Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thanksgiving Trivia

Three Summy children brave the wind at a New Mexico truck stop (I took this shot on our drive out here a mere 3 days ago. How time flies when you're having fun!)

The mercury has dropped here in Oklahoma. No more flip-flops, we are all appropriately shod.

This morning, we're climbing back in our Kia and heading another 81-ish miles east to the grandparents'. We've had LOTS of fun playing around Oklahoma City with the aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, first-cousins-once-removed, second cousins...

And while we're loading up, you might want to click over to a fun post by the delightful Jennifer Bertman where she interviewed me about my "creative" writing space.

And...to keep the conversation flowing at your Thanksgiving dinner, here's some Thanksgiving trivia. I copied these from a post I did for the Class of 2k8's blog back in the day.

1. What do you call a female turkey?
2. What sound does she make?
3. How fast can a turkey run?
4. Which state produces the most turkeys?
5. How many feathers does a mature turkey have?
6. What drink did the puritans bring with them on the Mayflower?
7. What do you call a baby turkey?
8. Which vegetable did the Pilgrims decide not to eat for Thanksgiving because they thought it was poisonous?
9. Why is difficult to sneak up on a turkey?
10. What do you call a turkey under 16 weeks of age? How about if it's five to seven months old?





Answers:
1. A hen
2. She clucks.
3. 20 mph
4. Minnesota
5. 3,500
6. beer
7. a poult
8. potatoes
9. Turkeys have a wide field of vision (270 degrees) and a great sense of hearing. Not germane to this answer, but interesting nonetheless, turkeys see in color.
10. A fryer, a roaster

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

I'm on a crazy road trip!



My children talked me into DRIVING TO OKLAHOMA FOR THANKSGIVING!

So, Child #2, Child #3, Child #4 and I packed up last night and left at 7:30 this morning. We drove for TWELVE hours (Child #2 and I shared the driving) and we're now settled in a nice hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We'll only be on the road 8 hours tomorrow.

It's much chillier here than back in San Diego (although I gather it rained all day back home). We're severely under-dressed in our t-shirts and flip-flops! It works fine for driving, but we're definitely cold when dashing into rest stops. :) We'll break out the shoes and sweatshirts in the morning.

I think the nieces and cousins, and especially the grandparents are still in shock that we decided on the spur of the moment to join them for Thanksgiving!

How fun to be spontaneous!



p.s. Child #2, Child #3, Child #4 all have this entire week off. Mr Summy and Child #1 couldn't afford the time for the trip :(

Monday, November 15, 2010

My Town Monday: Ruby Foos, New York City


I have wanted to eat at Ruby Foos since the spring of 2007.

Oh, you say, why in the world would a woman living in San Diego have Ruby Foos on her mind for three-ish years?

The story goes like this:

On Wednesday, March 28, 2007, a literary agent by the name of Kristin Nelson was visiting New York City and had lunch with a Delacorte Press/Random House editor named Wendy Loggia. About 2,800 miles away, an aspiring San Diego author snacked on too much licorice.

That night, in her hotel room, Kristin Nelson kicked off her high heels, donned her comfy sweats, and fired up her laptop (I don't know that it happened EXACTLY like this, but it might have! ). She blogged:

It’s late so I only have time for a quick blog entry. Today I had lunch with Wendy Loggia from Delacorte (a children’s imprint at Random House).

We ate at the yummy Ruby Foo’s on Broadway (which is an editor hang out by the way). You can always spot publishing folks here around lunchtime because of the close proximity to the Random House Building.

Wendy mentioned that she would love to see a MG or YA mystery (think a modern Joan Lowery Nixon-type author who can reinvent something fresh).


Even later that night, the San Diego woman woke up with insomnia and a stomachache. She decided to forget about sleep for a while and padded down the hall to her teeny tiny office to surf the net. Lo and behold, she stumbled upon Kristin's blog. "Oh, oh oh," the aspiring San Diego author squealed to no one in particular as everyone in her house was fast asleep. "That could be my little Sherry!" She immediately cut and pasted the blog post into an email and shot it off to her agent, Rachel Vater, back in New York City.

