Yearly Archives: 2010

School Days!

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I’m going to blog a bit about my personal life today. Do any of you have kids? If so, did you send them to private school or public school? Our child is only four years old and we’re looking at different schools – wondering where we should enroll him. It just feels a bit weird, looking for enrollment options for a kid that’s going to kindergarten next year! The reason it feels kind of weird is because, when I was growing up, we just got on the big yellow bus and went to school. There was no discussion about curriculums, private vs. public, etc.

I didn’t go through all of this discussion about school until I was eighteen, getting ready to go to college, filling out financial aid forms, getting my high school transcript, etc.

After all this talk and discussion, our son might just be going to the elementary school around the corner! But everybody else is doing this, and my friends think I should research all of my options, so, that’s what I’m doing!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Breaking Dawn – A Secular Novel

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I’ve finally finished Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight Series. Also, I’d read a short review of this book about a year ago in the now-extinct Today’s Christian Woman magazine. I did find the same review online on Christianity Today’s Kyria blog. I do agree with some of what the reviewer said in that post. From my reading the four books, the romance does seem to be more obsessive than a regular romance novel.

SPOILER BELOW:

In Breaking Dawn, Bella is still human at the beginning of the story. She marries her boyfriend/vampire Edward Cullen. They spend a romantic honeymoon on a remote island. Out of the entire book, I enjoyed the first section the best. I especially loved reading about their honeymoon days. The book got kind of weird for me when Bella gets pregnant by her vampire husband. The child makes Bella sick, literally. While pregnant, the child sucks all of the energy from Bella, making her ill, tired, and barely able to move. She drinks blood to nourish the child and once the child is born, it’s apparant that the little girl is advanced in development – she has a full set of teeth and she bites. The child grows several inches per day and develops mentally very quickly. Giving birth to the child kills Bella, so Edward bites her, giving her his venom which ultimately turns Bella into a vampire.

Having the werewolf, Jacob, around, with his pack made things kind of weird too. When Renesmee’s (Bella’s vampire/human child) life is in danger, the vampires, along with their cronies, and Jacob’s pack of wolves prepare to go to battle.

Jacob’s point-of-view dominates the second part of the book, and then the point-of-view switches back to Bella during the last portion of the story. When Jacob phases into his werewolf form, it kind of reminded me of watching The Incredible Hulk when I was a kid! He would rip his clothes when he’d go into werewolf form.

Out of all the Twilight books, I enjoyed the first one, Twilight, the best. It just had more of a realistic feel to it. The romance was strong and riveting and I just couldn’t put the book down I was so mesmerized by it!

The second book, New Moon, was pretty good for about 2/3 of the book but about the last 33% of the book was boring, so I skimmed that last section. I skimmed Eclipse last December and I didn’t like it very much. I read the first 80 pages word for word and that’s when I started skimming the rest of the book.

However, I did manage to read Breaking Dawn word for word. It’s over 750 pages, so it’s a pretty big book. So Twilight was the strongest book, and Breaking Dawn was the second best out of the series. I did think that Breaking Dawn was very weird and science-fictionish, too. Fantasy and sci-fi are not genres that I’m very fond of. I read those kinds of books sparingly.

These stories are not my usual reading fare, but I had to read them because everybody was making such a big deal about the Twilight Series that I just had to read it myself.

You can see my earlier posts about the Twilight series here, here, here, and here.

Have you read this series? If so, which was your favorite book and why?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Still Snowed In

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Same story here, still snowed in. Job was closed again today, that’s the fifth consecutive day that they’ve been closed! This is the worse storm I’ve seen in Maryland in my entire life, and I’ve lived in Maryland since birth! My husband and I will be shoveling snow today. The icicles outside our bedroom window have grown even larger, but, I was too lazy to take a picture today!

Here’s the Apple Coffeecake recipe that I promised you! It did turn out yummy and it goes great with a plate of eggs and pork sausage!

Apple Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice (I did not have any orange juice, so I substituted apple juice instead.)
4 apples – peeled, cored and sliced
5 tablespoons white sugar
5 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10 inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In a separate
bowl, beat together 2 cups sugar, vegetable oil, eggs. Stir egg mixture into
flour mixture, alternately with orange juice, until smooth. In a small bowl, combine 5 tablespoons white sugar, 5 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 teaspoons
cinnamon.
3. Pour 1/2 of batter into prepared pan. Add 1/2 of the apples then 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
4. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 50 to 70 minutes. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes, invert on a plate and
serve.

Enjoy!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Still Snowed In

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I’m still snowed in my house. My job was closed again today, and to to tell you the truth, I believe this is a record for me. In all of my history of working full-time after college, I think this is the first time that I’ve been off for four consecutive days because of inclement weather. In Maryland, it’s rare for us to get so much snow. After the huge snowstorm on Friday and Saturday, it took hubby and I three days to dig out. We ventured out to the grocery store yesterday and the place was a madhouse. Why? Another snowstorm was expected and people were stocking up on supplies. The roads were hideous and I was slipping and sliding over chunks of ice in the middle of the road. I did go to my chiropractor appointment last night and at that point, the snow had started again. It was coming down fast and furious and the shopping mall where my chiropractor is located started shutting down. Stores were closing and people were leaving. When I left the doctor’s office, my car was covered in snow and I had to clean it off before driving home! It’s just amazing and phenomenal for us to get so much white stuff in such a short amount of time! Our public transportation, Metro, is shut down today. There’s no bus service and the rail service is limited. It’s been that way for a few days now. The bus service that was running earlier this week was incomplete and not dependable.

