Cooking Stuff

Hi everyone,

I've got some links and info up on my cookbook site about some different kitchen need-to-haves or want-to-haves. One of the things I have listed is a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. A number of people have mentioned it before and thanked me for telling them about this mixer. I know it's the best mixer I've ever used! (No, I don't own stock in the company.) Smile. My Mom and my sister both have used them, had them for years, but the price is high and I never got one of my own.

Well, I found a great deal today at Amazon on them. The highest, most powerful one listed there is about the price that the cheapest KitchenAid was at Wal-Mart last year. For a limited time Amazon is doing 40% off, a 50 buck rebate on top of that, and free shipping. They even have price cuts on the attachments you can buy to use with the stand mixer, including a meat grinder and a shredder. Heck, you can even make ice cream and sausage with this stand mixer. (See why I've been wanting one forever!)

So, if like me, you've been sitting and waiting and hoping, now might be your chance to grab one of your own. They have two smaller ones that are even less, both also with price cuts and rebates. I told hubby he could count mine as both my X-Mas for this year and my birthday. Now I just have to try and wait for it to get here! Smile!

Long Time No See

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a long time. I have been sick and dealing with more than one health issue that has taken me out for three months so far. During that time I've handed over the day to day running of my RWC on-line groups to some wonderful ladies who have worked hard to keep things running so well that I'm sure members didn't even notice that I've been missing in action.

Sadly, I couldn't hand over my website, my blog and my e-mail to others, so those things have just had to sit and wait. I have a ton of back e-mail from this blog and the contact link on my website. Please don't think I'm being rude or ignoring your comments or questions. If I got them and you gave a correct e-mail address for my reply, and one was needed or requested, you will get a response from me. I promise.

I'm still not well and my up time is very limited, so please know that it might still take me a good while to get to each message. I know more waiting time is a lot to ask since some of you have already been waiting for three months. I'm sorry about that and will do the best I can to get to each message as soon as I can on the days when I do feel up to tackling my mail. Thanks so much for understanding and for all of the messages of support and encouragement that I've gotten from those who have learned about my illness during the last weeks.

Hugs and best wishes to you all -- and happy writing and reading!

2007 Brava Novella Contest

The 5th annual Brava Novella Contest will begin accepting entries at midnight central time on August 1, 2007 and will stop accepting them at midnight central time on September 30, 2007.

It's free to enter. The top twenty finalists will be judged by Kensington Editorial Director Kate Duffy. The contest is open to unpublished authors and those published with houses other than Kensington.

The contest will have a theme this year -- reunited lovers.

For more info and to enter, visit...
http://www.bravaauthors.com:80/novella-contest

Writing Prompt Contest

The Heartland Writers Group is using one of my writing prompts for a free writing contest they are holding. You don't have to belong to RWA or anything to enter, no entry fee, and there's a five dollar prize. (Smile) I'll be judging the entries, but no one's name will be on them so I'll have no idea who wrote what. If you'd like to give it a try, the contest info is pasted below. Please read it before you write a scene since there's a word limit, a way you have to submit, and such. (You have a couple of weeks left to give it a try and there's only been a couple of entries so far.)

Here's the link where you can read the short scenes that have been entered and see later who wins.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=179976555

By the way, the free on line group I own for writers has a sister list just for weekly writing prompts. If you are interested you can find info about the RWC groups here....
http://www.charlottedillon.com/RWC.html


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HEARTLAND WRITERS GROUP MONTHLY CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISES!!

JULY CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISE CONTEST INFORMATION: :ONCE AGAIN, IT'S TIME TO HONE THOSE MUSES!! SINCE THERE WILL BE FIREWORKS SIZZLING THE SKY, I THOUGHT WE'D HEAT IT UP A BIT.... HERE IS THE CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISE CONTEST INFORMATION FOR JULY, 2007:::

THE PROMPT: She's a nosy single-and-looking neighbor.He's the sexy single moving in next door.She's being her nosy self, trying to find out who's moving in and everything about him.He catches her.Then What?

In approximately 500 words or less, write a sexual tension scene between the two characters. Spice level medium to hot--No erotica, please.

****Special THANKS goes to romance author Charlotte Dillon for permission to use The Sexy Neighbor Writing Prompt.****

Send all entries to grievekathleen@ yahoo.com They must be received by July, 31st, 2007 no later than 12 noon central standard time to be considered. You must have "HWG JULY CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISE" in the subject line.

