Everything Falls Apart

Everything Falls Apart

I've been struggling lately. A lot. With a wide variety of things. I've been dealing with a lot of hopelessness. I'm not one to throw a pity party, and this is definitely not the place for one, so that's not what I'm looking for. But, I ran across this video today, and it really spoke to me. I decided to share it.

I spent 5.5 months this year living in a tent on the Mendenhall Glacier, near Juneau, AK, working at a dog sledding camp. Sled dogs and dog sledding opened up a whole new world to me. Changed my life forever. So, the combination of this song, with the dog sledding footage means a lot to me. 
When I'm with the dogs, I feel alive again.

Everything Falls Apart

by: Great Elk

You start to figure out you’re never going to figure anything out.

It's never a little.

Everything falls apart.

You start to figure out that love will never cure your loneliness.

You're still alone.

Talkin' to yourself.

And I'm waiting for this winter to end.

And I'm looking for hope again.

Cuz I feel alive. I'm alive again. I'm alive again.

Snow Globe Cupcakes

Snow Globe Cupcakes

Recipe from SugarHero. I got this off facebook. Didn't find it anywhere else online, wanted to pin it to pinterest, so had to publish it here in order to do that. After I try this out, I'll let you know how it goes for me. 

From the Author:
Here's the recipe for the snow globe cupcakes with gelatin bubbles that crashed my site! Enjoy, and don't forget to LIKE my page for more great recipes!

Gelatin Bubbles

For the best results, I highly recommend using platinum gelatin sheets for this recipe. If you are only able to find a different grade of gelatin sheet, you might have to tweak the gelatin/water ratio, or do a little experimenting to see what works best for the type you have. If you only have access to powdered gelatin, be aware that the bubbles will be cloudier and not as transparent. I've included brief instructions for making these with powdered gelatin in the note below.

12 sheets of platinum (230+ bloom) gelatin (Found HERE on Amazon)
Ice water
8 water balloons
Wooden skewers, tape, and styrofoam
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Fill a bowl with ice water. Add the gelatin sheets one at a time, making sure that they are separated and not in a big clump, and submerge them in the cold water. Let them sit and soften for 10 minutes.
2. Once they are soft, remove the sheets from the water and gently squeeze out all the excess water back into the bowl. Place the wrung-out gelatin sheets and 3 tbsp of water from the bowl into a small saucepan.
3. Heat the gelatin over LOW heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the gelatin is melted. You are not trying to get it hot, so watch it carefully and remove the pan once the gelatin is mostly melted! If it is warm, let it cool until it is no longer warm to the touch, but is still fluid. If it starts to set at any time during this process, return it to low heat briefly just until it becomes liquid again.
4. Blow up 8 water balloons to your desired size. Securely tape them to long wooden skewers. Spray nonstick cooking spray on your hands, and rub your hands together until most of the oil is absorbed. Gently rub your hands on the balloons, transferring just a little oil to them—they should not be shiny or greasy at all, or the gelatin won't stick. You should be able to do several balloons before spraying your hands again.
5. Transfer the gelatin to a small cup or bowl, narrow enough so that it will be fairly deep when you dip the balloons. Dip one in the gelatin entirely, turning it until it is nearly covered—it's okay to leave the part near the knot/skewer uncovered. Let the excess gelatin drip back into the bowl, and once it has stopped dripping, stick the skewer in the Styrofoam board. Repeat until all of the balloons have an initial gelatin layer.
6. Let the balloons set for about 10 minutes, until they are no longer tacky to the touch. If necessary, re-warm the gelatin just until it is fluid, but do not make it warm again—if it feels warm, let it cool to room temperature. Re-dip the balloons a second time, then place them back on the Styrofoam board. Let the gelatin balloons sit at room temperature for about 24 hours. If you want to speed up the process, you can place them in front of a low fan, which might cut your time in half or even a quarter.
7. The balloons are done when they feel hard, like plastic or egg shells, when you tap them with a fingernail. They should not feel soft at all. To release them, cut a hole in the balloon near the stem. Ideally, the balloon will shrivel up and release easily, pulling itself away from the sides of the gelatin. If it doesn't pull away right away, don't fret and don't pull on it yourself. Set the balloon aside and work on the others. The balloon will naturally shrink on its own and gradually pull away from the sides. It might take 5 minutes or it might take 45, but eventually the balloon will pull away from the gelatin.
8. Gelatin balloons can be stored indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature.

Note: To use powdered gelatin, combine 1 part unflavored powdered gelatin with 2 parts cold water. (1/4 cup gelatin and 1/2 cup water will yield about 8 balloons.) Whisk the gelatin and water together, then let it sit and soften the gelatin. Once the gelatin has absorbed the water, gently heat it up in the microwave in short intervals. Try to swirl the gelatin rather than stirring it, since stirring can lead to a lot of air bubbles. Once it's entirely melted, let it cool to barely warm before dipping the balloons as described above. Reheat the gelatin as necessary to get a dippable consistency.

