Foto Friday

I'm starting a new feature on my blog. Every Friday I will post a random photo from my camera just because I think I don't post enough pictures on here.

This is a picture I took when I went to Utah last March. It is at a Seagull Book Store. My books (Reasonable Doubt and the pink one next to it) are on the bottom left right under New Moon.

My books--right under Stephenie Meyer's books! Lucky both our last names start with the letter M. I only have a few things in common with Stephenie Meyer. We both graduated from BYU, we both have 3 sons, and are both writers. That's all. There are tens of millions of things we don't have in common.

Thanksgiving, Pt 3

Everything I know about Thanksgiving, I learned from Peppermint Patty. Okay, not really, but she gives a pretty good speech regarding what kind of food is necessary for Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite shows of all time is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. After Peppermint Patty invites herself & others to Charlie Brown's house for Thanksgiving, he does his best to throw together a feast for them. With the help of a friend, a dog, and a bird, they prepare a feast of ice cream, popcorn, pretzels, and toast.

In her now famous speech, Peppermint Patty rants about why that food sucks and tells them what they should be having. "What kind of Thanksgiving dinner is this? Where's the turkey? Where's the mashed potatoes? Where's the cranberry sauce? Where's the pumpkin pie?"

Check, Check, Check, and Check. In case you're wondering, my turkey turned out fine. Thanks to Danyelle Ferguson for her yummy recipe, thanks to Tina for the suggestion to use a bag, and thanks to Jason & Annette for their suggestion in cooking it upside down. I have to say that it took me a minute to figure out which side was upside down. That's how lame I am. And nasty for all those little packets inside. Putting my hand inside a turkey is not very pleasant. In the end, it was an okay experience except for all that creepy juice that leaked out of the aluminum pan and out of the oven, and consequently onto the kitchen floor.

Thanksgiving, Pt 2

When I was a freshman in college, I went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving since I was away from home. One of her friends told me that her family was going to a movie on Thanksgiving. I thought, a movie? On Thanksgiving? I thought everything was closed on Thanksgiving. I had never heard of people going to movies on Thanksgiving. It was a very foreign concept. She explained that her family always went to a movie on Thanksgiving Day and on Christmas Day. On Christmas?

Well, since that day, I've thought it was a cool concept to go to a movie, together as a family, on Thanksgiving Day.















This Thanksgiving, we took the kids to see Bolt. It was a very fun time. It was quite action-packed for a kids movie, and it was also funny. It appealed to everyone in the family. That is a tradition that I'd like to continue with my family. Christmas? I don't know about that.

Hanging' In San Antonio

Since the kids have the whole week off from school, I took them to San Antonio to hang with my parents. We stopped at a Red Box and rented Wall E for them to watch on the portable DVD player in the car while I listend to a book on tape--Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama.


They were so good on the trip there, not one complaint during the 2.5 hour trip. We drove straight through; thank goodness no one had to go to the bathroom. It was fun to just relax at my parents', and then we took them to the park. The weather is amazing in the 60s and 70s. They were so nice to watch the kids while I went to see Twilight with some friends. On Tuesday, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and then met up with some friends at the park. Another beautiful day.


My parents watched the kids again on Tuesday night when I met some friends for ice cream and again Wednesday morning when I went to the temple. They watched them a lot, and I kind of felt bad, but they haven't seen the kids in a few weeks and probably won't see them until Christmastime, so it was a good time for them to hang together.

It was fun to see friends and hang with my folks. The kids were so good on the trip home too. I can't complain about anything.

Thanksgiving & A Contest

This year, we're having a nice, quiet Thanksgiving and I'm doing all the cooking. That's very different for me. I've never made a turkey before. This is my first attempt. Luckily, it will be just for my immediate family.

Thanksgiving in my life has been a transitional event. Keep in mind that both of my parents were born in Guatemala and didn't celebrate Thanksgiving until they moved to the U.S. in their twenties. It was a brand new event for them and through the years, it has evolved for my family as we try to get it "just right."

I remember when I was in fourth grade, a friend from school asked me what we had for Thanksgiving dinner and I told her we had turkey, rice, and salad. She was like, that's all? That's what you had. I said sure; I didn't know what "you were supposed to have." What is stuffing? Cranberries? What the heck is pumpkin pie? As the years passed, we began adopting more traditional food into our Thanksgiving dinners. I now love stuffing; it's my favorite Thanksgiving food. Little by little, our family has picked up on all those important facets of the holiday. (Minus the year when our huge, extended family rented out a hall to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Sure, we had all the traditional food, but also some tamales and rice. And, then there was the huge sound system they set up for dancing. It was a regular dance party with all kind of Latin music. That year was a little weird, especially for my husband and his friend who joined us that year.)

