Plot Monkeys

I Should Not Be Writing This Blog…(part two)

Yesterday at Access Romance, it was my day to blog. I really had no business doing anything but working on the novella that is, er, WAS due Monday. Same goes for today. The story is done, but I’m editing, a process that always takes me more time than I plan for. I could plan a month and it would take me two. Just the way it works.

So I’m still working on polishing my story and shouldn’t be blogging. Bad, bad Julie. I hope the editor for this project–with whom I have never worked before–isn’t reading this. :-)

Here’s my blog.

Did you ever notice that there are no fruits that start with the letter I? Yeah, me neither, until my daughter was assigned a science project where she has to cut out pictures of fruits or vegetables, one or two for each letter of the alphabet. I must say that if not for the advent of Google, this task would be impossible. Alas, Google exists, so I (and my daughter) now know that there is a fruit from South Africa called the Ice Plant. I will ask my South African friend tomorrow if she’s ever heard of it, but I’m doubting she has. None of the pictures showed the fruit–just the flower. It’s pretty. Doesn’t mean I want to eat it. The other name for this is the sour fig. I’m a big fig fan, so this is a turn off, to say the least.

But I wasn’t satisfied with only one “I” vegetable, no matter how rare and obscure. Oh, no. I researched further, losing my daughter’s interest right about now while I went on my quest. Hawaii uses a lot of i’s. Surely they have some tropical plant or veggies starting with an I. No luck.

The search for this fruit was not easy. I had started with the basic search, “Fruits A-Z” and one for veggies, too. That got me a comprehensive site and list, but it wasn’t quite enough because well, there were letters that had no fruit or vegetable. Then I went to Wikipedia, figuring they’d be pretty reliable on a topic like this. They were. Lots of lists and pictures, too. That’s where I found the Ice Plant.

But for a second “I,” I was stumped. Nothing was coming up, so I decided to try to look up the latin name for the fruits…hoping this tact would impress Alyssa’s teacher mightily. That’s how I found the Ice Cream Bean (Inga edulis). I’m so clever!

The Ice Cream Bean is a delicacy from the Brazilain Amazon which reportedly tastes like, well, vanilla ice cream. Or so they say. I doubt the Ice Cream Bean is going to be stocked in my local grocery so I can try it out.

I am so smart! I am the Google queen! I print off pictures and give them to my daughter to cut and paste, explaining to her how yummy this bean must be (and then explaining why our local grocery likely doesn’t stock it, but promising to check at the specialty shop next time I’m out, since vanilla ice cream is her favorite/) I have completed gathering pictures for half of the alphabet…and lest you berate me for doing my daughter’s work for her, you can’t exactly find pictures of an Ice Cream Bean in a magazine and my daughter is much too young to surf the ‘net alone. She was beside me the whole time until I started exploring Hawaii and latin names for plants.

And then…the inevitable happens.

I’m bragging to my husband about my discovery of the Ice Cream Bean and he says, “Couldn’t you just have used Iceberg lettuce?”

:cursing:

Clearly, I am not quite as clever as I think.

Now I’m back to doing my own work. But I did find a Quince for Q, part of tomorrow’s research effort. If anyone can think of something obvious that I’m missing, particularly for Q or X, can you please let me know? Save me the embarrassment.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Julie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

21 Comments »

lol Julie! Leave it to a man to find the shortest distance between two points.

Now, stop doing your daughter’s homework and do your own!

Comment by Leslie — January 17, 2007 @ 8:41 am
Some people will do anything to get out of doing their own work!!

Comment by ev — January 17, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I commend you on a search well done:thumbsup2:
As for your husband you could tell him that Iceberg is just one variety of Lettuce and well his answer just doesn’t count. Lettuce is what counts
As for helping with the homework I’ve done it too. Plus like you I’m the google queen. If hubby and kids can’t find it I keep looking. Plus, I use ask.com I find some hard to find things that way.:lightbulb:

Now that you have finished your daughters work back to work for you young lady.:doggie:

Comment by Gigi — January 17, 2007 @ 10:20 am
Julie, you are too funny. I think you should find some exotic use for the Ice Cream Bean in one of your stories…

The things wee’ll do to avoid editing…

Sam

Comment by Sam Hunter — January 17, 2007 @ 10:23 am
And I thought I was the great procastinator! I’m truly amazed by your thought process and knowledge of things like “Hawaii uses a lot of i’s”, I just wouldn’t know that stuff and I sure as heck wouldn’t have ever thought of using the latin word.

