Day 36

It's that time again! Baking GALS round 27 just kicked off the 2011 baking season. We usually take a break just after Christmas then start back up in February. Saturday I spend te whole day baking.

Monster Cookies, Oreos, Snickerdoodles and Peanut Butter M & M bars. Delicious.

Day 35

My little munchkin isn't so little anymore. I had the privilege of watching Little Miss Peyton on Friday while mommy and daddy were shampooing carpets. We danced, fed ducks, took a walk,watched Mickey Mouse, played with her baby doll and took a nap. I love playing with her. She cracks up laughing at just about everything. She sings to Katy Perry songs and throws almost full pieces of bread to the ducks. Towards the end of our time together she asked if she could take a nap. Who am I to deny anyone the joy of taking a nap? I laid down with her and she was out in 5 minutes.

Peyton is a chatterbox. The thing that gets me is her very grown up sentences. She's 3. She needs to stop growing up so fast! It is hard enough digesting the fact that my oldest niece, Alissa will be 13 this year. 13 ?!?! Lord help me.

Day 34

I am pretty sure that everyone knows I am an animal lover. Those little furballs really melt my heart. Jared's cat, Meho, likes to sneak into Jared's room and take a little cat nap on Jared's bed. The boy and I were hanging out and Meho wanted to join us. I snuggled up to the little guy and he was purring like crazy. Don't be fooled by the "I am just putting up with this attention but I really hate you laying on me and snuggling" look. He loved it. Really.

And yes, Jared and I were watching "Gilmore Girls" Dvds. Don't judge.

Meet Grace...

Hi, my name is (now) Grace. I decided yesterday that a name change was in order. I've been training for a 5k for the last 5 weeks. I've alternated between running on the treadmill at the gym and running outside.
I've often feared running outside because there is so much potential for...mishaps, injury, embarrassment.

Yesterday my fear came true. There I was, minding my own business, pushing hard to keep a steady pace and complete my 3/4 mile run when it happened. The sidewalk tripped me. It saw me coming, waited, planned it out and just at the right moment, it stuck its little foot out and tripped me.

Right there in front of someone's house. Right when a car was driving by (I am pretty sure it was an old co-worker of mine... even better). Right when I was trying to change the song on my iPod.

It was in slow motion. I felt my foot get caught then  felt nothing but well ,nothing. Air. Then cement. Lots of cement: Knees vs cement. Hands vs cement. Shoulder vs cement. The cement won.

I wasn't sure if the person in the car had seen me fall or if they stopped. I didn't want to turn around to find out. I simply picked myself up and ran as fast as I could. I completed my run for the day regardless of the stinging I felt on my hands and knee. I looked at the damage when I got home and noticed a scrape on my knee so I doctored it up. Overall I am fine but my knee is a little sore.

Seriously... what 30 year old scrapes her knee? Oh yeah, me. Grace.

Day 33

This is what I come home to every morning. I love my kitten, Hunny, and the fact she is waiting for me when I get home. Like clockwork, she sees me get out of my car and she jumps down to meet me at the front door. She's precious.

Day 32

My co-workers, Patti and Denise, are very fun ladies. They are always in good moods and ready to face the day that is before them. I work with Denise for about an hour in the morning and Patti comes in at 0700 to relieve me.

On this particular morning they were especially goofy and decided to start their day with a little dance. The "dougy" dance? I'm not exactly sure what it is but we got a good laugh out of it. I love them!

Day 31

I've been working on my sugar cookie decorating skills. There's this technique called "flooding" that I love. They look so cute and professional. It was actually a lot easier than I though it would be but it is a bit time consuming. This isn't your run of the mill "slap some icing on a cookie" type thing. It is a tad more complicated than that. Fun and cute. Oh and here's the sugar cookie recipe that I love. I have decided this is the best sugar cookie recipe I've ever found.

Sugar Cookies:

3 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup (white) Sugar
2 Sticks butter, cold (not room temp!!)
1 Egg
3/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Tsp Almond Extract (or other flavored extract)
(I omitted the Almond Extract and used Zest from one Lemon to add a little citrusy zing to it )

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine Flour and Baking Powder in a small bowl
3. Ina large Mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy
4. Add the Egg and extracts (or zest), beat until combined
5. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom atleast once
6. Dough will be crumbly so knead it together with your hands for about 1 minute. Turn onto a floured surface and knead again for 1 minute
7. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes. I usually roll then to approx 1/8-1/4in thickness
8. Freeze cut out shapes for 5-10 minutes (helps them keep their perfect freshly cut shape and not get puffy)
9. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let sit for approx 2 minutes on cookie sheet then remove to cooling rack. I remove mine from the oven before I see any golden brown along the edges. Approx 10min 30sec. I don't like crunchy sugar cookies

Day 30

I had a total of 35 hours off of work over the weekend. I know that may seem like alot to some people. Especially because most people have about 48 hours off every weekend. Maybe a few more hours. I worked the last 10 of 11 days. Feel sorry for me yet? Kidding. I don't need the sympathy. It is my job and I roll with it.

The only problem I have with working so much is not being able to see people. Especially Jared.Our work schedules are rough as it is and only seeing each other for a few hours a week isn't exactly ideal.

After his birthday dinner he came back to my house and crashed on the couch for the night. Our intention was to get up and go to church the next day but I think exhaustion kicked in on my end. I didn't wake up until just before 8am. That is basically unheard of for me.

He every so sweetly offered to make me breakfast.being the smart woman I am, I accepted his offer.
I knew I had done the right thing when he brought this back from the store.

Perfection. Best bacon ever!

Day 29

The whole fam... and I mean the WHOLE fam(19 people) went to BJ's Pizza to celebrate Jared's birthday. I had my camera with me the whole time but I was a bit sandwiched in and I sorta forgot to take pictures. I am actually pretty disappointed in myself for only taking 2 pictures. It was a great group of people and we had so much fun.

I saw a bus pull up so I jokingly told Jared his party bus had arrived. About 60 seconds later we see about 25 high schoolers file off the bus and right into the room where we were having his dinner. We all kind of winced. 25 teenagers in one small room, all dressed up and ready for some kind of winter formal? It was going to get very loud, very quickly.

Much to his dismay, the loudest part of the evening was when the entire room sang him Happy Birthday. To be honest, my heart kind of broke for him. He is a quiet guy, on the shy side. He doesn't like a lot of attention and it was a struggle just to get him to agree to the dinner. He's not big on all of the focus being on him. I don't blame him. I was mortified for him. I know people think it is hilarious when the whole retaurant busts out in song on your behalf but it is truly embarassing. Poor guy. He was a good sport about it though.

At anny rate, the only picture I grabbed that evening was of this cutie pie. She's growing up too fast. That night she was all excited because she got to ride home with Uncle Jimmy and Auntie J. "Mom Uncle Jimmy said it is ok if I go to his house" (Insert a slight lisp on the s letter). Too cute and entirely too grown up of a moment for her mere 3 years.

Day 28

Have you seen these on TV? Or maybe there's brothers in bag form?

I seem to have a problem eating produce fast enough. Especially favorites like blackberries and strawberries. They just get moldy and mushy after a couple of days. These say they are supposed to keep everything fresh for a longer period of time. I am hoping it is true. Has anyone else out there tried these?