Do Aliens Exist?- Flash Fiction

photo credit: PhoTones Works #2996 via photopin (license)

“How can you be a Christian and not believe that aliens could exist!”

Crystal remembered rolling her eyes at her brother’s sermon. He was a man of great faith, the leader of the Jupiter station congregation. She, well she just knew that she believed that God existed and didn’t really want to think very much further about it all.

She stepped closer to the inhuman drawings carved into, and covering the entire length of the cave wall, every step sending tiny billows of lunar dust rippling away from her.

“How come?” She remembered demanding in defiance. “The bible doesn’t say anything about aliens!”

“The bible doesn’t say anything about airplanes either, or space ships, now does it!” Jacob had argued back.

He knew she would just see that as him deflecting from her comment.

“You know what I mean Jacob! Be serious. If God created aliens why have we not seen them?”

“Crystal, we aren’t supposed to know why God does what he does. Perhaps the aliens are so far out there that they can’t reach us. Perhaps God wants them to develop without us influencing them. Perhaps he doesn’t think we are ready yet.”

“Huh! That’s a lot of perhaps’ Jacob! More fact and less speculation! Our scientists have been hunting for signs of intelligent life out here for eons and still nothing!”

Her triumphant yet combative tone from that comment rung in her memory and left a bitter taste in her mouth now. Crystal reached out and touched a portion of the cave image that seemed to be carved in a much harsher method than the rest.

Suddenly the walls lit up around her, and the dust blew away to reveal a perfectly smooth glassy black floor. The hair on her arms tingled as though she was covered by static electricity. Terror coursed through her as she realized that she couldn’t move.

The last words from her brother’s sermon echoed in her mind, “If God created us, who are we to say that he didn’t create other beings on some other far away planet?”

Footsteps echoing from somewhere deeper in the cave sent Crystal’s mind whirling and her heart pounding.

What do I say?
What could I say!
There’s no possible way they could know earth standard! You just HAD to go exploring on your own didn't you Crystal!

Crystal gasped for air.

Come on Crystal! Get a grip! You know your space suit still has oxygen. Breathe! 

The approaching footsteps suddenly sounded so close and they changed from dull thuds to clinks from the newcomer’s feet touching the now smooth floor. Crystal’s lungs finally gave up when the newcomer placed a blue four fingered hand on the shoulder of her suit. She static field released her before she was ready. She crumpled to the ground...

Perhaps Jacob was right, we aren’t ready yet. Was Crystal’s last thought before she fell unconscious.




This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 2 word prompt: Sermon
Word Limit: 20- 500
This one tops out right at 487 words.

Readers: How do you think you would react if you were suddenly faced with real life aliens? Would you be shocked? Scared? Would you panic? How would you communicate with them?

Trying out Disqus

Hey guys, I WAS trying out Disqus comments on my blog (which is what this test post was for). Long story short... I've taken it down. I much prefer to allow bloggers that don't want to sign in a way to comment using their name/e-mail ALONG WITH their url.

• This helps because I like to go check out and follow their blogs too!
  
• That added url ability is also a way for google to see that you, the commentor, are trusted because I am allowing you to post your link to your site on my blog. Just another way I like to share the love!

 Disqus, so far, only lets guest commentors (those who don't want to sign in) comment with just their name and e-mail. (Buzz kill)


On an added note: I also just realized that if you are viewing this post on the main blog thread it isn't very clear how you can add your own comments to the post.  You will need to click on the blog title to bring up the stand alone blog post page in order to find the comments.

For those that visit my main blog thread instead of getting here through a direct post link, perhaps it would be better for me to go ahead and drop the direct post link at the end of the post:

  Click to comment.

Conventions In The Carolinas

Annual Wine And Sign Arts and Literary Festival Set up

I am putting together a list of conventions that I would love to travel to. As I live in the Carolina Area, many of these will be from GA up to NC. Because I am looking at places to attend as an author I will be listing the table fees beside it for my own future reference (and for that of my fellow author friends). We'd love to see you there though! Write down these dates in your calender, pull up the websites and pre-order your tickets! I have visited many of these as 'just a civilian' (not promoting my books) and have found them to be great fun with something for even the youngest of family members!

