A Cinnamon Roll Kinda Day

Some days are good. Some days are not so good.

And some days just call for homemade cinnamon rolls. Yep, they sure do.

Days where the whisper of cinnamon sugar is in the air, beckoning you to roll up a pan of goodness, bake up a dozen pieces of heaven, and devour them all yourself. Or, if you're feeling especially selfless, to share them with your family whom you love ever so much.

Incidentally, some days are brownie days around our house too. Actually, a lot of days are. Cinnamon roll days are much fewer and far between, and must be respected when they arrive.

Today I heard the call. And I answered.

I think everyone has a favorite recipe that they love. Me, I'm more of a "It's What You Do With It" kinda gal. I'll try all manner of recipes, snatching a bit from this one and adding a skosh from that one. I love trying each one out to see if I can build my own Perfect Recipe.

The following recipe is one of those mismash conglomeration of multiple recipes. Is it the end all be all heavy weight champion of the cinnamon roll world? That's for others to decide. But it has become a favorite around here.

Dough:
1 1/3 cups milk                2 1/2 TBS butter
2 eggs                                3 TBS sugar
2/3 tsp salt*                        4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp yeast**

Filling: Mix together
5 TBS sugar             2TBS cinnamon + extra for shaking on

For brushing:
2/3 cup melted butter

*A trick I learned when dealing with thirds of things is this: 1/3 tsp is a heaping 1/4 teaspoon.
**I make so much bread around here that I keep jars of yeast, which make measuring a breeze. If you're using the packages, 1 packet is 2 1/4 tsp of yeast. I recommend buying yeast at the price clubs because it's cheap. As in 4 bucks cheap. And you get a brick of it. I keep a jar of it in the fridge and keep the rest tightly wrapped in the fridge so it's ready to go when I need to refill the jar. It stays good for a long time, is fresh when you need it, and is oodles and oodles cheaper than the packets.
Whew. Aren't you glad I said all that??

So, I cheat and use my bread machine to do this. Using that method, I add all wet ingredients and then add the dry stuff, saving the yeast for very last. I select the dough cycle, press Start, and sit back for an hour and half, which is when the dough will be done. Check your machine rules though because I know some require the dry ingredients to be put in the pan first.

If you're using the mixer method, activate your yeast first by warming up 1/3 cup of the 1 1/3 cups of milk. It should be warm but not hot. Add 1 TBS of the sugar, and 1 TBS of the flour, and then stir in the yeast. Let that sit for a few minutes until it gets foamy; at that point it's ready to use.
In a mixing bowl, mix your yeast mixture, eggs, butter, remaining milk, and sugar until combined. Add the salt and remaining flour until mixed. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic (I use the dough hook for this). Place your dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rest until doubled...(30min-1hour). Yes, I know that's vague. But dough will not be rushed. It won't be. When it's doubled, it's ready; if that happens in 30 minutes or 60, it takes what it takes. A good hint is to let your dough rise in a preheated LOW (170 degree) oven with a dish of water set on the bottom. If you have a proofing cycle on your oven, that's even better.

At this point, whether you used a bread machine or a mixer, you should be ready to create the rolls. To do this, roll your dough out into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon/sugar mix. Now, I happen to think that in a cinnamon roll the predominant flavor should be the cinnamon. It's a quality I admire about a cinnamon roll, actually. Anyway, if you feel the same way, you'll want to do this next step. Remember that +extra cinnamon part of the ingredient list? This is where it comes in. Sprinkle your dough with the cinnamon as much or as little as you'd like. Now roll it up like a jelly roll, from the long side.

Cut your dough into 1 1/2-2 inch wide slices and place them in a greased pan or pans. Cover them and let them rise. Again, I use my oven for this, preheated to 170 but turned off. They should double in 20-30minutes.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Start checking for over browning after about 10 minutes. Cover with foil if you feel they're getting too brown. When done, allow to cool. You can then glaze them with a milk/powdered sugar glaze while they're still slightly warm if you'd like. Sharing is recommended, but completely optional.

Enjoy!

           

Laundry Soap: Revisted

As you should all know by now (because I talk about it darn near constantly), we have made the switch to homemade laundry detergent. I can't say this was the easiest thing we've done; the call of the Laundry Soap Aisle is strong, my friends. It beckons with scents unknown, fun colors, and new formulas.

But I have resisted. I have been strong.

"So. You're off the merchandise?"

"Yes. Yes I believe so."

"How long've you been off it?"

"Going on 4, 5 months now, I think? Close to it."

"How do you feel since detaching yourself from said products?"

......So much better.

How wonderful is it to be able to say, "Oh! I'm out of laundry soap. Gotta go make some more!" And just like that, laundry soap galore. Out of my own cupboard. Whoa. It still kind of mystifies me that simple ingredients, all of which I have on hand, can turn into a product that I use all of the time. Magic.

It's cheap. It's easy. And it works. Really well. Actually, after you've seen just how well it works, how much like store bought stuff it is, you start to get angry that you paid so much for so long. Because they told you to.

"Here. You need this. You'll have to pay this. Seems like a lot, does it? Well, we don't know about that. It's magic you know. You should have to pay this much for magic in a bottle."

