author of celtic, medieval, gothic and fairytale inspired fiction
Thank you all so much. You guys are beyond awesome! It’s been an incredible nine months since I hit my last milestone of 200 followers and it’s so humbling to find myself at 300 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me. It means the world.
I love seeing the numbers grow because I love sharing my success along with writing tips and story prompts along with other random tidbits.
Here’s to the next 100 followers in the next nine months.
Today was not a good day. It hasn’t been for the last eleven years. Truth is, I don’t think it’s ever going to be a good day. It’s forever going to be a day tinged with sadness and regret.
Regret for all the things I didn’t say and regret for all things I did say but didn’t mean.
Looking back is hard. Mistakes are painful.
Death is mind numbing. And back then at 24, despite the countless number of funerals I’d already attended it was this one that blew me off my feet.
Nothing prepares you for losing a parent. My mum. She was 58. I thought she’d see seventy at least.
Enya was her favourite. It was played at her funeral. So, I find myself reminiscing and trying to listen to the song without crying. It’s not easy.
One day though.
Soon.
…You stumble upon the fact that blood makes a good egg substitute and you decide to blog about it.
Not grossed out yet? Then keep reading.
So, in an effort to get in the Easter spirit a little bit more I went searching the internet for quick and easy chocolate related recipes today… because while I love my go to chocolate cake, I didn’t just want cake. Turns out, my go to chocolate cake is easy as to make and I can do it in my sleep… so all the other fabulous recipes I found today will have to wait.
However, in the course of looking through all kinds of chocolate recipes I also stumbled across why blood is a good substitute for eggs.
The answer? It’s full of protein.
Of course, if you are squeamish at the sight of blood you might be better sticking to banana or apple sauce as an egg supplement. But I found it fascinating all the same.
So, now that you’re thoroughly creeped out, I’m going to share with you one of the easiest chocolate cake recipes I’ve found to date. My kids love it!
ingredients
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/3 cup butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1 teaspoons of vanilla
method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line a 24cm cake tin and set aside.
2. Place all ingredients into a bowl and using a mixer, mix ingredients together on high for 4 minutes.
3. Pour into cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched in the centre.
Alternatively, if you’d rather cupcakes, this recipe will easily make 12. Just bake for 15 minutes at 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
ingredients
• 100g butter, softened
• 2 cups soft icing mixture, sifted
• 1/3 cup cocoa, sifted
• 2 tbsp milk
method
1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the icing mixture and cocoa a little at a time until fully incorporated.
3. When this is fully combined add the milk and the chocolate buttercream will become light and fluffy.
So, what on your menu for Easter? Anything special? Share in the comments below!
Alright, I confess. I tried something new today with my blog. I posted two blogs when I normally only post one.
Surprisingly, it got results. Bigger and better than I ever would have hoped for. So, THANK YOU!
The blog itself was inspired in part by all the poetry blogs I have subscribed to, and… the fact (which I didn’t know until today) that’s it’s National Poetry Month! Finally, it was written because I didn’t want to just write another post about the Arthurian Myths (which I adore) lest I bore you all to death. So, I shared Tennyson’s rather epic poem instead.
The second was my obligatory weekly recap for the 365 Writing Challenge post. Long overdue, as I try to write them weekly, but last week was met with a flurry of blogging updates, and little room or time to actually write that second post last Monday.
I can’t promise to write every day. That’s just… impossible for me between trying to split myself between family and writing. I’m not quite organized enough to successfully schedule my time the way I know I should. I try but I inevitably wind up dropping balls or something unexpected happens that wipes out everything I had planned for that day, and attempting to catch up the next day never works the way you think it will.
But, I do promise I’ll try. Assuming you’re all willing to stick with me as I navigate the blogosphere.
So, on that final note, I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU again to all of you who’ve stopped by recently and liked or followed my blog, I really do appreciate it from the bottom of my heart and I hope you’ll keep coming by so that you can stay up to date with my writing progress. Whatever the achievement.
Until next time,
Stacey
Thank you all so much. You guys are beyond awesome! It’s been an incredible nine months since I hit my last milestone and so humbling to find myself at 200 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me.
I vowed back in June 2018 that I’d share more about my writing journey and my kids. I think I’ve succeeded in sharing more about my writing but not so much about my kids.
So, I thought I’d use this post to share a bit about the other side of my life, as a mum to four kids. Yep, four… crazy, right? It comes as a shock to some, actually. In fact, I’m asked a lot how I keep my sanity. Sometimes, I don’t. But sleep helps, that and copious amounts of coffee.
I love my kids to pieces, but they do at times drive me up the wall. My husband too, at times, but I guess that comes with the territory.
My eldest son is thirteen… a teenager, and it hasn’t sunk in yet. He’s outgrown me. (That hasn’t quite sunk in, either) I still find myself thinking of him as the same kid who surprised us all by reading at three and a half. He received Harry Potter at seven and devoured the books in quick succession. He’ll still pick them up and reread them to this day. He hates having to clean his room.
My daughter is quite a bit like me. She came into the world incredibly early, at not even a kilo and has left her mark every day since. At eleven she’s an absolute riot. Loves cats, horses and origami and hates the colour pink. Which according to her brother is the weirdest thing ever.
My next eldest son is ten and insanely smart and sometimes frustrating bundle of energy. I think he learnt to run before he learnt to walk, because he never stops. He loves Lego and minecraft and anything and everything space related and is slowly getting into fantasy books. He hates stir-fry and homework.
My youngest son is eight and has never quit trying to keep up with his older siblings. He loves trains, Peter Rabbit and Groot from the Marvel universe. His favourite colour is green. He’s broken bones and had stitches but I can’t think of a single thing he hates right now, when I do, I’ll be sure to share.
And that’s pretty much the snapshot into my kids and each of their very different personalities.