Jenyfer Matthews

The pretty gerber daisies I bought week before last turned out to have a white fly population in residence, a common pest for gerber daisies, so I decided to segregate them away from my other plants. The only place to put them that also had the sort of light they prefer was on my fire escape balcony. Not a great location, since I can’t enjoy them there, but I figured it was temporary while I dealt with the white fly problem.

I went to check on them today and found one of them was missing.

Anyone could climb the fire escape and that is where the garbage men come to collect the trash, but it seemed unlikely that anyone would bother to take only one of the plants if they were going to take any. It’s been windy so I figured that the pot had blown off the wall they were sitting on, but I couldn’t see it when I looked down. Since I didn’t know exactly when it might have fallen, I decided to go downstairs and inquire with the guard / doorman downstairs.

Turns out that the pot had indeed blown down, but it was no where to be seen now. The likeliest scenario is that the building’s gardener found it and did something with it. But what? And better yet, why not just ask who it belonged to? Wouldn’t it have been obvious that it belonged to someone in the building???

He was gone for the day by the time I was making my inquiries but you better believe that I’m going to follow up on this. I want my flower back – white flies and all!

Sshh!!! Don’t tell anyone I’m here. I’m hiding out today. I’ve been running from place to place, doing so many things for other people that I just need a little quiet time to relax. Not sure what I’ll do, but I know what I won’t do – answer the phone or go out anywhere. Today is a day for hanging around the house in my flannel pants and doing whatever strikes my fancy.

At least until it’s time for tennis lessons later on…

I enjoy working at the library, but of course when I am there a whole lot of stuff is not getting done here at home. Also, I know that there are a few things I’m going to be busy doing at the school later in the week (more on that later) so I got busy doing things bright and early this morning.

You just never know when the phone might ring and it will be the library asking me to come in and substitute.

So this morning, in addition to all the usual things like dishes and laundry, I’ve been busy. It’s only 10AM and I’ve already made a batch of salsa and two pillow cases. The salsa will accompany dinner tonight (baked burritos) and the pillowcases are part of a Valentine’s present for my children (Scooby Doo for my son and a soccer ball print for my daughter). Even though it’s a week away, I feel better having them done now because you just never know what will come up.

What have you been up to lately? Any special plans for Valentine’s Day? I’ll be attempting to make truffles for my honey later in the week. Stay tuned for how that comes out!

I’m pleased to have Adele Parks as my guest this weekend. Adele is the Times best-selling author of eight fabulous books – I say that without reservation because I’ve read all but this one! I have my husband to thank for introducing me to her books because he bought me a copy of The Other Woman’s Shoes as a gift one Christmas. Since then I’ve gobbled up all of Adele’s other titles as soon as I could lay my hands on them.

(Need I say they all reside on my keeper shelf?)

Adele’s eighth book Tell Me Something was named Book of the Month by Cosmopolitan magazine and is now available in paperback. My husband has strict orders not to come home from the conference he’s attending in England in April without it!

A die-hard romantic, Elizabeth has always craved two things in life – an Italian husband and lots of rosy-cheeked bambini. So, when she meets fabulously sexy Roberto, she glides down the aisle and dreamily envisages the next stop will be a maternity hospital.

But, instead, Elizabeth and Roberto journey to Italy to run the family business where Elizabeth finds there’s more to living in Italy than enjoying ice cream in sun drenched piazzas. She doesn’t need to be fluent in the language to understand that her scheming mother-in-law and Roberto’s beautiful, significant ex are hell bent on destroying her marriage. Plus, Elizabeth is suddenly yearning the company of a gorgeous American stranger. She knows her filthy, flirty thoughts about him are totally inappropriate. Yet, undeniably, temperatures are rising…

Could it be that in Italy Elizabeth’s romanticism is boiling-up into something much more scandalously passionate?

Tell me something about Tell Me Something…

It’s perhaps my most romantic and passionate book ever. I suspect that’s partly to do with the setting but it’s also to do with the main theme of the book which is the relentless pursuit of a dream.

The story is about Elizabeth who has wanted two things her entire life, to keep her happy and fulfilled – an Italian husband and lots of rosy-cheeked bambini. The first is ticked off, now she’s bagged dark and sexy Roberto, the second is proving harder to achieve.

But when Roberto loses his job and decides to leave London for romantic Italy and the family business, Elizabeth hopes the change in lifestyle might help her relax and boost her chances of conceiving their longed for child. Except, no matter how much ice cream she eats in the sun drenched piazza, it’s impossible to relax when her wily mother-in-law (the original black widow) seems hell bent on destroying her marriage. The language barrier is proving tricky too, as is Roberto’s beautiful, significant ex who practically lives next door.

