One Of The Most Perfect Gifts For A Toddler!

June 9, 2016 7:36 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

Everyone has heard the adage of buying presents for children only to find out they prefer the box. Well, from experience, it is true. So today, my good friends, I am here to tell you about one of the most cherished gifts your child will get from you: An item to bond with, to sleep with, a source of comfort, homemade with love. Yes, you will beam with pride when other parents ask you, “Where did you buy that?”

From me to you: Make a pillowcase!

Back in the day, I made a Teletubbies pillowcase for my son. He loved it – he treasured it for a couple of years. My other son was meanwhile enjoying the store bought 101 Dalmations bed set, just so you know he wasn’t neglected.

Go to your local store where materials are sold such as WalMart or JoAnns, and you will find a whole new world of options: Animals of all types (real and cartoony), holiday themed prints, fairies, princesses, flowers, specific sports teams, and copyrighted Disney characters. What did I find for my boys? Dinosaurs and construction equipment galore. Jackpot!

Worried about your sewing skills? Don’t be. I’m not an expert seamstress. Out of all the things one can sew, a pillowcase is probably one of the easiest, even if you don’t have a sewing machine. If your work is not up to par, your child probably won’t notice. But just in case, here is a handy tip from me to you: Don’t sew ALL the edges together or you will be left with a pillowcase malfunction. Handy tip #2 – buy a “travel pillow” – it is the perfect size for a toddler, and you’ll need even less material.

A yard of material is dirt cheap compared to your limited selection of pricey bed sets, and you can almost bank on the idea that toddlers don’t know that bedding should match, and really, why should it? Where is the fun in that? Live a little!

Alternatively, if you are “one of those people” and just can’t function without the matching set, you can take it a step further. I actually made (er, um, yeah) dinosaur blankets. Okay – I didn’t MAKE the blankets. I bought really cheap blankets and then covered one side with dinosaur material and used a plain blue cheapo material on the other side. In retrospect the plain blue material was more difficult to deal with since it was very stretchable. Tip #3: If sewing is not your thing – don’t buy anything too stretchy.

My dinosaur blankets each have a large seam running down the middle because often material is sold in smaller widths than can cover an adult sized blanket – did my kids notice? Nope! However, after a couple of weeks, one son complained of something pointy in the blanket. Oops – it turned out I had sewn in one of the pins I had used to keep the edges together. Tip # 4: (I think you get the point, yuk, yuk.)

That same young man is now an older teenager. Out of the numerous pillowcases I made for him, he still has (in his closet) what is now an old, raggedy pillow with the construction print pillowcase. He is not willing to part with it. It is a keepsake of his. Oh my gosh, how worth it is that?

So pick a print, apply your skills and give the gift of a pillowcase! Tip #5: Don’t forget to include a pillow.

Since you may not always be able to find what you are looking for at your local store, I am including some affiliate links for themed materials that are always available online:

Outer Space Fabric

Unicorns and Such

Tell me how it goes. . .

Wendy Knuth

Author of Moore Zombies picture books and chapter books

Posted in: Birthday / Tagged: #amblogging, #animalprints, #animals, #arizona, #artsandcrafts, #author, #Authorlife, #barbie, #bedding, #bestpresent, #birthdaypresent, #blog, #blogchat, #blogtip, #children, #childrensroom, #dads, #dinosaurs, #dumptruck, #fabric, #fairies, #family, #familytradition, #funny, #funnyblog, #happybirthday, #holiday, #humor, #kids, #kidsbedding, #kidslit, #moms, #moorezombies, #outerspace, #parenting, #parents, #picacho, #pillow, #pillowcases, #pokemon, #present, #presents, #princesses, #rainbows, #savvyblogging, #sewing, #sports, #toddler, #toddlergift, #unicorns, #wendyknuth, #Writechat

The 20 Year Old Cake, Part II – China/Platinum Anniversary

April 22, 2016 2:41 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

Let me tell you how things finally went down. The old, bald guy had a bad day at work and was kind of grumpy. He actually went grocery shopping. While he was away, our boys & I ordered pizza. I removed the cake which I had hidden in the refrigerator, unwrapped the aluminum foil and left it in a pile on the counter. It was a big clue in plain sight. It turns out the boys did know about the cake in the freezer. I must have told them the story long ago.

