Waiting....and baking and thinking to much

Today a good friend of mine is having a birthday day! HOLLA Ms. Diva!!! I hope she has a great day. 

I am waiting currently for N8 to come back from Dulles with his Mom and her Husband. He took the weebear with him this morning. So it is just me the pups and a WHOLE LOTTA COOKIES! And about 3 dozen chocolate cupcakes in the oven. Tomorrow being Halloween....all costumes are made, tiaras chosen, flash light loaded with batteries. I somehow feel a bit like I am not wired correctly for these sort of holidays. I dislike pretty much every holiday. I do not see them as celebratory days but a giant marketing commercial that just doesn't seem to end. When I start seeing the decorations and displays conflict at stores it drives me CRAZY. Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas. The ONLY holiday that I can agree and get on board with is New Years Eve/Day. The ending and starting over. That makes sense to me. All the other nonsense is just insanity. Plus working 10+ years in retail management makes one jaded to the "Good Cheer" that is supposed to be there. You get a great BIG BITE ME BAHUMBUG on that one. That is the one time of year I found people the MOST angry and inconsiderate. Gezz I am going on a bit of rant here. N8 and the girls are all for the holidays and I let them have at it....I just prefer to do stress baking and let the last 3 months of year fly by so it can start all over again. Makes you wonder if you really ARE in the Matrix HAHA!

I know what I need to clear my head...MORE COFFEE!!!

COLD!!!

HOLY CRAPOLIOUS IT IS FREAKING COLD!!! Or maybe it is just me. I AM FREAKING COLD!!! I think I may start drinking Hot Water to warm me up. Well I am working on my menu for Sunday. So far roughly I have the following:

Pumpkin Raisin Cake 

Banana Chocolate chip muffins

French Toast Muffins (work in progress)

Peanut butter cup cookies

Butterfinger Brownies

hmmm....I need different tray shapes. In other news I joined the Face Book. It is a strange and new place and again HOLY CRAP are there a lot of people I know on there. WHO KNEW and scary I looked up my high school and there are quite a few I recognize on there as well. Not ready to deal with all of that. I am not one to reach out and touch the past. I will wait till my 20 year reunion which is next year. YIKES!!! I was telling a friend of mine the only reason why I want to go is shear curiosity. I will have a Manhattan and watch what comes by. 

Not awake......

The body is moving but the mind is still catching up. This weekend was a fast and furious weekend. I felt better about backing out of the festival after we drove by it on Saturday and saw they canceled the whole thing. I am disappointed they did not have a rain date. But it is what it is and I did have a lovely day with the family. Although it was busy running around. The most calm part of our weekend was having dinner with the Schuneman's. The kids sat at one end of the table the adults at the other and it was just nice to sit and have good food and conversation. 

This week is a short week. My Mother in Law and her husband are coming into town Thursday morning at Dulles. They are staying till Monday. Friday is Halloween which I still have to finish up the weeone's costume and get a birthday present for Friday. We are going to the Schuneman's for trick or treating and their sons birthday. So many people in tow. Not to mention the baking that has to happen this week. I will be happy once things slow down before the last two holidays begin. UGH I need more coffee....it is about that time where I have get everyone up to start the day. 

Toys

I want this is a REALLY BAD WAY!!!!!

Ah Friday!

The kids are still asleep and so is N8. I have 10 mins till I have go upstairs and get them all up and started for the day. I have walked the dogs, got breakfast ready, watched my news and getting ready to start on coffee #2. So far there is STILL rain for tomorrow. As much as it pained me to cancel I know it was the right thing to do. 

This Sunday's baking menu:

Peanut butter white chocolate bars

Snicker Brownies

Orange white chocolate cranberry cookies ( new scooper did well)

Raisin spice cookies

Sugar cookies w/ orange sprinkles

Butter Rum Pound cake

Vanilla cupcakes with Halloween sprinkles 

Now off to enjoy my last 6 mins of quiet.

BAH...... RAIN!

I have looked at Accuweather.com, weatherbug.com and nbc4.com. It's going to rain with the forecast now saying there will be wind 10-15 mph. OK OK I CAN TAKE A HINT. Not vending at the Fall Festival. I called and had to leave a message for the lady at the Lake Ridge office. I pick up my refund tomorrow. I am bummed but I can't control the weather. 

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!