All entries will be posted anonymously on the HWG MYSPACE BLOG. Winner gets her/his picture posted on HWG MYSPACE, a $5 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, and will start the second HWG CONTINUING MYSTORY--details to follow.

This months judge will be romance author Charlotte Dillon. To find out more about Charlotte, you can go to her website: www.CharlotteDillon.com

Congratulations to June's Contest Winner--Patricia Martel. The entry was # 4 on HWG'S MYSPACE BLOG. Hers will be the first BIO posted on HWG's Newsletter, "Muse News", her picture is posted on our MYSPACE , and she received a $5 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. COME AND JOIN THE FUN WHILE LIGHTING A FIRE UNDER YOUR MUSE!!!GOOD LUCK!

KathleenHeartland Writers Group

25 Years & Counting

Today was a special one. I've been married for 25 years. Okay, so well, hubby has been part of it too. At least half of it. (Smile) This is a picture of the cake the kids surprised us with. Look at all of those huge chocolate covered strawberries. I'd actually never had chocolate covered strawberries until today. Needless to say, it wasn't a sugar free cake, so I only ate a small slice and a couple of the strawberries, but it was so good and the card they gave us was as sweet as the cake.

Minutes for the Troops

As an Army vet, Monica Burns knows first-hand how the sound of a loved one's voice is music in a soldier's ear. When she was stationed 3000 miles away from home, she lived for the sound of a familiar voice or the occasional care package that came showed up at mail call. That experience on intense homesickness has prompted her to organize a Minutes for the Troops donation program.

Monica has a troop contact in Iraq that she can send AT&T phone cards to. The minutes are then allocated to soldiers so they can call home. Apparently, AT&T phone cards are the only cards that work relatively glitch free with Iraq's phone system dialing out to the USA. If you'd like to help the American soldiers stationed in Iraq communicate with loved ones, here are your options:

Option 1 - AT&T phone cards are available at retail stores such as Wal-Mart. Once you've purchased the card, email Monica with the phone number and the pin number that are listed on the back of the card, along with the number of minutes on the card (knowing the minutes helps fairly allocate minutes to the troops). Send your phone card info to monicaburnsauthor @ comcast.net (eliminate the spaces before and after the @ symbol). Place "Minutes for the Troops" in your email subject line so her SPAM Assassin doesn't eat your email. She'll compile all the phone card information and forward it to her military contact so the troops can use the minutes you donate to make their calls.

Option 2 - Some people can only afford to spare a couple of dollars, so if you have a PayPal account, Monica is willing to take donations via her personal account. She'll purchase phone cards with those donations and forward those to her troop contact. The disadvantage is that your contribution has 3 percent removed from it by PayPal, so if you want to claim the donation on taxes, you'll have to allot for that 3 percent deduction when you calculate your donation. For instance, if you wanted to donate $1.00 you would actually only be donating 97 cents. Just keep this in mind if you want to donate via PayPal.

Option 3 - If you can't afford to buy a phone card, and don't have a PayPal account, you can always send a check or money order to Monica Burns, Post Office Box 68, Richmond, VA 23235. Monica will apply your contribution to the purchase of a card. A copy of the check or money order should suffice for your charitable donations write off on your taxes. Please do not send cash due to recordkeeping restrictions.

Monica thanks you, and the troops thank you.

Website Update & Changes

It's taken me days, but I've finished a major update on my website. Well, not really finished, since there are still a lot of pages to work on, but I've finished all the main pages for both the writer's and the author's sides of my site. I hope the way things are done now will make it even more easier for people to find their way around on both sides. After all, it's no fun going to a site for information and then having to do a search and find forever to actually find the one thing you came for.

When you get a chance, check out both sides and let me know what you think! You can find the link on the side bar, or just go to www.CharlotteDillon.com

Time Saving Tip: Frosting

Want a quick frosting that won't taste like just another spread on can of it?

Once your cake is cool, simply warm up a can of frosting -- not too warm, just warm enough that it is easy to work with -- then put it in a bowl and stir in a container of Cool Whip. Adjust the amount of Cool Whip, using more for a milder frosting and less for a sweeter one. You can use any flavor of frosting you like. (Of course once spread on the cake, the cake will have to be kept in the fridge.)

