Showing posts with label adventures in homemaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventures in homemaking. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

How to dry a turkey...


So I never got around to writing how hosting my first Thanksgiving went. Well... no one gagged, no one died and no one complained. So I guess that's a success!

I followed the directions for thawing the turkey... but apparently I still failed at that. The inside of the turkey was still somewhat frozen. We couldn't even get the neck out. So I put it in a sink of cool water. Thankfully it warmed up a bit because my mom got the neck out with no problems after about 15 minutes. But when you have a turkey soaking in water that long... it gets really really really wet.

Everything I read said to make sure the turkey was dried off well after rinsing it. Well, water was just SOPPING out of it and no amount of paper towels was getting it dry. My mom suggested using a hair dryer... only half-way kidding. I poo-poo'd the idea until I realized that it might just work.

So I used a hair dryer to dry the turkey. And it actually turned out OK!

Now begins my favorite time of year. I am one of those annoying people who love Christmas. I actually get teary eyed when I see Joe get excited about Christmas lights. I'm Buddy the Elf in female form. I'm trying hard to celebrate the anticipation of Advent... mainly for Joe's sake. I'm trying to focus on Baby Jesus... but I can't help that I get super excited when Santa comes to feed his reindeer at 10:00 central time on reindeercam.com! SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. Things will be quiet around here since I'm entering finals week. Happy Advent, y'all!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

DINOVEMBER!

Have you heard of Dinovember? A friend of mine posted about it on her Facebook wall and as soon as I read it I decided that I was for sure going to this. The idea behind Dinovember is a child's toy dinosaurs come to life at night, usually participating in some shenanigans. When the kid wakes up the dinos have frozen in place! Some of the scenes I've seen are dinosaurs singing karaoke, drawing on the walls, and playing a board game.

Last night I secretly gathered all of Joe's toy dinosaurs and arranged them so that T (the t-rex) and Alan (the velociraptor, named after Jurassic Park's Alan Grant) dumped a whole box of animal crackers on the kitchen table! The brachiosaurus sipped on a juice box, and the triceratops fought over a Cheez-it while the stegasaurus pigged out on a whole bag. Having kids is so much fun because it give me a chance to play again!

Joe woke up, saw the table and at first was like "What the heck?!" But then I started explaining what had happened and he thought it was pretty funny. He kept asking, "Did Daddy do this?"

I don't plan on doing this the rest of November since I'm afraid it won't be fun anymore because I'll be stressing out over finding creative ideas. I might do it four or five more days and then I'll post the rest of the dinosaur's adventures.

I overheard the dinos discussing how they wanted to do a family movie night tonight...


Scenes from this morning
DINO PARTAY!

P.S. For some reason the video I tried posting yesterday of Sam smiling didn't work. Here it is. You're welcome. :-)


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Saint Dolls!

I am not a fan of Pinterest. Basically it makes me feel like a big fat lazy blob who is depriving my kids of glitter and glue-filled memories. But for the most part the reason I avoid Pinterest is because I can get very over my head with "projects." A couple of years ago I was determined to teach myself to crochet. With a lot of YouTube video watchin' I figured some of it out... but can never get pass crocheting a square... and even then I start to miscount my stitches. There was also the year I bought a sewing machine and had big visions of sewing quilts and curtains. I did sew Joe's first Christmas stocking... but I fear it won't last.

But this past week I saw a cute little project on a Catholic mommy facebook group. I had never heard of them before even though I guess they are all the rage in some mommy circles. They are wooden saint dolls and I'm obsessed with them!

Late one night I saw someone post a picture of these dolls on the group and vowed the next day to go get supplies to make my own. I got my supplies and jumped right in. I found out later that it's better to make them with bigger sized dolls, so I decided these little dolls were going to be my experiment.

They take FOREVER to paint because you have to paint the different layers. I also made the mistake of painting some of them when Ryan wasn't home. Do you know how hard it is to paint teeny tiny eyebrows on a saint's face when you have two little minions crawling all over you?

I figured it would be an epic failure, but I'm pleased with how they came out. I made the mistake of using a paint pen for St. Joseph's eyes so when I sprayed the gloss it made his eyes bleed! I was so mad because he was my favorite! I tried to fix it but it just turned out weird. Oh well.