Convention List:

• Illogiccon  January- Raleigh NC
• AnachroCon - Atlanta GA. End of Feb (Dates Change)
• Legends Comics Florence Comicon SC. Feb 12-13 Artist Table: $80, Vendor Table: $100
• Captains Comic Expo in Mt. Pleasant SC, Mar 7-8
• Wizard Con Raleigh NC ( Last one was in Mar) Table fee: $325
• Wizard Con Greenville SC (Date TBD)  Table Fee: $250- Link to Registration form
• SC Comicon  in Greenville SC, March 21-22. Table fee: $100
• Myrtle Beach Comiccon, SC.  March 28-29
• Retromegacomicon Pooler GA- April and October- $50
• XCon World in Myrtle Beach SC,  May 15-17. Half Tables Start at $100
• Con Carolinas - Charlotte NC, May 29-31. (Artist alley spots go fast- registration starts in September)
• HeroesCon- June 19-20 Charlotte Convention Center, NC- $300 for Artist table
• ATOMACON November 13-15, 2015 at North Charleston, SC -$25 *MUST have business license to sell, but may buy table just to pass out promo materials. There is also the option of just requesting a $10 panelist badge.
• DragonCon- September 4-7, Atlanta Georgia. (registration opens for guests Oct 1st)
• NC ComicCon- November 13-14-15, NC Raleigh (registration info for guests here)
• Oak City Comic Show- August and March- NC Raleigh

Other Events:

• Kaboom Underground Arts and Crafts- Every second sunday of the month- Garner NC (12:30-5pm)
• Folly Beach Wine and Sign at Folly Beach SC April 25th
• South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia, May 15-17 (fills up fast) Submissions details
• Portalico Point South Festival in Yemasse SC September 4-5th
•  Arts and Literary Festival now in Yemassee SC October 24th 10-6pm 

If you know of  an event that you would like me to consider adding to my list please drop it in the comments section! I am always looking for new places to check out!

V.L. Jennings at Wizard World Raleigh NC 2015

Wizard World in Raleigh NC this past weekend was my second Comic Con I had ever been to. I actually got to meet John Schneider (Pa Kent from Smallville) and William Shatner this past weekend. Both guys were really down to earth and pretty cool. We didn't have time to meet her but the actress that plays Laurie on The Walking Dead was also there. David Tennant was too- but my husband and I only saw him in passing.  

Laurie From Walking Dead

John Schneider

We also sat through William Shatner, and John Schneider's panels. Both men were really funny and entertaining.  The Panel for David Tennant was for VIP ticket holders only but they did live stream the panel out in the registration hall for everyone else to go watch. It was sorta hard to hear him though. They kept the overhead music running, add everyone talking in the main con room behind us, as well as David's British accent- it just made understanding and hearing him a bit hard.

I'm totally not bashing his accent here. Just, because we aren't used to it, trying to understand him in a crowded noisy room was really rather difficult. We only made it half way through his panel before we gave up.

David Tennant's Panel

John Schneider at Panel

William Shatner's Panel

Shatner's panel was standing room only by the way!

Right after Shatner's panel there was a band of bag pipe players that came out to do a tribute to Spock in the hall. I'll admit, I got a bit misty eyed at this surprise.

Cosplayers at the comic con!

These last two men earn bonus cosplay points in my book! 

This guy built his own ghostbusters gear from scratch! He even enabled the ghost catcher box to emit vapor smoke! That was the coolest thing I had seen at a con... until the last guy!

K-9!!!!

Introducing... K-9! He rolled right up to me and had a zero turn radius and flashing lights just like the original K-9! And who was the man behind the controls?

The Fourth Doctor of course!!!

Comic Con's are great places to meet celebrities, authors, and artists... but they are also a great place to buy stuff too. I bought a few Superman comics for my collection, and I also bought a pair of Doctor Who Tardis earrings!  Made by www.facebook.com/kitschandcrossbones

Looking for her etsy store? Check out kitschandcrossbones.etsy.com


This Comic Con was a little impromptu for us. But it did give me the opportunity to check out a few panels and get a feel for how they work.

In May, if you are in the Charlotte NC area, you will also find me at Con Carolinas where I will be a guest artist and panelist. If I'm brave enough... I may even show up in Rivi's costume a

Cleaning Silver Collectors Spoons- The Final Reveal

I know I speculate through fiction here on most days... "What would happen if I stuck my characters on a planet with sentient wind?" Most of the time speculation is done in the real world though. For example... "What would these look like if I could remove this tarnish?" Questions like these can lead you on a quest, not only to find answers, but to discover some new things along the way as well!

Tuesday of this past week I told you that I was busy cleaning a set of collectible spoons that had been passed down to me from my mom. Here are some of the before and after pictures:

Spoon before cleaning

Kinda hard to see all that detail under the tarnish huh.

 

 AND... Now For The Clean Reveal!

Its kinda hard to see on this rack- but I assure you they are all just as clean, even though the picture makes some of them still look tarnished. Here's the last rack:

The top row is clean in this picture.

  

All completely clean and tarnish free!

