The joys of post-menopausal womanhood...

Got a call from my doctor's office yesterday. Seems my cholesterol is slightly elevated. So, like the good little nurse I am, I hop on over to Google to see what I can do. I'm already taking Pravachol, so, based on the cholesterol content of various foods, I figure I'd better stop eating egg yolks and eat more fiber. Then I see a a link to an article about foods that lower cholesterol. So I click on that and discover that the red grapefruit half I'm eating every day is supposed to lower my cholesterol.

I'm thinking, great! Why isn't it working? Then I read further and discover that grapefruit not only interferes with the action of the "statin" drugs, which include Pravachol, it also inhibits a molecule that helps metabolize estrogen hormones, thereby increasing estrogen levels and increasing the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. http://www.life123.com/health/nutrition/lower-cholesterol/cholesterol-lowering-foods.shtml

My first inclination is to wonder why I didn't know this stuff already. Is this some new finding, or was it something I missed? So I go to Web MD and try to find anything on Pravachol that warns you against eating grapefruit. The closest thing I found was that it works best if taken in the evening. Okay. I take mine in the morning. Guess I can change that.

But maybe, just maybe, the interaction actually occurs in the stomach, so that if you take the pill in the morning, which is when most of us eat our grapefruit, it DOESN'T WORK! Of course, nobody tells you practical stuff like that, and that's only my theory.

So, here's the plan. Eat more oats, beans, and tofu, and stop eating egg yolks and grapefruit. Got it.

Oh, and stop going to writer's conferences where people buy me margaritas and ridiculous desserts that raised my Hemoglobin A1C from 6.3 to 6.5.

Yeah. Like someone (this means you, Sara!) really had to twist my arm to make me eat some of that.

I'm visiting my sister Bonnie and some family friends on Sunday. Bonnie asked me to make a chocolate pie.

Sorry, Bonnie. No can do.

Wednesday Wonderings....

So far, the sales of Undeniable seem to be better than the other two books in the series, and I have no idea why. Would any of you who've read it care to hazard a guess? Is it the guitar-player thing or the kink factor? Or am I imagining it? *shakes head* I can't be sure of anything since my brain is fried from critiquing several fifty-five-page contest entries. I finished judging the first of four paranormal entries before I wrote this post, so forgive me if my mind seems to wander a bit.

Another thing I'm wondering is whether I can sustain a daily blog without the guys. Before when I had nothing to say, I could post a hunk and not worry, knowing the gang would take the balls and run with them. (pun intended) But eventually, I think of something, even if it's just randomness--like today.

Speaking of worries, I made more of those pickled peppers yesterday, and I believe the recipe I posted to be the best version of it. The peppers in that first batch are crisp and tasty! Budley even liked them!

Now all I have to worry about is whether or not to name the deer that keeps coming into the yard to eat the apples. Seems like anytime I look out, there she is. She's become such a frequent visitor that Peaches only chases her away when encouraged to do so. She does, however, chase the rabbit that has taken up residence in my garden and has eaten the bean plants down to the stems. I'm hoping she gets the little bugger soon.

Deer, rabbits, Japanese beetles, and a variety of other pests have plagued my garden this year, but at least we don't have this problem.

Tanya sent me these pics a few weeks back, and I'm hoping the grasshoppers have moved on by now.

 

Creepy!!!!

Tasty Tuesday Pickled Peppers!

My trusty beta reader, Mellanie Szereto, sent Unrivaled back to me yesterday. I'll give it another read-through and then I'll start publishing it. If the process is anything like it was the last time, it'll probably pop up on ARE as a pdf first. Will keep you posted!

In the meantime, if your peppers need picking and pickling, here's my pickled peppers recipe. This year, I tried adding alum for the first time, so I wanted to taste them before I posted the recipe. My original recipe made peppers that were kinda soft, and adding the alum does give them a bit more crunch. According to the label on the alum bottle, you can soak whatever you're pickling in alum diluted in water, then rinse before starting the pickling process. I'm going to try that today. Will let you know if there's any difference.

