, slapping the book shut with satisfaction, and shouting “I love this book!” to anyone who happens to be in the vicinity.
7. Teen Driver: My eldest daughter has been driving on her permit for some time, but this Wednesday she takes her official driving test. The following Tuesday she can take her written test. After that, if all goes well, she gets her operator’s license. Don’t be frightened; she’s a pretty good driver.
8. Camera: I was given the gift of a nice new camera at Christmas—a splurge gift that the Belgian Wonder and I have been discussing for years (but never acted on … until now). I don’t have aspirations of gradually upgrading equipment to professional quality; I’m not even a gifted amateur. But even as an average, everyday photographer, I have really loved learning new things as I happily click away. Photoplay tips from the HCB photo editor Claire Burge have inspired, as well. The results motivate me to try new things and shoot even more snapshots of our daily lives. So I just want to publicly thank my husband and the whole family for blessing me, and I hope my experiments bless the six of us with pleasing visual records of this era of our lives. Ironically, I’m not including a photo of the camera; I tried to take one in the mirror, but it didn’t turn out quite right.
9. Speaking: I spoke at St. Mark’s Methodist Church in Carmel, Indiana, a couple of weeks ago. On the weekend of May 22-23, I’ll be interviewed at Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana, on the topic of families slowing down and simplifying enough to nurture a more contemplative life, seeking and submitting to Christ together.
10. “How can I help?”: My father-in-law grew up in what was then the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC). We’re looking forward to hearing stories and seeing pictures from a recent trip to DRC. In his travels throughout the cities of Kinshasa, Kikwit, and out into the rural areas of the Bandundu province, he asked the people, “How can we help?” We will get to hear what the people said when my father-in-law posed the question and listened; we will learn how we can help.

I wonder what the world could be like if we all asked that question and listened carefully to the response? How can we help? We could ask it country to country, church to church, neighbor to neighbor, child to parent—anyone to anyone: “How can I help?” Can we try it today, with someone we love? Can we ask with open minds and hearts … and truly listen?

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If I waited for the perfect conditions to develop my writing life, I’d still be waiting.

Back in the early 1990s, I did manage to explore writing as my work, as a way of life. I wrote and submitted a few magazine articles and met with businesses to launch a career in corporate freelance writing. Then we started our family. Our first three children were born within four years of each other (the fourth came along a few years later).

Consumed by the demands and intensity of young motherhood, I could have shoved my computer screen, pen and notebook into a closet for about twelve years and waited until the conditions were right. I could have waited until my oldest two girls were old enough to babysit the younger two. I could have waited until I had a little office or study or library or nook to call my own. I could have waited until I had long chunks of uninterrupted time.

Instead, I wrote.

I wrote when the kids were napping. I wrote late at night. I wrote in my head when I took them for a walk to the park and scribbled down my ideas when they were eating a snack.

I stole time.

Sometimes I wrote well, but most of what I wrote served as compost, breaking down in my mind, heart, and spirit to feed new and potentially better ideas. Regardless of the quality of what I produced, I wrote. I practiced. I learned.

And I read. With a book tucked in my diaper bag or purse, I could steal a moment now and then to consume some new thought written by authors I respected, whose information I craved, whose ideas would feed the glowing coals of creativity that glimmered softly inside of me as I changed diapers, swept Cheerios and scraped hunks of banana from the high chair tray.

I kept the energy of writing alive during those hectic years, and when the flame flashed, I’d try to grab something on which to write, even if it meant borrowing a crayon and scribble pad that the kids were using for stick-people adventure stories.

This made for a spontaneous, messy writing life. Scraps of paper strewn on the kitchen table or nightstand represented that flash of insight I managed to scratch onto the back of an envelope. Life with newborns and toddlers required tremendous focus and energy, leaving little chance for a regular schedule. I grabbed opportunities when I could, leaving a trail of pens and paper throughout the house and shoved into cup holders in the car.

I identified with other writer-moms, such as Barbara Kingsolver. She would read about rituals of other authors who had seemingly endless time to create the writing mood—hours of photography or flower arranging before sitting at the desk to compose one word. She quoted one author who described his muse at length. Kingsolver, a busy mom with no time for flower-arranging, had to write with the time she was given. She described her own muse:

My muse wears a baseball cap, backward. The minute my daughter is on the school bus, he saunters up behind me with a bat slung over his shoulder and says oh so directly, “Okay, author lady, you’ve got six hours till that bus rolls back up the drive. You can sit down and write, now, or you can think about looking for a day job.” (p. 96, High Tide in Tucson, Barbara Kingsolver)

Kingsolver understands the limitations of motherhood and the challenge of writing in the midst of it. She quotes Lucille Clifton responding to the question “Why are your poems always short?” Ms. Clifton replied, “I have six children, and a memory that can hold about twenty lines until the end of the day.”

Clifton encouraged me to plan out my work mentally while I’m on-the-go, storing up thoughts until the end of the day, when the kids were in bed and the words could spill out.

My kids are much older now; my conditions remain imperfect but are much more conducive to writing. My children are more independent—my oldest has her driver’s permit. But it seems I still have to steal time.

Apparently the conditions for writing will never be perfect.

I need to be reminded of this again and again. Julia Cameron, in The Right to Write says:

The ‘if-I-had-time’ lie is a convenient way to ignore the fact that novels require being written and that writing happens a sentence at a time. Sentences can happen in a moment. Enough stolen moments, enough stolen sentences, and a novel is born–without the luxury of time…

Yes, it is daunting to think of finding time to write an entire novel, but it is not so daunting to think of finding time to write a paragraph, even a sentence. And paragraphs, made of sentences, are what novels are really made of. (p. 14, 15, The Right to Write, Julia Cameron)

This reminds me of a quote I heard at the Festival of Faith & Writing in 2010. Author Parker Palmer said:

If you can’t write a book, write a bunch of essays. If you can’t write a bunch of essays, write a bunch of paragraphs. If you can’t write a bunch of paragraphs, write lines. If you can’t write lines, write some words. And if you can’t write some words, write your truth with your own life, which is far more important than any book. (Parker Palmer at the Festival of Faith & Writing 2010)

Poets, bloggers, novelists, creative nonfiction writers, essayists, letter writers, journalists, composers; we must all get to work. Write a book, essays, paragraphs, lines, or just write a few words, but for heaven’s sake—be sure to write with your life.

