From the First Moment

From the very first moment...

...you have been an indescribable joy. 

Now becoming a young lady, right before my eyes! 

You are lovely, Brenna...in every way.  I cannot believe it's been 13 years since that day I first held you.  A teenager!!!  Thanks for all the joy, thanks for all the love, and thanks for being the kind of daughter that makes being a mom the most beautiful thing this side of heaven.

Much more tomorrow on the topic of you, sweet girl.  But for now, Happy Birthday to my precious baby girl teenager!  I love you forever, and I like you so much!

Mental Barriers

I am determined to break through some great big mental barriers.  I have these brick walls sitting in front of me and I just know they will come tumbling down with the slightest push of my weakest finger.  Which, by the way, I've heard is your ring finger, lest you get any funny ideas.

My mental barriers are silly, silly, silly, and shallow.  I do not know what to get my son for Christmas.  I have no idea.  I'm stuck, really stuck.  I think this is the first time I have been truly stuck.  Today I gazed longingly at the Toys R Us ads and remembered the simple days of picking out just the right Lego set, or the perfect Thomas the Tank Engine accessory.  No more.  But let me tell you, I am tempted to get him Legos and a train just to make me feel better.  And maybe while I'm at it I'll pick him up a pair of fuzzy feety pajamas to go with that. 

And I have some other silly gift-giving related mental blocks sitting in my head.  That drives me crazy, because my thoughts will wander to that subject so many times a day.  I'll go to sleep tonight trying to figure it all out, I'm sure. 

But I know I can do it.  Today I gave myself PROOF that I can break through mental barriers.  And it came in the form of a long (for me), crisp run with Brad.  We were without kids overnight, and used our time to get together everything for Brenna's birthday, which I am so very excited about.  I can't wait to blog about that, but I don't dare put anything about it in print until the surprise is over.  Anyway, once we got everything for that done today, Brad and I headed out on a run.  I really didn't want to run today.  I wanted to have done it, but I didn't want to do it.  But I did it anyway, and was feeling so good.  It was such a gorgeous day, crisp and cool and some sun...just a perfect day to be outside.  So we ran and ran, mostly enjoying it.  And this evening I went and drove the route we ran.  And guess what?  We went 5.6 miles!  Yes, FIVE POINT SIX MILES!  I broke through my five mile barrier for the first time ever.  I get so tired of real runners - and I am surrounded by them - telling me that going further is all mental.  Huh-uh.  Sometimes it really is physical.  But when I'm wrong, I'm wrong.  And I have been so wrong.  It really IS mental!  I am so excited that I did that. 

I'm going to cling to this lesson as I begin to break down my list-making and figure out how to tackle my other barriers. 

And I have on my counter, a batch of gingerbread biscotti that is at the half-way baking point.  I am experimenting with this, combining a couple recipes to make it into something I may or may not enjoy.  But, whether or not I enjoy the taste, I am immensely enjoying the smell in my home.  I am in love with the smell of gingerbread biscotti.  Mmmm.

In Case You Need to Add Some Christmas Tunes to Your Playlist

When I came home from a fast and furious trip to Costco today, I found my own little Partridge Family makin' some Christmas music.  It was a sweet and funny sight...and a sweet and funny sound!

So, in case you'd like to add this sweet sound to your playlist, I would like to first introduce you to my cast of characters:

Alex on bassoon, Brenna on flute, and Beth (with a little help from her friend, Shivers) on percussion.

Now, please adjust the volume on your computer for your listening pleasure:

I guess all we're missing is me on the keyboard and Brad, in a blue polyester leisure suit, pulling up to the house in a colorful bus.

In any case, hope that gave you as much of a laugh as it did us! 

Monday Menu ~ A Recipe For Insanity

Here's a Monday Menu for ya...wanna go a little bit crazy?  Or a little bit craziER? 

Try giving your blog a little Christmas facelift.  Try running a search for "lingual tonsils".  Both are sure to bring you frustration.  Then cause chaos.  Then make you feel just a little bit crazy.  One just wasn't working for me.  The background that I loved last year is no longer available.  And blogger has added some crazy "features" that are suppose to be cool but instead just make me longing for the simpler times.  The other led me to a website that tried to download a virus.  Fortunately I'm good at freaking out and drawing attention to myself, and I have a live-in IT supervisor, who had just emerged from the attic and was able to come to my rescue.  Crisis averted, and the IT supervisor offered to help me figure out my blog chaos.  As I sat back down at the desk, I whacked my knee cap right into the edge of the doggone desk.  I think the desk is even rising up against me.  The IT supervisor is also great at giving out a bit of sympathy, a kiss on the forehead, and an encouraging word in the form of "I think it looks fine."  So it's official.  I guess it is fine.  My knee and my lingual tonsil and my blog.

