12 Yr Old Insomniac & his Closet Brownie Dough Stash: say what?
A 12 Yr Old Insomniac & his Closet Brownie Dough Stash: say what?
Tonight’s entry will be brief. I want to start to explain the purpose behind this blog and all that it will entail in the year to come. The next 2 posts should help to set the stage.
Some posts will be similar to journal or diary entries; others will be related to a specific target subject dealing with sleep and stress management or productivity, motivation and inner peace; but, I will try to do both at the same time as continuous theme of the overall blog is to be fun & informative as I do 2 things:
1. Share my story as I struggle to gain energy and productivity in my life while overcoming a serious, longterm problem with sleep that leads to too many lost days.
Here is a quick summary of some basics:
I believe, as do most everyone that knows me, that I am a lucky, talented, intelligent man that was given much. And, to those who are given much, great things are expected.
It is time to deal with my greatest obstacles and produce that which I am destined to do. I consider the sleep problems that have plagued me since I was young to be the biggest thing to overcome.
By the age of 12, there were doctor visits & diet restrictions –which lead to…
*(a quick story, I just must: I wasn’t allowed any chocolate, cola, sugar, caffeine as part of my sleep problem treatment, but I loved chocolate, so I used to get up in the middle of the night and make brownies from scratch, great recipe which I will share later – then not cook them, but eat a bunch of the dough, then use old containers to store them in my closet for later, clean everything up and put it all back in its place – all by hand, all in the dark, all quiet as a church mouse – the first time went smooth, but the 2nd time, my mom busted me and to this day, other than the 2 boxes of jello pudding mix gone, I don’t know how she could have caught me by deducing something was amiss the next day and investigating to the point of finding my ‘brownie dough stash hidden in the closet’)
…back to things in my life as the result of incessant insomnia by age of 12…
giving me my own room by re-arranging the house so my brother would have a separate room,
a 72+ hr no sleep self-experiment that I conducted without anyone else knowing,
a lightning quick, 2 am grandfather clock smashing,
and the advent of the ‘sleep vent air conditioning sleep tent’,
just to name some things from the early years of the insomniac of all insomniac’s battle against the the sandman.
So, you might or might not consider it ironic that my greatest desire is to work in the world of sleep. I have an engineering background and a desire to create a total sleep system that will help change the way all people approach sleep.
This part is of motivation and inspiration. I hope that soon, others will draw from my experiences a drive to change how they view sleep, change, adapt and prosper as never before. This is both advocacy and leadership.
The second part of my Sleep Guru Blog Story:
2. Educate and impart knowledge such that you, too, will recognize specific mechanisms of good and poor quality sleep in your life and all those around you. And, you will be equipped with the knowledge, mechanisms and tools to do something positive about it.
Then, as we all should do, we complete the circle that makes us special as humans:
First, be curious, explore, seek to understand;
then, learn, practice, grow, get better;
followed by, reach out, seek others, share, help, teach;
continue to contribute to your circle, your community;
take the lead, act as a leader;
and, as others learn and grow, we find ourselves once again exploring, seeking to understand how to be better, get better and the cycle begins again.
We become curious as to the next stage and how good life can become – day by day, and in every way getting better and better.
*(this little mantra is paraphrased from some self-help course or courses – I would say that it comes from either, or both, Brian Tracy or Earl Nightingale – any of the productions of these men, available in Nightingale-Conant productions or a variety of sales channels are very worthwhile….the original statement is from a study done in a hospital circa 1900 wherein the patients are proactively taught to self-affirm, self-program themselves each day by repeating over and over out loud, “every day and in every way, I am getting better and better.” These men saying this improved significantly more, quicker and with greater recovery than other patients of a similar malady. **I will look this up and verify the original study ??emile lazaroff?? and the source wherein I first heard it. Hopefully, I can do this before too long – or A COMMENT from a helpful reader???**)
I will close today by saying that this last week was very slow for me. I was very fatigued. But I kept to my fundamental good habits of getting up at the same time every day, getting as much light either naturally or through using light therapy throughout the morning, and maintaining a personal journal to keep my motivation focused. It worked. Even on the slow days, I stayed on course.
