The Biscuits

I got up this morning and made biscuits. It was an absolute culinary disaster. Epic fail.

My 10 year old son Avery gave me his breakfast order last night before he went to bed. "Pancakes and biscuits." After I explained to him the "either or" in my question, he decided on the biscuits. (By the way, this child loves breakfast so much he is typically telling me what he wants for breakfast before we even finish dinner.)

So back to this morning. I made the dough, rolled it out, cut out the biscuits, popped them in the oven and 10 minutes later as the smoke alarm was going off and I was shoving brown flat discs of "biscuits" into the trash can and mixing up the pancake batter.

Sometimes things just don't go as planned. My intentions were good, I got up a little earlier than normal, I thought I followed the directions accurately, I thought I used the proper ingredients, but alas, no. Culinary disaster. Big flat flop. Mom of the year award down the drain...I digress.

I learn a lot of life lessons in my kitchen. Cooking, just like other things in life, can go downhill quickly when even one small thing isn't quite right. After my son was happily eating his nice fluffy pancakes made from the mix, I reviewed my culinary disaster and found a few things to share with you.

 "If something's too hot, it will probably burn."

Maybe it was through my blurry, sleepy, no- coffee- yet eyes that I saw 450 degrees for the oven temperature instead of 350 degrees. Either way, 100 degrees hotter than your oven should be will burn your biscuits. Not trusting your intuition, you momma's gut instincts-will burn you too. I have felt that feeling before of "something just isn't quite right" "something feels too hot" "something is off here" and I didn't always stop and wait to make a decision or change my mind. I have been burned in that instance also . I am still learning how to trust myself. How to take my true temperature.

"The little things are important too."

I don't use baking powder that often and when my culinary disaster happened, I went back through my ingredients and found that I somehow had 2 cans of it on my lazysusan. One can good through Nov 2012 one can good through April 2009. Well guess which one I used for my flat biscuits.

With 4 kids, my hot front man of finance, a demanding job, etc. It's easy to focus on only the major things sometimes. Who has games this weekend...what deadlines are going on at work...birthdays coming up..and on and on. But it's becoming more and more evident to me that the little things, the daily one step at a time things, tend to add up and mean even more. Making breakfast for the boys. Texting my mom. Telling my hot front man of finance that I can't wait for him to get home. Thanking my sister extra for cleaning up the kitchen for me after I make a messy meal. The little things mean more over time. Check your baking powder date. Hug your teenager.

"Not every day will be perfect."

Just like of you, I strive every day to at least do my best. Most days are probably more like today. Hardly anyhting gourmet about flat biscuits! But my sweet boy, after he finished his pancakes (at least I tried to make the mix from the box a little special by adding some fresh grated nutmeg and vanilla!) he turned to me and said smiling, "Can we have cinnamon rolls tomorrow? You know, the ones out of a can?"

Not ever day will be homemade from scratch, beautiful biscuits. Some days will be cinnamon rolls out of a can. But as long as we appreciate the effort someone puts in, the thought behind the gesture, and the love it takes to simply show up at times, I think we will not just just be better cooks, but better people too.

Culinary disaster biscuit

Confessions

I have a confession to make. I haven't blogged in about a month. Why? Because I didn't think I had anything worth saying. I didn't think that anything in my life was worth telling you, my readers of about 10, (thank you family), would want to hear.

Well I want to apologize. Not to you, but to myself!

I started this blog for me. To give myself an outlet and to practice writing words for others to read. In the hopes that someday, when I finally decide to finish one of the 4 books I have started, I will let you know first because you stuck it out with me. Even when I didn't think I had anything worth saying.

Thank you for being a reader. I promise to not pre-judge you in the future.

Here I am with my oldest son Brian at his 18th Birthday party. Ok Ok I guess maybe your baby turning 18 is worth writing about. And leaving for college...

 

Just a water hose

I want to be able to share with you all the moments that I find the complete contentment with the hope that you all will be mindful of glimpses of bliss in your busy world. 

Bliss is when you look up and take notice of the beauty in the moment. 

Bliss is when chaos, love, and laughter collide. 

It's when you have that feeling of pause because maybe you actually did do something right.  

Bliss is when you are able to see the world from the eager, trusting eyes of your child or through the patient, wise eyes of your grandma. 

Yesterday, bliss was watching my 15 month old baby boy play with the beat up (cut too many times by the yard guy's edger) waterhose.  

To him, the warm concrete under his bare feet, the cold water pouring out of the hose, and freedom to spray it everywhere was nothing more than pure fun.