Is Elizabeth’s ferocious hunger for a baby enough to hold a marriage together or is it ripping it apart? And why is she suddenly craving the company of a gorgeous, blonde American stranger? Her filthy, flirty thoughts about him are totally inappropriate.

My books are renowned for being, erm, shall we say, passionate, so undeniably, temperatures are rising…

Tell me something about why you write…

First and foremost I want to entertain. My books are humorous, honest and happy. But they are also challenging, quirky and unexpected. Oh yes, and very sexy. I love it when my readers become engrossed and relate to my plots or characters. I like it when readers say they thought about the book long after they’d finished reading it. I suspect that is because the books send the heroine on a journey of improvement and self-realisation; it gives the reader a lot to think about.

Tell me something about your favourite place to write…

I do most of my hard graft at my desk in my office in the loft of my house. It’s not a dark, dank place. It’s very pretty and tranquil (although messy). However it is important to get out and about and thoroughly research the place where a novel is set so for Tell Me Something I simply had to spend time in Italy (I know your heart bleeds for me!) Less glamorously I’ve been to Whitby and Blackpool too. It’s all great fun.

Tell me, when did you know you wanted to be a writer?

As a child I wrote lots of stories and I often wrote things down if I was trying to understand my emotions but I did not keep a diary. Even before I could write I knew I wanted to be a writer. I lived in a daydream and constantly made up stories about anything and everything around me. I never saw anything as it simply was. For example, I’d imagine a salt and pepper pot to be warring queens from different countries or I’d be sure I was being spied upon by a black bird in our garden. People labelled me as imaginative before I understood the concept. I thought everyone saw things as I did. Once I realised that it was a skill it seemed natural to say I was going to be a writer. I think I first articulated my ambition as young as five or six years old.

Tell budding writers something…

It’s important to read, read, read and write, write, write. This game is all about dedication. I’ve had people tell me that they want to write a book but then go on to say they’ve never written anything longer than a shopping list. It’s important to be self-disciplined and write every day, even if you are not in the mood. Plus, develop a very thick skin. It’s a profession were you are exposed on a number of levels.

Tell me, chocolate or champagne?

Champagne but a good day would include both.

Tell me, what kind of books do you enjoy reading?
Anything other than Sci-Fi

Tell me, are you a romantic person?

Pathetically so.

Tell me, are the rather stunning pair of legs on the front cover yours?

I wish.

Tell me, where is your favourite place to read?

In bed. Actually bed is just pretty much my favourite place.

Tell me, if you decided to try your hand at something completely different to writing, what would it be?

I’d be a photographer. I yearn to capture what is.

Adele lives in Guildford, England with her family. To find out more about Adele and her fabulous books, please visit her website where she has excerpts from her books, more Q&As, and other fun tidbits. And good news: Her ninth book is scheduled for release July 2009!

I’ve probably mentioned before that I possess a little-used degree in library science. Now, many things get more valuable as they age, but degrees are not necessarily one of them – if you don’t get the work experience to build on them, employers tend to take them less seriously. Since my husband has recently had an attack of the what-will-happen-to-you-if-I-die worries, I went to the local K-12 American school to introduce myself to the library director. They didn’t have any positions available but they were pleased to put me on their substitution list.

People who like to read usually think that working in a library would be a great job. Only thing is, there is very little time to sit around and read all those tempting books that surround you. Let me fill you on a couple of things I’ve learned since working at the library:

* Library books are dirtier than they look – after an hour of returning books to the shelves, my hands are black with (what I assume is) dust.

* Librarians use as much tape in all its various incarnations during the course of their work as a full time gift wrapper. Who knew?

Just to give you a glimpse of the glamorous world of library work, let me tell you about my day yesterday. I spent several hours transferring 70 Spanish language books from the Spanish collection (now defunct) to the Multilingual collection.

The first step in this process entailed attempting to peel off the tape and old spine labels, many of which were impossible to remove without damaging the cover. Next, I had to wipe down the covers with ammonia. I have never in my life used ammonia before and man does it stink! It is, however, very effective in getting off gluey residue (and my hands didn’t reek of it all day as I had feared they might.)

