IWSG Spooky Season Stories

 

If you're new to the IWSG, it's all about connecting and supporting other writers. Here is the official mission statement of the IWSG.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

 

The awesome co-hosts for the  October 2 posting of the IWSG are Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jacqui Murray, and Natalie Aguirre!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember, the question is optional

October 2 question - Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

I have to admit, I don't really like scary stories. But there are a couple stories that have never left my mind after I was exposed to them. 

The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe have always totally creeped me out. I'll never forget reading them in my 6th grade English class. 

In both of these stories, the narrator murders someone and hides the body in their house. In the Tell-Tale Heart, the body is dismembered and hidden under the floor boards. The narrator's wife, in The Black Cat, is hidden behind the brick wall. Both of these murders seem to have happened not because of any specific injury against the narrator but because of some type of mental illness that the narrator is battling. In the end of both stories, the subconscious guilt that each character struggles with pushes them further over the edge of sanity and they end up revealing themselves as the perpetrators of the crimes.

As a 6th grader, the thought of a body being hidden behind a wall or under the floor was horrifying enough but then, the paranormal aspects of the narrator "hearing" the beating heart of the dead man under the floor in Tell-Tale Heart and the white noose forming in the fur of the black cat and the constant scratching sound behind the wall in The Back Cat, really freaked me out! Anytime I was alone in the house and heard "weird" creaking or other sounds, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I wondered if something paranormal was occurring!

Even today, the movies that freak me out the most are combinations of paranormal and psychological horrors. They just get stuck in my head and I dream about them for weeks afterward! 

So when my husband watches spooky stories with our kids in October, I hide under the blankets with my ears plugged!! 

What spooks you the most? Do you watch scary movies every October?

In other news: 

It's been a crazy year so far. Our daughter Jess got married this June and we had such a wonderful time hosting so much of our family and friends. It was a beautiful day full of love and blessings! 

When the festivities were over, I finally had a little time to get back to normal life and start writing more.  I've been working on a couple of picture books and I'm also in the process of writing a cookbook. I'll be posting a bunch of recipes here that I'd love feedback on if you try them! 

Hope all of you are doing great and having a good year so far! Can't believe we're at the tail end of 2024 already!

Love,

Kathy :)

Foodie Friday: Easy Beef Stir Fry

Easy Ground Beef Stir Fry

My husband has been very motivated to get healthy this year by playing men's league hockey three times a week, weight lifting, and by eating right. He came home from weight lifting one night saying he wanted simple ground beef and veggies and that's it. That sounded kind of boring to me. So I thought, why not make it like a mix between a fried rice and a basic taco meat. Here's what I came up with. It is now my husband's favorite meal!

Let me know what you think!

Beef Stir Fry

1.5 pounds lean ground beef-- I use 92% lean (you can also use ground turkey)

1.5 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (if you like really spicy feel free to add more!)

1.5 tsp oregano

4 eggs (I use 2 eggs and 1/2 cup egg whites)

1/2 onion-finely diced

4 cloves garlic-finely chopped

About 8 mini red peppers thinly sliced

About 6 mushrooms/shitake or button work great in this

2-3 Tb vegetable oil-I've been using avocado oil lately

1.5 cups Spinach- rinsed, dried and chopped into ribbons (kale works too if you prefer)

Fresh parsley-optional

Cooked Rice

Teriyaki sauce drizzle on top

Jalapeno optional

Teriyaki Sauce:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup dark mirin

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Teriyaki Sauce Directions

Heat soy sauce and mirin in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a slow simmer and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Continue to simmer about 5-8 minutes until it thickens to desired consistency. Allow it to cool while making the stir fry, sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

Beef Stir Fry Directions

1. Start cooking rice.

2. Cut up onions, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach.

3. Put all the spices (cumin, salt, crushed red pepper, and oregano) in a little bowl and combine.

4. Crack eggs into a bowl and add egg whites.

5. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.

6. Add a Tb of oil to the pan.

7. Brown the ground beef.

8. Add all the spices and cook for another minute.

9. Remove ground beef from pan and pour into a large serving bowl.

10. Add more oil if necessary to the pan and saute the mushrooms and peppers for a minute or two and then add onions, and garlic and saute until fragrant and translucent.

11. While veggies are sautéing, whisk the eggs and egg whites together until fluffy.  

12. Add more oil to the pan if necessary and pour the eggs into pan.

13. Cook just until the eggs begin to set up.

14. Pour the beef back into the pan and fold into the eggs.

15. Cook until the eggs are fully cooked and distributed like in a fried rice mixture. Stir in fresh parsley if desired.

16. Pour back into the serving bowl. 

Serve over rice (or cauliflower rice for Keto) or by itself and drizzle with teriyaki sauce.

Enjoy!!