No matter what complicates schedules—whether you have a full-time job or you’re a full-time caregiver—write what you can, when you can. Because the conditions are never perfect. 

___________________________________

52 Creative Writing Prompts: A Year of Weekly Prompts and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity

Sure, you can poke around the Internet collecting writing prompts and creative writing exercises.

Or you could buy an ebook that collects them for you in one place.

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The post Imperfect Conditions appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your picnic basket, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you can access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

I like flexible, forgiving recipes that are difficult to mess up yet allow for creativity.Quiches fit that description.I threw one together the other day. We’ll call it:Tomato-Bacon Florentine Quiche.I had a ready-made Pillsbury crust, so that part was easy. Cooked about half a bag of frozen spinach, drained it, and spread it on the bottom. Diced half a tomato and two leftover pieces of cooked bacon. Tossed those on the spinach.Pulled out a bag of Kroger Italian-style cheeses, a blend of Mozzarella, provolone, Romano, Parmesan, Fontina and Asiago. Spread about a cup, maybe a cup-and-a-half on top of that.Then, to make sure I had the liquids fairly balanced, I did a quick search and turned up this “Basic Quiche Recipe” and noted the remaining necessary ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 – 1/2 cups crème fraîche, heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk (I had fat-free half & half)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• dash of nutmeg

The recipe suggested cooking the crust at 400º for 12 minutes and then cooling before adding the filling. But I didn’t do that. The crust, which turned soft and moist instead of firm and crisp, tasted fine to me…but I’ll bet precooking improves the texture.Anyway, I followed the rest of the instructions:

• Using a whisk, beat together the eggs, creme fraiche (or heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk), and seasonings. Whisk just until mixed.
• Pour the egg mixture on top of the quiche crust and place in 375°F oven for 40 minutes, or just until the eggs are set (the quiche will continue to cook some after you remove it from the oven, so be sure not to over cook it). The quiche will puff up and turn a nice golden brown on top.
• Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

Here’s how mine looked after I poured the egg-milk mixture on top and stuck it in the oven.Here’s how it turned out:And here’s the entire Basic Quiche Recipe that I referenced:

• 1 pie crust
• 2 cups filling
• 4 eggs
• 1 – 1/2 cups crème fraîche, heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• dash of nutmeg

Fit the crust to a tart or pie pan, then prick the bottom all over with a fork. Place the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes or longer, then bake in a 400°F oven for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.Prepare the filling ingredients. Vegetables should be blanched to tenderize them and meat or seafood should be cooked. Cheese should be shredded or diced.Layer the ingredients in the cooled quiche crust, starting with the meat or vegetables, then adding the cheese.Using a whisk, beat together the eggs, creme fraiche (or heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk), and seasonings. Whisk just until mixed.Pour the egg mixture on top of the quiche crust and place in 375°F oven for 40 minutes, or just until the eggs are set (the quiche will continue to cook some after you remove it from the oven, so be sure not to over cook it). The quiche will puff up and turn a nice golden brown on top.Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

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In A Circle of Quiet, Madeleine L’Engle wrote:

During the long drag of years before our youngest child went to school, my love for my family and my need to write were in acute conflict. The problem was really that I put two things first. My husband and children came first. So did my writing. Bump.

The conflict—or collision—of work and family summed up in a word:  Bump.Ouch.

• How do you handle the collision of work and family?

• How have demanding seasons of work affected your family life?

• Is your current pace “sustainable”?

• What changes have you already made—or what changes could you make—to create a more sustainable life? Have you “trimmed your day,” for example, and simplified?

“Remember, there is no Bump” photo by Ethan Lofton available through Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your knife sharpener, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you can access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays with Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

The other day, we ran out of store-bought bread. Instead of running out for a plastic-wrapped loaf from Kroger, I decided to make some whole wheat bread at home. I tried one of the first recipes that came up with the search terms “whole wheat bread recipe moist soft”: Whole Wheat Honey Bread We tried it and loved it. It really is moist and soft, just like I hoped for when I typed in those search terms. We ate the whole loaf in record time.Next day, I made another loaf that turned out as fabulous as the first. Set a new consumption speed record with that loaf.The day after that, I made a third loaf that was just as good as the first two, quickly snapping a photo before it, too, was gobbled up.I’ve never had great luck with bread. Until now.This is officially our bread.I altered the recipe ever-so-slightly, so click on the hyperlink to see the original. My tweaks are indicated below.Everyday Whole Wheat Honey Bread

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“Snow Jog” photo by Ann Kroeker © 2007

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—it doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you just want to post photos of your food processor blades, that’ll do just fine.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with AnnFor years I’ve made macaroni and cheese from scratch by whipping up a white sauce (flour-based roux & milk), adding cheese, and mixing it into the cooked macaroni. Now that I’ve made it four hundred twenty-seven times, it’s easy to throw together. But it dirties a lot of pans.So when I read through Leila’s fast, easy, creamy, cheesy macaroni and cheese instructions, I couldn’t wait to try it.People, I will never go back.I’ve been transformed; or, my macaroni and cheese has been transformed, and that’s almost the same thing.So get out your cornstarch, pick up a bag of sharp cheddar cheese next time you’re at the store, and have fun with Leila’s charming, freeing, beautifully documented step-by-step tutorial.I’m here to tell you…Dinner will never be the same.

Photo of Leila’s Fast, Easy, Creamy, Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese from “Our Mothers, Our Daughters.”

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Photo © 2010 by Zoe Sandvig of A Sideways Glance. Used with permission.

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Mega Memory Month January 2010

Final Celebration

Mega Memory Month comes to a close.

The last day of the month, January 31st, falls on a Sunday. I love that. Those of us who have memorized Scripture can post our passages and share them on a day of rest and worship.

Let’s share our projects, our progress, our successes!

Link up your posts via Mr. Linky or create something to publish on the Facebook Event page for Mega Memory Month, which you can access (write your comments on the wall!) HERE.

Mega Memory Month Participants(visit! encourage! be inspired!)

