The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1189528
C-4 Wednesday, December 4, 2019 The Press-Dispatch HOME LIFE TO ADVERTISE: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: ads@pressdispatch.net Visit: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Deadline: 5 p.m. on Monday Youth First Today by Jaclyn Durnil, Youth First, Inc. EGGNOG SPRITZ COOKIES MEALS IN Monica's MINUTES Share your favorite recipe! www.facebook.com/mealsinminutes Monica's Meals in Minutes PO Box 68, Petersburg, IN 47567 mealsinminutes@pressdispatch.net FACEBOOK MAIL EMAIL By Monica Sinclair Now that Thanksgiving is over, the countdown to Christ- mas has begun. I thought I would do something new this year and do a different Christ- mas cookie recipe each week so that you will never be short of treats to make this holiday sea- son. You can give them away as gifts or keep them for yourself as an extra treat while you are wrapping presents and decorating the house. This week, I'm going to include a cookie that has one of my son's favorite fla- vors, eggnog. Enjoy! INGREDIENTS Cookies • 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix • ½ cup butter, melted • 1 egg • ½ cup all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon rum extract • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg Icing • ½ cup powdered sugar • 1 ½ teaspoons milk or 2-3 tsps of eggnog • ¼ teaspoon rum extract • Red and green decorating sugars, if desired DIRECTIONS 1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg, flour, 1 teaspoon extract and the nut- meg until soft dough forms. 2. Fit cookie press with desired template. Fill cookie press with cookie dough; press cookies onto un- greased cookie sheets. 3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool com- pletely, about 20 minutes. 4. In small bowl, stir powdered sugar, milk and 1/4 teaspoon extract until desired consisten- cy. Drizzle over cookies. Sprinkle cookies with colored sugar. Source: bettycrocker.com "If you can learn to love yourself and all the flaws, you can love other people so much better. And that makes you so happy" (Kristen Chenowith). Why is it so difficult to love our- selves? Basically, the short answer to this question is that we were raised in a society that didn't teach us about self- love. This may not seem very impor- tant to some, but self-love is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Loving yourself provides you with self-confidence, self-worth, and in gen- eral, you feel more positive. If you can learn to love yourself, you will feel hap- pier and will learn to take better care of yourself. Looking in the mirror, most of us see a lot of different flaws and remember too many past experiences and failings to love ourselves. The less you love yourself, listen to yourself, and under- stand yourself, the more confused, up- set, and frustrated you will be in life. When you begin to love yourself and continue to love yourself more and more each day, things slowly will be a little bit better in every way possible. Unfortunately, self-love isn't always easy. Accepting the pain and allowing yourself to be honest with who you are is a big step to loving yourself. Forgive yourself for past actions and things you are ashamed of doing. Carrying a lot of negative emotions like jealousy, disgust, and rage can have a negative impact. We need to learn how to accept not only the emo- tions that create love, joy, and happi- ness but also the ones that cause fear, insecurity, and anger in our lives. While we need to learn how to ac- knowledge and accept the pain with the love, another step is reconciling with a cold and unopened heart. Ask- ing yourself if you fully love yourself can be very difficult because you must accept your flaws and faults. Love is something we choose, the same way we choose anger, hate, or sadness. We have the power to forgive someone who has hurt us in the past. We can learn to finally heal from some- thing when we can forgive. We can al- ways choose love. Learning to love yourself leads to better self-care. Examples of this could be taking a break from time to time and accepting that no one is perfect and things happen. Another example could be saying no to others when you really don't have the time or energy to say yes. We of- ten do too much for other people be- cause we want to please everyone. We can forget to look after ourselves and then we become overwhelmed. Today is the day you can love your- self completely with no expectations. Making the choice right now to choose your own love is the most powerful healing force you have. This column is written by Jaclyn Durnil, MSW, school social worker for Youth First, Inc., a local nonprofit ded- icated to strengthening youth and fam- ilies. Youth First provides 59 Master's level social workers to 81 schools in 10 Indiana counties. Over 39,000 youth and families per year have access to Youth First's school social work