Book Review: Four Thousand Weeks Time Management For Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

I used to think of time management as a tool to accomplish the most amount of work in the most efficient manner. This book is not about that type of time management. It's not about productivity. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is an eye opening look at managing the time in our lives by choosing to spend our time doing the things that are really important to us instead of saying, "Oh I will work on my passion when I have more free time." So many people put off what they really want to do and then never get to it.

The average person lives approximately 4,000 weeks and that of course is if you're lucky to live into your 80s. That doesn't really seem like very many weeks.

If you have a dream, start working on it now.

I'm more than half done with my 4,000 weeks. I only have about 1296 weeks left. Maybe I'll have a little more time as I have two grandparents that lived into their 90s and my mom at 82 is still going strong. But the point is you never really know.

My task is to think about how I really want to spend what I do have left. Some people think this is a depressing way to think, or that it means you have to be working all the time. I see it more as liberating. Thinking about it makes me at least a little more present and grateful each day. Maybe some days I still want to sit back and watch some football with my husband, spend a day writing, or take a nice long nap, but the point is that I want to be consciously making those decisions instead of mindlessly going through the motions each day. I want to be present and choose what is important to me each moment.

What will you choose to do more of?

Kathy:)

New York: Love It or Hate It

View from a  rooftop bar

New York City. 

It seems that whenever I tell people I'm going to New York, I get two responses;

"Oh I just LOVE NYC!"

or "Oh really? I hate New York."

My husband and I adore it. Every chance we get, we escape our life in Cleveland and catch a quick flight to the Big Apple. For us it's only 59 minutes away. So as long as there are no delays or cancellations at the airport its super easy to get there. 

As soon as the Manhattan skyline comes into view we sigh, feeling somehow like we are home again. Though we both grew up in the Midwest and have lived in Ohio for 18 years. 

Yes, it is dirty especially on trash day. Yes, sometimes you will see an occasional rat running down by the subway tracks. Yes, it is crowded and there are homeless people lying on the sidewalk.

But 1.6 million people live in Manhattan alone and on weekdays the population swells to 3.9 million according to the World Population Review that's approximately 170,000 people/square mile on a workday.  If you count all five boroughs there are roughly 8 million people, double the amount of Los Angeles. Fun fact, there are also over 800 different languages are spoken in NYC! That's pretty cool!

Of course there will be problems with that many people. But there are so many positives. Here are just some of them.

1. You can pretty much find any type of food you could ever want to try. You can go as fancy as you want spending thousands on a meal, especially if there is alcohol involved, but there are plenty of cheap eat options. A few weekends ago, my husband and I stuffed ourselves with the most delicious pork buns and dumplings in Chinatown for under $20! 

Brunch is my favorite meal of the day and two of my favorite spots are Jack's Wife Freida and Balvanera. Hmm I'm getting hungry just thinking about them.

2. The entertainment available is infinite. From small intimate comedy shows, new plays, and less well-known bands to the glitz and glamour of Broadway, superstar performers like Billy Joel playing Madison Square Garden, or a night at Saturday Night Live. Oh and don't forget all the professional sports you can watch. They have it all, baseball, hockey, basketball and football, take your pick! You can find whatever type of entertainment suits you. 

3. Roof-top Bars. There is nothing like watching the sunset over the NYC skyline at a rooftop bar sipping a Negroni or a Paloma! 

4. There are an endless amount of beautiful cathedrals, historical museums, art museums, and historical places to visit, like Alexander Hamilton's grave and Fraunces Tavern and Museum which was a key meeting place in the Revolutionary War period. 

5. Shopping! You can buy anything you could possibly want in NYC. 5th Avenue has all the super fancy big name stores like Gucci, Dior, Tiffany, Bergdorf Goodman etc. Even if you're not buying they are fun to browse.

Brooklyn Bridge

6. The parks are great! Of course Central Park is the biggest of them all. You could spend an entire day there; walking around, enjoying the lake, taking a boat out on the water, just sitting in the grass having a picnic, getting your exercise by running or biking in the park, and there are pull up bars and other gymnastic work out equipment in some parts of the park. 

Washington Square Park is another of our favorites. We could spend hours sitting on a bench by the fountain simply enjoying the weather and people watching--and ooohing over all the cute doggies that walk through. 

7. We also love that NYC is such a great walking city. You would never have to take a car, you could walk pretty much anywhere, and when you're tired or in a hurry (or it's pouring down rain and you forgot your umbrella) you can always take the subway or grab an Uber. We have clocked over 20,000 steps in a day on some trips. 

After all New York City is one of the top destinations in the world to visit! We already can't wait for our next trip!

What do you think? Love it or hate it? What are your favorite spots in NYC?

Kathy :)

Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie has been my oldest daughter's favorite birthday treat for as long as we can remember. Today, she turned 28. So I made her another one.

