Reflections

2006-03-02T23:18:00.000-05:00

I was recently tagged by Firefly over at Bioluminescence for this meme. Cooking hmmm, not my best quality as you will see.

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family?

All of them !! There are three of us, and two of us are under the age of ten. This leaves much room for non-cooking, cooking. lol

2. How many cookbooks do you own?

Three, which are very, very dusty.

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week?

I don't, the directions are on the box.

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? If so, what are some of your favorite sources (relatives, friends, magazines, advertisements, packages, the Internet, etc.)

I have a bunch stuffed here and there. The best ones come from church.

5. How do you store those recipes?

Stuffed in an old flip top box. Very few have been transferred to recipe cards. I bought really nice ones about 6 yrs. ago. I plan on using them, really I do.

6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?

Half and half. I always add extra vanilla, less butter, and more salt. Not in the same recipe though!

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? If so, what is it?

If it can be fried, I can cook it, or should I say, what can't you fry? So I can cook anything! Blame this on my Southern mother-in-law who passed on her well seasoned cast iron frypan.

8. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count)

hhmmm, do I have one? I guess it would be the few seconds of pleasure when it's made and about to be put in the oven and you haven't turned around to see the dishes that need to be cleaned up.

9. What's your least favorite part?

Thinking that I'm prepared only to find out I bought molasses instead of dark Karo.

10. Do you plan menus before you shop?

LOL -- No, I'm the one who stands there looking deeply into the cabinets at 4:30 hoping to find a mini-miracle. Something that would be better than sloppy joes or Mac n' Cheese.

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?

My Kitchen Aid Mixer (love it!), French bowl scraper (the plastic kidney bean shaped scraper with a thumb hole), and my really wide potato peeler.

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have?

A deep freezer.

13. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next?

A toaster! Mine just died and has officially become part of my son's fort. It has been gutted and the shell serves as his mail box. The spring loaded slots are in the process of becoming a projectile device.

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?

I wish!

15. Grocery shop alone or with others?

With two kids in tow, no wonder I buy molasses and not dark Karo.

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?

None, my kids would freak.

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?

Tan, tan and more tan. One day I will change this. Right after I copy all my recipes onto recipe cards. :-)

18. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?

French Toast when I was 8 or 9.

19. How did you learn to cook?

I can cook almost anything sweet thanks to Mom. Muffins, breads, cakes, cookies, pies,yada yada yada....Just wish I had learned how to cook real food! Oh, I do pasta and am becoming a master at the gas grill, but a casserole, forget it!

The Rooster....

2006-02-24T19:12:00.000-05:00

"What does the rooster have to do with it anyhow?" -- The question, yes THE question, I was hit with by my daughter after having helped a friend collect eggs for a vacationing neighbor. Why do these questions come just as I've said good night and am turning off the light?

The conversation started with all the childhood joys of taking care of farm animals. The horse was the highlight. The afterthought was the chickens. "Why do they have to collect the eggs?" Because the hen will push them out off the nest was my reply. "Well how do the chickens know they won't become chicks?" Oh no...let me think, "They just do." In my because I said so tone. Then the brilliance of a beautiful little girl..."Oh, because there's no rooster." I'm almost out the door! "What does the rooster have to do with it anyhow?" Uhhhh -- I was grinning too big to look at her. That would be a conversation we'd have to have another day, when we had some alone time. This satisfied her. And it put me to work. How was I going to have this talk, I'll need BOOKS!! I'll need advice!

So 24 hours pass and the evening routine is underway. I say my good nights and am reaching for the light when my little girl sits straight up in bed and says, "You haven't forgotten about the Rooster, have you." Nope, she's not going to let this slide. I tell her "No, I haven't forgotten, we'll just need some alone time." (without her little brother) I turn to leave the room and she asks "You DO know don't you?" I was about to bust out with laughter. In my calm under control tone "Yes, I do know and we will talk about this soon."

Since we homeschool it is not unusual for questions to come up that I haven't a clue on and requires research on my part. So, for her to ask me this is really not out of the ordinary. She was checking me to see if I knew, or would I have to look this one up. :-) I knew this day would come. YIKES

After consulting my sister, who I love dearly, and responded to me with "Do I really have to explain it to you?" I thought, I am really going to need help. God please help me. And He Did.

I don't think I could have had a better sit down with her. She looked at me and my book titled "Where do Babies Come From" and was like okay, okay, okay, "But what about the chickens and the Rooster?" She had me smiling from the start! We talked for a long time. She had great questions, we giggled a lot. I will always remember this day. I thank God for it. I thank Him for the words and I am so thankful that she feels comfortable talking to me. The question I couldn't answer for her - "Why did God make it that way?" He just did, was my best response. I love her so much, I'm very blessed to have her in my life.

Gratitude

2006-02-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

I try to stay in an "attitude of gratitude" and try to think always of that which I should be grateful for especially during the hard times. I do my best to bring it down really small, to the little things, since this helps me to keep on going when the big things just aren't right. Recently I have become friends with a lady in much the same circumstance as myself. I know that this friendship would not have occurred or at the least I feel it would be unlikely, if we didn't share a few of the same life altering events. Our friendship is somewhat out of needing each other. Our kids are the same age, we struggle with the same things, it is convenient for us to help each other because of our location and we have that one very big common thread that is truly a "if you haven't been thru it, you just wouldn't understand it" issue. We are two very different people and I have found this friendship -- odd? I have to say I've learned much from her and have recently begun to realize why. She's farther down the path than I am. Often, our conversations go back to her saying, "Oh, yes I remember that." I share with her what's going on with me, she see places she's already been. She shares with me what is going on with her. But here is the scary part, if she's been where I am -- will I be where she is eventually? This has put me in a major funk. I don't want to be where she is -- lol. But I know she's doing the best she can and so am I. So I started think about how grateful I am. Truly grateful that at this moment in time I am exactly where I am and part of that has to do with someone I tend to resent. So to make a long story a little shorter, I expressed that gratitude to this person and then felt I must be insane. Then I felt, yes, it was right to do. Back and forth with these feelings ugh! So I'm standing there folding clothes, way later than I should have been up, still pondering this when it struck me. I was expressing gratitude to the wrong person. It stopped me cold. Yes, I am grateful to be exactly where I am at this moment. Yes, where I am has a lot to do with the person I thanked. But ultimately, God is the reason I am where I am and I hadn't been thanking Him. How did I get to the point that I could forget to thank God? How was I able to feel the need to express gratitude for my lot in life without first thinking of Him? I have much to work on.

A work in progress

2006-02-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome! Here I hope to post my thoughts -- but I'm a newbie. With a little patience and time I should have photos, links and hopefully music. This is my place to reflect on the past, my growth and the real life that I'm finally allowing myself to live. I love comments -- Firefly, you keep me honest but don't get too smart and Kyle, be kind or I'll boot you lol. So comment -- agree/disagree, if something makes you laugh let me know -- I hope to share a lot of joy here and if you find it boring, well be glad it's not your life :-) But I will say that boring can have it's upside.