Much like his cohort in Oz, the detergent Wizard has been revealed as the greedy little man that he is.

And I won't pay him anymore. Na-uh.

An added bit of wisdom I've picked up through this: Fels-Naptha makes an amazing pretreater. It sure does. With two girls who use their clothing as napkins, and a husband who seems to do the same, I need a good pretreater. It's essential to me. By wetting and rubbing the bar directly on the stain, be it grime, grease, or gore, it comes out in the wash. And at .99 cents a bar, this is the cheapest stain treater I've found. I vote yes.

I'm also learning to use less of it. It seems like I should have to use a lot, since it's non-sudsing. But that's just not true. I've been trained to need bubbles and suds and foamy scents, but months of being free of it is showing me how simple ingredients can, in fact, simply work. And they do.

For those of you who have tried it, I wish you continued homemade laundry soap happiness.

For those who haven't yet tried it I ask this: why not give it a shot?

You can find the recipes for the liquid and powdered versions here:
caedanceandashlyn.blogspot.com/2011/05/laundry-soap.html

Happy Washing To You!

Thinking Clean

I ran out of all purpose cleaner today, in the middle of cleaning the kitchen.

There was a time in my life when this occurrence would have been extremely annoying and more of a hassle than anything else.

But no more.

When I threw out my store bought laundry products, I began to make my own cleaners as well. I've been doing this for several months now and am in love (if you can feel that way about a cleaner) with my All Purpose Cleaner.

Here's the recipe for those who may want to try it:

What You'll Need:
A spray bottle
1 tsp. Borax powder
1/2 tsp. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
2TBS white vinegar
1/2 tsp vegetable-based soap: I use Dr. Bonner's Castile Soap. Lavender, yum.
2 cups hot water.

What You'll Do:
Add everything to the spray bottle and shake. Now when you're talking about adding powders, this can be more of a challenge than it seems, depending on the opening to your spray bottle. I usually put the powders on a small piece of paper, roll it into a cone shape and then funnel it into the bottle. Then I add the rest of it. I tried mixing everything together in a bowl and pouring it the bottle once. Once. Did you ever make a volcano in science class? Yeah, it felt a lot like that.
Anyway, once you've got it all in the bottle, give it a happy shake and you're off.

This stuff works great on all hard surfaces. And the best part is that after cleaning a room with it, you won't feel like you've just sniffed glue for an hour. (That may not be a selling point for those who like sniffing glue, though).

And the even better part of the whole thing is that when you run out of it, like I did today? You just mix up another batch. Hooray! No fuss, no muss.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Day After Birthday Ponderings

I just spent a half hour typing out a wonderful piece on birthdays and how much they change from childhood to adulthood.

It was filled with humor, sarcasm, and wit. My favorite trio.

I had spell checked it.

Proof read and actually edited it.

It was golden.

It was great.

You would have loved it, I know I did.

And then in the midst of typing the title :" 'Nother Birthday", which may or may not have been a clever title, it went away.

Poof!

Gone.

I hit some sadistic combination of keys on my keyboard. You know the one; it's the kind you'll never actually figure out exactly other than to know that you sincerely hope you never accidentally hit it again.

In the blink of an eye.

Gone.

So you sit here reading this instead. Maybe it's not so glamorous. Not so sophisticated. But rest assured it's got feeling. Oh, just ever so much of it, typed right into all these words. Click-click-click-click. So much feeling.

And so today, the day after my birthday, I have decide to disdain technology.

Just A Glimpse...

It's one of those hot summer days that just begs for pool time. Unfortunately, neither girls are swimmers yet, and we haven't a local pool wherein to teach them. Consequently, Pool Time around here means dragging out the plastic one and filling it up.

It's funny to look at them in it right now, mentally comparing them to their younger selves. Today when they scoot down the slide, the resulting splash looks like it could empty out the entire pool. It almost does. Today their nearly 7 year old bodies take up the majority of the space; a far cry from looking like small fish in a big pond. When they were younger we would fill the pool up with an assortment of tub toys and play food from their kitchen set, but today I don't think there's really any room for that. They seem to be content playing Kick The Water Out Of The Pool, a staggeringly easy task for two so tall as they.

Looking at them in the bathing suits, I feel the reality of their growth like a slap in the face. Gone are the chubby thighs and pudgy bellies of toddler hood, replaced by long torsos and even longer legs of looming adolescence and womanhood. That word, "womanhood" when applied to my daughters feels like sandpaper across my tongue; abrasive, sudden, and not completely welcome. They're my babies. Even still,I know the end result of all this parenting is to have 2 beautiful women, mothers, and friends. Our gift to humanity.

It's just that it's going so fast. Too fast. Time is slipping by and I feel helpless to stop it, doing my best to hold up a hand and require a hug and a cuddle every now and again. Stopping them as they go along their merry way, growing up before my eyes, to remember it's okay to want to be with Mommy and to need me. I can still fix the boo boos, still soothe an injured heart. I can still be the one they turn to for a smile, encouragement, a hug.

