Yeah, Write

Chicken-fried Grammar

Although I've personally been quite clear about the animal origin of chicken-fried steak since at least age 23, there are plenty of other facts that have escaped my notice until more recently.

But after Thursday's post, it occurs to me that chicken-fried steak (a badly named dish indeed) is still causing some confusion. And it has everything to do with the importance of the hyphen. Even restaurants that keep impeccable kitchens can be quite sloppy when it comes to hyphenating the compound adjectives on their menus. So, I figured a quick grammar lesson was in order.

A compound adjective is comprised of two adjectives working together to describe a noun. The fact that chicken-fried steak is steak rather than chicken is revealed in the construction of the phrase. Steak comes last, and it's being described by "chicken-fried." By the same logic, you know that a chicken-salad sandwich is a sandwich. If you read "chicken salad sandwich," you might assume it was a list of three different things and that someone forgot to include the commas. (Menus are known to do that as well.)

Here are a few parallel examples to "chicken-fried steak" that will help cement this fact:

Chicken-fried steak
Steak that has been fried like chicken. The steak is breaded and fried the same way fried chicken is breaded and fried, and its typically served with mashed potatoes and gravy. Bring on the heart disease! (And don't even get me started on "chicken-fried chicken." There's one too many "chickens" in that phrase.)

Chocolate-covered strawberries
Strawberries that have been covered in chocolate.

Citrus-glazed salmon
Salmon that has been glazed with citrus.

Man-eating shark
A shark that eats humans.

In the above examples, if there were no hyphen to designate the compound adjective, the phrases could be read as poorly constructed sentences:

Man eating shark. Man eating eel. Man getting indigestion.

Chicken fried steak. And then steak got its revenge with a fire poker.

Chocolate covered strawberry. And rock covered paper. But strawberry tasted better.

Does that help?

:-)

At Long Last...

My photo essay from CHA.

Donna Jannuzzi (Ella's January author), Tami Morrison, Angie Lucas, Wendy Smedley. It was clearly a "gray day," although we did not plan this in advance.

Our friends from Big Picture Scrapbooking.

Wendy and I teaching our CHA class, Quick & Easy Quizzes. It was a blast!

Our rapt audience :-)

A felt elephant spotted at the Basmati Paper & Felt Company booth.

I love these K&Company fabric swatches!

An adorable project from the 7gypsies booth. It's an artist trading card holder turned into a fabric-adorned, interactive, memory display.

Adorable bits and baubles from the Doodlebug booth.

Wendy and I with our friend Tanya from Doodlebug.

A product I hope I'll never have occasion to use. Blood splatter stickers?

Be still my heart! Tiny punctuation punches from EK Success (from the Slim Line collection).

An array of the 78 new Slim Line border punches from EK Success! I'm tempted to trade in my whole punch collection for these locking, flat, stackable punches.

Beautiful papers and beautiful booth display from The Girls' Paperie by Margie Romney-Aslett (Ella's December author). The frame is from IKEA, and Margie decoupaged it with vintage book papers and added chicken wire to the center. Genius!

The Ella crew hamming it up with some huge scissors (that really do work) at the Fiskars booth.

Iron-on Bead Dazzle elephant from SEI!

When you have a company called Ella Publishing Co., and you see a product line called Ella Blue, what choice do you have but to take a picture?

Wendy and Donna working on necklaces at a make 'n' take. Wendy and I often joke that there's such a thing as "tradeshow cute" (as opposed to "real-life cute"). There are times at a tradeshow where you'll see a project or a product that you simply MUST have on your person right that second! It's the most amazing thing you've ever seen! Then the moment you step out of doors, you look down at the accessories you've gathered, and you say to yourself, "What was I thinking?"

I LOVE these ribbons by Dear Lizzy for American Crafts. Especially the crumpled rose ribbon in the lower right corner.

