Long weekend

I'm back at work after a 4 day weekend.  Ugh.  I love not working.  I wish I didn't have to work.  In hindsight I probably should have gone a different career path.  I don't hate my job, but I'm not in love with my career.  My friend asked me "why the discontent? You have a choice". . . and then went on to say I can work to save money to buy a house or quit my job and be poor. Not going to lie, I think the whole conversation rubbed me the wrong way.  I think it's quite normal to not *love* your job.  I think it's quite normal to wish your job didn't consume 40 or more hours a week. I think that's human nature. When I asked her if she was 100% happy I didn't get an answer.

This weekend was quite busy.  My husband was out of town Fri-Sun and I really enjoyed the time home alone.   On Saturday my mom and I got pedicures.  I ended up getting gel polish on my fingernails for the first time.  My mom paid, so it was a nice treat.

I'm shocked that three days later and I don't have a single chip.  However, being back at work, with a lot of typing. . . makes me wonder how long they will hold up.

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I have been practicing with decorating sugar cookies.  When I was younger I played around with cake decorating.  I think I never really know *how* to decorate a cookie.  Then a coworker brought in these amazing cookies his wife made and I felt like  "hey, I can do that!".  So I started trying.  I have a *lot* to learn and my brain is overflowing with everything I've read and watched online.

This weekend I tried a double decker cookie for Vday.   I couldn't do them during the week to bring to work before Vday.  They were too time consuming.  I read that you should bake your cookies a day before so the grease can escape the cookie.  I baked them on Sat.  I decorated them on Sunday.  I put them together on Monday.  My estimate is 6+ hours of decorating.   Here was my inspiration cookie.  Mine are cute, but not nearly as well done as though. I'm still really thrilled that I managed to pull them off this well.

You'd think that baking cookies doesn't go well with a healthy eating lifestyle.  In some ways that is true. I do eat some dough.  And I do bake the leftover scraps and eat those too.   But . . . I tend to be a very "snacky" person when I'm home.  Maybe cause my house is so small that I spend a ton of time in and around the kitchen. It's very easy to snack. But when I'm decorating cookies I can't snack.   Sure I can take a break, but I don't take many cause I have my icing at just the right consistency.  So that's 6 or more hours of decorating and not really snacking.  Works for me!   lol.  I also have very little desire to eat the finished cookies too soon. I worked hard and I want to stare at them.  Ha ha!   I do eat one eventually but unlike a cookie like chocolate chip. . these sit around so I an admire them.   Also decorating can't be rushed. .. it's very slow and steady . . . I find it almost relaxing and therapeutic.  

However I've had 3 inquiries about ordering cookies since I started posting my cookies on facebook.  I'm shocked cause I don't think I'm that good.  I just gave up photography.  There were many reasons I did so.  I'm not ready to take on another business.   I don't want to have *have* to decorate cookies.  I might plan on making a cookie this weekend, but I can bail and do something else if I want to.  I like that.   So I think I'm going to turn everyone down at this point.   Also it's too much pressure.  I'm already picky about how they look and all I did was bring these to work with me.  

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In early Jan I told my husband I wanted to lose 10 lbs by Valentine's day.  I should have thought a bit more about that.  I'm very active.  I eat fairly well.  It's hard to lose 10 lbs in a month unless you have a lot to lose or are just starting on your journey.  When you first start to lose weight, you can lose 5 lbs in that first week.  I don't have that on my side.  I didn't really pay attention to my start date or weight.  I also think I went up 1-2 pounds after I started, for unknown reasons.  However, I was at 198 this weekend.  I'm calling that a 5 lbs loss. (I was around 203.6 and hovering there in early Jan).   I think that's pretty good.  I was 198.6 this morning.  Normal fluctuation.  But it's a long slow road at 1 lb a week.   That can be discouraging, but I want see where I can get by the end of April when I go to KY for Rolex. . .or really by the day before Easter when I run my half in KY.   I want to stay on track till then.  That doesn't mean I won't eat a cupcake or cookie.  I'm trying to find a balance.  Not be all hard core. :)   

Baking Frenzy

I went on a little baking frenzy this weekend.  I'm not sure what possessed me.  Maybe it's the fact that I finally had time.  I didn't have to edit photos.  Wow what a relief that was.  Of course I have a to-do list that's still a mile long, but I ignored it.  

