To Dream or Not to Dream

One of the questions I’m often asked when I give a talk is whether my ideas come to me during dreams. The answer I give is pretty straight forward.

No.

I get ideas in the shower, in the car, the radio, conversations, etc. But never from dreams I’ve had while I’m sleeping. I can say this with certainty because I’m one of those people who rarely dream. Or, if I do, I don’t remember them.

Sure, I’ll have the occasional Uh-Oh-I-Forgot-I-Had-That-Class-This-Semester dream (why, I have no idea because I never missed classes), but, other than that, nothing worthy of incorporating into a novel.

So tell me, are you a dreamer at night? Do you remember them in the morning? Any odd reoccuring dreams like my missing-a-class-all-semester dream you care to share?

~Elizabeth

Woo, and a HOO

I’m heading down to Lititz, PA for a talk/book signing with Dear Daughter #2 this evening. In addition to just being there together, I get to truly relax knowing I just turned in Book # 7 (the Christmas book). Woo-hoo!!!

And, for the  next few weeks, I’ll be catching up on all the other aspects of my life that tend to fall by the side when I’m on deadline (which I’ve been on for a continuous basis for the past 3 1/2 years). I’ll be back in the saddle writing full-time after December 1st, but for now…

Woo. Hoo.

Woo. Hoo.

Woo. Hoo.

~Elizabeth

**Pssst… I’ll still be blogging.

Happy Halloween

So, Mother Nature decided to get in on the whole “Trick or Treat” aspect of Halloween this year and served up a few not-so-nice tricks at my house.

That said, I’m in need of a few treats. Like hearing what was a) the best halloween costume you’ve ever seen (whether you wore it or not) and b) the weirdest/wildest costume you’ve ever seen…

Anyone?

                                                  ~Elizabeth

Do As the Canadians Do

Last week, while expressing a hankering for Thanksgiving-type foods on my Facebook page, a Canadian fan pointed out that their Thanksgiving was right around the corner.

Curious, I did a quick search and discovered that Canada’s Thanksgiving is today. So, since this year’s actual Thanksgiving holiday is going to have my family going off in several different directions, I figured we’d have ours along with the Canadians.

On the menu tonight? Homemade mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, homemade bread (yum, yum), cranberry sauce, white corn, and of course…turkey. And when that’s all done, some gooey butter cake. 

I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Anyway, let me be the first to say, Happy Thanksgiving!!! Among the many things I’m thankful for this year, I can’t forget all of you–readers-turned-friends who are helping me realize my lifelong dream of being an author. Thank you!

~Elizabeth

Scarecrow Making 101

Over the weekend, my daughters and I took a scarecrow-making workshop. We brought the shirt and pants, and the farm supplied the post, the hay, and the rest of the supplies. When we were done, we brought home the 2011 addition to our Halloween decoration collection.

But before I show you the finished product, I’ll show you a few shots along the way…

  Here’s Dear Daughter # 1 and Dear Daughter # 2 with our work in progress. At this point, we’d stuffed his head and were working on stuffing his pants. We brought along a pair of capris, which makes him look a bit squatty, but it worked. 

On your right, this qualifies as an inspection of our scarecrow’s arms and the realization that if we don’t stuff them, he’s going to be a laughingstock in the scarecrow world.

Sooooo…

We must stuff, right?

  First we tried it while he was standing. But we soon discovered that he did better when sprawled out on the tarp… 

And then it was on to designing his face.

We knew we wanted something sweet and fun. Our preferred decorations are the kind that induce smiles not fear.

 The farm had a few Yankees hats for the taking. And, since we’re not Yankees fans, we opted to cover it over with a pumpkin instead!  

And, voila, we have our scarecrow. His name is Chuckles. Chuckles The Scarecrow.

So what do you think?

~Elizabeth

Snapshots

Wanna see some pictures?

