A Post for the Mama

By special request....of my mother...I bring you this post.

As you may or may not remember, I've attended four childbirths in my life. (Same family - four kids.) During childbirth #2 and its accompanying 21 hours of labor, I spent a lot of time staring at a sign in the hospital room. It had a variety of faces drawn on it and below each, the explanation of what said face meant. This was supposed to help us interpret our laboring friend. (Personally I just took my cues from the degree of hand squeezing and the intensity of the crying, but I can see how cartoon faces could be of assistance.)

My Mom has mentioned that I have a variety of facial expressions and wanted me to do a post on the many faces of Bekah. So...in case you aren't sure what they mean, I thought I'd give you a little guide.
1. HELP!!! (Seen most often when touring the south of Florida in my bathing suit without my ID.)

2. Now listen here, Missy!!!!

3. Check THIS out! (Meaning the pen. Come on, people.)

4. Oh look! I've gotten myself in yet another awkward situation so I'll just laugh my way out of it!

5. So close.

6. YUM!!!!!!!

7. Rebel in action. Don't tell.

8. Please don't let me kill anyone.

9. Whew.

10. Watch it, buster.

11. What's my next line????

12. Can I have another one of those brownies??? (That will only be meaningful to you if you remember the story from Jonathan and Austin's open house.)

13. Brrrrrr.

14. Shoveling is for the birds.

15. Are you KIDDING ME????!?!!?!?!?!!!!!!!

16. It's a good little day.

17. Please don't make me go.

18. This is a bad idea.

19. Don't mess with me. I haven't percolated yet.

20. Seriously?

21. Focusing......focusing....

22. Fear.

30 Days of You and Me: Day Nineteen

* I interrupt my post to share a link with you. I don't normally do news story links because...I don't normally read the news! But someone posted this link on Facebook and I thought it was a "good" piece of news, so I wanted to share it. It's about a former IWU student who now teaches music at a struggling, low-income school in Indianapolis. They've been invited to sing at Carnegie and the article is about the massive financial obstacle they face. I remember this student, Spencer. He spent a lot of time in our office talking to our secretary. Great guy. I'm proud to read about the work he's doing, and I think you'll like it too! Okay...back to day 19. *

It's been so busy here in Bekahland that it's been a while since I wrote a 30 days post! Alas, we've hit a slow spot in the happenings of life, so I bring you day nineteen: a talent of mine.

My talents are many. Most of them are not things that will earn me much (okay, any) money nor will I win an award for them. But they are many.

I have a talent for being a giant embarrassment to myself. Say...for instance...when I was shopping in Penney's yesterday and my giant Mary Poppins purse whacked a mannequin as I walked past. I instinctively reached out to steady her and, well, let's just say I grabbed a really inappropriate location. Super. Right there in the main aisle of the store with dozens of shoppers milling about...I felt up a mannequin. And a headless one at that.

I have a talent for saying things that make me want to amputate my own tongue. I don't remember if I blogged this when it happened, but within the last few weeks at work, I got ahead of myself while talking to a parent on the phone at work. I needed to put him on hold while I checked something and this is what came flying out of my mouth: "Hold on just a secs." (Say that out loud for its full effect.) Good grief.

I have a talent for being a complete klutz. A couple of weeks ago I tripped over an ice cube in my kitchen. That's pretty special, Bekah.

I have a talent for finding myself in some interesting predicaments. Like the time I got my car stuck in a car wash. Oh wait. That happened twice.

And then there are my real talents. You know...like writing and scrapbooking...cooking and hospitality...giving backrubs and listening to my friends' stories. The things that make me...me.

So that's me! What about you? Do you share any of my extra special talents? :) Please, oh please if you've tripped over an ice cube, you have to tell me!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was, of course, Mother's Day. I always try to spend the day making it up to my Mom for making her go through labor on that one Mother's Day a few years ago. :)

This year my heart was extra sensitive to how fortunate I am to still have my mother here to talk to - even if we do get cantankerous at times. (Not that this would ever happen.) One of my friends recently lost his mom and hearing his perspective on this day made me realize the importance of valuing what I have so I don't live with regrets later.

I hosted the family meal this year, which consisted of hot chicken salad, dinner rolls, fruit and dip, veggies and dip, and cupcakes. I thought it was very colorful; my high school home ec teacher would be proud.
Cut some fresh lilacs from the yard to pair up with the Mother's Day balloons - and that was about the extent of the decorating.

The orange cupcakes were very springy and Mother's-Dayish, but they weren't the greatest. I preferred the frosting.

My sister Julie drove up to have lunch with us, and my Aunt B came too. And of course, Mom and Dad. I told Dad to take off his coat and stay a while but he said he was cold. Sorry. It's May. I refuse to run the heat.

My Mom HATES having her picture taken. How in the world did she get stuck with a Bekah-razzi daughter then? :) This was her solution. I think she lives next door to Tim Taylor.

Her gift from me: flowers. I bought impatiens because I thought they best described both our personalities. HA!

Aunt B, Julie, and Mom - who was, of course, THRILLED at the opportunity for more photos!

I wanted a picture with Mom, so we ended up taking a whole series of them to try to get a good one. She started with her Wilson impersonation again - and here are my thoughts on that.

My favorite of the FIVE takes:

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday afternoon was Rachel's open house. Notice that I did much better than I did at Jonathan and Austin's open house...took a picture of the cake and the traditional empty diploma frame! She had Mexican food at her open house and it was yummy.
* Monday was the first work day of the new month, so check out the new view:
Monday evening, I decided to dye my hair. (I did this because someone asked me during the day when my next color was scheduled. Not a good sign. LOL!) I decided to do it myself this time, to save money, but when I got to the store, this was the sign under many boxes of hair color:
Seriously? And people will buy the remaining boxes? Just because they're on sale? I bought a different brand. Bought blonde, put it on, went back in the bathroom 25 minutes later, and my head, y'all, was orange. I said NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I did NOT do this again!! Fortunately it rinsed out fine. Leave it to me to go orange twice in my lifetime.