The best part? Joe LOVES them! Sam does as well, which makes for a lot of fighting. Joe can identify who the people are. I always feel so guilty that I'm not teaching him enough Catholic stuff, but I think I found a way to make learning about the saints fun! Joe loves these dolls so much he's constantly saying "Make more, mommy!" and when I'm painting it he demands, "I need it now!"

Here are some pictures of the finished product!

Blessed Mother
St. Joseph... you can see where I messed up the eyes...
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Nanananananana JESUS!
Our parish priest, Fr. Rogers and Pope Francis
The Gang


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Where do you put your photos?

I’m a procrastinator. A big time procrastinator. For years I’ve had a huge tote of photos going all the way back to the bad hairstyle days of jr. high. I had tons of photos from high school and my college days all the way up to spring of 2007 when I decided to get one of them thar digital cameras. This was a tote of organizational hell. Nothing was in order, there were a bajillion negatives just tossed in there, there were duplicates and there were photos that weren’t even that good that could be tossed.

When I was pregnant with Joe and before we moved, I went on an organizational rampage of my photos. I managed to get pictures paired with their duplicates and everything sorted into categories of years, then sub categories. For example, the year I graduated high school, 2003, I had many sub categories of prom, graduation, state music contest, track, etc.

The next step was to get these photos in chronological order and put into albums. Then I needed to start printing off pictures starting from spring 2007. The end was somewhat in sight.

Then we moved and I had a baby. I lost a few months in there in my quest to organize my photos.

For Christmas my mother got me a great gift. She got me a box full of albums and a gift card to get my photos printed from Wal-Mart.com. (I already had all my digital photos uploaded there in case my computer crashed someday.) That gave me the motivation to start back on my photo organizing journey.

I’m very OCD when it comes to photo album arrangements. I want it as close as possible to chronological order. I would be pouring through my old journals and diaries and calling my mom to look in her journal to see when a certain event was. I was driving my mom nuts. I’d call her and ask, “Did we go to the pumpkin patch before or after your birthday?” It didn’t really matter- they were both in October, but I needed it to be just right. I even like to have the photos of a particular event in a certain order to kind of tell a story. That OCD-ness added a lot of time to the task.

Fast forward a couple of months and I’m proud to say that I’ve made great strides in my photo-archiving adventure. I’m caught up to 2010! That’s pretty good for me!

However, as I’m getting closer and closer to getting caught up, I’m wondering how I should continue to archive my photos. I didn’t really think anything of it until I read this article titled Photo Albums are Dead to Us on Babycenter.com.

I am a photo album freak. I could look at my mom’s old albums all the time. Not only do I enjoy seeing how much the person in the photo has changed, the bad hair and the funky outfits, but I also like looking at the background. I might be a weirdo, but I like seeing what old Pepsi cans looked like or to see what furniture we used to have. There are little things in the background that can bring back a lot of memories. In one photo of me as a six year old you can see brown metal can in the background. I remember there was a bunch of cotton loom loops and a loom to make potholders that I played with all the time. In another picture you can see a toy I used to play with or a book I used to read in the background. I don’t think I would have remembered these special items unless I had seen them in the photo.

Photographs from when I was a child, even into high school are special. We didn’t have digital cameras back then. What was developed was what you got- there was no snapping 20 pictures to get the best one of the baby smashing a birthday cake. There are many special photographs that I cherish. There are photos of my grandfather who passed away before I was two years old holding me. What I like about having this tangible photograph is that I can scan it to make copies or put it in a frame.

I’m rather fond of photographs and photo albums. My mother-in-law found it quite amusing how I would pour over their old photo albums. I love seeing Ryan grow up and what their house used to look like.

But there are other ways of storing photos besides photo albums. Here is my personal pro/con list of each the ways I’ve considered archiving my photos.