Snow Globe Cupcakes with Gelatin Bubbles
8 cupcakes, baked and cooled
1 cup frosting of your choice
Flaked coconut
Snow globe-appropriate cupcake toppers like snowmen, Santas, reindeer, trees, etc
8 gelatin bubbles

1. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a round tip, or a plastic bag with a hole cut in the corner. Pipe a thin ring of frosting on top of the cupcakes, leaving a margin around the edges so that the gelatin bubble can enclose the frosting entirely.
2. Roll the top of the cupcakes in the flaked coconut. Add a cupcake topper or two to each cupcake—if it helps, you can glue a toothpick onto the back and use that the secure the toppers to the cupcakes.
3. Trim off the bottom of the gelatin bubbles, making a hole big enough to fit on top of the cupcake around the frosting. Carefully place a bubble on top of each cupcake. The bubbles will last indefinitely, but if they're exposed to a lot of moisture in the refrigerator or the frosting, they might eventually start to soften and lose their shape.

Farfar is Awesome

My Farfar is Awesome

The term "Farfar" is Danish for Father's Father, or Grandfather. I'm blessed enough to have a couple of really great grandpas (see here, here, and here for more on my other grandpa). If you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of them. This post is dedicated to my Farfar. It also serves as a family history post. I'd just like to share some articles that he has written.

The one shared below can be found here.

Another can be found here.

The Puzzle of a Life-Containing Universe

Thoughtfully, the psalmist asked:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honor.” ¹

It’s a good question: What makes humans so important in the universe? Or does it only appear so to us humans? If the laws of nature were even slightly different, humans could not exist. Our universe permits life—even intelligent life. Why? That’s the puzzle. Is the universe specifically designed for life and for us humans? If the universe is designed for us, can we demonstrate it? Do the sweeping discoveries of physics, astronomy, and cosmology help answer the question? Can science ever provide a solution to the puzzle?
Although our universe obviously contains life, the natural laws and physical conditions that permit life are very restrictive. If the laws or constants of nature were even slightly different, no life could exist.² So why does our universe have exactly these exact conditions?

Current cosmological discoveries have provoked a great deal of scholarly thinking about the remarkable fitness (the so-called “fine tuning”) of the universe for life. From the big bang, the universe has expanded to become big, old, dark, and cold—the precise conditions necessary for the formation of stars and galaxies, for the consequent production of the chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium that are necessary for complex molecules, and finally for life itself. 

Scholarly opinions cover a wide range, but current solutions to the puzzle of a universe with life fall into three groups: (1) The universe just happens to be that way; (2) God created the universe to support life; or (3) Out of a multitude of universes (a multiverse)³ at least a few will have the conditions that permit life, and our universe is just one of these. (The English physicist Paul Davies has considered this problem, and imagined and analyzed other “possible” universes, in a number of accessible books.)⁴ Perhaps there are other possibilities as well.

Each of these scenarios solves the puzzle for those who accept that solution. Nature solves the problem for those who accept as a brute fact that the universe “just happened.” God solves the puzzle for those who believe the universe was designed and created by God. The multiverse solves the puzzle for those who can imagine a multiverse. 

Much as inquisitive humans might desire a decisive solution to the puzzle, science cannot now and likely cannot in the future provide evidence for an ineluctable choice. Perhaps we are asking too much. What then? Each person will choose what seems most reasonable or most likely to give meaning to life. One physicist and author writes of his belief in a way that resonates: “For me, the real meaning in life is that we can create our own meaning.”⁵ Latter-day Saints would probably add something like: “With the benefit of revelatory guidance.” The Saints have good reasons to be optimistic about the possibilities. 

LDS scholars who follow the theistic cosmologists to a God who created the universe may be disappointed in the god they find there. It is very difficult to see how the attributes or characteristics of a postulated god that created the entire universe and therefore is somehow “antecedent to it” and “outside of it” can be known from explorations of nature alone. The god of the theistic cosmologists therefore remains an unknown god, and that brings precious little guidance or comfort. 

More directly, Mormons (as LDS Christians are often called) understand that God, our Heavenly Father, is a God of revelation. The Prophet Joseph Smith stated: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another.”⁶ Church leaders have spoken of the necessity and actuality of revelation in the affairs of the kingdom of God on earth, and the reception of revelation is explicitly extended to all servants of God through a modern revelation.⁷ In the authorized book, The Articles of Faith, James E. Talmage writes: “We have no record of a period of time during which an authorized minister of Christ has dwelt on earth, when the Lord did not make known to that servant the divine will concerning his ministry.”⁸
 
Arguably, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would not exist, and member readers would not be members of that church, except for their acceptance of the striking claim that the Church is built upon divine authority by direct revelation.⁹ That remarkable claim sets the LDS Church apart from other Christian churches and has earned the Church a good deal of opposition. But, in LDS theology, God is a personal Being—as revealed to his prophets and as described by Jesus Christ as “my Father,” “your Father,” and “our Father.” The God of revelation exercises watchful care over his creations and loving guidance over His children. God has clearly stated his goal: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”¹⁰
 
By no means do I suggest that divine revelation solves the puzzle of the origin of the bio-friendliness of our universe, but I do suggest that revelation provides a means of knowing about God and his relation to human beings that cannot be found from scientific discoveries. Mormonism is exciting to me for its acceptance of all truth, including ideas flowing both from modern revelation and science. The divine plan of salvation and happiness, remarkable in its power and scope, matches the grandeur of the universe.

