Just For Fun!

13 Chocolate Mocha Recipes

deborahanndykeman

Okay, anyone that knows me, knows that I love chocolate. My husband and our youngest daughter know not to leave any sitting around the house. Chocolate must not be saved for later eating! That is a no-no! So when I saw these pictures, I just had to share with all of you. Agatha Chocolats@agathachocolats is a great site for chocolate visuals and recipes, as well as many other great reads. Check it out after you read this post from the site.

I have some serious cravings going on now! Enjoy this and your Friday afternoon. With a cup of coffee of course!

A Day to Remember, Parenting 101

Shopping Is…

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For many, many years, Walmart was my place to shop. I was thrilled that I could go to one place and find everything that I needed for the week. And yes, I went every week. I would generally start in the garden section in the warmer months, browsing the plants and looking for deals. Then would come the shampoo and toothpaste aisles. Of course I would swing through the clothes section, always shopping the clearance racks. Then the last, and most expensive part of the trip would be the groceries. This was my routine and I thoroughly enjoyed it, sometimes dragging several children along with me.

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Last night, my husband and our youngest went to Walmart. Long gone are the days I mentioned above! That store is now my least favorite, and I don’t even know all the reasons why. But of course I’m going to list a few here for your enjoyment! And remember, for the past several years, even getting me into a Walmart is a chore.

  • The prices are not what they once were. Yes, there are some deals still. I usually get my Tide and Downey there. Some things like mini-blinds and curtain rods are still reasonable.
  • Gone are the racks of children’s clothing on clearance with prices marked down to $.50 for a shirt or shorts. I once shopped a full season ahead, praying the clothes would still fit by the time our children could wear them without freezing or roasting. To be fair, prices are higher for everything everywhere. But last night, the clearance rack was not a deal. I know because I had just spent the better part of my day shopping online for children’s clothing. I found better deals there.
  • The atmosphere is not the same as it once was. Maybe I’m coming at it with a different perspective now. My days are fairly quite with a twelve-year old at home. Going shopping isn’t a calming experience. I think that all those hours spent in Walmart were my salvation, my opportunity to connect with the rest of the world and know there was one out there! It was my little treat, and all it cost me was the price of my groceries.
  • People everywhere are over-worked, over-stressed, over-stimulated and just plain depressed about their lives in general. That just kind of oozes out when you are in places like Walmart in my opinion. The clerks usually growl at you, the customers don’t make eye-contact, even if their phone isn’t in front of their face. It just isn’t a fun place to be. And if you are there late as we were last night, the truck is being unloaded…and don’t try to shop then! You have to be one fantastic cart-driver to get around that obstacle course! And don’t even think of browsing a shelf. If you can move the pallet of boxes in front of what you need, you’d better be quick. That Walmart associate has a job to do, and you’re not part of it.

Farmer’s Markets seem to be calling me. When I had several children trailing behind, they didn’t feel like a responsible way to spend my money or time. I wanted to leisurely choose my goods in that environment, maybe sip on a coffee and have a bagel as I chatted with other friendly people and vendors. Plus, to purchase in bulk and get all my shopping done in one place probably wasn’t going to happen at a farmer’s market when all five children were at home.

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This photograph reminds me of a place called the Carrot Barn. It was located in Schoharie County, upstate New York in the Catskills region. The place smelled earthy and fresh. There was local produce, some clothing, some antiques and always a friendly person. They even had delicious baked goods. And there was always music playing. Calming, soothe-your-soul music. Even to this day, our children will hear a song and comment that it sounds like Carrot Barn music.

Those are the memories I want to make now!

This last picture is included because I just think that’s neat! What a way to store shopping carts! Try getting one of those unlocked!

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Shopping should be as it once was. Picture the Waltons, barefoot children trailing into the store greeting Mr. Godsey. They always had something to talk about, he gave them candy. Sometimes he would make a special purchase possible, even when the money wasn’t there right then. Going to the store was a time to visit, to catch up on the town’s happenings. I can even smell the atmosphere…the earthy, fresh aroma of ground coffee beans, leather, spices and the oiled wood floor. And now…

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Writing

The Story Is There

deborahanndykeman

Have you ever looked at a picture, and wanted to know the story behind it? It could be an old painting, or a photograph. I’ve seen pictures and I want to jump right into that time, hear the conversation taking place before the camera captured that image. Feel the temperature of the air on my skin, smell the aroma of the room, or the flowers the couple was standing beside.

Yes, I’m probably strange. I’ve been told so before. But it doesn’t really bother me anymore to fit into the little box others think I should be in. Everyone experiences life in different ways, and that is good. So these days, (most of the days since I turned fifty a few years ago), I just float along with some of those thoughts and feelings I have when it comes to creativity. It has helped me to write and publish five books so far!

