Happy 2008

I'm having one of those days when I'm so infuriated by a few people that I feel like I should have steam coming from my ears and tongues of flame from my nostrils, but I'm trying to set it aside.

Happy 2008! 2007 was an eventful year, bad in some ways, but good in others. It's always good to look back as the new year begins and try to remember the good things that have occurred and the obstacles you have overcome in the past year.

We had a very good Christmas. Natalee got a lot of toys and clothes and books that she's littered across our apartment several times now. Matt and I got gift cards along with a lot of other nice things, like kitchen gadgets, new sneakers, computer gadgets, and things for our home. With Christmas money and gift cards I was able to go buy a beautiful new rug, wall sconces, and couch pillows for our living room. And Matt's holding on to his gift card, watching and waiting for a good HDTV to come on sale. It'll be a relief to get a new TV. The one we have in the living room now is nice, but nothing special. The one in our bedroom, on the other hand, is so old and has been moved so often that the shell of it is falling apart. It's been superglued a few times, but the superglue will no longer hold it together. So we can't ever move it again, besides out to the trash. So whenever Matt finally finds a TV to his particular standards and price range, we'll be moving the old TV out of the living room to the bedroom and tossing out the TV in the bedroom. Hurray!

We welcomed another cousin to the family a little over a week ago. My uncle JM and his fiancee April had a healthy little girl named Samantha on December 28th. Matt, Natalee, and I got to visit them and their 6 year old daughter Taylor at the hospital, and I got to be a baby hog and held Samantha for a while. It was a shock to hold a baby small enough to keep in the crook of my arm again. It really is true - you don't realize how big your own kid has gotten until you hold a little one again. Right now it's looking like I'll be babysitting Samantha when April goes back to work in a few months. It'll give me a baby to play with, Natalee some big sister practice, and us some extra money. All nice things. I'm looking forward to taking care of a child that spends most of the day sleeping. Ah, what bliss! I took it too much for granted when Natalee was that young.

Christmas is great and all, and I am sad to see all the anticipation go, but I'm glad the holidays are over. It's good to be home, to sweep and mop and catch up on laundry. To have friends over for dinner. To enjoy cooking and baking for the sake of it again. All the things you really can't do with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays. It's good to be home, away from all the relatives and rude opinions and obligations that visiting during the holidays seem to entail. JM and April recently bought a house and stayed home with Taylor for Christmas. When they told us their plans, I was a little shocked, thinking 'Staying home on Christmas?!' But wow, it sounds divine now. I haven't had a Christmas at home since I was 17 or 18. Maybe someday soon we'll have a Christmas at home ourselves.

So, for 2008, I'm appreciating feathering my nest. My resolution this year, after some instances that caught me in the teeth and made me think, is to take care of myself. Spend more time on myself, doing things like fixing my hair, ironing my clothes, talking to and spending time with my friends, worrying about myself. I will still take care of my family, first and foremost, but I'm going to stop feeling guilty for spending time on myself. It's a luxury I can have now that Natalee's two.

So, what's your new year's resolution? Anything that made you feel really stupid or that you regret from the past year that you resolve not to let happen in the new year? I think my resolution, and my private, half-thought ones, have more to do with that than making a fresh start. Learning from your mistakes and blind spots is always a good resolution.

Post Surgery

Matt's doing okay. The surgery was Thursday - Dr. Bonner removed a cyst from Matt's sublingual gland, and hopefully most of the gland so that it won't happen again. It was agonizing, nerve-wracking, and painful Thursday and Friday, but today's been better. Matt's doing a lot better than he was at first. He was so pale when we first got to see him after the surgery that I just wanted to curl up in the bed with him and hold him. And yell and smack around the nurse staff and doctors who had kept me and his parents away from him. But, aside from wanting some real food and not liquid stuff, he's doing pretty good now. He's helped me with Natalee some today and helped me make out all the Christmas cards. As long as he doesn't try to wolf down anything harder than a smashed ravioli, takes his painkillers, and takes it easy, he'll be fine. I keep repeating this in the hopes that I'll remember.