Pickled Peppers

 

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups peppers (I mix jalapenos with sweet banana peppers, but I've also added okra and the occasional cucumber)
1 tsp alum

Directions

1. Rinse the peppers and cut large banana peppers in half. I stab through the jalapenos with a knife, especially the big ones, otherwise, I leave them whole. You can cut the caps off if you like, but I never do. 
2. Wash and sterilize a 1 quart wide-mouth jar. Keep it hot by filling it up with boiling water and let it set until you're ready to use it. 
3. Combine liquid and spices (omitting the alum) together in a 3 quart saucepan and bring to a boil. 
4. Add peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Add 1 tsp alum to the empty jar, then put in the peppers and as much liquid as it takes to fill the jar to within 1/4 inch of the top. 
6. Pour boiling water over a new lid, then put it on the jar and screw the band on until tight. 
7. Allow to cool. Listen for the lid to pop, which lets you know that the lid has sealed. If it doesn't seal, just stick the jar in the fridge. The pickles will still be good; they just won't keep for years! It's best to wait a couple of weeks to let the flavors mingle before you eat them. 
8. Refrigerate after opening.

This is one of those "unapproved" heirloom recipes that doesn't call for processing the jars in a boiling water bath after you fill them with the pickles. You can do that if you like--I believe a 5-10 minute boiling time is recommended--but my mother never processed any of her pickles, and I'm pretty sure none of us died from eating them.

Where, oh, where has the romantic comedy gone?

I took the day off yesterday, only changing out of my nightgown to feed the horses. When I returned from the barn, I put my nightie back on and spent the day watching movies with Mikey and Budley. We watched Saratoga Trunk, You've Got Mail, and Roxanne.
I remember watching Saratoga Trunk (1945), a Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman classic, as a kid. If you haven't seen it, you need to. For a movie that wasn't billed as a comedy, it's got some of the best lines I've ever heard. Ingrid Bergman is stunning, and Gary Cooper is, well...Gary Cooper.

Not wanting to spoil the mood, we watched You've Got Mail (1998) after that. During the movie, we questioned why we hadn't seen Meg Ryan in any movies recently. Mike looked it up on the Internet, and discovered that her career has suffered from the death of the romantic comedy, which was the style of film that comprises the bulk of her work.

I think that's rather sad, but it is proven by the fact that of the romantic comedies I own and enjoy, all of them were made in the year 2000 or earlier, and most were made in the 1980s. I'm sure a few have been made since then but they've been few and far between.
What happened to the romantic comedy? Why has it been replaced by inane, slapstick comedies with no romance whatsoever, and very little intelligence or wit?
I wish I knew.
Having a comedian in a leading role didn't ruin Steve Martin's chances with Darryl Hannah in Roxanne(1987)--even with an incredibly over-sized nose. Perhaps it's because the comedians today aren't what you'd call leading man material--at least, not in the romantic sense.

 

On the other hand, since the big box office money is in the teen market, the target audience of most filmmakers is not women over thirty. That isn't to say that women over thirty never go to the movies, but if they're like me, the only movies they get to see are animated family films and action/adventure flicks. I know that because even at the age of fifty-seven, I'm still not the one who gets to pick the movie on a night out.

Therefore, we have to get our romance from books. According to Ask.com,  Romance fiction buyers span all age ranges but the largest segment is [women]between 30 and 44 years old. This is a wonderful statistic for those of us who write romance, but every once in a while, I'd like to go out to see a new romantic movie that is actually worth watching. The last one I can recall that I liked well enough to buy a copy of was Chocolat, which--you guessed it--was released in the year 2000. 

Sad, but true...

Chocolat isn't technically a comedy, but it did contain some humor, and Johnny Depp is still a hottie.

I'm sure he could sell another movie like that one, and I hope he does it. 

Soon.

Chocolate Cherry Cake...with frosting by Willy!

In the course of emailing back and forth with the entire family for today's reunion party, I volunteered to make that chocolate cherry cake recipe that I posted a couple of weeks ago, this time, with the cream cheese frosting. Interestingly enough, one of my nephews responded with this:

Just promise me that Willie will not be involved in making the frosting. 

