Last Thursday was my turn to host book club. I was very excited. We had read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. In honor of the book, I served three foods that had something to do with the book in some small way. OK, one of the foods had nothing to do with the book, but I served it anyway.

The Guernsey book club was hastily formed to protect a group of friends after they roasted a pig secretly. Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during World War II and all livestock was confiscated. It was illegal for them to slaughter and eat this hidden pig so when a few German soldiers found them after curfew, Elizabeth (one of the main characters in the book) quickly thought up a lie to protect them. She told them that they had been meeting to discuss books and had lost track of time. When the German soldiers expressed interest in joining them at their next meeting, they quickly formed a REAL book club which helped them emotionally survive the war years.

To celebrate the roasted pig in this book, I made what I lovingly call "Heart Attacks on a Stick." The REAL title is "Bacon-Wrapped Cocktail Sausages" from Our Best Bites web site.

Bacon-Wrapped Cocktail Sausages

1 14- oz. package of Lit'l Smokies
1 12 oz. package of lean bacon
3/4 c. brown sugar

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Using kitchen shears, cut each strip of bacon into thirds. Wrap each Lit'l Smokie with a cut bacon strip. Secure with toothpick. Sprinkle brown sugar over the sausages. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until bacon is starting to brown. Place in slow cooker and cook on low until ready to serve.

Well, can I say, these little heart attacks were a great hit! The ladies could not stop eating them! Hurray for the great web site where I found this tasty recipe!

I also served pie--but not potato peel pie. That sounded too horrible. The history behind the potato peel pie is that everything was scarce except potatoes. However, what kind of a book club would it be if they didn't serve refreshments? One book club member came up with this questionable recipe. Instead of subjecting everyone to my interpretation of potato peel pie, I made Candy Crunch Pudding Pie. This is a Kraft food recipe and it is yummy!

Candy Crunch Pudding Pie

2 c. cold milk
2 pkg (4 serving size each) Jell-O chocolate flavor instant pudding and pie filling
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip topping, thawed and divided
2 milk chocolate English toffee candy bars such as Heath or Skor, chopped and divided
1 Oreo pie crust
1 square semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted

Now this is a pretty easy pie to make, but would you believe that I went to THREE stores to make this pie. The first store did not sell Oreo pie crusts. So I went to store number two. As I was making the pie, I could NOT understand why the pudding was not thick. I kept checking the recipe and I knew I had put in the right amount of milk and pudding. Finally, I looked at the pudding package a little more closely--I had purchased one INSTANT pudding and one COOK and SERVE pudding. So, I went to a third store to buy more pudding filling. OK, now for the rest of the directions.

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended (mixture will be thick).

This is how it's supposed to look--nice and thick unlike the first batch I made that was as runny as milk.

Gently stir in 1 1/2 c. of whipped topping. Reserve 3 Tbsp of the candy pieces; stir remaining candy pieces into pudding mixture. Spoon into crust.

We could stop at this point and it would be delicious. But, we're not done yet!

Top with remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle with the remaining candy pieces, drizzle with the melted chocolate. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 8 servings.

Doesn't that look tasty?

Finally I served fresh fruit with a yummy fruit dip. They didn't get to enjoy such delicacies during World War II so obviously this had nothing to do with the book--except perhaps in their dreams. However, I wanted to serve SOMETHING healthy and this seemed like a good choice.

I"ll Love You Forever

One of my favorite children's books is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. If you haven't read this wonderful book, it's about a mother who rocks her baby back and forth, back and forth, back and forth while softly singing:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

I always change the third line because I truly believe that family relationships go beyond this life and so when I read this book to my children I say:

I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always,
For time and forever
my baby you'll be.


As her baby grows, the mother continues to sneak in her son's bedroom and rock her little boy back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Even when her growing boy became a teenager and later an adult she would crawl across his floor, pick up her great big boy, and rock him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth singing softly:

I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always,
For time and forever
my baby you'll be.

Perhaps because of this book, I like to grab my daughters occasionally and ATTEMPT to rock them back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. My lap doesn't hold them very well but it satisfies my mother-longing--to remind them that I will ALWAYS love them and they will ALWAYS be my baby.


Well, Wednesday night after American Idol, (side note: I LOVED Scotty and Lauren's performances) I was flipping through the channels to see if there was something worthwhile watching as I continued working on a top. secret. young. woman. project. (Don't you want to know what it is? Details will follow!)


I came across the Baby Channel. This is not a channel I would typically watch, but the title intrigued me: Sweet Dreams. Don't we all need sweet dreams?

I pushed "Enter" on my remote control and lovely, soothing patterns and swirls moved across the screen with an occasional caterpillar, or bird, or butterfly accompanied by soothing, classical-type music.

I was hooked!

OK, not really, but it sent those mother-longings to my heart and so I attempted to put Emily on my lap so I could rock her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

However, she would not COOPERATE!

She became as stiff as a board. I shimmied her long legs under my lap with great difficulty. As she arched her back we heard a thwunk. Emily hit her barrette clad head on the end table.

"Emily, I NEED to rock you back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This Sweet Dreams program is calling to my mother heart!"