Making Memories has a very simple jewelry line that allows you to mix and match adorably eclectic pieces to create custom accessories. And you don't need any previous jewelry-making experience!

I promised Wendy I would destroy this picture, since we both look like such dorks. But I lied. The point is that there's a new "hands-free" feature for the Slice tool. So, we're going hands-free here. (This is known as "trade-show cool," which also doesn't translate to the real world.)

This is just one example of the proliferation of farm-themed products we spotted at the show.

Scrumptious ribbon and twine from Jillibean Soup!

I found myself quite enamored of this manly line from Bella Blvd.

The last photo taken on my camera at CHA, because I accidentally left my camera in this hotel room during the taping of the Paperclipping Roundtable, hence the delay in posting pictures. (Thanks Tami for mailing my camera to me in such a timely fashion!)

Of course, I only snapped pictures of a small handful of my favorite things from the show. To see more of our highlights, watch for the February Scrapbook Ellaments issue, coming later this week!

A Memory That Came Out of Nowhere

It was 1991, and I was in Mrs. Springer's 9th-grade English class.

I adored Mrs. Springer. She was bold, funny, independent, and wise—and she once told my mother I was "brilliant," which you'll think was a very charitable thing for her to say after you hear the rest of this story. To this day, I can clearly recall her infectious laugh, her intense red hair, her flair for the dramatic, and the creepy stories she told us on Halloween after darkening the classroom windows with black butcher paper.

We had been given an assignment to write an essay or a book report, with instructions to use Roman numerals to designate each section of the report. Over the course of the year, I remember writing about Shane, Oliver Twist, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pride & Prejudice, and a biography of "Nazi hunter" Simon Weisenthal—but this report could have been about any or none of them. (Actually I know it wasn't about Oliver Twist, because that assignment was an oral report, which my friends and I turned into an embarrassing white-girl rap: "Oliver, Oliver Twist. Do the O-O-Oliver Twist!")

In any case, after struggling to format the assignment according to her instructions (using my family's rudimentary word-processor) and finally giving up, I handed in my finished report and said, "I'm sorry. I just used regular numbers to mark my sections. I couldn't find the Roman numerals on the keyboard I have at home."

Miraculously, Mrs. Springer did NOT laugh. She didn't even chuckle. She just smiled, nodded, and accepted my report. Her face didn't betray even a hint of mockery—a true testament to her acting skills. Bless Mrs. Springer; I don't think I could have done it!

It was only later, on my own, that I realized my humiliating error. And just look at me now:

I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - VIII - IX - X - XI - XII - XIII - XIV - XV - XVI - XVII - XVIII - XIX - XX - XXI - XXII - XXIII - XXIV -XXV - XXVI - XXVII - XXVII - XXIX - XXX

So, tell me: are you inspired to write about a similar event from your past? In your journal or on a scrapbook page, share your thoughts about a teacher whose influence you still feel today. Or write about something embarrassing you said or did in junior high school. Or collect a list of things you should have known by a certain age but somehow didn't—like the fact that pickles were once cucumbers, or that islands don't float, or that chicken-fried steak isn't chicken.

Or you can just enjoy a little laugh at my expense and go on about your day.

Men and Toilets

How did that title grab ya? I can almost guarantee this post is NOT about what you think it is. It's not about "men and toilets." It's about "men." And it's also about "toilets"—well, just ONE toilet, actually.

 MEN
The theme for the Write. Click. Scrapbook. layout gallery this month is "The Men in Our Lives." I took the theme quite literally with my layout. Make sure you check out the rest of the team's layouts by clicking here.

When I thought about "The Men in My Life,” I realized I have too much to say about each of them: my husband, my dad, my stepson, my grandpa. So I decided to round up all my favorite guys and limit myself to one word about each person. I thought this approach would save me time, and it did, but finding just the right word took a bit longer than I imagined! It was a really fun exercise, though. Creating this page also made me realize that I need to take more pictures of the adults I love; some of these shots are 5 years old! I also realized that every photo I have of my dad also contains a grandchild, which is kind of cute if you think about it.