Ann’s Mega Memory Month Project:Colossians 1My original goal was to memorize all of Colossians 1, but I couldn’t finish. So I focused on what I could manage—verses 1-18.My final celebration isn’t fancy. I’m simply going to type it out from memory. I wish it were error-free, but I’m not quite there (I proofed my from-memory version against the original NIV text, adding missing words in red and crossing out words that shouldn’t be there):

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:Grace and peace to you from God our Father.We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints–the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel has been is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has already been doing among you since the day you first heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You heard it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a fellow ministry of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking the Lord God to fill you with the knowledge of his will with through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. In For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. And He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Part of me wonders, Is this worth celebrating? Look, it’s only a little over half what I said I’d tackle, and it’s full of errors!Yet, if it weren’t for Mega Memory Month, I might not have bothered with it at all. So I think it is worth it, and I hope you think so, too.Thank you for joining me in the challenge. Thank you for holding me accountable. Thank you for committing to something mega.In the paraphrased words of Paul from his letter to the Colossians, I hope that this project helped you grow in the knowledge of God; that He strengthened you with all power according to His glorious might. I hope you developed great endurance and patience through it.May we now, at the conclusion of this month, joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.In everything, Jesus Christ has the supremacy. Amen.

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Progress Report #3Mega Memory Month January 2010 is over halfway through. Are you halfway through your project?Leave a note on your progress at the Facebook Event page I set up for Mega Memory Month (write your comments on the wall!) HERE. You can also summarize your progress in the comments of this post and/or link your own Progress Report post here via Mr. Linky.

Mr. Linky instructions:Click on the icon and a separate screen pops up. In one box, you type in your name and/or website; in the other box, paste in the url to your post. It’ll be saved and accessible by returning to this page and clicking on the icon again.I’ll return later in the day and embed the pop-up links into the text itself here for easy access.

Ann’s ProgressI’m behind. Dreadfully behind.The idea was to work on one verse per day. This would work if I’d keep up. But I haven’t.What’s motivating, though, is that as I catch up, I’ll be working on a powerful section that describes Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” I especially want to know this part by heart.This section reminds me that “by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (verses 16-17).All things were created by Him and for Him.He is before all things.In Him, all things hold together.That’s big.I want to have those words inside of my head, inside my heart…So, to try to catch up, I decided to pull out every memorization tip and technique. For example, I realized I pick up things well through listening, so I decided to hunt down an audio recording of Colossians 1 (NIV). I found it. Who wouldn’t want to hear Colossians 1 read to them by Max McLean (complete with a smooth British accent)? To listen, click HERE. And thanks, Bible Gateway.Search for an audio recording of your own passage and translation at Bible Gateway HERE. (They offer Contemporary English Version, ESV, NIV, Today’s NIV, NASB and KJV).

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17)

Lord, hold these words together in my head.

For your convenience, I decided to keep these memorization resources right at your fingertips each week:• Click HERE to read “An Approach to Extended Memorization” by Dr. Andrew Davis, an article highly recommended by Amy at Lavender Sparkles.• Click HERE for my mega collection of memorization tips and techniques.• Click HERE for more inspiration and practical suggestions for memorizing Scripture from Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience.

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(smaller button below)

Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome; that is, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. Think of it as a virtual pitch-in where you can sample what everyone brings and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

For dinner the other day I made a gigantic omelet that I couldn’t finish. So I saved half of it in hopes that it would reheat nicely the next morning.It did.Also reheated with great results: a side dish of cubed potatoes, cubed sweet potatoes, and diced yellow and green peppers seasoned with rosemary.It was good with this:While we’re on the topic of food, consider donating to organizations supplying food and water to Haiti.We suggest:Samaritan’s Purse (donate directly to Haiti relief HERE)Please mention in the comments organizations you trust to use funds wisely and provide relief that makes an impact.

Mega Memory Month January 2010 is under way!

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s new book.

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Progress Report #2Mega Memory Month January 2010 is in full swing.How are you doing?Care to share your memorization methods or unload your ups and downs with those of us who are sharing the struggle?We’re in this together, so please let us know!Leave a note in the comments and/or link your own Progress Report post here via Mr. Linky.Click on the icon and a separate screen pops up. In one box, you type in your name and/or website; in the other box, paste in the url to your post. It’ll be saved and accessible by returning to this page and clicking on the icon again.I’ll return later in the day and embed the pop-up links into the text itself here for easy access.

MMM Participant Reports:

In addition, you can post on the wall of the Mega Memory Month Facebook event page.If you’re just finding out about Mega Memory Month, jump in—there’s still time to dig in to something big!Click HERE for the MMM Headquarters.Ann’s ProgressI owe my progress in Colossians this week in part to technology.My plan has been to add a verse each day. One night when I was nestled in my bed, warm and cozy, I was ready to learn the new verse but didn’t have my Bible on hand.I did, however, have my laptop nearby. So I logged onto Bible Gateway. After all, the words are exactly the same whether they’re printed on the physical page of my NIV study Bible or on the virtual page of Bible Gateway (many more translations are available at the site).All this week, I’ve been repeating the verses, adding a few hand motions to emphasize key words. And just two days ago, to reinforce what I’ve been working on, I added the first-letter prompt method explained in THIS website article.After pasting my text into the converter, I printed out the automatically generated prompts:As you can see, I fold this paper up and carry it with me. When I need to review, these letters prompt me when I’m stuck and nobody’s around to help.One time I was at a coffee shop. I remembered to stick my prompt sheet in my bag, but I didn’t have my Bible with me to remind me of the actual words.So I used my new phone—we added the data plan for one month as an experiment, so my new free phone is, at least temporarily, more than a phone! What do you think of that, Lisa? Yes, thanks to mobile Internet access, I logged onto Bible Gateway again and brought up my passage, which showed up in teeny-tiny font and presented as a long, slender column.It worked just fine, clarifying a section I couldn’t recall.I’m still a little shaky on the most recent two verses, but I’m making progress. I don’t know if I’ll make it all the way through the chapter, but I’m not worrying about that right now. For now, it’s just verse by verse.And I don’t suppose it matters too much whether we review our verses/poems/speeches as handwritten words on card stock taped to our car dashboards, or as pages on a website.Either way, they’re going into our minds.And, hopefully, our hearts.Also, if you need ideas or inspiration, here are some resources right at your fingertips—you, too, can use technology to aid your memorization efforts! • Click HERE to read “An Approach to Extended Memorization” by Dr. Andrew Davis, an article highly recommended by Amy at Lavender Sparkles.• Click HERE for my mega collection of memorization tips and techniques.• Click HERE for more inspiration and practical suggestions for memorizing Scripture from Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.comto learn more about Ann’s new book.

