Did I ever talk about chocolate chip cookies on here? If so then I'll do it again, because my friend Wren has been on a similar search as mine and I was thinking about posting... so her post kicked me in the pants.

I learned cookie making from my Grandma Huff. She made them basic, consistent and always had a piece of bread in the cookie jar to keep the cookies from drying out.

I started searching for the ultimate recipe when I got an email from my husband 2 summers ago with a link to the New York Times that said "Make me these, thanks". He normally is not demanding so I was surprised, intrigued and soon after, baking a batch. They were GOOD, but they required 2 kinds of flour and specialty chocolate. I like simple baking. I took away some good tips though.

Lots of other recipes were tried. Lots. They were all good, because they all had butter, sugar and chocolate chips in them.

Another recipe I found this spring was this one from Recipe Girl. She browns the butter and uses Alton Brown's chewy recipe. The dough was amazing and tasted a lot like caramel because it was very similar to making caramel (melting butter and adding sugar) , but I made these the night of Mike's birthday dinner and lost track of them and they burned a little. I will have to try them again.

Because I prefer art to science, it is no surprise what I came up with after trying a lot of recipes over two years. I have never found an ultimate recipe, but I have found some ultimate techniques. So here is my collection of Chocolate Chip Cookie techniques.

Key tips from New York Times

• Use the best chocolate you can afford (but I say if you can only get the store brand still go for it).
• Make your dough 1 to 2 days ahead, and keep it in the fridge.
  
• Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt just before you bake it. THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIP!
  

Key tips from Recipe Girl

• If you have time, brown your butter before you cream it with the sugars.
  

Key tip from my sister-in law, Michelle

• Take them out just before they are totally done. They will continue cooking as they cool. If you wait to take them out until they are done, then they will be too crispy.

Key tips from Grandma Huff

• Use Nestle Toll House recipe
• Make each cookie the same size so they are all evenly (I use a scoop like this)
• Put a piece of bread with the cookies to keep them from drying out.

So there you go Wren.

Oh, and I have the perfect snickerdoodle recipe. It is one I have made since I was 9. I'll post sometime soon. Not now. The recipe is in the kitchen, and if I go in the kitchen after all this talk I won't come out until I am covered in flour and have eaten about 2 cups of raw cookie dough.

LOST and a collection of links

I love LOST. People know this and many have asked what I thought of the finale that first aired a week ago tonight. This may seem like a late time to do this, but my husband was out the country and just got caught up. I had collected all of these links for him as they popped up on FaceBook and through my own searching and thought you all might like them in one place.

I think the important to remember with this finale is like all great great art, film, and literature, you can read all this stuff below and much more that is out there and still come up with your own interpretation.

Aloha to LOST special by Jimmy Kimmel: This is the link to the meat of that show. You should watch the alternate endings which are worth while for a laugh and also if you watch the interview with Matthew Fox, you will see Jimmy Kimmel's theory of what everything meant and it was a big play in my own interpretation of the story (though, I don't agree that it was all Jack's test).

Here is what the producers said to Diane Sawyer before the finale aired of what they hoped for fans to feel it also discusses Jacks neck bleeding throughout the season.

A lot of people were not only confused by the finale, but many thought that the credits that showed the wreckage had a huge amount of meaning, meaning that the whole show was not real and that as soon as flight 815 crashed they all died. That didn't occur to me, because of what Christian Shepard had said. I thought those shots were just nostalgic look back at how the show started . A blogger and the author of LOST companion guides named Nikki Staford from Canada wrote about how they didn't have those credits and discusses that showing the wreckage probably doesn't mean a thing. Then soon after ABC made an announcement that they added those last images to transition into the 11pm news.


Here is a video that sums up all the questions left unanswered. It actually drove me crazy because of his yelling.

Here is a link to read about the 12-14 minute epilogue that will come out in the DVD set (In August). It is suggested that it has all already been filmed and there will be a look at what life was like on the island when Hurley was in charge and Ben was #2.

Other links of interest:

• Really liked this one myself-Film School Rejects: Definitive Guide to What Just Happened

• 119 things LOST did and didn't answer

• A huge collection of all the Entertainment Weekly's articles and theories Totally LOST.

• Lostpedia~ The LOST Encyclopedia

• Dark UFO~ A huge fan site if all of the above has not satisfied you yet.

• If you like Pod casts there are many you can google. Here is the official one.

There is so much more. Leave a comment for your favorite links that I may have missed.

