I'm a softie

Whew! I have simply been aching to write, and now I finally have a few minutes to do so. I've been wrestling with "what to write next", which is kind of funny, because I thought for sure that the first post would be the toughest. Not so! I have so many stories to share; I am just overwhelmed at where to begin. So, I finally decided, no time like the present, right?? So here we go.

The past few weeks of my life/pregnancy have been, well, quite awful, due to several reasons:

1) It was audit season for my husband, who is an accountant. 'Nuff said.

2) My 18-month old broke his leg and foot, due to some very unfortunate brotherly rough-housing.

3) I am currently 6 months pregnant, and I have severe sciatica, plus I am a super-petite 4' 11" who tends to have BIG babies. Oh yeah.



With the magic combination of all of the above elements, I now find myself on "very mild" bed rest, after an awful 6 weeks. So what have I done to keep my sanity? Well, besides lots of praying (e.g., whining and crying) to God, I have cooked. And baked. And sauteed. And broiled. And baked some more. And read copious amounts of cooking books and magazines. I have to have a creative outlet, or I shall die. It varies with the trials in my life, but this time, it was time for some serious culinary adventures. And even though audit season is over, my son's leg has healed beautifully, and I have been able to get a little more rest (thank the Lord for my husband), I am still finding some serious solace in my kitchen. A most recent example:

Last Wednesday, I buckled up my boys in the van and headed off to teach some piano lessons (more about my passion for music later. MUCH more) at a friend's house. My friend and both of her parents helped me get the kids in and out of the car. At the last second, after all of the buckling and strapping had been accomplished (after the usual amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth), I simply leaned over to tighten David's ( my three-year-old) strap ever so slightly. And then, it happened. What felt like a small blot of lightning shot through my back and leg, and I was seriously incapacitated for the rest of the day. Sciatica like never before had commenced, and I was down for the count. I practically crawled around the kitchen, slathering peanut butter and jelly onto bread for a paltry lunch, then somehow managed to put both boys down for their naps. Then, I proceeded to put myself down for a nap, which was delightfully refreshing, but completely unhelpful to my poor wee back. The boys woke up from their naps, and there were 2.5 hours left until Steve was due to arrive home. So what did I do??

Naturally, I made soft chocolate-chip cookies.

Before commencing such a ridiculous and completely unnecessary project, I analyzed the situation. I could either, A) lay on the couch in a futile attempt to rest while both boys crawled all over me and each other, or B) do something fun with the boys that didn't require a ton of moving around, would pass the time quickly, and was sure to have a delightfully delectable result. So, analysis being completed and my decision made, I opened my faithful recipe box and retrieved my trusty soft chocolate-chip cookie recipe from the August 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living. When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I infinitely prefer chewy to crunchy. I find crunchy to be just plain distracting from the whole taste experience. Yes; I am a softie, and quite proud of it, I might add. So off we went into the world of soft chocolate-chip cookies, and it was fun, messy, and very, very successful with only a few excruciating moments of back pain. Yes, life was good in our little kitchen, especially with two beaming, dough-smeared little faces that joyfully crowed,"Daddy, we made choc-lit chip cookies for youuuu!!" And the cookies were simply beautiful in their soft, pale golden glory. Calm down; I'm going to share the recipe in a moment. But before that, I must say two things concerning the recipe:

1) Don't even THINK about skipping the sour cream. Okay? Good.
2) The 50/50 mix of milk chocolate and semisweet chips is by far the optimal choice, but I have used all semisweet chips on occasion (due to lack of foresight on the shopping list) with very yummy results. But you simply MUST try the milk chocolate chips. Okay? Good.

So there you have it. When life hands you lemons, you grab those lemons, show them what you're made of, and then bake some soft chocolate-chip cookies to go along with your lemonade. Did I mention my husband is a crunchy? Well, that's another story...now GO BAKE.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/soft-chocolate-chip-cookies

A New Adventure

Today I have officially started my blog, and all I can say is, well, IT'S ABOUT TIME. You see, I have been waffling with this seemingly uncomplicated decision for about 6 months now. Why the endless waffling; I cannot say. I guess it's just one more thing to add to my already ridiculously full and busy life, but hey; I love to write, and I love to share stories about my little family and my life. Especially when it comes to sharing great stories about FOOD. :) No, this is not "another food blog", but I will have quite a few things to say about food, for several simple reasons:
1) I LOVE to cook and bake. Not like. LOVE.
2) Cooking and baking are big stress-busters for me. When there are mass amounts of cookies, breads, new and exciting culinary concoctions flying out of my kitchen at an alarmingly high rate of speed, you can rest assured that my life is mostly likely in a shambles at the moment.
3)I love to try out new recipes on my husband and two little boys. I usually try something new once a week. So naturally, I will be sharing my success/epic failure stories concerning new recipes.
4) I have waaaay too many great cooking/eating/traveling stories to NOT share them!

So there you have it. I will also being writing about the every day adventures of my little family, since I find great pleasure in the simple, mundane tasks of real life. Mostly. Nothing puts a smile on one's face quite like reading a little snippet such as,"Today my 3 year old saw one of his closest buddies in the grocery store, and before I (or the other momma) could stop them, they raced towards each other and planted a huge kiss on each other's lips in full view of everyone in the store." While I am fully aware that many people would be less than amused with such snippets, well, too bad. It's my blog; I'll share what I am inspired to share. This is my stage of life, and I want to share it with whoever wants to read about it. I hope I can encourage and possibly even *gasp* inspire you, whoever you may be. A few more things:
1)I am expecting our third child in June. No, we did not find out what we are having; we're guessing it's a baby.We are super stoked about it! :)
2)I am also a very passionate organizer/cleaner and SCRAPBOOKER. :) There will definitely be some scrapbooking stories/pictures flitting about this blog.

Well, I've covered the basics for today. I am quite excited as I embark on The Epic Adventures of Skarymop & Co.!!