Happy New Year (well almost)

I'm home making potato soup for all my sick boys tonight. Joe fell victim to it first. A nasty cold/flu bug. He's been battling it since before Christmas. Then Fred (his dad) took it Thursday, and now Kurt today. Bless them…

I think they'll all be down with their meds and hot teas by 10PM at which time I'm planning on crawling into bed and continue writing toward "The End" on another first draft, then watch a Friday Night Lights (if I'm still conscious), and finally, read Psalm 139 before closing my eyes and calling it a year.

I pray that 2012 is a fabulous year for you. That God will guide your steps (and that you'll listen to him as he does, same for me), that he'll guard your families, keep you safe and healthy. But more than anything, I pray you'll be centered in the middle of his will for you, no matter what that is. Because there's no better place to be.

So grateful we're sharing this blink of eternity before "the best that's yet to come."

Tammy

Dinner Party Time

I love hosting dinner parties, and we held a fun one last night!

My dad, Doug, and his sweet wife Esta arrived yesterday afternoon for a belated Christmas celebration, and we gathered family and friends so they could meet Esta, and so she could meet them. And we had a blast!

Here are some glimpses from the evening. Oh! And I'll go ahead and confess...I took NO pics of the food. I'm fallin' down on the job, I know. Guess I was too busy getting it all together. We had lasagna with all the fixings. Delish!

I'm not great at creating centerpieces. I usually just run around grabbing stuff from other rooms in the house until I have something that I think works. At least somewhat.

My fun buddy Gayle, sweet daughter Kelsey, and wonderful SIL Denise

Me and Esta (she and Dad are sooo happy together, which is wonderful to see)

Love seeing Dad so happy again. What a blessing!

We laughed just a little bit. : )

Then opened presents, with Jack "helping"

Our kids (Kelsey and Kurt) along with Dad and Esta

Some of the guys were MIA during picture taking time due to a certain football game with Baylor playing, so we'll have to nab their pics next time. 

And now for a funny (but useful) app that Kelsey introduced me to this weekend. It's called RunPee (LOL)! Have you heard of it before? I hadn't. Here's the gist (as taken from iTunes):

"The RunPee.com app tells you the best time to run and pee during a movie without missing anything important. Besides that, it lets you know if there is anything extra after the end credits and even gives you a synopsis of the first 5 minutes of a movie in case you're running late. The built in timer helps you see how the peetimes are spaced in the movie and quickly get a reading on how long you have to wait until the next peetime. The best part is that the timer will vibrate your phone before each peetime. Now you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the movie."

ROFLOL. I got so tickled. But really, the app proved useful during War Horse this past weekend, and it's free! So head over to iTunes and grab it (so you'll know when to pee).

Now tell me, what's a favorite app of yours?

Tammy

A favorite 2011 Christmas memory

Join me at Writes of Passage today where I'm sharing one of my favorite 2011 Christmas memories...

Another Christmas passed

Morning friends! Can you believe it? Another Christmas come and gone...

I'm up before the sun, the house is quiet, and I'm jumping into writing, but I want to wish you a happy start to your week. I hope your Christmas was a warm time with family and friends, and that you're ready for the the New Year––that's going to be here in a blink! More about 2012 later this week, but for now, here are some glimpses from Christmas at our house, and then a cute video to give you a grin as you start the last week of 2011!

Our "family" gift this year––Columbia jackets. So comfy!

We really enjoyed having Joe's dad, Fred, with us this year too.

And the traditional "piggy back" pic of our kids, who I love so much.

And of course, pics of our desserts. My Mom's Coconut Cake. Delicious!

And the Praline Pecan Pie that I first shared here. Fabulous! (And is the breakfast of champions!)

And finally, the video. It's called the Ultimate Dog Tease. If you haven't seen it yet, it's really cute. Enjoy!

Blessings on your week!
Tammy

Christmas Bundles--and scents!

Saw this video this morning and it gave me a smile. Makes me want to go hug Jack!

So…are any of you expecting––or giving ––a Christmas bundle like this this year? So fun!