Scrapbooking Pros
  • They are pretty. You can put your own personal touch into the scrapbook. You can decorate it with themes, colors- the possibilities are endless!
  • You can add detailed descriptions to the photos. Where the photo was taken, who is in the photo, special memories, etc.
  • You can add other special mementos to the scrapbook besides photos. Ticket stubs, recital programs, children's artwork... you get the idea
Scrapbooking Cons
  • It can get pretty time consuming. Considering it took me nearly 10 years to get my high school photos in an album, I doubt I would have enough time fit in scrapbooking due to my procrastination disease.
  • It can get pretty costly.
  • I'm a perfectionist, and I can see scrapbooking becoming a frustrating hobby. I'd want everything to look just right. I can see myself getting frustrated if I couldn't get my creative juices flowing to get a pretty page.
  • I stated before that I like to see the background in photos. 20 years from now I might look back and see a photo with my laptop and think, "Oh my, look at that giant thing!" With scrapbooking there is a lot of cropping to get the photos to fit so the background is lost.
  • Years from now my son might want a copy of a picture of him and his daddy playing baseball, but it would be hard to get him a copy if it's cropped and is stuck to a page.
Photo Book Pros:
  • These are also really pretty. I think they look really sharp and professional compared to scrapbooking. You can get a photo printed right on the cover to make it all snazzy looking.
  • They are quicker to put together than scrapbooking. You don't have to have die cuts or special scissors or fancy paper. Photo books have all that in whatever program you are using.
  • Many times there are already templates made out so you don't have to spend a lot of time getting creative.
  • Usually are much slimmer than photo albums or scrapbooks and take up less room.
Photo Book Cons:
  • These can get really pricey. Especially if you have a lot of photos to put into one.
  • Creativity can still be frustrating. Plus, you are working with technology which can cause even MORE frustrations.
  • You'll never be quite sure what the finished product will look like. Something might look good on the screen but when you see it in person it can be quite disappointing.
  • One thing I like about scrapbooking is writing in your own handwriting the descriptions to the photos. My mom scrapbooks and her grandchildren and great grandchildren can look back and see her own handwriting. I think that is special. With photobooks you can use fancy fonts, but it isn't quite the same as personal handwriting.
  • Like I said with scrapbooking- It would be hard to get a copy of a certain photo in the future. Cropping the whole photo would still be a problem for me, the weirdo background-lover.
Photo Album Pros
  • Easy to put together
  • Doesn't require a lot of hard work
  • You can take a photo out to make a copy or to give away in the future.
  • The whole photo is intact
  • Even though it costs money to get them printed either at a retail store or at home, it's cheaper than scrapbooking or photobooking.
Photo Album Cons
  • They're boring. Yeah, you can get a cute photo album, but the inside with just the pictures is blah.
  • There isn't a lot of room to write descriptions. I always buy albums where you can write right next to the photo, but sometimes there is a lot to describe and there's only five lines!
  • Albums take up a lot of space. As the years go on it the collection just gets bigger and bigger!
  • I can get carried away on how many pictures I print. I don't print every single one but I can still go crazy when I'm printing them. I have them all backed up on a hard drive and will convert them to CD's. However, if I had a limited space of a photo book or a scrapbook I might not be as keen to get a ton of pictures.
I still have some catching up to do so I don't know which route I'll take. Maybe it will be a mixture of all three. And who knows, maybe when we have 8 children I won't have time to do ANY of these three!

So here's the question for you: How do you archive your photographs? Do you have any other creative ideas to store your photos?

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Come on over...

Oh the plethora of blog topics I have bouncing about in the ol’ noggin! I could write about my new diet with Weight Watchers, the fact that I feel like poop on a stick, depression/worry, and my distraught feelings of having a c-section… the list goes on. Instead of getting all serious and dreary and blah-tastic, I thought I’d write on another topic that I’ve wanted to write about for months now.

My dream home.

I read somewhere that if you procrastinate long enough on a blog post, another blogger will beat you to it. Well, the wonderful Elizabeth at That Married Couple wrote about her dream home a couple months ago. Now it’s my turn.

Come on over to my house.

It will be out in the country. I’ll have neighbors that are walking distance away, but we’re still secluded enough to have some sense of privacy. The driveway is kind of long since our house is a ways from the road, but we can still see our neighbors drive up and down the gravel road. We live on quite a few acres. There’s a pasture so if we ever get horses they can roam. Or if we ever get a 4 wheeler we can ride out there. There’s also a bit of timber to go exploring in.

Out in the pasture will be a pond. Big enough to build a dock and take a little boat on. It’s clean enough to swim in. There’s also a little crick out behind the timber.