Pictures say a lot. holding-hands-1772035_1920

This one speaks to me of young love, hope and a future. It is autumn, shown from the colors of the leaves on the trees. I think the sun is setting, but it could be rising. The train tracks lead you to believe there is more, a road to travel, life to experience. This picture makes me feel happy with a touch of melancholy. thunderstorm-2077667_1920

Of course the first thought for this one is something dark and sinister. I love the house, but not the setting, even on a bright, sunny day. It looks flat and somehow wild…and very lonely. The flashes of lightning don’t help the entire feeling of something bad about to happen. But I still love the picture and all the emotions it stirs up. relax-705817_1920

Peace is felt when I look at this one. I think it’s early morning, the mist on the water. It reminds me of an Adirondack lake. I actually saved this one to use for a meme on my third book in the Rubyville series, A Place to Heal. Much time in the book is spent on Lake George in upstate New York. There is a dock with chairs just like these. I could spend a lot of time here with my eyes closed, smelling the clean, fresh air, and listening to the sounds of the water lapping at the boards.

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I love country churches. Especially if they are white or stone. I prefer them nestled in a little valley with trees shading the steeple, but this one is intriguing. Just think of the stories this one could tell! A young couple on their wedding day, the wind whipping the bride’s veil as they climbed into the buggy to begin their future. There is a thought.

But of course, photographs of those we love are the most special of all. This one was taken of our grandchildren on Easter Sunday. They are all below the age of seven, and they each have a story to tell, a future to experience. My mind races with the possibilities of the thoughts in their little heads. There is a story to tell…18090708_10155275580618804_513646526_o

Writing

Thanks to Editors

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Editing, a very slow and painful process in my opinion. But it is a very needed one. It gives the writer and the editor a chance to find all those little mistakes and typos. Some that would have been read over by a reader engrossed in the story, or others that would have caused a person to come to a screeching halt.

I appreciate my editor. She is also our oldest daughter, so that is unique in the editor/writer experience. We are able to sit down together, and she reads my book out loud. Those mistakes jump to attention then. We are able to rewrite, correct, and talk about changes immediately. And that is also unique. I have a very good set-up for my writing, but it is still…slow.

And all of the above is the easy part. After we finish going through the book, reading it out loud, Britta Ann will then spend hours going meticulously through each page, checking sentence structure, word usage, and spelling. She will format and make the interior look pretty. Yes, I have the easy part!

Thank you to all editors out there. You are greatly needed by us writers. We appreciate you, even if we think you are a bit crazy with the red pen at times!

So, just a quick note to let you all know that I am here…just a little overwhelmed right now. Have a great evening!

A Quick Thought, Just For Fun!

Killer Uno, for Real!

deborahanndykeman

Yes, it is two in the morning. I could probably sleep, but with the Easter weekend just past, a little more kitchen renovation squeezed in, and book edits this next week, my social media is taking a hit. So I thought, I’ll just take a couple hours to get everything up-to-date and I’ll be snoozing in no time. Wrong answer on that one!

For some reason, the world wide web is taking a break and all traffic is down to a snail’s pace. Not that I have a problem with a snail’s pace at times. Just not when I’m sleep-deprived. My yahoo won’t delete or load, my wordpress won’t save, and I couldn’t leave feedback on Ebay. So, I’ve drummed my fingers, contemplated which pots to put my plants in and sighed…a lot, waiting for this technology to get moving. So this may post, or not.

By the way, if you would like to have a chance to win the first book in the Rubyville series, A Place to Call Home, please go to Goodreads and enter the giveaway right here. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28917938-rubyville?from_search=true I will be giving away three signed copies from a random drawing by Goodreads. The giveaway will last until May 17th. If your name is chosen, you will receive a printed copy with the correct cover. I have had a real struggle to get the cover changed on Goodreads and it’s still showing with the older cover! On May 1st, a giveaway will begin for the second book in the series, A Place of Refuge. This will last for one month as well, same rules. The third and fourth books will also be given away beginning on the 15th and 29th of May. I’m so excited to see how many sign up for the giveaway! As of about an hour ago, eighty people have entered the giveaway that began on Monday!

