Love Is...

Breakfast in Bed!

How long has it been since you cooked up a good breakfast and served it to your spouse in bed just because you love him/her? For me, it's been way too long. I often serve hubby coffee in bed since I rise before him usually, but never breakfast, unless it's with our girls for father's day. So, this week my challenge is to fix hubby a nice breakfast and serve it to him in bed one morning. And for my hubby, that means I better add breakfast sausages to this weeks grocery list. Because those are his all time favorite for breakfast.

Won't you join me in serving up a leisurely breakfast to your spouse this week?


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Unplug Week

So this is the middle of my unplug week (these posts were made last week and scheduled), and I'm sure by now I'm feeling withdrawal badly. I'm wanting to hear all the news of my blogging buddies, wanting to laugh, cringe, cry with you all, but alas, I'm working on doing all that with my family whom I'm sure are very supportive ;)...really!

Hopefully I'll have some great stories and pics to share when I get back. But what I'm really worried about is being the last one to hear big news. Isn't that sad, I'm even competitive in the news department. Regardless, I am praying that you all have a wonderful week and that big wonderful celebration type news from you guys awaits me upon my return. I'll be cheering with you and for you in spirit if not in the comment sections this week. And to make this writing related, I'm thinking my heroine needs to be more competitive to up the steaks in my current story.

Anyone ever written a competitive character before? How did you do it without it coming across as obsessive?

Keep smiling everyone!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Brain Dead Haven

Ever have a brain dead time and discovered you liked that feeling? I'm there now, just enjoying the quietness of brain deadness.

Seriously, it's like a mini vacation from all the to-do's on one list and from all the must-remembers on my other list. There's truly something wonderful about being free of thinking responsibly for a few hours every now and then.

If you haven't experienced brain deadness lately, I encourage you to try it. Take a break from all the pressures of your life for just a short while and get rejuvenated. If you need help, try and get in that state by concentrating on your breathing alone. Let everything else fall away, then see how long it takes your mind to wander into fun creative thinking.

Sometimes all we need to discover a jump start in writing, is to first be still and allow our brain to stop working for just a little while. I hope it works for you.

This is my unplug week, and I'm missing visiting all your blogs. I know I'm going to be crazy busy next week getting caught up. Can't wait! But certainly enjoying my family time presently too.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Love Is...

sharing a little laughter!

What makes your hubby laugh? A good comedy? A clean joke? Funny prank? Or an all out tickle fight?

If it's a prank, I've got one for you to try. If your hubby isn't fond of snakes, but has a very strong heart, and might get a kick out this, have fun with it. Find a curled English cucumber, the longer the better. Be sure to clean off all the prickles so that it is nice and smooth. Slip between the sheets on hubby's side of the bed far enough down that he won't notice it until he crawls in and feels it. Be ready for a quick exit from the bed and a good laugh when he realizes it's only a cucumber and not the dreaded snake he thought it was!

My challenge this week is to share a good laugh with hubby while we are at the cottage. Would love to hear what gets your hubby laughing.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Winner of Return To Love...

Congratulations to T. Anne! My middle daughter picked your ballot. Please send me your snail mail address to eileenastels[at]rogers[dot]com for me to send this fun read out to you.

Thanks everyone who commented on my slush pile post. You guys are an awesome, encouraging, and wonderful bunch of blogging buddies! Have no fear, I am right back into finishing my current ms. The goal is to have it ready for conference too. Big goal, so I must stay focused.

The ROM was great yesterday with hubby. They only had fragments of a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit and no pictures were aloud. But the wealth of information displayed was awesome, and we loved seeing so many other exhibits as well. The highlight of the day, though, was the flooding. Seriously, what took us one hour and twenty minutes to travel in the morning, took nearly four hours in the evening because of stalling cars and the highway getting flooded from a torrential downpour. AMAZING!! Like driving through a lake, and we could only that by squeezing into the left lane. Definite sewage or engineering issues in that part of the highway.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever experienced on one of your excursions?


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Welcoming Me into the Slush Pile

I don't know whether to cry or leap for joy, but yes, I've finally done it!

On this, my nineteenth wedding anniversary, I'm joining the ranks of you wonderful writers who have submitted queries and synopsis into the infamous slush pile of Steeple Hill Books, or any other editors/agents slush pile for that matter. We're just one big happy slush family, no matter where our labored pages reside, right?

After mailing my baby out this morning, hubby and I will be celebrating our anniversary in Toronto, checking out the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit there. I still can't find my camera, so I'm bumbed about that, but hopefully one of our daughters will loan me theirs for the day.

So, for you experienced ones, just how do you manage the slush pile wait? I'm actually looking forward to receiving my first official rejection letter to start the progressive writers process. It's got to happen some time, so I'm gathering courage and just praying that some helpful advice will come with the expected letter. I think I might curl up and die if I receive only a form letter rejection. Don't even want to think of how I would handle that after nearly seven years of writing my heart out. That's yet another scenario to add to my prayers.

So how long of a wait have you all endured? And how did you keep from splitting from anticipation as those final weeks approached?

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Can You Take Just One?

Last week I got some wonderful activity ideas from you great blogging buddies for our upcoming week at the cottage, so today I'm going to share a couple recipes that will be going with my family to the cottage. If you have some tried and true recipes to share too, I'd love to have them. My family and I will be in the kitchen pre-preparing for our week at the cottage, as well as packing up a storm. So here's my recipes to share:

Elephant Ears

1/2 dozen eggs
4 to 6 cups flour
1 cup sugar

Mix ingredients until dough is firm, not runny. Keep adding flour until a good consistency for rolling is achieved, but not too dry.

Roll dough flat until just under a 1/4 inch thick. Cut into strips about 1 inch wide and then cut those strips diagonally every four inches or so. Cut a hole in the center of each 4-inch segment and draw one end through the center to make a twist in the dough.

Fry in pre-heated oil until golden brown. Remove from oil and sprinkle with sugar immediately, while still piping hot. (Must be careful of not heating the oil too much, or these will burn easily.)

The recipe doesn't sound like much, but trust me, these are addictive, and a great change from chips. They stay fresh quite a while sealed in an airtight container, too.


And now for a recipe with some alcohol in it for those who don't mind a drink now and again. We used to love sipping on one of these while walking the beach of Lake Superior in Batchawana Bay, Ontario. It's one of my sister's favorites, and even the men enjoyed this girly drink too. It makes a huge batch, so you'll want to have lots of adult friends around to share it with.

Slush

1 cup Galliano
2 cups Vodka
2 cups strong tea
2 cups sugar
1 can orange juice
1 can lemonade
6 cups water

Dissolve sugar in hot tea and add all other ingredients. Freeze in a 4 litre ice cream tub. At serving time, mix half cup slush with half cup gingerale or sprite, and enjoy! Very tasty!


Don't forget, I'm giving away a copy of Betsy St. Amant's Return to Love on Wednesday of this week. If you haven't entered the drawing yet, click here and leave a comment to be entered.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen