Inside Ellie's Head

Snowman Family Complete

 
 
The snowman family is complete! I have to admit that they have been done and on display for several months now. I just didn't think of putting them on here until now. Scroll down to older posts to see mom and dad. :) 

Crafty Baby Shower Ideas

You know you are in your thirties when FIVE people who are close to you are pregnant all at the same time!!! One sister, one cousin, one best friend, one aunt, and one friend, all waddling around on sore feet with their varying-sized bumps, feeling sick and bloated, as they ready themselves for that day when they can come home with a brand new person in their arms. 

When my sister complained of her morning sickness, which has been effecting every aspect of her life for the past two months, my friends mom said to her: "Oh, hang in there. It'll tough for only a few more months," then quickly added, "Plus twenty years."

Today was my best friend's baby shower. Wanting to be original and creative in our planning of this event, we came up with some wonderful ideas for decorations that WOWed the guests and did not break the bank. 

CLOTHING LINE as DECORATION

 One fun decorative element to add to an outdoor baby shower is the baby clothing line. To create this line, three of us pitched in and got the mom-to-be cute clothes for her soon-to-arrive daughter. She'll get to keep all the clothes in the end, but in the meantime, the clothes can work hard to add a decorative element that made every guest squeal with delight. After all, who doesn't love seeing miniature clothes hanging on a line??

CENTERPIECES:

Pacifier flower Bouquet 

The thought of making flowers with pacifiers in their center came to me when we were trying to come up with some centerpiece ideas for the baby shower. What if we had a different centerpiece for each table? We thought, AND, what if each centerpiece was made of something that a baby would use??

We wanted the centerpieces to be baby-centric, practical, and simple. All the other centerpieces are self-explanatory. And the best part about them: They can be used even AFTER the shower is over and all the guests have gone home. 

Rubber Duckies in a bowl

Baby's First Piggy Bank

Baby's First Picnic Basket

The fans were a perfect decorative and practical addition to each table and were hand made out of colorful papers. 

WISHING TREE

For this wishing tree we cut colorful sheets of paper into 3" x  3" pieces, which we trifolded and hole punched. A small piece of ribbon fed through the hole gave the guests a way to fasten their best wishes onto the tree. The tree is a branch which as been spray painted to give it that shiny silver finish. 

 

 

Side Note: I cannot wrap my mind around what an incredible miracle it is that a being can grow INSIDE another being!!! And speaking of things that should be impossible (but aren't): It is no less of a miracle what trees and plants do. What machine, for instance, can take dirt and water and sunlight and turn it all into a juicy, sweet, nutritious apple? The creation of life blows me away...

Tissue Paper to the Rescue!!!

Necessity truly is the mother of innovation!!

This year (as previous years), I've had the task of buying and wrapping all the holiday gifts for my boss.

Which holiday?? You ask!

Why, the Persian New Year, of course!! I answer. 

So I bought the gifts on Monday (mind you, I needed to deliver the wrapped and ready gifts by Wednesday!) and forgot about them (I do have selective memory) until Tuesday night 9PMish. At 9:30PM on Tuesday  night, I waddled out to my car, realizing that I cannot procrastinate any longer (the gifts weren't going to wrap themselves after all) to fetch the gifts. 

With the wrap-ready goodies in house, I went to the gift wrapping closet and became increasingly distraught as all my rummaging produced nothing but tissue paper and ribbons. No wrapping paper!!! ANYWHERE!!! 

When a trip to Ralphs AND Albertsons proved to be the opposite of fruitful (why don't they carry gift wrap?!?!), I returned home with my tail dragging behind me. 

Then I sat down on the ground, surrounded by tissue paper of all colors, a box of half-used spools of ribbons, and the gifts that needed wrapping. As I looked around, a thought came to my mind:

Who says I can't wrap in tissue paper?? 

So, I began the journey of prettifying the bland boxes, feeling tired and a bit defeated but finished feeling glorious! 