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Progress Report #1We’re only four days into Mega Memory Month January 2010, so progress will be minimal. Still, you may have something to say about it.If so, leave a note in the comments and/or link your own Progress Report post here via MckLinky. I’ll come back later in the day and embed the pop-up links into the text itself for easy access.

Powered by MckLinky

Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

1. Erin at filling my patch of sky
2. Amy @ Lavender *Sparkles*
3. Stand and Consider

Ann’s Progress Report:Colossians 1 has 29 verses.January has 31 days.That equates to about one verse per day. If I stay on track, I’ll get two extra days to review the whole thing at the end of the month; if I get behind, I have a couple of make-up days for the verses I’m lacking.Perfect.I’m starting out with Dr. Andrew Davis’s method as recommended by Amy at Lavender *Sparkles* (Amy summarizes the method in this post.)• Click HERE to read “An Approach to Extended Memorization” by Dr. Andrew Davis, an article highly recommended by Amy at Lavender Sparkles.• Click HERE for my mega collection of memorization tips and techniques.• Click HERE for more inspiration and practical suggestions for memorizing Scripture from Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience.

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.comto learn more about Ann’s new book.

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For Mega Memory Month January 2010, I’ll be working on Colossians 1.The thought is (I admit this may be a bit idealistic—even unrealistic—nevertheless…) that I might add on to this chapter over time; that is, for future Mega Memory Months I could continue with Colossians 2, 3 and 4.For now, I’m going to focus on Colossians 1 without fretting about the rest. Colossians 1 has 29 verses, so that’s approximately one verse per day. Now, I know that’s a lot for my feeble mind to tackle, but surely it can be done.After all, “all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). My mind, including its aging synapses, was created by Him and for Him. To use it for this purpose—to concentrate on memorizing a chunk of God’s written Word—seems right and good. There will be much to ponder and celebrate along the way. For example, this passage includes a long prayer, so that my memory work can take on dual purpose and meaning, breathing life into my own prayers:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14)

Toward the end of the month, if I make it through the entire chapter, I’ll arrive at this verse:To [the saints] God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Christ in you.

I’ll cling to that this month, as I struggle through the paragraphs and stumble over phrases. It’s not just about the words in me … it’s about The Word in me.Christ in me.Now that right there puts the “mega” in this month.

Dove ornament photo © 2009 by Ann Kroeker.

To participate in Mega Memory Month, visit its Headquarters post HERE.

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Mega Memory Month Returns January 2010!

Our extended family’s white elephant exchange included some bags stuffed full of odd items picked up at a dollar store, included this minibook:Can you believe it?Just in time for Mega Memory Month January 2010 I secured a copy of Improving Your Memory for Dummies, by John B. Arden, PhD, Director of Training for Psychology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers.Here’s an excerpt to get us thinking about memory work from the heading:

Feeding your brain properlyYour ability to remember depends on a number of factors, first of which is maintaining a healthy brain through adequate nourishment. To ensure that your brain works at an optimum level, follow these guidelines:

• Maintain a balanced diet. What you eat affects your brain’s chemistry. Eating the right foods at the right time gives your body the building blocks to manufacture brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters not only affect your mood and ability to think clearly, but also your ability to remember. A simple, balanced meal consists of a carbohydrate, a protein, and a fruit or vegetable. Eating a balanced meal three times a day can provide you with a sound foundation for your brain and its memory.
• Take the right supplements. Vitamins and herbs can support your brain’s ability to produce good memory skills. Specific vitamins, such as some of the B vitamins, help form the building blocks for healthy brain chemistry. Other vitamins, such as vitamin E, help your brain cleanse itself of bad chemicals. Herbs such as ginkgo, have been used to enhance the circulation of blood in the brain.
• Get regular exercise. Exercise enhances your memory because it helps your brain get the nutrients that it needs. Every time you exercise, you increase your respiratory rate, your metabolism, and your energy level.

Avoiding foods, drinks, and drugs that depress memoryFoods, drinks, and chemicals that your brain is exposed to have major effects on your memory.Warning: If you eat junk food loaded with sugar, you set yourself up to crash, finding yourself full of anxiety and short of short-term memory. Similarly, if you drink too much caffeine, the liquid anxiety scatters your thoughts and shatters your memory ability. If you consume caffeine and sugar on an empty stomach, your mood and memory skills will plummet quickly. (Arden 13-14)

In summary, it appears that as we work toward memorizing something meaningful … something mega, we can support (or avoid impeding) our efforts by eating a balanced diet, taking the right supplements (he didn’t provide much guidance on that topic), and exercising.Will you join me in January?Memorizing something is a mega-powerful way to start out the new year. You can work on almost anything and reap benefits—I’ve enjoyed including poetry in my Mega Memory Month selections during previous MMM challenges, for example—but this time my focus is exclusively Scripture. I want to exercise my mind and feed my soul; for me, memorizing a passage from the Bible is an important thing I can do to make truth readily accessible to ponder and pray.Here’s what I recommend as you prepare:

1. Pray about your selection.
2. Type up and print out the passage you plan to memorize (consider using card stock for durability as you tote it around with you for a month).
3. Devise a plan. Try to come up with an approach to memorizing that you can try out from the start. See the two links below for suggestions. (And according to Dr. Arden’s Dummies advice, be sure to eat right, take supplements and exercise your body!)
4. Join the challenge!

On January 1st, I’ll create a January 2010 Mega Memory Month carnival headquarters.For an entire month, we’ll all work on our passages together and report back each week on our progress (Mondays).At the end of the month, we’ll celebrate together whatever we managed to take in.You won’t be alone.I hope many will join the Mega Memory Month challenge in January, but you will have me along for the ride, at the very least.I’m not an expert at memorizing, but I’ll be working hard.And I’ll do my best to encourage you along the way.• Click HERE for my mega collection of memorization tips and techniques.• Visit Holy Experience for more inspiration and practical suggestions for memorizing Scripture.Our minds (and hearts!) can hold more than we think they can.

Work Cited: Arden, John B.  Improving Your Memory for Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2009. Print.

