A Mother's version of computer terminology.

Another old favorite I stumbled upon today:

Re-Boot = Second cup of coffee

De-Fragment = Frantically and systematically finishing off the 6 projects that you started and abandoned earlier in the day. 

Monitor = Quietly supervising from the kitchen while they play in the living room.

Tower = Laundry pile

Memory = "I think I saw your teddy bear under the end table sweet heart. And your left shoe is behind the laundry hamper."

Hard drive = 72 in a 65 to make it home from the store before the pop-cicles, and the 2 year old, both melt.

Control Panel = Kitchen counter

Trash can = Trash can (and, magically, always full...)

Mega-byte = "Spit that out before you choke!"

Screen saver = Sliding glass door

Processor = Where you quickly dump your veggies when they aren't looking.

Software = Slippers

Start Menu = What you planned to make for dinner before you realized that someone ate all of the cheese

Does God ever poke Himself in the eye?

There are those moments, as a mother, that just can't be matched.  Some come in the form of humility, in other's we're bursting with pride.  Often we may find ourselves moved to tears.  We revel at these tiny people entrusted to us.  In some we may find ourselves terribly embarrassed (don't worry, we'll get our chance to return the favor later).  Then there are moments when, even though we are a good deal older, wiser and more proficient in almost every area of life than our children are, we find ourselves perfectly stumped.  We are absolutely dumbfounded, and at a complete loss for words.  This section of my blog is a little different than the rest.  You won't find recipes or crafty stuff here, just a little peek into my very BLESSED life as a mom.  A sample of what I see every day, of all that I have to be thankful for, and of the inspiration for the rest of this blog.  I created it today, to share some stories (both old and new) with you.  May I never take a moment for granted.

This is an old favorite.  My oldest daughter (now 6) was 3 at the time.  It is so priceless that I recorded it right away, so that I wouldn't forget it.  I copied the story below:

On the way home from church the other night, with the girls in the car, Lily's foot was hurting (I think it was a blister of some sort from her shoes) and the following conversation took place:
Lily: "Maybe God just made the skin on my foot like that."
Me: "Like what sweetie?"
Lily: "Like hurting the way it is."
Me: "Well, God doesn't like to make us hurt sweetie, he likes us to be happy and not to have boo-boo's. He wouldn't make your foot hurt I don't think. I'll bet that it'll start to feel better soon."
Lily: "But maybe he accidentally made it that way."
Me: "God doesn't make accidents sweet heart, He doesn't make mistakes. He's perfect. We all make mistakes, but God doesn't."
Lily: "Everyone makes mistakes?"
Me: "Yup, everyone."
At this point Lily proceeds to name several people whom she really wished to know if they, specifically, made any mistakes. Apparently these people were perfect in her little eyes and she needed reassurance that they were human. The list included her friend Brooke from church, Brooke's mother, and Lily's own Grandma - my mother (I feel slightly hurt that it did not include me ;-) Satisfied with my answers she grew quiet for some time and then piped up again:
Lily: "Mom....does God ever poke Himself in the eye?"
Oh to know what is going on in that precious little head. :-)

My little dog lover

We don't have a dog.  But we do have a Lauren.  She's 2 years old and LOVES puppies and dogs. "Wren" spends much of her life crawling around on the floor, panting and barking (something I usually discourage at the grocery store, but have gotten used to in the house).  Her sisters have taken full advantage of this, and they've taught her to sit, shake and fetch.  We don't have a cat either, but I think she's already onto them (at least she has made her opinion of them rather clear).  She likes them, but they rate FAR below dogs on the coolness meter.  Her dog-loving heart was revealed afresh today when she brought me a bean-bag toy kitten laying on it's back in her arms, and we had the following conversation:

Wren: "Mommy, da kitty is SICK!"

Me: "Oh NO!  What is wrong with her?!?!?"

Wren: "She sick and keepth thayin' MEOW MEOW!"

Me: "Oh!  Is that a problem?"

Wren: "YEAH!"  (bangs on kitty's tummy a few times and listens for breathing - I swear that's not how I treat ailments in this house)

Wren: "WOOF WOOF!   Dare, LOOK, she's all better now!  WOOF WOOF!" (turns kitty right-side-up and saunters off )

So there you have it folks.  Kitties are just sickly dog-wanna-be-s hoping for a miraculous cure.

Cinnamon Rolls

I found this recipe online and have made it twice, and they are positively mouthwatering.  This is a no-yeast recipe (Apparently there is a heated debate as to whether yeast should be required to make a good cinnamon roll? I found all sorts of commentary on this.) and is relatively easy to make, despite the long list of ingredients.  I'm sure they are terribly unhealthy, but TRUST ME, they're worth the occasional indulgence.  

Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (divided) 

Filling:

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon milk

Start off by preheating your oven to 425 and greasing a 9" round cake pan or pie plate, or a square baking dish.  Combine the filling ingredients until crumbly and moist-through, and set them aside.  

To make the dough, in two separate bowls whisk together the dry ingredients and the milk with 2Tbsp of the melted butter.  

Mix them together just until it's wet through, and then dump them onto a well floured surface and knead them about a minute. 

 Using your hands and a rolling pin, form a rectangle about 12" long and 9" wide.  Brush another 2Tbsp melted butter on top and then pour the filling onto the dough, spreading it evenly up to about 1/2" from the edges, and press it in with a spoon or the back of your measuring cup. 

Roll the dough into a log.  It is soft, and this will be a bit messy.  Even if they don't look great they sure taste crazy-good and the frosting will cover the lumps.  Cut the log into 8-9 (8 for round pans, 9 for square) sections, and lay them in the pan.  Brush on the remaining 2Tbsp of melted butter and bake them for about 20-25 minutes.  The recipe calls for dumping them onto a greased cooling rack and cooling them for 10 minutes before frosting them.  I frosted them right in the pan after allowing them 10 minutes to cool.  It kept the gold, I mean frosting, from wasting and they kept well covered with cling-wrap in the fridge.  My husband claims that they're even better when they're chilled.  It's a close call.  Either way, they're delicious, and I plan to keep this recipe ready for holidays and special occasions (when I don't mind gaining 4 pounds at breakfast).  

Notes: This amount of frosting actually covered BOTH of the batches that I made!  After liberally frosting the first batch (I admit, I like frosting and I drowned the rolls in it) I froze the other 1/2 and used it when I made the second batch 2 months later! It was still fantastic and covered them completely.  These pictures were of my second batch.  

I also found that you can put this all together at night and store them, covered, in the fridge until morning and then bake them and frost them.  I did this for Christmas morning and they baked while we opened gifts.