So yes, there was a small slice missing. One red candle went in the center. I put out two presents. Traditional rules for the 20 year anniversary say I should buy china. More contemporary guidelines say one should buy platinum. So I bought both.

After my initial cake blog, a friend on Facebook sent a “Happy Anniversary” Flintstones clip. It has proven to be problematic in that I can’t get the song out of my head, even days later.

When hubby came home, the boys and I quickly helped out with the groceries, not letting him into the kitchen. Then I waited at the computer until one of my boys said, “Now.” He lit the candle and I pressed play on the music clip where Fred Flintstone and his buddies are singing and Barney is playing a Stoneway piano.

The Flintstones – Happy Anniversary clip

The old, bald guy walked into the kitchen and immediately lit up. He laughed and then said “Where did you get the cake?” I was kind of surprised. Then he said “There’s a slice missing.” He looked a little confused. He was just not getting it. I gave him a weird look, looked at the cake and then at the pile of aluminum foil, and looked back at him without saying a word. He circled around and I saw a sudden look of recognition come over his face.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Yes, I told him. He laughed, and I mean hard, and then he said, “Thank God! We can finally get rid of that thing!” How romantic.

We both thought the cake was in remarkably good form. The icing smelled like icing but when we touched the inside where the slice was missing, it felt really dry, like sand. No, we didn’t eat any.

Hubby enjoyed his presents, the pizza came, and we watched our wedding video. Our teenage boys had never seen it before. Pretty weird to see how young everyone looked, including ourselves, and a lot of people have since passed away. I was feeling sentimental and teary eyed here and there, but that quickly dissipated because boys will be boys and my 3 guys cracked a lot of weird jokes throughout. Again, very romantic.

What happened to the cake? Well, this cake is famous now. I gave it a fresh wrapping of aluminum foil and back into the freezer it went.

Wendy Knuth, author of Moore Zombies books

Posted in: Anniversary / Tagged: #amblogging, #arizona, #author, #Authorlife, #blog, #blogtip, #cake, #children, #china, #dads, #family, #familytradition, #familytree, #folklore, #funny, #funnyblog, #giftideas, #humor, #moms, #moorezombies, #parenting, #parents, #platinum, #prescott, #savvyblogging, #tradition, #traditions, #weddingcake, #weddinggift, #wendyknuth, #Writechat, #zombies

The 20 Year Old Wedding Cake

April 18, 2016 1:15 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

The old, bald guy and I are about to celebrate our 20^th wedding anniversary!!! The picture of the old ripped and torn aluminum foil wrapped thingy-a-bobby? It is the top tier of our wedding cake, and it has been in our freezer for literally 20 years. Read it again.

We have all heard about how you are supposed to put some of your wedding cake in the freezer and then defrost it for your one year anniversary and actually eat a bite. Yuck. For some reason we reluctantly participated in this tradition. Even if it tastes great, it is very difficult mentally to cope with the one year old part. Who came up with this silly tradition? Perhaps it is an early test of the “in sickness or in health” part of your marriage vows with regards to food poisoning.

Let’s move on to mental health. Where or how is mine? For some odd reason, the cake went back into the freezer and became a point of nostalgia for me. Years passed and my hubby would occasionally ask me when can we get rid of this cake? We’re never going to it eat. Well, true. But it would be like throwing away a piece of our history. I can’t say that we argued about it but I think he saw that it would make me sad. He gave up asking quite some time ago. I think he came to terms with the fact that as long as I am alive, this cake will be in the freezer. Honestly, if he had thrown it away without my knowledge for the greater part of the last decade, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. But, don’t tell him that.

So there I am, trying to think of some unique gift for our 20 year anniversary and I suddenly remember – the cake!!!! I’m going to defrost and put it on the table next to his real presents. I think he and our kids will get a kick out of it. I’m pretty sure our boys don’t even know what that ragged aluminum foil wrapped thing is that has been in the freezer for their entire lives. I’m not sure if they have ever heard the story behind it. Don’t worry – the old, bald guy is not into social media so he won’t see this post until post anniversary.

