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Ginger Molasses Cookies Recipe

2.5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 c minced crystallized ginger


1.5 sticks butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
1 egg (room temp)
1/3 c molasses
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1.5 tsp ground giner
1 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp cloves

Beat butter and sugar together. Add other ingredients mixing together with dried added last.

Refrigerate overnight. Roll spoon sized amounts into balls and coat with sugar.

Bake 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

It's been far too long

Well here we are again. Months since a last entry and I'm wondering around looking for motivation and spark to write again.

I'm down to less than nine months until my 40th birthday. I still have stuff on the to-do list: get my glasses fixed, buy a new lawnmower, enroll in a Roth 401(k) fund, get some new parts for the vacuum (not that the current parts are sufficient; it's just with filters you want to change them from time-to-time).

Oh and I have to get a Tennessee driver's license. My Missouri license is still good through October 2016. I believe Tennessee law requires new residents to get their license within 30 days. But it's quite a deal: you have present all your paperwork and go out to the license office midway between Kingsport and Bristol.

I can remember the last two times I got my driver's license renewed. My memory is that I went on September 10, 2001, at the state office building in downtown Springfield. Most folks can't remember what happened last week, much less when they renewed their license. But I walked into the state office building with a backpack (I believe I had ridden my bike there. That was back when I was still producing the 10pm news and had my mornings open. I did a lot of bike riding then.) So I was a bit surprised I could just walk into that building with a backpack and not get screened, stopped or otherwise inspected. I remember thinking that because everything changed the next day.

The next time I got my license renewed must have been 2009. My license photo isn't the best, but that's not without trying. I believe anytime someone points a camera at you, you should smile big because you never know where that photo will end up. I can recall many missing people over the years whose photos their families provided were horrible, unflattering and downright awful. A person lives a long time and THIS is the photo you want on TV? So I make a point to smile proudly and boldly whenever someone says, "Cheese!" (Of course, that's changed too. I suspect I won't  be allowed to smile whenever I get to the Tennessee driver's license office. Facial recognition technology requires a face somewhere between grimace and pout. That's not my sweet spot.)

A driver's license photo is a good snapshot of where you are in the life. For me, it's a little too much weight and too much fat under my face.  Like so many starting blocks I've set up in my head, this was supposed to be the launch of something new, a new commitment to health, fitness, and exercise. I tried and tried and tried and.. you get the picture.

30 down, 470 to go

A month ago, I marked a 500 day countdown until my 40th birthday. It's an odd thing, but figured why not go big. I had great intentions on daily blogging and pictures and all that. 

I haven't hit any of those marks yet. But the daily reminder of #500to40 reminds me to do something, something new, something different, something to get me to where I want to be when birthday #40 rolls around. I suppose writing down my goals is a good place to start. That's probably why I started at 500 - it gives me 135 days to really solidify a one-year-out plan.

I've started in small ways. I got my watch fix. That was something left undone for months. Loose ends like that are surely on my list. I need some replacement parts for the lawn mower and the vacuum. I probably have more stuff to sell. Cleaning out the third garage is there. Getting rid of baggage is also something I aim to do.

I've having some clarity about my pro wrestling happen over the last few days. I still really enjoy it - all kinds from all countries and time periods. And I've gotten rid of dozens of discs in the last year, downsizing my collection that I've had for 20 years. Now I'm thinking about chucking it all in favor of freedom. I thing selling my childhood toys over the last year has helped me be more comfortable with that. Just letting that stuff go because it no longer holds a place in my life. I'm not sure but I think watching the WWE network on and off over the last week for free has had something to do with it. The element of scarcity is no longer there. You no longer have to hoard tapes/discs away because it's all there, just a click and nominal fee away.

This is me at 38 years, 8 months, and 17 days.

Just Trying

I admit I haven't been very good at writing here often. There's so much going now: the daily Bible reading I'm making a priority; doing the T25, which I'm a few days behind on. Now Zeke's got soccer.

Plus like many bloggers I've found Twitter and Facebook to be the best place to share my thoughts, in a concise, contemporaneous way. And I get immediate feedback over whether what I said was funny or smart. That's what I shoot for: funny or smart. 

Live events like the Oscars or sporting events create great opportunities for those. 

Zeke is in the Jr Academy soccer program. That's higher cost, purportedly higher level of coaching program. It's the first time I've not been his coach. A little sad but I also think he was only going to learn so much from me; now he's got Declan Jogi to take him to the next level. Zeke appeared to hold his own at the first practice Monday. We'll see how he does in games.

It's Friday

The week ends with Missy getting sick. She tested positive for strep - so she left work early to convalesce.  She may use the peace and quiet to get some writing done on her book. She's been plugging away at a novel based on the infertility struggle of a fictional prince and the American girl he marries. It's a great read so far and the movie will be tremendous. We both have high aspirations for it. But step one is getting it done.

Back to letting it go - I'm in the midst of trying to repair the Playstation 2. I don't know if it was bumped by playtime in the basement or just naturally occurred after 10 years, but it began to show a "disc read error," a not uncommon occurrence for the console. The fix is to break into the thing and to mess around with the laser's adjustments. I like hacking stuff as much as the next guy but there's no going back if you mess up something else.

I've devoted far too much mental energy on the project so far. Fix it or junk it? Do I replace it? After all, my gaming time has been hovering around nil for some time. I've dabbled in playing with or on behalf of the kids, but I haven't gone on a NCAA Football binge in some time. Parenthood is mostly to blame, but I would also attribute it to the presence of other devices and distractions like smartphones and tablets. 

Still, I've had it 10 years and have accumulated records on memory cards. So I've been shopping around to find a deal on a used console. Not feeling the need to upgrade to a PS3. But we'll see. 

Learning to let go

The song of the moment these days is, "Let It Go." It's performed by Idina Menzel and comes from the movie Frozen. Zeke and I saw it as part of a birthday party at the Tri Cities 7 theater. I was not as enamored by the film the way others have been. It starts as a classic Disney musical, but then the third act is really an action-adventure film.

I have been letting go of stuff for about five years now. It started with the Great Recession. (Wow - that auto capitalized itself)  I was thinking about all the stuff in the attic in Missouri I had been carrying around for years: comic books, baseball cards, stuff from my childhood that I simply did not want to part with. I also started letting go of papers, receipts and other stuff I had been holding onto for too long.

Since then, I have been phasing out lots of stuff. It was especially important after we moved to get rid of stuff that we should not have moved at all. Old toys, electronics, plenty of wrestling stuff. My mom brought me all the old toys she still had - I've systematically sold them off on eBay. The proceeds have paid for soccer seasons, toys for my children and the occasional indulgence for me. I've nearly reached the end of the pile. Nostalgia only goes so far. My capacity to enjoy those things anymore is limited and its best they be put into the homes of people who can enjoy them.

Now with the stuff I have there is a recognition that it's just stuff. I recently cracked the screen of the iPad on which I am writing this. A year ago, I cracked the screen of my iPod touch. I'm more disappointed in myself that I was not more careful, but they still work and it's just a replaceable thing.