And what about this blog?  It's not nearly as festive and joyful and bright and Christmas-y as I would like my blog to look during this season.  But I'll live with it for a few days and see if it grows on me.  Any thoughts?  I'd love to hear them.

And!  (This is the point in the post where you can tell I'm entirely too tired to try to write anything worth reading.  Bear with me.)  Where was I?  Oh, yes...And!!  I was thinking back to last year, when I did the "Twelve Days of Baking" leading up to Christmas.  I don't know if anyone else liked it, but I loved putting those recipes in one place.  It was fun for me.  At some point yesterday when I was decorating my tree, I came up with a really fun idea for this year.  "Twelve Days of...."  I'm not going to tell you yet.  Mostly because I need to make sure I have twelve of these.  I know I have at least six good ones.  But I'm going to work on it and hopefully start soon.  It just might add to my crazy, but it could be fun.

AND!!!!  One week from today my sweet baby girl will enter her teen years.  I.  Could.  Weep.  To think of her as a teenager just baffles my mind and makes me realize that she IS growing up and she won't live with me forever.  Sigh.  Now I'm feeling the crazy take root.  I think I'll go find some chocolate...

A Thanksgiving of Firsts

As I reflected on this Thanksgiving, I realized it was one filled with firsts.  A couple not-so-great firsts, but I'm going to look past those and sum up the great firsts we celebrated.

Time:

This was the first year that we celebrated Thanksgiving with a 6-day weekend, compliments of snow and ice that kept the schools closed two extra days.  The kids spent hours sledding and then coming back in to warm up, then sledding some more, then coming back in to warm up...a cycle that produced both enormous amounts of fun and enormous amounts of laundry!  Ridiculously enough, I did not get one picture of the snow this go-around! 

Taste:

This is the first year that I made Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Bread pudding...and it certainly won't be the last.  It was so delicious...all the flavors just blend so masterfully.  You know I could go on and on about this one.  I love you, Bobby Flay.

Food Preparation:

This is the first time, in making the above mentioned, over-the-top fabulous dessert, that I cooked something using a whole vanilla bean.  I've watched it lots of times, but never have I tried it until recently.  Really, when someone has done all that work for you and somehow turned all that into that easy-to-use bottle containing the vanilla extract, why would one go to all the trouble of slicing and scraping and simmering???  BECAUSE IT ABSOLUTELY MAKES THE MOST DIVINE VANILLA TASTE I HAVE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF EATING!!!  Oh, the sweetness!  You know the difference between real, homemade vanilla ice cream and the giant party-sized tub of "vanilla flavored" ice cream?  Same difference.  Huge.  I loved it.  Again, I love you, Bobby Flay.



Entertainment:

Thanks to the genius planning of Emily, this was the first time that I tried to make an Oreo cookie go from my forehead to my mouth using nothing but facial expressions.  I said I tried.  It wasn't successful, but it was fun.  She also organized a host of other "Minute To Win It" games for us.  I'm proud to report the following:

*3 out of 5 Carlsons were able to stack 3 golf balls on top of each other in less than one minute.

*my husband, with his swimmer lungs, is a champ at blowing up a balloon and using the air from the balloon to knock plastic cups off a counter in less than one minute.

*I learned that, when trying to get pasta tubes onto a thin spaghetti noodles, it would have been better to get on my knees rather than squat.  A one-minute squat was good for the quads, but bad strategy for the game.

*Brenna has an amazing ability to swing her hips, even though she has no hips, in an effort to bounce ping-pong balls out of an empty tissue box tied around her waist.  Not as amazing as Emily, but she gave it a great try!

Once again, I'm a proud mommy.

Frightening Faces:

Every year, every. sweet. year., we go through the agony joy of trying to get a satisfactory family picture.  I've lowered my expectation of "nice" family picture, or even an "ah, that's great" family picture, to just satisfactory.  Really, who likes pictures of themselves?  I mean, once you are over the age of 18-ish, who really likes to look at pictures of yourself?  So that's one problem with a good picture.  The other, that I thought would lessen as the kids grew but hasn't, is trying to get FIVE people looking good in one shot.  But we try.  We are persistent.

Usually we bait the kids this way:  let's just get a couple good pictures to choose from - please! - and then you can do one silly picture.  I say we are baiting the kidS, but really it is baiting one kid.  I won't reveal which one, but let's just say the oldest is a sport, and middle loves to have her picture taken. 

So at our traditional trip to The Christmas Forest after our big feast, we tried to get a good picture.  This is the best we got:

I'm getting shorter every year.

