Best Efforts.

Best efforts do not always yield best results.  There are no guarantees and success would not be so sweet if there weren't some bitter failures along the way to make us appreciate them.  But... DANG! I wish I could master the mystery of tempering chocolate!!!.  I read articles, I watched youtubes and still the dream of perfect, shiny presents filled with ganoche and caramel elude me.  I hope they tasted good anyway.  Well... over the river and through the wood to grandmother's (and grandfather's) house we go.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Tinsel it up...

Ok, turkey day is done. Time to drag out the plastic tree.
Lecture to self:  Nothing new this year just make an effort to do it better.  Just do it simpler.  Don't attempt it if you aren't having fun.  If they don't know you love them by now, buying more junk and cooking more tasties isn't going to prove anything.
Thank goodness I learned to make outrageous caramel sauce this year... guess what most of you are getting!  School is almost done for me and the kids.  Just a parade here, a concert there, finals and a few parties to go.  Thank you my little darlings for growing up so sweetly and not getting wild and crazy- throwing me into fits of self reproach for all the things I didn't do, didn't do good enough, did wrong, exploding a big self blame bomb for your poor choices.  So far, so good.  Now if you can all just meet the perfect mate and start your own businesses.  No pressure.  For now just focus on yourselves and enjoy the gift of the present :)  I hope this Christmas is a fun and memorable one for you.

Today's effort: Get the Christmas cards in the mail.  It's ok to print the addresses instead of handwriting them. It's ok to write a letter on the computer and just sign the bottom.  At least this once a year contact with many family members will let them know what we've been up to.

My Stars: OHS Christmas Concert 2011.  Don't they look grown up.  Surrey even got in on this one.  The concert was very good.  Omak is really blessed to have Mr. Pearce.  All that talent and he chose to make here is home and impart his skills to our kids.  Thank you Don and Lyn!

Nuts!

Walnuts!  I'm so grateful that dad planted several trees in the yard. They are big and beautiful all summer and come fall they drop their tasty treats like allied bombs from heaven.  I can then send the kids out for a frugal version of an Easter egg hunt- I love the spring/fall symmetry.  The leaves are raked into the garden, effort rewarded with spiced cider and ginger snaps, so all that is left is the cracking.  Start a nice fire and pour a hot buttered rum (yes, there is still a little batter left in the fridge).  Armed with Grandma Sapp's cracker and one just like Mom had we can pop in a movie and crack till our hands hurt. At $8 to $10 a pound, more if it passes for "organic", it makes a great Christmas gift for those who appreciate the flavor and the hours of work put into freeing the flesh from captivity. Thanks again Dad, I hope you and Mom enjoy your bag of walnuts - collected and cracked with love from our family to yours!
Today's effort:  Homemade candy boxes for my upcoming attempt at homemade chocolates. The box is made of two sheets of card stock and a template downloaded from czpapercrafts. I added a tab at the back, a greeting on the top, and used a paper punch to make the edge pretty (too bad it doesn't show in the picture).
Today's treat: Two days ago was asked out on a date by this really good looking, sweetheart of a man I met.  Of course I said yes, and blushed.  We went out for dinner at a new restaurant and then I brought him home with me. Yes, I met him over 22 years ago and he comes home every night to me but it was still a fun date.
Today's noteable: Dishwasher, I'm really glad when you work. Yes, I had taken you for granted, forgive me. Now that you are back to work I will over-stuff you again, neglect you again, but quietly thank God I don't have to stand for hours at the sink washing, rinsing and drying all because you are my slave. Ryann, I'm referring to the box held captive to the right of the sink, not you dear.  I can see why you would wonder though.  Thank you too.

Rise and shine.

There are days when the greatest effort is just getting out of bed.  When your body is screaming in one ear for you to just stay where you are and the thoughts of things that need doing are screaming in the other, how do you overcome the noise?  Sometimes that is the day I spend doing accounting while propped up in bed with lots of coffee. Compromise. Life is full of compromise, hopefully when we get to the end it is not also full of regrets.
Today's notables: Reve's first hunting trip with Papoo and Matt.