Now that business is taken care of, back to what I wanted to post about. You’ve all heard of Uno, the rather boring card game. To be fair, it is great for children. They can match numbers and colors, learn how to skip a person and play in reverse. But for an adult, you could be taking a snooze with your chin on the table before you know it. Not too exciting! Last night, our second oldest and her husband taught us how to play Killer Uno. After a few bruises, cuts and scrapes and a very high score for us over-fifty challenged group…and points are not a good thing in this game, I can say it was a lot of fun. Why we began playing it around ten in the evening, I do not know. That was a definite challenge for moi. Colors of cards and numbers were kind of blurring together. After a few ‘draw four’ wild cards piled on my turn while my arthritic fingers sorted them into some kind of order, I just sat cross-eyed. No, I did not win. I think I lost. At least I had the highest score. Yippee! No, that’s another game.

I would like to play Killer Uno sometime again. Sometime when I’m alert, sometime when I can remember my colors and the difference between a six and a nine. That little line means something, right?

Off to bed I go with visions of snails dancing in my head. Well, I assume they dance, at a snail’s pace! I think this one would. He looks pretty adventurous! snail-2084656_1920

And now my internet connection is gone…this is not meant to be!

 

 

Writing

Yecheilyah’s Book Reviews – To Thee I’m Wed by Deborah Dykeman

deborahanndykeman

Thank you, Yecheilyah for such a wonderful review! I just had to share it on here! Pick up a copy of To Thee I’m Wed, and readers, let me know what you think! I love hearing from you!

Yecheilyah's avatarThe PBS Blog

Title: To Thee I’m Wed

Author: Deborah Dykeman

Print Length: 239 pages

Publication Date: December 29, 2015

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ASIN: B019YT5NC2

*I received this book as a gift from the author*

When Jason and Kathy Miller marries in June of 1985, they are in total bliss. As any young couple is they are happy and giddy and excited to start their lives together. They are so happy in fact, that even at the beginning I knew things would not be all peaches and cream.

Twenty years and three children later and the fire dies. Once happy-go-lucky Kathy is starting to feel unfulfilled. The life of a Housewife is now just her duty where it had once been so much more. It had once been fun. Now that the children are older, Kathy seeks work to rekindle the excitement in her life but her husband…

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Gardening

Short and Sweet

deborahanndykeman

I love color! Vibrant hues that make you feel cheery on the inside. I especially enjoy them in spring after a long winter. Crocus peeking through the brown grass of winter make me smile. The tulips that follow those little flowers beckon me to my front door almost daily. I purposefully planted these two kinds of bulbs in a little area a few feet from our front door so I could look through the glass and watch spring bloom and grow.

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Aren’t these lovely? My husband, a very talented photographer, as I mentioned before, took a picture of these yesterday so I could share them with you. Pretty good for a phone camera!

The lilacs have bloomed. They smell sweet in that corner of the yard, the honeysuckle shrubs next to them contributing to the aroma. For me these seem like old-fashioned flowers and they make me think of days-gone-by. Just the mention of lilacs sends their enticing fragrance through my head. The hosta and peonies are bigger every day and I sigh as I walk past them. Last autumn’s leaves are still blanketing their bed and soon the hosta will cover them. I’ll try to do better this fall!

I think I’ve heard that one before!

Just a short post to say, “Happy Spring!” I hope you’re enjoying your spring.

 

Gardening

The Yard in Bloom

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Periwinkle…what a pretty name for a delicate flower. I love the way it rolls over your tongue and giggles at the end. At least it does that on my tongue. But I’m a writer and I experience things differently than others, I’ve been told.

Yes, I finally made it out to the yard this afternoon. I was greeted by this cheery purplish blue flower that I planted in many areas of our yard. Each year it expands, trailing its vine over the yard, and that’s fine with me. Usually it blocks weeds pretty well, and then we don’t have to mow that area. A great plan! And a much better one than us making our yard into a vast expanse of cement, which I think was my husband’s suggestion. I have strategically planted many items over our ten years at this house. It is very pretty now, with little areas of flowers for each season. But it’s like mowing around land mines. And after a hard day of work, it doesn’t thrill my husband to stroll through my landscaping pushing the mower.

Right now, the daffodils, the grape hyacinths, periwinkle and tulips are displaying their colors. The hosta is uncurling it’s large leaves, and the peonies are poking long stalks through the moist earth. The rose of sharon received a good trimming, much over due. I pulled up the small elm trees that greet me every spring. At one time, I saved them all. Now I am heartless. I know what they become in just a couple of years. Tall lengths of greenery that need a chainsaw to keep them under control. I don’t have the energy anymore and our son-in-law is probably pretty  sick of them as well! Well, I must say I took mercy on three of them and planted them strategically. My husband was thrilled.

