Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Since childhood homemade cinnamon rolls have marked the arrival of fall.

This is the dough after the first rise. The bowl was a wedding gift my mother started out homemaking with.



After the first rise I roll out the dough and do a melted butter wash then  sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture with just a hint of nutmeg. Roll it up and then slice it in 3/4 " slices and place in a 9-13 pan.  Sometimes I make a special pecan a sugar glaze to place them on top of in the pan....crunchy goodness.                                 

Here they are piping hot out of the oven glazed with a cream cheese icing with a hint of almond extract.

I have made hundreds of these over the years. The recipe originated in a little town in Kansas from a very special lady named Elsie....

 

Happy Fall ya'll !!!

On Your Mark...Get Ready...Get Set...GO !!!!

If you are like most people this announcement makes you think you are at the races. Spectator or runner this gets your adrenaline pumping. It is exciting to cheer someone on to do their best. That is my goal here to cheer you on to do your best.

Every home must have a manager. Sometimes this happens by default, but someone must manage. If this task has fallen to you or if you have chosen it I want to encourage you in knowing that you have the most important role in life. You possess the skill to help each and every family member in your home have a positive “Launch” into the day.

In order for us to do our best we must be at our best. We need to launch from a platform that sets us up for accomplishment.

What is the “Mark”?  The “Mark” is your destination for each and every day. Where do you need to be? What do you need to do? How are you going to do it? Why does it need to be done?

What is “Get Ready”?  “Get Ready” simply means you must be prepared to hit your “Mark”. What tools do you need? How much time do you need? What training do you need? Will you need help?

What is “Get Set”? “Get Set” means to hold fast don’t get ahead of yourself. To have a solid “Launch” you must do so from a solid foundation of preparedness. Then hold steady, don’t jump the gun, listen, wait for it…….

GO GO GO

I challenge you to remove you and your family from the high speed race track and place them gently in a foot race. Ask yourself the questions as I have asked them above.

Do you know your “Mark”? 

Are you willing to put the work in to “Get Ready”?

Will you choose to slow down and wait for the right timing so that can “Get Set”?

Before you blow the whistle or fire the fun or shout out the “Go” signal….make sure you have plan that helps you to “Launch” you and your family from a solid daily platform that sets you up for success.

If you fail to plan you have planned to fail.

You can do it….hang in there…practice makes perfect…don’t give up…the hardest things in life are hard work and well worth it.

We can not have a gourmet life on a drive thru investment.

Just Curious

It seems as though this has been a year of recovery for me. Medical situations, emotional situations, family situations, friendship situations, spiritual situations. But something miraculous happens when you are recovering. Recently I am recovering from gallbladder surgery. Years ago they kept you in the hospital for at least 10 days for this procedure, now they send you home within hours of leaving the O.R. I have had a good recovery so far, I have no more stomach pain for the first time in five years. I had no idea I had gallbladder problems we actually sort of found out as an after thought. It seems that in our era of specialists in the medical field that it is hard to find one Doctor to look at the whole person, rather they only look at a piece of you. I actually had a Doctor, hold on wait for it, he decided to look beyond his specialty and voila!!!!

I think that we are all guilty of this in our own lives. We have all asked this question, "Who's job is it?".  Or made the statement, "It's not my job!". Why do we do that?  When did we become a society of people always trying to put it off, on to the next person? You see this everywhere from Washington dictating how restaurants will serve food and what the ingredients will be, (because apparently we can not be held accountable for our own choices) we are angry at the schools for teaching about sex (and then get mad when our teenagers become parents). We seem to spend a lot of time telling other people what they should and should not do for us, in relation to us and then when the responsibility check comes due we still want to steer that in someone elses direction.

Perhaps, now I am going way out on a limb here we should start being accountable for our own actions. Easy now don't fall over it is just a thought. What if we actually starting parenting our children, you know the little darlings that you are always trying to show off and take credit for all the great things they do and then if they screw up you don't have enough fingers to point at everyone who is responsible. By the way it only takes one finger pointing at your own heart to be responsible.

I know this seems like quite a ramble but the news if full of reasons why our country is a mess, Washington is a mess, your neighbors are a mess, your children's classrooms are a mess, your church is a mess. Well what do you expect if "NO ONE" is responsible for their actions then who my friend can fix it.

So here is my challenge for each reader. Look at your own life with the same microscope you are looking into others. How much actual time are actually spending with your children? How many actual meals has your family had in the last week together? How  many meals did you cook? How much money have you spent, trying to "make it better" rather than just doing it right the first time? How many people have you blamed this week for the state of your life?