Matt's parents and Jennifer were a big help. Natalee hardly missed us having her best pal Aunt Jenna here. (She was pretty unhappy when Jennifer left this morning.) Matt and I didn't worry about Natalee since we knew she was happy and with someone responsible looking out for her. And it was a relief having Matt's parents here, having somebody else to agonize with during the wait, run errands for Matt's needs, and laugh and talk about less stressful things with. My mother came by to check on Matt (but mostly to see Natalee and Jennifer). And Brent came by and visited with us for a few hours. (He was in town interviewing for residency programs.) We've been very blessed to have friends and family around us when we needed them.

My early baking-and-freezing cookies regimen has been going slow, needless to say. I made a double batch of Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels (recipe courtesy of Alton Brown's "Good Eats") this week. The first half of the batch only came out so-so, but the other half came out really well. I'll have to make another batch to make up for the less-than-stellar ones and for the ones that everybody who visited scarfed. I'll post the recipe at the end. Here's my take on them - they take a long time to make, so be certain you have plenty of time or plan on spreading them out over a while. Make certain you put the chocolate dough on bottom, or it really won't look right. And you have to have parchment paper. HAVE TO. And plastic wrap is good too. The dough, possibly because of the chocolate, is hard to roll out. It falls apart and sticks to everything that's supposed to be nonstick. Putting a layer of plastic wrap on top helped a lot. You have to have parchment paper to put on the cookie sheets when you bake them. I tried spraying the pans really well, and I tried silicone mats. Parchment works best because the candy cane bits in the cookies melt and adhere to the pan/mat and won't come off without breaking. So be certain you have parchment paper for these, or you'll waste a lot of time making pretty cookie....crumbles. Oh, and if you have the food-safe gloves/whatever for hand mixing the dough, wear 'em. The little chunks of candy cane are sharp. But hey, they're really pretty and taste pretty good when you do them the right way.

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels

1 batch Sugar Cookies, recipe follows

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used Ghiradelli chips)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies

Divide the dough in half and add chocolate and vanilla to 1 half and incorporate with hands. Add egg yolk, peppermint extract, and crushed candy to other half of dough and incorporate with hands. Cover both with plastic and chill for approximately 5 minutes. Roll out doughs separately to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate and press together around the edges. Using waxed paper or flexible cutting board underneath, roll dough into log. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place cookies 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Sugar Cookie:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice, as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Yield: approximately 3 dozen, 2 1/2-inch cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes (they lie!!)

Cook Time: 7 to 9 minutes (they lie!!)

Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours (they lie!!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25190,00.html

Christmas Cheer

I keep forgetting to update this thing. I know it's been a while. It always feels as if I've been so much busier than normal. I've come to the realization that busier than expected IS normal. *sigh*

It's that time of year again, when the kids channels are inundated with horrible toy commercials, people go around humming carols under their breath rather than curses, and neighbors compete to see who can put up the best Christmas lights. Yes, I know this, even in my apartment. But the neighbors only tease me a little about my 2 strings of badly put up lights and tiny lit up tree, because they know my time is much better spent baking. I've started baking earlier this year, baking and freezing cookies ahead of time so I won't be dashing around for a day or two trying to make three different kinds of breads and sweets and deliver them before the goods aren't fresh. And I've started baking cookies this year rather than all sweet breads, but I'll still bake my Pumpkin-Glazed Walnut bread. I'll try to include a recipe or two at the end of this.

We bought our first Christmas tree this year, a pre-lit fake one from Wal-Mart. Natalee seems to be enjoying it. She's been pointing to to it a lot, saying 'Wha'z'at?!' The tree we had prior to this was the little two footer that's now on the porch. There aren't a lot of ornaments on it, but it leaves room for the ones Natalee'll hopefully make herself one day in Primary or kindergarten, and the ones we receive as gifts. We have about two dozen ornaments on the tree, and all but maybe three have been gifts from family and friends celebrating Matt's and my first Christmas together, our engagement, our first Christmas as parents, and several celebrating Natalee's first Christmas, along with gifted Aggie ornaments. It doesn't seem right to just buy a box full of balls without any sentimental value behind them. It's been really nice to see the tree glowing in the living room, feeling like we're starting our own memories as a family. Plus now we actually have a place to tuck our gifts.