 This first picture (on your left) is a chipmunk just after he scurried up a plant in an effort to hide from Angus (the 28-toed cat). You see, Angus is the personal critter ferry in our neighborhood. He scoops up chipmunks, mice, and frogs in his mouth and carries them to various points around the yard. When he gets them to wherever it is he’s determined to take them, he drops them. And, nine times out of ten, they get up and run away. This particular chipmunk didn’t necessarily want a round-trip back to where he came, so, instead, he picked a plant to climb while he waited for Angus to get bored or distracted (doesn’t take long, trust me).  Here’s another view on your right…

Next, comes a quick peek at one of my favorite things to do–decorate for the holiday/seasons. I’ve been assembling this collection for a number of years and it’s just one of those things that makes me happy.

Dear Daughter # 2 and I found this little pilgrim (on your left) at K-mart last week…isn’t he really cute? He’s got a really happy little face. 

As for the turkey, he was just too fun to resist when I stumbled across him last year.  The Autumn-colored candle has gotten a little warped this past year (we have a very hot attic) but it’s hanging tough! 

And see the “candy corn” table runner on the table to your right? That was made for me by one of my readers. Isn’t that really cool?  And while the framed photographs on the left hand side of the table may be too small to see in this picture, one is of Dear Daughter # 1 on her second Halloween (wearing a Halloween outfit I decorated) and one is of Dear Daughter #2 on her second Halloween (also wearing a little Halloween sweatshirt I made for her).

That’s it for pictures for now.

As for decorating, I’m hoping to locate a box with a few more Autumn favorites inside before I call it a day. Worse case, there will be a full sized scarecrow sitting in the middle of our yard by the week’s end (we’re taking a scarecrow-making workshop next Saturday morning). 

Have you started decorating for Autumn  yet?

~Elizabeth

One For The Memory Books

This past weekend, Dear Daughter # 1 and I spent the weekend in New York City. I didn’t bring my computer, she didn’t bring any of her gadgets. It was just a weekend for the two of us to be together.

And what an amazing time we had.

I started building up to this weekend back in January by giving her a new one-word clue on the first of every month. Her clue-trail was nine words, taking us to September. Once she received all nine clues, she knew what we were doing (or, rather, where we were going).

Her final clues:  How about we spend a weekend in the city?

I picked the city for DD # 1 because it’s right up her alley with the shows and the people and the busy-ness.

We kicked off our Friday evening with dinner at a small Japanese restaurant on the upper west side before heading down to the Times Square area to take in the Broadway show, ANYTHING GOES. The show was super fun and Sutton Foster (the lead) was fantastic. And the dancing? Wow. This show, without a doubt, goes on my list of Broadway favorites!

Saturday morning we had breakfast at a little french pastry shop across the street from where we were staying and then walked 30 blocks south to see our second (and final) show of the weekend–HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). This was a great show too! Radcliffe did an awesome job in the lead role alongside John Laroquette and Michael Park. Wow. When the show was over, we walked three blocks over and 30 blocks north back to our place–passing tons of police officers from all over the country who were in the city to honor the 9/11 anniversary.  We shopped along the way and then hunkered down for an evening of Glee episodes (I had to get caught up) and Ben & Jerry’s (I had Karamel Sutra–Oh. My. Gosh.).

Sunday was breakfast at a tea house and a walk in Central Park–stopping to see the sea lions and the polar bear in the Central Park Zoo. We even got to watch (with me giggling the whole time) as a baby sea lion was trained!!

And by the time we headed home last night, our weekend had officially moved into one of my I’m-so-glad-I-took-the-time-to-do-this-with-her mom moments (of which I’m pleased to say I have many).

Next up? DD # 2 (who has received her 9th clue and has a few more to collect).

So tell me, what’s a memory you hold dear with a parent or a special family member?

~Elizabeth

Dream On

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.”
~Les Brown

Saturday night, I took Dear Daughter #2 and my step daughter to see Selena Gomez in concert. In the interest of finances, I purchased lawn tickets and we packed a blanket and some chairs for the occasion.

We get to the event an hour early (no traffic–shocking) only to find we had to stand on a line for almost 45 minutes. When we got to the front, we were told a) no chairs  b) no blankets and c) go stand in another line to check your blanket and chairs so it’ll still be here when the concert is over.

