Life is... A bed of roses!

I have to admit that maybe I am a bit obsessed with my future. I mean, I spend way too much time thinking and planning what I am going to do. Pretty much wasting precious moments that could be better invested in the here and now. And in all my plannings, I find myself fearful of what lies ahead. "Well, what if God plans something for me that I won't like?? Where am I going to go to college? I want to travel, but how would that ever be possible? What if God wants me to marry someone that I think is ugly and weird? How am I ever going to publish my books?" Sad things like that consume me. No need to feel pity, I am just a hopeless creature. Don't worry, I am seeking a psychologist for this problem. Just kidding!! It was a joke!! Okay, but seriously, one of my besetting sins is not trusting God with my future. It can be so hard!! Sometimes I feel like God is teasing me, and has a really good sense of humor. Other times It seems that I am just waiting, and God is feeding me tidbits, but witholding the big picture. So, when I found this poem today, I really liked it. It just fits. You know, Anonyomous is a very sensible and wise person...read and be amazed:

The Rosebud

by Anonymous

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower God opens so sweetly,

In my hands would fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design;

Then how can I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust Him for His leading,

Each moment of every day;

And I'll look to Him for guidance,

Each step of the pilgrim way.

For the pathway that lies before me,

My heavenly Father knows;

I'll trust Him to unfold the moments

Just as He unfolds the rose.

Winter Writing...

It's a cold winter evening in January. My well proportioned cat is asleep on the couch, and my father is asleep upstairs. Today was a sunshiny day. My dear mother is sweeping the floor, and I am going to work on my book. Yes! It's called "Spring Will Not Forget", and it promises to be a most interesting work of fiction. Soo... I am off to the wonderful world of imagination. Maybe sometimes I will post excerpts from this most worthy of literary works...

Cream Pie...Part Two

It was told unto me that blogging etiquette requires a recipe accompanying pictures of eatables. So, for thee, Mrs. Edgren, thou mayest enjoy this humble recipe.

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

Recipe taken from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

1 Baked Pastry Shell (recipe following)

4 eggs divided

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

2 1/2 cups milk or half-in-half

a little under one cup of chocolate chips

1 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 pint whipping cream

<>Prepare Baked Pastry Shell. Separate egg yolks from whites. Discard whites.

<>For filling, in a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in milk or half-in-half. Add chocolate chips right after mild is stirred in. Cook and STIR over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Slightly beat egg yolks, and gradually stir in 1 cup of hot filling into yolks. Add egg yolk mixture to filling in saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Keep filling warm.

<>Whip whipping cream until quite stiff, adding enough powdered sugar to sweeten.

<>Pour warm filling into Baked Pastry Shell. Cool, until room temperature. (If you are in a hurry, put pie in freezer to chill faster) Spread whipping cream over chilled filling. If desired, you can grate some chocolate chips over the top. ;o)

Baked Pastry Shell:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening (I used half butter, half shortening)

4 t0 5 tablespoons cold water

O In a medium sized bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.

O Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water at a time over the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork, just until moistened.

O To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.

O Trim pastry to 1 1/2 inches beyond edge of pie plate. Fold pastry under. Crimp edge as desired.

Can She Bake a Cream Pie? Maybe...

Okay, so I have never made a successful cream pie. The sad truth comes out. Yes I can cook without poisoning my family, and bake berry pies that are enjoyable, but I never could attain to a cream pie. It has always nettled me that my brother could make a good one, not just mediocre, but a really good one. There is something very wrong here, that a guy can make a pie, but a girl can't. SO... last night I rolled up my sleeves and attempted it once again, under the guise of 'treating' my dad to a dark chocolate cream pie. To my complete and utter disbelief, it actually worked!! Following are the pictures, forever marking this most momentous day in history.

Voila! Dark Chocolate Cream Pie! Yes, it is lopsided!! Thank you for noticing. I was hoping the background would hide that little deformity. I have never had a lopsided crust, so it is a mystery as to how this happened.

Is There Any Resolutions Out There??

It is the great and awesome NEW YEAR!! Now, comes the time of fulfilling our resolutions.

Ah, I do love a new year. It is like the blank pages in my journal, I don't know what will be written yet, but the mere thought fills me with excitement. Like Anne of Green Gables, there is hope because, "Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it." 2008 is fresh, with no mistakes in it.

Just for a random bit of interest, some of our friends went to a wedding on New Years' Eve. Wouldn't that be a lovely time of year to get married? Hey, at least you would never forget your anniversary, right?