I'm busy writing today, working toward "The End" of the first draft of my next novel. Still a long ways to go but I'm getting there. It's an overcast, chilly day here in Nashville, the house is quiet, and I'm off to build a fire in the keeping room, and hoping to finish a chapter today and write another. High hopes for this "not fast" writer.

I'm putting some simmering spice on the stove too. Love the way that makes my house smell. Mmmmm..... Do you have a favorite simmering spice recipe? Here's the one I'm using, and it makes the house smell as if you've been baking up a storm (whether you have or not).

Cozy Christmas Scent

3 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks

3 bay leaves

1/4 cup whole cloves

1/2 lemon, halved

1/2 orange, halved

1 qt water

Combine all ingredients in a tea kettle or 1 or 2 quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer as long as desired. Check often and add water as needed. Mixture may be stored in refrigerator for several days. Enjoy! (Now off to eat the other half of that orange. And the lemon? It's destined for some sweet iced tea in one of these special glasses.)

Warm Christmas wishes from my corner of Nashville,
Tammy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Great, now I have that song stuck in my head! : )

Hope everyone's enjoying a great start to their week and that you're ready for a very Merry Christmas. But ready or not, here it comes, huh? 

I just finished wrapping some last minute gifts and tucked them under the tree so, in that regard, I'm almost ready. More than anything though, I'm looking forward to the Christmas Eve service on Saturday and to sitting with other believers and adoring a Savior who loves us enough to have taken on our fleshly, fragile form and live among us. God with us. Emmanuel.

I've been thinking a lot about Elizabeth (from Luke 1) and her part in the coming of Christ. I posted about her on Friday, if you'd like to read those thoughts.

We attended a family wedding this weekend in Kennett, Missouri (where my husband's sister, Beverly Burcham, lives with her sweet family), and we got my niece, Brook Burcham, and her handsome fiancee, Jeremy Hughes, married in a beautiful ceremony with a fabulous reception afterward. Truly was a great family time.

Here's a glimpse of Brook and Jeremy at the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. So in love!

Pretty happy lookin' couple! And get this: they've known each other since they were around eight years old, and have been "together" for over ten years (liking each other and then eventually dating). So cool!

I wrote in the car on the way there and then back again, and even stayed in the hotel room on Saturday night and managed to get a few more pages in then too. I...am...LOVING this story and am eager to share it with you, which will be next fall.  It's great because I actually know more about this story (as I'm writing it) than I've ever known about a story I'm writing before. And it's a good thing because there's lots to keep up with!

Before I duck back to Nashville 1866 again, I'll share some quick glimpses of Christmas around the Alexander home...

I know, I know... But the lions near our front door get ornery 

if you don't dress them up 

(Naila, this one's for you, babe, in memory of Colorado days)

Sweet blessings on your week and remember to take time to breathe and enjoy the time with family and friends. Who really cares if the house is perfectly neat or if that cake comes out "Southern Living worthy." The most important thing is being with family and friends and treasuring those moments, and lifting up our Emmanuel. God with us.

Tammy

Barren No More

About a month ago, Shannon Milholland of the blog Jesus and My Orange Juice (really insightful and welcoming place) asked if I’d be interested in writing about how a certain Biblical character speaks into my own personal Christmas story this year. 

Shannon gave me a brief list of names and my eye went to one.


Elizabeth.

The account about Elizabeth in Luke chapter one is brief, but revealing. She was older in life, barren, unable to conceive, and bore the shame of that unwanted distinction for years and years. Yet she enjoyed the honor of giving birth to the forerunner of our Savior at so untimely a place in her life. She was called righteous, along with her husband Zachariah, and was one of the first women to be...

Read the rest of the blog here, and have a blessed Friday!

Tammy

Bottoms up!

Look at what arrived in the mail yesterday from a sweet, sweet friend! Oh my goodness!

I just love wine glasses (never mind that I'm not that crazy about wine, go figure) and drink from them all day long. Sweet Southern Iced Tea never tasted so good as it does in a fancy wine glass. I say every day is a celebration so break out the fancy stuff and enjoy!