Get ready … Mega Memory Month returns January 2010!

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can describe your Christmas menu. I actually would be interested to know what you have for breakfast and the main meal.Anyway, my point is that the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays with Ann

Next Friday is Christmas Day. If I think of it, I’ll toss up a Christmas greeting with a Mr. Linky for super-motivated foodies, but don’t hold me to it.When I was visiting some of last week’s Food on Fridays participants, I was particularly intrigued by the very first link.Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker linked to a recipe for Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce.I’ve never made gingerbread before. The kids have never tasted it.So I decided to give it a try.Yum!Some of the kids weren’t too keen on the lemon sauce, but they’re picky eaters. So we won’t count their votes.Most of us devoured our first serving and helped ourselves to a second.She described this gingerbread as a cake-y, warm, “Old World” version that she found in a 1936 Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook.  The lemon sauce recipe comes from the 1945 American Woman’s Cook Book.Click on THIS LINK for her recipe.Here is a brief pictorial of my first experience making gingerbread.First I was startled by the amount of molasses required. One whole cup used up half the bottle. It smells a little weird, too, so I was glad none of the kids wandered in at this point.

What is molasses, anyway? I wondered this, and in the spirit of lifelong learning, I looked it up. Unlike my industrious son who heaved open the giant Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, I simply clicked on Merriam-Webster online.

What is molasses? Click HERE for dictionary definition. Click HERE for Wikipedia explanation. Click HERE to read about the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919.

One of the kids came into the kitchen and asked what I was baking.

“Gingerbread,” I answered.

“Oh! Is it gingerbread cookies?”

“No, it’s gingerbread.”

“Can we make it into a gingerbread house?”

“No, it’s just gingerbread. It will be like cake.”

“Oh.”

I repeated that exchange almost verbatim three times with three different kids.

Never made lemon sauce before. I think it turned out right.

Most of my baking takes place at night when there’s no natural light, so these pictures never turn out all that great.

Nevertheless, here it is. A slice of gingerbread with lemon sauce.

I don’t really have a particular holiday treat that everyone waits all year for me to make. I thought this could be the thing. I loved it and would make it again and again.

I suspect that the kids, however, would prefer that I try making the dough for a gingerbread man, instead.

Anyone have a good gingerbread cookie recipe for me to try?

May you enjoy many delicious Christmas memories!

Get ready … Mega Memory Month returns January 2010!

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The post Food on Fridays: Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Mega Memory Month Returns January 2010!

Imperfect but hopefully charming photos of a lifelong learner exploring the dictionary by Ann Kroeker © 2009

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The post Big Books and Mega Memory: The Stuff of Lifelong Learning appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply photograph your shopping list weighted down with an apple and call it a day. Publish. Link up. Believe me, as you will see below, if your post depicts, discusses or debates food in any way, it’ll do just fine as an addition to Food on Fridays.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

I love clementines.That is all.

Clementine photos by Ann Kroeker © 2009.

Get ready … Mega Memory Month returns January 2010!

It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s new book.

The post Food on Fridays: Clementine Celebration appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply tell us how many dozen cookies you agreed to donate to the neighborhood cookie exchange or reveal how many bags of flour you have in the pantry for Christmas baking projects.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

Some of you may have caught on Twitter (@annkroeker) or Facebook the fondue recipe I used from this site:Extraordinary (and Simple) Chocolate FondueIngredients:16 ounces dark, sweet or semi-sweet chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)1 1/2 cups light cream (I used half-and-half)1 tsp. Vanilla extractInstructions:1. Break chocolate squares into smaller pieces and drop them into the fondue pot. (Or just toss in the chocolate chips)2. Add cream (which will prevent the chocolate from going lumpy) and stir gently but constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth.3. Add vanilla extract and stir.4. Use a fondue fork to spear the fruit, then dip it in the chocolate. Enjoy!We dipped pears, bananas, and apples, and a few sticky old marshmallows we found in the back of the cabinet.I had everything on hand.It was ready in minutes.We ate too much.But it was good.(p.s. It reheats well)Gather some friends and family for a battle-of-the-fondue-recipes night:Try Extraordinary (and Simple) Chocolate Fondue next to…

• Stretch Mark Mama’s Fudgy Chocolate Fondue!
• Do you have a favorite fondue? Leave yours in the comments and I’ll update this list with your recipe link when possible.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish or post and link to a picture of your pies.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

Thanksgiving is over and our fridge is packed with leftovers.So I decided to share some leftovers here, as well, adapting an old Thanksgiving post from the archives:I learned a handy potato tip from a Belgian cook named Jacqueline.My mother-in-law asked Jacqueline how she prepared for big gatherings. What did she do in advance?Jacqueline lifted the cover of a clean white bucket to reveal a mound of peeled potatoes covered in water.“What’s this?” I asked my mother-in-law in English. The meal wasn’t until the next day, but the potatoes were already peeled.“The potatoes,” my mother-in-law replied.“I see that, but…” I hesitated, not wanting to seem like I was doubting her friend’s kitchen know-how, “I thought potatoes go brown if you don’t cook them right after peeling.”“I thought so, too,” my mother-in-law admitted, “but Jacqueline says that as long as they’re completely covered with water, they’re fine!”Tip #1Get Some Dirty Work Out of the Way: Submerge Peeled PotatoesInstead of peeling potatoes at the last minute while the turkey is being carved, I follow Jacqueline’s example and peel them as early as the day before, though this year I peeled them in the morning. Then I just cover them in water and top with a lid, all ready to go.Tip #2Don’t Mash the Potatoes–Blend!Instead of mashing by hand, smashing for several wrist-wrenching minutes, simply plug in the hand mixer and whirr away. So fast. So simple. Such smooth, lump-free potatoes.And if you really feel crazy and daring (maybe not on Thanksgiving, but some other time), you can also cook sweet potatoes or carrots and blend them together with the potatoes.Tip #3Ann’s All-Time Favorite Pumpkin PieMy mom made the pumpkin pies this year, but when it’s my turn, I have a favorite pumpkin pie recipe.I’ve experimented with several recipes. Most of them have been, well, “meh.”My all-time favorite?Stokely’s:

PUMPKIN PIE (STOKELY’S BACK-OF-CAN)1 can (16 oz) pumpkin1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk2 eggs, slightly beaten3/4 C brown sugar1 T flour1/2 t salt1/2 t ground cinnamon1/4 t ground ginger1/4 t ground nutmeg1/4 t ground cloves1 9-inch unbaked homemade pie crust.Preheat oven to 450. Blend all ingredients and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 20 mins.Reduce temperature to 350. Bake 35 minutes more or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on rack.