There is only one problem. I will be setting myself up for disaster. I imagine that after a fun evening and some giggling about the ridiculousness of it all, my hubby will probably ask if we can finally throw the cake away. It’s a dilemma. We’ll just see how things go. . .

Wendy Knuth

MooreZombies.com

Posted in: Anniversary / Tagged: #amblogging, #arizona, #author, #Authorlife, #blog, #blogtip, #cake, #children, #children #chaingang, #dads, #family, #familytradition, #fatherhood, #folklore, #funny, #funnyblog, #gold, #momblogging, #moms, #moorezombies, #motherhood, #parenting, #parents, #platinum, #savvyblogging, #tradition, #wedding, #weddingcake, #Writechat, #zombie, #zombies

Hey Zombies – Suckage Time – Your Taxes Are Due!!!

April 13, 2016 1:23 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

Oh my Gombie, how I hate taxes!!! The old bald guy and I own a small personal business which means that we have to pay self employment taxes. That means we get the privilege of paying taxes twice.

For all of you working zombies out there that roll your eyes in disgust at the chunk that went missing from your paycheck – we all know that really sucks. But I’ll tell you something that sucks even more. Imagine taking out your checkbook and writing a check to the government every three months. That really, really sucks.

If you have a “normal” job, your employer pays for your social security (ouch for them), and then the government also sucks your paycheck dry for your portion of social security (ouch for you.) That is double suckage. When you own a small business you have to pay twice, once for yourself as a business owner, and once for yourself as an employee – basically double ouch.

Okay fine. The rules are the rules. So, we have to hire an accountant to figure out how much suckage we have to pay to the government. We have no clue what said accountant is doing except that we end up with literally a book full of pages, forms, subforms and schedules as evidence that the job has been done. At the end of it all we are grateful and give our thanks to the government for making us pay hundreds of dollars to figure out how many thousands of dollars we owe.

So here’s my thinking. The accountant payment is a kind of a tax. Why don’t we propose new legislation? Any fees paid to accountants should be a direct deduction from the amount owed to the feds. Not only could we stand up to the feds and punish them for making us go through this yearly anguish, but it also provides an incentive for them to make it less complicated. The public will love it, and the accountants will love it. It might even create some new loopholes – and isn’t that what taxes are all about? That’s my two cents, folks.

Write your representatives in Congress and buy a zombie book.

Wendy Knuth, author of Moore Zombies picture books and chapter books – MooreZombies.com

Posted in: Taxes / Tagged: #accounting, #amblogging, #author, #Authorlife, #blog, #blogchat, #blogtip, #christmas #funny #fire #wendy, #fedup, #funnyblog, #government, #humor, #parents, #savvyblogging, #taxday, #taxes, #Writechat, #zombie, #zombies

Adventures of Agnes – A Back Story Of Moore Zombies: Big, Bad Wolfbag

April 4, 2016 2:15 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

The old bad guy and I had this dog named Agnes. She was a short haired, brown something or other that we got from the local humane society. When she was really worked up, her hairline that ran down the middle of her back would raise up, but backwards. She was the friendliest dog ever, but she was also very intimidating if you were on the other side of the fence. We got a lot of great comments on her – personality, personality, personality, Type A.

Agnes was quite often, a pain in the rear. She was definitely an alpha female. So much so, that she would raise her leg to go the bathroom, she wasn’t letting the males have anything on her. I have blogged about her issues with skunks. I almost put something into Big, Bad Wolfbag about skunks but I felt I already had enough material. So then there was the toad thing.

One day, I heard Agnes barking her brains out in the backyard. Yes, she was drooling and foaming at the mouth, just like in the book. I saw this toad on the ground. She was barking at it and almost trying to bite it but you could tell whatever slime substance was on its back was deterring her. We put the poor toad outside of the fence and worried some about Agnes. We have her plenty of water to drink and she turned out just fine.

