This week for the Writers Workshop there were two prompts that I wanted to write about so I figured that I would just write about one today and the other one on Thursday. Right now I am going to write about the latest thing that my cat has destroyed. I am sure most of you know that Elinore was abused before I got adopted her so she tends to have weird quirks.
This is Elinore
After I had her for about 6 months I got Sylvia and then all of my flip-flops started to look like one of them was clawing them. For the longest time I thought it was Sylvia because she is the one who has front claws and I didn’t see how Elinore be able to do that to them since she has no front claws.
After I moved back in with my grandparents my grandma finally caught the cat that was literally destroying any flip-flops that she could find which also included ones that my grandpa kept in his closet. It was Elinore!!!!!!!!!!!!! She bites them and then pulls parts of the foam off. If she find any flip-flops that are on the ground she will chew them up and destroy them. I can’t even begin to tell you how many pairs I have had to replace because she destroys them.
Here are a few pictures of a few that we just leave on the ground for her to destroy.
So as you can see she loves to chew them up. I find she mainly does it when she is mad at me for some reason or if she got in trouble. I have started just buying them when they are super cheap at the end of summer and giving them to her. I find that she likes her old purple on the best and I can always tell when she has been chewing on it because there will be little pieces of purple all over the place in my room.
I haven’t posted a song on Mondays for a long time but I have wanted to post a song by Green Day and I figured that I would post it this week. I am sure some of you know that I love music. I literally always have music playing and I can’t ever get enough of it. I listen to pretty much anything and the past few weeks I have been loving “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. This is my favorite part of the song:
I love this song because the lyrics that I have listed up above is so how I feel a lot of the time. I know that I am on the one responsible for the reasons I am alone. Most days I am okay with this but there are days where it does get lonely and today is one of those days.
I really loved this story. It was a super quick read and it only took me a few hours to finish it. I loved the characters and where it took place. The author did a great job at making me believe I was there and going through what they were going through. I am glad that it all worked out in the end. I am for sure going to be checking more books for this author out.
About The Book
Ally Kincaid returns to Freewill, Wyoming, to see her father after a two year absence. Anticipating a quiet family reunion, she finds herself butting heads with her father’s foreman instead. The man’s arrogance and sexy drawl push all her buttons, making her wonder what he’s hiding beneath his cowboy swagger.
Matt Gentry walked away from the past and shies from the future. No ties means no one gets hurt…until the boss’s daughter, a hot, green-eyed blonde, tempts him to break his own rules.
When tragedy strikes, will building tension and pride destroy their growing attraction or show them the way home?
Warning: This title is intended for readers over the age of 18 as it contains adult sexual situations and/or adult language which may be considered offensive to some readers.
About The Author
Born and raised in Northern Indiana, Krista now resides in Northern Lower Michigan. She is married to a very supportive man, Chip, who allows her to follow her true passion of writing and never complains when she is pirated away on her computer for hours. He even helps with proof-reading and is her “in-house” editor and her idea sounding board. She is also a mother of 4 ornery children who keep her plenty busy. With an addition of 2 beautiful chocolate lab sisters and 2 playful cats, there is never a dull or spare moment in her household.
Krista has always loved to read and would often sit up for hours into the night not able to put down a book until she was finished. She still reads when she can but her main focus is creating her own stories to share with the world.
I am sure some of you know that I love to watch YouTube videos and every month most of them do videos listing their month favorites. This week for the writers workshop one of the prompts was to list my March favorites and I thought it would be fun to show everyone the products I loved and used a ton in March.
First I have loved my Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. I am sure most of you know that I love to read books and I review a ton of them here on my blog. I love to read actual books because I am one of the weird people who loves the smell of books but there are times where it is easier to just throw my nook in my purse and run out the door.
The second thing I have been loving is my iPhone 5. I got this at the end of January I believe and I love it. For those who may not know I love all Apple products so it is surprising that this is the first time I have ever had an iPhone. I am happy with it but I still do miss my Blackberry but for now I will stick with the iPhone.