———

Notes:
¹ Psalms 8:3-5 ² John D. Barrow, The Constants of Nature: The Numbers that Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe (New York: 2004, Vintage Books, 2004). ³ Fred Adams, Our Living Multiverse (Free Press, 2002). ⁴ Among these are God and the New Physics (1983), The Cosmic Blueprint (1987), The Mind of God (1992), The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life (1998), and The Goldilocks Enigma (2007). ⁵ Michio Kaku, Parallel Worlds (New York: Anchor, 2006), 358. ⁶ Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.347 ⁷ Doctrine and Covenants 68:2-5 ⁸ James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 270 ⁹ For example, Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 9 ¹⁰ Book of Moses 1:39

——————————————

Hollis R. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Indiana University, earned his Ph.D. in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1960, and taught at Indiana University from 1963-1994, chairing the Astronomy Department from 1978-1982 and, again, from 1990-1993. He served as the dissertation advisor for seventeen successful doctoral candidates, received numerous research grants (as principal investigator) from both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), authored more than ninety research articles in refereed journals, edited or co-edited three scientific books, and served as a member of the board of directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Professor Johnson presided over the Indianapolis Indiana Stake (1973-1979) and the Bloomington Indiana Stake (1979-1982), and served as a counselor in the presidency of the Louisville Kentucky Temple (2004-2007). He served a mission to Denmark as a young man, and then returned with his wife to serve there again (1995-1997). Subsequently, they also served missions in Accra, Ghana, from 1998-2000, and in Beijing, China, from 2002-2003.

He and his wife, the former Grete Margit Leed, from Horsens, Denmark, are the parents of three sons and three daughters, and they have twenty-four grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.

Posted December 2009

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

Maren's Chocolate 

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

I missed blogging in the months of June and July due to my working at scout camp for the summer. (Not that I write anything regularly anyways....) 

But, I'm back!

While thinking about how I need to be doing homework and getting my internship portfolio done so that I can actually receive my diploma, I decided that I needed to create something of the chocolate variety. After putting some thought into it, I decided to make a recipe for chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. Three of my favorite things in one place!

Delicious!

Because of how delicious it was, I've decided to share the recipe with you.

Ingredient List:

2 - 8oz. blocks of cream cheese (I used fat-free for less calories, and it still tasted pretty great!)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup peanut butter (you can add more or less depending on what you like)
16-18 Reese's peanut butter cups, smashed
9" chocolate graham cracker crust (I used store bought for the sake of time, but you can also make this at home. One recipe can be found here.)
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F
Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with beaters until well blended.
Add eggs and blend smooth.
Add the milk and peanut butter and beat until smooth.
Add 12 crushed peanut butter cups and mix in until they are evenly spread throughout mixture.
Pour mixture carefully into the crust.
Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes or until center is almost set.
Refrigerate 3+ hours.
Garnish with remaining crushed peanut butter cups.
Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Drizzle over entire cheesecake.

Enjoy! 

End of May

End of May 

Michael Buble

It is nearly the end of May. This song title and lyrics seem to apply pretty well to life right now, so I thought I'd share.

USU Graduation

USU Graduation

Figure Skating

Figure Skating

This semester at Utah State University, I was enrolled in a beginning figure skating class. I wish I had a video of us on the first day to show you for comparison. The majority of my class could barely skate forward without holding onto the wall. By the end of the class, we could do all kinds of fun tricks.

Below, I'll address some of the benefits of figure skating. But first, I would like to share a video of us performing in the local club's spring show. The theme was "Celebrations." Each group represented some occasion that we celebrate throughout the year (Easter, Valentines, Christmas, Birthday, Wedding, etc.). As we were performing as a group, we had to have a relatively simple routine that only included moves that everybody in the class could do. Maybe I'll post some footage of just me some time in the future. I start in the back of the line on audience left. White sweater, black vest, red hat, scarf, and gloves.

 
Benefits I have seen from participating in figure skating:

1. Flexibility - The last time I was able to touch my head to my knee while stretching was almost 10 years ago. Just skating (with no extra stretching) for about 3 or 4 weeks got me to that point again.
2. Strength - It takes some amount of strength to skate forward/backward. Even more strength is needed for skating on one foot, spinning, and performing other tricks.
3. Balance - I notice a significant improvement in my balance. Even off the ice. It's something that I can feel, but it's hard to explain.
4. Confidence - There is no other activity I have ever participated in that has increased my confidence more than figure skating. Watching myself improve so much over such a little amount of time has been very rewarding.