Things haven't all been rosy lately with Matt's surgery coming up. It shouldn't be too bad since it's outpatient surgery. But it's a little nerve-wracking since he'll have to stay overnight for observation regardless, in case his airways get blocked. But Jennifer's supposed to be coming to take care of Natalee for us and help around the apartment for a day or two. And Matt's parents are coming for moral support. That's been a big relief to us. We won't have to deal with this by ourselves, with a child to take care of and a scary experience ahead of us. It felt like that when I had Natalee, since there wasn't anybody here to help us and give support till the day after. (That couldn't be helped though, since she came almost four weeks early.) But it'll be nice to have some of our family here. If we just think about our family visiting and Christmas coming up and avoid the surgery stuff, we can pretend that it's an early holiday celebration.

Natalee has been growing so much! Suddenly since she turned two, she's shot up and lost a lot of weight. She used to have chubby little legs that were short below her torso. In the last week or two they've stretched out and thinned out. No more chubby little legs for sure. And her little pot belly is gone. Her ribs are visible most of the time now. I hate that - I loved her little belly, but it's natural. I'll just have to repress my urges to constantly feed her cheese and milkshakes. She likes to sing "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "Once There Was a Snowman." She doesn't know all the words but definitely has the tunes down. And she loves to be picked up and held and hugged and kissed and give kisses and play hide-and-seek. She's a lot of fun right now, unless she's throwing one of her fits. Matt and I've gotten to be old hands at that in some ways. We've learned to just tune her out. Unless she decides to slap you in the face and bite you a few times. Which she did at the ENT's office last week. Good times...

I'm happy that Christmas is almost here, enjoying the excitement of getting all the shopping done and the anticipation of visiting loved ones and receiving gifts. But it's always a bit sad this time of year too. I like having Christmas and New Year's to look forward to. Once they're over, it's kind of bleak and cold and broke for weeks after. But Christmas seems to be extra special this year, experiencing it with my sweet little girl. And I'm definitely enjoying making my Christmas goodies in my big, powerful stand mixer. Eat your heart out, Tim the Toolman Taylor. I got a real machine in my kitchen this year! I can make 13 dozen cookies at a time in this baby. Which is why I'm making cookies. *gloat-gloat-gloat*

Here's one of the recipes I'm using. The ones I've made so far are really good. The texture reminds me of pecan sandies. Just make sure you grease your cookie sheet well enough, or the cookies will explode when you try to pull them off.

Swirled Holiday Snowball Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® SWIRLED™ Holiday Morsels
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
Powdered sugar

Directions: PREHEAT oven to 375° F. BEAT butter, 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla extract and salt in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in morsels and nuts. Shape level tablespoons of dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven. Sift powdered sugar over hot cookies on baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Store in airtight containers.

Estimated Times: Preparation - 15 min Cooking - 10 min Cooling Time - 10 min cooling Yields - 54 cookies (4 1/2 dozen)

I got this recipe off of Nestle's website, http://www.verybestbaking.com/. It's also available on the back of the packages of the swirled holiday morsels. They're really easy to make, it's pretty much just powdered sugar, butter, swirled morsels, and nuts. Just watch them so they don't crisp up - they bake pretty fast. Hope they turn out as well for you as they did for me.

Mormonism

Okay, I usually try to stick to making posts about the fam, what we're doing, what's new with Natalee, talking about seeing the rest of our family. This post really doesn't have anything to do with my immediate family.

I'm getting a little annoyed lately with the hype about the LDS church and Mitt Romney. I don't know Mitt Romney. I don't know what he is like, what he likes, what his particular beliefs are, because yes, beliefs can vary even within one religion, because each person's faith can vary. I've heard some astouding things at church that really aren't part of the Scriptures, but are the personal beliefs of the individual, take 'em or leave 'em. Because that's the beautiful thing about faith - it's unique, it's individual, it's about each person's very special, very personal relationship with God, and nobody's relationship with God is identical.