Next, I stuck red dots on the spine of every book to indicate they were in “Spanish”. (Every language has its own color) These dots had to be roughly three fingers from the bottom of the spine so that they are all even on the shelf – and all dots had to be (you guessed it) secured with tape. Next I scanned every book to call up the catalog record so that I could change the call number to reflect the new collection. Then I scanned the books again on a different computer to generate new spine labels – which I then affixed to the books with more tape

Voila – three hours later 70 books were ready to go back on the shelf. (only several hundred left to go!)

I already knew what was involved in organizing books, though most of it was theory up until yesterday. My day with the stickers and tape really drove the point home. I think everyone should work in food service and retail once in their life. I’ve done both and I have to say that I’m kind to waitresses and I am always tidy when I shop. Maybe I should add a library to that list too? I certainly have a new appreciation for the amount of time it takes to get a book on the shelf and into the hands of a reader.

I’m in the library again today, and if you want to know what I’m doing then go back to the top and read this post again. And remember – if you love books, go forth and kiss your favorite librarian or librarian staff member. They deserve it

I’ll be running to and fro to tennis lessons all weekend but don’t forget to stop by – one of my favorite authors, Adele Parks, is going to be my guest and she’s got something to tell you…

This week has hardly started and I already feel like I’m falling behind. It’s due in part to my daughter’s new tennis lesson schedule.

I signed her up for tennis lessons last April. She is very athletic and sporty – in her spare time she will invariably pick up a ball to play with. I thought tennis would be a positive way for her to burn off some energy and develop her natural skills while having a little fun.

Little did I know it would soon take over my life.

During a water break in her first tennis lesson, her coach came to me and asked if it was her first time playing. I said yes. He looked at me and repeated his question – he is Egyptian and his English is pretty limited so he wanted to be sure that we understood each other. I told him yes, it was her first lesson. He nodded, though he looked very surprised.

It hasn’t been quite a year and she’s advanced through the beginning and intermediate groups to the advanced group – and we were away from tennis for three months for summer vacation and Christmas break. I am proud of her and not a little stunned by her progress.

I’m also tired.

This new group meets four days a week. I have no doubt that she will get better yet by playing with them, but it is exhausting just keeping up with the schedule! One thing it has forced me to do is to be much more organized in my approach to meal planning. Let’s not forget that my son also takes tennis lessons – but on different nights. There are five evenings a week where I am away from the house at the dinner-prep hours. So far, so good but I wonder how long I can keep it up without just falling back on frozen food or pizza every night?

I never dreamed that I’d have such athletic children when I myself was making every excuse in the book to get out of participating in PE class in school. And before I had children, I swore I’d never be one of those parents who let their children’s schedule take over their life. If this isn’t proof that God has a sense of humor, I don’t know what is…

It occurred to me after my rant last week that my reporting what a pain my son was being lately and then announcing that I was planning to spoil him a bit may not have made sense to everyone. Why reward rotten behavior, after all? Allow me to explain.

I had a little epiphany over the weekend regarding my son’s behavior. It seems he is suffering a bit of post-holiday separation anxiety. Suddenly everything made sense.

He and I were walking home after his tennis lesson and he was demanding to be moved up to the next grouping. He is fantastic, and has progressed enormously in the last few months, however he is too young (and small) to move up to the next group of players. The youngest in that group is eight and he just couldn’t really compete with them at the age of six. I explained that to him and he started in on how he wanted to grow up fast, he wished he were older, etc. I gave him a hug and told him not to be in such a hurry to grow up because mommy would miss him when he grew up and moved away. I said this intending to try and jolly him out of his snit. It didn’t help.

In fact, he started to cry.

He then went on and on about how he didn’t want to move away from me, ever. I told him that no one was going to make him go anywhere. At present he intends to live with me forever and has in fact compromised on his plan to get a dog and said he’d get a cat instead so he could stay at home. Then he told me never to even suggest that he might want to move away one day because it makes him sad.

My poor, sweet boy. He’s often a bit clingy after having had a long holiday at home but after that episode, it was quite clear to me that hugs and reassurance were going to go a lot further than lectures about paying attention in class and being a “big boy” were going to. And I’m quite confident that he will indeed move out one day – but it seems I will have to let it be his idea!!

My daughter on the other hand is moving up to the next tennis grouping. She must be feeling some stress about that change as well because she was sleep walking last night and when I went to guide her back to bed, she started telling me about tennis. More hugs for her too!

Children are a daily challenge. As soon as I think I have it all figured out, they change the rules. If only we could know what we are doing ahead of time so that we weren’t messing with their heads the whole time, they would be a whole lot better off…