There were many of these spoons that I had never seen clean before, being that they were my mothers they have been there for most of my life. Many of them had details hidden under the tarnish that I never even knew existed! It was really cool seeing them come to sparkling life again!

I found some spoons in this collection that I even remember giving to mom years ago.

For those of you who have silver- or silver plated items you are wanting to clean, here is some advice:

• First, yes you can polish them with toothpaste but it takes twice as long and doesn't come out half as shinny. (this was one of my first discoveries... it took me a whole day to do the tallest rack with toothpaste. It was hard work and then I still ended going back over them with the silver polish)
• Second, some silver polish is ABSOLUTELY your best friend here.
• A washcloth for rubbing the polish on, a bucket of water to rinse, and a towel for drying and you are good to go.
• You will also want to wear rubber gloves. The first reason is that the polish can irritate your skin. The second reason is that the oils from your skin will cause future tarnish. Clean and handle your silver with gloves at all times if possible.
• Another helpful tip. An old toothbrush for those high detailed areas comes in very handy. I keep one stored under my sink just for this purpose!

Do you have any things you collect? I'd love to hear about them! How do you display them and keep them clean?

More Money For Better Quality- Flash Fiction

photo credit: Bounty Basic Paper Towels via photopin (license)

The Nightingale sat powered down in the bay of one of the richest trading hubs in the galaxy. All the top quality murch came through here. The loading bay area was filled with a dozen or so ships with their crews all rushing around to get their purchases loaded and ready for transport. Fine clothing, colorful packages, and glittering jeweled trunks added a kaleidoscope of color to the otherwise metallic gray of the loading bay. Fragrant spices, scintillating perfumes, and fresh flowers all filled the bay with their amazing aromas. At the bottom of the Nightingale’s ramp, however, sat an entire pallet of paper towels.

Craig, the Nightingale’s captain, carried each large package of paper towels up the ramp into his ship and set them down gently in the farthest corner of the cargo bay. His copilot stood at the bottom of the ramp shaking his head incredulously.

“Craig, man, just toss em in! We can organize them once we are in route to Jupiter station.”

“I paid half this week's credits for these! There’s no way I’m just tossing them in!”

“Why don’t you just let the forklift bring the whole pallet onboard instead of taking them one at a friggin time?”

“The wood from the pallet would just add to our weight!” Craig answered on his way back from bringing the last package onboard.

The two men stood beside the cargo door and simultaneously turned the wheels to raise the ramp.

The door hissed and sealed shut.

“But why paper towels? I just don’t get it! What’s so special about these paper towels? Paper towels come standard in the ration packs.” Craig’s copilot said.

“Jimmy, they’re for my old lady. Every month, before I head out, I ask her what she wants me to bring back. She could ask for anything, a necklace, a special perfume... but no- she asks for Bounty Basic paper towels.”

The two men headed back up the cargo bay, through a set of double doors and into the cockpit.

“Why these ones though?” Jimmy asked.

Craig took his seat and began flicking on the various switches on the dashboard.

“Engine’s reading fine, fuel’s at 480,” Jimmy read off the instrument panel dials while waiting for a response to his question.

“I leave her for a whole month at a time every other month. The least I can do is try to bring her what she wants when I come home. Apparently these paper towels work much better than the standard ration ones.” Craig answered with a sideways glance at Jimmy.

“What, do they, like, have cleaner embedded in them or something?” Jimmy asked while flicking some switches on his own side of the dash.

Craig chuckled. “All engines go. Signaling loading bay doors.”

“Nope, dude all they do is soak up more liquid. They are a bit more sturdy if you have to scrub something. That’s it.” Craig answered.

“Well, if it makes the wife happy.” Jimmy shrugged, “Who am I to disagree!”

This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 2 word prompt: Basic
Word Limit: 20- 500
This one tops out right at 500 words.

Readers: What would YOU bring home, after being gone for a month, that would make your wife or husband happy?

Don't Bite Heads Off

I'm just gonna leave this here. Something that I have been seeing examples of a lot lately, in real life and in the series my family is re-watching (Smallville). Someone wants something and they jump to conclusions and get all nasty about things before even stopping to consider what the outcome might have been if they had asked politely and nicely.

Not everyone is like Lex Luther from Smallville, deviously planning things behind the scenes and leaving Clark to always blame him first. Well, because lets face it, it normally IS Lex's fault.

Would their relationship have been any different had Clark tried to connect and hang out more with Lex in the beginning? Eh, maybe not- because it is Superman's story after all and somethings just can't change without messing up the whole series.

And then we have major disasters like what happened to our neighbor last year. Something broke her waterline right at the shut off in front of her house. No one was home and we didn't notice it till the middle of the night when I ran outside to scare away some dogs that were ganging up on another dog.

