Keeping it Real

Interestingly enough, tonight I was doing some thinking about our blog.  I have been flipping around other blogs lately and, quite honestly, feeling a bit inadequate.  I don't have a great design sense.  I don't have layout abilities.  I am not a great photographer.  And my house most certainly doesn't look like anything anyone would want to see (or god forbid, emulate) in a magazine. 

I was thinking about who I am and who we are, and therefore, what this blog reflects.  And I had settled on the idea that really, what we are all about, and therefore what our blog is about is "Keeping it Real." 

I can't tell you how often people tell me, "Unreal, you guys should have your life made into a sitcom."  And while it's nice to think that the bulk of our lives could be turned into situational comedy (or at least gives you a reason to laugh at the chaos), I guess what makes us who we are is that we just are who we are.  And so, going forward (and going backward for that matter) that will be my goal.  We are who we are.  For better or worse.  And I won't censor or edit it here.  We'll continue to keep it real.

Cool.  So I was feeling happy to have landed on that.  And Brian was working and I was making the kids dinner and cooking the last batch of Christmas cookies.  Given where my mind was,  I thought I'd document it visually.  Keeping it real, of course ;)

I was making an old family recipe called "snowtop cookies."  When making them, you are supposed to put the dough in the fridge for a few hours.  In my world, that means three days.  Tonight, it looked like fudge, so I figured it was time to make them.  So far so good, right?

Yeah, until you realize the rest of my counter looked like this. Mini-food processor still sitting out from Sunday's dinner (aka the barfing episode), green beans not intended for the cookies, Diet Coke that I have every day after work, and, of course, a dinosaur.

 

I got the first two cookie sheets in and out with no issue.  Caleb and Elijah were even able to sample them and give them their vote of confidence.

And then it all fell apart.  Literally.

Literally, it fell.  And I took the hit.

I went to get the third batch out and the parchment paper started to slip.  I was holding the sheet with my right hand.  Worried about the cookies, of course, I dropped the cookie sheet to be able to grab the parchment paper.  When I did that, it all fell apart.  My gloved hand grabbed the paper and, of course, my ungloved hand grabbed the falling 350 degree sheet.  Not wanting to drop it on the floor, my foot or Eli, I held onto it and did a number on my hand.

I knew I held onto those Medela ice packets for a reason.

 

 And yes, that line is from the edge of the cookie sheet.  I have blisters all along my thumb, and forefinger. 

But we have some great looking snowtop cookies.