Did you know it takes nearly as long to shop for baking as it does to actually bake? Who knew?

Katie and I left at 4, we got what we could at Super Target, I dropped her off here at home and left for the grocery store to round out the ingredients, and I just got home. Lordy, lordy.

I'm going to try to make all the sugar cookies tonight (Mailanderli, actually) because they will take hours and we will need the oven for other things tomorrow. That way we can decorate them tomorrow while waiting for other things to bake, too. I think we're making 8 different things. whee! Now I just have to find my candy thermometer...

We had a lot of fun figuring out how much of everything we needed. When I made the shopping list, I just went through the recipes and kept changing the amount of whatever we needed as we went along. So the list that we took to the store said things like "Flour - 65 Cups, sugar - 35 cups." Most of the time we could look at the serving size, compare it to how many servings were in the package, and figure it out from there. We need 4 cups of raisins, serving size is 1/2 cup, 4 servings in the package, we need two packages. Get it?

Well that was working just fine...till we got to the sugar, that is.



I think Katie actually asked me how many teaspoons was in 35 cups. I laughed so hard! Doubled over in the damn baking aisle.

So we just bought a great big bag. lol

So here's my kitchen table right now.



Insanity!

I'm going to start baking in about an hour, that will give me about an hour of baking with the midget, and then some time baking without the midget, which always goes a lot faster. Yes, yes - in a perfect world she could stand on a chair and help me pour ingredients and we would bond lovingly over dough.

Realistically, I just want to get it done. I've done the bonding over dough at least 20 times before. Through the years, between Katie, Daniel and Amanda, I'm sure it's at least 20 times. And besides, I'm not her mom, I think that gets me a get out of jail free card or something. Besides, she'll get to frost them tomorrow, and that's the funnest part anyway.

Oh, speaking of which, I need to charge my camera. Tomorrow will likely be fun photo opportunities.

What else. My step-mom Marla passed her exam, and is now a certifiable - oops certified Pharmacy Tech. How fun is that? She did it all online in just a few months. Grueling! In 2 weeks she'll be an actual tech in the pharmacy at a store near her house. Yay Marla! That means all the funeral stories will soon be replaced by medicine stories.

I was on the phone with Marla in the grocery store asking her about a particular ingredient I needed, and no sooner had a hung up from talking to her then Amanda calls me and asks me the difference between sweet potatoes and yams. I had already called my own mom about a different ingredient earlier in the day! I guess we never outgrow the need for tips and tricks and cooking advice from our moms.

Ok, Mailanderli awaits.