I ended up ankle deep in water in the middle of this lady's yard, waving and yelling like a lunatic. Yeah, I'm nuts... I know. Anyhow, the dogs ran off and I realized that gallons upon gallons of water were gushing out all over the place.

Now, I don't know how this lady reacted but I do know how some might have. Calling up and fussing out your water company because the water bill is high and it wasn't your fault may not be the right thing to do. Fast forward to this recent cold snap and I found out something really nice about the water company!

Our pipes were run in our attic, during the last cold snap they froze and created an epic gargantuan disastrous mess. Water damage company and insurance company was called, yeah... after we panicked a tiny bit first of course. THEN we received the water bill. Oh my gosh was it high (hundreds of dollars).

So I called the water company up and explained to them what happened and that we just don't have the funds to pay all this up front and was there perhaps a way to set up a payment plan. The lady told me not to worry about it, just send them an invoice of what repairs were done and what the damage cost and they would deduct the water overage off of our bill.

Color me shocked and relieved!

But lets rewind to the very angry water patron from earlier (imaginary of course). Had our irate customer simply explained to the water company that there was damage done (and it wasn't that they were filling up swimming pools) then the water company would have been able to answer politely in return. Everything would have been fine, and our irate customer needn't have embarrassed themselves.

So- lesson from all this? Be calm, ask nicely, and try to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

Memories in the Wind- Flash Fiction

Photo credit: old story | via photopin (license)

Dreea swiped at a tickle on her chin only to find it wet with her own tears. She sniffed back further tears in shock as she considered her surroundings carefully. She remembered the crash, remembered him dying in her arms. She remembered the explosion that consumed the ship along with the body of the man she loved before sending her sprawling onto the rocky ground.

 She slowly sat up in the bed, wiping the tears from her eyes before tentatively feeling the bandage across her forehead. She didn’t remember coming here, she didn’t remember this place at all.

 “Hello?” Dreea called out with a dry voice.

 No one answered. Dreea decided that she’d better figure out if she was a guest or prisoner. She slowly made her way across the room, noting that almost every muscle in her body ached along with the emptiness she felt deep in her chest.

 Trying the handle on the metal door she found that it swung easily on its hinges and allowed the sun to pour into the small room. Dreea peered through the sunlight and stepped out into the gray dusty road in front of her. A tinkling sound drew her attention across the street to a pole hanging above the door across from her.

 A few moments passed before someone approached Dreea. She paid just enough attention to tell that the alien wasn’t armed before turning again to the object twisting in the wind.

 “What is that?” Dreea asked the scaly creature waiting patiently by her side.

 The alien reached into a pocket into its apron and pulled out a box that translated its answer.

 “The family lost an elderly one, the mobile tells their loved one’s story.” The computerized voice responded. “Her favorite place was among the trees in the growing place. She loved to sing and to feel the wind. Her son and daughter decorated this to hang in memory of her.”

Dreea’s eyes swam with tears and the ache in her chest swelled as she considered the imagery that could tell her dearest’s story. A constellation of stars, his mission patch, and the image of the sailboat from his favorite book. Maybe some blue and silver ribbons, and the buttons from his favorite shirt.

The alien touched her injured arm gently.

 “I saw your burning ship. Would you like to make one?” The translated voice said.

 No longer able to hold them back, her tears poured from her eyes and dripped to the rocky ground beneath her feet.

 “Yes please,” Dreea mumbled.


This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 52 word prompt: Story
Word Limit: 20- 500
Word Count: 423

The Planet Of Perpetual Twilight- Flash Fiction

photo credit: We are Fires in the Night! via photopin (license)

Nellie walked along the rocky terrain, peering through the darkness, watching the horizon carefully. It had been almost three months since she came to Nostra with the main research team. Not once had they seen so much as a sunrise.

As far as her eye could see, all she saw were rocks and short mountains. Members of her team had gone out on many treks this past year and that's all they ever found, more rocks and more mountains. A cool breeze tickled softly past her neck, blowing her short hair back ever so slightly.

She shivered. This whole planet gives me the creeps!

Sure, they found water here, but you had to dig a well to get to it. As for light, the one essential thing for plant growth, the cloud cover was dense enough to block out most of the light here. The team resorted to using artificial light sources to help break up the perpetual twilight. That is, when the daily solar flares weren’t interrupting their power sources.

Just a few more months! I’ll be happy to get off this rock!

"Have you seen them yet?" A colleague asked, striding up behind her.

"No, Alexi, I haven't. Any word on the radio?" Nellie asked.

"No, the radio is down again." Alexi answered.

