The Second Annual Valentiny Contest!

I don't know about you, but I adore contests, and I am definitely eager to participate in one hosted by Susanna Leonard Hill. This one is the Second Annual Valentiny Contest, and the entire story is limited to no more than 214 words, has to include a character that is confused, and must be written for children.

So here goes__

A Mixed Up Valentine (180 words)

Charlie Thomas carefully cut and pasted, glittered and glued, wrote and colored. Then, he sat back and admired the valentine he’d made for Rose. Charlie had adored Rose since Kindergarten, and every year he created a special card just for her.

When he finished admiring the card, he carefully placed it on her desk and returned to his seat. Just then, Sam passed down that aisle. The breeze he created when passing caused the card to float to the floor next to Jenny’s desk.

Jenny entered the class shortly afterwards and noticed what she thought was a note. She picked it up, looked around, and decided it was for her. Carefully she unfolded the heart shaped card and began to read. She smiled at the signature that said__ Love Charlie.

Jenny had adored Charlie Smith since kindergarten. She walked to Charlie’s desk, bent down so they were eye to eye, and hugged him around his neck. Charlie turned bright red. He wasn’t sure why Jenny had hugged him, but he had admired her since kindergarten, so he didn’t mind at all.

Valentines, Visitors, and Various Other Stuff

This past week could be called the week of V's. Since we are nearing Valentine's Day, Emily and I have been working on some heart art. First, she drew and colored a fantastic adult coloring book style heart. Then, we both made black hearts with designs. Mine is on the top and hers is on the bottom. We also threw in a light experiment for science.

My personalized license plates arrived and I put them on my car!

While we were having lessons on Thursday, we had a visitor. Since the hubby put a large metal piece around the pole to our bird feeder the visitors can't climb and steal seeds, but this one seemed content to scour for seeds the birds had scattered below. Emily also practiced her recipe for the Chocolate Lovers Bake Off coming up at our local library.

And finally, we modeled some LulaRoe fashions for a friend who was having a vendor party at her shop down town. Emily's friend, Katie joined in the modeling fun. The leggings are indeed soft as butter like I've heard, but boy are those patterns on the wild side.

Amidst all the various forms of school and fun, I still managed to read Little Why by Jonny Lambert. Little Why is a curious elephant that wants to be similar to every one he meets or sees, but all his mom ever tells him is get back in line. However, when they arrive at their destination, Little Why discovers why he doesn't need to be like anyone else.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Ideas

As I've mentioned before, for the month of January, I am participating in Tara Lazar's Story Storm. The premise is to come up with at least one idea for a story for each day of the month. As the month draws to a close, I am excited to share that I already have over thirty ideas and have also managed to write four picture book first drafts.

Talk about feeling euphoric! Besides coming up with an idea every day, Miss Tara scheduled a different author or illustrator to post an article on her blog about how to garner ideas. One of the tips was to take something ordinary and put a new spin on it. Another tip was to ask yourself what if. And I did both.

Last week during Emily's birthday party, the girls played hide-and-seek. So I began to take phrases from the game and ask myself what if. I came up with what I hope is an interesting and viable picture book story. And while only time will tell, I am pleased with my progress and I am so very glad to have participated!

But never fear, I still made time to read and review an already existing picture book called, A Well Mannered Young Wolf. This story was not what I expected and the ending was quite funny. The well mannered, but hungry wolf, goes hunting for something to eat. several times he catches prey but something always goes awry. I don't want to give away too much, so I will suffice to say this book is definitely worth a read.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

 

Birthdays and Bunnies

This past week was a mixed lot as far as life's emotional roller coaster ride. I found out through FB that my publisher closed their doors, and I have no idea as of yet what that means. Time will tell, and while I wait, I will continue to work at improving my craft and gaining the notice of an agent.

On a cheerier note, this past weekend was also Emily's Birthday, and she got a double dose of birthday fun. On Friday evening, Bobby, My sister, and I took Emily and two friends to a birthday dinner at The Golden Corral. Before we left they played some kind of a jelly bean where they had identical looking jelly beans and some were tasty while some were plain down right gross. Flavors like barf and booger. I have no idea why one would want to eat gross flavored jelly beans, but the girls seemed to have a giggly good time.