How he knew about Willy was something of a mystery. Everyone else was like, "Is this something I should know about?" My response to that was along the lines of, "Not unless you've been visiting my blog."
Apparently, said nephew had done just that after someone had given him a tip to check out a post that included Willy.

Now, before you all freak out, last time I checked, John was over twenty-one, and probably over thirty. Therefore, he won't be too shocked when he hears the news that yes, Willy did indeed help me frost the cake.

I figure if I flash this picture around enough, no one else will want any cake, which will leave that much more of it for me.  

I'll keep you posted on the outcome of that strategy. Good thing Alicia won't be there or I wouldn't get any cake at all. 

This and that...

Yesterday, I did a read-through of Unrivaled before I sent it off to my beta reader Mellanie Szereto for her careful scrutiny, and I was surprised at how many tiny little errors I found. Nothing major--an extra space here, a missing word there--but those are things that used to annoy me as a reader. Not wanting those mistakes to annoy anyone else, I'm doing the best I can to weed them out.

After that, I critiqued two chapters for Nan and a synopsis for Sandy. Guess I've done everything I can to avoid judging those contest entries. Must bite the bullet and start on them. Soon. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, but most of the time, I'm not. The trouble with contest entries is that you don't get to choose what you read. I found that out when I had to read a stack of books for RWA's Rita awards this year. When you get a book to judge that isn't the sort of book you normally read or enjoy, it's tough to be impartial--or even read it through to the end. I had to make myself sit down and read them.

Next weekend, I'll be attending the IRWA meeting and will get my goody bag back from our wonderful chaptermate who drove to the conference and offered to take stuff back home for those of us who flew. I'll be doing a giveaway (maybe two) in the weeks to come, but I want to make sure I have everything before I run a contest. By that time, Unrivaled will probably be available for sale, and I'll do some giveaways of that too. Just wish I had some good pics for you to caption. Not sure how I'm gonna do it. Those Rafflecopter things confuse the hell out of me.

Speaking of things that confuse me, here are some statistics that I find very interesting. Book sales seem to drop off at the end of the month, then pick up again on the first--even if the first is in the middle of the week. I was shooting for 100 net sales of Undeniable on Amazon for July. I sold 105, but had seven returns, which left me with 98. I tweeted and posted links on Facebook for a couple of days, but no dice. Then yesterday, August 1st, I sold two copies. I hadn't sold anything on Nook for three days, then on the first of the month, I sold four. I'm guessing it has to do with the way people are paid or budget their money, or the fact that most new books are released early in the month, so that's when people go book shopping. I've also noticed that I sell the most books late at night on weekends.
Nothing too surprising about that, now, is there?

Finished!

I wrote the final chapter of Unrivaled yesterday--actually, I finished it Tuesday night--but until my critique partners (Sandy James and Nan Reinhardt) have seen it, I don't consider a chapter finished. I began another read-through of the manuscript, after which I'll send it to my beta reader, Mellanie Szereto. Then I'll give it another read or two before I start formatting it for the various ebook outlets.

That's one of the nicer things about self-publishing. My books go through this same process, whether they're traditionally published or not. The difference is, when I send a manuscript off to my traditional editor, I lose control of it--and I like having control. I like knowing that if there's a mistake, I'm the one who made it, and I can fix it. Once a book goes to press, it's done. A self pub can be continually tweaked. I often wish I could go back and rewrite my early Cat Star books. If I ever get the rights back to them, I may do that, but I'm not holding my breath in the meantime.

There was some discussion among the Casablanca authors as to what the magic number of books published was that would justify quitting the day job. Mine was a night job, of course, but the same rules apply. So often you hear people say that you have to spend money to make money. Well...I gave up money in the hope of making money. Might not have been my best move, but hey, you only live once. No magic number was ever arrived at, but I've heard twenty bandied about. With the publication of Unrivaled, my total will stand at twenty-four, if you include all the short stories, novellas, and the Cat Star bundle. Rebel will make it twenty-five--and I think that sounds like a nice, magical number. Don't you?

Went out for a dinner with my hospital buddies last evening. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Not quite like spending twelve quiet hours together--restaurants are always so noisy!--but it's better than nothing! Willy came with me! Can you spot him?