Now, I could take a poll about which of these nine guys is the cutest, but I won't do that to you—or them. Besides, only two of them are single. And one of them is too young for you. (No matter how young you are.)

Supplies patterned paper (Bella Blvd., Making Memories) + letter stickers, number stickers (American Crafts) + thread, paper piercer, scallop borders (Bazzill Basics) + heart sticker (Cloud 9 Design) + brown pen (Zig for EK Success) + 12 x 12 by Angie Lucas

TOILETS
On Saturday, January 30, 2010, I finally pulled out my bottle of Goo Gone and removed a sticker from my toilet that has been there for more than 6 years!

It was such a moment of triumph that I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, or at least share the moment with you here on the blog. But I stopped myself. I thought, "This will be the THIRD time I have blogged about my toilet, and frankly, people are sick of hearing about it." 

Then I was reading through my blog comments today. And I don't know if the removal of the sticker sent out some sort of cosmic plea, but Deanna from Georgia responded to that plea. I got a comment TODAY in response to this blog post from May 12, 2009, which opened the door for me to celebrate my success.

Deanna wrote in to say:
"I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Loved it! I'd been putting it off, because how good could it be if everyone was recommending it? But it was wonderful. Just wondering - did you ever remove the label from your toilet?"

Coincidence? I don't think so.

And as of two days ago, I can finally answer:

"YES!"

I procrastinated this task for 6 years. And it took me about 6 seconds to finally complete. And it feels damn good.

There. The lid on this subject is hereby closed forever.

Or is it...?

Motivating or Maddening?

I also considered "Inspiring or Insulting" as a title for this post.

It's February 1, and many of us are starting month two of our resolution to get rid of our holiday hips. (Me? I'm getting a late start, so today marks my first month back at the gym, apart from a couple of bonus days last week. Go me!)

I'm just curious. Would seeing either of these buses around town make you want to join Gold's Gym?

Built Like a Bus?

How should a person respond to this? "Why yes, and thank you for pointing it out."

If it Jiggles, it's Fat.

Apparently, the folks at Gold's Gym are not acquainted with Jell-O. Besides, not all fat is bad. I can think of two places on a woman's chest where she doesn't mind having something that jiggles a little.

I'll proudly keep going to 24 Hour Fitness, thankyouverymuch.

e-everything

e-video
Would you like to see how much bigger Jovie got while I was in California for the week? She outgrew her cute orange collar! But she's as adorable as ever. Spend 1 minute and 15 seconds with Jovie and me in this quick video. (And I just dare you to try to talk to/about a puppy as cute as this and NOT regress into baby talk. It's impossible.)

e-radio
I promised I'd post the link to our CHA Paperclipping Roundtable episode, and here it is! If I remember right, it gets off to a slow start, but it gets pretty darn funny towards the end, so hang in there! (I'm too scared to go back and listen for fear that I said something embarrassing. So be kind and don't point it out if I did, deal?)

The Paperclipping Roundtable (a weekly crafting podcast) is great to have on in the background while you scrapbook, vaccuum, carpool, jog, wash the dog, etc. So subscribe through iTunes!

(Pictured from left: Noell Hyman, Ana Cabrera, Nancy Nally, Stacy Julian, moi.)

e-book
Have you seen the newest Ella eBook, now for sale at Ella Publishing Co.? It's truly amazing. Click on the picture to get your copy! And if you participate in Six Weeks of Sketches contest happening now at The Daily Trumpet blog, you could win a Cricut Expression cutting system (a value of $349!).

I'm e-xhausted!

A Quick Contest
The first person to listen to the Paperclipping Roundtable episode who can answer the following three questions correctly will win a free pair of Fiskars Micro-tip scissors that I picked up at CHA. (Get it? Paperclipping? Scissors?)