"I don't want to be rocked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth," she replied with a giggle.

I shimmied her stiff legs a little more over my lap.

Thwunk! She hit her head on the end table again. This was getting a little dangerous.

"Emily, Sweet Dreams is SHOUTING to my mother heart. I MUST rock you back and forth, back and forth, back and forth."

"Oh, Mom!" she laughed.

I shimmied her a little more on my lap. By this time we were laughing so hard that tears were streaming down our face. After one more thwunk, she was finally satisfactorily on my lap and I proceeded to rock her until my legs went numb. Maybe 30 seconds tops. That's all my mother heart and lap could stand. When did she get so big?

Someday, when I'm old and I can no longer hold my four darling daughters, I hope they gather me in their arms and sing:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
For time and for always
my Mommy you'll be

.

Lost and Found

In February I checked out a book from the library called A Year of Fog. I read about three chapters before I needed to return it unfinished. I had started my last BYU class and simply didn't have time to read like I wanted to.

The opening chapters have haunted me. Someday I will have to finish this book. It's about a woman who loses her soon to be step-daughter on a beach in San Fransisco. She looked away for just a few seconds and in the blink of an eye, this little girl disappeared in the thick fog. This reminded me of something that happened within my own family:

When Christie was three years old, I was pregnant with my second daughter, Heather. My mom, Ron, Christie, and I drove over to Santa Cruz where we enjoyed a lovely day at the beach. The Santa Cruz boardwalk with all their thrilling rides was nearby. After enjoying a picnic lunch, Ron and Christie went down near the water to build sandcastles. My mom and I sat on blankets and towels and visited with each other. The beach was very crowded that day. It was one of those perfect days where there wasn't any fog and the temperature was very warm.

After Ron and Christie had been playing happily for 10 or so minutes, Ron walked up to where we were sitting.

"Where's Christie?" he asked.

"She's with you," I replied.

"No, she isn't. She said she wanted to get a couple more toys from you and then build more sand castles."

Panic set in immediately. With all the people at the beach, she somehow had not seen my Mom and I. We immediately began searching for her. I know that each one of us had a prayer in our hearts that we would find her soon.

I approached a life guard sitting on his tower and explained what had happened. I described what Christie was wearing and he radioed the other life guards to let them know to be on the lookout. I began walking down the beach, heading in the direction of the boardwalk. Where could she be? Was she in the water? Was she attracted to the rides on the boardwalk? Had someone taken her?

Meanwhile, my mom came across a group of young adults from our church. She had overheard them talking about church related topics and so she asked if they would also join in the hunt. Ron, my mom, fifteen or so strangers, and I along with the lifeguards were now searching for our lost girl.

As I prayed, I felt prompted to head toward the boardwalk. I didn't even want to think about if Christie was in the water. She could not swim. I'm sure I was crying as I continued my search wondering if I would ever see her again.

After searching for what seemed like forever, a lifeguard approached me and asked if I was the mother of the lost girl? I told him yes.

"We found her," he said. "She's in the first aid station eating a sugar free lollipop."

He directed me where to go and I was so relieved to see her again. Christie had been trying to find us in the mass of people. She wasn't wearing her sandals and the sand became so hot to her tender feet that she began crying. When a family saw her, they asked what was wrong.

"My feet hurt and my Mommy and Daddy are lost, " she told them. They allowed her to stand on their towel to cool off her feet and then immediately sprung into action and took her to a safe place.

When I picked her up, the person at the first aid station told me what a smart girl she was. "She knows her name, address, and phone number." All the practicing had paid off! I was so glad she remembered this important information. I was so happy that we were reunited and that she was safe.

As I remember what happened all those years ago, I am so grateful that we had a happy ending. I'm not sure if the plot in A Year of Fog does.

Someday, I'll have to find out.

You are a Winner!

Don't you love when you turn on you computer and you see an e-mail announcing "Congrats--you are a winner!"

Oh, it wasn't announcing that I was the winner of some Nigerian lottery that said, "All we need to verify that YOU are a WINNER is your social security number, your bank information, and oh yes, a promise that you'll give up your first born.

That would be creepy.

It wasn't an e-mail announcing that I had won one million dollars from the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.

Don't I wish.

It wasn't even an e-mail from Deseret Book announcing that I was a winner in their "New Authors contest" and they were publishing my upcoming children's novel, The Bloody Blobs.

Now, THAT would be a dream come true!

No, it was much simpler than that. Today, I found out I won a copy of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate from Goodreads website.

There was great jumping up and down in my chair and gleeful shrieking when I read that I won.

You would think I won the Nigerian Lottery or the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. You would think that perhaps I was appearing on Oprah's Show as a guest to discuss my Fletcherizing Issues. You would think I had won an all-expense vacation to New York City to say good-bye to "The Great One"--Regis Philbin before he retired. You would think that perhaps I was making my debut appearance on "The Tonight Show" with "California Sister" as we reveled the audience with our comedy routine.

Of course, none of those things happened. But I WON a book and I couldn't be happier.

It's on its way to my mailbox and when I finish reading it, I will post a scintillating review on Goodreads and also let you know, my Internet Friends just what I thought of this book.

I bet you can't wait!