Notes from ShellyCentral

Cookie Mania

I have just made 15 thousand cookies.
Ok, not really, but it feels like it.

By the time it was all over, I had made at least one batch of the following:

Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Nutella Cookies
Playdough Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
NoBake Oatmeal Drop Cookies
Covered Pretzels
Snickerdoodles
Peppermint Twists
... I think that's it.

The other day I loaded up on supplies.

Yesterday I cleaned off the counters and started the roast on a chair in the corner of the dining room because I needed all of the kitchen for cookies. I wouldn't have ideally have cooked the roast on cookie day, but it was now or never.

Next I started making the dough for cookies that needed to be refridgerated before they were baked.

Hannah certainly enjoyed the chocolate crinkle cookie dough.

The famed playdough cookies in the mixer.

Peanut butter cookies, for my momma.

Oatmeal chocolate chip.

A table full of cookies!

Mmmm, chocolate crinkle cookies... Hannah named them something like "winter dirt and snow cookies".

The days efforts, all bagged up.

This morning I started all over again.

I didn't take as many pictures today. I was tired, and missing my helper. I didn't get photos of the plates piled high with today's efforts. But I did get a couple shots of the cookies all bagged and tagged up.

There are still a few things I hoped to do that I didn't. Decorate the sugar cookies and make some gingerbread families for example. And bake tiny loaves of banana bread. But man, I am worn out and I have baked enough. I think.

 

Playdough Cookies

 When I was very young, my mom would make theese cookies. To me, they looked and smelled exactly like playdough. They were my favorites.

 

1 pack (3 oz) fruit flavored gelatin

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Reserve 1 tablespoon gelatin for the glaze.
Mix remaining gelatin, powdered sugar and butter.
Stir in flour and salt.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookies sheet.
Bake until set but not brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.

Colorful Glaze

Mix reserved 1 tablespoon gelatin and 3 tablespoons hot water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla unitl smooth and of desired consistency. Dip tops of cookies into glaze.

 

before the oven

after the oven

Here are my two tips:

I think the reicpe is way too dry so I add a tablespoon or so of milk.

If you use an off brand of gelatin, sometimes the entire pack is only one tablespoon. I had to just guess at how much to leave out for the glaze.

It's warm under the covers.

Even in the frozen of winter, sometimes a nice shower is the best thing in the world. Especially if you can crawl into bed right after. That's what I think anyway.

The weekend is almost over. It's been about the regular amount of ups and downs. I wish it were longer, of course, although as I've pointed out before I'm not sure why weekends are really that different from week days for me. They just seem to be.

The Great Room Switching of 2011 is pretty much finished. Alan came over Wednesday night to do all the heavy lifting, as well as dis/assembling. I did the vacuuming. Danny did the snakes nests of cables and Hannah did most of the back and forth. Both rooms are starting to look pretty good. I took some pictures of the in progress but they're still on my camera. Why does it seem like such a chore to move the pictures to the computer? I wish my camera had wifi. How lazy is that.

There are megaliths on the television. I've seen and touched them. Just saying.

So tonight I retried the playdough cookies and they were a success! Not perfect, but still plenty delish. And fun. I said somewhere else they taste like childhood to me. Mmmm... sugary childhood. I'm going to post the recipe and stuff tomorrow. Or maybe Monday. I'm going to my boyfriend's tomorrow so probably not.

Yesterday I caught up leaps in my Project Life project. I hadn't printed pictures in way too long. Over two days I chomped the corners off 140 photos. No kidding. I sitll have about 5 photos to add, and way too many journaling cards, but I'm going to finish right on time which is a giant achievement, I think. I have so often not kept up with so many things. But this big 52 week project I've managed. Go me I guess. Again, photos are on the camera instead of the computer so you'll see those some other day as well.
I took it to therapy with me last night. I thought it would be a good show and tell, and a great way too look back on my year. There were so many thing's I would have forgotten if there weren't a note or a photo about them in project life. There were so many family get togethers and celebrations. There were funny stories I would have never remembered. We had visitors I loved and of course there are 4 weeks of Europe! Graduation and Prom and leaving to drive for Hannah. And lots of dog pictures I'm glad I captured.