Rachel added Editor Wendy's name to the submission list. And by May 17, we had a two-book deal for I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES and I SO DON'T DO SPOOKY. (Naturally, it wasn't quite this cut and dried. Agent Rachel worked her special brand of magic. She got other editors interested. She negotiated a two-book contract. But, by the end of an exciting day in May, we did sign with Editor Wendy. Yay!)

So, on October 27, 2010, Child #4 and I walked to Ruby Foos for our pre-theatre dinner (la di da!) before seeing Wicked (beyond amazing!) at the Gershwin Theatre.

At Ruby Foos, I ordered the house salad (which came in a bowl made of cucumber slices!) and sushi. Child #4 had dumplings and white rice (She's a bit of a carb fanatic.). And while I was waiting for my food, I gazed around the restaurant and wondered where Kristin Nelson and Wendy Loggia had sat and what they had eaten on that fateful day in Ruby Foos back in 2007.

This week, I'm the hostess with the mostest for My Town Monday. So, if you've put up a MTM post, let me know in the comments section here or on the official My Town Monday blog. And I'll link to you on both blogs. Happy Monday!


Oh, and here's a link to Kristen Nelson's momentous blog post.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Child #2 is HEALED!

You may remember that Child #2 broke his collarbone on Sunday, September 19 in an uber dumb skateboarding incident. This efffectively removed Child #2 from his entire last high-school season of varsity water polo. His coach was not amused. Neither were his parents.

The circles show the ends of the broken bone. (I will not divulge how long it took me to figure out how to add the circles!)

Last week, Mr. Summy took Child #2 to the x-ray department and then to his orthopedic appointment. The surgeon pulled the x-ray up on his computer screen. He jaw dropped. Child #2 was completely healed THREE WEEKS EARLY! Just in time for the CIF games! (California Interscholatic Federation--I only learned what the acronym stood for by Googling for this post!)

Our first CIF water polo game was last night. Child #2 played brilliantly!

To what do we owe this miraculous quick knitting of bone?

Youth?





Genes from the Great White North + genes from the Sooner State?





Copious quantities of calcium?

The water polo gods?

Your guess is as good as mine. I will say, though, it was magnificent to be in the bleachers when Child #2 jumped into the pool last night!

Monday, November 8, 2010

My Town Monday: Child #4 Recommends Serendipity 3 in New York City

Serendipity 3, a fun, well-known, overpriced restaurant + giftshop built in 1954, is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Child #4 and I walked here following an exciting morning at Random House where we were treated like princesses and met all sorts of wonderful RH people, many of whom are associated with the I So Don't Do series. Certainly we did not need any more treats after the RH reception, but we, uh, treated ourselves to more anyway!

Here's a so-so shot (taken with my Blackberry) when you first enter Serendipity 3. You can see some of the kitschy stuff for sale and the Tiffany lamps which are everywhere. You might recognize this restaurant from the movie Serendipity with Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack. (I am dying to meet the latter in real life. No doubt the feeling is mutual!) One Fine Day and Trust the Man each have scene filmed here, too. People who used to frequent Serendipity 3 include Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol.


Serendipity 3 is well known for it's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. This is a picture of the one Child #4 and I split. I'm not sure where the "frozen" and the "hot" come in. However, it's made of 14 different chocolates and is pretty yummy. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but Child #4 was extremely wowed. We will not discuss the calories! Anyway, apparently, Jackie O. wanted to serve Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at a function, but couldn't get hold of the recipe. It is available now, and I hunted it down just for you guys. The recipe for Serendipty 3's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate is right here.