Our yard is large with massive oak and maple trees and a few pines scattered throughout. One of the trees out back has a tire swing. Our backyard also has a swing set and a baby pool, 2 dog houses, a sandbox, a big vegetable garden and tons of flowers. There are numerous and varied children’s toys and bikes sprinkled throughout the yard. We have a nice deck with a charcoal grill (not that nasty propane) and lots of Tiki torches.

We also have a huge red barn. That’s where the horses will go. Maybe some milking cows someday. But it’s mostly for the kids to explore.

We also have an old fashioned windmill. Not the fancy-schmancy ugly kind they have nowadays. I’m taking old school. (Did anybody else play the road game Zip?)

Come on up to the house. It’s an old white 4 story farmhouse. It needs some work, but it’s home. There’s a bright red front door to welcome you. There’s a wrap-around porch with a porch swing and a citronella candle. There’s some comfy patio furniture to sink into. We have the American flag hanging and a Blessed Mother statue in the flowers by the porch.

Come inside! You’ll see we have big picture windows that capture the country scenery perfectly. We have a living room with my old piano with tons of family photographs piled on top. Our furniture is not brand new, and might have some marker stains on it, but it’s very comfortable. We have a large fireplace with our family picture hanging above the mantle with a crucifix hanging above that. We light it on cold winter nights and on Christmas morning.
We have a TV room/playroom that looks like a toy bomb went off, but I’m just thankful the mess is contained in there. We love popping some popcorn and watching a movie.

Our dining room is pretty big to accommodate our large dining room table for our large family. There’s a china cabinet that holds my grandparents’ wedding china and another cabinet filled with lots of other breakable mementos.

Our kitchen is kind of small and cozy, but big enough for a breakfast table. There’s a window above the sink overlooking the back yard so I can see what the kids are up to. The wallpaper in the kitchen is vintage… probably the same wallpaper the original owners had put up. We have a nice old fashioned pantry that connects to the dining room. We have a kitchen radio that plays country music while I cook supper or clean dishes. Off of the kitchen is the stairs to the basement. It has that old musty smell of a basement, that smell you smell when you know something interesting is down there. We’ll probably fix it up someday for one of our teenagers to have a bedroom down there.

We have a full bathroom on the main level- nothing special.

As you walk around the hardwood floors you can hear them creak. You can feel the life of the house in the floor boards. I contemplate getting carpet because I feel it’s easier to clean.

We have a very nice, old fashioned staircase. I can’t wait to see my daughters walk down that staircase when they are all dolled up for prom. I’m sure we’ll take a majority of special occasion photographs by the fire place, but most of my special occasion photos were taken at the foot of the stairs, so we’ll have to see.

Come up stairs! We have 4 bedrooms. One is my husband’s and mine, and we have a fire place in our room (ooo la la!) We have a king size bed and many of our children cuddle in bed with us. I wanted to splurge and have our own master bath, but we wanted more babies instead. I don’t mind taking a bath in our claw-foot tub after I dump the 122983th bath toy out. I just scoot aside the Mr. Bubble and pour in my own bubble bath. It’s a pretty big bathroom and there’s room for more than one person to get ready. There’s all our bathrobes hung up in a row. We have a giant mirror for the kids to make faces in.

We have a laundry chute that dumps our laundry to the laundry room that is right off the kitchen. I LOVE laundry chutes and think they are one of life’s greatest inventions!

We have a guest bedroom/office that will one day be Grandma Mary’s room (unless Jamie claims her first.)

The other two rooms are for our kids. Yes, they will share.

Our attic is full of old boxes of mementos from Ryan’s and my childhood. Baseball memorabilia, old Barbies, old journals and photos. Boxes of Christmas and Halloween decorations will also be up there.

I often dream of this home. What it will look like, smell like, feel like. But the bigger dream is the people that fill it- my husband, Joe and hopefully more children in the future. The dream that we are happy, healthy and on track to get to heaven.

Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, December 28, 2010

DOG HAIR DOG HAIR EVERYWHERE!

I'm going crazy here, people.

We got our darling beagle Chandler in September of 2008. I knew then he had a major shedding problem. I was OK with it.

Then I had a baby and my OCD kicked in BIG TIME.

For some reason during the first couple of months of Joe's life the dog hair wasn't so bad. Sure I'd find an occasional dog hair on his outfit, but nothing major.