Most of the time I insist on seeing them through the hazy gleam of the past; still little girls, still trying to outgrow each other in a neck and neck race that never ends. But in times like these, days when I can see them for what they are, I see how fuzzy the edges of the past truly are. They are traveling over the gap between Big Kid and Tween; getting ready to knock on the door of Teenager, and then Woman.

Time, it stops for no one. The only thing to do is to get acquainted with the present and to plant my feet firmly in the now. As for these two precious girls,  I have the honor of knowing where they've come from, the privilege of seeing who they're working on being now, and the excitement of watching them become the women they'll be.

I count my blessings as very many, indeed.

Searching For Harry Potter...

We're raising Harry Potter Fans at our house.

Yep, we sure are.

When the girls turned 5, we upgraded our bedtime stories to chapter reading out of books we decided they should hear. Harry Potter was at the top of the list because we were excited for them to hear the story. (And really, isn't that what makes being a parent so gosh darn awesome? You get to decide what books your kids will have to sit and listen to. Also, I can read in an awe-inspiring English accent, making it completely enthralling to listen to, I'm sure. But mostly, they listen because we've told them they'll like it.)

Our initial plan was to not allow the girls to see any of the movies if we hadn't yet read the book to them. We were pretty successful with that goal in the beginning; however, interest waned, and time flitted discreetly away.

Consequently, here looms the last installment of the series, ready to release in a little over a week, and we've only gotten through book 2, The Chamber of Secrets. So we've begun a Harry Potter Marathon at our house, gearing the girls up for our last opportunity to take them to the theater to see a Potter film released.

Here's what they've told me so far:
1. Harry was "cutest" in the first one. (I suspect that is because he appeared closer to their age)

2. No matter what the wizarding world can do, cars should most definitely not fly. Ever. End of story. (Clearly they've not seen Back To The Future II).

3. It would be okay to have a pet owl. "Can we have one, mom?" Nope. (End of story).

4. Spiders should not ever, ever, ever grow that big. "No, mom, they really shouldn't." I agree. Completely.

We're cruising our way through each DVD, the girls experiencing them for the first time, while Dan and I reminisce about where we were and what was going on in our lives as each was released. It's a family affair here.

.....and I still hate the spiders in Chamber of Secrets. Hate them.

This Anniversary

Thirteen years ago today I became Mrs. Dickinson. I stood before a pastor and vowed that I would cleave to this man, my friend, until death us do part. I meant every word I said.

I still do.

I know it's cliche to say it, but the truth is I am amazed we're at 13 years. Where did it all go? We've had our ups, our downs, goods and bads; life has a way of wriggling into the cracks in the fortress you thought you built so well, doesn't it? What I love about our marriage is that the bad times and struggles drive us closer together rather than further apart. He is honestly my best friend; of course I need to lean on him when the going gets rough, and I consider it an honor that he feels the same for me.

We understand each other.

Of our 13 anniversaries thus far, we've had an eclectic variety of celebrations. We planned get aways for a few of them, but that was before kids, when there was extra money to be found in the budget to allow that. Since the girls have completed our family, we've included them on our day, making them a part of the celebration of it. We choose a fancy restaurant and all get dolled up for it. They know to be on their very best-of-the-bestest behavior, and off we go. Maybe it's not the uber romantic anniversaries of the past, but there is something sweet about celebrating a marriage that has created 2 precious people with those 2 people.

There was the year we moved on our anniversary. That just plain sucked, I must honestly say. I don't remember how it worked out that we planned such an undertaking on that special day, but it did. Never again. Ever.

This year we're in the midst of a crisis with one of our before-children cats, Zoe. She was diagnosed with diabetes last week and has been struggling since then. This is the topic of a whole other entry, Say It Ain't So, Zo. We've watched her continue to ebb and flow with the disease, desperately trying to figure out what treatment we could honestly afford. After much research, our decision today...TODAY...has been to put her down. Of course, it's Sunday and our vet is closed, and naturally tomorrow is the 4th Of July....leaving Tuesday as the Date.

I hate this choice, which was really not much of a choice to make at all, really. But she's not herself. She's weak, struggling to even get up the stairs. She's stuck down the basement all day and in the bathroom at night, unable to roam freely with her sister-cats because of accidents she's having. Looking in her eyes is like looking at someone who has fought a long hard battle and is ready to let go, but can't. She's so tired. So deeply, deeply, inhumanely tired.

And so it came to pass that I've spent the better part of our anniversary sobbing over the weakened form of our previously vigorous cat, (when, by the way, I had formerly decided NOT to shed any more tears over this), agonizing over a decision which feels more like some murderous plot, and feeling completely wracked with guilt over the whole entire thing.

Well, happy anniversary to us.

It's one of those times to cleave; and so I do. Dan is my friend, my comfort, my support, my encourager. He's standing beside me, attempting to calm his slightly neurotic wife, assuring me that this will be the best choice for our cat, and that we can get through it together.

Just like we always have.

Together.

As in, not alone.

I like that.

A lot.

Today is a day to celebrate that. Our togetherness in the good times and in the bad; to draw close when the choices are plenty and easy, and when they are few and hard.

Together.

In that sense, it is a Happy Anniversary after all.