Swedish Cardamom Bread

We made this bread for the second time last night. I've been wanting it for a while, but couldn't find the recipe we'd used before. Figured I should post it on here in case the same problem happens again. It's delicious and really easy to make! Cardamom is on the expensive side, but you don't use a lot at a time so it lasts.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Tsp. Ground Cardamom
• 1 Pkg. of Yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
• 2 Eggs
• 4 Cups of Flour

Method:

Dissolve yeast in approximately 3 tablespoons of warm water, cover and let it foam up for 15 minutes. Meantime, put butter and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn off heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add sugar, salt, and cardamom. Then add simmering milk to dry mix, add eggs, then add the yeast. Mix well. Then add aproximately 4 cups of flour to liquid ingredients until mixture begins to pull away from sides. Cover and let rise in warm area until it doubles.

After it doubles, take dough out, knead it and divide into halves. Then divide each half into 3 parts. Roll each part into balls, then roll balls into even strands. Take one greased cookie sheet and braid strands together on sheet side by side to make two separate loaves. Cover and let rise until loaves double. (After a half hour of waiting my taste buds won out and I just cooked it. Rose fine in the oven.)

Lightly brush on a mixture of egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of water on top of loaves. Bake on 350 for 20 minutes.

Random December-ness

We have a tradition that started last year - checking out a bunch of Christmas books from the library and keeping them under the tree with the Christmas books we own to read throughout the Christmas season. I keep trying to brainwash the kids into how much fun it would be to wake up Christmas morning and just find books as gifts, but I haven't quite sold them on it yet. If they only knew all the wonderful choices Santa has had to choose from for each of them!

(I took a picture but with all the Christmas rush haven't taken it off the camera. So just imagine for now. Maybe someday I'll post it.)

I was pulling out the materials we needed to make more felt ornaments this year and found 3 books in a 4 book set that I bought last year for a certain little girl. She got one for Christmas and I forgot about the rest. Oops. Would be fun to travel in time back a year and find out why they were hiding in there.

Love the whole online shopping thing. How parents did it before, I don't know. So nice to research, read reviews, compare prices, then with a few clicks your order is on its way. One thing has me scratching my head, though. Amazon, or people that sell on amazon, change their prices really frequently. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. There is a book sitting in the "buy later" section of my shopping cart that drops by a penny or two every day. One of these days it will be free, and then I will buy it. Something else was $19.99 when I added it to my cart. A few days later it was $39.99. Then it partially dropped down again. It's an addiction now, so I have to pull up my cart just to see how the price has changed. One day it was $85! Supply and demand maybe? Who knows, but wow.

Back to late presents, though. I finished the quilt that I gave to my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas last year - hooray! It turned out just as amazing and beautiful as I knew it would. I thought I had quite a bit done, but it took me sewing while watching most of the first four Harry Potter movies to finish it up.

(Again, I have a picture waiting on the camera.)

Jamie was gone for almost 20 days in a row (came home for one night, not even 24 hours) starting the early morning after Thanksgiving. It was mostly for training back in Massachusetts, but then off working. The song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" became a lot more meaningful because we really missed having him around. Since he got home he's been cooking like crazy, always a bonus.

Anyway, back to finishing up those final few Christmas surprises!

My Current Reading System

My reading and actually finishing a book has really dropped in the past few months. Dramatically. But I have an interesting new way to read. See, there are so so many interesting books out there, and only so little time to read them all in. When I do park myself to read it's far more studious than it's been before, and I really try to dig out the messages I need to learn from what I'm reading.

Since that takes a lot more effort and concentration, without blocks of unadulterated time it just doesn't happen.

