Thursday, March 27, 2014

WOOOHOOOO!

Yesterday I finished writing my book! It's ten chapters long with an epilogue. I'm really excited about it. There is still work to be done on it, like editing and things like that. Writing the book was just the first step. I didn't start working on my original recipe or my Easter dress, but it was worth it because I finished my book!

Today after school I will start with the editing. I find that editing things is sometimes harder than actually writing them, because I tend to overlook small errors and grammactical issues. Also, I still haven't come up with a name for the book. I have a couple in mind, but I can't decide.

I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I just can't help thinking about what would happen if my book gets published. My dream is that I will get a bunch of money from the book so I can open my teashop. Then I can write more books for people to read while they drink tea in my teashop! This is just all so exciting!

I think that this calls for a celebratory mug of tea!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

What do you get when you mix school with cooking, sewing, and writing a book?

My very busy schedule.

Today I have to do a full day of school, start working on my own original recipe (which I will post as soon as I perfect it!) and get going on sewing my Easter dress. Aaaah! Also, I am getting seriously close to finishing my novel. I've been writing so much these past few days that I have this inky taste in my mouth that won't go away. So far, I have finished nine chapters of my book, which rounds out to a nice even fifty pages. Whoop whoop! That may not sound like much, but I've been writing all this on my typewriter, which means it's single spaced on both sides of the paper.

I'm just a bit proud!  Can you tell?

As soon as my book gets published (cross your fingers!) I will tell you guys all about it!! Writing the book has been surprisingly easy. Whenever I've read thick books I always thought, "Wow! So much hard work and concentration must have gone into this!" But now, after writing a book longer than eight pages, I can seriously respect everything that goes into writing a book. Hats off to any authors in the audience! Whenever I am writing something exciting going on in my story, I always get caught up into it such that I find myself with cramped fingers, a little sweaty, and slightly out of breath. I hope my future readers will enjoy my book!

This book has me very excited, and I am serious when I say it is literally the best thing I've ever written. I've started other stories with intentions to make them into big long books that get published, but I've never followed through with them. It feels so good to be doing this!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

It's the fifth day of spring and it's SNOWING. This does not make me happy.

I'm in the home stretch of finishing my book, but since Spring Break is over, I can't spend entire days at my desk writing like I did last week. I'm almost twitching to get back to work, but I have to do school so I can, you know, finish fifth grade. You could say I'm going through Writing Withdrawal. (Is that a thing...?)

This week I will probably be spending more time at the sewing machine than the typewriter. I have a bunch of fabric for pillows in my room that I need to make, and also I need to start working on my Easter dress. I usually don't like wearing dresses and things like that, but I make an exception for Easter and sometimes Christmas. This year my Easter dress will be really geometric and modern. I found some cool green, navy blue, and white fabric on sale at JoAnn's that I had no idea how to use but I just couldn't live without it, so we decided to make a dress out of it. Let's hope it turns out well; I don't have much sewing experience.

Since it's so cold and nasty out, I thought I'd share a warm, creamy recipe.

World's Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

-1 pound elbow macaroni
-Milk
-4 to 5 slices American cheese
-shredded Colby Jack cheese

Directions

Fill a saucepan with water. Bring water to a boil. When the water is boiling, dump in the macaroni. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain macaroni, set aside. In your saucepan, pour enough milk to thinly cover the bottom of the pan. Put in cheese slices. Stir until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Pour in hot macaroni and stir to coat macaroni with cheesy mixture. Sprinkle shredded Colby Jack cheese on top and serve.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Spring Break is officially over and my Read-athon was a huge success! I checked out nine books and read seven of them. I had hoped that I would finish all of them, but since I'm working like crazy to write my own book I think my accomplishments are nothing to sneeze at.

My book is coming along fabulously, and I am very excited about it. I seriously think that this one has a good chance to be published. There's one problem though: I don't have a publisher. I've been doing a lot of research, but this is all still so new. Does anyone know anything at all about the publishing world? If so, please tell me!!

Another thing coming up that is super exciting is that I am working on making a new page on here for all the recipes I post! It's still being worked on so the new page will be up and running soon.

I hope you all are enjoying my blog, because I love coming on here and writing!

Thursday, March 20, 2014- The first day of spring!

Finally! Today is officially the first day of spring, and it's about time!! We had been slammed by several several several annoying winter storms. And let me tell you this: snow is fun... the first time. After the holidays, a foot of snow and negative temps are not magical anymore.

I am welcoming the new season by opening the windows, wearing springy earrings and clothes, just plain enjoying fifty degree weather. I will defintily be taking my Spring Break Reading Marathon outside today!

Spring has always been my favorite season; I like warm weather but I don't like it too hot. Spring is like a happy medium. Also, spring fashions are always fabulous! I just love all the flowy scarves and flowery designs.

To honor the badly needed arrival of spring, I'm going to post some wonderful springy recipes today that use foods from our garden. Freshly grown foods from right outside your kitchen make everything taste better, don't you think?

Berry Fresh Strawberry Pasta Salad

I've mentioned before that pasta is my weakness, so this recipe tops the charts for fruity sweetness and the savory-ness of pasta. It's one of my favorites, and especially handy when your strawberry bushes go crazy during the summer and you're up to your ears in strawberries. (That's what happened to us last year!)