My family doesn't care much for frosting from a can because it is just so sweet, but everyone who has tried one of my cakes made this way loves it and thinks it's some kind of frosting I made from a recipe that required work. (Smile)

Warning About Flea Treatments

I've really, really had my hands full the last week, especially the last few days. If any of you have been to the pet page on my website, you know I have way too many dogs. (But I love 'em all.) We've had a time with fleas this year. Used to, Frontline seemed to work, along with this flea dip I can't get any more. Then Frontline got where it just wasn't working that well at all and wasn't even lasting very well. On top of that, the price has gone up a lot in the last couple of years until it got to the point that I really just couldn't justify or afford the huge cost with the number of large dogs I have.

Well, things were already going bad first thing Tuesday morning. I've been dealing with a very sick puppy for a few days, making trips back and forth to the vet. Tuesday morning I awoke to find the two dogs that stay outside, were both missing. Some how the gate had got opened during the night and they were gone. After searching the neighborhood, we managed to find one, but not the other. I had to have the puppy back to the vet for another IV at eight-thirty, so I gave up after another hour and came home to get ready to go.

Believe it or not, on the way to the vet, I actually found my other missing dog walking down the road with a woman. We were late for the vet, but I was so happy to have found Kane and Clover and have them both home safe and sound.

I was at the vet a long time, Korin's IV bag takes nearly two hours. We made it home and Korin was doing so much better than he had been doing for days before, that I actually felt hopeful he was going to make it. Since I was feeling a little better about him, and was feeling a little better myself since I had been dealing with a stomach bug too, I thought I would go on and treat the well dogs with some flea stuff I picked up at Wal-Mart. It was Sergeant's Gold Flea & Tick, the kind in the little tube that you squeeze on down their backs. (I've used a lot of different kinds over the years, cheap and not cheap.)

After I used this one though, in less than an hour, Lucky started throwing up. I thought with dread that he was taking the same nasty virus that Korin had. Then Lucky began to shake, then shake worse, then he couldn't walk. I thought about the flea stuff and grabbed him up and bathed him twice. I then handed him to my daughter and ran around checking on my other dogs. All seemed well until I looked outside at the two out there. Clover was drooling every where and shaking all over. That began a mad dash to wash every dog at least twice, once with a shampoo and then after doing a little research on line, we used dish washing liquid. During the research we found page after page of info from people who had lost their pets after using this flea stuff, or some other one like it.

It was a very long evening after an already long last few tense days, but by yesterday morning, Lucky and Clover seemed to be over it, and all of the other dogs were acting fine. I took Korin back to the vet and he is off the IV, doing well, eating, on meds by mouth, and the vet said she doesn't need to see him again. I still almost ended up by there yesterday. I have a dog that has seizures and wouldn't just know that he had to have one yesterday just when everything seemed to be calming down again. But he is fine and I was able to control the seizure and get it stopped without a trip to the vet. (I didn't put the flea stuff on him, Korin, or Kane.) I hope they all stay fine for a long while now. So does my credit card. (Ouch!)

Long story short...

If you have a dog, please be very careful with any of these once a month flea treatments, especially this one and other over the counter types that promise to act quickly and last a long time. If you have a cat, be even more careful, since it seemed there was even a larger listing of people who had lost cats from one of these types of flea treatments.

Prayers & Good Wishes Needed

Over a year ago I wrote a message here about my my sister's grand baby needing prayers and good wishes. Well, he needs them again. He's in the hospital once more, this time on life support. Back then they didn't give him much hope of seeing his first birthday. Well, he made it. Now we are hoping for a second one. He was born with something called Autosomal Recessive Cutis Laxa Type One. There are only a couple of hundred people or less in the whole world with Cutis Laxa, and his is the very worse kind. It is a rare genetic disorder of the connective tissue. On the outside it shows up in loose and hanging skin, but it does worse stuff inside. He has had one battle after another, and has seemed to be doing so well lately. He just started walking and seemed to be so happy, and now this. I'm hoping there's some way for him to have more time, if it can be good time. More time for him to laugh, to play with his big sister and his grandma's dogs, to enjoy the new freedom he's found since he has a special daycare where he can spend a few hours at a time with other children. So, if you have a moment, please say a prayer, a blessing, send good thoughts, white light, what ever you can, that he'll beat the odds and be laughing for one more birthday.