"Ugh, go figure." Nellie rubbed her hands over her sleeves vigorously to fight off the chill.

All of their clothes were made with built in thermal materials designed to keep Earth's arctic winds out. Yet here, where the temperature was barely below 65, a slight breeze could chill you to the bone in no time.

What I wouldn't do for a hot summer beach and a margarita right now!

"Go on in and warm up, I'll keep watch." Alexi suggested.

Nellie turned to walk toward their base camp. She’d only made it half way when the breeze came through again. This time, she thought she felt icy cold fingers brush past the side of her neck. She whirled back toward Alexi in shock.

She saw him, at the bottom of their little hill, right where she left him.

“Um Alexi,” She called out.

“Yeah, what is it?” He called back without turning towards her.

“Nothing, I just...”

The breeze came again.

This time Nellie could have sworn it felt like she had been shoved. She landed on her backside, rocks skittering away from her.

“Nellie quit fooling around!” Alexi groaned.

“I’m not. I...” She stuttered.

Nellie stood and brushed herself off.

This time it was Alexi’s turn to be knocked off his feet.

But how could Alexi be knocked down by the wind and she didn’t feel even a breeze this time?

Wispy streams of light appeared between them, seemingly floating on the wind. As Alexi stood up the streams of light bowled him back to the ground. He sat up wide eyed and waved at Nellie to run.

“Either this planet doesn’t want us here or something is here with us!”

This post is part of the 52 week flash fiction challenge on facebook
Week 50 word prompt: Haunted
Word Limit: 20- 500

Yep I started the challenge late but it looked too fun not to jump right on in.

This one tops out right at 497 words.

An Alien Birthday- Flash Fiction

I've decided to take a crack at this month's 15 to 50 Flash fiction challenge. I'm still not sure if I am doing these right but, I'm writing, so it's a good thing either way!

 I wanted to throw a science fiction spin on it and write something with some brand new characters. but this month's combo just had me stuck for now. So instead I talked with some old characters. Happy reading ;)

Photo Copyright: Shailaja V

February's Word prompt: Eternal

Phrase Prompt: Circle of life

Picture Prompt: Cake->

 “Whats the point of a birthday?” Rivi levitated a lit candle above her hand, staring at the flickering flame.

“Its a circle of life thing, you made it through another year.” Dan reasoned.

“I don’t know when I was born.”

“What about the day you started life with the Aunantet?”

 Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′

Would you like to try your hand at writing a story or poem in 15-50 words? You can either click on The Moving Quill above and submit your link OR post your short right into the comments here. I don't mind. I'd love to read them!



***

Find The Alien Mind on Amazon!

Did you like this post? If so you might enjoy my book!

For adults and teens alike, it is truly a science fiction adventure for the whole family!

If you'd prefer an autographed copy straight from the author you can buy one here as well!
Autographed Copy:$13.00 + Shipping

 

The Portal

photo credit: darkday. via photopin cc

Today I thought I would try something different on my blog. I'm going to post a picture and the first sentence and we are going to write a story together! All you need to do is watch the comments thread down below and add the next sentence in the story in a comment of your own. With each person replying with the next sentence in the story I am sure this will get really interesting fast!

So... lets start with:




Enriel had lived in the town of Lanta all of her life, this was the first time she knew of that anything like this had ever happened here.


What's the next sentence?

What Advancement Do You Want To See In The Future?

photo credit: Mr Wabu via photopin cc

Time to give you a chance to speculate among the stars!

So... you've been given a time machine to use- just to peek into the future once and then come home.

New things are being invented every day! New ideas are coming to life which will change the future we are headed for.

What advancement would you most like the future to have?

A cure for something?

Warp Drives?

Colonies on other planets?


While you are at it... check out this article about the worlds first truly heartless man who has no pulse yet lives! The Wonders of Technology!

When You Cant Find Anything To Wear In Your Dresser

What is a girl to do? There's not a thing in my dresser that I feel like wearing today, so instead, I decided to look into my husbands dresser!

Mini geek rant alert: Why is it that the GUY section always has the coolest geek shirts and the women's section gets stuck with M&M's and cartoon characters?

Seriously! I wanna wear an Iron Man or Dr. Who T-shirt from time to time! Yeah sure... my hubby's T's are a tad baggy on me... but hey! Its a sci fi shirt! Who's complaining!

So friends and family... I've deliberately left the bottom of this picture out of the shot because the show title is on the bottom.