and af- ter-school programs that prevent sub- stance abuse, promote healthy behav- iors, and maximize student success. "You have five minutes af- ter checking in to ask for a refund. Requests after five minutes will not be grant- ed." Blinking, I read the sign again as the motel cashier charged my cred- it card. Well, this doesn't bode well. How many peo- ple had demanded a refund within the first 10 minutes of seeing their room before the place decided that this five-minute limit had to be implemented? "Smoking or non? " the motel cashier asked me through the bulletproof win- dow. "You still have smoking rooms? " I asked. She laughed. Then cack- led. Then rolled her eyes. Then harrumphed. Oh, jeez, she's totally going to give me the room with the dead body inside. We had pulled over for the night in Nowheres- ville, USA, stop- ping our 10 -hour drive to see fami- ly for Thanksgiv- ing. The night had gotten off to a rocky start. Last-minute work had gotten us off to a late start. Fast food had gotten us off to unset- tled stomachs. The DVD player for my young kids had broken. There had been traffic and bad weather. The fighting had been at a fever pitch. My husband had been falling asleep at the wheel when he had finally conced- ed to stopping at a motel. We had pulled over at the first exit. I had gone inside and asked whether the mo- tel had any rooms. The mo- tel worker had laughed. Of course they had rooms. The laugh itself had been unsettling. Is this the Bates Motel? I asked the cost. "It'll be $50," she said. But she said it in a way that made me wonder whether I was ex- pected to haggle. I said the cost was fine. The worker almost looked disappoint- ed. I'm definitely getting the room with the bodies. "One adult? " she asked. "Two," I replied. "And no kids," she said. "Two," I replied again. The worker turned to me and screamed, "You can't get a single for four people! Are you cheating me?! " "I, uh, didn't ask for a sin- gle," I stammered. "You're getting a double," she said. "That's $54." "OK," I said. She harrumphed again. When I was finally hand- ed the receipt through a ro- tating window, it was time- stamped two minutes pri- or. I had three minutes to get to the room, search un- der the bed for the boogey- man and the closet for mur- derers, and get back to the front office to demand my re- fund within the five-minute time limit. I ran to my car, hopped in and yelled to my husband, "Room 42, second building on the right! Go, go, go! " He didn't look up from his phone. I looked at the clock. "What are you doing? " I screamed. "Checking my Twitter," he responded nonchalantly. "Babe, we gotta go! There could be bedbugs! Creepy stains! Dirty linens! Chalk body outlines! " "OK, just let me finish this tweet." "Drive! " My husband looked at me and drove to our room. I jumped out and ran inside. I flipped over the blankets. I turned on the bathroom light. Closet light. The only dead body I saw was a cock- roach. The five minutes was up. My husband carried our sleeping daughter into the room and put her on one bed. My son crawled into bed with his sister. My husband got into the other bed and instantly fell asleep. I lay awake won- dering when the five-min- ute rule was implement- ed. What did the people who asked for a refund find with- in these walls? My son couldn't sleep. He was uncomfortable. I told him to get in bed with my husband. He did, and with- in seconds he was snoring. I got into bed with my daugh- ter and instantly knew why my son couldn't sleep. There was no support. The center of the mattress dropped so deep it nearly touched the floor. My daughter and I rolled into each other. I struggled to crawl out. The bed couldn't hold my weight. I decided to get a blanket from the car; I'd sleep on the floor. When I left the room, there was a truck parked outside. It looked as if it had survived Armageddon. A layer of crusted dirt coated the entire vehicle in a crys- talized white. The bed of the truck held chain saws and unrecognizable machinery. I hurried back into my room and lay with my eyes open all night, slapping at the bugs crawling on my body, unsure whether they were real or imagined. What am I thankful for this year? Surviving. Like Katiedid Langrock on Facebook, at facebook.com/ katiedidhumor. ǦǦ ǯǨ ǣǢǦ ǢǦǢ ǢƬǢǢǢ ǢǢǢ ǢǢ ǨǨ ZZhd/KE^ηϯϬϰϬϬϬϬϰ ϴϭϮͲϰϴϲͲϴϭϲϬŽƌϴϭϮͲϰϴϲͲϲϭϵϳ &ŽƌŵŽƌĞŝŶĨŽƐĞĞ ǁǁǁ͘ĂƵĐƟŽŶnjŝƉ͘ĐŽŵ/ηϭϴϳϳϲ EŽƚZĞƐƉŽŶƐŝďůĞ&ŽƌĐĐŝĚĞŶƚƐ ϵϬϴϰϱϱϬEKĚŽŶ͕/EϰϳϱϲϮ ͕ ǦǦ ǯǨ ǣǢǦ ǢǦǢ ǢƬǢǢǢ ǢǢǢ ǢǢ ǨǨ ZZhd/KE^ηϯϬϰϬϬϬϬϰ ϴϭϮͲϰϴϲͲϴϭϲϬŽƌϴϭϮͲϰϴϲͲϲϭϵϳ &ŽƌŵŽƌĞŝŶĨŽƐĞĞ ǁǁǁ͘ĂƵĐƟŽŶnjŝƉ͘ĐŽŵ/ηϭϴϳϳϲ EŽƚZĞƐƉŽŶƐŝďůĞ&ŽƌĐĐŝĚĞŶƚƐ ϵϬϴϰϱϱϬEKĚŽŶ͕/EϰϳϱϲϮ ͕ Learning to love yourself Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock The five-minute motel HOUSE FOR SALE CALL: 812-766-0490 Three-bedroom, two-bath brick home with a two-car garage, enclosed sunroom, plus a full basement and a fireplace on 2½ acres in a nice subdivision. 263 W. Crestview Dr., Petersburg $200,000