As you can imagine, I’m thinking I might have made a mistake with the whole concert idea at about this point in the evening.

We go inside, buy our souvenirs (DD2 picked her first-ever concert T’shirt and SD picked a poster/program book), and then head to the lawn to find it’s packed. And by packed, I mean PACKED.

I secure a place dead center at the very top of the hill just as the main act (aka Selena) is starting. Lights go out, music starts, and Selena Gomez takes the stage.

And, inside of about two seconds, any residual irritation over the chairs and blanket (we never would have used them anyway) was all gone…

They squealed.
They (okay, we) bopped around.
They smiled HUGE face-splitting smiles.
And they had the kind of night that makes little girls talk non-stop during a 2 hour car ride home.

It was, without a doubt, worth every penny to take them to their first-ever concert under a beautiful August night sky.

But perhaps the best part of all was when Selena Gomez told a little story about HER first concert. She was 11. She went with her mom and her cousin, Priscilla. She was in the nosebleeds (a.k.a. our spot on the lawn). And she was seeing Brittany Spears.

Only that night, a dream began for Selena Gomez–one that that DD2 and SD saw played out on a stage some seven years later. Watching them, as they listened to that story and connected the dots, was priceless. So, too, was the teaching moment it gave me during the walk back to the car–you know, the one about dreams taking you to amazing places as long as you’re willing to work at it.

Pretty cool, huh? 

Which brings me back to the quote I used to start this post. Those words are written across a very cool bookmark my RWA chapter gave me Saturday morning as a “congratulations” for securing a contract for my 20th book.  So yeah, I’m a firm believer in the power of a kids’ dream–whether you make it sitting in the nosebleeds of some concert hall or sitting at a table with a stack of paper in front of you and a story to tell…

Dream on!

~Elizabeth

A Pooh For All Ages

Friday night, my girls and I went off to see the new Pooh movie. The day we heard of its upcoming release, we knew it was a movie we absolutely could not miss.   

You see, both of my girls were raised on Winnie the Pooh. In fact, they’d virtually memorized A. A. Milne’s map of the Hundred Acre Wood by the time each of them was three. Before any Pooh story could be read, we had to point at all of the important places–Eeyore’s Gloomy Place, Pooh’s thinking Spot, Owl’s House, Rabbit’s Garden, etc. And when we were done reading, we’d study (and discuss) the map all over again.

So, it was a wonderful surprise when the latest Pooh tale to hit the big screen, started off with that very map. We sat back and laughed (and, at times, cried–happily) our way through the movie. It was funny, sweet, innocent, and void of all the inappropriate innuendos that seem to be synonomous with “kid” movies these days.

And even more refreshing was the demographic in the movie theater itself. The theater was packed…yet, if I had to guess, I’d say there were no more than 12-15 kids under the age of ten. The majority of Pooh-watchers were adults (without kids) and teenagers (without parents). To see Pooh.

If you  haven’t seen it, you should.

Thanks, Disney. I couldn’t imagine a more special evening with my daughters.

~Elizabeth

Summer Fun

I’ve always been a fan of summer. I like the freedom that seems to come with longer days and nicer weather. And the last few days have served to underscore my love for this time of year…

I went hiking along Kent Falls in Kent, CT with My Special Guy. The view was spectacular and the hike great for the old legs!

I went to the New York Aquarium and got to see the sweetest little sea otter. He just swam around on his little back looking like his life was the greatest life ever! And when the keeper opened the door signaling it was time for him to come in, he took a few extra laps in his little pool for good measure before climbing out. Soo cute!

And then, after realizing my “white” car wasn’t looking so “white” anymore, I grabbed hold of a bucket and a sponge and washed my car from top to bottom. And when I was all done, I turned the hose upward and let the water cascade down all over me!  It’s been entirely too long since I’ve done that and I dare say I won’t wait so long to do it again!

So what kind of fun things have you done so far this summer?

~Elizabeth