Even though I was on a blog sabbatical an average 3 people a day check to see if I am back writing yet. Well then this post must seem like the jackpot!

Also how are there so many comments that I never moderated. I guess those got sent to my spam. Sorry so many of you have commented since Christmas. I'll fix that asap.

I was thinking about my dream sewing room. A sun porch where I can get a tan while I sew, but also turn on the air conditioner or heater as needed. It is surrounded on three sides by hydrangea bushes in pink and white. It needs to fully outfitted with a Formica table for having friends over to craft at and other retro furniture in bright colors. Art covers the walls. Art is by Mickie and Michael Winters, my sister in law Melinda Spear Huff, and so many more artists I know and love. A little table for the girls to craft on...when I let them in this space. And also an espresso machine for lattes.

And a cat. My old cat, Sally (RIP).

Across the hall, of course is the office lined with vintage guitars and theology books where my man sits in a leather chair reading or playing guitar and Ginger dog sleeps on a bed I sewed for her.

Some of my favorite pictures of last year part 1...

I am so thankful for this past year. Here are some of my favorite memories. Lots and lots of pictures!

Dorothy's first moment with Maggie Sue!

Our first family picture.


Mike and his girls.

My family. In small, medium, and large.

Brooks, Jamie, and Mike in DC for the Sovereign Grace Worship God 09 conference.


Mike at Sojourn's CD release party.

...Again Mike at Sojourn's CD release party.


Our friends Lachlan and Ellory Sue with Dorothy at the Ems house.

4th of July with the Degraides and Montgomerys


This sums up my day sometimes.

I am so crafty I make people and quilts.



Grandpa and Grandma Huff with their grandkids and celebrating their 40 years of marriage.

I love this sweet girl.

Maggie Sue Courage

Halloween with the Lewis and Butlers.

Avery and Dorothy.

An outtake from our family portraits with my MamaDear, Mickie Winters. Yes those are pajama pants, with Mary Janes, with no socks.


These pictures were taken by me, Mike, Chuke Heeke, Michael and Mickie Winters, Chip Lewis...and if I forgot to credit someone, let me know.

I'll (try) to blog December pictures soon!

(Thanksgiving 09, the Huff cousins: Gracie, Dorothy, Noah, Sadie, and Maggie Sue)

I have found myself disenchanted by my blog. I think it's partly because I know people read it, but we are all too busy to leave comments most the time. I know this because I have 120 blogs on my feed that I read off and on, and I almost never get to comment on them. Another reason is because in case you are not aware, I have 2 babies 2 and under! And RA. So there you go.

Anyway, I am still here. And I can't make promises about updating, because I know I'll fail at those promises. So keep on clicking over. Chances are you'll get a surprise now and then. When I do post!

My mom and dad in about 1967.

Let's play catch up!

Here is a family pics of my parents 40th anniversary party the last weekend in September.

Mom and dad's community group amazingly donated much of the food and services to have this party and we had family and friends from many chapters of their life help celebrate.

This site is under construction for a few days. Check back for updates and new links!

• I should clean up my links on this blog. I know that some don't exist anymore.

• Everyone I know likes baked beans. They have always been disgusting to me. I wonder if this recipe would change my mind.

• We recently watched Freaks and Geeks and I think it is one of my favorite shows of all time. Except I kept relating to the parents more than the teenagers. Yikes old lady Cosper.

• In a conversation with Mike I kept saying Tyler Perry meaning Tyler Florence.

• Anyway I was talking about it because I always want to like coleslaw because Mike loves it, but I can't discuss the issues that broccoli and cabbage have with my digestive system. It wouldn't be lady like. So I LOVE butternut squash and Tyler (the chef, not Madea) has a butternut squash coleslaw. We are getting ready to make it for lunch right now. Mmm.

• Speaking of fall recipes, Tera has some here. Yum.

• I have been making crepe paper roses for the last week for my parents 40th anniversary party. The first one took me about 15 minutes to make, but I can make them in about 2 minutes after all this practice. I love this kind of stuff, but finishing over 30 so far...it might be a long time before I craft with paper again.

My friend Megan said I should start a blog that documents all the crazy things that Dorothy says...Um I have a blog, I just forget about it sometimes. And the girl talks ALL THE TIME! I try to get them all down. So here is a round up of things Dorothy Jean has said in the past few months. Some I have put on Twitter, some I have put in a journal, and some I have remembered. Tonight I got it all together in one spot. This may be boring to everyone, but me, Nana, and Sue-sue, but oh well.

