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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Living in the moment is a good match for me, otherwise I'd constantly be looking down the road, waiting to "get" somewhere, and I'd miss the joys of life that are here--right now--this very minute. The exception to that personal adage, is when I'm feeling burdened and trying to solve a problem. Then, thinking about something in the future is my "magic pill." Before I tackle the problem, I think about something I'm looking forward to, and then it makes problem solving a lot easier to bear. My current "magic pill" is envisioning the upcoming Thanksgiving family reunion at my home. Everyone is flying in; it will be the first time we've all been together, and I've planned two activities that I hope will be memorable.
I've assigned everyone in the family a cooking partner, even Paul (age 5) and 4-year-old James have partners. The "teams" each have to make something for the Thanksgiving dinner--their choice. They don't even have to tell me what they're making, because I assured everyone that I'd be cooking my usual Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potato casserole, sauteed fresh green beans, skunk beans, shrimp salad, deviled eggs and pumpkin and apple pies. When I told my daughter about the cooking partner idea, her first reaction was, "I don't want someone else making the Thanksgiving meal, they might mess it up."
Seventeen-year-old Bailey is excited to be teamed with Paul, and they're making a pecan pie. Paul knows how to roll pie crust (from his weekly baking class with me) and Bailey says she'll make the filling from scratch.
The other activity I've planned might take a little coaxing to get the adults to participate. I bought six different colors of poster paint, along with a long roll of heavy white paper. My idea is to roll the paper out in our driveway, everybody takes off their shoes--kids, adults and even great-grandpa (who's 94), dip their bare feet in the poster paint, and we'll make a family reunion foot poster to hang up. The paint is supposed to wash off with soap and water, but just to be sure, I did a practice run. To see my footprints and to enter my second holiday apron giveaway, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Foot-Prints-110612.html
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
AUTHORBUZZ: HILL OF BEANS, COMING OF AGE IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE OLD SOUTH by (NonFiction) John Snyder
Hill of Beans is my memoir of a southern boyhood...stories about a brilliant eccentric father, already 53 at my birth, a catastrophic life-changing fire, a scary aunt firing her pistol into the night, and bizarre farm projects such as overturning a concrete silo.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on HILL OF BEANS to find out more about the book and the author, John Snyder. Send him an email, he'd love to hear from you.
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