In the meantime

On the days I cook at Cornerstone, one of my responsibilities has been to make a dessert of some sort.  These desserts usually end up being some kind of bars or cakes.  Occasionally, I’ll make cookies, but not very often. Anyway...after having this responsibility for several years now, I’m slowly learning a few tricks to help make the job easier.  Here are two that I have used recently: Trick #1: When pressing stiff cookie-dough type dough into a pan for bars, do two things: *First, scoop (or crumble) the dough into multiple piles instead of just one big pile in the middle.  Having multiple piles of dough on the pan will make it much easier to press the dough into the pan—the dough will only have to spread a couple inches to reach the edges instead of all the way from the middle out to the edges!  *Secondly, use plastic wrap to help press it into the pan. A piece of plastic wrap slightly bigger than the pan should do the job.  Just lay it on top of the dough and

1.  With each stage, you think “This can’t get any better.”  And then you reach the next stage—and it is so much more fun than the previous stage. 2.   There are times when it’s okay to let the baby cry…and cry…and cry.  She’ll eventually fall asleep and wake up.  Chances are she’ll be much more civil towards you and the rest of the world. 3.  If you don’t like this stage…just wait it out.  It’ll change shortly. 4.  If you like this stage…enjoy it, because it’s going to change soon! 5.  A sick baby is no fun—the nights are the worst! 6.  Moms don’t have an “off” switch.  Dads do. 7.  Poopy diapers are all relative. 8.  Don’t be afraid to do that thing you thought you’d never do—it won’t be the end of the world.  The baby will be just fine and you’re no less of a mom because you did it. 9.  A lot of parenting is a matter of preference, not rights and wrongs. 10. How I parent my kid is going to look different from how you paren

We’ve all been around those people who are just naturals at having engaging conversations: they can talk about anything with anyone, they’re lots of fun to be around, and, most importantly, they make you feel genuinely important when you’re talking with them.  While talking may come easily for them, I don’t think they necessarily have a skill that the rest of us can’t also learn.   Let me explain: Recently, I was reading a book by Dobson on raising daughters.  He was talking about the importance of teaching our kids how to have a conversation (as compared to just talking.) Dobson gave a vivid illustration on how a conversation works.  This illustration has totally revolutionized how I think about what a conversation is.  I thought I would share it: Imagine conversation like a ball: the objective is not to play Keep Away with the ball, but to keep the ball bouncing from one person to the next.  So, here’s what playing Keep Away in a conversation would look like: Person