So, we'll see how it goes this year. Any good suggestions for my first turkey?


Also, on The Ink Ladies Blog to which I contribute once a week, Elodia Strain is doing a contest. You can win a $20 Barnes & Noble Gift Card for just commenting on some of your favorite things. Go check it out for a chance to win!

Grey's Anatomy & Asperger's

On tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy, a new character was introduced. Actress Mary McDonnell will be playing Dr. Virginia Dixon who has Asperger's Syndrome. I had not heard about this new character prior to watching the show, and was surprised when she was introduced. I knew within a minute of her introduction that she had Asperger's. The portrayal was a little too obvious and a bit over the top, but not in a bad way. I think they were just trying to portray the character with stereotypical Asperger's traits so that she would be believable. The traits they are emphasizing are: lack of eye contact, spouting of factual, memorized information, underdeveloped social skills, inability to filter conversation, emphasis on rules. Some people with Asperger's have some of those traits, but not always. Although the portrayal of this character is a little stereotypical, I'm glad to see Grey's Anatomy's attempt at bringing someone with Asperger's on the show.

I think it's great that they are portraying a character with Asperger's Syndrome because you don't see that very often on television. Asperger's Syndrome is still somewhat unknown, and it needs to be depicted in mainstream so it can be understood better. I hope to see characters, such as Dr. Dixon, portrayed more frequently and in a little less stereotypical fashion. This is, however, a great beginning.

Here's a YouTube video of an interview with Mary McDonell and a few clips of Dr. Dixon.

Whitney Awards Auction

Last year, I attended the first annual Whitney Awards, an awards program for LDS Fiction. It was a wonderful night and great to be present at the awards ceremony. The Whitney Awards Academy is sponsoring a benefit auction to promote excellence in literature by LDS authors. You can go here to browse the categories of items up for auction. There are signed books, services, and much more. I've already bid on one item and am waiting to see if I win. Also, if you've read an LDS/Mormon novel and would like to nominate a book, go to the Whitney Awards website.

Fool Me Twice

Here is my first review for the Fall Reading Challenge I am doing.

Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black was a suspenseful ride. Megan and Kristen are twin sisters. Megan is the nice, compassionate one, and Kristen is the greedy, self-centered one. Megan takes care of her needy widowed-mother, putting off college while working two jobs. Kristen stays as far away from them as she seeks the easy way out of things.

Megan, eager to please her sister, agrees to a scheme that Kristen arranged as a way to easy money. All Megan has to do is pretend to be Kristen and take care of a long-lost great-aunt that is on her dying bed. Kristen tells Megan that Aunt Evelyn will leave her money when she dies.

Reluctantly and uneasily, Megan agrees to Kristen's scheme. Soon, she finds that some of what Kristen told her is untrue, but maybe even Kristen doesn't know the whole truth. Many people are lying and their purposes are hidden.

I really liked this book, finding out new details at every turn of the page. It was suspenseful and interesting to find out who was doing what and why. I recommend this book if you want a fun, suspenseful read.

BIAM Recap

BIAM (Book In A Month) started off well for me this month, but after October 10th, I didn't write for the rest of the month. It was awful. My total word count for October was a mere 6,227 words for a grand total of 70,745 words. How sad.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I just hit a wall in the middle of the month, and couldn't write anymore. I'm so close to finished. My goal was to finish writing by the end of October and spend the next 3 months editing. I'm hoping for another 10,000 words to finish it off.

The hard part for me this month was writing a scene in which one of my character dies. I've never killed anyone off in a book, so this was a challenge for me. I really feel like he has to die and I know how he's going to die, but it's not easy to write. I hope to pass this hurdle and finish writing this book. I really want to be done with it.

There is another BIAM in November, and I'm going to try again to write. I can't believe I haven't written in more than 20 days. I need to get back and start writing again, and kill this guy.

It's November

It's November, and there's a lot for me to look forward to this month. Let me share:

Election Day. I just love staying up into the night watching election results come in. And, we have DirecTV this year, so there will be about 100 channels covering the election.

David Cook. David Cook (from American Idol) is releasing his first album this month. I watched him on Saturday Night Live and am so excited for his album.

Twilight. I've read all four books in the series and am excited about the movie coming out this month.

The Lexington. On Wednesday, my 3rd grader is taking a field trip to the USS Lexington, a WWII Aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum. This will be my first time to go.

Pull Ups. By the end of this month, we will be all out of pull-ups (training diapers) and that means my 3 year old is officially potty trained. I won't have to buy diapers for a long time, at least not til the next baby. No, that's not an announcement.

Thanksgiving. It will be fun for my kids to have a whole week off and just relax.