Within five minutes, I had those pretty little puppies washed and was sipping from one at my desk. So thank you, thank you, thank you to my sweet but also sometimes wonderfully snarky and always cantankerously beautiful friend (and author) Judy Miller. 

Here's sweet Judy

She visited me earlier this year and we ran around Nashville touring antebellum mansions and eating our way through mounds of comfort food and Sweet CeCe's frozen yogurt and Loveless Cafe's biscuits and cobblers. This woman got me into some serious trouble that weekend, but what fun she is! And ever so sweet too. 

Thank you, Judy. Love you, friend. Your gift arrived at just the right time too. Not an hour before the mailman knocked on my door, I had heard the song Christmas in Dixie (Mom's favorite) and was missing Mom so much. And then this hug from heaven...and from you arrived. So timely. And so appreciated. As are you!

P.S. Want to see a few more pics from my Hilton Head Writing Getaway last week? 

Forging Right Ahead

I love the historical research involved in writing the novels I write. Yesterday, as I was looking up a recent site I'd bookmarked on thoroughbreds, I came across another site I'd visited earlier this year on art forgeries.

In A Lasting Impression, the female protagonist, Claire Laurent, is an art forger, and the story unfolds as Claire seeks to leave behind the "falseness" in her life and strives to become more authentic.

Along that theme, did you know that…

In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre and "held" for two years by a forger?

The "single largest forger of art works in America" forged pieces by a number of well known artists from Rembrandt to Dali to Chagall, and was only caught when artist Hiro Yamagata was surprised to see "his own" painting hanging in a gallery?

Ely Sakhai ran a forgery business in the attic of his gallery where Chinese immigrants copied paintings by impressionists, and was only caught when, in 2000, two large auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, offered the same painting (Paul Gauguin's Vase de Fleurs) for sale at the same time?(Whoopsie...)

Read the entire article on these forgers and others. Very interesting!

It's pieces like this that I read and think start thinking, "What if..." And then often, stories are born! You could say that they ah…made a lasting impression on me. : )

Blessings on your Monday, and get ready! In between long stints of writing, I'm baking and will share pics and recipes here this week.

Tammy

Time to head home

As I mentioned on Monday, I've been "tucked away" all week long writing, writing, writing and have had a very productive week. I actually managed to get away this time, and Joe came along with me. It's been a definite working/writing getaway, but we've also managed to sneak in some fun during the past few days. Now it's time to head home, though, and as great as this has been, we're both ready for our own bed––and home.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, let me first say, thank you! And secondly, you may remember that Hilton Head was a favorite vacation spot for my parents when my mom was alive. Well, that's where Joe and I have been all week (interspersed are pics from our week), and it's my first time to come back here since our last visit in December of 2009.

After Mom passed away in August of that same year ('09), the entire family (my crew, Dad and my brother, Doug, and his family), the whole gang, decided to come here for Christmas that year, knowing Mom would have wanted us to keep up the tradition. But it was so hard...and we ended up leaving after about three days and haven't been back since. But knowing I needed some focused writing time (and in part to celebrate Joe's and my upcoming 27th Wedding Anniversary on the 15th), we decided to come here. And I'm glad we did!

I wasn't sure how it would be, being back here again where we shared so many great memories with Mom, but it's been a wonderful week. We've enjoyed lovely weather and walks on the beach. We've ridden bikes on the beach and around town too. And I've had some great writing time. So it's been a very successful and enjoyable week.

I love watching the birds on the beach. So cute!

But I can hardly wait to get home to my kids, and to Jack! Here's a pic of "Jack being sad because his 'mommy' is gone" that Kurt sent us earlier in the week. LOL! Believe me, as long as Jack gets his Kong with his treats, I guarantee you I'm not being missed overmuch.

It's time to pack up and head home! I'd appreciate prayers for safe travel, and for Joe not to strangle me when I ask him to stop through Starbucks on our way out of town. I'm craving some of Southern Plate's Cold Brewed Coffee but since I can't have that, Starbucks will have to do! 

