Bring On Lemons

Book Cover - Replacement Child Judy Mandel Book Review - Replacement Child  Review by Crystal Casavant-Otto Book by Judy Mandel Link to Amazon:  click here Book Review: Replacement Child   by Judy L. Mandel By Crystal J. Casavant-Otto Within the first few pages of Judy L. Mandel’s memoir, I scribbled the following notes in my journal: ·         Amazing depth, pulled me in right away! ·         Great self-awareness in seeking her own seeds of truth. Whether you enjoy reading historical fiction, memoir, non-fiction, relationship, or self-help books, you’ll enjoy Replacement Child as Mandel guides you through the development of her family. The story unfolds like a play and Mandel herself admits “I was not a lead actor in this play”. Replacement Child   jumps back and forth between Mandel’s current life and the tragic plane crash that happened years ...

cookies - cooling on paper shopping bag Secrets for Soft (and Delicious) Chocolate Chip Cookies Apparently it has been too long since I baked chocolate chip cookies. My husband has been getting requests for them (from teenage boys believe it or not) and I haven't done much baking since Valentine's Day. Today was a lovely day to spend in the kitchen. The sunlight was streaming in, and it was a nice enough day to hang laundry on the line so I figured cracking the window above the sink a bit would also be appropriate. The smell of cookies baking, the sounds of birds chirping, and the warm sunshine was fabulous. A friend messaged me asking how my day was going and when I told them I was baking cookies, they asked for some and then reminded me that I had promised to share the recipe and my secrets for softness. Well, I am officially going on record and sharing all of my secrets right here, right now - enjoy! batter - ready for placement on cookie sheets May your paths be...

Appreciation - Priceless What's on my mind today? Well... lots of stuff really, but if I shared everything you would certainly lock me up and throw away the key (not because it's illegal, but because the inner workings of ones mind can be a scary place and you might label me insane). So - what can I share today? I guess I'll share something that was said to me this morning: Many of you know that I'm a church musician/organist and if you didn't, now you know! It's not that it's a bad gig at all, in fact I love it! The problem is that most people don't ask and may never know what goes into being a church musician. Most of us took more than ten years of lessons meaning weekly sessions with an instructor or a nun and then daily practicing at home (twice daily if our parents insisted), and now we spend hours each week carefully choosing our music, practicing our foot pedals, left hand, right hand, everything together, etc... and then, comes the big moment...

Carmen Casavant, Today's Guest Blogger Today's Guest Blogger is my daughter, Carmen Casavant. She knew that her picture was featured in my recent blog for WOW! Women on Writing , and I read her the blog. Her response was "so that's why you always ask me about my dreams" and we immediately started talking about our journals. Her journal is a little different than mine, because she is in kindergarten and is just learning how to write. Her journal contains lots of words, a few sentences, and lots and lots of pictures. This is how she journals (for now).  I told her that we should feature some of her pictures and stories on my blog, and she thought that would be a great idea. So here, is what she came up with from last night's dream. Enjoy! xoxo ~Crystal Saving the Princess There was a big green dragon. Dragons aren't real, but sometimes I dream about them. The dragon took the princess. My mom was the princess. I had a big long sword and I ...

This word search may give me away before you get to the end of the post, but just for fun ... can you guess what I'm confessing based on the first words that jump out at you? if you haven't figured it out yet, keep reading: I love having my picture taken (ever since my children were born). I want them to have lots of memories of what we all looked like as a family. I cherish the photographs of my father, and I have plenty of them but still with I had more. That's likely where my passion for pictures comes from. There is another passion that I just recently discovered though, and that's the one I want to confess to you now. I'm passionate about life. I've been snapping photographs every morning of the sky, the trees, the snow, the sun, and the world around me. I can honestly say that up until 2012 I hadn't noticed these things. I was fired from my job in January 2012 and I thought my life was going to end. In fact, there were a few days that I ...

Dream Your Way to a Great Short Story! I’ve enjoyed sleeping for as long as I can remember. My mom may tell a different story about childhood naps and early bedtimes, but as far as I am concerned sleep is a very necessary and enjoyable activity. I sleep, therefore I dream and in recent years I’ve incorporated my dreams into my journal. Journaling my dreams has provided me with fabulous material for short stories and blog posts and has also given me ideas on how to enhance my writing to make it more vivid and exciting for the reader. I’ve suggested dream journaling to those who have self diagnosed themselves with ‘writers block’. I personally have found that dream journaling is a great way to stop those recurring dreams or those that end too soon. Recurring dreams and those that end in the middle seem to have one thing in common – something needs attention or closure. I’ve found that by writing down what I remember about the dream and then adding the unfinished details I can...

This is a crazy dream that I had a few nights ago. As Mark and I discussed it, we came up with no rational answers about where it came from or what it symbolizes, other than my greatest fear as a parent is that I will be taken from my children too soon. I don't fear death and I look forward to heaven, but I pray that my children will be grown when God calls me home. In the meantime, this story reads like something from the Twilight Zone - hopefully you'll enjoy it! May your paths be abundantly filled with lemons, sugar, sunshine, and dreams filled with happiness and fresh flowers! ~Crystal Denial A short fictional piece by Crystal J. Casavant-Otto He reached the voicemail the first time he called: "this is Otto, leave a message" said the voice on the recording. He couldn't bring himself to do it so he hung up. He just knew something was going wrong at the Otto household and he didn't want to overstep his boundaries as Mrs. Otto's Gynecologist. He ...