First I made my Grandma's thumbprint cookies.  As a child these were my favorite.  As an adult what a pain in the butt they are to make!  Wow.  

Then I made my current favorite cookie.  I got this recipe from a coworker at my previous job.  They are called "Almond Balls" but I think that's misleading cause there aren't any nuts in them.  I suspect most people would think there are based on the name.  But instead there is yummy delicious almond extract.  I have a huge bottle because I almost always add more than the recipe calls for.  I'm not going to lie, I thought about drinking the bottle.  Ha!  

Then I got this stupid idea that these packages of cookie decorations at Walmart would be fun. I'd seen them a while back but didn't get any.  Finally I caved this weekend.  What the hell was I thinking?   First up were these cute little penguins. The instructions didn't say what size circle to make.   So the white parts were way to big and had to be cut down.   I had to provide my own icing and it appeared it needed to be black.  What food coloring combo makes black?  I didn't know you could buy black food coloring.  That's what I did.  I'm sure I'll get full use of that bottle. ;)   We made boys and girls and putting them together was pretty easy.  You iced the cookie, sprinkled black sugar sprinkles on (why I don't know), but the white part on and then the decorations.   

I also bought a santa kit.   These were easier as I didn't have to cut anything down.  But how do you make a skin colored icing?  Well I looked at the box and saw peach.  I thought that might work.  One drop of red and 2 drops of yellow.  Well it looks like Santa hit the spray tan booth!  He's a tad orange. Ooops! I knew this before we iced them but gosh I just didn't feel like messing with the color and making it even worse. 

I brought cookies to work yesterday and I decided to try the santa as there was one left.  Yikes!  The red hat is cinnamon.  That didn't go so well with the almond extract flavoring in the icing.  Oh well.    

I should say those penguins and Santas were made from Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix.  Cause who makes that from scratch?   I was surprised it didn't have me refrigerate it.  I happened to have 2 bags of the mix and liked how well it worked that I made more cookies. 

And I got bored with sprinkles.  I played with my icing and I now realize how far I have to go to make those really nice professional looking cookies.  Yikes. 

I also made oatmeal raisin cookies but didn't take a photo of those.  They are boring! :) 

I used to put together a Gingerbread house every year.  And every year I said never again.  I don't think I did one last year.  But recovering from hip surgery made it hard to do anything but watch the Hallmark Channel.   For my birthday last month my mom got me a Gingerbread Barn! OMG! How cool right? There was even this gummi horse that stuck out of the window.  Oh dear!  The concept was great but the execution not so great.  The icing sucked.  It was thick and didn't want to stick to the cookie that much.  The cookies for the roof were cut in way that didn't piece together well.   The whole thing was not very stable! lol 

They gave you two piping bags.  That's great but when you need to get the tip out for the other color that doesn't work so well.   So I put the white on with a knife and tried to water down the icing to make it spreadable.  Didn't work so well. 

The horse was SO cute, but he was too heavy for the icing and kept falling off. 

You can see how the roof just didn't want to stay together. 

I think the size ratio for the horse head was slightly off but he sure was cute!

I loved the gummi decorations that came with it.  That made it super easy to decorate.   But literally right after I snapped these photos the wall with horse caved in.  I gave up and threw the thing in the trash.  In previous years I kept the house set out for a few weeks in my living room. But this one just wasn't going to make it.  If the horse wouldn't stay on that took all the joy out of it for me.  lol 

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!!! I wish I could say I enjoyed the holiday season, but I really don't.  Maybe if I was a happier person I would, but instead I just hear the clock of life ticking and think off all the things I didn't accomplish this year.  But that's a story for another day.   Enjoy your holiday!