For the last couple of weeks I've been finding dog hair EVERYWHERE. On his changing table, in his bath tub, on his bouncer, on his bassinet sheets. It's maddening, I tell you!

I think the fact that my house is in ruins right now is adding to the stress. Not only do I have dog hair, but both Joe and Ryan are sick, so I have snot AND dog hair to deal with. Plus 4,398 piles of laundry, pacifiers and used Kleenex strewn on the floor (covered in dog hair, of course), Christmas presents to put away and organize and dishes to be put in the dishwasher. (Plus legs to be shaved and teeth to be brushed... but I digress...) UGH, looking down at my computer keyboard I count 4 pieces of dog hair. AAACKKK!!!!!!

I swear I vacuum but 2 hours later the place is covered again. We give Chandler baths, but not too many, because his skin dries out, then he itches, then it rains dog hair (which is I think how the dog hair ends up on high surfaces.) He doesn't sleep on our bed, but he does sleep on the couch.

I need advice- how do I quell the dog hair fiasco? Shave him? Cover him in duct tape? Or should I come to terms that I will never have a completely organized and clean house EVER again?!

*shudder*

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Sewing My Fingers Together

It was about a month ago when I made my first glorious venture into the Christmas section at Wal-Mart. I saw the Christmas stockings and realized that Joe would need one. Then I got the crazy idea of making it myself. Wouldn't it mean more to him to have a one of a kind stocking his mama made with TLC rather than a mass-produced stocking that was probably made by some bleeding-fingered child in China? I could use my childhood stocking that my Aunt Betty made me as a pattern. How hard could it be?

Then I imagined the possibilities of having a sewing machine. We can't afford to buy curtains for our whole house, but if I knew how to sew I could make my own! I imagined my future daughter all decked out in pretty little dresses I make for her. I could hem my slacks and jeans! (As a short person, hemmed pant lines are a must, but since I can't afford to have all my pants hemmed they drag on the ground. I probably look like a hoodlum.) I could fix my husband's clothes!

I could also learn how to make home-made gifts. I know some people cringe when they hear they are getting something home-made, but I love these types of gifts! They can become treasured family heirlooms. Think about it- most baby blankets or quilts that are passed down from generation to generation aren't from Target or Babies R Us. They are usually handmade. This is probably my Pollyanna view of the world peeking out, but wouldn't you rather snuggle up in an afghan made with love by your aunt or grandma?

The problem with making Joe's Christmas stocking was that I have never touched a sewing machine in my life. However, I was determined to teach myself how to sew with one. Long ago I taught myself how to crudely hand-sew when I figured out how pillows were put together.

I love doing crafty things, but due to frustrations and procrastination a hobby never develops. I tried to teach myself how to knit with one of those "Teach Yourself" books and that turned out to be a horrible yarn-y mess. I tried to teach myself how to crochet with yet another do-it-yourself-guide. That went a little better. Thanks to YouTube I finally figured out the weird diagrams in the book and got off to a somewhat good start. I can make a nice little square, but then I lose tracking of counting stitches and it ends up lopsided. I've gotten those tiny little cross-stitching kits and can usually finish one of those... unless the thread gets tangled or I screw up a row and end up throwing the darn thing across the room.

I have dreams. I want to be crafty. I want to make beautiful things and sell them on Etsy and make money from home. I want to be that woman that everyone wants to invite to their baby shower because they know they will get a beautiful handmade quilt from me. I want to be able to make super awesome Halloween costumes for my kids that are much cooler than the store bought ones. I want to make rosaries for my family to use in their devotions. I want to make purses to give out to cancer patients. Am I sounding a bit over-ambitious yet?

My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said, "Well I kind of want a sewing machine." Why "kind of"? Well I figured if I actually got one it would just sit there gathering dust next to my exercise ball. I have dreams, but I figured they would never come to fruition. Besides, I had looked up how much sewing machines were, and I couldn't justify someone or myself spending $150 on a machine that would become a place to dry noodles on or something.

Black Friday rolled around and my mom pointed out that there was a sewing machine on sale for a reasonable amount at Wal-Mart. We drove 33 miles to Wal-Mart and I was worried that since it was in the middle of the afternoon that all the sewing machines would have been bought out or that they weren't on sale anymore. Well I guess not everyone wants to be as ambitious as me- there was a whole crap-load of them on shelf, still on sale. We bought one and picked up some fabric.

