I'm Moving My Blog

After five years, 543 posts and 16, 548 hits, I've decided to move my blog. Don't worry, I'm not quitting, just moving to new digs.

I opened my author blog at http://lisamedley.wordpress.com/ last August but really began using it this June. I'm working on my brand and trying to keep my writing adventures a separate entity.

Life In The Big Cedars began on Blogger on June 7, 2007, and now I'm moving over to Wordpress. I bought the domain http://lifeinthebigcedars.com/ so click on over and make a new bookmark in your browser. You can also signup at the top right of the page to get my posts in your inbox. The good thing about Wordpress is that it is instantaneous! I post and you get an email. Shazaam!


I'm changing for three reasons:

1. Easier commenting. Don't be afraid to leave me a message or make a comment. I love hearing from you guys ;)

2. Faster email notifications. Like I said, I post and you get an immediate email.

3. More professional and versatile.

So make a bookmark, signup to follow by email and comment often.

Let's blog!

Meat & Cheese Pie

Bryon brought home this awesome recipe last week, and I made it up for dinner. I doubled the recipe and it made three quiche-like meat and cheese pies. Bryon won't eat quiche, but he liked this a lot. I froze the other two. Try it if you like...we did!

Meat & Cheese Pie

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. flour
1 small can corn (drained)
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
1 pie crust

Brown beef in skillet, stirring until crumbly; drain. Combine mayo, milk, eggs and flour in a large bowl; mix until smooth. Stir in browned beef, cheeses, green onions, salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until crust is brown. Let sit for a few minutes until firmed up. Serve.

Editorial Blog Correction

Let the record show that BRYON found the Where Did I Come From? book and not me.  Much like FoxNews and CNN, I reported erroneously.

And so it is.

The Birds and The Bees Talk

Grace has been very curious lately as to exactly how babies get into mama's bellies. She's 7 1/2 if you remember.

She actually got an eyeful last year thanks to a pregnancy and childcare book I forgot I had. When Bryon painted and redecorated her room for her birthday last September, I piled all of her books from her book case in the entryway including that pregnancy and baby care book. My dad had gotten it for me before she was born. Now it was just in a stack on top of her book case used to prop up dolls for viewing.

I had forgotten all about that book.

As I moved the piles into her room after the redecorating was finished, I insisted that she be the one to organize her books back on her book shelf. It was a ridiculous plan because I knew I'd end up reorganizing them due to my Type A, slightly OCD obsession with that bookcase.

After a while of working on the project, she came out holding THE BOOK and said, "Mama, this is like a doctor book! Look!"

Sure enough there was a picture of a fuzzy little, dark haired baby crowning between a mother's legs. It was not cartoony. It was real.

You can imagine the questions that followed. I told her the truth. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it's messy, etc. etc.
At that point it was plenty of information, and mercifully she didn't ask how it got there in the first place. Whew!

This summer she's begun to put two and two together and has been asking much more specific questions. At first we just told her she wasn't old enough to know yet, but like her mother (ahem), she's persistent. She started pummeling Nana with the same questions.

Bryon took a poll of parents at his work and it was unanimous that if she's asking questions it's inevitable that someone  would eventually give her answers right or wrong. And that someone might as well be us. Several of the parents recommended this book, Where Did I Come From? 

Bryon found the book and last night he read it too her. Brave, brave Daddy! I came in at the tail end for the big finish: birth. She didn't ask too many more questions. It was pretty specific and explained everything. In great detail. With all the correctly named body parts. Bryon told her that all animals (mammals) basically do it the same way. Like the chickens and rooster in our yard.

Every time she sees that rooster going after a hen she thinks they are marrying.

No more.

She did ask if that's why they squawk all the time. Yes, yes it is. She also asked why people don't make sounds. Well, we did manage to avoid that one.

Bryon explained that this was private information and not to be shared with all of her classmates because some parents do not want their kids to know about all of this yet. She agreed to be the keeper of the truth about creation.

We'll see if it sticks. By the end of August we'll be the heroes or the villains for telling her the truth and not letting her learn on the bus like everyone else.

I just saw the same author has a book for puberty too.

Thank God.

Why We Read Paranormal Romance: A Confession

In an effort to resist spamming you with posts concerning my latest obsession with writing. I wanted to let you know, I just posted on my new Author Blog at Lisa Medley. Just click on my name and it will take you directly to the post or here http://lisamedley.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/why-we-read-paranormal-romance-a-confession/


If you like getting the posts on my writing adventures, you can subscribe at the top of the new blog page, and they will come directly to your inbox. Or you can just bookmark it and check it out when you feel like it.