Blessings this Friday,

Tammy

Deb Raney's French Bread...oh yum!

I'm currently tucked away for a week of intense writing so I'll be a tad quieter this week than usual, but I'm still around and still reading. Just not commenting as much. But I wanted to share a bread recipe that Deb Raney shared with me recently. It's as heavenly to make as it is to eat.

I love making bread. It's an entire sensory experience. As Barney Fife used to say, "It's therapetic!" : )

Here's the recipe as I got it from Deb...

Deb Raney’s French Bread

Combine:


1/4 cup sugar


2 rounded t. of salt


1/8 cup butter or magarine



Add:
2 cups boiling water and let cool till lukewarm



Dissolve:
2 envelopes yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and add 1 rounded t. sugar.



Combine all ingredients in large bowl (I use a Tupperware Thatsabowl) and work in 6 cups unbleached plain flour.

Let rise in bowl, punching down with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes for 5 times. 

Divide into 2 balls and let rest on floured countertop for 10 minutes. 

Shape into long French bread loaves and place on greased cookie sheets (You’ll probably have to use one cookie sheet for each loaf and place them diagonally. Or make 4 smaller loaves and bake two side-by-side on each pan.) With sharp knife, slice the dough diagonally 1/2 inch deep at 2-3 inch intervals.



Let rise on counter until double in bulk (about 20-30 minutes). Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees until crust is golden brown. Remove from pan immediately. (For extra crusty bread, brush with mixture of one beaten egg and 1 T. milk before baking. I rarely do this...we kind of like the softer top.)



Just before serving, slice bread, butter between every two pieces. (Use garlic butter if desired.) Wrap in foil and heat in 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. 

We like ours with jelly. On the outside chance that there is a CRUMB left after the first day, it makes dynamite toast or French toast.

Here's mine before I popped it into the oven...

And here's how it came out...

And Deb's right, it's fabulous for French Toast. I substituted a little wheat flour to mine (we're just that way) and it turned out wonderfully! Oh, and served with honey, all warm from the oven, this bread is to die for!

Hope you enjoy, and I'd love to know when you make it and how yours turns out.

Blessings on your week! 

Tammy

P.S. Check out the USAToday Interview about A Lasting Impression! 

Burning brightly once again

As most of you may know, my precious mom went Home in August 2009 after a brief battle with gallbladder cancer. God blessed us with some amazing last days here together that I treasure and that I'll always carry with me.

My mom gave me her wedding ring before she passed, and that's something I wear everyday, and that I look at often as I remember her. Something else that I got when Mom passed was a Bundt cake candle. What is that, you say? It's exactly what it sounds like. A candle shaped like big Bundt cake, LOL. See?

Mom kept it on her sideboard in the dining room on a pretty white cake plate (which was "so Mom") and would burn it on special occasions. Well, in the past two years since Mom's been gone, I've burned that candle down to the nubs, loving the smell and thinking of her each time I lit it.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I needed to throw it away. There was no use in keeping it anymore. But...I couldn't do it. I started crying there by the trash can and so I put it back on the cake plate and back on the sideboard. Then I started thinking…

I had no idea where Mom got that candle but I know Google, so I got on the internet and googled "Bundt Cake Candle" and found a company that made them. Ordered one that was similar to Mom's and it just came! Isn't it pretty?

And––I love this––as it turns out, it's the same company that made Mom's. (If only I'd turned the original candle upside down and peeled off the lace doily that Mom had put on the bottom that had stuck to the candle over time, I would've seen that. Duh!) But I love that little "happenstance."

I lit the candle for the first time yesterday and it's burning brightly as we speak....

I wish I could say that I threw away the old one, but...I'm not quite ready to do that just yet. I wrapped it in foil and stuck it in my hutch. Someday it'll be the right time. But not yet. And that's all right. Because I'm burning brightly again and the aroma of precious memories of a precious mom are filling my house. And my heart. 

Blessings on your weekend,

Tammy

P.S. I found the package of doilies in Mom's hutch after she passed, so I have a supply of those for many Bundt Cake Candles to come! Thanks, Mom.