Time magazine recently put out on an article about a Southern Baptist leader named Land's opinion on Mormonism, especially in relation to Mitt Romney. Time has been making a big deal about Romney and his religion, almost like a witch hunt. Maybe I'm more sensitive because I'm Mormon (though inactive), and of course I'm going to be defensive if every time I see a Time article linked to CNN.com, it's putting Mormons in a bad light. It's starting to feel like some of their writers and editors have a serious problem with Mormons. (My reading of it: They don't want a Mormon as president, no ifs, ands, or buts.) Regardless of all that, I'm talking about this SBC oriented article. Which to give them credit, is better than some of the others they've put out. Land was consulted by Romney to help him figure out how to get his religion out of the political limelight. Land hasn't exactly jumped on the Romney and LDS boat, but he's toeing the line between right now. What he says is this: the LDS church should be considered outside of Christianity, in the way that Judaism and Islam is, within the Abraham-matriculated faiths. So, give the LDS church more respect like you would the Islamic and Jewish faiths, but it's not exactly Christian. They feel that Mormons are a lot like the Muslims, in that Joseph Smith is comparable to Mohammed in Islam.

What bothers Christian-based worshippers about the LDS church? They think we're polytheistic. Wow. Give them their due, they did not say we worship Joseph Smith and the prophets, or believe them to be gods, something I have heard before, many times. (Ha!) But because we believe that each individual person, by living the Gospel and following the teachings of Jesus Christ and our church, can become gods. Thus we're polytheistic. Even though we don't worship any additional gods, we've never said there are other gods out there right now, just because we believe godhood is the ultimate reward for living the Gospel. But hey, it's okay for other Christian religions to believe that they'll die and become angels. Even though it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that so-and-so is an angel or meant to be an angel. Look, buddy, you can say you're going to be an angel when you die, but show me where it says, you, Joe Blow, are to be an angel. I don't see your name anywhere in here. Can you tell me the page? Isn't that the same concept? That I'm supposed to revere somebody who's passed away because they're an angel now? No. I will respect them for the choices they made in their life, they things they have achieved, and yes, I believe they are waiting in Paradise in a place near God. But no, I don't believe they're an angel. Just like I don't believe there are any gods besides God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost out there right now. Judgement Day has not arrived yet. And many things will happen after that day that will change our complete perception of life, the world. Our views will be opened, the Veil lifted, and we will know and understand God's plan. Yes, people may become angels after that day. And others may, through true faith and obedience, may become gods. I believe all things are possible through God. I believe we are all God's children, that Jesus Christ is our example to follow, through life and death. And yes, I am a Christian.

I hate when people tell me Mormons aren't Christian. Because it makes no sense to me. We believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in God the Father, and we believe in the Holy Ghost. We try to follow the tenets set down for us through the prophets, both the old ones of the Old and New Testament, and the ones who lead our church today. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe he is my Savior, and the Redeemer of this world. But some guy off the street, who knows nothing about me, can hear that I'm Mormon and say, "Hey, you're not Christian." As if he has the right to determine that. To me, it's like somebody walking up to me and saying, "Hey, you're not human." How do you respond to that? "Huh, you mean all this time I was a Neanderthal? Duuuude." No. My first thought is to look at them and think, "Gee, you're not very bright, are you?"

I respect Land for trying to give us a separate place with its own due respect, something that might help other 'Christians' understand us. Because Mormons are different. We understand that. We have learned to savor some of those differences. But it's still wrong about us not being Christian.

As for Mitt Romney, yes, he's Mormon. That doesn't mean I'll be rushing out to vote for him next year. I'm undecided right now, but leaning towards some of the Democrats. But at least Mitt Romney wouldn't tell me I'm not Christian.

