Novel Title Survey

So did you know I wrote a novel? Yeah, I did. Crazy. But what is crazier than that is that I am now on this twisty-curvy roller coaster ride of publishing. The Lord totally knew this was coming, but I have been blind-sided by it... if you can call it that, because it's in a good way.

So I'm on a steep learning curve. And I am enjoying the journey.

At this part of the journey we are in the titling phase. The publisher would like to take a survey to see what YOU think of the title ideas.

Can you take this survey and tell them what you think? It is just 2 questions.
 https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VGDTVYZ

Survey is closed now...thanks to all who participated.

End of the School Year

How lucky I am to have something

that makes saying goodbye so hard. 

-A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

It's the end of the school year. Just like every school, some students are leaving, moving away, and some are staying. But I think that international schools are pretty unique in that there are SO many who leave, both teachers and students. It is an emotional time for almost everyone, even if they don't show their emotions. Not only is the entire Senior Class graduating and spreading out all over the world, many of the faculty, staff, and other students are moving far away as well. 

Next year will be different. We all disperse for the summer. Many of us will return, but it won't be the same. New people will be here. A new year means more than just new books, new paint, new schedule. New for international schools means new teachers, new staff, new students...all who will be going through culture shock. New is good. But new is also different.

How blessed our family is to have made some good friendships. That's what makes saying goodbye so hard. But it's worth it, and we look forward to the new and the good that God has for us next year. 

If you are saying farewell, be thankful to have had the special friendships that makes saying goodbye so hard.

Puzzling Pictures: Barbecue Pit or a Tub bath?

Creativity. This is how we roll in Malaysia!

Shout Out to Fractions!

Lessons learned today:

1. Never let your brain go on cruise-control even when using a tried-and-true recipe
2. Common sense and little red flags that go up in your brain are gifts from heaven. Pay attention to them.
3. Well, I think that's pretty much it.

Today I cooked for two different sets of folks. Why not double the recipe and just use half for one set and half for the other. Why that is an excellent idea, I think I'll do that. 

And why not use a well-liked recipe so that I know it will be a guaranteed good meal for all involved in eating it. Why that is another excellent idea. Let's do it!

So I begin preparing oven fajitas, a recipe I found on Pinterest. So far everyone has loved it. Awesome. Here I go. I start mixing up the spices that will be used to marinate the chicken. As I begin measuring out the various spices I say to myself,

"Hmmm, that seems like a lot of spices. I don't remember that...well, it must be because I have doubled the recipe. Yes, that's it."

A few spices later...

"Wow, that really seems like a lot. Well, I think I have more spices in the cabinet this time than I did last time. I must have skipped some of the ingredients last time. OK, I'll just keep on, I mean, I've made this many times and I know it's good."

I finally get to "Cayenne Pepper" which is one of the spices I did not have before. My brain is thinking about switching to cruise-control. My eyes register "8 tsp". Wow, that is a lot. I start measuring it out. Doubling the recipe, of course, will mean 16 tsp. Really? Wow. By tsp number 4 I think,

"Hmmm, that really is a lot." 

I dip my finger into the cayenne pepper and taste it, yep, it's pretty spicy. I think I'll stick with 3 tsp. I try to dig out what I can from the pile of spices I've dumped into the bowl to get the cayenne pepper down to a lesser amount.

Ok, marinate chicken. It's all in the pan and ready to bake. I double check the recipe for the amount of time to bake. That's strange. It's not on the recipe. I look it up on the internet site. That's when I notice the spice amounts are different on the internet recipe. When I go back to check the recipe I am using on Pinterest, I see that the TOP number of the FRACTION is way off in the left-hand margin, nowhere near the recipe itself. That leaves the bottom number over by the recipe. So instead of 1/2 Tablespoon of chili powder, for example, I read "2 Tablespoons". But I am doubling the recipe, so I dump in 4 Tablespoons. You can see then, that when I got down to the Cayenne Pepper (after dumping about half my spice cabinet into the bowl) I read 8 teaspoons instead of 1/8 teaspoon. That's a big difference Yo!

