Day 2 of 22

Today is Thursday. On Thursday's, I babysit an amazing almost-four year old. Today she put her toy dogs down for a nap because “They're not being polite.” She is very creative and very, very intelligent. Anyone who knows Z is amazed/terrified of her intelligence. She remembers things from when she was crawling. She makes up elaborate stories about how my cat walked to her house and bit her arm....or how the garbage cans went up the mountain and got caught in spiderwebs and the only way to save them was with nets, “wipers”, swords and (bless her heart, I've only told her about them a couple times) lightsabers. Every week we do a letter theme, today was H is for Horse. We danced along to this wonderful lady who does Musical P.E., named Patty Shukla (look her up on Youtube, it's cute, so much fun and wears Z out really quickly).We said “I love you” back and forth a hundred times. We also made muffins. Apple cinnamon muffins with Greek yogurt. I added vanilla to the muffin mix and substituted salted caramel peanuts and put them in topping instead. So delicious. Even my picky sister said so.

This brings me to another goal that I hope to accomplish via this blog. To cook something every week. To taunt you (if it turns out edible) with my creations. I've already made pitas and fondant (with no Crisco!!! And it tasted yummy!) . I don't care if no one else at my house will eat it. I WILL cook!

All day I've been thinking about writing a story that I made up and told to Z while we were waiting in the car to pick up my sister. It was spring and we had been looking at cherry blossoms. Z loves princeses. So I very quickly (despite being horrendous at Improv) developed a story about Princess Cherry Blossom. And because I am who I am, this pretty blonde and girly princess could not stereotypical or incompetent.

Part of this story came from a quote that was bouncing around in my head. I've been reading and rereading a book called “Walking on Water” by Madeleine L'Engle. It's life changing. It talks about faith and art, especially writing “children's books”. Madeleine, an author that I have loved since I was a kid, doesn't write books for children like anyone else does. Her stories are often about children, but they are not immature and the topics and the wording are not dumbed down. Her books can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. She talks about how her grandchildren will read anything, just as I did as a kid,

“All they require is a protagonist with whom they can identify (and they prefer the protagonist to be older then they are), an adventure to make them turn the pages, and the making of a decision on the part of the protagonist.” -Madeleine L'Engle

And so came Princess Cherry Blossom the Brave, Princess Rose Petal the Gentle, Princess Calla Lily the Happy, Page Justice Goodheart, Valiant the Dragon, Molly the Horse (we were at a stable and there was an horse named Molly there that Z liked to talk about), and Muddley the Troll. Muddley is a Mud Troll who lives a large patch of mud in the forest. He's very nice and cute, just misunderstood at first.

Well, that's all for now. Dinner's calling and my ear is ringing. I would love to hear from you! Tell me what you think or what you want to hear more of! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy! Or at least go enjoy one of these recipes! :D

Recipes:
Apple Cinnamon Muffins- http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1580998
Pita Bread- http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/traditional-greek-pita-bread/
Fondant - http://www.howdoesshe.com/easy-marshmallow-fondant-you-can-do-it/

Other Recommendations:
Patty Shukla: https://www.youtube.com/user/pattyshukla
“Walking on Water” by Madeleine L'Engle

If you like art, creating, writing, or just reading...read this. Read this anyways. My dad and I recommend it to everyone.

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