There was the time when the old, bald guy and I were camping near a lake. We saw this young boy come up over the hill. Agnes’ ears perked up and she looked very alert. The boy saw her and stopped in his tracks. The old bald guy spoke out loud to himself, “Please don’t run”. Of course, the kid turned and ran, and Agnes chased after him. He must have been terrified. Agnes was the kind of dog that would chase after anything that ran away from her, but luckily for humans, she wouldn’t do anything but be playful once she caught up to you. Anyhow, we feared repercussions from angry parents so we packed up, called Agnes who dutifully came back, and we left. A version of this is in the opening chapter of my Wolfbag book, except I changed the boy to a girl.

Another time, we were camping at Lake Pleasant, which is why I decided to include the name of this lake in the book. Agnes loved swimming and we saw her swimming after a bird that looked like it had a broken wing. The closer she got to the bird, the bigger her eyes became. When she got really close, the bird flew away and Agnes turned around and swam back to shore. Before she got out of the water the bird flew back and plopped down near Agnes and swam away again with the appearance of the broken wing. Of course, Agnes turned back around and swam after the bird. We were sure Agnes kept getting too close to this bird’s nest on shore. This literally went on for at least an hour. Yes, this is also in the book. When I did internet searches to find birds that played the broken wing trick, I could only find a certain bird that to my recollection did not look anything like the bird that played this trick on our dog, and that is why the type of bird remains unnamed in the book.

The fishing incident in the book is completely made up and had nothing to do with Agnes. However, there was a time when our other dog, Ed, got tangled in someone’s fishing line as he swam by. That silly angler saw him coming and should have reeled his line in, but instead he watched the whole thing happen and then blamed us for letting our dog tangle his fishing line. Luckily, as Ed kept swimming the line untangled on its own and we didn’t have to unhook him or anything. We were glad because we didn’t want to deal with that dummy anymore anyhow.

I could go on and on about Agnes, and I’m sure in the future I will. Now you know a lot of the events which inspired me came from real life and you can read all about them in my third chapter book called Moore Zombies: Big, Bad Wolfbag.

Wendy Knuth, Author of Moore Zombies picture books and chapter books

MooreZombies.com

Posted in: Dogs / Tagged: #amblogging, #anglers, #animals, #arizona, #author, #Authorlife, #backstory, #blog, #blogchat, #chapterbook, #chapterbooks, #children, #christmas #funny #fire #wendy, #dads, #earlyreader, #earlyreaders, #family, #fishing, #funny, #funnyblog, #humanesociety, #humor, #kids, #moms, #moorezombies, #parenting, #parents, #poison, #prescott, #prescottvalley, #savvyblogging, #toad, #toads, #Writechat, #zombie, #zombies

Peyton Manning’s Post Superbowl Speech –Thank you family, God, and Budweiser

February 11, 2016 11:36 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

Peyton Manning’s Post Superbowl Speech

Peyton Manning’s Post Superbowl Speech –Thank you family, God, and Budweiser

So there I am watching Peyton Manning’s speech at the end of Superbowl 50 and I am incredibly surprised and greatly amused to hear him talk about how he will be drinking Budweiser that evening. First of all, I think – kaching! (cash register noise here) – he just made at least a million bucks for saying that, right? Secondly I think – why haven’t I seen this act before? It’s brilliant!!

Of course Mr. Manning thanked his teammates, family and God. That is to be expected. I can’t quite recall the order, so one might go back over the footage to amuse him or herself to see where his priorities were. Don’t be fooled, Budweiser as a seemingly priority number one would certainly count in my book as family priority number one bringing home the bacon-wise.

But again, why haven’t I seen this before? Athletes of all kinds wear baseball caps and t-shirts with slogans and logos. NASCAR events have autos with advertising all over their bodies. UFC fighters make a point of quickly putting on a t-shirt and ball cap with company advertising after the fight is over. By the way, I just love how someone realized that the octagon butt is prime real estate for advertising. Very clever!

We have all seen athletes in commercials endorsing this and that. However, there is nothing like a verbal and visual endorsement from a superstar athlete at the peak of his career during a prime time moment. We all know about the “I’m going to Disneyland” statement made post win that is supposed to seem spontaneous. So, why haven’t other companies jumped on this band wagon?

Disneyland is more of a proximity thing. Numerous other items are much more readily available to the average person: soda, candy, snacks, fast food, under wear, clothes, cars & trucks, and yes, alcohol. I got to thinking – there is a lot more money that could be made here.