Ingredients:

-1/2 pound cooked bow tie pasta, drained and rinsed with cold water
-1/4 cup chopped walnuts
-1 cup fresh sliced strawberries
- 2 cups Brianna's Home Style Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing (has a picture of a strawberry on the front)
-1/3 cup Romano, Asiago, and Parmesan cheese blend

Directions:

Mix together ingredients in a large bowl. Refridgerate until needed. Refridgerate any leftovers. Enjoy!


Super Duper Delicious Green Beans

This recipe is a creation of my mom's, combining our love of green beans, oregano, and garlic. Wonderful with freshly picked herbs!

Ingredients:

-1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut
-1 teaspoon oregano
-1 teaspoon garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon bacon grease
-pepper, to taste
-1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
-1/2 cup onion, diced

Directions:

Melt the bacon grease in a warm skillet. Add the pepper and onion. Saute for about a minute. Add garlic. Saute for another minute. Add green beans and stir to coat. Add oregano. Add chicken broth. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover skillet and simmer until beans are to your liking of tenderness. (15-20 minutes.) Add pepper to taste and serve!

Enjoy these great recipes and the lovely spring day!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

It's halfway through my Great Spring Break Reading Marathon and I have already read five thick books. I hope that nine books I checked out from the library will last me through the week!

Speaking of books, how are you all doing on our March book? So far I am loving it! It's about the middle of the month, so write in and tell me what you think of the book! Here are some things you can write about:

What chapter are you on?

Who is your favorite character?

Do you like Ms. Meehan's writing style?

What do you think will happen in the story?

I look forward to hearing from you, so please write in!!!

Along with my reading marathon, we are redoing my room during the week that we have off from school. My room has been painted the most perfect light aqua color, and we will be painting baseboards and doors white today. (We need to repaint the doors and baseboards because they are all scratched up from posters and furniture.) 

This picture makes the paint look more greenish than it actually is because of weird lighting, but I'm still excited!

Since my room is torn apart, I am currently "living" in our game room, which is stacked full with furniture!

I have a big announcement to make: I am writing my first novel! I'm very excited about it, and I've already typed up eighteen pages, front and back, on my typewriter. (Yes, I have a typewriter. What can I say? They're cool!) Those eighteen pages make the first three chapters, and I am positively bursting with more ideas! I've never been published before, and I'm going to be honest, I have no clue what I'm doing. Does anyone have helpful hints about how to get published??? 

Since I'm so motivated about writing my novel now, I am hoping that I will at least have the rough draft written out by the end of the year. That means that after writing a book that I'm hoping will be at least a hundred pages, I have to edit it, type it up on something besides my typewriter, send it in to a publisher...  and who knows what from then. This is going to take longer than I thought.

Ash Wednesday recipe

Hi! Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent for Christians. Today and Fridays during Lent my family doesn't eat meat, so I'm posting a great meatless recipe that is full of flavor and delicious!

Tuna Pasta Salad 

Mom and I thought up this super healthy recipe. We don't use measurements, so I'll just list the ingredients and you can add amounts to taste.

Here are the ingredients:

Red Pepper
Peas
Carrots
Canned Cannellini Beans, rinsed
Packet of Tuna
Black Pepper
Canned Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Shredded Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano Cheese Blend
Olive Oil
Cooked Pasta, drained and rinsed with cold water

Mix ingredients and enjoy! Refrigerate any leftovers.

Bon Appétit!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

It's officially March. That means only a couple weeks until spring. It almost seems unreal. Last week, we had a couple warm days. I wore shorts outside, and now I wonder if that will ever happen again. On Monday, we are expecting more snow. MORE SNOW. I'm past being done with winter, in fact, I'm flat out ANGRY with it.

On the bright side, Spring Break is coming up in a couple weeks. Spring Break is big for my family; it's the one time of year that we go on vacation.  This year could be different, though. My sister is taking a camping trip to Florida with one of her religious social groups for a whole week. Seven days relaxing on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and enjoying WARMTH. I'm not jealous. Really. (Okay, I'm crazy jealous.) Mom, Dad, and I haven't planned to do anything, but I'm more okay with it than I thought I would be. 

The best part about Spring Break is a tradition that I honor every year. Wether we cram into the car and travel or stay at home, I always spend Spring Break with my nose in a book. (It's usually more like multiple books, though, because I'm a fast reader and can easily read three to four three-hundred page books in the week that we get off.) The reason I choose Spring Break for my annual read-athon is that after the long winter, I crave new books to read. During the winter, we don't like checking things out from the library because of all the nasty cold and flu germs. By Spring Break, I'm usually all but twitching from new book deprivation. This year, though, I'm having trouble deciding on what to read. Anyone have suggestions?

If you're like me and you love a good book, then I have a treat for you! Introducing the Homeschooled Hoosier Online Book Club! Every month, I'll recommend a book. At the end of the month, I'll give a review of the book that we've read. Since today is March 1, I'll go ahead and announce this month's book.

March's Book: Hannah's Winter by Kierin Meehan

I chose this book because I find the Japanese culture very interesting, and also to honor our seemingly never-ending winter.  It's about a girl named Hannah who is in Japan staying with the family of her mother's friend. She and her new-found friends discover an ancient message, which leads to spectacular adventure and mystery! 

Curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy!