Life Matters………Generational Twister!
Life happens quickly. Looking through my lense I have a panoramic view of four generations. Interesting, if you step back and remove yourself from the daily grind of it all. Sad often in the midst; especially watching my Mom. She is and has been a tremendous woman. She has dealt with more challenges than most. Her smile and sparkling blue eyes are still radiant. Her body and mind are failing her. As we rode in an ambulance (the ambulance had a broken air conditioner this was August 7th in Texas, probably about 102 degrees in the back of that rough ride.) to the nursing facility so many memories rushed through my heart.
Mom singing hymns in her beautiful soprano voice while doing the dishes.
Her off the wall sense of humor.
Her full blown family style dinners after a full day of teaching fifth grade.
Her deep faith and genuine spirit.
Her stamina.
Her warm coconut poundcakes.
Visiting a nursing home comes with so many feelings. Each resident is a story, a novel, as they sit in their wheelchairs waiting out their days. Visiting a nursing home with a six year old and a sixteen year old shows a glimpse of one generation passing the torch to another. Me, in the middle watching it all. A story yet to be lived in the grandchildren, a life well-lived in the grandmother. Bittersweet. My Mom is closer to the time when she will meet Jesus she has been looking forward to this for years. The song in her heart was sung every night while she cleaned the dinner dishes. Blessed Assurance.
Tiny Tarts–Valentine’s Day Special
I love these tarts–mix and match your
favorite fillings for fast and fancy
Valentine’s Day treats.
Buy ready-to-fill pastry shells. (See Note.) Fill with your choice of fillings (or all three):
•Lemon curd with a raspberry on top
•Cajeta (Mexican caramel sauce) topped with shaved chocolate
•Nutella with almond slices on top
Note: We used Clearbrook Farms tart shells from Central Market, but there are several brands available. You can also use small graham cracker shells.
Photo by Evans Caglage Story excerpt from Dallas Morning News Guide Daily
Cake Balls on a Roll
Cake balls a fire! For sure. One of the hottest trends in desserts has rolled back into town. That’s right; today in the Guide Daily section of the Dallas Morning News you have this fast and fancy confection bouncing right into your kitchen for the second time. Why?? Last month this story, by Valerie Jarvey got over 18,000 hits in one month. They are everywhere.
I have the fortunate assignment of food stylist; that means, they pay me to play with food. I have made hundreds of these balls. So I am passing this on to you. As Valentine’s Day approaches you can design your own dessert. Get the kids involved and before you know it you will have more fun rolling, dipping and topping a treat than you thought possible. Look out Godiva truffles you got a new elegant candy scoring points with all age groups. Yum!
Basic Cake Ball Recipe
| 1 | (18.25-ounce) boxed cake mix plus ingredients called for on box |
| 1 | (16-ounce) can prepared frosting |
| Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating (both recipes follow) |
Strawberry cake balls with chocolate coating
Bake the cake according to package instructions. While warm, crumble the cake into a bowl with a hand mixer to a fine texture. Mix in frosting to make a paste, using 3/4 to a full can of frosting, according to taste. Chill the mixture for at least 2 hours.
Using a melon baller or your hands, form the mixture into 1 ½ -inch balls. Place the balls on wax paper; freeze at least 6 hours.
Working in small batches, remove the balls from the freezer and dip the balls into warm, melted Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating, using toothpicks or forks to manipulate the balls. Remove the balls. Place the balls on wax paper to harden.
Makes about 30 cake balls.
We asked two bakers, Robin Ankeny, owner of the Cake Ball Company, and Jeri Kopecky, owner of the Cake Carousel bakery and cake supply store, for tips. Here’s their advice:
1. Chill the cake-and-frosting mixture well (at least 2 hours) before you shape the balls. Freeze the balls at least 6 hours before dipping. Before dipping, make sure the cake balls aren’t frozen solid because after being dipped, the coating has a tendency to crack when drying. Pre-dipped cake balls can be kept frozen for weeks.
2. To form the balls, use a melon scoop for uniform size. Small balls are easier to eat.
3. Work in small batches when dipping, keeping the rest in the freezer.
4. Use toothpicks, a fork or a skewer to manipulate the balls when dipping. Perfectionists may want to buy a candy-dipping fork because it ensures even coating of each cake ball to make it look like a truffle.
5. Use oil-based candy dye to color frosting. Start with a few drops, and add a little at a time.
6. Lay the dipped balls on wax paper to harden, placing the spot where you pierced the ball down to cover the hole, or cover the hole with decoration.
7. For decoration, fill a narrow-tip plastic squeeze bottle with a contrasting color of melted coating and paint stripes over the balls, or sprinkle on rainbow jimmies, colored sparkling sugar or finely chopped nuts. (If you are using oil-based candy color to tint coating made from white- chocolate disks, decorate with sprinkles quickly as the oil candy color causes the coating to set rapidly.
8. Dipped balls will keep at room temperature for days; if you refrigerate them, the coating will sweat.
Do-over Year!
Have you ever had a year worthy of skipping? That sort a sums up 2009 for me. I was stuck on the whine channel; chronic pain, ongoing doctor visits, hoards of pain pills, major surgery, husband’s salary cut, free lance work missed, a toddler and a teen. A mid-life Mom in a menopausal mess. I could go on but who wants to hear it? Plus, I am tired of being stuck. Thus 2010, deemed a do-over year.
The week after Christmas every year is one of my favorite weeks. I reflect on the roses and thorns we experienced in the previous year and purpose yet again to make the next one better. Each new year feels like a blank canvas. A canvas anxious for color, style and life. After last year, I am more than ready to break out the black-eyed pea recipe and eat a bowl full as I write down the hopes and dreams of time yet lived.
My do-over is going to have to happen from the inside out as negative attitudes and “whoa is me” moments have been like a slow leak in a road weary tire. The sad part; I know better! Hung up in “used to be” syndrome has made it hard to even want to be with myself let alone trying to share life with someone else. Enough! It is time to put on my big girl pants and get back into the journey.
Please join me as do-overs need companions. I plan to facebook, tweet and shout from the mountain tops as the do-over unfolds. Prayers to pray, goals to set, a life to rebuild from the inside out. Need a do-over? Let’s encourage each other.
Stinky Patch
Life can really stink sometimes. Not always but recently more often than not it feels like an uphill climb. I keep telling myself when the top of this hill is reached the view will be spectacular. I’m trying that positive attitude route in hopes it will rub off on me. It feels as though my mission is to remove “joy” not only from my life but from the life of all those around me. Have you ever been there?
Well meaning folks will offer Sunday School answers:
“God will not give you more than you can handle.”
“This is just a season.”
“Stop looking at your circumstances and live above them.”
Not a thing wrong with these verbal gestures, what else can one say to another under the influence of a stinky patch. My 80 year old Mother has certainly had her share of situations. She still sports a peaceful smile and a gentle spirit. One of her sterling pieces of advice; “Whenever things get really bad reach out and do something for someone else. You can always find another living a more challenging slice of life. You can always help someone.” My saint mother is awaiting a hip replacement do-over, has Parkinson’s disease, 8 stints in her heart, and a fierce financial burden. I could add more “issues” causing stink in her world but she still chooses a gentle spirit, a fresh aroma.
Should you find yourself in a similar spot please join me as I pro-actively attempt to improve the fragrance of today. Consider it a fresh spray of hope.
Baby book of Blessings–I carry with me a little notebook, normally used for to-do lists, reminders, and Luke doodles. Today, I list blessings. Like–A roof over our heads, generous and helpful friends and family, a stocked refrigerator, A God bigger than ALL difficulties. Get your book out; list, list and list again. Read it often.
Box of Burdens–Get a cute box (or a shoe box), gather some paper scraps, and a pen. Write your biggest problem on the paper scrap, one problem per scrap. Pray about the problem, fold the paper and place it in the box. Use this as a visual reminder for giving your trouble to God. Once it is in the box let it go. Repeat until you REALLY let it go. (caution, this could take hours.)
Phone a Friend–This is no time for isolation. Isolation make issues grow and grow and grow, suddenly, in your mind, they are bigger than a hot air balloon. A friend can help you deflate and exhale by simply listening. (caution, do not stay on the whine channel forever.)
Got Stink? Take deliberate steps to improve your state. Let’s purpose to learn our life lessons quickly so we smell better to everyone we influence.
White Flag Faith
White Flag Faith
The waving of a white flag is the universal sign for surrender. After over two years of chronic pain, four steroid cocktails shot into my vertebrae and three rounds of physical therapy, my little white flag is waving like a handkerchief in a hurricane. It has been a “war vs. will” fight for me. Most of the time I could will myself mentally (and with pain pills) through the toughest spots then, one day, it was simply too much. Super short temper, change in personality and a longing for bedtime as soon as I awoke in the morning, signaled that my life had stopped being livable.
We found a surgeon through the recommendation of a friend who became our second opinion guy. He had a beautiful bedside manner, a keen knowledge of the spine and a peaceful way of explaining his craft. So I signed up for neck surgery.
Now, we countdown to the big day. On Oct. 19, the doctor will make a small incision in the front of my neck, move my voice box over and tunnel down to the discs, removing one that is dead and fuse another. I opted not to read all the paperwork on the downside possibilities. I think lots about my family; this situation seems to have evoked a keen focus on what is truly important, an interesting change from my normal hummingbird head self. I understand this is not cancer, no one has given me three months to live, but fear still frosts my thoughts when allowed.