ARGHHHH!!!! 100% chance of rain on Saturday. I am hoping HOPING Bob Ryan on NBC4 doesn't let me down and tells me that for some FREAK REASON the RAIN has moved to SUNDAY or MONDAY . I will even take a late afternoon rain on Saturday just NOT between the hours of 10-2. I talked to the lady who is organizing the Fall Festival for Lake Ridge and she said rain or shine. But she will give me a refund if I cannot do it. I have invested money into this and it is horrifying to think I am at the mercy of condensation! **smacking head on desk** 

I start the first half of baking tomorrow. I will be obsessively watching NBC4.com for ANY HOPE in a weather change. 

Dear God,

Please do not let it rain between the hours of 10 and 2 on Saturday.

Thanks!

Amen

Eggs

For the amount of baking I am doing for the Fall Festival I need 56 eggs. I have 54....AND I still have orders to fill which has me short even more. Looks like I will have to make a trip to Costco. there are two things that stress me out going to get groceries and that is Bread and Eggs. N8 thinks it is a bit deranged that I have my cart in a certain order as well as what goes on the conveyor belt. Canned foods are together, cleaning supplies, personal products, etc ..you get the idea. The very LAST thing I put on the belt to get rung through are my eggs and bread. I HATE having my bread smooshed and I FEAR my eggs will be smashed! I blame my Mother. She was very particular about that when we would go tot the commissary growing up. Now I must by eggs in bulk...LOTS OF EGGS!!! With the potential of them being LOTS OF BROKEN EGGS!! EEEEKKKK

Today I have a Coconut cake to make. I do love the Coconut cake!

Monday let the planning begin!

This Saturday is the Fall Festival at Lake Ridge . I ahve been working on the menu list for the last couple of weeks. Tonight N8 will help me work out what should and should not be on the list. I have my canpoy,tables, table cloths, conatiners, stickers, labels etc...I just need the goods to put in them. The baking will start Wednesday and end Friday and somewhere in there wedge in the baking for Sunday at Church. I never look forward to week that will be be completely jammed and still all the normal stuff I ahve to do still needs to get done. My friend Michelle will be helping me at the booth. Luckliy for me she is VERY MUCH a people person. Not to say that I am not...I just have a tendency to have zero filter and say things that should not be said out loud..to people...I think I just sound strange. WHATEVER! The food is what will do all the talking. So that is what will matter. I hope to sell it ALL to support the bakery and continue into Christmas!

This past Saturday I ran my 2nd 5k. The first was back in 2005 right before I got pregnant with the weeone. My time then was 31:09 my new time this go round was 26:39. AWESOME!!! But the recovery time is slower now that I am 3 years older. Parts hurt that shouldn't hurt. I described it to one person as feeling like a Barbie that had her legs popped off then popped BACK ON! My hips are-ahurtin. I started back running 2 months ago to get ready for this race. But I do not want to stop running because it is good for me and I ain't getting any younger. When you are young you can't wait till you grow up and when you get older you wish you could have appreciated being younger.

  Hmmm I think I will go make myself some tea. Monday's are "technically" my day off. 

Menu for Sunday

Cookies:

Red Velvet

Orange White Chocolate Cranberry ( these cookies resulted in the untimely death of my favorite cookie scoop)

Butter Almond

Pistachio Chocolate Chip

Cakes:

My Sister's Chocolate cake ( Dark chocolate cake with layers of chocolate ganache and covered in Cream Cheese  icing)

Spicy Pumpkin Bread

Smore's Brownies

Then and Now

A friend of mine posted this in her LJ this morning. So I filled it out as well. MAN a lot can change in 10 years.

1) How old were you? 

Then: 27 

Now: 37  

2) What was your online presence? 

Then: Just an aol account 

Now: Bakery website, plurk, etc  

3) Where did you work? 

Then: Manager of Commander Salamander and Up Against the Wall in Waldorf MD 

Now: Stay at home Mom and Baker  

4) Where did you live? 

Then: Rented a town house in Alexandria 

Now: Own a Townhouse in Woodbridge  

5) Who did you live with? 

Then: N8 and Juju 

Now: N8,Juju and Josie  

6) How was your health? 

Then: Stressed,smoked,sick 

Now: Non smoker, healthy

 

7) Pets? 

Then: Zipper the crazy cat 

Now: Mac and Ruby (dogs) 

8) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/S.O.? 

Then: N8

Now: Still N8 

9) Who were your friends? 

Then: A Select few 

Now: A Select few  

10) Any kids? Any plans for kids? 

Then: Juju no more kids 

Now: Juju and Josie ( Changed my mind at 35 for one more)  

11) What was your worst struggle? 