I now have a clear plan for my life. First, I become a super athlete. I work and toil for years while making several mil along the way. Second, after years of hard work, I win a huge athletic event in which I will most certainly be interviewed after the fact. And now comes the best part. Third, during what is probably going to end up being my retirement speech, I earn an additional 50 million cool dollars in verbal endorsements over the course of a few sentences. Wish me luck. Kaching!

Wendy Knuth, author of Moore Zombies picture books and chapter books

Please visit MooreZombies.com – books, t-shirts, free video games, free coloring pages, fun videos!

Enjoy the attached video – you have just read about the inspiration behind it.

I would like to add credits and would encourage readers to please email, tweet, and/or facebook with their comments on this hilarious video:

CBS Sports – Thank you so much for the live stream of the Super Bowl!

www.cbssports.com

www.twitter.com/cbssports

Peyton Manning Fan Pages:

www.facebook.com/PeytonManningDenverBronco

www.facebook.com/PeytonManninglover/

www.twitter.com/peytonmanninggo

www.twitter.com/theofficial18

Tracy Wolfson, Sportscaster

www.TracyWolfson.net

www.facebook.com/TracyWolfson/

www.twitter.com/tracywolfson

Images used in the video

www.freeimages.com/KennKiser for the classic Ford Truck in the attached video

www.Freeimages.com/kirchli for the hanging under wear in the attached video

www.Freeimages.com/TheD for the picture of the Big Mac in the attached video

www.Freeimages.com/mikaelcronhamn for the picture of the adorable little girl in princess attire in the attached video

Sound used in the video

www.Freesounds.org “Cash Register Purchase” by Zott820

Last, but not least, Sudipta Dasgupta of www.dasguptarts.com for the Moore Zombies images (Gothina, Broheimer, Baby Zom, & Kamper)

Posted in: Sports / Tagged: #amblogging, #arizona, #Authorlife, #beyonce, #blog, #blogchat, #blogtip, #brunomars, #cbssports, #chapterbook, #children, #children #chaingang, #christmas #funny #fire #wendy, #coldplay, #dads, #familytradition, #football, #funny, #funnyblog, #habits, #hilarious, #humor, #kidslit, #moms, #moorezombies, #parents, #parody, #peytonmanning, #savvyblogging, #sports, #superbowl, #superbowl50, #superbowlsunday, #tracywolfson, #tradition, #traditions, #wolfson, #Writechat, #zombie, #zombies, broncos, denver, denverbroncos, manning, panthers, peyton

We Cut The Cord! No More Cable TV.

January 5, 2016 1:17 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

I have been complaining for quite some time about getting rid of cable tv, at least for over a year now. Our bill has gone up, up, up, and so has our commercial viewing time. Of course, the channel lineup has gone down, down, down. Why are we paying more and more to watch at least twenty minutes of commercials per hour? It’s a habit, folks.

I am surrounded by young-ens at my work. They have no idea why us older folks would pay for cable or satellite tv. The idea is foreign to them. Even my own teens who live in the same house hardly ever watch cable tv. Once, when us older folks were talking about a funny commercial, I actually heard a comment from a gal in her young twenties – “I don’t really see commercials anymore.” Wait, WHAT!!??

For me, I have come to understand that I am addicted to a scroll bar. Yes, the scrolling list of junk that is currently available and chock full of commercials. It’s time to realize I just need to change my habits and so does my hubby, the old, bald guy.

So, we did it! We cut the cord! What have we discovered? There is a lot of great stuff out there. And, there is a pause button and a rewind bar in case you missed something. Me personally? I found that I was also addicted to having the tv on mostly for the white noise it provided. I was so accustomed to a having programs fully loaded with commercials that my attention faded in and out. I would often do things around the house during commercial breaks that would cause me to miss portions of programs I was actually interested in. Why doesn’t the brain behind the program want my full attention? Isn’t this a contradiction?