Here are the questions:
1. Who was the second guest on the show?
2. What was Izzy's pick for his favorite thing he saw at CHA?
3. Which panelist chose the Martha Stewart trimmer, adhesive, and fringe scissors as her product picks?

I'm Back, Baby

I would love to post tons of pictures from our days at CHA, but alas, I left my camera in California (Doh!) and it will be arriving in Utah via the U.S. Post Office in a couple of days. So, here are a few random recollections and experiences from our escape to California, punctuated by pictures I snapped on the old iPhone.

 When my sister Michele, an Orange County resident, said, "It's going to be raining the whole time you're here, so pack accordingly," I thought to myself, "Mmm-hmm, I live in UTAH. Like a bit of sissy California rain will even faze me!" Little did I know it would be airport-closing, house-flooding, buckets-falling-from-the-sky precipitation. Good thing my sis has plenty of umbrellas.

My niece Gillian (aka Gilli-beans) and I share an umbrella on a short walk around the block. My sister graciously hosted Wendy and me during our CHA stay.

I was a panelist on The Paperclipping Roundtable CHA podcast, which was recorded in Noell Hyman's tiny hotel room. Imagine a table surrounded by six microphones and six panelists (including Stacy Julian and Wendy Smedley). Equipment everywhere. Ten audience members crowded on the bed. Naturally, hilarity ensued. I'll post a link when the show goes up.

Gillian, age 2 and a half, had just met Wendy for the first time, and she couldn't wrap her brain around her name. She thought we were saying "Windy." Once, when Wendy was out of sight, Gillian came up to me and said, "Angie where's...uh...Cloud? Where's...Cloudy?" Looks like Ms. Smedley has a new nickname!

CHA shows are exhausting. Long days walking the floor, shaking hands, catching up, absorbing trends. Long evenings of meetings, receptions, and planning sessions. This year, it was delightful to wake up early (presumably before everyone else), softly open my door, and almost trip over a 5-year-old in footie pajamas excitedly whispering, "You're awake?!?" 

We handed out Ella Mints, "I'm an Ella Author" buttons to the six authors in attendance, and "I'm feeling Ella good!" buttons to anyone who would take them. We wore custom-sewn lanyards in Ella colors that Wendy and I dreamed up and assembled the day before the show. We had incredible meetings with Shimelle Lain, the Write.Click.Scrapbook. crew, Elizabeth Kartchner, Jessica the Crafts Editor from Country Living magazine, Scrapbooking From the Inside Out, Tricia from Scrapbook.com, Jenni Bowlin, and tons of manufacturers. In short, we're bursting with ideas and ready to put them to work.

But I'm still bummed that I don't have more pictures to share. They'll have to come later! For now, it's back to work for me...

Do You Know the Way to CHA?

I'm on my way there now. What a whirlwind week this has been! I hope I'm ready.

I've got my "Ella Mints" packed.

I've got plenty of business cards.

I've got coupons to hand out.

I've got my camera AND the battery.

I've got plans, plans, plans. 

I've got a hunch I'm REALLY going to miss my puppy. (Oh, and you too, Trav.)

Hopes and Fears

Wow, what an unexpectedly inspiring round of comments I got back from each of you! I realized something important as I was reading through your responses: each of them is a perfect little gem; a tiny essay that encapsulates so much of who you are and what matters most to you right at this moment. That kind of knowledge is a beautiful thing.

Who knew that you fears would say so much about us? And it occurs to me now that our greatest fears are often the exact opposite of our greatest hopes. You accomplish the same goal by identifying one or the other.

Every single one of you who commented could take the statement you wrote and expand on it in your journal or on a scrapbook page. This is different from a resolution or a goal, because admitting our hopes and our fears acknowledges our lack of control over the outer world. We all do our best to make sense of the incoming and the outgoing and to respond to new challenges and opportunities with our best efforts—but our responses are often the only power we have.

