Life

Catching Up

By | On June 26,17 | 0 Comment

June has flown by! Wasn’t it just Memorial Day? I’ve been busy and I have some photos. There’s been landscaping, baking, reading, writing and editing.

Lets start with landscaping. As soon as I could, I got outside and began the transformation from a very uninspired garden bed in front of our house to something that looks prettier and more deliberate. I’m not a gardener and that’s why the garden bed looked so uninspired for so many years. But since I had time this spring I decided to tackle the project. It’s not completed yet. I still have to work on the bed that runs along the side of the house and connects with the garden beds that run along the back of the house. I’m focusing on putting in what I like to call the “bones” of the garden. There’s a lot of green right now. Next year I’ll tackle adding perennials that have pops of color.

This is where I started. I dug up and transplanted  what used to be right in front of the house. The soil was in terrible condition. That one last plant got moved after I took the photo. Nothing was safe. 🙂

Right in the center of the above garden bed I planted a dwarf Hydrangea. I love it. And on either side are Boxwoods. Then I dropped inches of mulch to help reduce the amount of weeds.

Still a work in progress. This is the garden bed on the other side of the front step. All the plants are in so I just have to finish weeding and dropping more mulch. That’s the plan for this week.

 

Now lets move into the kitchen. When rhubarb was in season I make a batch of rhubard-ginger muffins. There’s no recipe to share because they really weren’t that great. Maybe I’ll try again next year and tweak a few things.

 

I made a batch of Triple Chocolate Flourless cookies. Delicious! The recipe will be coming soon. I brought a container full of these cookies to the police department when I went on a second ride along and they were a hit. Cop approved. 🙂 I’ll share the recipe soon. But until then, here’s a photo.

 

We did have some unseasonably cool evenings (which I loved) so I did some roasting. For one meal I roasted new potatoes and a tray of string beans. Everything tastes so much better roasted.

 

I managed to get some work done. I’ve finished outlining a new book I’m starting and I also got the edits back for The Uninvited Corpse. This is getting real, people!

 

There you have it. What I’ve been up to these past few weeks. As June eases into July I can’t help but think about a summer vacation. I have a few ideas. What’s on tap for your summer? A vacation or staycation?

Kitchen Snapshots, Life, Writer In The Kitchen

Writer In The Kitchen : Kitchen Snapshots 5/20/17

Today I’m sharing a peek into my kitchen of the goings on this past week. The temps here in Connecticut hit the mid-90s for three days. A heat wave. I’m so not ready for summer. Actually, I’m never ready for summer. I’m much more of a cool-weather type of gal. Give my sweaters and boots any day over flip-flops and humidity. Since today is simply beautiful I’m not going to dwell on the two icky days. Instead, I’m going to focus on the kitchen successes I had this week. Come on, take a look.

This week I worked on a recipe for soft & chewy chocolate chip cookies that will appear in the Uninvited Corpse. I do love this perk of writing.

A pile of shredded sharp cheddar cheese left over from making mac’n cheese.

I know what you’re thinking. What the heck? This is a new purchase and I’m now wondering where this bad boy has been all my life. This power spinner is life changing. Seriously. I’ve only used it a few times but now I can’t imagine not having it in my cleaning arsenal. This handy little gadget paid for itself when it kicked butt on my slider door’s track. Oven door? Awesome. And the list goes on and on. I got it from QVC and if you click here you can read more about it. I’m going to be ordering some new cleaning heads. I want a set for outside and for the bathroom.

Rhubard season! There’s a batch of rhubard-ginger muffins waiting to be baked.

What went on in your kitchen this week?

Videos, Writing

Why I chose a food blogger for my mystery series

Recently I was asked why I chose a food blogger for my amateur sleuth in my mystery novel. The amateur detective in a cozy mystery tends to have a fun career (wedding planner, interior designer, baker) or an interesting hobby (knitting, quilting, gardening) and it’s an important hook for the series. When I set out to write The Uninvited Corpse I decided to make my amateur sleuth, Hope Early, a food blogger and in the video I explain why.

 

 

If you’re interested in cozies I found two websites that have extensive information on series published. The first one is Cozy Mysteries Unlimited and the second one is Cozy Mystery. If you’re a reader of cozies, what is a favorite profession or hobby of an amateur sleuth? If you don’t read cozies, what type of books do you prefer? I love reading across genres and I’m always looking for my next good read.

 

Stitching

A Stitch At A Time

This past weekend I picked up a project that I haven’t worked in in a while. Actually, it feels like ages since I stitched. After just a few stitches I realized how much I missed my counted cross stitch work.

I absolutely adore counted cross stitch and have several completed samplers, none of which I’ve framed yet. One day. Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy the simple act of stitching. Sometimes a writer’s mind can race with snippets of dialogue and bright ideas for plot twists. Lately that’s been happening a lot to me. I think it’s because I’m spending more of my day writing and I don’t have my regular trigger to shut down the writer brain. Stitching turns down the volume inside my head.

I usually don’t work in large chunks of time on my stitching. I usually pick it up on a Sunday morning and work for about 30 minutes before I start my day and it’s a lovely way to start a day. I admit I’ve fallen off the stitching bandwagon over the past few months but I’m back on now. I reached for this project last week and I immediately realized how much I missed stitching. I’m going to continue with my early morning weekend stitching and I’ll share updates with you on this project.

Knitting, Reads

Knitting Update & A New Read

Happy Wednesday!

I’m sharing today my current knitting project and my new read.

After the success of knitting my first ever baby blanket I decided to attempt to knit a hat and scarf set.

This hat will have a pom-pom when it’s complete. I love, love, love a hat with a pom-pom. I’ll be tackling the matching scarf next. I’ve been trying to knit this set for ages. Seriously. I’ve run into problems with the pattern. If I miss a stitch I can’t tell where and I can’t tell what row the mistake was made in. It’s been very frustrating for this new knitter but I’m determined to make these two items. So far, so good with the hat. 🙂

I just finished reading a book and now I’m diving into Death by Chocolate Lab by Bethany Blake. Death by Chocolate Lab is the first in the new series Lucky Paws Pet Sitting series and I’ve been looking forward to reading the book. I love the cover, especially the hound dog. He’s adorable. The series is published by my publisher, Kensington Books, and I’m looking forward to seeing the cover of my debut novel, which I believe will also have a dog on the cover.

What’s Death by Chocolate Lab about? It features a pPet sitter Daphne Templeton who has a soft spot for every stray and misfit who wanders into the quaint, lakeside village of Sylvan Creek. But even Daphne doesn’t like arrogant, womanizing Steve Beamus, the controversial owner of Blue Ribbon K-9 Academy. When Steve turns up dead during a dog agility trial, Daphne can think of a long list of people with motives for homicide, and so can the police. Unfortunately, at the top of the list is Daphne’s sister, Piper—Steve’s latest wronged girlfriend.

Certain that Piper is innocent, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary, Daphne sets out to clear her sister’s name—and find Axis, Steve’s prize-winning chocolate Labrador, who went missing the night of Steve’s death. Aided by Socrates, her taciturn basset hound, and a hyperactive one-eared Chihuahua named Artie, Daphne quickly runs afoul of Detective Jonathan Black, a handsome and enigmatic newcomer to town, who has no appreciation for Daphne’s unorthodox sleuthing.

Can a free-spirited pet sitter, armed only with a Ph.D. in Philosophy and her two incompatible dogs, find the real killer before she becomes the next victim?

I love the premise and now I’m going to grab my tea and do a little reading before I have to get back to writing.

What are you reading today or what craft are you currently working on?

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