Introduction and bring your appetite!

It's time to put my money where my mouth is. This blog will be about a little of everything and my interests: writing, cooking, books, reading, healthy eating, wine, parenting, learning to homestead (more on that later). I want readers to feel like they can pull up a chair, sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, or wine, depending on what time of day it is, and surf around to whatever their interest might be - a recipe for dinner that night, a book recommendation, or perhaps my latest rant about our town's grumpy children's librarian.

I also need people to keep me honest about writing my first novel (oh, yes, I can add that to the laundry list) because I need to be shamed into it! There, I have come out of the proverbial closet: I have always wanted to be a writer and now I am going to put fear and self-consciousness aside and forge ahead with a novel idea that has been percolating in my head (and on paper) for about eight months. When I was about 10 years old, I wrote a letter to Beverly Cleary and asked for advice on how to be a writer. It was never sent - my mother found it later and kept it (my mother kept everything, God rest her). When it surfaced some years later, when my parents were moving, I realized that what I wanted to do in life had been right there all the time and I needed to just admit it.

I've named the blog Chez Patti because someone (I can't remember who) nicknamed me Chez Pate for my love of cooking. Since this blog is about a little of everything, I liked the idea of having an online cafe where you can come, take a break from your crazy life and read about my crazy life - because it is. And it will make you feel SO much better about yourself. I promise. I have seen it before firsthand.

I look at this as an adventure for me and a fun place for you, the reader, to come to. So check in frequently and I will write as often as possible. I'll try and post pictures and make it all pretty.