We can't control other people; we can't control the weather; we can't control the economy or world governments; we can't control the earth's fault lines. But we can respond with courage and integrity and purpose and authenticity—we can be present in our lives and reach out when we can.

Here are some of your hopes and fears:

Lee said, "My greatest hope for 2010 is that we manage to survive one more year with everyone in the house talking. Slowly we are being overrun by teens and pre-teens and I hope they continue to be open, honest and engaging. My greatest fear is that they don't." 

Leah said, "My greatest hope this year is that I get accepted to do my Masters and my greatest fear is that I get accepted to do my Masters."

Marty said, "My greatest hope is that my adopted kids continue to heal from their traumas."
(That sentence both breaks my heart and revives my faith in humanity. Thank you Marty for giving those kids a chance.)

Anne said, "I hope that my new baby granddaughter arrives safely and that she's healthy and gorgeous!"

Chris said, "My greatest hope is selfish. I want a happy, healthy family. In 14 1/2 months I lost my sister in a car accident, my mother fell and died 3 months later from complications, and my 47-year-old husband had a stroke. Rough times and I am hoping and praying for better days ahead."
(This doesn't sound one bit selfish to me. My heart goes out to you, Chris.)

Mellisa said, "My greatest HOPE is that I will become pregnant again. My greatest FEAR is that it will end in yet another loss."

Katie said, "My greatest hope for this year is a calmer, happier me. And my greatest fear is losing a close friend of mine who is fighting breast cancer."

Kelli said, "My greatest fear is that my husband who has been traveling A LOT over the last several years will have the opportunity to be home more with us on a daily basis. That being said, my biggest fear is that my husband will be home with us on daily basis... ;)"
(Everything is a mixed blessing, isn't it???)

Jennifer said, "My greatest hope is for the safe return of all our soldiers and for everyone to be at a good place in their own lives."

Rebecca said, "My greatest hope is to find a job, a new home to live in with my family. My greatest fear we don't get a job and will be forced to move in with parents. (11 months of unemployment is really old!)"

Betty said, "My greatest hope for 2010 is that this will be the year my 7 yr old son finally speaks so my loving DH can hear the word Daddy for the first time..."

Katherine said, "My greatest hope for 2010 is that the drought is over and we have a successful crop in each field and that the Cotton Gin has more than enough business to make up for the past 3 years of extremely severe drought."

Migdalis said, "My greatest hope for this year is to keep walking even if the world around me is falling apart!!!"

Jodee said, "My greatest hope for 2010 is that my hubby realizes his potential and starts his own business. He is kind of hesitant right now."

Margie said, "My greatest hope for 2010 is that I feel more peace than fear. And that I remember my blessings in this moment. It sounds cliche, but it's cliche for a reason! And I have to add that I hope the same for others, especially those with extreme difficulty these days. We've all been there and I hope they find relief & peace sooner than later."

Doesn't this list give you an amazing perspective on your own life and on other people's challenges and blessings?

I am very touched. Thank you, everyone.

p.s. This feels a bit anticlimactic now, but Random.org gave the random number 77, which came from Laura. I'll email the winner her prize!

Win an Ella eBook

Before Ella's exciting new January eBook goes on sale next week, I wanted to give you one more chance to win a free copy of our popular December eBook, A Year in the Life: Scrapbook your year in 24 simple layouts!

Authored by the geniuses at the Write. Click. Scrapbook. collective, this eBook is chock full of two-page, multi-photo layout ideas. There are two for every month. Seriously, if you just create the 24 layouts in this eBook, you can consider an entire year documented in style! Check that goal off, then move on to whatever is inspiring you at the moment....

Leave me a comment describing what your greatest HOPE for 2010 is and/or your greatest FEAR. I'll pick one random winner who'll get a free copy of this little beauty here.

(Note: click on the cover above to see a sneak peek of this eBook and read the complete description!)