So. Now when I hear about a really interesting book I check it out from the library and it sits next to the couch with all our other library books. When my card is (again/always) getting full and I have more holds waiting, I look through the books I actually checked out for myself, see if they are some I really want to look into more and return those I don't. I will usually at least look through the table of contents and maybe flip to a chapter or two, read a little, and either put it back in the pile or add it to my library bag to be returned. Fiction usually gets the first chapter read. Very few books actually get read all the way through. Except all the fun children's books. If I checked them out I read them to myself and decide whether it's good enough for me to read with everyone else or not. (Sidenote: We have some new favorite children's books, the Dragon books by Dav Pilkey. We read and giggled over the first two again and again and again, and had to track down all the others at the library.)

I usually make 2 trips a week to pick up holds, because twice a week I'm right in the same neighborhood. There are always things waiting for me.

I started this new system without realizing it. I try to narrow myself down and decide on a book (or three - currently "Power of Positive Parenting," "Song of the Lark," and "Leadership Education") to read and finish, but there are so many others out there that compel me to at least take a look. I have to wonder if I'm transitioning towards something else. Maybe one of these days I will wake up and realize I don't want to read everything, and I only want to read certain things. Or maybe it's a pregnant thing, and after this baby is born I'll have some focus again.

Only time will tell. I'll let you know if I notice it's happened.

Books I recently checked out:

"I am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing that Shocked a New Nation"

"The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything"

"The Pioneer Woman Cooks" by Ree Drummond

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"

"Arming Your Children with the Gospel"

"Embroidery"

"Hiking and Backpacking"

"John Adams" by David McCullough

"The Jackrabbit Factor"

"The Power of Positive Parenting"

"Thou Shall Prosper" (was going to take this back today but the table of contents kept it here)

"Usborne Book of Peoples of the World"

For even more fun, some of the books currently on my hold list at the library:

"Bridge at Andau"

"The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game"

"Christlike Parenting"

"The Christmas Sweater"

"The Duggars: 20 and Counting!"

"The Help"

"My First Summer in the Sierra"

December Craftiness

One of our family traditions on my mom's side of the family is to exchange ornaments with all the cousins and now our kids. My grandma has 40 grandkids I believe, ranging in age from 38 to 5. Adding the great-grandkids in creates even more variety.

I was being called the family scrooge for a couple of years when I started saying that we should do away with this one for a variety of reasons that I will not go into here, but when I thought of a fun way to do the ornaments we would be exchanging that the kids could be involved with as well, I decided I could still handle it.

These are our ornaments from last year - a doughnut, a black penguin, a pink penguin, a cupcake, a gingerbread man, and a licorice ice cream cone (my favorite flavor, by the way, thank you Farr's Ice Cream).

The fried egg is an ornament on a lot of Christmas trees in our family, a symbol of my grandparent's farm, the chickens they had, and the Barker eggs they sold back in the good ol' days. The others were all just for fun.

Felt ornaments are really easy to make! When I was first looking for ideas I did a search in Google images and on flikr for felt ornaments to get some ideas of things we could do. Then I would either sketch out a design on paper, or being the non-artist I am, if it was something more involved I copy/pasted the picture into Word, size the picture to about how big I wanted the ornament to be, and have a template. I didn't feel bad borrowing their ideas - ours are not nearly as high tech as many of the others out there, and I'm not planning to sell them. Ideas for ornaments can come from anywhere, though - coloring books, clip art, the person's interests, etc. These amazing ones even say the ideas came from a Little Golden Book.

After you have a template, use it to cut out the felt pieces. In some cases you might want multiple copies of the template to cut up for the different pieces.

Then you can either sew the pieces together by machine or by hand. We did all our stitching by hand.

When stitching the back to the front, leave an opening for a bit of stuffing if you'd like, sew up the hole, and voila! You're done! Be creative and enjoy. They really are a lot of fun to make.

To show off my amazing sewing skills (cough cough), here's a picture of the quilt I finished the end of November 2008 that was supposed to be given to my brother's family Christmas 2007. I'm a slacker, what can I say. But it was worth the wait, no?