You can also follow me on Twitter  here https://twitter.com/lisamedley if you happen to be a tweeter. My Twitter feed is mostly writing related as well.

Don't worry, plenty more family adventures to follow here.

Thanks!

Summer Time And The Swimmin' Is Easy

Bryon built this great deck for our new swimming pool. So now we can just jump right off into it or lounge on the side benches. Grace has been in the pool a lot already. A swim suit is pretty much constantly dripping on the back deck while it hangs to dry.

This week has been especially crazy because swimming lessons started. She's in the advanced class already and doing great.

Now he and the Grandpa's are working on a pergola and concrete patio at the end of the stairs where we'll then have an outdoor room.

I wonder if we can put an air conditioner in?

Author's Blog

Announcing a brand spankin' new Blog!

I know, I know you are saying, "But you don't keep the one you HAVE up-to-date enough. Geez, why would you start ANOTHER ONE?"

Well, because I have high hopes and ambitions and dreams and plans to become a ridiculously famous author. Or of, at the least, writing a few more books which my six friends can read and giggle over in depths of their cars and reading hidey-holes.

So with that in mind, I've re-posted all of my writing posts of my journey thus far (which have also been on this blog) to my new site at Lisa Medley . The new site will only be about literary pursuits; writing, blogging, reading. This site will remain all inclusive.

Here you'll get the writing bits but also the cute / demonic pet photos, stupid family tricks, travels, mishaps and everything in between.

Thanks for reading and spread the word!

The Boy Who Cried Woof

Following is the world premiere of Grace's first short work of fiction on her new (my old) laptop. I only helped her with the correction of the words that Word indicated were misspelled or not grammatically correct because she asked for explanation of the squiggly lines underneath them. She did all the rest.

She was very pleased that it was 90 words (including the title). I think the word counter is her favorite Word feature.

She's downstairs right now working on another story.

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Boy Who Cried Woof.                                         

 Once there was a boy who was walking to his mom’s house and his mom got bit by a dog. Then his mom kissed him. The next morning when he woke up and he opened his mouth he woofed. It took him ten days to figure it out. And on the 11^th day he figured it out. His mom has to kiss me because the dog can talk. And she has to kiss the dog. So he can talk and the dog can talk.  

 

Silver Dollar City Day

 Last week I took Grace and her BFF to Silver Dollar City. For one briefly insane moment there, I had a third seven year old lined up to go with us. I'm pretty sure a third would have done me in.

Actually, there were really, really good. It's me, not them. I have absolutely no patience, so I just had to go to that happy place in my head for twelve hours. Yeah, it took twelve hours. We left at 8 am and returned home at 8 pm.

We burned that place down.

We rode every ride except Wildfire (they were still too short) and the train.  In fact, her friend was a half inch too short for most of the rides. Luckily, Grace had her high heeled flip flops on, so I made them trade. That got Short Stuff on all the rest of the rides.

At one point, the ride operator of the Electro Glide told us we should just go to the measuring station and get her a wristband so she wouldn't have to be measured every time since she was "All Ride" height. Cool, I thought. So off we traipsed to the measuring station where the girl made her take OFF Grace's high heeled flip flops and measured her flat footed.

No dice.

She was still kiddie ride bound. Grace was an inch OVER All Ride status so as soon as we were out of sight of that measuring station, I tore off Short Stuff's wristband and we were golden again. Was I perhaps setting a bad example by using deception to get what I wanted? Yes. Did we ride like fiends? Yes.

Grace got to ride the barn swings for the first time and Powder Keg for the fifth or sixth. My only real regret was those dang tea cups. I'm pretty confident I've spun my last tea cup. I remember when we went to Disney World when I was small and my Dad hated those things and got sick after riding them. Oh yeah, I wanted to hurl.

We wore our swim suits under our clothes so we could ride the water rides and not have squishy underwear all day. Ingenius I know.

We pretty much ate our way through the park. I don't even want to add up what we spent on food, but over all it was a very fun day.

A day full of YES.

Boy did I sleep well that night.

 Who doesn't love that?

Read Me A Story

 At the risk of being too stinkin' cute, I had to share these pics of Grace and Rosie.

Grace brought her into her room one night (a feat in itself because Rosie still likes her little bed in the garage much more than inside). Undeterred, Grace decided she was going to read to her.

I'd say it was a success all around.