18-19 months old

• Watched Dorothy use her bacon as a spoon for her yogurt this morning and say, "mmm".
• Can sing A-Z of the alphabet! She just needs the "Now I know" part!
• We went to Wild Eggs for breakfast. When the hostess asked how many Dorothy said "Hamburger, uh huh!

20-21 months old

• "Dorothy's watching her first Oaks day, saying "Horse, horse, horse" (May 1st)
• Dorothy has been saying "Mama's awesome" all day. I guess I say "awesome" a lot, but it made my day. (May 7th)
• Our first one on one time after Maggie was born, we were swinging at my parents house, "Mama I'm just a baby. I'm just a baby too."

22 months old

• "Kelsey please". Wanting to see our friend was when she woke up in the morning.
• Can sing "Amazing Grace" & "Jesus loves me"!
• Watching Man vs. Wild with the family...Dorothy says, "Hey Daddy I want to eat bug!" and now we change the channel.

23 months old

• The end of an era when Dorothy stopped calling oatmeal "E-o" and now calls it "oat-a-meal".
• At bedtime Dorothy sang, "I want to be be like Jesus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Skinamarinki doo!"

2 years old

• Dorothy nicknamed Daniel Ems "Uncle Corn". She was saying good bye their family and that is what she called him. And this isn't a one time she's done it since.
• Dorothy greeted Michael Morgan by running away and saying "I do not know, I do not know him!" She does.
• After throwing up all day, "I want to sing, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so".
• "Mama, a cricket is an insect"

25 months

• Can sing two whole verses of "Abide with Me
• Last night, we gave her ice cream after dinner 2 hours later she was still in awake in bed and screamed "Yeahaw, yeahaw, YEAHAW!"
• After I put on a long dress today, Dorothy patted my leg and said "You make a nice princess".
• And tonight I said "What are you thankful for?" She said "Elbows, diapers, Dora toothbrush, and Diego".

You may have noticed in my Twitter update (to the right), read on facebook, or gotten and email (or all 3) that Dorothy was dehydrated again this week. Because it keeps happening, they are going to do some tests over the next week to make sure her electrolytes and kidneys are functioning properly.

So that was yesterday, which was one of the longest of my life. She woke up late and was non-responsive at times. At one point she melted. Like I sat her down to stand next to me and she just melted into a heap on the floor, then threw up, which she had nothing left to throw up at that point. She got a shot of phenergan while we were at the doc around 11 am, which kept her from vomiting anymore.

At the end of the day she had kept several ounces down and ate some starchy boring food. And then she said with a sigh, "I want to sing, Jesus loves me for the bible tells me so".

Praise the LORD that she woke this morning completely herself.

It's been good to see Mike's trust in God during all of this, he is a great example to me.

Maggie is sad that I haven't blogged in a while.
She wants me to change that.
I told her I would blog more often and that made her feel better.
Also, I have no idea why there is a line under the previous sentence and it won't go away.
Oh well.

I need to enjoy the fact that Dorothy wants to be exactly like me. Soon enough she will want to be exactly opposite of me.

I find myself having an easier time with microbloging on Twitter/facebook than I do writing longer blogs here so I added my updates to the right. Enjoy!

My sweet girls in all their cuteness. It seems that M scratches herself each week no matter how often I trim those nails and D (my climber) gets a new bruise more often than that.

Links

Here are some links that I have found in the last week or so.

These encouraged me as a stay at home mom:
Staying-balanced-while-life-is-full

7-ways-to-find-motivation-at-home


Fun places to waste time:
Awkward family photos (Mike and I laughed nonstop at these)

do u haiku? Flikr group

Recipes:
27 Pasta Salad Recipes

A year of Slow Cooking (I was excited about summer meals and variety in these recipes- it's not just roasted chickens)

Enjoy!

Last week at seven weeks.

And last night at eight weeks old!

Thankful for Maggie Sue

My friend Terri posts her daughter Ellory's prayers. So when Dorothy said her first unprompted prayer tonight I was inspired to post: "Jesus, Maggie Sue, Maggie, Thank you. AMEN!"

Dorothy's love has grown quite a bit since Maggie came into her world 8 weeks ago. Our prayer has been that they would be loyal to one another throughout life. I, a true nerd, looked up loyal: unswerving and faithful in allegiance. I feel like that sums up what I want for them.

The above picture was snapped with Mike's camera phone as we left from the hospital to bring Maggie home.

Just peeking in

Oh my. It has been a while hasn't it? Well you see I had a baby and all. However thanks to some dear friends Terri and Mickie who both recently joined the blogging community, I have been inspired to put blogging back in my life a bit again.