 

On Saturday we hosted a party that was attended by her cousin and her school mates. We wore funny glasses. We played birthday bingo. We played hot potato. We played remember what's in the box. And we played a game called Spoons. Every girl received a spoon and they had to pass a mini Reese cup without using hands. It was much more difficult then one would think and made for some truly laughable moments.

And when the partying was over, I found time to do my weekly reading. Bunnies on Ice found its way into my hands and became this week's choice for review. Sparse on words but not on story, this story is a tale of childhood, ice skating, and self confidence. One patient and determined bunny waits all year to be a champion ice skater and when the time comes, she gives it her all and enjoys each moment. This book would be perfect for children ages four to eight.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

 

Returning to Normal

This past week Emily and I began to return to normal. As we put my mother's passing and the Christmas break behind us, we dove back into school and Cook Book Club. The theme for January was soup, so I made Bean and Bacon soup. Strangely enough as much as I cook, I had not made this type of soup before. I thought it turned out quite well and have decided to add it to my repertoire of often used recipes. Emily made striped delight which went over quite well. It is a dessert I used to  make quite often but hadn't made in a while, so it was a refreshing change. It is the perfect dessert for a party or get together. Here is the recipe in case you want to try it.

Striped Delight

1 cup flour                                                              ¼ cup sugar

1 cup ground nuts                                                    2 TBS milk

½ cup melted butter                                                 1 container whipped topping

1 pkg cream cheese softened                                    2 boxes chocolate pudding prepared

Combine flour, nuts, and butter until well mixed and press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. When cool, mix cream cheese, sugar, milk, and whipped topping until smooth and layer on crust. Chill for at least thirty minutes. When chilled, prepare pudding according to box and pour over top of cream cheese layer.  Chill until pudding is set. Cut and serve.

Emily also made a birthday card for one of her friends. I know I'm probably partial, but I think her drawing abilities are quite good for an almost twelve year old.

 

And by coincidence, the book I chose to review this week, although not about returning to normal, is about returning. It is a follow up picture book to Tammi Sauer's, Your Alien. The first book was fabulous and this second book is equally wonderful. Your Alien Returns is the story of the alien taking his boy home for a play date. It is a story of working to fit in and not letting differences become hindrances to friendship. The illustrations are a bonus and add incredible dimension to the story as all good illustrations should.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

 

Let's Get Cleaning!

A week into the New Year finds me with an urge to get my house in order and clean, clean, clean. I have already managed to organize and clean up the overflowing post it notes on my bulletin board, file my household paper work, and organize all my tax receipts. Next on the agenda is to do some extra vacuuming like the basement stairs, and the stairs leading to the second floor. And after all the fires in the fireplace, some heavy dusting is probably a good idea. Eventually I will tackle the closets, and I might even clean out my refrigerator, but that could be pushing it a bit; so we will see.

 I've also been participating in the wonderful Tara Lazar's Story Storm 2017. The idea behind Story Storm is that you think up one new story idea for everyday in the month of January. One of the story ideas that I came up with included giving a cat a bath. Coincidentally the book I reviewed this week was also about bath time. How To Wash A Wooly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson is said book and it definitely tickled my funny bone.

A young girl explains in a step by step process how one goes about giving a wooly mammoth a bath. It proves quite a difficult task, so the young girl has to be creative to get her mammoth clean. I loved this story. I loved the way it was written as a step by step how to guide. I also loved the illustrations including the end paper before the title page. It has some quite interesting bottles of shampoo and soap as well as cleaning implements like combs. If you take the time to read the bottles I think it will be quite worth the time.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

2016 A Year In Review

Well, it's now official, I now have to remember to write 2017 instead of 2016. My family wrapped up the year nicely by spending time with Bobby's mom.

 By playing board games.

 By practicing Padawan skills.

And by celebrating with family and friends at the Berean Baptist New Years Eve Party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now, as is tradition, I will recap my favorite reads of 2016 in no particular order.

1. The Map Trap by Andrew Clement

2. Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry

3. The Night Gardner by the Fan Brothers

4. It Came In The Mail by Ben Clanton

5. Mary Smith by A. Uren

 

6. A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts

7.  Memoirs of A Parrot by Devin Scillian

8. Surf's Up by Kwame Alexander

9. Gator Dad by Brian Lies

and...

10. What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolan

 

And as a bonus, my first read of the New Year__

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel which is a story about perception. Many animals see Cat. Cat even sees Cat. But how each one perceives Cat is quite different. The text and illustrations work perfectly together to make an interesting read.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.