Ellie@Home by Nicole Kapise-Perkins

Buying more time friends, but you get mystery and intrigue, so I hope you don't mind. Enjoy! Sleeping Beauty, Part 2 “What a curious piece, Mera,” Mrs. Gryce leaned forward in her chair and examined something at her neck.             She raised questioning fingers, touched the scarab pendant hanging from a fine chain. “Oh, my scarab. It is, isn’t it?” She struggled to retain her thoughts, mindful of her grandmother’s stiff disapproval of her and the risk of shaming herself before her grandmother’s guests. “It was my mother’s.” Was it?             “It’s very pretty, isn’t it Luceille?” Mrs. Gryce looked at her daughter. Luceille, slightly older than herself, nodded, but there was no friendliness in her eyes. “Have you been to Egypt, then, Mera?” “No…” had she? She couldn’t recall. She felt a vague panic. Across the tea table her grandmother’s face stiffened. ...

      Supposedly it is going to snow this weekend. I don't know if I believe this: recent years have shown that it doesn't snow in Massachusetts anymore. If it does actually happen, it is supposed to be the kind of massive snowfall that makes people stay in, tucked into their couches with a quilt and a book, or clutching the television remote shouting at poor plays during football games (I'm looking at you Husband). It's supposed to be the kind of snowfall that makes people want to hibernate with tea and cocoa and something savory bubbling quietly on the stove while the warm comforting scent of baking bread fills the house. Here are a few of our favorite "cozy feeds," stews that always seem to hit the spot on cold days, even if there isn't any snow. Rachael Ray's Beef and Beer Stew Ingredients 5 pounds beef brisket, cut into 2-inch cubes Salt and pepper 1 stick (4 ounces) butter 4 pounds onions, sliced 6 tablespoons flour 1 12 o...

   At least once a week I look at my husband and ask "Where is our house?" The answer is usually "I don't know."      I can't blame him. I don't know either (which is why I asked). Somehow over the course of a week three adults and one child manage to create a tornado that throws stuff everywhere, and the only time we seem to have available to really dedicate to digging ourselves out is usually the weekend, and who wants to spend a weekend doing that? Case in point, in order to write this post, I had to clear two lunch bags, a pair of child's gloves, a copy of Lego Magazine , a copy of Ask Magazine (belonging to the owner of the gloves), a GameBoy along with its cord and charger (also belonging to the owner of the gloves) and a pile of mail off of the table so I could have space for my computer. I'd write at the desk in the living room, but that is inhabited by two computers, a printer, and stuff, some of which might actually be related to desk...

     Hello All. I hope everyone had a lovely holly-day season! We have been out straight, celebrating with all kinds of family, and now that it is the second week of January, we are holli-dazed and ready for life to return to normal. Case in point, I have plotted all kinds of posts for this month, let's see if I actually get to post even half of them, and for all of you tonight I have an excerpt from a short(ish) story I have begun called Sleeping Beauty . Am I not the most original person you have probably never met? (yes, I know, some of you have met me...). I don't really know where this story is going to go. I intend for it to be a short story, but the last short story I really dove into wound up a novel-length historical romance that I published with Kindle Publishing, then took back because I felt weird for having written a romance because I don't read Romance, but then I realized that was a really idiotic thought for a writer to have and so I will be re-releasing i...