I look at the chicken. It is literally already baking under the heat of the cayenne attack. I think I hear it sizzling right there on the cabinet. My face burns. My hands burn. I glance at the guests in the living room. I think about the others who are innocently waiting for me to bring them a home cooked meal. This stuff is fire and I am pretty sure it's more spice than chicken at this point.

Hmmmm...

I rinse the chicken. I dump it all into a mixing bowl and rinse it. No joke it takes about 5 cycles before the water is no longer orangey-red and the spices are mostly gone.

Start over. Wow, it sure does look more reasonable now. 

1/2 teaspoon salt instead of 2 teaspoons (doubled to 4)

1/4 teaspoon onion powder instead of 4 teaspoons (doubled to 8)

You get the idea. Whew, I baked it and it turned out just fine.

Disaster averted.

Fractions are important y'all. Numerators are vital. You can't just use the denominator.

Lesson learned.

Way Back When

Way back when, I wrote this in my journal:

August 12, 2009
(A friend) asked me yesterday if I would write down some of my thoughts of my time here. Encouragement for new ladies here. It got me to thinking more and more about this "book" of mine. Lord, I want to keep placing this in Your hands. Would You have me print it quickly and cheaply for the ladies of (Land of Sand), or go through a self-publish? And of course, Lord, it's not actually written yet! I ask for the guidance, the inspiration, and the time to write!

***

About a year later I had written Villa in the Hilla and our generous home church made 200 copies. By then we were in Texas and I mailed about 100 or 150 of them to "The Land of Sand" but they floated around the world in their cardboard box and ended up back at our house in Texas! So then friends had to hand-carry the books in. By then I'd discovered the beauty of Amazon's Digital publishing as well as Createspace which is where they also publish hard-copy books. By then we'd given away all 200 copies, so this was a new and great way to continue distributing.

The goal of Villa in the Hilla has always been to get it out to people who wanted to read it. Amazon helped us do this. So, as most of you know from recent posts, I made it a free download for five days. I am happy to report that Villa in the Hilla was downloaded 997 times! I am so happy!

I am hoping that anyone who likes it will also check out the next book Cottage in the Kampung. It is also a devotional book but is about Asia rather than Africa.

Free Just A Little Bit Longer

Villa in the Hilla FREE

Villa in the Hilla for Kindle is free on Amazon until May 25. Download it today if you haven't yet and pass the word! You can get your free copy here.

Also, check out this little video.

An Open Letter to the Wall Lizards in My House

Dear Cicaks (wall lizards) in My House:

I don't see you around a lot, but I know you are here. By the amount of poop you leave on the floor, you either have huge parties at night while we are sleeping, or you have serious digestive issues. Either way, I'd like to bring up a few problems that I see with our living arrangement.

You have never offered to pay rent and that is OK with me. I've never asked you to. But I feel it is very reasonable to ask for you to earn your keep. When I see mosquitoes in the house it is proof to me that you are not doing your job. If you want to hang out on our walls, please eat our mosquitoes.

Secondly, I would like to discuss your toilet habits. Poop stuck on the wall leaves stains. Please don't do that any more. Please find a location outside to do your business. I know you go outside at some point. I know this because there are more and more cicaks coming to live in our house. So you either leave the house at some point, or you are sneaking on my computer and tweeting my address to wall lizards everywhere.

And finally, I don't know what sorts of parties you are having at night, but when I find a tipsy cicak in the morning who can't even stick to the wall and falls splat on the floor in front of me...well, frankly it startles me and grosses me out simultaneously. It is just such an incident that has prompted me to write you this letter.

So, dear cicaks who live in my house: please...eat more, poop outside, and please please quit falling splat on the floor.

Sincerely,
The Folks Who Provide the Many White Walls You Live On