There have been times where I wonder what the point of blogging is, do people really need to know all this about me and do I really want people to know this much about me? What is the reason I have this online journal of sorts?

Mike and I had a really good talk about our life yesterday. We realized that I always say I want to have more structure in our life and he always wants to have more vision for our life. Then we realized that we basically mean the same thing. We both want to have a bit of a plan about how and why we do things.

He encouraged me that I am coming out of a really hard season: a taxing pregnancy (that was completely worth every second!) that also included some of the worst arthritis flair ups I've had, a long recovery from delivering Maggie, and the fact that we have two girls under two. But because we have been in some sort of survival mode since September, I am itching to put organization and structure in my life, our lives.

I am tempted to plan every detail of our life out on paper. Make charts of what needs to be done around our house, a checklist for what fun things to do this summer, and little lesson plans for Dorothy as she learns her colors, shapes, and numbers. That however is setting me up for failure. Sure I can make some lists, but every time I try to map our whole life on paper I just fail. So for the Cospers, we decided that casting simple visions of what our life could look like is the best way for us. Maybe not for everyone, but for us.

My vision casting is this...How can I live my life and glorify Christ in what I do. That means if I am a stay at home, which is my favorite job to date, then how can I do that and show Christ's love to my girls and those around me while we live our life? And as I blog about it how can I show Christ to those who read here?

So welcome again readers near and far. Faithful readers like Janie, Johanna, Alison, Emilee, Rose, and of course Ceece... oh and all you lurkers I may not know about. Leave me a note here or elsewhere and let me know if you are still reading. May I show you why Jesus Chirst is the most important thing in my life, whether I blog about changing diapers, sewing projects, or canning jam, I pray that I would not forget Romans 8: 1-4

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Maggie Sue

Dear loved ones near and far,

We are so blessed! On Tuesday, April 21st we got to meet our second daughter! She was born at 5:03 in the afternoon. She was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. We were so fortunate to have each one of our parents with us in the waiting room, while our dear friend Karen took care of Dorothy Jean.

Her name is "Margaret Suzanne Courage Cosper" We think we will often refer to her as "Maggie Sue"

Here is the long story behind her name if you want to know the details:

We loved the name Margaret and that it meant pearl. We loved the old fashioned feel of it as it went with Dorothy's name and that we could call her Maggie, which we liked paired with Dorothy as well. Her first middle name came to us around Christmas time when we spent time with our family. We chose Suzanne which for us was the combination of Sue and Ann: This would be a way to honor both her Grandmothers, Sue Ellen (my mom) and Carol Ann (Mike's mom). We also liked that it honored Great-grandmother Ann , and Great-aunt Jane Ann, Great-great-great-grandmother Sarah Ann,

Sue means Lily. Lily was a first name that we both really wanted to use if it wasn't so popular (Mike and Sarah are really popular and repeated so we try to avoid that for our kiddos). Ann(e) means gracious and merciful.

Now we went into the delivery thinking that Margaret Suzanne was going to be her full name. My delivery last time was a crazy one (click here to read about that), but I had experienced God's peace during that time. This time I was struggling with anxiety and Mike was reciting many of the verses in my last post. He also reminded me of the sermon that our friend James preached just two days before on Joshua 1:18

where it says "...Only be strong and courageous!" (Here is a link to that sermon)

and Mike also reminded me of

Deuteronomy 31:6
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

As he told me these truths over and over he suggested that we add that as a part of her name, to remind her and us that the Lord our God goes with us and he will not leave us or forsake us. I loved that.
So... Margaret Suzanne Courage Cosper
The meaning of her name is : Pearl, lily, gracious, merciful and courageous. This is a beautiful picture of what we wanted for our daughter


I wanted our family near and far to know and I thought I should write this down together all in one place!

For those of you who are checking for baby updates...She is coming no later than Tuesday at 3:00! Or he. I got a pedicure from this lady who through her thick accent said, "No, no, No! You having a BOY. The way you carry is a BOY." Well I saw girl parts, but you never know...

Here are the verses that I am meditating on these next few days as we prepare for her arrival! I thought you might pray them for me or yourself. Also, while your saying your prayers, lift up my friend Terra who is due soon too!

Scriptures for Maggie's birthday: New International Version

Philippians 4:4-8
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Joshua 1:18
...Only be strong and courageous!

Hebrews 3:6
But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Psalm 25:21
May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.

2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."