For the next seven days try to take full responsibility for your actions. Try to go out of your way to be a good parent, wife, husband, sister, daughter, brother, aunt, uncle,son, mother, father...well you get the idea. Try actually being the best you possible and take ownership of that.

There is no true accomplishment that comes through false means. What are you taking credit for that you did not do?  Who are you blaming for things you did?

During my year of recovering in one form or another I have come to realize that I have been carrying burdens that are not mine to carry and in the process ignored some that were mine and they lay neglected. This is my fault and mine to correct.

We must stop enabling those around us to fail because we won't let them succeed. We must be accountable for our own actions and stop worrying about everyone elses punishment.

So grab a notebook and your favorite beverage and map out the next seven days you just might find the better you has been napping and is ready to be awakened and put to work.

Blessings and Hope to you all
http://orgjunkie.com/

Packing up

It is time to pack and unpack. Have you ever moved? Some people never move. They spend a lifetime in the same place. It is strange to pack up everything you own and put it on a truck and take it to a new place. Sometimes when you get to the new place your things don't fit. It forces you to choose what you really love and either part with the rest or pay for a storage unit.

For the last five years we have had a storage unit. Seven and a half years ago our daughter moved out to get married. We kept a few things for her. We have gathered things, items we felt important enough at the time that they were given a place in our lives. Now we are moving only not changing addresses but seasons in life. Our son just moved to his first Apartment. The dog died three summers ago so now there are no extra feet at our house. No one extra to check on, to clean up after, to encourage, laugh with, cry with. Sometimes it is the extra stuff that brings us great joy. I talk with my daughter everyday in some form or another. I talk with my grandchildren several times a week. I talk with my Mom almost everyday. Now we Skype with our son and he has learned to like the phone. We must stay connected, it is simply not enough to intend to we must take action.

There are so many things that we can gather. The greatest of which is love. God gives us such amazing love. You hear a lot about "empty nest". This is a term that I am not fond of . Our home is not empty all the love and blessings that surrounded us all these years is still here. We will not pack it up and put it in storage. We will now have the opportunity to choose to invite others into our home to love them to serve them. The treasure of life is relationship and that should never go to storage.

We recently cleaned out our storage unit and we no longer have one. Whew....that was a great feeling. There has been a lot of shifting going on. Sometimes God shifts us just a little he always has a good reason although we do not always take it well.

The storage was full of decorations and coats. We do not use many coats in Florida but we keep them just in case. You may not have a crisis everyday and you may not feel like you need people but you never know and it is a really good idea to build good relationships for the winter. When we are hurting it is love that warms us.

I have a lot of holiday decorations some for home and some for the Air Force base. It is always exciting to me to see peoples' faces when you decorate. They get that little kid grin and act silly. They start talking about growing up and what the season means. I wonder how many of us carry our Bible as a decoration. It is the manual you know. All the answers are in there. We must seek God's word to guide us.

This week I have been giving things away. It is time, time to let go of things that no longer serve a purpose in my life. This will allow me to let new things in. I have been a mother for 28 years. I will not stop being a mother, I will just stop making the morning rounds. Now prayer takes on a whole new meaning. There is no seeing there is only faith. This is not a new concept to me it just takes on a deeper meaning. I have had to use this idea for my daughter and her family. For my parents. Now for my son.

We packed up his things and took them to his new apartment. His old room is now a music room for my husband. All the kids slept in that room at one time or another. So very fitting that the music of love will continue to echo from the walls.

I will have time to pursue some hobbies long forgotten. Time to spend writing and studying. My husband Paul and I are enjoying the time to visit and re-create our space and lives. It is a time of celebration.

It is true that I probably kept too many things for that much needed moment that never arrived. Possibly I put too many things on hold while I was enthralled with the journey of our family. These are all matters of opinion.

As I continue to sort it all out and go through all the emotions that this change has brought to us. There are so many things that I am excited about. Paul will now have his own place to play his beloved music and this brings such joy to his soul. Don't get me wrong I was not happy to see our children leave because they were a problem I was happy because we did it. We guided and released, by the grace of God. This is what God asked of us. Such a joy to my soul the memories that flood my heart.

Life is meant to be lived. We cannot not store people. We must treasure those that God places in our lives. Release with love those that are not intended to stay. But never pack them up as if they do not matter. Every person that crosses our path serves a purpose.

So in this new season some people and things did not make the journey. I will not dwell upon the absence but rather rejoice in what is to come.

My son is cooking every day for himself and managing his own place. This brings me joy. My daughter is getting her children ready for school she shares the moments with me and this brings me joy.

Don't pack up your joy...keep it out on the counter in easy reach.