I cover the crust-edges with strips of aluminum foil formed into curves and balanced along the rim of the pie pan. They stay there almost the entire baking time. For the last 10-15 minutes I take off the foil and let the crust get a little brown. Otherwise it almost burns.p.s. For those who saw my Thanksgiving Preview, I chose not to use the white tablecloth. Instead, I opted for two very long coordinating cloths on our two long tables. They’re golden. I thought you should know, as I felt sort of hypocritical folding up the white one and tucking it back into the storage cabinet. My mom assures me that we will, however, have pea salad; and for that, I’m truly grateful.

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The post Food on Fridays: 3 Thanksgiving Tips appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

“Nestled Apple” photo by Ann Kroeker (2009).

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can simply tell us your favorite post-flu nourishment. You could share with readers the comfort food you crave when you’ve been under-the-weather or out-and-out ill.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

I’ve had the flu. At first, I didn’t want much to eat at all. Then I had a piece of toast. Then I wanted grapefruit. Then I wanted soup. Chicken noodle soup. So I made some when I was able to get out of bed.

Today I’ve been getting better, but still want something warm to eat. I decided some kind of potato soup or chowder would be the ticket.

So with no solid plan or recipe, I started pulling out stuff that sounded like it would taste good together. All I knew for sure was that potatoes would be involved.

I’m calling this:

Crazy-Flu-Lady Potato Soup

I peeled and cubed some potatoes, then decided to add some sweet potatoes, too, for extra flavor and color.

Tossed in a chicken bouillon cube.

Fried some bacon in a skillet. I took a photo, but it’s out of focus and bacon is really kind of gross to look at up close, so I leave that to your imagination.

Realized that some onion would probably be good, but I can’t eat very much onion or my stomach gets upset. So I minced a teeny, tiny bit of onion, fried it in the hot bacon grease, fished it out and tossed it into the soup pan.

When the potatoes were soft, I pulled some out and mashed them in another bowl with a potato masher gadget.

Then I put the mashed potatoes back in to thicken the soup. No need for cornstarch or flour to thicken when I do it this way.

Added some fat-free half-and-half I had in the fridge, randomly pouring some in until it looked good.

Tossed in some frozen corn I found in the freezer.

Added the crumbled bacon.

Salt. Pepper. More salt. More pepper.

That’ll do.

When I’ve been sick—especially if my throat has been sore—I crave warm soup. And I’ll get some idea to toss a bunch of stuff together without a real plan and eat two bowls of whatever comes out at the end of 20 minutes or so.

That’s what crazy-flu-lady is doing, now that she’s out of bed.

But this isn’t just crazy-flu food. You could easily serve this and a couple more soups along with some good bread and a salad for a dinner with friends.

Invite some people over for the evening, as I recommend over at NotSoFastBook.com, and enjoy some conversation along with your soup.

And maybe even some community.

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The post Food on Fridays: Crazy-Flu-Lady Potato Soup appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can just take a picture of your hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate at last week’s football game. That’ll do just fine.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

Food on Fridays with Ann

When the temperature goes down, I start to monkey around with soup concoctions.

Tonight’s combination turned out particularly well—the Belgian Wonder, who grew up with soup as a dietary staple, praised the blend and balance of flavors. “Very smooth, very tasty, very healthy,” he said. He took two servings and set aside some for lunch.

Here’s what it looked like in the pot. It uses all orange veggies.

I’ll do my best to explain it below.

Creamy Harvest Soup

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T olive oil (I just poured a little in–I guess that’s about what it was)
• 1/4 C diced onions (at most–I have to go easy on the onions)
• 1 or 2 carrots, diced (I was using baby carrots, so I’m estimating)
• 2 cans chicken or vegetable broth (vegetable broth makes this vegan)
• 1-2 C water (maybe more–enough to cover the veggies when cooking)
• 1 butternut squash, cut into pieces (you can cut it up raw or pre-cook slightly to soften it in the oven or microwave)
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed or diced (cooks faster if diced)1/3 to 1/2 C canned pumpkin (I had some left from baking muffins; you could make this recipe without it)
• Additional broth to thin out as desired
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

• In a large pot, cook carrots and onion in oil until onion is soft (carrots don’t have to be cooked through yet).
• Add broth and then add squash and sweet potato.
• Add water to cover.
• Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer until veggies are soft.
• Add pumpkin (if you have some–not too much, though, or it will taste too pumpkin-y).
• When soup is slightly cooled, puree in batches using the blender; or it’s easier to use a hand blender to puree the soup right in the pot.
• Add water or additional broth, stirring until soup is desired consistency (I like my soup pretty thick, but some people like it thinner–you can experiment and decide what you prefer; after blending, this soup was very thick, and even I added a lot of water).
• Salt to taste.

If you have some, put a dollop of cream or half-n-half in the soup when you serve it. But it’s delicious without, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have any on hand.

Serve with a salad and thickly sliced multi-grain bread.

Food on Fridays p.s.

I scored big with a Kroger manager’s special: crème fraîche was on sale. Wow, was it good in this soup!

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We were going to be late.But I couldn’t help myself.  I paused what I was doing and joined him in front of the window. And there it was, my full faced moon-friend, hanging low in the misty dark of the pre-dawn. I moved behind my boy and wrapped my arms around his ever-growing body.And. We. Just. Looked.

