Scrambling

Oh, I am woefully unprepared for December this year.

*  I still haven’t made a December banner, though I know what I’m going to do – I just haven’t DONE it yet.  This weekend.  Maybe even today at some point, but don’t hold your breath.  (Like this is the biggest deal in anyone else’s life.)

*  I am totally out of parchment paper.  Have a huge weekend of cookie baking to do and NO PARCHMENT.  Usually I order the hundred half-sheet-pan sized packet of parchment paper from King Arthur Flour Company, but…I’ve slacked off.  Need to get a roll from the store in the meantime.  And ultimately I SHOULD just stock up on silpats which are reusable, and then I’ll save money, in the long run, and it will be better for the environment, I assume – less parchment thrown away – and I’ll be one more baby step closer to being organized.  Ha!

*  I’ve been waiting for butter to go on sale somewhere, and it HASN’T, unless I missed something.  So this morning at some point I’ll have to go buy some.  Dave’s Marketplace has Cabot at a decent price, but still.  I HOPE PEOPLE APPRECIATE THE COOKIES, SINCE THEY COST MORE THAN JEWELRY TO MAKE.  Just kidding.  They’re free.  I bake them all with love.  And butter.

*  It would be really smart of me this year if I set up a spreadsheet of how many batches of each recipe I make, and how many people I give cookies to, and even how many of each kind of cookie go in each package (I base it on the # of people in the household)…so that next year I am not – AGAIN – wondering if I should make 3 batches of lebkuchen or 4.  (Okay, I know the answer to that one.  It’s 3.  I always end up with leftover lebkuchen, and while it’s one of my favorites, after Christmas, I’m kind of lebkuchened out.

*  It’s Friday, and I have no French Fridays with Dorie recipe to write about, because I haven’t done any of the December recipes YET.  I’ll be baking the Spekuloos today, and just maybe I’ll actually get the post up, too. 

*  I’ve got two giveaways to put up, too.  I am planning one for next week and one for the week after that.  Stay tuned.

*  I have to go and finish getting ready for today’s baking.  My friend, Emily, is coming over to help out today, and then my niece, Natalie, will be here all weekend for the baking fun.  Which reminds me, I also need confectioners’ sugar so I can make frosting so we can all decorate cookies tomorrow afternoon.

*  I’m starting to think take-out pizza might be in order for dinner tonight.  But then I think I’m being lazy, but then I think maybe I’m not, really, and then I want to ask you if you think I’m being lazy, and then I realize that sounds incredibly insecure, and then I agonize over all my insecurities and my inability to decide on takeout pizza or not for dinner and then I can’t move.  Well, not really.  But I could do with a nap after all that. 

~~~

If Santa could bring me better organizational skills for Christmas this year, I’d be ever so grateful.  And so would the rest of my family, I’m sure.

Comments

[marty]

Wow. You made me tired with this post! Anyway, I wanted to suggest that you visit a restaurant supply store to stock up on parchment--I live in Ohio and we have GFS (Gordon Food Service) Stores that carry professional supplies and is my supplier for parchment--I can't bake without it! And I feel your pain about butter; what's up with these prices? Enjoy baking--with or without parchment!

[Jenny]

I lucked out and about a year ago our 99 cent store had the double rolls of Wilton parchment paper -- I bought about 40 rolls. If you are down Long Island way I'll share. I have enough to last a lifetime and maybe be buried in it. I for one am excited to see your December banner.

[Jenny]

Oh and by the way - butter is on sale here for 1.99 a pound. Road trip!

[Amy Hall]

Trust me, you aren't lazy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting take out pizza once in a while, busy or not.

Sometimes, we just need an evening to catch up on everything else (or what it sounds like in your case, to start the cookies).

So go ahead! Call that take out pizza place! Relish in every moment of it!

[Jayne]

Oh, I wish I could zip down! Butter AND parchment? Gold and silver to me!

[Kat]

Sil-pats!!!
One of my top three kitchen must-haves. You really do need to get yourself a couple.

[Jayne]

I have one - I need to get a few more. I know. But they didnt have them at Target when I was there this morning (online only, apparently), so I went with the parchment.

[Laura]

i paid $2.50 for a lb of butter today. it made my head hurt. i need parchment paper too. or sil-pats. i should add sil-pats to my wishlist for Christmas. and definitely call the pizza place. or maybe it's too late for that, but i hope you called the pizza place. :)

blessings
~*~

[yummychunklet]

Take out dinner is ALWAYS the way to go when your mind is racing with things to do, despite your hands not doing anything. Think about it this way: if you decided to make dinner, while you're preparing and cooking, you'll be thinking of all the other things you should be doing instead, thereby stressing you out further. You're not being lazy; your maintaining your sanity. Which is better for the cookies in the long run!