And, for what I hope is going to be a very regular part of a formally irregular life, I am falling asleep without the help of outside forces and I am starting to feel better and better each day. That is my goal for you. To have all of us start finding a rhythm and routine that we can live by as it starts to fuel us in our search for energy, productivity and happiness.
Routine. Daily Habits. Rhythms in life.
These are omnipotent, all important – and this comes from an adventurous, free thinking, never want a regular 9-5 job, quit good jobs, atypical, anti-routine guy as you might ever meet.
Believe me. Routines are going to let me Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and hike in the Himalayas – or maybe even go back to the Amazon Rainforest or play the didgeridoo in Darwin some day soon.
Routines are what makes ‘IT’ happen in life. Without doing the small things every day in the right way we will never get to do any of the big things we dream about. Believe me: I have already wasted too much time figuring out this very true fact. And, I am adapting to the best strategy.
So, here is a Mi HA! to making it happen everyday through the small actions of routines, especially a morning routine.
Okay, so it did not turn out too short in length or the time for me to write it. Yes, this is a day by day experience that we are having here – learning one step at a time.
I hope if you have read this far, you will stay with me as this will start really coming together soon with side articles and the side stories.
For now, here is the brownie recipe. It is awesome. It could win you much favor – whether it is for you children or for a friendly lass……..yes, I am a single man, too.
Closet Brownie Stash Recipe
2 boxes of heat and cook Jello chocolate pudding mix. Darker the better. They don’t make real good, dark chocolate versions, so…..
I now add 1-2 heaping tablespoons of Cocoa. (this is my preference, added to original recipe)
1 1/3 cup sugar.
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 eggs, depending on size.
1 to 1 ¼ stick margarine. The extra 1/8 to at most ¼ stick makes it easier to beat and pour into the pan while also making it super moist and densely delicious later.
9×12 or 8x 14 baking dish/pan.
1 big mixing bowl. 1 smaller bowl, if desire.
Here is how I like to do it.
Pre-heat oven to 350.
1. I cut up the margarine in slices and put in a pan over low heat. Cutting them ensures that they will melt quicker (heating principle, lower energy consumption, big picture) and that the consistency will be similar throughout.
2. Put all the white, dry ingredients together. Sift the flower in. Mix in the sugar and pudding mix. Mix well, then add in the baking soda and the cocoa.
3. In a separate bowl (or you can just start to mix in main, big bowl) beat eggs. Add margarine.
4. Pour in eggs and margarine into main bowl, whiskey in by center and working until all is good consistency. You can use whisk or even forks or other utensil to make sure it is quiet for late night, sneaky stash mixing – or you can use modern powered mixer.
5. Last I put in the vanilla and mix it in.
6. Use the wrapper from the margarine stick to grease the bottom of the pan, the sift in some flower, shake and rattle it around such that most or all of the surface area is covered to prevent overstickiness.
7. Pour, spoon, spatula in the batter and spread evenly.
8. Bake for 22-25 minutes depending on altitude and your oven. Check with toothpick. When it pulls out clean without it being gooey, it is done.
Of course, gooey, slightly undercooked, hot brownies with a bowl of vanilla ice cream is an absolutely fantastic treat which takes me back to my days in college with my buddies ……
OKAY. The end for Feb 7th post. This brownie recipe and the introduction of some of the sleep stories to come is just the first of many extra add-ins — just for fun – but still tied to the sleep quest which we have begun here on The Sleep Guru Blog.
Whether it is the best brownies ever, or the latest thoughts of an extremently active, sleep world focused mind, The Sleep Guru Blog will always have something more for you to ‘chew’ on……
Clay