Then: Balancing work, Motherhood and saving my failing marriage Now: Trying to maintain my identity of being more than just a Mother  

12) What was your biggest joy? 

Then: Catching shop lifters and making monthly sales goals at work

Now: Watching my children grow and be the creative independent people I hope they will be.  

13) What did you consider your greatest accomplishment? 

Then: Making goal every month and maintaining my sales and being a good manager. 

Now: Watching my children thrive and being able to still be creative.  

14) What advice would you give your younger self? 

This stress is SO NOT WORTH IT! And your parents were WRONG!  

15) What would your younger self say to you?

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT!  

16) Looking back, is your life in 2008 what you thought it would be in 1998? 

NO WAY...If I would have seen my future I wouldn't have believed it!

Hump Day!

I SO started the day out late. I hate it when I do. I feel like I have to play catch up on the rest of the day. I would like that time machine invention now OR have Hiro's power in Heroes. THAT would me AWESOME! Then I would totally be able to catch up. Today is the last day before I have baking to do for this Sunday and experimentation on the menu for the Fall Festival. This may determine if I will do a Farmers Market in the Spring. 

This morning the weeone and I will run our final errand for the week which will entail a stop at Costco for the 50 pd bag of flour and 25 pd bag of sugar and a table for the Festival. She may only be 3 but she does at least try and help. But watching a 3 year old trying to pick up a 50 pd bag of flour is pretty funny. She only weighs 35 pds. Alright enough chit chat I need more coffee and possibly a brownie!

Snickers Browine

Been a while...

WOW 11 days since my last post! I plurk daily but that is quick stuff. I haven't been able to collect my thoughts long enough to make a proper post. Last week I was off from the Sunday Baking. I went on a weekend family trip with some friends to Massanutten. They had a Fall Festival over there. That was fun for the kids. They had the ski lift running so you could go up the mountain. Let me tell you...I am TERRIFED of heights! Even though your roughly 20 feet off the ground on the lift and a wuzzy metal bar is separating you from falling that 20 feet to possible to break a few bones OR DEATH how ever you want to look at that. My girls are of course fearless. The weeone takes her shoes off lays in her Daddy's lap the oldest is chilling listening to her Ipod and I am near verging on a panic attack. It was supposed to be an "enjoyable" view of the scenery. HA I was more concerned of getting off and walking back to the festival at the half way point on the lift. I manged to get off the lift w/o falling flat on my face and hurting myself. As for the festival...There was the usual artery cloggin fair food, funnel cake, fried curly potatoes,kettle corn. I got a nice bottle of wine from a local vineyard Prince Michel It was their Merlot. Very nice, sweet , dry and full of flavor. LOVED IT!! 

I have been suffering of late a creative rut. I had managed to squeeze in some alone time while the kids were at the water park this weekend. I got read all the articles in the new Vogue and listen to the entire Henry and June Soundtrack. I managed to also get a lot of writing done in my own personal journal. It is nice to have my thoughts in order and on paper. I did manage to find some of that missing muse that has been so elusive. So that was promising. Being that far west in Va seems like a world away and to think it is a mere 2 hours. Two hours west of Northern Va is a HUGE cultural difference. Beautiful and quiet...my head got straight for a little while at least. Now back to reality! I have the I-Race this Saturday, my 2 closest friends have birthdays this month, Halloween, and the Fall Festival at Lake Ridge I need to prepare for. Then the next thing you know it will be Thanksgiving...UGH!!! 

Boston Cream Cupcakes!

These have to be the best freakin cupcakes I have made in a while. I am going to have to spend some extra time on the treadmill.

mmmmmbrownies

Chocolate peanut butter brownies. I NEED TO MAKE MORE!

Cookie Day!

Even the wee one knows what day it is! haha The butterscotch chip I need to watch more. Some came out a little too brown. those go in the reject pile. Still tasty but not a pretty. Right now it is Sugar cookies with pink sparklie sugar. It's not very fall looking but I haven't done sugar cookies in a while and pink well...I LOVE PINK! I need to do another batch of Butterscotch chip to even out the numbers. Then it will be the peanut butter cup brownies. I chilled the peanut butter cups in the fridge so they do not get all melty when they bake. Today is my sister's birthday. This weekend my parents are coming up. I am making her a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. hmmm never would have thought of that combo before. Maybe I will make that for Sunday as well. It would look REALLY PRETTY when cut open ;D