A time for...

What's next?  Christmas shopping, Brenna's birthday, our anniversary, spring planting... Put on the brakes!!!  Today I choose to live in the current season.  I refuse to think of Christmas until Thanksgiving is over.  Is that possible? Yes, with some effort.  There is time enough for red and green sparkles and white fake fur.  Let's enjoy corn husks, pumpkins, orange and brown leaves, and remember that both holidays are about the family and hot buttered rum!
Today's effort: Accounting, or a nap, hmmm.

Success with sadness.

Why is it that the conclusion of an effort, even a successful one, often comes with some sadness. Sure, if it flopped you feel embarrassment and some sadness but when the event was a hit why does sadness sit in the backseat of the celebration bus? I remember the births of my children being highlights of my life but in the back of my mind was the seed of sadness that someday they would leave me and start their own life, hopefully with success.  I have long suspected this effect is a root cause of my chronic inability to complete projects. Another possibility is that I am subject to critical review upon completion. As long as it remains unfinished there is still room to change it.  A perfectionist who can't make a project live up to her ideal might refuse to submit something for critique believed to be inferior.  I guess the crafters of the great cathedrals didn't have this problem and I contend they created a lot of perfection. Here is a pic of Notre Dame from the Sienne taken in September 12, 2011.
Today's effort: To keep a kitchen clean while making applesauce. Every time you turn around there is another dish to wash and more sticky stuff to wipe up.  Don't even ask me about he floors.
Today's notables: 1. Mom & Dad's anniversary, happy 51st! 2. An earthquake in... Omak?  Yes! 4.6 at 5:09 a.m. only a few miles from our house: what a shocking way to wake up. 3. Successful end of OHS production of Little Shop of Horrors.  Brenna, you are a star!
Today's thank you: Thank you to my first Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Downey.  I don't think I could list or am even fully aware of the bricks in the foundation of faith you built in me.

At what point...

At what point do you start doing something you really hate doing?  I guess it's at the point where you get something out of it that is more pleasurable than the thing you hate about it.  No, I'm not thinking of balancing the checkbook.  We do that because we don't want something more unpleasant, like a bounced check, to happen.  For me the dreaded chore is cooking.  I know there are many of you who love it, well, not me.  I think I mostly hate that all that effort just gets eaten with no lasting evidence that a masterpiece was created.  It literally ends up getting flushed down the toilet and then to add insult to injury another meal has to be made again in a few hours. At least a painter's efforts on canvas can be seen and admired for centuries.  A musician's recording can be listened to over and over, until they invent a new "better" way to store music that forces you to buy that album again. But cooking... so much skill is needed to do it well.  So much mess is made in the execution of the craft. And, to be honest, I'm just not good at it.  So why am I spending more time in the kitchen since my return from France? I used to put on the DIY channel and putter around the house now Food Network and the Cooking channel are the background noise of my days at home. What changed?  I'll let you know when I figure it out.
Today's effort: I made a pumpkin pie from scratch.  I pureed the one that didn't get carved for Halloween and tried out a new recipe, thank you Alton Brown.  I'll let it cook a few more minutes next time.  I also made 16 pounds of applesauce and baked an apple crisp, thank you Betty Crocker.  Well, I couldn't just let the crisp go naked so I made 2 batches of caramel sauce to keep it warm.  I think I'll have to do a whole post on caramel, such a perfect thing, caramel.

Today's inspiration: High school musicals.  All those kids, dancing around and singing... some on key, some not but all having a great time and making great memories.  I'm glad I did that in high school too. Watching the third performance of Little Shop of Horrors tonight made me envy the bravery of those years.  Good job kids! Below is Seymore and the urchins, my beautiful urchin is Chiffon.