I took the sewing machine to my house and opened it up. I opened the instruction manual and right away was overwhelmed. What do I do when I am confused and overwhelmed? Call my mom. "What the hell is a bobbin for and why do you have to put thread in the bottom compartment thingy?" She explained as best she could over the phone and I hung up a little less confused.

I sat there examining the different parts. There was tape and cardboard underneath the presser foot (yeah I didn't know it was called that until later... at this point I called it the metal thingy.) I needed to lift this up to take out the cardboard packaging. I looked at the manual and couldn't figure out which one was the lever to lift it up. 15 minutes later (I'm not kidding) I finally figured out that I knew where it was, I was just using it wrong. This was going to be a looooooooooong process.

The sewing machine sat there for a few days. It was on a desk right next to the doorway to the kitchen and every time I walked past it I could sense it was mocking me. "Haha, why don't you give me a try? You won't sew your fingers together...or will you? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Thank the Lord in Heaven the sewing machine came with an instructional DVD. I popped it in and saw how they threaded the machine and all that good stuff. It looked so easy. I could make a bobbin! Setting the thread underneath? Didn't look hard at all!

Psshh.... yeah, right.

I made a bobbin with no problems. I threaded the upper and lower threads with relatively no problems. But bringing up the lower thread was a hassle. As I tried over and over again and kept running to my TV that was paused on the section on how to raise the lower thread I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be an epic fail. Was sewing going to be like training to be a ballerina or Olympic gymnast- you have to start young, you can't start when you're 26 years old to be successful. Was it too late for me to get a handle on this?

FINALLY I got the lower thread up. What I did differently this time, I had no idea. So the machine was all threaded and ready to go. I got an old pillow case to practice on. I started sewing and realized I didn't have the presser foot down. D'OH!

I practiced for awhile. I was nervous to start on Joe's stocking. Then my dear sweet trusting husband decided to let me fix one of his shirts. As you can see in the picture, it didn't go very well. But I say it adds character, and half of the shirts you find in stores have funky stitching. It's the style!
Finally I went for it. I put my mental soundtrack on of the theme song from Rocky to pump myself up. It was time to sew Joe's stocking.




Long story short (and I do mean long!): I did it!

It's not perfect, but that's OK! It resembles a stocking plus I didn't sew my fingers together! That's a success in my book!
Below is my stocking that I used as a pattern.

Next up is sewing a stocking for Ryan. After that- the possibilities are endless! (Right? Just humor me, people!)


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cooking Success!

You may have remember my lament on how cooking usually turns into a disaster for me.


I received quite a few comments on my facebook regarding this, and the biggest piece of advice I got was to be patient and start off small. I cooked chili a couple weeks ago and it was pretty good. (So good my husband said, "Wow, I feel like I just ate a Thanksgiving meal...soooo full. Now I'm ready for a nap!")


I've been on a bit of a baking kick too. Recently I made some brownies and banana nut muffins. Of course I used the boxed mixes, but I was just too timid to go all out and bake from scratch.


Last week I was blog hopping (a perk of being unemployed) and I came across a recipe for peppermint chocolate chip cookies. Basically they're good ol' chocolate chip cookies with peppermint extract and crushed candy canes sprinkled on the top. (I used peppermints. Of course I should have just waited until the day after Halloween to find candy canes.)


My mouth watered when I read the recipe and saw the picture of the finished product. I thought to myself, "I have to make those for Christmas!" But these cookies involved eggs, flour, sugar...not opening up a package of pre-made cookies already in convenient one-inch ball-form. I decided to go for it! But then fears crept into my head...I burn down the apartment weeks before Christmas...or I don't burn down the apartment but I make them wrong thus making my entire family sick with food poisoning during the holidays.


I decided to do a bit of cooking baking practice. We went shopping after Mass for the ingredients. One of the things I had to buy was a flour sifter. I never ever had used one of these. (And just a side note: I know that flour today is already pre-sifted, but thanks to Google I researched this topic and many people claim that sifting makes better cookies, cakes, etc. Sure it was going to be extra work, but I needed ANY AND ALL help to make these cookies taste good.)