Who can tell me what franchise this T-Shirt is from? Extra points if you can tell me what specific movie in the franchise! ;)


And no- I don't typically go running around taking selfies of myself. I moved over to a new phone yesterday, the Motorola Maxx and I'm having fun trying out all the new things and trying to get comfortable with a new phone again. The screen is much bigger than my old LG and it feels thin in my hand without the rubber bumper slip on protector that I had on my LG. The only problem that I am having with this phone so far is finding a protective case for it that FITS and that I like. I still don't see how those snap on hard cases protect the phones much...

Altering Spaghetti To Accommodate A Toddler

V.L. Jennings' Spaghetti

Growing up in my later years I discovered that I wasn't very fond of spaghetti. It took more work to eat it than most foods- I mean really... who wants to eat half a plate of spaghetti with sauce and the other half with a bland sorta 'no more sauce' taste? A lot of work goes into getting the proper sauce to noodle ratio on each spoon! Then you add in the fact that apparently tomato sauce just tasted really acidic to me, the same reason I dislike ketchup (and yet I LOVE hot sauce... how does that work?).

However, when you are trying to cook family meals on a budget, spaghetti is still awesome in a pinch.

When my husband and I married he came with two kids- ready made family. One was 2 almost 3 when we married and the other was 6. The oldest came with a bunch of medical issues, one of which being fine motor skills. What this boiled down to was having two kids in the house with the dexterity of a toddler.

At first I tried chopping the spaghetti up... yeah that went over well *sarcasm*. Not that they pitched a fit or anything, they just really didn't enjoy eating it. So I took a bite... and discovered that chopping up the spaghetti so fine may have made it easier to pick up but was BLAH as far as chewing texture goes.

Add that into the fact that noodles sliding all over the mouth leaves sauce all over the face... cute to some parents sure- I could see the appeal. Until I discovered that eldest's face would sport a red rash the next morning from the sauce. I thought about nixing spaghetti and pizza all together until I realized that she would only have a reaction if she made a mess of it on her face. If it all made it into her mouth... no problems at all.

Next time I decided to try using elbow noodles instead- SUCCESS!!!

From there, I was even more determined to tweak the sauce recipe to get just the right amount of flavor and enjoyment out of it. Heck, if I'm going to be working over a stove to make this than it better be enjoyable to eat even for the cook!

I was raised on the walmart brand of jar'd spaghetti sauce, it was the cheapest, and I am on a budget so I stuck with that as a base. I also wanted something to cut down on the tang of the tomato taste in the spaghetti sauce. Walking through the spaghetti isle I noticed the jars of alfredo... Why not! Lets try that and see how that tastes!

TONS better!

Fast forward to the end of 2014... hamburger meat is sky high... and strangely enough sausage is CHEAPER than hamburger meat (where before hamburger was cheaper). So to save money on my spaghetti dinner I opted for two lbs of sausage instead of my usual hamburger.

Ok... now I have total yumness!

I may eventually go back to using spaghetti noodles but for now my third child is 3 soon to be four, (*cries* is it really that time already!) and he loves the elbows!

V.L. Jennings' Spaghetti

1- 16oz box of elbow noodles
1- small jar of alfredo sauce
1 extra large jar (66oz) and one medium jar (45 oz) of your choice spaghetti sauce
2lbs of sausage (I like to do one spicy, one regular or one regular, one sage)

Brown spaghetti sauce and boil noodles/drain. Mix sauce, sausage, and alfredo in one big pot. Makes two dinner nights for 5 people!

PS If you are here wondering how my Crock Pot Ham turned out... 

Well I am happy to report that it was, fall of the bone, absolutely AWESOME! I ended up cooking it for 5 hours on high- I had an appointment so I didn't get back till then. However, I believe it may have been done around 4 hours.

It was SO juicy that I could shred it easily with just ONE fork!

Each bite was full of flavor and SO super succulent! It was a big success with my kids and my husband. Plus I even have some left over that I think I will shred into some mac n cheese for tonight's meal!


Anyhow- I hope you enjoyed these recipe's! Stay tuned... there's no telling what sorts of things I will go exploring or altering next!

Do you have a recipe you've altered that you would like to share? Tell us about it in the comments! I love to try new dishes!

Mad Scientist Mac N Cheese and Crock Pot Ham

Crock Pot Ham!

One of the key things about 'exploring human potential' is the desire to learn something new. To create something, to try to figure things out. Here I am, diving into the unknown again with some real world speculating!

Lately I have been experimenting with different recipes, combining the elements I like and subtracting the ones I don't like as I mix different recipes together. It can be tricky mixing recipes together, I always try to take a moment to mentally predict how each ingredient will interact with the others before I jump into the recipe. Now, I did this all on Christmas day... but if you are not that gutsy you may want to make this for a regular meal before you make it for company.

My original OVEN recipe called for just one cup of milk but the noodles were also supposed to be cooked before being added.