And then, here is the frightening result of "silly" faces:

Apparently, Brad thinks kissing is silly.  Alex thinks putting Brenna in a choke-hold is silly.  Brenna totally nailed "silly".  And Beth?  That is simply disturbing.  We showed her the picture and then sent her to the bathroom to find a new silly face.

And, lastly:

Mushy Movies:
This year Brenna has discovered the joy of cheesy, mushy, Hallmark Christmas movies!  She watched one with me last night, and we both got all teary-eyed!  I've apparently passed down my love of all things cheesy and emotional.  And that makes me very happy.

Thanksgiving Eve ~ Lil' Pie, Anyone?

I'm taking a new approach to Thanksgiving desserts this year.  In addition to the Pumpkin Bread Pudding that I literally start salivating for just imagining it, I am making some little mini pies.  It's always so hard to choose what kind of pie I want.  And you try to get just a small piece of each, but cutting those pecan pies into small pieces is nearly impossible.  And then there's all the cutting and serving which, let's face it, just delays the moment I get to eat my pie.

So here's what I'm making this year:  mini chocolate/pecan pies and mini pumpkin/pecan pies.  I'm also going to make some mini sweet potato pies if I get myself to the store today.  I'm thinking those will freeze beautifully and make a yummy quick snack when the craving hits.

Here's the lil' pie recipes I'm using this year:


Pumpkin Pecan Mini Pies

Dough:
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup flour
6 TBSP cold butter
2-3 TBSP ice water

Filling:
1 egg plus one egg yolk
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
24 pecan halves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray.

For the dough, place pecans and sugar in a food chopper and grind until well-combined and nuts are very fine.  Place in bowl with flour and salt, whisk together.  Add butter and cut in until all crumbs are smaller than pea-size.  Drizzle in ice water, 1 TBSP at a time, and continue cutting just until dough barely starts to hold together.  Now get in there with your hands and form into a ball.  (You can also do all this with a food processor if you'd rather.) 

Divide dough evenly into 24 pieces.  Roll each piece gently into a ball and place in mini-muffin pan.  Press evenly into cups.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the crusts are golden.

Meanwhile, make filling:  whisk together egg, egg yolk, corn syrup, pumpkin, spices and vanilla.  Stir in chopped pecans.

Remove dough from oven and spoon 1 TBSP into each cup.  Top each with 1 pecan half.  Return pans to oven and bake an additional 13-15 minutes, until the filling is set.

Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Chocolate Pecan Mini Pies

Pie crust for 9-inch pie (refrigerated if you must, or make it yourself.  Use the above recipe or my favorite crust recipe below).
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 TBSP flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup mini-chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray. 

Divide dough evenly into 24 pieces.  Roll each piece gently into a ball and press evenly into muffin pan.

For filling, combine brown sugar, butter, eggs, flour and vanilla.  Whisk together until well-combined.  Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.

Spoon evenly into the 24 muffin cups.  Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is set and crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.  (Or until cool enough to pop into your mouth for a taste-test.  Just don't burn your tongue ~ that has the potential to really put a damper on the Thanksgiving feast!)

My Favorite Pie Crust:

(will make 3 9-inch pie shells)

3 sticks butter
3 cups flour
1 egg
1 TBSP ice water
1 tsp white vinegar

Combine butter and flour with pastry blender.  Whisk together egg, water and vinegar.  Add to flour/butter mixture and blend together with pastry blender, until just starting to hold together.  Roll into crusts.  (For one recipe of the min-pies, I used 1 stick butter, 1 cup flour, and then eye-balled about a third of the egg/water mix.)

I Am Thankful For Cookie Monster

Okay, when I saw this, I just had to post it.  Brenda recently gave her ode to Grover, and I quipped that I must somehow honor Cookie Monster.  I think that needs no explanation.

So when I saw that my dear Cookie Monster has begun a campaign to host Saturday Night Live, I had to show him a little love by sharing this.  I do love that guy.  I love that he has given himself the title of "Cookie Enthusiast" over "glutton".  I can relate, CM.  And the little section on Fake News made me laugh outloud.  That in itself is a little glimpse into the simpleness of my mind.

And watching him eat his cookie at the end brought back so many fond memories.  One thing I remember, from a young age, is thinking that he wasted a lot of his cookie by eating it so frantically and sending it flying around.  From the looks of this clip, he continues to waste a lot of perfectly good cookie.

I hope you are safe and snug in your home with some fuzzies on.  It's bitterly cold out there, some might say it's frightful.  Grab yourself some cookies and milk (delightful) and enjoy 4 minutes of cookie love...