Butterflies

Natalee and I saw something amazing today, monarch butterflies on their migration south to Mexico (I'm assuming). We didn't see clouds of them or huge masses of them. Just monarchs fluttering here and there, all over the southern end of FM 2920. They fluttered through the Target and Academy parking lots, swooped through busy intersections, stopping to rest on cars and landscaping. Natalee was fascinated by them. Suddenly she was pointing to "bu'erbyes" everywhere. And I kept worrying about the ones I saw struggling through the intersections or dipping down into the road, afraid I might hit one. I hate to see dead butterflies flattened in car and truck grills. It feels like such a waste, to see such fragile beauty smashed against someone's speeding vehicle. But what can you do to prevent it? I hate to hit them, but I have an even more special cargo in my backseat that I might put in danger if I'm swerving on the road to avoid hitting insects. Maybe that's why we consider butterflies so beautiful, since they're such fragile creatures who only live for a few months. I'm glad Natalee and I got to see them together. And got to hear her say "bu'erbye."

Bedtime fun

Matt and I are listening to Natalee crying in the doorway of her room right now. It's kind of sad, but a 'have to' situation. We switched Natalee's crib over to a toddler bed today. She thought it was a lot of fun, climbing in and out of her bed and arranging her animals in it and reading in it. And, in preparation for spending the weekend at my dad's and stepmom's house, we bought an inflatable bed/sleeping bag combo for her, with Dora and Boots on it. It's laid out on the floor of her room, inflated and ready to go, should she decide she would rather sleep there. Matt and I followed the normal bedtime routine - small meal, bath, getting jammies on and hair combed, read her one of her bedtime books in the rocking chair in her room, and then put her into her bed after kisses and hugs. But, less than a minute after we laid her down and came into our room, a Thump! out of her bed and the door was pushed open by a very smug little girl. We put her back to bed with hugs and kisses twice. And still she smugly pushed open our door. So, we put up the baby gate in her doorway, tucked her in bed, and pulled her door to. I've been listening to her crying in the doorway since.

I know she's tired. She and I woke up after Matt left for work at 5:10 this morning. She decided for both of us that we didn't need to go back to sleep. We had a busy morning with a trip to the bank and Walmart. And then we both took a good nap. But I know she's still tired. She's been fussy and edgy and biting things all evening. So we gave her Tylenol prior to putting her to bed, in case she's teething. Still, I can hear her crying and mumbling to herself in the doorway. I'm dreading finding her asleep on the floor with tears and snot dried on her face and trying to shift her to her bed without waking her up and starting over.

We had to start this transition soon. She's nearly two. We really need to start potty training her soon. She's a tall girl. And she's grown out of the travel crib/playard she usually sleeps in on trips. So, it's either start this here, with all the familiar routines and almost the same bed, or Friday night after a very long trip in a place she's never stayed the night at before. Urgh. My poor little booger baby.

Edit: I'm impressed. She fussed for a while, but she put herself back in bed to sleep. So I didn't smack a sleeping baby when I opened the door to check on her. Hurray!

Busy bees get the what? Not worm, I hope.

Busy, busy, busy lately. Matt's and my anniversary was last week. My birthday is this week. We had some friends over Friday night for homemade fried chicken, homemade fries, homemade rolls, salad, corn on the cob, cherry pie, and ice cream. I've been doing some editing/proofreading for Brent and a friend of his on their personal statements to get into a residency program in NYC. The Aggie football season has started. And Jennifer's, my grandfather's, and Eric's birthdays were all in the past two weeks. So, with cleaning up the apartment for company, learning how to make homemade rolls and chicken, screaming at the TV during football games, and straining my brain trying to not rewrite but fix up doctor-to-be statements, I think I and Matt are ready for a break. But it's all good. It's fall. If only the cooler weather would hurry up and get here. And I got a Professional 600 series KitchenAid stand mixer for my birthday-versary. Very, very awesome when you're learning to make yeast dough and you stink at kneading, and when you're known for giving out vast quantities of pumpkin nut and banana nut bread around the holidays. I'm so in love with the thing that I'm ready to paint it Alton-Brown style. But instead of flames, I'd paint WHOOP! on it.

So we're all doing good, just things are hectic right now. Or maybe I just like to think we're all doing good, because my birthday is in a few days and I have an awesome, magical appliance sitting on my kitchen counter. And it's fall.