Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I FOUND IT!

Okay, you can all stop panicking. (Because I know you were all very worried about my lack of Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough, despite the busy lives you lead). I now have the cookie dough downstairs in my fridge, and as soon as I'm done writing this, I will be filling up my cookie jar with it's yummy goodness.

And it's all because of you, wonderful, wonderful Tracy! I figured if you found some way up there in Yellowknife, it had to be here in Airdrie by now -- and there it was, all yummy and waiting for me at the Real Canadian Superstore.

So, as my sorta, kinda holiday gift to you, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret, just in case my rambling about this the Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie dough has made you a little curious and you also have a tube of the yummy stuff in your fridge. What you do is follow the directions they give you for making Ginger Snaps, except that instead of baking them for 12 to 14 minutes like they say, bake them for more like 8 to 10 minutes (depending on your stove), and they will come out all chewy and soft and melt-in-your-mouth yummy!

Now, since I dieted and dieted and dieted until I can now finally get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes, I am going downstairs to bake me a bunch of cookies and blow my diet all to hell.

Merry Christmas!!!!

P.S. I do actually know how to bake cookies from scratch -- I make chocolate chip cookies for Nate all the time. Just so you know I'm not super lazy or anything. I just really like that dough!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Oh where oh where have the gingerbread cookies gone…

I'm starting to get worried. I can't find the Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough anywhere.

Every Christmas, Pillsbury puts out tubes of Sugar cookie dough, which is alright if you like sugar cookies, but I don't; and Gingerbread cookie dough, which is the most wonderfully yummy delight you will ever have the privilege to digest. I look forward to that dough, well, like a kid looks forward to Christmas. And when it finally arrives, I buy like, 20 tubes of cookie dough and store them in my freezer so I can have them all year long. Of course, I've usually eaten them all by July…

I love these cookies so much that this time last year, even though we had already decided that Gracie's name would be Gracie, I was seriously considering talking Nate into calling her Ginger instead. I thought it was a really unique old-fashioned name that no one else in her class would have -- and just think of all the fun we would have making "her" Gingerbread cookies! Those would be good memories people!

Anyway, they have had the sugar cookie dough in stores for quite some time now, but the Gingerbread cookies are nowhere to be found. And I was really, really looking forward to those cookies! This year, I was, um, home a little more often than usual, what with being on maternity leave and all, and I kinda ate my whole stockpile of gingerbread cookies by March.

So somebody, please tell me you've seen them in YOUR grocery store and I just have to patient. It's just not Christmas without those cookies!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

I'm a big girl now…

So, we've hit a major milestone in the life of Gracie. On Sunday I decided to throw caution to the wind and turn her car seat around to forward facing, even though she is only 9 months old. I decided that since my car seat instructions said you could turn the kid around when she reaches 22 pounds and Gracie is now 24 pounds and wearing 12-18 months (and sometimes 1T!) sized clothing, that I would ignore the dire warnings from the health nurses that she must be 1 year old before she can sit forwards or the world will come to an end.

You see, I drive a 1996 Ford Taurus; and I don't know how many of you have been in the back seat of a 1996 Ford Taurus (or what you were doing there), but if you have, you will have noticed that the seats and the back window are very, very sloped. So no matter what position I put that car seat in, the only thing poor Gracie got to look at was the roof and the sky.

She also hated not being able to see me, and I don't think she understood where I went while she was all alone in the back seat. It got so that I just put her in the seat and listened to the crying all the way to wherever we were going, because if I talked to her, I just made it worse. It was like she was saying: "Well if you're in here, why don't you come and get me? Where the hell are you?????"

So I turned it around, one-year-old rule be damned. I figure she's as big as most one-year-olds right now, so why on earth am I waiting for a magic number?

And boy does she love it! Yesterday I took her to the grocery store, and I wish you could have seen it. It was the best car ride I have ever had with her. She just grinned, and grinned and grinned. She could finally see Mommy. She could finally figure out where I was. She kept saying "Hi!" so that I would turn around and say hi back, and then she laughed her little head off. And she even waved to the people in the car sitting next to us at the red light.

I think I made the right decision.

Friday, November 16, 2007

BEST DAY EVER!

I just had the best day ever!

It started this morning with my first-ever day at the spa, which was a birthday present from my very sweet mother-in-law. I got a one-hour massage, a pedicure and a facial while Nate's mom babysat Gracie. Oh my, oh my, it was heaven. I fell asleep during the massage, it was so damn relaxing. My feet have never looked this good, ever. (Except for maybe when I was a baby and had those cute little baby feet.) And the facial was a little weird, but my skin sure feels nice now!

Then we needed a few things, so Gracie and I went and did a little shopping, and we had the best time! We were walking down an aisle of Christmas things, and there was this funny Santa on the shelf that she was reaching for so we went over to take a look. Turns out, when you turn it on, he shakes his little tush to that techno-dance song that goes: "I like to move it move it." Well, Gracie thought that was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She laughed and laughed and laughed! I've never seen her laugh so hard before, and so of course it made me laugh. Pretty soon people were coming from aisles over to see what was so funny - and I got to play the proud mommy who had everyone in the store admiring her little cutiepie.

But wait -- there's more!

When we got home and I was giving Gracie her bath, she started talking to me. Not real talking of course, because the only words she has are "Mumumumum" and "Dadadadad". But she was looking me right in the face and talking up a storm, almost like she was telling me all the fun things she had done today while I was gone. She's never done that before. In fact, until about two weeks ago, she didn't talk much at all. She would play without hardly saying a word, with a cute little grin on her face if she was happy, or a look of serious concentration if she was trying to figure something out. The only time she really said much of anything was when she was upset, so it was more like whining and crying as opposed to baby babbling. Then about two weeks ago she started kind of baby babbling and talking while she played, and it's been so much fun! But tonight; tonight was special. Instead of babbling at the toy she was playing with, she was babbling to me. She was telling me something, and it was important to her. I just wish I knew what she was saying…

But wait -- there's more!

Nate decided we should have pizza for supper, so we ordered in and I didn't have to cook. Then Gracie just skipped her second nap of the day and went to bed 2 hours earlier than usual, so I actually got to be a lazy coach potato and watch Grey's Anatomy.

Then, look! I had time to write a blog post! That almost never happens anymore!

Now, I'm going to bed and it's only midnight!
What a wonderful, wonderful day.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go…

So I'm kinda sorta back to work now, and life has gotten very chaotic. Gracie still doesn't play well by herself for very long, so I have to do most of my graphic design work while she naps and after she goes to bed at night -- which means every spare moment that I used to have to myself is now spent working.

Which means I have just enough time to read everybody else's blog, but not much time to write my own.

But I've got a fancy-schmancy new toy to play with! My very generous inlaws gave us a new JVC Everio video camera, and as soon as I figure out how to do it, I'm gonna post a short video clip of my little cutie pie for all of you to see.

Just as soon as I get this Volleyball Provincial Playoffs program done. And do some laundry. And mop my kitchen floor, 'cause I spilled something sticky on it three days ago and still haven't found the time to mop it up.

But then I'm posting a video. I promise!