Here are some pictures. You judge for yourself. Personally, I think they're not bad at all!!

(I might actually wrap in tissue more often.)

Yummy orzo with fresh spinach & tomatoes

For dinner tonight: orzo with spinach & tomatoes

Ingredients:
Orzo
Some bow tie pasta to add variety
Tomatoes
Spinach
1 Clove of garlic
Avocado
Feta cheese
Pine nuts
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Make pasta
As pasta is cooking put all other ingredients in a mixing bowl. When pasta is done, drain it and pour the pasta into the bowl and mix everything together. The veggies will cook just slightly by the heat of the pasta.

Enjoy!!

The Union of the Snow People

Knit Snow Man

Here's what I've been doing this past week with my free time. What free time? You ask. It is true, I would not know what "free time" looked like if it bit me in the behind.

Let me rephrase: This is what I was doing during the Superbowl game last week and while watching "The Town" last night. 

A few more sporting events and shoot 'em ups and I shall have a whole family!! 

The Thief Keeps her Job

How is it that someone can steal from another person sitting two cubicles away, and still keep their job???

The girl who took my iPhone 4 last week, who paid me for it without officially admitting to the theft (if you're fuzzy on the circumstances, check out my previous post), the same person I did not press charges against because I am a softy at heart and felt sorry for her three kids, continues to have her job. She comes into the office every day, sits in the same cubicle where I can see the top of her head when she stands and where I can hear her talk. 

One question repeats itself inside my head and on the lips of others on our floor:

Why is she not fired???

Was my evidence not convincing enough? The lawyers on our floor that I have spoken to have said that my evidence was solid! The police officer I spoke to last week said that there was grounds for immediate dismissal. A labor law attorney that one of the attorneys on this floor consulted with said the same thing. He had asked the same question: Why is she not fired??

It is baffling!! 

My boss spoke with her boss yesterday, asking him what he was intending to do. 

"We can't keep looking over our shoulder." my boss said to hers, "You'll need to do something about this."

To this her boss replied: "I'm very swamped right now. I don't have the time to train someone new."

So, now I ask you: Is "not having time to train a new person" reason enough to not punish a thief? Is not firing her not a way of encouraging her behavior?

Mind you that her boss has had $1500 worth of stuff taken from his desk which is located inside his office which, in his absence, is entered only by HER. His iPhone 4 was stolen only days after he purchased it. (anyone see a pattern here??) During the holidays, the gift cards he had  purchased for his employees went missing. $300 cash was taken out of another attorney's wallet, another office to which the thief has full access! 

Part of  me is disappointed. Another part of me knows that no good ever comes from stealing and that she will sooner or later be faced with the consequences of her actions. There are no victories in thieving. And that's just it. She may not be fired today, but tomorrow, she might get just what she deserves. Karma works in mysterious ways. 

MobileMe to the Rescue: A modern detective story

 

On Monday morning, I discovered that my iPhone 4 was missing. Someone had taken it right off my desk at work. First of all, what kind of a person steals a phone from a co-worker?? I think we could have a lengthy discussion about that alone! My guess is that the same type of person who'd come to your home, see your engagement ring on the mantel and stick it in her pocket when you step into the kitchen to pour her a glass of wine.

For years now, I have been a loyal MobileMe customer, forking over my $100 at the beginning of every October to keep my cloud alive. When my Sprint contract was finally fulfilled and I was free to switch to the AT&T network and purchase that iPhone I'd had my eye on for years, I was ecstatic. One of the first things I did was set up MobileMe on my brand new iPhone 4. And when I saw that little option at the bottom of the settings page for "Find my iPhone", I didn't even think twice before turning the feature on. 

So when my phone went missing, after turning my home, desk, and car inside out, I logged into my MobileMe account and tried to locate my iPhone through "Find my iPhone." Whoever had taken my phone had turned it off. No data communication, no location.

I slept terribly Monday night, thinking about what pervert was looking through the thousands of pictures featuring me and my loved ones, sifting through my calendar, and checking out the calorie counter app I recently downloaded to keep track of what I ate throughout the day. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, all I could think about was logging onto MobileMe with the hope that sometime during the night the perve had turned my phone on. My heart rate shot up when the blue dot appeared on top of a house in Hawthorne, about 20 miles south of where I actually live. I zoomed into the location and took a screenshot. Then I google mapped the location, went to street view and zoomed into the house. I printed all the pages out and went to work optimistic that I had enough evidence to incriminate the person living in that house. My only challenge: finding the person who lived in that house! 

Once I got to work, I asked around the office a bit and found out that the house in question (where my phone spent the night) belonged to this girl who works two cubicles over from me. She's a legal secretary for a lawyer. I spent all of Tuesday in meetings with the office security, management, hr, etc. 

Finally, the manager called me, the girl, and her boss into her office. She showed the girl the picture of the house and said: "Do you know this house?"

"Yeah. That's my house." the girl answered without hesitation. 

Then we shared with her and her boss that my phone was taken from my desk yesterday morning and that at 10:51Pm last night, my phone was at her house. The girl denied taking it. Said someone was trying to "frame" her. Started to cry.  Then said: "You want me to pay for it? I don't have your phone. I didn't take it. But I'll pay for it." 

Her boss asked her to empty her purse and as she did, she said: "You can come and search my house from top to bottom. It's not there. Because I don't have it."

On Friday, she handed me cash for the phone which I used to purchase a new iPhone 4 at the AT&T store that same day. The matter was resolved without a police report. I did not want to press charges if I could avoid it because I felt bad about what that would mean to her three small children. What baffles me is that she still has her job. One thing is for sure, I am not leaving that phone laying around any  more, even if it's on my own desk for a minute or two while I run the lady's room.

There you have it folks! MobileMe and "Find my iPhone" helped save the day! 

 

Writing Confusion Intentionally

"Did you know that you keep switching between pronouns when you refer to Veda?" One of the three people reading my fantasy story (current work in progress) asked me.

When I spoke to the second person on this list of three a few days later, I was asked the same question. 

"Yes," I said and proceeded to explain that it was Nathan, the main character in the story through whose eyes we see the world, who keeps switching between pronouns. Not ME.

Veda is neither masculine nor feminine, you see. He or she is a perfect balance of both. On his or her planet, there is a word for people like Veda. There is a set of pronouns to use when talking about them. Our language is quite simply insufficient. Nathan struggles with this. He doesn't know what to call Veda. Most of the time, he cannot choose and he does what I just did: he uses both pronouns. Sometimes, when Veda seems feminine to him, he refers to her as a "she" and at other times when Veda appears masculine, he calls him a "he."

Potentially confusing? 

Undoubtedly. 

So the question arrises:

How does a writer communicate the confusion inside the character's head without hitting the reader over the head with the explanation? 

Where is that sweet middle ground between  "Did the writer make a mistake here?" and "I get it already! I'm not an idiot!"?

Some of my favorite writers, those whose stories stay with me for years after reading them, have an enviable way of communicating confusion and allowing me, as a reader, to become witness to the mysteries of the situations the characters face with just the right amount of explanation. They do so without drawing my attention away from the character and his struggle. The writer remains invisible and what I hear as I read is the voice of the character. Confused. Oblivious. Frustrated. Out of control. You get the drift.

When thinking of intentional confusion, one of the books that comes to my mind is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.  The effect that Charlie Gordon's progressively refined voice had on me when I first read Flowers for Algernon still lingers. Daniel Keyes creates a character in this haunting story who is surrounded by situations he cannot fully comprehend or effectively explain. In some instances, it is Gordon's later journal entries that shed light on the truth behind previous situations. 

