A Mother's Day special with my best friend who also happens to be my Mom. :)California. Kitchen. 1 Sheep and 1 Granny Muffin meet.
Katie: You recently started to write a story called, Granny Muffin. Can you tell me a little about it and why you deiced to start this project?
Mom: Granny Muffin's character and series comes from parts of my life that I enjoyed as a young person. Combined with parts of my life as an older adult which has to do with baking and food and the good things that come from that. I loved from an early age reading my Aunt Helen's cook book, she would get up early every morning and make rolls and homemade bread, delicious cobblers. She used to have this wonderful collection of cookbooks. Even before I could read I was grabbing this book to look through and look at the pictures. She was always so busy baking in her little kitchen, so from that age on I LOVED cookbooks.
Katie: Are you going to be doing the illustrations for the story as well?
Mom: I am going to be doing some of the basic drawings so I can give an idea of what I want. But I may need to use a real artist on the books.
Katie: So what is the premise of Granny Muffin? What are the characters going to be like?
Mom: The characters are representations of other family members of mine, my Grandma (known to the Dalton's as "Candy Grandma") and Mother. Who were all good bakers, certain aspects to their personalities will be represented. Stories will be intermingled with some fantasy so they're not total reality but combined with the real experiences of baking and some of the fun things about baking. For example, one of the titles will be Granny Muffin and the Yeast Beast. And that's a comical tale about what happens with yeast. It's very comical. There will be animals in the stories. And all characters drawn will be shown from a side view. All the activities will be seen as though you are looking from behind everyone. I chose to do that so people can more readily fill themselves or a grandma into that role. And little Mini Muffin can be the child, or the child reading the story.
Katie: And why did you want to write this book?
Mom: To sort of leave something behind of me. But aside from that to also inspire children and the love and baking.
Katie: You also enjoy painting, talk to me a little about that Mom.
Mom: When I was younger I loved art but I just really didn't have the natural artistic abilities. It's just not one of my gifts in life, so because I wasn't good a good drawer or sketcher I never felt good about the final outcome of anything. But now that I'm in my 50's and with the friends that I have who are very artistic who encouraged me to just let loose. Let it go. Don't worry about the drawing. Just work with the colors, practice. But don't be discouraged by a lack of natural ability. Since I am not a good face drawer this is why Granny Muffin will show the things I am good at and will eliminate the ones I am bad at.
Katie: Mom, going back to earlier years, were you a writer or is this something you wanted to pursue now?
Mom: I wrote a lot as a young person and continued quite a bit into my 20's. And then after that most of my writing was business-related. Writing for clients and promotional materials, letters and so on. I took some creative writing courses in my 30's.
Katie: Not only do you like to write but you also enjoy film, what are some of the movies you enjoy?
Mom: Well let me start with what I don't like. I don't like gory slasher movies, those are not my genre never have been. I like a great murder mystery, I like a good story line. And particularly I like a happy endings.
Katie: Can you remember one of the first movies you saw as kid?
Mom: No, but it was probably a Walt Disney movie. The earliest movie I remember going to see with friends of mine and my little sister was Throughly Modern Millie with Julie Andrews.
Katie: What book are you reading right now Mom?
Mom: I'm reading the Jeanine Frost series with Cat and Bones.
Katie: Mom how have these last four years or so changed your life?
Mom: Yeah. 4 years ago I was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast cancer, called stage four. What that means is the cancer cells have left the breast are roaming around the body. While under my diagnosis you can't go into remission, but you go into a stage called "maintenance". So I had breast removal surgery to remove the tumor, radiation because my cancer cells are eating bone in my spine. Chemotherapy on again off again as well, so physically that's where I am at. New tumors were recently discovered again and I am undergoing radiation and chemotherapy.
Katie: It's been a hard four years Mom, but your fight and your courage encourage me and the people around you.
Mom: It's an interesting place to be, in part because I know some people who don't make it four years. They have a diagnosis and use of whatever medical services, treatment, but they aren't still here. It's interesting for me hearing how people say fight fight fight, and I don't know for sure that I could label it a "fight" for me it's acceptance. Getting out there to find what therapies there are. And I supposed if it's a fight, it's when you're feeling bad. Ya know, trying to hang in there and get through the next round of whatever it is.
Katie: Since this is a Mother's Day Special, so to speak, do you have any fun story you would like to share?
Mom: The charming memory for Mother's Day is about the musical tape "We Sing Silly Songs". I have fond and fun memories of you kids when we traveled together across country or when we were just driving around town. We could begin our rides by buckling our seat belts and pretending to go on a trip to the moon as Astronauts. During our flights of fantasy we had a favorite musical tape that we would sing and laugh and enjoy together. Although your all grown you still remember some of the fun songs from the tape.
Katie: Yup I remember "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "Down By The Bay" and "My Name is Stegosaurus!"
Mom: Yup. lol
Katie: I know you love the Rapid Fire Round that we do so would like do some rapid questions Mom?
Mom: Ok! Here we go!
Katie: Ok, that MUST be a yes. lol
Katie: Twilight or Interview with a Vampire?
Mom: Twilight
Katie: Vampires or Werewolves
Mom: Vampires
Katie: Coke or Pepsi
Mom: hmm...Pepsi
Katie: Mom! No! You HAVE to pick Coke! I am changing this answer to Coke.
Mom: No!
Katie: Moving on! *evil laugh*
Katie: Pear Hand Lotion or Cucumber
Mom: Pear
Katie: Peach Cobbler or Apple
Mom: oh, well if it's a GOOD Peach cobbler then I say Peach
Katie: Burritos or Burgers
Mom: Burgers
Katie: Burn Notice or V
Mom: *inhales sharply* oh....V [What you all don't know is that these are two of her fav shows hehehe]
Katie: American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance
Mom: Both
Katie: Ghost or The Notebook
Mom: Ghost
Katie: Richard Gere or Gerard Butler
Mom: Richard Gere
Katie: STTNG or Star Wars
Mom: Next Gen
Katie: Good, Ben's going to hate that but good. *evil laugh*
Ben: Hey, I like both.
Katie: OMG you scared me! Why must you just pop up like that! Get back to the dungeon!
Katie: Farscape or Stargate SG-1
Mom: SG-1
Katie: Angels or Demons
Mom: Angels
Katie: Thanks for chatting with me Mom, I love you and Happy Mother's Day!
Mom: Hey, I love you too kid. And Happy Mother's Day to you too, since you are a Mom as well. Thanks for my Grandson!
In the comments below please make sure to list BOTH things to be automatically entered to win a 10$ Barnes and Noble gift card!
1. Your Email Address
2. What's your favorite baked goodie?
My Mom will be picking the winner at random, contest ends on May 22nd at midnight.
Good luck!