The first new crock pot recipe I had called for the elbow noodles to be cooked before they went into the crock pot and I wanted to avoid that. That recipe called for 3/4c of milk and 2 eggs. (The eggs didn't sound appetizing here so I ditched those)

Another crock pot recipe that DID call for uncooked noodles asked for 2.5 c milk and 12 oz of evaporated milk. This recipe also called for cream cheese- which would have made the mixture softer but we preferred the thick cheese texture anyhow. I was also afraid the cream cheese would have made the mixture a bit more sweet then we were used to.

Ultimately I mainly used my original baked mac recipe but added the evap milk and regular milk, as per the other recipes, in order to modify it so that I could avoid pre-cooking the noodles and do the whole thing in the crock pot.

My whole family loved this recipe! It was a big success!

My Crock Pot Mac used:

16 oz of uncooked elbow noodles
two cans of condensed cheddar cheese soup
a lb of shredded cheese
2 and a half cup of milk
and one 12oz can of evaporated milk.

Cook on low for 2.5 - 3 hours in crockpot. May stir at the 2 hr mark to check.

CROCK POT BAG recommended! Makes clean up way easier.



Today I am attempting to cook a Ham in the crock pot.... its an uncooked ham which I've never attempted to cook before.

I put a layer of brown sugar and mustard in the bottom of the crock pot. Set the ham flat side down in the crock pot. Put brown sugar, mustard and on a whim I added some vinegar over the top. Lid on and because I intend to eat it tonight I am cooking it on High and hoping it is done in about 6.5 hours.

*fingers crossed* I'll let you know how it turns out!

Tomorrow... if I remember, I will share with you my alterations for spaghetti!

Just Finished The Final Season Of Star Trek Voyager

Loved this crew!

My husband, my kids, and I have all been watching Star Trek Voyager over dinner on most nights, thank you Netflix for having them all send to our house by disk! So far we have watched the Original Series (Capt. Kirk), Next Generation (Picard), and now Voyager (Janeway). When I was a teen I watched all of the 'Enterprise' (Capt. Archer) episodes as well. I can't say yet with honesty that I enjoy any of the editions over the others yet but I do have one confession to make...

I think the final episode of Voyager season 7 truly takes the prize for best finale ever!

One of my favorite things about watching the Star Trek series' is watching the crews grow, and learn, and discover their own potential. Seven went from being a Borg drone to being completely free of the collective and learned what it means to be human again. The Doctor explored what it means to be a sentient life form in holographic form, and even asked himself whether he would ever want to become human given the chance. Tom grew out of his rebellious ways, and even Tuvok learned to make friends even with the illogical Neelix.

Season 7 wrapped up all the stories from all the main crew members and in the end every story ended in a satisfactory way.  Seven of Nine found someone to have a relationship with. Tuvok got his cure. B'lana and Tom got to have the doctor birth their baby. We find out that Harry Kim may eventually become a captain of his own ship, and the Doctor may eventually pick a name for himself and perhaps even get married; all of this being up in the air of course since they rewrote time again but... check it out and you'll see!

Yeah its all a bit Timey Wimey but we've also been keeping up with all the Doctor Who episodes so we are totally used to all that.

I'd have to say the only thing I was disappointed by is the fact that 7of 9 didn't finish her codiscot game (or however you spell that) with Neelix, AND the fact that they left him behind. I am glad that he found the rest of his people and a family, and I guess if Star Fleet can communicate with voyager on the rare occasion than they can still keep in touch with Neelix too.

So overall, unlike the series finale of 'Enterprise', I was very satisfied with the way Voyager ended.

And I'm not the only one who loves Voyager! Author Travis Simmons has even gone against the typical geek grain and professed his love for Capt. Janeway on his blog along with a pretty well thought out list as to why he enjoys Captain Janeway over the other Star Trek captains!

We've been dipping back into re-watching the episodes of Smallville from the beginning, and Breaking Bad (though the kids don't watch Breaking Bad with us of course). We are also anxiously awaiting the new season of Doctor Who, Green Arrow, and Walking Dead.

Its a great time to be a geek! :P

Review of Star Trek TNG and Doctor Who story Assimilation 2

Assimilation 2 Vol 1 Image from Amazon.com

Assimilation 2 Vol 2 Image from Amazon.com

My hubby gave me books for Christmas! Not just any books, graphic novels! (- funny story, I once had someone ask me if 'graphic novels' were too 'adult' for children.... umm- unless otherwise stated, graphic novels are just comics made into book form.)