* Tuesday night I was so excited for Biggest Loser Makeover Night! I haven't talked much lately about my favorite shows, but I'm still faithful to the Biggest Loser, and my favorite show every season is the makeover show. I sort of felt their victory this time, because as I'd scrolled through some of my own pictures from last year, I could actually see the huge change in my life and I know how much happier I feel now.


* Wednesday was, as you saw, Braeya's birthday...the big FIVE. Apparently turning five is exhausting on a variety of levels:
That was how I found her when I came home from work. (I wasn't kidding when I said this is her house and I just live here.) Wednesday was also my sister's birthday...happy birthday to you!!!! And it was the fourth anniversary of the Greensburg tornado. My brother in law posted some pictures of the town now - looks so good!

* Thursday evening I went to Ivanhoes with Rachel. I'd been craving a strawberry shortcake forever and it finally worked to get one. Oh my word. These are the best shortcakes on the entire planet.
* Friday, IWU hosted a simulcast to the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast held in Atlanta. Three of us from our office were able to go, and I enjoyed it. There were some great speakers (like Dave Ramsey and John Maxwell), and I learned good stuff (including random trivia about climbing Mt. Everest...which I will likely never do). AND I won a Starbucks gift card. I never win door prizes. It was great!

* Saturday was very busy. Among the activities...I went to my friend Llita's book signing! She and I have the same job - and we both write on the side. This year she's published two children's books, and she had a signing here at a store in town, so I went over to check it out. And now I own two new books! Congratulations, Llita!
And then I came home and cooked my fool head off for Mother's Day lunch. I succeeded in preparing a dinner that takes absolutely no day-of preparation, but it sure took a lot of day-before prep!

Books I am Reading: Reading along in Sparkling Gems from the Greek. Re-read another toe-stepping chapter in In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. And sadly did not finish...but made good headway in The Preacher's Bride.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: As the Bible says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but looking back, I have to say my favorite God-moment this week was Friday evening. I was out for a walk (hurt my knee, so running's on the back burner at the moment) and spent some time praying about a situation. As I so boldly offered God my perspective, He reminded me that it's pretty arrogant of me to tell Him what I do and don't like about His plan. Didn't love the humbling, but love knowing He's at work.

Update on Last Week's Goals: Every now and then a week brings things you just don't expect. They're not always bad, but they sometimes are a better use of time you'd previously allocated elsewhere. Such was the case for me this week. As a result, I didn't finish Jody's book. And I got one of the two writing goals completed. (It was the bigger of the two and had the closer deadline.

Goals for the Coming Week: I have some big decisions ahead of me, and I'm aware that I need to be spending some serious time in prayer. Since I didn't get last week's goals finished, I'll carry them over to this week. I'll try to finish Jody's book and knock out the other writing goal!

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

The very first recipe I ever posted on this blog was my favorite pancake recipe. And I still love it and use it all the time - for myself and all the Pancakes with the Princess meals. And in fact, it is used in this recipe too! This is just the ultimate twist on pancakes.


I found this recipe on the It's a Keeper blog. It's one of my new favorite blogs to use for recipe hunts. I made these for the first time when I had Ronda over for dinner, and she and I fell in LOVE with this recipe. It takes a little bit of extra time beyond the prep for regular pancakes, but TRUST ME. You will be so very glad you took the time. These will revolutionize your pancake life. I'm so not even kidding.
The Recipe


** In addition to what is listed below, gather all the ingredients for your favorite regular pancake recipe. This is the link to mine. **


1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar
2 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 Tablespoons milk

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth. Microwave on high for 10 second increments until it is soft and can be squeezed through a bag. Transfer mixture into a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.

Pour pancake batter onto hot griddle. Pipe cinnamon mixture onto batter in a swirl shape. When pancakes are lightly browned, flip and cook until done.

Using the hand mixer, mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and milk until smooth and pour the icing into a Ziploc bag. Squeeze it over the cooked pancakes.
Here are the ingredients listed above. The pancake ingredients aren't shown.

I actually slightly melted the butter first and then added the brown sugar and cinnamon. (I also only made half a batch because I only made half a batch of the pancakes.) I learned not to completely melt the butter or it will be too runny to work with when piping.

I stirred them all together with a spoon, making sure to blend the softened butter in well. It made a really thick paste - not quite as thick as peanut butter.

I just spooned it into a sandwich bag and crammed it all down into the corner.

I slightly softened the cream cheese and then poured the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in with it.

I started out stirring with the spoon but did use the mixer (I was on the phone and forgot to take a picture of that part) to end up making sure it was smooth. Then I poured it into a baggie. It was pretty runny. I could have used a little more cream cheese.

This is the pancake batter. Because this recipe took more time to make than plain pancakes, and I have been making it for company, I learned that I can mix up all three parts (the cinnamon mix, the cream cheese mix, and the pancake batter) and just leave them until it's time to eat - and then I just start pouring. Works great!

Warning: These pancakes are VERY rich. So it's probably a good idea to make them smaller. I was able to get three in my skillet, which is not very big.

After some bubbles began to form on the top, I snipped the corner of the baggie and swirled on the cinnamon mixture.

Then I flipped them. (Please note I do not always flip gracefully. Oh well. I'm not trying to win a magazine cover.)

When flipped back over, here's what they look like. The cinnamon mixture sort of caramelizes. It's amazing.

I scooped them onto a plate, cinnamon side up and drizzled on the cream cheese mixture.

Happiness on a plate. No syrup needed. Seriously.