Thursday, March 5, 2009

After School Snack

Starting last fall, I made the decision to ease out of writing mode each day by preparing an after school snack for my girls upon their arrival home each afternoon. This guarantees that they have my full attention from the moment the bus rolls away from the curb, and they start their time with me a little happier, too.

So far, the snacks have ranged from prepared fruits, to hot apple crisp, mini pizzas, cookies, squares, to even old-fashioned homemade breads hot out of the oven to be smothered with butter or jelly. Whatever their tummy's desire. It's fun for me to create these "surprises" for them, and the girls have come to really look forward to the "treat of the day" that awaits them.

If you're story lingers with you into family time, and you're looking for a way to manage this needed transition, then perhaps After School Snack preparation time will work for you, too. It's fun to do, allows for further story pondering and weening, and your children will most likely thank you for it, too.

Two-Bite Brownies happened to be one of this week's Watson creations. If you're interested, the recipe follows the pics.










Homemade Two-Bite Brownies

Mix: 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg

Add: 3 Tbsp. Cocoa, 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill about 1/2 way. Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Makes about 24 yummy morsels. Makes enough for tomorrows lunch pail snacks as well.


Synopsis Update:
I've worked through most of the exercises and have begun on the actual write up. Wow, I learned a lot about my story from those work sheets. Can't wait to see the finished synopsis now.

Blessings to all, and may your transition from writing to family time bring you much peace.

Eileen

5 comments:

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

Oh my! What a great thing to do for your kids, but I can tell you right now that I would definitely be putting on the pounds if I did that. I bet your kids are loving it.

So what worksheets are you using for your synopsis? Is this a new thing for you?

And...what are you doing up so early in the morning?

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Hey, Sherrinda, I don't partake in the treats usually, or I'd be in trouble, too.

My Lent sacrifice is no snacky items, so I'm definitely not participating in the consumption these days.

Up so early? Naaa. I wrote this yesterday and scheduled it to post early this morning. For some reason the timer on Blogger is 3 hours behind our time.

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Oh, and about the work sheets. I'm using Pam McCutcheon's Writing the Fiction Synopsis method to do this one. She provides specific work sheets in her plan. Very helpful!

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

I have heard of Pam's method for synopsis writing and heard it was great. I will have to check into that.

I didn't know you could schedule your posts. Why would you do that? To write several in one day and spread them out through the week? Interesting!

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Bingo! Works great for when you go on vacation, or are just too busy to put an update on certain days but you really want to.