 These particular graphic novels are part one and two of Assimilation 2 (not quite sure what assimilation 1 entailed, but that is neither here nor there). Assimilation 2 is a mashup of the characters from Star Trek Next Generation (for those non Trekkies out there.... that's Captain Picard's timeline) and the characters from Doctor Who during 12's (bowtie doctor) regeneration. Also found in this story line are the 4th Doctor (long scarf doctor) along with Captain Kirk and crew. In this story line the Cybermen team up with the Borg to attack and attempt to assimilate Captain Picard's universe.

For the Trekkie and Whovian that I am I absolutely LOVED this story! It felt just like every other Doctor Who episode. Complete with a few jumps back and forward in time and the Enterprise crew getting a peek into the Tardis- "Yep, its bigger on the inside!" It was also hilarious to find that both The Doctor and the Cybermen were impressed by Data who even manages to save the Tardis from the Borg!

I won't go into further detail here as it would spoil the story but it really was an entertaining read!

 If you'd like to check it out for yourself you can find it on amazon.com in both e-book and paperback- I'd personally recommend the paperback copy! http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Next-Generation-Doctor-ebook/dp/B009H8LUZ0

Hubby also gave me a book of Sherlock Holmes puzzles- when I finish that one I'll be sure to let you know how it was! It's intriguing so far!

Turbo Roaster Review

Turbo Roaster Box image from Walmart.com

My husband gifted me a Turbo Roaster for Christmas about two years ago. I like to try something out thoroughly before I write up a review for it. Honestly, I love this thing! I've used it about 5 times so far. The Turbo Roaster has made my holidays so much more enjoyable and cooking so much more efficient!

I cook a turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas most years. Typically this entails getting up at the crack of dawn to put the turkey in the oven while everyone is asleep. Finding a way to get it in the oven without waking up my kids on Christmas morning has always been a major hurdle.

No longer! I haven't gotten around to timing the cooking EXACTLY due to various holiday distractions... but I do know that the cooking time is cut in HALF! I no longer wake up at the crack of dawn to prepare my turkey. This year I was up by 8 and the 17lb turkey was done in about two hours! Normally I am finished with all my other cooking and waiting on my turkey to finish so we can eat dinner. This year- my turkey sat cooling while I rushed around to finish the rest of my cooking!

Tony Chachere's Injectable Turkey Marinade
 image from Walmart.com

Most of the time the turkey seasonings you add to the outside only help flavor the top little bit of the turkey meat. I've tried and tried and tried again and no matter how I prepped it my turkey always ended up dry on the inside. Using the Turbo Roaster, along with Tony Chachere's Injectable Turkey Marinade made my turkey come out very juicy and flavorful. Even the cold leftovers were finger licking good!

What is the Turbo Roaster?

Its a glass jar attached to a curvy metal tube with a canning lid and a plastic gasket. You fill the jar with water, attach the lid/tube set up and stick the end of it in the turkey before cooking. The oven heats up the water and causes steam to rise through the tube and cook the turkey from the inside while the oven cooks the turkey from the outside. Thereby cutting cooking time in half.

It does work with a stuffed turkey... just not as well.

Tips on using the Turbo Roaster

-I use a turkey pan rack to elevate my bird so that the jar can sit mostly flat in the oven- this helps.
-Leave the turkey unstuffed for best results (though I have done it both ways)
-Put glass jar directly on stove rack- it does not need a pan under it.

-*DO NOT FILL (even with HOT WATER) until the jar has cooled!

Ok... so for the bad news...

The jar on my turbo roaster smashed this Christmas... my own stupid fault- I forgot to let the jar cool before refilling it with hot water -.-

See... I did know better... the instructions are really rather clear on this point. However, I was battling a sinus infection and apparently my brain was all mush from it. (It even took me three separate tries to figure out how many chairs and plates we needed at the table- that's how bad my head felt.)

And now the jar for my turbo roaster sits on my counter in two pieces. *facepalm!*

So... now for some Real World Speculating

The jar mouth for the turbo roaster is the same size as a regular canning jar. So, I'm wondering if I could just switch out the broken jar with a regular wide mouthed canning jar instead. To know that I needed to look up online as to whether the canning jars could even be put in the oven or not.

That's when I stumbled on this Pie in a Jar recipe:

Single serving pie in a jar recipe

Seriously... even if you don't plan on cooking your pies in a jar, you just HAVE to check out these pictures! Tiny pies! The cuteness!

My favorite is when the blogger slides the baked pie right out of the jar and onto the plate- UBER CUTENESS!

Anyhow... Apparently you CAN put mason jars in the oven.

So next year (or the next time I cook a whole bird) I will swap out the broken jar for an ordinary canning jar and be sure to come back and report the results to you!

If it doesn't work, oh well... I will certainly buy another Turbo Roaster!