But….like you, I’m sure my husband would have done the exact same thing. He does stuff like that to me ALL the time. I’ll be so proud of something that I’ve thought through and accomplished and he’ll say, why didn’t you just do blah blah blah and I just want to smack him!

Happy editing!

Comment by Jodie — January 17, 2007 @ 11:01 am
:wallbash::wallbash::wallbash:Julie….I, too, just had to surf the net (okay, my son is 6 and he had a report on the blue whale….I couldn’t let him surf it alone, plus, with his autism, he would just go straight to toggling between “THE INCREDIBLES” website and PIXAR.COM. Fortunately, we finished the project, now I just have to prep him when he and I are feeling better (nothing like a bad cold to get us down!). I think I will put that off until next week (it’s not due until the 31st, so I have time!). Now, I know when we have to do the fruit/vegetable project, I know what to do.

Comment by katie — January 17, 2007 @ 11:21 am
There are some ice plants in Northern California near salt water, like near the bay. I was told it was edible, so I took one of the leaf spears and took a tiny bite. It has a lot of water in the leaves, but I can’t remember what it tasted like. This was nearly 20 years ago. So they do exist! I’ve seen them!

Comment by Samantha Ling — January 17, 2007 @ 11:49 am
Julie, I am just lmao! I think every mom has been in your seat at least once…and of course there is always a man finding a short cut, you just gotta love em!

Comment by Tina Martinesi — January 17, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Just think - all the other kids will have iceberg lettuce and your daughter will be unique!

What did you put for X???

Comment by Mary — January 17, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Julie, there is ice plant all over the state of California, it is very common! I had no idea it bears a fruit or is edible, you learn something new every day! Thought I see lots of it when it is blooming I’ve never seen anything on the plant that looks like fruit. They plant it along the freeways in some areas, it has a long blooming period & masses of blooms, it needs very little water & care. Aren’t parents suppose to help their children with homework? I did! Good luck with your editing.

Comment by Donna M — January 17, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Julie I commend you on your research………..we have all been there at one time or another. And yup it is a fact that men will say why did you just not do this…..or use this…….this is where you want to smack them.

Guess now, you have to get back to your edits and get them done before you leave for your retreat………..

Comment by Cryna — January 17, 2007 @ 3:20 pm
P.S.Julie, I don’t know if you read my earlier posts, but I am so lovin’ “private dancer’. Hello! What a nice way to warm up my chilly house. I hope that inspires you!

Comment by katie — January 17, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
http://www.thefruitpages.com/alphabet.shtml

Comment by jeannie — January 17, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
PS. well you said you needed to get the book done! lol that site is great.
:love2::kiss::love2::kiss:

Comment by jeannie — January 17, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
One more even though the other was more child oriented.

http://www.reference.com/search?r=42&q=List%20of%20fruit

I’m out of here see you all tomorrow.
Son and dil tonight.

Comment by jeannie — January 17, 2007 @ 5:29 pm
How about a Q-cumber - roflmao (sorry couldn’t resist).:mrgreen:

Comment by catslady — January 17, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
Katie- I have, and still help, Heather with her stuff and she is in college. She is learning disabled and also tends to wander when something catches her eye. We have decided, after trying it, that online classes are definately not for her.

R-tichocke???? to go with that Q-cumber???

Comment by ev — January 17, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
Julie and I have been in your shoes also with my son and last month he came home and said to me guess what WE got on our report because I was the one on the net and typing:wallbash: the report.

Back to editing now good luck

Comment by Cherylann — January 17, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
ev….yeah, he would be off playing “The Incredibles” or something at “PIXAR.com”. He kinda freaks out his teachers when they let him go online because he knows the ‘fun’ websites that he likes! He definitely has the computer gene, not me!

Comment by katie — January 17, 2007 @ 9:28 pm
You should have told your husband that you and your daughter had thought of that, but knew everyone else would use that and you wanted to be original… Girlfriend, you know better than to let a man think he is one up on you…LOL

Comment by Renee — January 18, 2007 @ 1:43 am
I wouldn’t have thought of iceberg, either. Is he one of those husbands who, after you’ve struggled to open a jar for 10 minutes and your face is all red and your hands are killing you, comes over and *pop* makes it look so easy? I hate that. I ask him to please make it appear to be at least a small struggle.

Comment by Jenna Glatzer — January 19, 2007 @ 6:22 pm