A Day in the Life...

A hodge-podge of thoughts and occurances:

Every holiday season, like every other place on earth, Anchorage is chock-full of bazaars. One of the best is at Rabbit Creek Elementary where, coincidentally, Jack and Sabrina go to school.

Each year at the Rabbit Creek Bazaar there is a cookie fund-raiser. It’s called the Great Cookie Caper. Students and their parents are encouraged to donate as many homemade cookies, cupcakes and confections as possible.

This year, I’m in like Schwinn.

Following is the list of cookies I plan on throwing together this week:

- Santa cupcakes (cupcakes decorated to look like Santa)
- Peppermint snowballs
- Chocolate crinkles
- Fudge
- Brownies or brownie cookies (probably the cookies)
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Nanaimo bars
- Molasses crinkle cookies (made a double batch this morning)
- Lemon bars (in process – crust is baking as I write this)
- Linzer tea squares (may also make these tonight)
- Almond cardamom cookies

(I never said I wasn't obsessive-compulsive.)

I figure if I pace myself, I can get it done. It means three kinds per day. That’s reasonable isn’t it? I don’t have much scheduled this week, so why the heck not? Sure makes the house smell good.

Things I need to pick up at the store to finish the process:

- Lots and lots of butter
- Miniature marshmallows
- Peppermint candy
- Cream cheese
- Marshmallow crème
- Chunks of semi-sweet baking chocolate
- Vanilla pudding
- More powdered sugar

Appliances I could not live without during this process:

- Kitchenaid mixer
- Cuisinart
- Lots of bowls
- Lots of cookie sheets
- Wax paper
- Pampered Chef 1” scooper

Meanwhile, I am working on pulling out costumes for Halloween tonight. The children will be dressed as follows (yes, another list):

- Jack: Happy-ghoul-faced Jedi knight (did you know that the word “Jedi” is in Word spellcheck?)

- Sabrina: Princess with Marcia Brady-hair (dress to be worn over snowsuit; hair will suffice for head-covering)

- Ellie: Elephant in pink tutu (see pic above for proof). (Her comment on seeing her picture was, "The people are going to laugh." Oh yes, dear child, they are.)

- Evan: Giraffe

The high temperature today was supposed to be 25, but at the airport it's up to 28. This means it will be chilly for trick-or-treating. Last year it snowed. THAT was interesting.

This morning, still on the “old” time (before we gained that darn hour), I awoke before 6am and got up. Auroras were fainting glowing to the northeast. Woke Bruce up to see them, but they were already fading. Both girls were already awake. Happy joy. When Ellie started screaming over something, I said to Bruce, "I cannot deal with that at 6:30am." He took care of it.

In other news:

I am reading our next book club selection right now – “Possession” by A. S. Byatt. It is very good and I wish I could spend my uneventful week ensconced on the couch reading it.

Gosh, what else? There was something, but Ellie, and the smell of something burning, interrupted me. (I hope it really is okay for wax paper to go in the oven – the recipe told me to.)

Oh, I know! I also mega-cleaned Jack’s room. It looks so great he’ll probably cry when he sees it. “Where is my Imaginext?” In the closet, where it belongs.“Why is my dresser in a different place?” So it’s not blocking the door anymore. “Where are the rollaway and crib mattresses that I kept in the play area under my bed?” Put away to make room for the table and chair I put there instead for a private art area. “Where aren’t my books stacked on top of my dresser and scattered all over my floor anymore?” Because they are now neatly arranged in your closet, where I saw fit to add the other adolescent and young adult books I’ve been saving for you. And, I suck as a parent.

So overall, its been a productive day. The only problem is, there is no way I’m going to want to make dinner tonight. Waaaaay to much work.