Hooray for Project Life, right? It's so worth it, and much easier than it may seem. Even if you only a couple pages a month and don't write anything on the cards I bet it's still way worth it. Check it out if you want.

Comfort

After Henry passed over, I was, of course, super sad. I was in need of some comfort. I had just bought myself some microfiber sheets. I had been wondering if such a thing existed when I discovered some while shopping with Debra. They are fantastic.

When I made my bed that day, I remembered I had a bedspread I had bought a while ago and was saving to use when I finally ever painted my bedroom. It's horrid panelling at this point. But I decided that day was as good as any to grab it out of the linen closet. I was so pleasantly surprised that it matched my new fuzzy sheets so well.

I spent a lot of time in bed right after Henry passed. Not as much as I wanted, but more than usual. It was nice to have fresh sheets and a pretty blankie to comfort me. Little things. But they really do count a lot.

 

Man.

Even though I was busy just about all day today it seems like I did 't really get anything done. I've had those kind of days before of course. They're crap. I do not like them. And it seems I've ended it rather crap as well, watching the season finale of Dexter Season 5. It seemed rather anticlimactic. I watched the first 3 discs kind of obsessively over a couple days last week and couldn't believe the way the last disk ended. Major clifhanger. And then I had to wait through the weekend till today to get the last disc. With one episode. The last episode. That kind of sucked. And it was intense, of course. But I don't know. I just feel unsatisfied. I don't think it was a good ending.

I should be in bed now, really. I have to wake up early to get my very old car to the shop and then worry all day about how much it will cost to fix it. This is not a good time of year for an unexpected auto repair bill, but the light came on so I'm having the engine checked. Plus there's a funny noise. And my horn doesn't work which usually doesn't matter, until someone comes inches away from wrecking into me. As they did last week.

So I'm going to go to bed. Who knows, tomorrow might be a fantastic day.

Family Talk

Man my arm hurts. It's been so much better but I just chopped up a bunch of chicken breast for Henry and about half way through it started feeling like something was stabbing me in my bicep. Ouch! So why am I typing? Good question. No answer.

Speaking of Henry, he is just not doing so well. It seemed like he was better, but I just don't know. Poor little sweet dog. We had a family talk about him today. We all love him so much, and he's so much a part of our family. I always knew it was hard work having a pet, but I never really considered this, the hardest part.

We talked about a lot of other things at the family talk, too. About the new wifi router/server Danny bought, about changing the names of all our devices so we have a theme, about Thanksgiving plans, about the 2015 (or 2016) giant family trip to Disney World, about the schedule for getting new computers, about what we all want for Christmas, about Google TV -- lots of stuff. It lasted a long time, but it was mostly good.

I've done a bunch of stuff to prepare for the upcoming staycation. Is staycation really the right word? I don't think so, but I'm only going to KC so it's not really a vacation or a trip so I don't know, that's what I'm calling it. I've done all the boring stuff and now I just get to pack up the bag. I decided last night I'm going to take some art supplies and maybe do something in my seriously neglected art journal. I kind of love packing. I'm almost always up for anything that calls for packing a bag. Throw in a hotel and I am all about it.

I'm taking kind of a lot of stuff, especially for just a couple nights. I'm taking the same suitcase I used for 4 weeks in Europe. Kinda crazy. But it's not so important to pack light for a staycation. I won't be waiting at airports or running up and down stairs at train stations.

Did you notice I've been posting every day? That's because I'm posting every day in November. I'm not sure if I've said that or not, which probably means it's about the third time I've said it.
I am still waiting for episode 5 of American Horror Story to be posted somewhere. I don't think it's going to happen. FX is replaying it Tuesday night and I think I'm going to have to wait till then, dang it. I want more now! I never really considered myself anything like a mystery fan, but I so dig it when I don't know what's going on or what's going to happen in a story. Love it.