When one signs medical directives, living wills, and hands daily task lists to friends and family it feels like an out of body experience. This is where faith arrives. It is a bit like boarding an airplane. You are in the middle seat of a crowded jet, and the taxi down the runway begins. Do you run to the cockpit and see if the pilot has his license? No, you follow the flight attendants instructions, get out your reading materials and trust. Faith and trust is my current flight pattern, love is what I am feeling from so many offering to help. Please ride with me as I blog my way through the process of, eventually, living pain free.
On the bright side my Halloween costume is decided, I will be sporting a decorated neck collar wearing chic lounge wear.
Grinning with God
Four years ago our life changed.
Shivering in a bland and blah curtained off out-patient cubicle came the shock of my adult life. Awaiting a “procedure” sure to close the option of any other biological children. The doctor entered as they were about to roll me into the operating room and said; “I’ve got good news and bad, the bad news, we need to cancel your procedure, the good news; you are pregnant.” Yes, me, at 44 3/4 years old; a baby. We had given up hope of another child but God was on His throne; grinning.
We still look at Luke amazed. Amazed at God’s sense of humor, amazed we are the parents, amazed at a new creation. Grateful for a new direction, often curious if we have what it takes to be the parents he needs. Tired. Never looking at the math equations showing us in our seventies at college graduation. Grinning at what God will do with our little man. Enjoying the blessing. Blowing bubbles in the wind, swinging high into the sky, dancing in the water hose.
Today, we celebrate Luke. A breath of fresh air in the middle of life.
Playing “dress-up” with your Table
Styling table tops is just plain fun. Digging through your belongings often leads to diamonds in the rough. Using treasures found in storage, under beds, boxed in the garage or borrowed can set the stage for a unique and inviting table. It is sort of like playing “dress-up” with your dining table.
Here are some ideas to stoke your creative process as you prepare a fast and fancy table top.
1. Using chargers as a frame for your china helps coordinate the room before everyone sits down to dinner. Try grapevine wreaths, large colorful plates from the dollar store, tiles from Lowes or Home DePot, leaves (washed first, of course).
2. Vary your table coverings. Old sheets, quilts, and duvet covers can double as tablecloths.
3. Long, elaborate scarves or shawls make beautiful table runners.
4. Colorful napkins make perfect placemats. Place a corner of the napkin toward the center of the table and allow the opposite napkin corner to fall down the side of the table toward the chair.
5. Antique crystal salt and pepper shakers, with thier tops removed make perfect bud vases. Tie a small bow around the neck of the shaker and place one at each table setting.
6. Freshness adds style. Fill a large glass bowl with limes, lemons, oranges, or shiny red apples. Tuck taper candles amongst the fruit for use as a centerpiece.
7. For a Christmas centerpiece, fill a clear glass bowl with brightly colored Christmas balls. Tie tiny red bows to tall grapevine branches and insert the branches into the cylinder.
8. For harvest time, fill a clear glass bowl with small fresh pumpkins, tiny green-striped gourds, and autumn leaves. Surround the bowl with English ivy.
9. Cover your table with an inexpensive white tablecloth. Using brightly colored fabric markers, write your guest’s name at the top of each place setting.
10. If the theme of your evening is tropical, cover your tabletop with palm leaves or large banana leave. Build a tropical fruit topiary in the center of the table for an edible centerpiece.
Penny Princess creates Awesome Entrances
Every time the seasons change I get a bug. The decorating bug. The symptoms include; an overwhelming urge to rearrange furniture, paint a wall, buy a plant. Sometimes if it is really bad, I want to clean out stuff and organize. Can you relate? Suffice it to say, this season, it has been really bad. The garage, a large upstairs closet and the back porch have already been tackled and now boast a shine worthy of a fresh season.
This season has been a bit different, a penny princess approach, the self prescribed medicine included re-decorating with items we already had, or items purchased at la-ti-da estate sales. Today, I want to share ideas, should you be suffering from the same decor do-over disease.
1. Place pots on either side of your front door and fill them with an assortment of flowers; green and white caladiums, red geraniums and asparagus ferns make a great trio.
2. Purchase a sturdy grapevine wreath for the front door. Recycle the wreath with just a change of silk flowers. Try matching the flowers on the wreath with the flowers in the pots beside the front door.
3. If your front door has a window, drape the window with a beautiful piece of lace or a colorful scarf.
4. If your budget allows, purchase a gorgeous front door. Spotlight that door at night. (Try a surplus and salvage store OR an antique shop dealing in architectural pieces.)
5. Place graduated clay pots filled with brightly colored and fragrant flowers, on the steps leading to your front door.
6. An English ivy topiary, placed on either side of your front door adds definite grace. These should keep through each season.
7. If your front entry is small, place on pot of flowers next to the door. This softens the entry without taking up to much room. Fill part of the pot with rosemary making the entrance fragrant.
8. Use an easel and chalkboard as a welcome sign. It can double as a message board, menu board, and even a spot to place a holiday greeting.
Jane Jarrell 