Pin It and Do It: From My Yummy Food Board

Pin It and Do It: From My Yummy Food Board

by Carol11 Comments
Trish from Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity is hosting a neat challenge this month. As many of you have discovered, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can “pin” posts/sites you’d like to visit again, share the ideas with others, and repin what your friends have pinned. It's like a bulletin board, with all the things you want to make, do, remember, places you want to go, clothes you'd like to wear. The thing is that often I'll pin things and then never do them. Apparently Trish has the same problem, which is why her challenge is to "Pin It and Do It." I signed up as a timid pinner, with the goal of actually "doing" 1-3 of my pins. And here are my first two. I tend to pin a lot of recipes that look yummy, so I made two of the dishes that I found tempting, both from skinnytaste.com. Photos are from skinnytaste.com, as I apparently either forgot...
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Flash Fiction: En Pointe

Flash Fiction: En Pointe

by Carol4 Comments
En Pointe She's watching me from behind the glass, jealous, desperate. It's her turn to watch, alone, unloved. I spent so long, tucked away, hidden, my voice silenced, my dance stopped. Now I'm in in the spotlight. I move to the center of my large, mostly empty room, and continue to work. Plié, arms raised in a graceful curve. Chaînés, turning again and again as I travel across the floor. A slow stretch, raising my leg straight and high. The fouettés, quicker, harder. I push myself until I'm exhausted and I fall into the armchair. My long pale hair is damp with sweat,  but I feel exhilarated. I untie the satin ribbon of my shoes, unwrap them and slip them off. I take the pad off my toes. She had never truly cared about the ballet, had never put her whole heart and soul into it, as I was willing to. I hear her crying out again, a shriek of pain, but I ignore...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

by Carol9 Comments
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a story collected by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm and included in their Household Tales, first published in 1812. Twelve princesses, each more beautiful than the last, sleep in twelve beds in the same room; every night their door is securely locked, but in the morning their shoes are found to be worn through as if they had been dancing all night. The king, perplexed, promises his kingdom and a daughter to any man who can discover the princesses' secret within three days and three nights, but those who fail within the set time limit will be put to death. Notice the magical three again. Many princes take up the King's challenge, but each fails and has his head chopped off. A poor wounded soldier comes to the palace after several men have failed. While traveling through a wood he meets an old woman, the helper in this fairy tale, who gives him an invisibility cloak and tells him not...
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Favorite Fairy Tale Characters

Favorite Fairy Tale Characters

by Carol7 Comments
  A week or two ago, as part of a Thursday Tale/ Giveaway post, I asked people to tell me their favorite fairy tale character. I thought I'd share the results. A total of 42 characters were mentioned, not all of which I would actually have described as fairy tale folks, but I guess that's beside the point. Seven women received a majority of the love, maybe because so many people have seen the Disney movies. Here's how it broke down, with the characters and the number of times they were mentioned. Beauty / Belle - 38 Cinderella - 21 Little Mermaid / Ariel - 16 Sleeping Beauty / Aurora- 9 Snow White - 9 Red Riding Hood - 7 Rapunzel - 5 Hansel and Gretel - 3 Rumplestiltskin - 3 Puss in Boots - 3 Peter Pan - 3 Mad Hatter (from Alice in Wonderland) - 2 Shrek - 2 12 Dancing Princesses - 2 Matchstick Girl - 2 Beast - 2 Pinocchio - 2 Sister from 6 Swans - 2 Anastasia (from the 1997 movie) - 2 Mulan (from 1998 movie) - 2 Gretel...
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Review: Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms by Judy Christie

Review: Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms by Judy Christie

by Carol7 Comments
I'm sure I'm in the same position as a lot of moms out there. Live gets busy, so when I saw Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms by Judy Christie, I knew I had to read it. I'm the target audience, a Christian mom trying to juggle everything from work to hanging out with my family to finding time to exercise, not to mention laundry and dishes. Hurry Less, Worry Less for Moms is a practical, helpful book. There are ten short chapters, each with a different focus, but all leading to a more fulfilling, peaceful family life and becoming the mother, and woman, that you want to be. Each section follows a format. It starts with an encouraging word and an everyday step, then follows the discussion about the topic, whether it be peace, finding joy, or becoming organized, with actual practical advice, lists of ideas, advice from other moms. Then the chapter ends with a tip, a "mom's special...
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