Like Gordon, Nathan will attain the answers he's seeking. Until such time, however I'll have to make sure that his confusion remains his confusion and not my mistake. 

What intentional confusion have you encountered in stories lately? Did you think the confusion was really intentional? Or did you think the writer had made a mistake? 

The Predicament of Chapter Titles

As I enter Chapter 8 (and my character enters a dark hole in the ground - quite literally!), I find myself facing a serious question:

To title each chapter or to not?

Perhaps the more accurate question would be: to continue titling chapters or not? 

The arguments over whether or not to title chapters seem to be rooted deeply in personal preference. Some writers enjoy the process of titling their chapters  but might skim over them when they are reading a book. Others find the practice completely pointless or even annoying. 

I, myself, did not start out titling my chapters. I simply started each chapter with a roman numeral. I, II, III, etc. Once I got to chapter VI, I realized that my chapters are on average ten to fifteen pages long. How many chapters then will I have when I'm done with my story? 20? 25? 40? Do I really want to write out 38 in roman numerals? XXXVIII? And why use roman numerals in the first place in a story about aliens and the potential end of the world as we know it?

So I opted to using western numerals followed by chapter titles. Simple enough.

The problem began when I finished chapter 7 and had no idea what to call the chapter. And I began a new train of thought: Do I really need chapter titles? Do titles actually entice or discourage readers? Do they slow the reader down and needlessly throw him off track? Do they distract from the story? 

So, I got to doing some research. Mainly reading opinions that others (writers and readers of books) have expressed about chapter titles on the world wide web. I found that Chapter titles are both loved and hated. Here's a summery of what makes great titles great, and why some people might just not care for them:

First, we'll begin with the positive.

I found much love for chapter titles out there. Many people expressed that they enjoy chapter titles with the following characteristics:

1)  Some of the best chapter titles will add a little something to the story. Authors might try to use the titles to add another layer of depth to the story they are telling. 

2) The titles might stay within a general theme. If the story is centered around time, the titles might all have some kind of reference to time. If the story is centered around spaces or food, titles that fit within those general themes will keep the story moving forward cohesively. 

3) Good titles are NOT too obvious and will not reveal too much of what is about to happen. Many people might feel discouraged if they are told what is about to happen before they've had a chance to read the chapter.

4) Humor in titles is much appreciated. Chapter titles that are funny without being too long and too revealing get much praise. In this sense, a chapter title is a great place for the author to add a little moment of lightness to the story without detracting from it. Especially if the story he's writing is a humerous one. 

5) Good chapter titles (when kept cohesive) can set the tone for the entire book. They can be ironic, funny, clever, silly, unorthodox, serious, lighthearted, etc. You get the idea. 

Alright. I figure five are enough reasons to support titling chapters.

Now to the negative:

But what did those folk say who don't like chapter titles? Even those who expressed a fondness towards chapter titles, did not care for them when the titles made the following mistakes: 

1) The titles didn't add to the story in any way. Most people simply skip over the titles when they are not interesting or don't seem very relevant. 

2) The titles gave away too much of the story. In a difficult part of the book, this might be a death sentence for the story. Many people admitted to actually putting a book down (and NEVER finishing it) when they reached a title that rendered the story uninteresting. 

3) The titles were confusing or not relevant. Sometimes the reader has to decode the title as he or she is reading the story. This can be both good or really bad. If the title is clever and fun, it can be fun; if the title adds confusion and distracts from the story, the reader might get frustrated or indifferent. 

The Result:

There you have it. Five reasons for chapter titles, three against. Most people who didn't like titled chapters, simply skipped over them. Very few people expressed complete hatred and annoyance towards titles. On the other hand, those who enjoyed clever fun chapter titles, seem quite devoted to them. My conclusion is simple: There is more love for chapter titles out there than there is disdain. 

So if you're wondering whether or not to title those chapters you're working on, consider naming them. But keep your titles clever, fun, and cohesive.