Right now I'm trying to finish up the quilt I gave to my sister and her husband for Christmas 2008 (it's amazingly cute, I'll have to post pictures after I give it to them), so I can get working on the quilt I'm supposed to make for my sister for Christmas 2009. If you want to come visit, feel free! Just know the house will be a disaster.

Lead Like You Love It

When I posted this entry I mentioned another I had been writing on leadership with a conductor as the example of the principle (mostly written back in January, by the way). A friend told me tonight that I need to be blogging more about this kind of thing, so here we go.

So first, the example. About a year ago I was at a meeting one evening with a large group of boy scout leaders. They announced the opening song and prayer, and the organist began to play. The music conductor stood up in his scout uniform before the large roomful of people, and as the words began, he started leading us in the song like there wasn't another place in the world he would rather be. He was smiling and singing away, looking like he was having the time of his life.

I couldn't hardly keep my eyes off him, he was so fun to watch! I wondered what I was missing just sitting there in the audience, rather than up there leading. I don't remember if he was leading 'correctly,' but correctly or not, people were happily following him. He was there to do the job, do his best, and have a great time doing it. I would bet I wasn't the only person who noticed. I think I learned more from that man that I did from the rest of the meeting (sorry other speakers). His simple example taught me mountains.

LEAD LIKE YOU LOVE IT!
I thought of this while watching the musical performance of "Air and Simple Gifts" by John Williams during President Obama's inauguration. Of course each of the four musicians are top performers and leaders in their fields, but Yo-Yo Ma especially held my attention because he looked like he was having a blast. I watched the performance twice that day and was captivated by him both times. While pointing and telling the kids we own some of his CDs and he's famous because he's been on Arthur (check him out at 1:00 and 3:20, somehow his ears are bigger when he's a cartoon), I couldn't help but mention, "Look how much fun he's having!" (Maybe he was grinning knowing that we were listening to a recording so everyone didn't have to listen to their cold out-of-tune instruments, but who's to say for sure?)

We've all been around someone in a leadership position that complains, joking or not, about what they do. It's hard to follow someone that isn't happy about their job, even jokingly. They give the impression that they are there as a place holder, wishing their time was over rather than someone there to really lead, serve, and do their best. People don't look to complainers for an example.

On the other hand, people that are willingly and happily doing the work they are there to do become a great example to everyone that sees them. While I was a nursery leader for our church, meeting with the 18 months to 3 year old children every Sunday, I made it a personal goal of mine to show up early and always be happy while I was there. I wanted people to wonder what they were missing out on. Early on there were probably days when I was doing my best to paste on a smile, but an interesting by-product of that is after a while I didn't have to pretend anymore. When someone made a comment about me being "stuck" in there, I would let them know why I love it.

I'm certainly not always perfect at this, but it's something I've tried to apply. At home I think it's especially important to show our families that we love to be with and lead them. I've heard stories of girls not wanting to be mothers because of the example their own mothers showed of being so displeased with the job.

We are being watched more than we could ever imagine. Let your joyful service be an example to those around you, and people will follow. "For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Isaiah 55:12). Cheesy, but it follows the musical examples, and you probably will be surprised by the miraculous results of your joyful attitude.

LEAD LIKE YOU LOVE IT!

P.S. I attended the same meeting a month ago, and I was most excited about going because I was so hoping to see the same man conducting the music again. Unfortunately, they had someone else, and she didn't look nearly as happy to be there.

Another great post on what someone has learned from conductors (to add to my own ah-ha's about that):  http://michaelhyatt.com/50-8-leadership-lessons-from-a-symphony-conductor-podcast.html

Rough Week, Made Better

A week ago tonight Melanie started fevering and Erin started throwing up. Erin was fine the next morning, happily sneaking Halloween candy bars.