I also have been loving my iPod Touch. My laptop died in February so I lost all of my music but because I have the iPod I will have music until I can afford a new laptop.
Another favorite of mine for the past few months is a singing group from Ireland called Celtic Thunder. I own all of their CD’s and I also own most of their DVD’s. I first heard them a few years ago and just started really listening to them in the past 6 months or so.
Those are just a few of the things that I loved in the month of March. What did you love last month?
Hi! My name is Amanda and I am an American who has been living, writing, and cooking in China for nearly three years. China’s favored dish, the dumpling (or jiaozi in Chinese), can be found on every street corner, in every restaurant, and in every kitchen in China, but they are all pretty much prepared the same way: a bit of meat, some garlic and ginger, and a bit of vegetables if you’re lucky. Even a visit to the freezer section at any grocery store displays hundreds of packages of dumplings that all look and taste the same.
But the dumpling is so versatile! Have you ever tried stuffing a dumpling with chicken? Refried beans? Cheesecake filling? No? Hardly anyone has! My cookbook, Crazy Dumplings, takes this simple staple food and prepares it in ways you never thought possible! From buffalo chicken dumplings to pizza dumplings to apple pie dumplings, a world of foods is available to you in an easy dumpling wrapper with Crazy Dumplings.
EXCERPT/SAMPLE
Basic Dumpling Wrapper
3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup boiling water
Dash of salt
Flour for dusting
1) Mix flour and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2) Drizzle in water, mixing with a chopstick or fork.
3) Leave in bowl, covered with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.
4) Gather dough up into a ball and kneed on counter for a minute or two (until the dough is smooth)
5) Pinch off small portion of dough and roll into a ball (about 1 inch in diameter). Roll out into a flat circle on the counter, dusting with flour to keep dough from sticking.
6) Put small amount of preferred dumpling stuffing mixture into the middle of the flat dumpling wrapper. Pinch the dumpling closed.
7) Cook dumplings.
a. To fry dumpling, preheat oil for 30 second then lower heat. Cook dumpling on each side for only about one minute or until golden brown.
b. To steam dumplings, place in a steamer or on an elevated plate in a wok over water for about 10 minutes.
c. To boil dumplings, place in boiling water for about 5 minutes.
8) Always cut a dumpling open to make sure it cooked through.
1. Mix ground meat, shredded cheese, spices, and cilantro together in mixing bowl.
2. Spoon mixture into dumpling wrappers.
3. Fry dumplings for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown (be sure to open one to make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked).
4. Serve hot with sauces for dipping.
Guacamole
2 avocados
1 small tomato, finely chopped
¼ of an onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, pressed
a few sprigs of cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime or lemon, halved
Dash of salt
1) With a spoon remove the avocado meat from the rind and remove the seeds. Mash the avocado meat with a spoon and fork.
2) Mix in tomato, onion, garlic, and cilantro
3) Squeeze in lemon juice (watch out for seeds!)
4) Add salt to taste
5) Enjoy!
About the Author
Amanda Roberts received her master’s degree in English from the University of Central Missouri in 2009. In 2010, she and her husband moved to rural Hunan, China to teach English. Amanda has been
chronicling their adventures on her blog Two Americans in China for nearly 3 years.
One of her biggest obstacles to overcome was learning how to cook all over again. She discovered that this is a major frustration for most expats living abroad. Crazy Dumplings is her first book in what will hopefully become a full line of cookbooks for expats and people living at home who want to learn fun and more natural ways of cooking.
This week for the Writers Workshop there were two prompts that I wanted to write about so I figured that I would just write about one today and the other one on Thursday. Right now I am going to write about the latest thing that my cat has destroyed. I am sure most of you know that Elinore was abused before I got adopted her so she tends to have weird quirks.
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