This recipe is definitely more on the tart side, so if you don't like things super tart, cut down on the key lime juice. The first time I made it, I actually hand squeezed about 30 tiny key limes, which took forever! I decided either I was never going to make it again or I had to find a better way. That's when I discovered, "Nellie and Joe's, Famous Key West Lime Juice from concentrate"--a total game changer!

Ingredients:

28 Squares of honey graham crackers

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp of cinnamon

1 stick of unsalted butter-melted

2 cans of condensed milk

1 cup Nellie and Joe's key lime juice (you can squeeze enough limes to get 1 cup if you really want to)

2 jumbo eggs at room temperature (most recipes call for large eggs but this one works best with jumbo- though you can still use large.)

*Fresh lime zest and Whipping Cream -to top it with. (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. Process the graham crackers until they are fine crumbs.

3. Pour in the sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter and process again until the crumbs come together like wet sand.

4. Press the crust mixture into a pie pan and bake until just slightly browned, about 12 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

6. Lower the oven temperature to 325.

7. In a mixing bowl, combine the lime juice and condensed milk. Whisk on medium speed until combined.

8. Add each egg one at a time and whisk until just fully mixed in.

9. Pour into cooled pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.

10. Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.

To make whipping cream pour 1 cup whipping cream into cold mixing bowl and whisk on high speed until it forms soft peaks. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar and mix again on high speed until medium peaks form.

I hope you enjoy it as much as my daughter! Please let me know how it turns out.

If you want to check out my Tumblr where I'll regularly be posting new recipes click the link below!

https://www.Kathys-Home-Kitchen

Kathy

My Self-Care Garden

Hardy Hibiscus

"Self-Care" seems to be a relatively new concept. When I was a young adult, there was no talk of "self-care," at least not that I remember. 

The stress of today's world, though seems to have brought the idea of carving out time to care for yourself to the forefront of many people's minds. We need time to retreat from the crazy, over-stimulated world and simply breathe. To reset. 

Self-care can be anything where you are creating space for you. It could be extravagant like a spa day or it could be simple and cheap like making sure you work-out, meditate, or just curl up with a good book.  

For me, going outside and working in my garden is part of my self-care ritual. I love nothing more than to get my hands in the dirt and remove weeds from the soil. To commune with my flowers, trees, and shrubs. To breathe in the oxygen that they release and to give them my breath in exchange. To be surprised when a big fat nightcrawler wiggles up to the surface. And to be momentarily terrified when a wolf spider the size of my thumb appears in front of me. (When that happens, I usually surrender that part of my garden to the spider and work in a different spot.)

Double Begonia

It is hard, sweaty, filthy, work and yet as I'm crouching in the dirt, taking care of all my flowers, I feel them taking care of me. I give my time and sore muscles, but I receive so much more. Not only do I receive a sense of peace and oneness with a greater world outside myself, but they give me their beauty all summer long. I'm grateful for the time I'm able to spend in my garden and I'm grateful every day I gaze out my window and see my flowers smiling back at me. 

Today, on this cloudy day in Cleveland, I thought I would share their beauty with you.

Let me know which one you like the best!!

I'd love to hear what you do to make space for yourself and what you're grateful for today!!

Mandevilla

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathy

Clematis

Siberian Iris

Platycodon-Balloon Flower

Tiger Lily

Bleeding Heart

Rose of Sharon

I'm Sick of My Phone

 

The other day, I got an alert on my phone: 

You spent an average of 4 hours and 30 minutes daily on your phone last week. Congratulations, that's down from last week's average.

Instantly, I wanted to throw my phone.  That number couldn't be correct. I'm not on it that much. I clicked to see the breakdown. 

There it was, right in front of me, my daily breakdown of cellphone usage.  Sunday, I spent 3 hours reading news. Monday, it was productivity and finance. In my head, I tried to rationalize that one-I was accomplishing things. One day, I spent 2.5 hours on the Social category. Every day there was something that drew me in for hours to that little screen attached to my body.

I'm 52 years old, I've lived 2,704 weeks. According to the book 4,000 Weeks by Robert Boseman, which says the average person lives only about 4,000 weeks, about 77 years, I only have 1,296 left. Of course, I had to use my phone's calculator to figure that out. 

Do I really want to spend my remaining weeks on my phone for 4 hours a day? That seems like such a waste. Especially, when I think about my first 35 years when I had no portable phone at all. I was still able to work, keep up with my friends and family, and know what was going on in the world. 

Sure my iPhone 11 makes a lot of things easier. Texting multiple friends, family members, and clients in a day is super quick and easy. Now I can carry 5,000 photos, 2,000 videos, and countless books literally in my pocket. I can keep up with Breaking News as it is happening no matter where I am. Most importantly for me, a navigationally impaired person, I have a map with me at all times. 

But does that make it better? Am I really more productive now that I can eliminate every moment of boredom? Am I living a happier more meaningful life?