I stayed home with the girls from church Sunday to make sure they were healthy, including Carolyn, figuring she sleeps in the same room as the two sickos and could easily pick it up. I kept thinking all day that while Melanie was still fevering off and on, I could have taken the other two. That night Carolyn let me know it was good that she stayed home. After a very rough night, she also perked up pretty quickly the next morning.

Monday and Tuesday my kids thought I was a big mean ogre, not letting them play with anyone. I kept telling them that it's just better they not play in case they pass the sickness on, because then they wouldn't be able to play with their friends even longer. They don't get that at all. Funny, though, about 5 minutes after Adam got off the phone with a friend telling him how mean I am and won't let him play, he was laying on the couch. After some prodding, he told me his stomach was hurting. That evening, he delivered as well.

Everyone has been fine since. So why am I sharing this?!?

Because I'm grateful for good friends.

If the rest of my week hadn't been so busy (along with all this, I get to talk in church on Sunday), I would be posting pictures of the kids eating pizza Tuesday night. Our good friend Todd heard that I was dealing with all this on my own (Jamie was out of town through a lot of the "fun"), and had pizza delivered to us for dinner. Thank you Todd! It was delicious and lifted my whole day knowing I wouldn't have to figure out dinner that night.

The next day I got a call from my mom, telling me what she was making for dinner and offered to bring some over when it was ready. Since everyone was still fine at that point, I made some certified germ-free rolls (touched only by my sterilized hands) to send home with her to enjoy with the dinner she had put together. Thanks to you too Mom!

It's amazing the difference a little food can make. Or maybe it's true, that it really is the thought that counts. Thanks for thinking of us!

Do You Care?

I hate forwards. Do people really think those threats of misfortune, death, or dismemberment are real? If an e-mail was really that powerful, there would be a lot of misery in our home. None of my neighbors have received a great sum of money from any source, though I've had that variety sent on more than my delete button wants to remember.

Once in a while there are gems, though, and thanks to the people that have sent me those. Here's one I got recently that has had me thinking about it ever since.

You don't have to actually answer the questions (though you can if you want). Just read straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name five people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners. (Adam could probably do that)

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. I have to wonder how long the glory lasts for these people.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

And might I add, these are the "awards" that matter.

We have choices to make every day: to give of ourselves to others, or to continue through our own personal agendas. No matter how much we WANT to be in the second category for other people, when we are too concerned about the daily to-do's it limits our opportunities to reach out to other people. Basically it's a choice between mediocre and being great.

"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day." --C.S. Lewis

A wonderful reminder - especially since we were surprised last night with one kiddo with a fever and another throwing up. :) I hope that maybe someday the little bodies I get to mother would include me in some of their second quiz answers.

Surrounded by Greatness, or When I Grow Up

I feel like I'm surrounded by greatness on so many levels. I made a list of lots of people I want to be like in some way or another, and was going to abbreviate them for only me to know, then I decided even that wasn't necessary. I know who my greats are, you should all get your own.

I want to be a spouse like...

I want to be a parent like...

I want to be a leader like....

I want to be wise like...

I want to be a homemaker like...

I want to be caring like...

I want to be a listener like...

I want to be a declutterer like...

I want to be a thinker like...

I want to study like...

I want to be politically knowledgeable like...

I want to build greatness in others like...

I have two or three people for most of those, sometimes more.

It would be a whole lot easier if I didn't know so many great and amazing people. I know we're not supposed to compare ourselves to others, but they say that the only way to bring someone to a higher level is to be higher yourself. So here are all these people at some higher level than me, and I feel like I'm slowly working my way up the mountain at every opportunity to join them, taking every chance I can to rub shoulders with them and learn from them.

Maybe bit by bit I'm picking up little pebbles (maybe even sometimes a gem or two) to add to myself. And maybe someday I'll be a knoll, or maybe even a small hill that someone else could look up to for something.

Dallin H. Oaks once said, "In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to knowsomething, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something."