Hannah just came down. Henry's having some bad poo issues. Dang it. Poor Hank. I'm going to try to help...

this has been my favorite part.

i think typing makes my neck/arm hurt.
so this is to the point.
i did a lot of work i don't like today.
first i slept in and checked out some internet.
i took the dogs up for their drugs and then just stayed.
actually only henry gets drugged, but they both get treats so he won't suspect anything and so daisy won't be mad.
stayed watching competition shows.
hannah came down
my package came.
hannah made her herself breakfast.
i cleaned up in the kitchen.
i precooked a bunch of beef. i keep it in the freezer so that on nights i don't want to cook, part of the work is already done.
i talked to alan.
hannah fed the dogs lunch.
i took a break and talked to my sister on the phone.
hannah got irritated waiting for me to get off the phone because she was in a hurry to tell me that beyoncee was pregnant, which of course i knew because someone on tv was talking about some picture they saw that makes it look like she has a false bump, and how jessica simpson looks like she has a bump but she's denying it. it is crazy the stuff that stays in your head.
then i did the chicken.
and henry peed on the floor.
then i cooked the scrap chicken for the dogs.
then hannah got mad at me because she came to tell me something about that girl - we went to see her in concert - avril lavine and something stupid she said and i didn't say anything in response. instead i told her we couldn't buy any more shreded cheese until all the shreded cheese in the drawer was gone because we have a ton of it. she was mad that i didn't acknowledge what she had said. it was rude, i admit. but i was cranky that i was working doing a bunch of things i don't like and she was hanging out reading a magazine or whatever.
then i did the dishes.
then danny came home and i took a break to talk to him and hannah about the things you talk about when you share a house together.
he and hannah went to the store.
they stopped by taco johns for me on the way home.
i was grateful.
then i came downstairs and started doing a lot of nothing.
this has been my favorite part.

All Over

So. The whole garage sale extravaganza is done and over with. Thank goodness.
Friday was busy but cold in the shady garage. Saturday was warmer but much much slower. All in all we did pretty well and I am very glad that it happened. It was worth all the work. Especially when I look in the garage. It's not all put back where it's not going to go, but there's all kind of space and you can see the floor almost everywhere. I am going to love it. I love it already.

The horses and barbies were really big sellers. Even so I had two bags of barbie stuff to take to the goodwill when we were done, and almost a bag of horse stuff. It was kind of hard for me to say goodbye to all Hannah's barbies, but they were just making me feel like a hoarder and Hannah didn't want them anymore. She probably will when she's 25. Oh well. I'll feel like a terrible mom then, but I guess I'll wait and worry about it then.

So it's almost Monday and the start of a new week. I'm getting new tires on the Honda, bookbinding class on Tuesday, Wednesday Hannah and I are going shopping for art supplies and seeing that owl movie and then on Friday we head to Kansas City to prepare for baby showers on Saturday and Sunday. Kind of a busy week, but probably relaxing after the last couple.

At least I hope.

Where's my supervisor?

I had a hard time motivating today. I was longing for a guide book to tell me how to spend my time, based on my personal priorities and life goals. That's what planners are for, I know. Especially the Franklin Planner which I used for many years. That Benjamin Franklin was a super genius for sure.

I have some of that built in to my life. Certain chores have their spot on the schedule on certain days. But there is still a lot of time left to not know what I "should" be doing.

I really want a supervisor, to let me know how I'm doing in various areas. And a worker's handbook to let me know what I should be doing when.

Tomorrow will be easy in that sense. Tuesday is the day for going to the grocery store, and tidying up the kitchen. I also have 2 baskets of things to price waiting for me in the garage. And for fun and excitement, I have my bookbinding class in the afternoon. That class is always interesting. Tomorrow we're learning perfect binding. Last week was my favorite - we learned Coptic binding. Woohoo! So pretty and so ancient. I want to do another one so I can make it a little nicer, practice makes perfect and all.

I'd still like the supervisor and the handbook though.

Can't Sleep Picture Post

I can't sleep. So I thought I'd show you some pictures.

 

A book I made a few weeks ago in my Bookbinding class at the Arts Center. Love that class. I can't think where I put my latest book and that's bothering me. I will search for it tomorrow.

   

Three views of the hoarded up garage, in the midst of being sorted.

My boyfriend bought me a shiny sparkly present! Thank you favorite boyfriend.