Watching him do this after my long day was bliss.

I grabbed my camera.   

                      

(A little cheese cracker left behind from pre dinner snack in that pic above.)

Somedays are definitely more blissful than others that's for sure. I encourage you to look for those moments every day. More often than not, they are probably there, but we might not be paying attention.

When that cold water splashes your feet on the warm concrete driveway, smile and enjoy. The water dries, the plants recover from the "watering", and those little feet get bigger than yours-all before you know it. 

Love, Momma                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Shadow Girl

I noticed something this morning on my run. Besides the wine that I was sweating out from last night-Happy Birthday Cassandra! oh dear god the wine...

I noticed the girl in the shadow.

I saw a girl looking back at me that I sometimes forget is there.

Who is that girl looking back at me?

Here's what I came up with.  

She started running when she was in 7th grade. Not good enough for the volleyball team, not good enough for the basketball team, but thank goodness they take everyone and anyone for track!

She feels the bounce of her ponytail and smiles. Thankful that it's there at all after that dreadful 8 inch post pregnancy haircut last summer.

She loves that her wedding ring twirls on her finger as her hands sweat. It reminds her that God truly blesses second chances.

She knows that her body shows the wear of having 4 children. It may never look the same but that's ok. Her heart after 4 children will never be the same either.  

She loves the sweat that comes with running. The kind of sweat that cleanses you from inside.

She pushes for every mile. Not even that. She pushes for every step. Thankful with each step that her lungs fill with air and her legs get stronger with every stride.

She thinks about her to do list but then pushes it aside. Plenty of time for that later. 

She is thankful for the pavement, as it always welcomes her. No judgment for her pace that day or how long it's been since her last visit. Nothing but a wide open space and a firehouse station on the right. Did I mention with the most friendly firemen you have ever met? They always smile and wave to her! Don't tell my husband, he thinks I like running the hill in front of the fire station...

She loves the race but understands that the race is never over. Deep down she would never want it to be.

I have reached the halfway point. 2 miles down. I turn the corner and she is gone. I am facing the sun now and am running home. But  I look forward to seeing her again tomorrow. 

Go run! Find your shadow girl. Tell I said hello.  

Send me a message let me know how she is doing.

What's in a mile?

A mile is 5280 feet. It's what takes you away from home and what brings you back. It's what a runner strives for and a quadriplegic dreams about. To this momma, a mile represents two areas of my life that I have a deep passion for: travel and running.

Travel has touched my soul by showing me a colorful world outside of small town Texas. 

I am truly a proud Texan just so you know! But to go places and gain new experiences that teach me about myself and the world, well that's a real lesson that you just can't put a price on.

2 years ago, my husband and I had dream honeymoon. 2 weeks in Europe: Barcelona, Rome, Venice, and Greece. Amazing people, food, and places. Here's a picture of us in Barcelona. 

Returning to Europe this summer was something that I had looked forward to since our honeymoon trip. This time though, we were able to take 2 of our children, our oldest boys Brian and Shea. We also brought Brian's girlfriend and my cousin with us. A group of 6 traveling across Europe for 2.5 weeks. We were definitely the Griswold's at times. Here are the kids at the airport waiting on our flight to Paris.

 Taking the kids to Europe started off as just a trip to show them some of the world but it quickly became so much more.

My favorite memory of the trip was in Rome. One night we walked to the Vatican and sat in St. Peter's square. Sitting in the presence of one of the most powerful churches in the world, we started talking about religion and God. There was a point I looked around and thought, now this is a moment you could never plan.

(even for us, the TYPE A planners!!)

Sitting in St. Peter's Square

Here are a few things I learned about Europe through the eyes of my teenagers:

1. 2 words FREE REFILLS

2. A European beach is cool to a 13 year old boy or a 37 year old boy (do boys ever really grow up?)

3. Venice, a city built on water. Sure that's impressive but did you see all the pigeons in St. Mark's square? Now that was cool!

4. Another church?

5. Eurocup games are fun, especially an overtime win with about 1000 drunk Italians! Now that was crazy! Let's hear it for football!

6. America should totally rethink 21 for the drinking age.

7. The Mona Lisa is like an 8 X 10!

8. The Coliseum...bloodbath...gladiators...sweet!

And many, many, more. Taking them made me see every city in a new way. I will be forever grateful for that time with them. No cell phones, no x-boxes. Simply us, a family and lots of laughs for 17 days.