I love looking for the greatness in other people. There is so much out there, people striving to do more and be more at whatever they are. I feel like there is something admirable in everyone, even if sometimes you have to look a little closer for it. More and more I see why it's such a terrible thing for people to hide their candle under a bushel, when it could be giving light to all those around them.

Even more exciting, I love watching the greatness growing in my children, seeing them come into the gifts God has blessed them with. I can't wait to see who they become.

P.S. Lest you think me wise already with the whole pebble/mountain thing, a hill or mountain of pebbles really would be a terrible thing to climb up, don't you think? So it's really a very silly analogy.

P.P.S. The song "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" just gained a whole new meaning for me. I'm going to look just like this someday when I get there.

P.P.P.S. By the way, Maria wasn't anywhere near 'there' at this point in the movie, really just beginning on her climb. (See, more faulty wisdom.)

My Parenting Lesson for the Day

I needed this today. Take a look (it's SO worth it).

Lead Like the Great Conductors

Now really, don't read on until you've watched that or you won't get most of the rest. It's 20 minutes if you just watch it straight through (took me at least an hour because I was taking crazy amounts of notes).

I love to learn about leadership. I love how leadership principles apply in so many many ways. In fact, I'm even very slowly working on a book about leadership. I have a few posts I've written about leadership that have never been posted with the book in mind. Maybe I don't want bad feedback on something that is so deep in my heart. One post even involves a great conductor I saw in person once. Maybe I'll have to share that since it's so closely related to this.

So about this particular leadership lesson from Itay Talgam. I want to lead like the greats, especially when it comes to leading my children. Unfortunately today was a Riccardo Muti kind of day. How things slide down that slope I don't know. I don't have the excuse that I was trying to tell a story as beautiful as Mozart's.

About my own mother. She's not one that most would call a great leader, but she's someone I've been trying to study and figure out for a very long time. I read something a few months ago that opened my eyes to her leadership a bit, and I wish I had written it down, but as it stands I'll have to try to find it again. I don't remember her ever being like Muti, or most of those conductors. I would put her in the category of the last Bernstein clip. I don't remember a lot of lectures or instruction from her during our growing up years (maybe she's rolling her eyes right now at my great memory), but like the orchestra, I guess we knew what was expected, how to make it great, and we did it. And she has five awesome children to show for it.

I am not that parent! And far too many days I find myself sweating by the end. Do I look at the "trombones" too much?

I don't know if I'll ever be a Berstein, but maybe I can at least make it to Kleiber.

"You have the plan in your head, you know what to do, and you become a partner to create the sound as you take the ride."

"When it's needed, the authority is there." (Poor trumpet guy!)

"He's there 100%, but not commanding, not telling what to do. Rather enjoying what the soloist is doing."

Thank goodness tomorrow is another day. There's always another concert to play. It's their story that needs to be nurtured and told, not mine. Hopefully the conductor shows up more prepared. At least they haven't fired me yet!

(For your viewing enjoyment, here's the full version of that last Bernstein clip.)

Creativity Slump?

It's been over two weeks since I last posted. Sad! That doesn't mean this is the first thought I've started to write up since then, but it's the first one that I'm determined to post. There is another close. Maybe.

Jamie read me a quote in "The Summer of the Great-Grandmother" by Madeline L'Engle that might account for my lack of producing something enlightening enough I feel worth publishing.

My creativity is being drained. When I was pregnant with Josephine, a friend who was a successful dancer and the mother of several children told me that a woman cannot be creative in two ways simultaneously, and that I would not be able to write while I was carrying the baby. Obviously she could not do a tour jete when she was five months pregnant, but I saw no reason not to go on writing, and write I did. The odd thing is that nothing I wrote during my pregnancies ever came, itself, to term. It was like practicing finger exercises, absolutely essential for the playing of the fugue, but it did not lead to the fugue till after the baby was born. I do not understand this, but I do not think it coincidence.