As usual, while at the store, I called my mom for advice.


"How do you salt butter?" I asked.


"Huh?" my mom asked in a very puzzled voice.


"The recipe calls for salted butter."


"It's a certain kind of butter, you'll find it next to the regular butters and margarines."


"Does it it have 'salted butter' written on the package?"


"Yes."


I'm sure she hung up the phone with a smile. I on the other hand hung up the phone with a Homer Simpson "D'OH!" feeling.


I came home and was excited to get started. But I was completely un-organized (something that makes me panic-y) and was making a HUGE mess (another things that makes me panic-y) I had flour on the floor on the floor, on my feet, in my hair. Peppermint pieces were stuck to my socks. I was giving myself pep-talks, yelling and stomping my feet.


Surprisingly, when I put the dough into the fridge to chill, it looked normal. During that hour I cleaned up and mopped and felt a little better about my surroundings.


Finally I put the rolled up dough balls into the oven and waited. Ten minutes later I took them out. They looked like cookies! They smelled delicious! As I waited for them to cool I was still a little wary....


Finally I couldn't wait any longer- I bit into one. I was expecting to bite into uncooked cookie dough 0r a big powdery chunk of flour that hadn't been mixed in well. To my delight- it was very yummy!


I ate a couple cookies and called my mom to tell her the good news.


My husband loves them. Of course he will eat just about anything.


Finally- a small success in the realm of cooking!


If you'd like the recipe I used, go here!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Cooking and Life


The above picture is of my little kitchen.
This picture basically encompasses my cooking experience.
There's my microwave. That is my main source of cooking. Ryan works a lot of nights so I don't have a chance to really cook a big supper. Soup, pizza, burritos- those cook very nicely in the microwave. It's quick and easy. If the microwave broke, I'd be in some serious trouble.
On top of the microwave are some bananas. That shows my feeble attempts to eat healthy and to get in back into shape. Being unemployed has really taken it's toll on my body. I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life. Ugh....
You might not be able to see but I have TONS of cookbooks. One is titled "Cooking for Dummies" and another is "Where is Mom Now That I Need Her?" Yes, I am a horrible cook and even these books are a bit above my level! Maybe someday when Ryan's schedule evens out I can dive into these books and really learn how to make a scrumptious meal.
You might be wondering what that little white thing is on the control panel thingy of the stove. (Yeah, so I don't know "stove" terms!) It's a holy card of St. Jude. St. Jude is the patron saint of impossible cases. Maybe I need more confidence, but my thinking is that it's impossible for me to make a good meal...or at least I think it is impossible to control my temper when I cook.
My temper and patience are not the best when it comes to cooking. I am waaaaay too much of a perfectionist. I get mad when my dishes aren't cooking right. I become almost enraged when spaghetti sauce splatters (especially on ME!) I get frustrated when my side dish is ready to be served and my main course is nowhere near ready and I haven't even put the garlic bread in the oven. I stomp. I yell. Sometimes I am in near tears. A couple times my husband has come in and asked if he needed to get the Holy Water. I never find his jokes funny when I'm grumpy. :-)
I want everything to turn out perfectly and when it doesn't I get upset.
It's the same way when I want my life to go a certain way and it doesn't. Many times I have had a "life plan." I have these goals and I'm determined that they go according to plan. But sometimes God throws us a curveball. That job I thought I would get is given to someone else. The town I was certain I would move to after graduation is almost two hours away from where I ended up. The baby growing inside me is taken to heaven much sooner than I planned.
As you can see from my previous posts I have had many life plans that didn't pan out. At the time I was frustrated and angry. But looking back I thank God that many of "my" plans didn't work out and His did.
After all, God is all knowing. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what is best for us. It has taken me a long time to finally "let go, and let God." I still struggle with trusting Him sometimes. Sometimes it takes a very long time to understand why God changes our plans. But we have to take comfort in knowing that He loves us more than anything or anyone ever will and He wants our ultimate happiness. That may include some suffering. We will understand in the end.
So someday I will learn how to cook. Maybe when I'm an old grannie my grandkids will be shocked that I once was clueless in the kitchen. (A girl can dream right?)
P.S. The meal cooking on the stove is Hamburger Helper. Really fancy, right?

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