Just taking a moment here and there—pausing to look at the moon, sitting for a moment of quiet, turning off the television for one half-hour—we can take baby steps toward living a slower life.We can begin to listen.We can go from the rush, to a hush.The children’s book Goodnight Moon is a favorite with children. I think it’s because after full, rushed days, the simple process of saying “goodnight” to each item in the room is a child’s way of slowing. It’s an antidote to the sped-up, frenzied day the family may have endured.Goodnight moon.Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.The day is coming to a close. I think I’ll sip a little cocoa.Goodnight light and the red balloon.Turn off the computer. Look over my planner. Scribble another to-do list item. Write a thank-you note.Goodnight clocks and goodnight socks.Pull out a journal. Pen. Bible. My Utmost for His Highest. Set them on the table next to my bed. Before settling in with my books and writing, however, I prepare to tuck in the children.Goodnight little house and goodnight mouse.Room by room, I will kiss children and pray. Then I’ll climb into my own bed.Goodnight stars, goodnight airA page in My Utmost for His Highest.It says, “If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with him; I must take time to worship the Being Whose Name I bear. ‘Come unto Me’—that is the place to meet Jesus.”Goodnight noises everywhere. I must know Him for myself, and how to get alone with him.And it occurs to me, as the day winds down, that I might actually be the old lady whispering “hush.”Find silence; be still.”‘Come unto Me’—that is the place to meet Jesus.”Each of us must know Him for ourselves … and how to get alone with him.Shhhh …

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The post Only One Car? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

My solution?

I turned to my friend Judy’s recipe for Quick Marinara Sauce.

Minimal ingredients, maximum taste. This simple recipe is a quick, flavorful sauce for pasta or pizza.

Quick Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 T tomato paste (I put in too much paste, so the sauce in the photo is thicker than normal; I could have added water to dilute it, but didn’t.)
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, including liquid
• 3 T minced fresh basil (I didn’t have fresh, so I shook in dried until it started to taste right)
• salt
• pepper
• sugar (this cuts the acidity without the need to cook it down for hours)

Instructions:

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic, stirring for one minute. Add the tomato paste. Cook, stirring constantly, one minute. Add crushed tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes. Add spices. (I added the spices before the 10 minute simmer so that the dried basil would soften up).

People are partial to various spice combinations and sauce consistencies—preferring, say, oregano to basil; or maybe they like a thicker sauce. I’m partial to this one.

And the kids liked it, too. I recommend it, therefore, not only for its quick preparation and minimal ingredient requirements, but also for its flavor. Simple, but rich. And very satisfying.

The post Quick Marinara Sauce appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Back in August, I posted a photo of my make-do plastic bag dryer—a crock full of utensils on which I can hang the bags.

But I have yet another plastic bag dryer I can set up when we’re rinsing out a lot of bags all at once. I got this idea from a magazine like Better Homes and Garden or Real Simple. Can’t remember which. I keep all the wooden chopsticks from our Chinese takeout and pop those in the holes of a retired toothbrush holder.

Two or three sticks can fit in each hole, allowing for lots of bag-drying “racks.”This make-do set-up is kind of cute and very handy.

I almost donated the toothbrush holder to Goodwill. I’m glad I didn’t. When I saw this make-do solution, I was able to start using it right away.

This, along with the utensil crock dryer, allows us to get several uses from each bag.

For more make-do ideas, visit My Practically Perfect Life!

The post Make-Do Mondays: More Plastic Bag Drying appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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At Make-Do Mondays we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.

It’s a carnival celebrating creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. To participate, share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky. Enjoy others’ ideas by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking on people’s names.

Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts or check that yours worked, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page provided.

Make-Do Mondays Participants

Make-Do Mondays with Ann Shari

When I started Make-Do Mondays on December 29, 2008, I began, “In this fragile economy, I thought it might be informative (and a little entertaining) to share all the ways we’re making-do.”

And with that, I launched Make-Do Mondays: a carnival that I hoped would celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. I think it has—I hope it has! I hope readers and participants have enjoyed pondering how they can use what they’ve got on hand and sharing some of their clever solutions.

As the year progressed, I began to realize that I was running low on ideas and eventually concluded that I would not be able to sustain the role as host.

So last week I proposed letting someone else host Make-Do Mondays. If no one offered to take on the role as host, I was simply going to shut it down.

However.

Shari of My Practically Perfect Life stepped up to the plate! Make-Do Mondays lives on!

Shari is a veritable make-do guru. You might enjoy browsing her collection of make-do solutions here.

What this means is that I’ll pack up Make-Do Mondays into a duct-taped box and send it to its new home. This time next week I’ll provide the link to Shari’s first official post, where it will have been unpacked and arranged nicely in its new home base!

I’ll still be making-do, since that’s in my basic nature, and when I manage to put together a Make-Do Mondays post, you’ll know where to find me.

As a kind of book-end to my part in this, I thought I’d show you my make-do floss. Because the floss, you see—the broken floss container, that is—well, that’s what started it all.

Please don’t tell my dentist how much is left.

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The post Make-Do Mondays Migration appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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see below for alternative button

At Make-Do Mondays, we discuss how we’re simplifying, downsizing, repurposing, buying used, and using what we’ve got.It’s a carnival celebrating creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity. To participate, share your own make-do solution in the comments or write up a Make-Do Mondays post at your blog, then return here to link via Mr. Linky. Enjoy others’ ideas by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking on people’s names.Here’s a mini-tutorial on Mr. Linky:

Click on the icon and a separate page will pop up. Type in your blog name and paste in the url of your new Make-Do Mondays post. Click enter and it should be live. If it doesn’t work, just include the link in the comments.

To visit people’s posts or check that yours worked, click on Mr. Linky and when the page comes up, click on a name. You should be taken right to the page provided.

Make-Do Mondays with Ann

Birthdays are almost always make-do events for us.

As you may recall from Food on Fridays, my son wanted to offer several different desserts for his birthday party in lieu of cake.

So I made a humble pumpkin pie, which became the pie of honor.

The crust wasn’t very artistic, but it tasted fine.

I made a coffee cake, which we renamed “crumble cake.” This was for marketing purposes, because some family members wouldn’t touch a dessert if a speck of coffee could be found in it. But I started preparing it a little too late in the morning. I mixed and assembled it, but didn’t have time to bake it before we had to leave.

The cake was transported to my parent’s house in batter form inside a cooler. I baked it upon arrival, but the crumble topping had already sunk into the cake. The surface looked something like an anthill.

I’ve never made a berry pie before. I watched my sister-in-law make a berry tart one time, so instead of making a pie, I used this tart recipe and made one for the first time ever.

Again, it wasn’t spectacular, but it was okay.

I did my best to create per the requests of my little boy, and he was pleased.

In fact, he ate two pieces of pie.

As we were in the car driving to my parents’ house, I started to worry I’d forgotten something that he’d requested.