I'm teaching a writing class to 13 9-11 year olds at a homeschool co-op every Thursday. In many ways I wish I were taking the class instead of teaching it. Isn't that strange? If I'm teaching it, I should know more than the kids I'm teaching. Well, to a point I do, but as the teacher I don't actually have to produce a book through the course of the class like the kids do. They've all been writing these wonderful stories, and while you could say I'm improving my teaching skills, my being inspirational skills, or my "look, you just have to write a story, okay?" bossy skills, I haven't done an ounce of writing myself. I am not a fiction writer, so it could be helpful to be forced into it.

I did sign up for a fiction writing class in college once. I thought it would be a great opportunity to practice that, while before my writing had been about research, analyzing literature, or essay writing. I showed up the first night of class. The teacher started off by saying that the next week we need to bring a sample of some fiction we had written, or get something written to bring that next week. I went into shock at that point. I thought I was there to LEARN to write fiction, not walk in already knowing how to write it. I don't think I heard another word said, and I quickly dropped the class.

In the book I'm using for the co-op class, it lists six reasons why people do not write:

1. The have no guarantee of readers.
2. They have no deadlines.
3. They don't have an editor.
4. They don't know how to edit their own work.
5. They don't write often enough.
6. They have too little or no regard for the reader.

I think the two biggest that apply for me are deadlines and not writing often enough. I know my mom at least reads this so I have a reader, after all those English classes I hope I can spell and turn a phrase or two without sounding too terrible, and I do keep readers in mind and try not to make things too boring. Keyword: Try

My pal Karen and I have talked about starting a writing group which would certainly alleviate all the problems above, but with just the two of us interested so far, a writing duo isn't nearly as exciting as a writing group.

Anyway, dear reader, since I do have regard for you, I'm going to close this up. But if you don't see anything posted for a while again, just assume that my preggo brain is working to create elsewhere.

Progressing

I'm really impressed with all we've been able to accomplish this week. Tuesday and Wednesday we got amazing amounts done. Thursday we were gone most of the day so not much. Friday and Saturday not as much as the first two days, but still progress, beautiful progress. It's such a great feeling! Don't come over expecting everything to be spotless because we still most definitely live here, but I won't be nearly as anxious about people discovering what lies beneath.

Speaking of progressing, other things are progressing as well, including another secret I've been holding onto for a while. Secret for about 13 weeks actually, though the secret has been progressing for about 18. Here's a clue:

Didn't help? Maybe this...

Still no? How about this:

NUMBER SIX that is.

If from all that you still don't know what the picture below means, maybe the Motor Mouth post will help clue you in.

I Have a Secret

I have more than one actually, but this is a really good one. It's one I just learned about, and I can't believe the difference it's making in our home. I'm smiling more because the world is a brighter more beautiful place.

Ready for this?

Kids can work.

Really! I again have to thank Lara for inspiring me in this. Work in the morning, learn in the afternoon. That's what we've been doing. Well, yesterday when we really started we were on such a roll that I just worked them as long as I possibly could, which for some ended up being most of the day. We cleaned out the fridge, under the kitchen sink, washed windows, cleaned above the cupboards and washed everything up there, and cleaned the bathroom. Woo hoo! Then we did all the regular frontroom/kitchen cleaning, sweeping, mopping, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, etc. etc. All this was done with very little complaining.

This morning we got the lazy susan cleaned out and washed (honey, why do we have four bottles of molasses?), and the coat closet emptied so we can figure out what's too small or who has been handed down more jackets than they actually need, and got some things in the backyard headed to the trash.

We still started our day with our morning devotional, some history, and a newer addition to our morning, reading from the "Book of Virtues." Then off to work.

I've always worked harder with someone working along with me, so that's a bonus. The other bigger part of the secret is that when I'm sick of part of a job, I can pass it on! (Don't tell the kids.) I can also say things like "Oops, you need to get that spot right there a bit better."

Now that you know the secret, try it, you'll love it!