Find Your Chances

Easter ended up being a pretty low key affair for me this year.  Although we were not having a big family gathering, I still did a few activities to get me in the holiday spirit.  On Saturday, I baked Easter Nest Cookies.

Basically, they’re macaroons topped with Hersey’s chocolate eggs.  I don’t think they turned out too bad for a first try, and they were quite tasty too. I have made one resolution though.  I refuse to cook with marshmallow again.  Marshmallow is delicious, but a pain to use in any recipe.

I also dyed Easter eggs Martha Stewart-style.  Martha doesn’t dye her eggs.  She marbleizes them.  The trick?  Add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to the color tablet and vinegar mixture.

They didn’t exactly turn out the way Martha’s eggs did, but then again, has ANYONE really been able to replicate Martha’s crazy-difficult crafts?

Unfortunately, a few members of my family got hungry Sunday evening and decided to have egg salad sandwiches.  We’re now down to only a few Easter eggs.

Easter wasn’t without its surprises.  No, the Easter bunny didn’t show up. But, I did receive a lovely surprise from Jared.

Easter Lilies!

They were delivered to my house on Easter morning, and I’ve been enjoying them ever since. Flowers and lots of chocolate in one day = A Very Happy Kate

Hope you all had a festive and enjoyable Easter with your family and friends!

I was scanning one of my favorite blogs, BookNinja, and  discovered that I can become a superhero.  No, really, it’s true!  Here’s the proof:

Well, there’s a resemblance, at least.  I love that I can pull off a latex bodysuit in cartoon form. I must admit that it was a difficult choice between the samurai sword and the laser whip.  I went with the whip because it went with my outfit so well.

Want to be a superhero too? Get your new identity and super powers here.

My grandfather passed away 25 years ago when I was just 3 years old. But while he was alive, he carried with him in his wallet a copy of the poem, The Man in the Glass. Since I was just three years old when he died, I don’t remember him very well, but the many stories I have heard about him from my grandmother, mother, father, aunt and uncle leads me to believe he was a funny, sincere, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. I imagine he took the words below to heart each and every day of his life, leaving behind family, friends, and colleagues who were blessed to know a very good man.

When you get what you want in your struggle for gain
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The one whose verdict counts most in you life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be the one who got a good break,
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you’re only a fake
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the one you must satisfy, beyond all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow (c) 1934
1895-1954

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Read: March 2009

Description:

Set in the aftermath of World War II, Juliet Ashton, a single, thirty-something writer, is looking for her next book subject. So when Dawsey Adams, a native of Guernsey, the British Island once occupied by the Nazis, finds Juliet’s name in a used Charles Lamb book and strikes up a correspondence with Juliet, she discovers a whole community  that peaks her professional and personal interest. Dawsey and his neighbors exchange letters with Juliet, detailing their lives under Nazi rule including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club formed as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the Germans. Through their letters, Juliet learns about the island, the members’ taste in books, and the powerful impact the German occupation had on the Guernsey inhabitants’ lives.  Captivated by their stories, Juliet sets sail for Guernsey and finds not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life.

My Thoughts:

This book came highly recommended, and I feel  it lived up to the hype. A departure from the typical style of historical fiction, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is written as a series of letters. The format of the book is surprisingly refreshing. At first, I thought that these letters would not be as satisfying for the reader as a typical narrative format and jump haphazardly from character to character, but the authors were able to convey a cohesive, thoughtful story using this unique storytelling technique.

The entire book is written in the first person, yet the reader hears from a new “first person” in each letter. The letters have a unique way of communicating each character’s personality. Juliet’s letters in particular are witty while Dawsey’s letters effectively convey his sincerity.

The one hurdle I had with this book was liking the character Elizabeth as much as the authors wanted me to like her. I was not at all satisfied with Elizabeth’s fate.  I actually had a hard time sympathizing with her given that I felt her final decision that determines her fate completely disregarded her responsibility as a mother. Elizabeth was a very corageous woman yet in all her concern for others she forgets the one person who truely needs her love and devotion — her daughter, Kit.

Oops!  This weekly post is a day late.  But I have a good reason — my MacBook went haywire on me last night!  Basically, I was staring at a black screen with an ominous error message.  I spent almost two hours on the phone with Apple support. Fortunately, I was able to get back to my desktop after reinstalling Mac OS X, and so far, it doesn’t look like I lost any files.

Anyway, I wanted to share this quote, which I found on Real Simple’s Daily Thought web page:

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

–Joseph Campbell

I cerntainly agree that life happens while your busy making plans! Like last night, I had planned to park myself in front of the television to watch Lost and write this blog post, but, my computer had other ideas.  So, instead, I had a two hour conversation with a very nice Apple employee who helped me save my computer