I reviewed our plans. “We have the pies and crumble cake, we have the gifts, we have swimsuits for swimming,” I said. “Are we forgetting anything for your birthday? Anything you had in mind?”

He paused for a moment, then replied, “We’re forgetting how great it is that Grandma and Grandpa are hosting this today! We’re forgetting the love!“

For all those who make-do on birthdays or any day, please … don’t forget the love.

How do you make do?

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The post Make-Do Mondays: Make-Do Birthdays appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome. Recipes are enjoyed, but you can write about your favorite international food or link to a canning video on YouTube.In other words, the Food on Fridays parameters are not at all narrow. I think of it as a virtual pitch-in where everyone brings something to share; even if the content of one item is unrelated to the rest, we sample it all anyway and have a great time.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or the new smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post and join us through Mr. Linky.Here’s a Mr. Linky tutorial:

Write up a post, publish, then return here and click on Mr. Linky below. A screen will pop up where you can type in your blog name and paste in the url to your own Food on Fridays post (give us the exact link to your Food on Fridays page, not just the link to your blog).You can also visit other people’s posts by clicking on Mr. Linky and then clicking participants’ names–you should be taken straight to their posts.Please note: I return when possible during the day and update this post by hand to include a list of the links provided via Mr. Linky. If I can’t get to the computer to do so, you may access them all by clicking on the Mister Linky logo.

Food on Fridays Participants

1. Premeditated Leftovers (broiled cherry tomatoes)
2. e-Mom (outrageous cupcake art)
3. Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker (home canned salsa)
4. At Home ‘N About (ham ‘n cola)
5. Feels Like Home (sandwich ideas)
6. Kitchen Stewardship (packing a reduced waste lunch)
7. Inside the White Picket Fence (fried ice cream)
8. Hoosier Homemade (freezing sweet corn)
9. Hoosier Homemade (blueberry cupcakes)
10. Cook with Sara (hot fudge sauce)
11. Finding Joy in my Kitchen (ratatouille)
12. Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free (simple oven-baked brown rice)
13. Twirl and Taste (Kennedy irish potato cakes)
14. Newlyweds! (sangria)
15. the Finer Things in Life (crescent taco bake)
16. Heart ‘N Soul Cooking (glazed pear shortcake)
17. A Welcoming Heart (Mexican pot roast)
18. Not the Jet Set (peach syrup)
19. Leftovers On Purpose (easy sausage & cheese balls)
20. Unfinished Mom (make your own yogurt)
21. Jean Stockdale (Watergate salad)
22. Frugal Homemaking (chicken chow mein)
23. Katrina’s Home (Anzac biscuits)
24. Gathering Manna (God speaks through fountain drinks)

Food on Fridays with AnnMy little boy is turning eight years old very soon.He’s been planning his birthday for months. His top concern? He wants all of the family members who are coming to have a very good time. He doesn’t want anyone to be left out of anything. He wants everyone to be happy.One of his cousins isn’t crazy about chocolate or cake, so the birthday boy has been trying to come up with a dessert that everyone will enjoy.He loved the coffee cake I made, so he wrote a letter to his eight-and-a-half-year-old cousin (even though he could have phoned or sent an e-mail) asking if that would be a good option. “Do you like coffee cake?” he asked.The cousin wrote back a cute note and added at the very bottom of page two, “p.s.s.s. I like pie.”The birthday boy was ecstatic. “Pie!” he exclaimed, waving the letter. “He said he likes pie!” Now the birthday boy is confident he can serve a dessert that will make his cousin happy. It’s a birthday wish come true—the potential for happiness all around at his party!He is so relieved! Now everyone can have something they enjoy!This means, however, that I have to make three different desserts.But, you know, he asks for so little.His biggest birthday hope is that everyone will be happy. If three different desserts can increase the odds of that happening, I’ll be honored to spend a few hours in the kitchen this weekend preparing some coffee cake and pies.The final dessert menu for his birthday party:

• Coffee cake: half with blueberries; half without (the birthday boy is not fond of blueberries)
• Pumpkin pie (the birthday boy’s favorite pie)
• Berry pie. I might make this blueberry pie, though I have a bag of frozen raspberries and could do a mixture. Thoughts? Advice? Winning recipes? What’s the happiest berry pie you’ve ever made?

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The post Food on Fridays: Happy Birthday Pies appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

I don’t want to lose that skill, that gift.Or if I have temporarily lost it because I have instead trained my eye on the time or the speedometer or the packed pages of my daily planner, I want to regain it.In spite of having physical eyes that function quite well, I am sometimes guilty of missing a lot—so much that I might as well be blind. I want to see both physical beauty and that which is beyond it; I want a glimpse of deeper realities. Though I’m blessed to have my physical eyesight, I long for more.Wouldn’t it be something to have the privilege given to Elisha’s servant, when Elisha prayed “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see” the reality of hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around to fight on their side? (2 Kings)But even if I never see chariots of fire, I don’t want to squander my everyday sight. I don’t want to blunder through my days like a blind woman.On busy, blurry days, I can feel like the blind man whose story is told in Luke 18. He called out to Jesus, “have mercy on me!”Jesus came near and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?””Lord,” he answered, “I want to see.” Lord, have mercy on me … I want to see. Yes. I, too, want to see! I don’t want to miss the good stuff, the real stuff, the hard stuff, the beauty, the life, the needs, the truth. I want to see all that I need to see.Jesus granted the blind man his sight.I pray He’ll grant sight to these eyes, as well; I turn to Him that I might have eyes that see.And as I start to look around, I’ll start small.Pausing, I’ll give something my full attention.A butterfly.A seed pod.A metaphor.A turn of phrase in the last line of a poem.A friend on the phone.A sculpture.A blob of oil paint on canvas.A daughter walking hand-in-hand with me to the park.A sunflower bobbing over the fence.I don’t mean to simplify something subtle and spiritual by being overly practical, but when I launched a series at NotSoFastBook.com about how to practice “seeing,” I offered art as an entree.It’s a little lesson in seeing.Seeing is much more than learning to appreciate shadow, shape, and color on canvas.But it can slow us down and remind us that there is much more than meets the eye.

Don’t miss a word: It’s easy to subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.

Visit NotSoFastBook.com to learn more about Ann’s new book.

The post Learning to See appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.