I am enjoying my time away from my job, though! I’ve been working mega overtime for the past month and it’s a blessing to be off for so many days with pay, and without using vacation time! I’ve still been in the kitchen a lot, cooking for my family! This morning I got up early and made an apple coffee cake. If it turns out good, I’ll share the recipe with you.

During this winter storm, I’ve also been reading Breaking Dawn, the last book in The Twilight series. All I can say so far is, I loved the first part of the book, but the rest leaves me feeling like I’m reading outside of my element! It’s a very weird story, more science-fiction-like than the first novel and I’ll post a full blog post about this book once I’m finished with it. It’s a big book, about 750 pages, and I’m about 3/4 of the way finished with it.

I’ve also been getting some writing done during this storm. Remember my rejected proposal that I’d mentioned awhile back? Well, I’ve been working on another proposal to send to Barbour. Hopefully, they’ll like this one! I plan on getting that out the door by the end of this week or early next week.

The icicles in front of my bedroom window have grown! They’ve gotten longer and thicker! Here’s the pic:

Here’s some more pics from the winter storm:



Any of you have a lot of snow in your area? If so, how much and does it hinder your daily routine?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Dreams That Won’t Let Go

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Dreams That Won’t Let Go
by Stacy Hawkins Adams
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3268-4
January 2010; $12.99

I finished this book a few weeks ago but waited to post my blog entry during the tour dates. Indigo Burns is planning her wedding with fellow photographer and soul mate Max. Her life seems good, but, beneath the surface, there are familial problems lingering in her life. These problems are stewing, simmering, waiting to erupt because these complications have been around for several years! Indigo’s brother Ruben is back in town with his blind wife and young son. Indigo’s parents hover over Ruben, ignoring her and her other sibling. Ruben’s recent move has caused both happiness and sadness within the Burns family and it takes pastoral intervention for the parents to see the errors they’ve made in raising their children/grandchildren.

Indigo and her siblings lost their parents in an auto accident years ago, which caused a lot of disharmony in their family. They were raised by their grandparents, and the grandparents did not always make the best decisions about the upbringing of their grandchildren.

I think a lot of people can relate to this novel because it deals with issues that most of us face within our own families. The book also stresses that we need to lean on God in order to overcome the problems that may cause a burden between ourselves and our siblings and parents.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

ESSENCE BESTSELLING AUTHOR RELEASES NEW BOOK:
Sometimes you have to come home to discover who you are…

Essence bestselling author Stacy Hawkins Adams
releases the final book in her popular Jubilant Soul series: Dreams That Won’t Let Go.

Readers have followed along with the Burns family of Jubilant, Texas as they’ve experienced heartaches, celebrated new faced life-changing choices and learned how far faith can carry them through it all.

Now in Dreams That Won’t Let Go, everything seems to be going along perfectly for Indigo Burns: Her wedding preparations to the man of her dreams are under way and her career as a photographer is a success. Even her family seems to be doing better than ever—all except her brother Reuben who no one has seen in years. But that’s about to change, because Reuben has decided to move back home to Jubilant, bringing with him all his unspoken secrets and upsetting all of Indigo’s best-laid plans.

As the family struggles to deal with the pain of the past and find healing, Dreams That Won’t Let Go illustrates that despite what has happened in our lives, there is always a second chance where love conquers all.

Stacy Hawkins Adams is a writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the author of several novels, including the Essence bestseller The Someday List and Worth a Thousand Words. All of Stacy’s novels have been bestsellers in Black Expressions Book Club.

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life. They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.

For more information, visit www.RevellBooks.com.

Still Digging….

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Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll be back to blogging about regular reading and writing topics! We were still digging our driveway today. It’s pretty clear now. Initially, I tried to drive out of the driveway but got stuck. We were able to clear the snow from around my tires before I was able to back completely out of the driveway! I didn’t go out to the store or anything. I just wanted to be sure that I could get out because I’m assuming my job will be open tomorrow. Both my job, and my husband’s job were closed today because of the weather.

During this storm, I’ve found myself in the kitchen a lot more! This morning I made pancakes and bacon! I make bacon sometimes on the weekends. I’ve also recently discovered that I prefer making it in the oven instead of the skillet. It’s so much easier. Here’s how I do it:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Separate slices of bacon and place into a clean pan (I use a cookie sheet, the kind that’s like a shallow pan/jellyroll pan – it has sides along the edges. You don’t want to use a cookie sheet without sides because the bacon grease will roll off the pan and into your oven, creating a big mess!)

Place bacon into preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cooking times may vary by oven.

Remove from oven when it’s done. Drain on a paper towel.

Enjoy! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~