An analytical review about this dilemma led me to realize that I have been in an abusive relationship. For instance, Dr. Phil wants me to watch his program however, he subjects me to more and more commercials, leaving me feeling hurt and unwanted. Well, no more! Since cutting the cord, the tables have been turned. If you want me to watch your program, you had better make it available to me. As this internet revolution of television grows, maybe one day Dr. Phil will beg me back, only to find I have moved on and developed new habits and healthy relationships with other suitors.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying a lot of Netflix, Rabbit TV Lite and a few other sites. There are actually many programs available on YouTube. We now search for these programs that get our full attention and most are sans commercials. One annoying thing we have found – there is still abuse out there – numerous websites have enticing buttons that say “Watch Full Episodes” which turn out to be entirely untrue, again short clips advertising a longer program, which can’t even then be found. Gee, thanks for wasting our time with your company logo attached. Great business plan there, I’m sure we’ll visit again – NOT!

Our new dilemma? Restricting bandwidth usage. While our current cable bill is less than half of what it used to be (they provide our internet – can’t ever cut that cord!), our bandwidth usage has gone up, up, up. So, we might have to upgrade our plan. It seems we still haven’t gotten the best of the cable company.

Wendy Knuth, author of Moore Zombies

MooreZombies.com

Posted in: CutTheCord / Tagged: #abuse, #addiction, #amblogging, #arizona, #author, #Authorlife, #blog, #blogchat, #blogtip, #cable, #cutthecord, #drphil, #funny, #habits, #internet, #internettv, #moms, #netflix, #parents, #rabbittvlite, #satellite, #satellitetv, #savemoney, #savings, #savvyblogging, #television, #tv, #wendyknuth, #Writechat, #youtube

Christmas and The Leaning Tower of Tree

December 10, 2015 5:11 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

I bought a Christmas tree. I placed it in the holder all by myself, and low and behold I could not get it straight. More importantly, I couldn’t get it steady. Perhaps older teenage boy that I purchased the tree from at the local grocery store did not cut the bottom correctly. I broke out the old camp saw and cut it again myself. If you want something done right. . . Long story short, the tree is still leaning, and still loose. It could fall over at any time. I may have uttered a few bad words.

So let’s reframe the situation. Instead of admitting defeat, I will name this year’s tree: The Leaning Tower of Tree. It is much easier to cope with the situation, and much more fun. I have to admit, I did think about strapping the tree to the wall with plumber’s tape. Have I mentioned that my husband, the old bald guy, is a plumber? The layperson might imagine that plumbers tape actually has a sticky side. No, it is a thin sheet metal strap with which you use screws to secure things to a wall or stud, such as a water heater in an earthquake prone environment. No, it is much more fun to deal with said tree in its current condition. It is what it is.

Thinking back to previous years, I recall the year of two trees. The kids couldn’t agree on which tree to buy, and of course they each favored a different one. Luckily I could afford and we bought them both. Then there was the year of “The tree of poverty.” I believe it was 2008 or 2009 when the economy took a terrible turn for the worse. I bought a tiny little table top tree on the cheap, almost Charlie Brown style but not quite as sad. We had a lot of fun making fun of that tree, and the savings made for more money for presents. Boy, how I miss the days of the dollar bin for the plastic airplane or car that the kids loved as much as they would love a brand new computer nowadays.

So buy a tree, or don’t. Draw a tree on cardboard and stand it up against the wall. Put together cutout hand prints of your children, tape them together, and tape it to the wall. Don’t be sad about it. Set the mood and make it fun! Oh, and don’t forget to name your tree.

Wendy Knuth, Author of Moore Zombies picture books and early chapter books

Posted in: Holiday, Tradition / Tagged: #amblogging, #arizona, #artsandcrafts, #author, #Authorlife, #blog, #blogchat, #blogtip, #children, #christmas #funny #fire #wendy, #christmastree, #dads, #familytradition, #familytree, #funnyblog, #holiday, #humor, #kids, #kidslit, #moms, #savvyblogging, #tradition, #Writechat

The Wonderful World of English

November 12, 2015 10:11 am / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

I thought I knew English. It is my first language. I speak some Spanish and have learned those rules are much easier than English. English has iffy rules.

You might be able to start a sentence with “and”. But, starting a sentence with “but” is iffy. But we speak like that all the time. Do you walk towards the tree or do you walk toward the tree? It depends on which country you live in or rather, which country one’s writing is intended for. One can often tell the origin of one’s writing if there is “our” instead of “or”, such as colour and color. Then there is theater and theatre. In the United States of America, however, we use both. You can go traveling in the United States. However, you go travelling outside of the U.S. Note how I underlined those words for emphasis.