I scooped out water from my little pond. No frogs greeted me. A bit sad, but after our cold night last night, he probably thought it was winter again. He’ll be back to sing in a few nights. He loved all the rain. Maybe he’ll bring friends as he did one year. They sunbathed on the limestone surrounding the pond, jumping in when they saw me coming. The goldfish and the frogs seem to enjoy one another’s company.

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I had several of these, displayed just as this picture represents. I love the purple with the white. So did our granddaughters! For now I have none gracing my yard. I tried to show them the beauty of the tiny bells as you see above, but they were more fun to pluck from the green stem. Next year, they will return! (And I hope my grandchildren will as well!)

Yes, I made it out to the yard today. And I remembered why I once spent so many hours out there. I sat at my bistro table and breathed deeply of the cool air, and was very thankful for all the hard work I’ve put in over the years.  For now we have a yard that is welcoming to people, birds, frogs, and grandchildren. It’s tranquil, and in a couple of weeks, the sound of water falling in my pond will add to the delight.

Periwinkle…what a lovely name for a delicate flower. flowers-1265770_1920

Writing

A Wow Moment

deborahanndykeman

This past weekend, my editor, a.k.a. daughter, and I attended a writer’s conference in Pittsburg, Kansas. It’s the Called to Write Conference, held annually at the Lamplighter Inn and Suites. There is always a great turn-out for this event and the speakers are just phenomenal for a conference this size. This year, Kathy Ide http://kathyide.com/ and Twila Belk http://www.gottatellsomebody.com/ were the keynote speakers and they taught the workshops. They were terrific! Probably my favorite time over the few days was the Q&A on Friday night. It was just fun to watch these two women interact and answer questions. I learned so much!

The biggest take-away I had from this conference, was the gift I have been given with my writing. My writing is for a purpose, it sends a message, and I would pray it leads others to seek Christ. And that is a lot of responsibility! But, I couldn’t do anything else. I often wonder how I managed for so many years of my child-rearing days to not write. But our lives have seasons, and those years were not my writing season.

I was privileged to be able to donate A Place to Call Home for a door prize. Because of that donation, I was given the opportunity to share vocally about the book and the series. I think that’s the reason I was sold out of A Place to Call Home! That was very exciting for me! But to top that off, people even asked for me to sign their books. Yes, I know that is expected and a normal practice. But it’s still new enough to me that my jaw kind of drops and I want to ask, “You want me to sign your book?” I probably spelled my name wrong because my heart was pounding so!

During a quiet time, I was sitting in the garden room, looking out over the swimming pool. I was dreaming of my younger years, when the pool was all that mattered at a hotel. It’s been rather cold and rainy here in these parts, so swimming wouldn’t have been an option. Putting on a swim suit would have solved the ‘going swimming’ dilemma if any chance had been left. The woman standing among the trees approached me, apologizing for interrupting me during my retrospection. She asked if I would mind signing her copy of A Place to Call Home. Would I mind? Does chocolate taste good?

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Moments like these make writing so very special!

Yes, writing is a gift I have been given. But over and over, I have been the receiver of so much more in this writing journey. From the joy of working with our eldest daughter on editing, formatting and proofing, to our middle daughters giving their very needed suggestions on content. Our son reading the books has been great encouragement. And our youngest has been able to keep the house from tumbling down as I have sat in my office for hours at a time, glued to my chair. Hearing readers talk about my books, sharing them with others and reading reviews has gone beyond what I ever hoped to accomplish with my writing.

I have readers! Readers have asked me to sign their books! Wow!

Writing

Self-Publishing and Formatting Quick Tips

deborahanndykeman

I have just returned from a fantastic writer’s conference in Pittsburg, Kansas where I had the privilege to be a part of workshops taught by Kathy Ide and Twila Belk, or Twila Belk and Kathy Ide. (Now they each have first billing!) If you’ve been around writing, editing, publishing groups at all, you’ve heard their names. I learned so much! I am very thankful that editors, authors and speakers are willing to teach these workshops. So, when I read this post this morning, I just had to share it. More great information and so many helpful tips. Get out your notepad!

jorobinson176's avatarLit World Interviews

One of the biggest challenges to Indies is getting a professionally published looking book when up against the costs of editing, proofreading, formatting and cover designs. If you can afford these services then foregoing them is not a good idea, but when you really can’t afford them they can mean the death of some really great literature. There are a couple of things that can help though.

Editing or Proofreading Swopsies

Rather than simply asking for Beta readers, offer to swop proofreading services. Writers have a different kind of eyeball when reading. I’ve just finished a Joanna Trollope book, professionally published by one of the big houses, professionally edited and put together, but so far I’ve found a couple of typos and instances of poorly strung together sentences. As far as the cover design is concerned, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was specifically looking for and wanting…

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