Oh, you thought I was kidding when I said the restaurant was over priced? Here is a fancy schmancy hot dog (I can't believe I just typed that phrase) for a whopping $69 dollars! Child #4 and I did NOT order this. (I think if you click on the picture, it will enlarge enough to allow you to read the ingredients.)

Anyway, Serendipity 3 is certainly worth a visit. And a cup of Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. And perhaps a meal. But never a $69 hot dog. ;)

From freedictionary.com, serendipity is:

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
3. An instance of making such a discovery.


Happy Monday to you all, wherever you may be! Here's the link to the official My Town Monday blog where you'll find great posts about other bloggers' corners of the world.




Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity_3

http://www.serendipity3.com/main.htm

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Book Review Club (November 2010)

Please give a warm welcome to my critique partner, the wonderful and talented Kathy Krevat. Kathy stopped by to post about one of her favorite adult mystery authors. Thank you, Kathy! Oh, and in case you were counting on your fingers and toes....this is our TWENTY-THIRD meeting! Yowser!


DATING DEAD MEN by Harley Jane Kozak

Were you ever sad when a book was over? All Harley Jane Kozak’s books starring Wollie Shelley made me wish I had more of Wollie’s antics to read.

If you’ve never read Harley’s books, you’re in for a treat. And you have four books to enjoy!

In DATING DEAD MEN, Wollie is hilarious and immediately likeable as a struggling greeting card artist who takes part in some questionable dating research – 40 dates in 60 days -- to earn five thousand dollars to fund her store. Trying to impress the corporate honcho who can give Wolley what she wants most, to buy her own greeting card store, is almost impossible, especially when he hears the message her mentally ill brother leaves announcing a murder at his state mental hospital.

When Wollie drives to the hospital, she stumbles across a dead body and is kidnapped by a fake doctor, “Doc,” who drags her into a wacky mystery. Poor Wollie has to help solve the murder while avoiding the men trying to kill Doc, taking care of her paranoid schizophrenic brother, pleasing the secret shoppers who will verify that Wollie runs a quality store, and figuring out how to feed the pet ferret Doc left in her care.

Harley’s writing is wonderfully funny with entertaining details about L.A. and approaching 40 as a single woman. The secondary characters are even more colorful and just as fun as Wollie.

And when you finish DATING DEAD MEN, you have DATING IS MURDER, DEAD EX and A DATE YOU CAN'T REFUSE! Enjoy!

Thank you, Kathy! I loved DATING DEAD MEN and didn't realize there were so many more Wollie books. Speaking of more, please click through to the reviews below. You'll be glad you did!

MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Ellen Booraem of Freelance Ne'er-do-well: DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney (middle grade)

Sarah Laurence: THE HUNGER GAMES, CATCHING FIRE and MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins with an interview with the trilogy's editor, Kate Egan!!!

Stacy Nyikos: GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray (young adult)

Keri Mikulski: PINNED by Alfred C. Martino (young adult)

Jody Feldman: FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB by Antony John (Young Adult)


ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Patti Abbott: THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

Scott Parker: NAKED HEAT by Richard Castle (mystery)

Alyssa Goodnight of the Writers' Road Less Traveled: ROYAL BLOOD by Rhys Bowen (historical mystery)

Linda McLaughlin: HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON by Naomi Novik (fantasy)

Jenn Jilks of My Muskoka: CAROL 'A WOMAN'S WAY' by Kathy Ashby


Lucy Sartain of Ranting and RavingMINI SHOPAHOLIC by Sophie Kinsella

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Kathy Holmes: THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES: THE FOUNDING OF FACEBOOK


GRAPHIC NOVEL

Staci of Life in the Thumb: THE EXILE: AN OUTLANDER GRAPHIC NOVEL by Diana Gabaldon



Note to Reviewers: Leave a comment if I missed you or made a mistake concerning your review. I'm pretty disorganized these days, so it wouldn't surprise me if I dropped the ball somewhere! I'll rectify the situation the second I get a chance.

ENJOY!