In my Moore Zombies: Zombie World book, I have a couple of attractions inside the park. (Incomplete Sentence Alert.) For instance Creepy Show and the Become a Zombie areas. I looked up rules for names and a long list of things to be italicized or emphasized. Was there an attraction on the list? Nope. I also bring up the fact that Frankenstein is the name of the scientist in the book Frankenstein, (underline book names) and not the name of the monster. Same problem. In bringing attention to the name itself, do I refer to it as Frankenstein, “Frankenstein” or Frankenstein? I decided one way, then the other, then back again. I found I had caps in one area, italics in another section of the book and quotes in other areas. How confusing. Change it all to “just normal” I finally decided. I think. I could be wrong. Read the book. (Pluggy, pluggy.)

One thing that I have recently learned is one is supposed to put a comma after an introductory hello. Hello, Sir or Maam. Why the pause? I have been writing letters all of my life with “Hello Jane”, not “Hello, Jane”. I’m going to have to attend counseling sessions now. Speaking of pauses. . . Suddenly, the black cat jumped in front of me. If it was suddenly then there shouldn’t be a pause!

Did you know there is a difference between onto and on to? If you walk on to the next attraction, you are going there. If you walk onto the next attraction, that would be incorrect because you are not really “on” the attraction. What about off of? I hear it all the time. She jumped off of the table. I discovered a great argument against this practice. One wouldn’t say on of, therefore you can’t use off of. Now it becomes: She jumped off the table.

Now that on and off are easily understood, I would like to tell you about a confusing conversation my husband and I once had about the alarm. Is the alarm set? Yes it is on. Does that mean the alarm is sounding? No, if the alarm were sounding, then it would be going off. So the alarm is off if it is not set to on, or you have turned the noise off. If the alarm is on, it is not really on, it is only set to alarm. Try explaining that to someone who is learning English.

If you think I have mastered the language, reread this blog to find that I use quotes here, italics there and underlines elsewhere. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. Luckily, that is often not entirely incorrect in the wonderful world of English.

Wendy Knuth, author of Moore Zombies picture and chapter books

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Moore Zombies Picture Books Are For All Ages!!

October 29, 2015 6:25 pm / Leave a Comment / Wendy Knuth

Why Placing An Age Range On Picture Books Doesn’t Quite Make Sense

Hello all. And I mean all! I don’t care what your age is in the human spectrum of life. If you are reading to and with children, then a specified age range for a book implies limitations that just shouldn’t be. This is why I HATE placing an age range on my Moore Zombies books. Plug, plug.

I am a strong believer in early reading. When my children were young, I read to them early and often. Yes, you may enjoy the words and the pictures, but don’t forget about cuddling, bonding, learning, teaching, feeling proud, giggling, etc. This can be between adult and child, between older child and younger child, or even between children of the same age. Everyone has fun.

You can’t tell me that a toddler doesn’t read. Maybe they can’t interpret the letters, but they are certainly taking it all in. In a way, isn’t that reading? Don’t we read situations? Don’t we read people’s emotions? There is no lettering involved there.

My mom has a story about how proud my brother’s babysitter was about teaching him to read a Dr. Seuss book. After she left, my brother read the whole book out loud, over and over, without the book. My mom didn’t have the heart to tell the babysitter. Somewhere, I have footage of my young son reading a book that was upside down. However, he had all of the words memorized, and I mean correctly for each page. I’ve seen online footage of other young kids reading an upside down book. How cute!! This is definitely a form of early reading.

As an author, I enjoy placing things in my picture books (meaning wording and pictures) for adults and children, because I know they will be read by both. So how can I classify my picture books as being intended for ages 3-5 or 4-8 when in reality they are for ages baby to senior. The years pass quickly, so grab a picture book and read to, or with your kids. I highly recommend Moore Zombies!

Wendy Knuth, Author of Moore Zombies Picture Books & Chapter Books

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Moore Zombies Picture Books Are For All Ages!!

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