Cookie Puzzles

Last night was the first night a long while that I woke up unable to sleep because of work.  In my dreams I was trying very hard to fit heart cookies of assorted sizes perfectly into a box.  They weren't shift around, and if the box tilted, they were not to disentangle themselves and break.  No matter how I tried I could not fit them in.  There was still too much space in the box.

Sometimes when my mind goes like this, nothing can stop it but to go down to the shop and solve the problem in reality.  As dreams go, it stemmed from reality:  the boxes had arrived the previous day, in the wrong size, and the cookies I had already painstakingly baked.

In church on Sunday, I was volunteering in the age 3-4 room where puzzles are big deal.  They don't like it when you put the puzzle together for them so you watch their precious little hands move pieces around and around until they fit just right.  Some give up, but some work at it, even if it takes awhile.  And I sit beside them, ready to help.

Nicely, there is a set pattern for each cardboard puzzle; a picture to follow and only one way to complete it.  Unfortunately, this makes it very disappointing when, after all of your work, a piece is missing.  At least with cookies, there are different sizes to work with - at least in my batch.

I realized while laying their looking at all the possible mathematical arrangements of cookies on my bedroom ceiling, that there are several things in life that involve putting pieces together to fit.  And I do not mean linen closets.  People tend to fill in those missing places in our puzzles, sometimes surprisingly.

In running a business, I know where I am gifted and where I am terrible.  An employee or two, may be gifted at those places in which you are lacking.  Voila! Puzzle pieces put together.

Marriage is a huge example.  Two people from different ways of life, come together, and with hard work, they make it fit.  When it's working, it feels like a well-oiled machine.  When one is down, the other is up (and can pick their partner up!)  When one is tired of the kids (and this never happens to me), the other can step in.  And when it comes to extended families, sometimes it's the grandmother who steps in take up the extra piece, or an aunt or a really great babysitter (or wow! even a housecleaner)!

But I know the biggest piece of the puzzle in everything is our Heavenly Father who is watching over us and divinely guiding us to the right people for the right needs.  He wisely designed us with unique gifts and talents, whether to help run a business, sit in Sunday School, or be a part of a family.

And since it is He who made my never-sleeping brain, I put it to you:  Who is the biggest cookie in your box?

Tips for a Good Sleep

Summer holidays have started!! The wedding crunch has momentarily paused for family trips and outings, and a few wonderful sleep-filled nights.

Looking back on the past few weeks, I have noticed a few things that helped me sleep better:

1. Hire an assistant. She comes in when I need her, preps decorations, tortes cakes, and ices cookies. She also seems to wash the dishes when I'm not looking so my tools are always clean and ready. She helps me find missing items, which I am always misplacing (i.e. measuring tape, veining tool, scotch tape, my brain...) and most of all, she lets me talk through cake designs, time planning, and puts my mind at ease so I can sleep that night.

2. Have a beer and hug a teddy. Unfortunately I can't find a teddy big enough to hug me back, but I found one stuffed dog that seems to do the trick. I tried to crawl in bed with my daughter once but she kicked me out.

3. To block out night noises, turn the fan on high. But don't point it at you, it makes your joints hurt. (I don't know if that is actually true. My grandpa told me that years ago, so it could just be in my head. But my joints sure hurt after a night of fanning - even my teeth ache).

4. Plug the nose of the snorer beside you. Or move around a lot so they wake up, grumble, and go sleep somewhere else. "Don't bother trying our daughter's room - she doesn't like visitors!"

5. Finally, read a really boring book. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson was a real yawner. Sorry, Helen. Not my speed. You'll be asleep in no time. And if you happen to wake during the night like I do, pull out your trusty flashlight (which you've hidden from the kids) and reread the page you were just on. Knocked out!

Happy sleeping! Feel free to post any of your sleeping potions :)

Erin

Awake on Purpose

[I am watching Jimmy Fallon tonight, and I don't think I have ever watched a whole show before. They are shaking gloves off to disco music...ANYWAY.]

I can think of two reasons in my life that I WANTED to stay awake all night: one, Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncle's house; and two, the 30Hour Famine in high school. Actually, I think I did stay up once all night with friends at a youth retreat once, but that had to do with a boy...

Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house happened once in a while. By the time the 24th came around, my sister and I had raided all of mom's closets, found almost all of our presents, and couldn't wait to get them in our hands. But being at my cousin's overnight was a slumber party!! Unfortunately, my cousin was never on board, tired of us easily, and escaped partway through the night to sleep in her mom and dad's room.

The 30 Hour famine, I believe, is still going on, and was not originally meant to keep kids up all night, but more to fast (except for water and special drinks) and raise money for world hunger. But get 15-20 teenagers in a church or school together for that amount of time, and you are bound to have a slumber party!! The thing about staying up all night and not eating is that eventually your brain goes wonky, and the space around you tends to bend a bit, causing mild dementia. But maybe that's just me. Headaches are common, hallucinations not so much.

So tonight I am again staying up all night on purpose, this time to measure my "wonkiness" in hospital, and determine if indeed the space around me is bending, or that I just need less stress (and more sleep).

[Okay, now they're playing beer pong.]

So what am I in for tonight? Mr. Man's made a list, which I am ignoring. Something about changing lightbulbs maybe :) So far, I have pulled things out from under the couch, unpacked my son's backpack and now here I am. I have plans, don't you worry, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'm not baking.

Moving furniture, cleaning house, exercise, art project...but right now, it's watching Jimmy Fallon.

Sleepless in Stirling

Did I mention that I don't sleep? 2:18 am and I am up again. Friday nights of W.S. (wedding season) are the worst. I close my eyes and settle in, only to envision piping going through the sky, large rocks falling on cakes, or animals ravaging my kitchen. Tonight it was my husband changing lightbulbs dangling over the cakes - only it wasn't a dream. 11:45pm and he is changing lightbulbs.

So I went down, scowled at him, and went back to work, piping those dreams onto an actual cake.

When I was a teacher, it was Sunday nights that kept me awake. I'd procrastinate all weekend, and then at about 4pm on Sunday, the panic would set in and I'd have to do lesson planning, marking, reports, whatever, until the wee hours of the morning. Then the rest of the night I'd dream of everything I just crammed into my head.

There was a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon once that showed Calvin getting up for school, eating breakfast, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, etc...and then to wake up and realize he'd dreamt the whole thing! And now he had to do it all over again for real! With his tired little face he encompasses how I feel most Saturday mornings.

So here lies my list for tomorrow:

By 10am:

-bake 15 vanilla cupcakes

-ice in red buttercream swirls

-finish racing flags and add to cupcakes

-add eyes, lightning bolts, tire and hood details to lightning mcqueen

By noon:

-reattach flowers with royal icing

-prepare cake kit for delivery

-pipe green leaves

-deliver, picture optional

By 2pm:

-make strawberry bcream and ganache

-die ganache black

-torte, ice, cover and stack choc-straw cakes

-expect delivery of rose petals to attach

-take picture, deliver

-stack 4-tier (now piped) wedding cake

-attach flowers

-take picture, and deliver

Easy day, right? Let's hope I get each cake to the right place and the right time. Perhaps I will dream of that instead...

Sleeping in the Clouds

I don't sleep very much on Friday nights. I may go to bed at a decent time, or I may be up late, but when I get there, generally I don't stay asleep for long. I am armed with extra socks under my pillow, a sweatshirt on the floor , and a flashlight and novel from the local library on my nightstand. The extra socks are for when I am shivery and my feet inevitably get cold; the sweatshirt for nighttime walks in our cold, sleeping house; and the flashlight and book are for a brain distraction: a hopefully interesting (yet not interesting enough to keep me awake) story that takes my mind away from the stresses that are keeping me up. The flashlight is necessary so as to not wake up the snoring giant, Mr. Man, beside me. His solution to sleeplessness is not always welcomed...

Many times I have gotten up and made a carrot cake - usually one that is for a client the next day. There is something about the smell of the baking spices that calm my nerves. And the fact that I won't be eating any is good for my hips. I keep away from my mother's habit of nighttime eating. (Love you mom). I check on Facebook if anyone else is up and post that, yet again, I am up, baking at 2am. But the only one who really knows it is the cat and dog.

So I guess herein lies my question: what do you do for your sleepless nights, when you are worried about something, or your dreams are filled with what you did all day?