Category: Holidays (Page 10 of 13)

Katora’s Winter Solstice

December 20, 2012 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m guest posting today at Lorrie Unites-Struiff’s blog with an original Elixir short story. Find out how Katora, Kylene, and Bhar celebrate the Winter Solstice.

Don’t forget, today is the last day to buy Elixir Bound for $1.99. I’d love for you to support my publisher’s website and buy it from the MuseItUp bookstore, but you can also get it on Amazon. (So that means it’s also the last day of my shameless self-promotion…for now!)

I’m off to do some last minute shopping with (and for!) The Boy. Let’s see, tonight I need to address those Christmas cards and finish decorating the tree. This weekend is the annual Christmas cookies decorating party with my niece, nephews, my twin-not-twin sister, and my mom. Pictures next week! And I’ll have some more thoughtful posts coming in the New Year.

In the meantime, peace and love this holiday season!

Group Poetry

December 14, 2012 / Katie L. Carroll

My family likes to play games on holidays. At Thanksgiving this year, we decided to play a particular favorite poetry game.

The first person writes two lines of poetry at the top of the paper, folds down the first line, and passes it on. The second person adds one additional line and folds over the previous line, and so on until the page is full. So each writer sees just one line of poetry before having to add his/her own line. It can get pretty ridiculous!

Admittedly, they all end up somewhat offensive and slightly plagiarized, and none of them make much sense, so I just picked one that made me chuckle. Enjoy!

The lily wilted on the vine

Her veins they dripped with turpentine

It was an ugly Valentine

It had stripes in its center

They could buy, who not rent her

Spending money is the root of all evils

So hoard it all from the poor peoples

Raise a glass and salute them

Salute them for how they fought

The angry clowns who were addicted to meth

Made by the locals in the town of Bathe

He leaned back his head and drained the carafe

Down his scarf and into his banana hammock so as to set his sausage afloat

Well, I hope no one was seriously offended by that…it’s really mean to be all in good fun!

Christmas Cookies with the Kids

December 27, 2011 / Katie L. Carroll

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to make sugar cookies with my niece and nephews…and this year I had my own little one with me. Granted, The Boy is still too little to really enjoy the whole cookie-making experience, but I couldn’t leave him out just because of that.

As the kids grow, the cookies just get better and better. And we even had a gingerbread house to decorate too.

Can you guess which ones are mine?

Magnetic Poetry: Mother’s Day

May 9, 2011 / Katie L. Carroll

The ladies and I had a lovely brunch yesterday to celebrate Mother’s Day. The weather was gorgeous and several of us kept the festivities going when we walked around the green and checked out a craft fair.

With my status as mother-to-be I got my first ever Mother’s Day presents in the form of cards, flowers, and delicious homemade banana bread (thanks goes out to The Boy…yup, it’s a boy!). The hubby decorated the refrigerator with ultrasound pictures of the little guy, but that wasn’t the only thing that ended up on the refrigerator.

That’s right! As with all the gatherings at my house, the guests were encouraged to express themselves with poetry. There was a whole new crop of words that had been added to the magnetic poetry kit since the last installment and the phrases were flowing. Here’s what the guests had to say:

spring morning garden leave s little want ing (there’s nothing I can really add to this beautiful sentiment…but notice I still added something by pointing that out)

imagine sweet dream s (if only it were as simply as imagining them and they came true)

a spark ly puddle is an inspiration for play time (probably true for most children, not so much for most adults)

easy trick bake good rain love (ummm…that’s what she said? maybe not, but I couldn’t go without saying it)

always taste summer and fear not to drink the gentle breeze (I think the awesome weather really inspired the guests to new levels of poetic beauty)

do squirrel s experience emotion (it’s a burning question that I know so many of us have been wondering and I’m glad someone finally asked it)

As always, thanks to those who contributed. What kind of poetic inspiration have you been experiencing lately?

The Pages I’ve Read in 2010

January 6, 2011 / Katie L. Carroll

As we turn the page on 2010 to a new one on 2011 (yeah, yeah, pretty corny!), I’ve been thinking about the pages and pages I’ve read this year, which just happens to be enough fill 65 books (not to mention all the magazines, newspapers, blogs, and cereal boxes I’ve read). Interestingly that was the same exact number of book I read in 2009. I had hoped to read more books in 2010, but I put reading somewhat aside in the second half of the year in order to give myself more writing time, or as was often the case, more revising time.

Throughout the year, I featured the book trailers of some of my favorite books, including my absolute most favoritest book of the year: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (which my twin-not-twin sister gave to me for my b-day). I also picked up a bunch of signed books (some of which are still on my to-read list): Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko (which came highly recommended by my 11-year-old nephew), Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton, and Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock to name a few.

In honor of Banned Books Week, I draped myself in only banned/challenged books. After reading that post, a certain book buddy of mine gave me The Giver by Lois Lowry when she found out I didn’t have my own copy.

As for 2011 in addition to print books, I’ve now had my Nook for over a year and hope to add to my Nook book collection. At Girls’ Christmas a new book bag was started. Basically, a group of us girls pass around the bag of books and when it’s out turn to have the bag, we can read none/any/all of the books in it and write in the enclosed journal if we choose to. Then you take out any books you had previously put in and add more books if you want to.

Up next, I’ve got some 2011 releases I’m really, really looking forward to reading! Enter a great contest on Anna Staniszewski’s blog to maybe win some of those books. What were your favorite books of the year?