Erika

Hello Buddies! Happy dance in progress, the baking is done!

In the last 10 days I made 14 gingerbread houses. Then Monday and Tuesday I baked 8 dozen each of 11 different kinds of cookies. If you do the math, that’s 1056 cookies. There is a good chance that I single handedly kept the sugar and flour industry in buisness. Ethan figured out that I went through 60 lbs of flour, and no less than 42 lbs of powdered sugar for the icing on the houses.

Before you ask why one person would need 1056 cookies, I will tell you. Basically I do all the baking for my family and neighbors, either because they don’t have the time to do so, or just plain suck at baking. So all those cookies transfered into the 15 trays I gave away, plus the one for us.

I am looking forward to spending the day cleaning my filthy house. There is not a flat surface here that you couldn’t write your name in the layer of sugar. It looks like I haven’t dusted in a month. Once the kids are on the bus Logan and I are going to walk uptown to get some cleaning supplies and stocking stuffers for my mother and Ethan. Then the cleaning frenzy will begin.

I hope you all are well, and I’m going to check in on your blogs after the store. Can you believe Christmas is in 5 days? Where the hell did November go?

Hey buddies, I’m finishing off the gingerbread houses as we speak…I thought I was done and then one of the mother’s that I babysit for, who wanted to make her own this year called to tell me that she didn’t have time, and could I make her son one. So…I managed to pull that one off. I have one more to go, and then back to Christmas cookies.

 I miss you all terribly, and can’t wait to catch up on all that I’ve missed this week/weekend. Hopefully by Tuesday I will be done with the baking and back to BuddySlim as normal.

Thinking of you all…

                               Erika

Where the hell is TOM? My mother ( made the mistake of telling her I was late ) and Ethan are driving me crazy with the, ” Are you sure you’re not pregnant? ” questions. AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

I didn’t do all that bad today, I did have some Fritos though…well I didn’t actually eat them…I just kind of licked the salt off and then threw them away. I’ve done that for years…I told you all I was a dork months ago, so don’t act so suprised!

I’m rounding the home stretch with the gingerbread houses…4 more to go and I’m done. I should be able to knock those bad boys out this weekend. Hopefully I will able to finish my Christmas shopping as well, I only have 4 more people to buy for.

Speaking of which…I asked my brother ( not the Boston one ) what I should get his girlfriend. He started his response with..” Well at Victoria’s Secret…” I flipped out, I told him that if he thought for even a mili-second that I would be buying sex-gear for his little girlfriend that he was out of his ever loving mind. Mid-rant he screamed into the phone, ” Sis, she likes their body wash! “  I felt a little stupid and then agreed to buy it, then he tells me that the name of it is ‘ Love Potion ‘. I could have gone my entire life without that mental picture.

Anyway I hope my buddies are well, and I’m off to check on you now. Much love y’all!

The only thing more frustrating than dealing with TOM, is waiting for him! I am now officially a week late, no I’m not pregnant…peed on a stick…it said no, I’m just late and not very happy about it.

 I have been just ravenously hungry all day, and craving sweets, I will confess that I gave in and ate some ice cream and a couple Hershey Kisses. It was either that or I may have hurt someone.

I’ve been putting off baking another round of gingerbread because I know I will want to eat it, but I have to get started on it soon. I’m going to check up on all of you now. I hope you are doing better with your eating than I am today.

Oh buddies, I am having such a Norman Rockwell moment.

 Tonight after my father’s birthday dinner we went to Overly’s Country Christmas. Obviously you all know nothing of what I am talking about. There is a charitble group that every holiday season turns the county fair grounds into a Christmas wonderland. All the proceeds benifit the Make a Wish Foundation, a group that grants final wishes for terminally ill children.

Basically it is a few acres of Christmas lights that you drive through, and should you choose, can park and walk through the display as well as visit the shops and vendors.

With carols piped in via loud speaker my family and I drank hot chocolate and apple cider, while sitting by the campfire looking at the lights. We visited Santa, rode a horse drawn carriage and enjoyed funnle cake while looking at the live Nativity scene and the enormous Lionel train display. As we walked through the maze of lights we sang along with all the music as the kids enjoyed their soft pretzels.

I am unable to put into words the joy I am feeling right now, and the gratitude I am feeling at the fact that my children are blessed enough to have these moments as memories. Neither Ethan or I came up with these kinds of feelings or events, and as we tucked the kids in tonight we said a little prayer of gratitude that our children have a very different reality than we did.

Be well buddies and enjoy those simple moments.

Hello all! I have to take a break from gingerbread today, I’ve gotten 5 done so far this week, so I won’t be too behind schedule, it’s my father’s birthday. As you know, we had his party 2 weeks ago, but his actual birthday is today. I totally forgot, and remembered just lastnight. So he and the rest of my family is coming for dinner tonight.

 Ususally when it’s his pick, he always wants a roast and mashed potatoes. While we were on the phone I was making a mental check list of everything I had in the house, and was happy that I already had everything for his favorite dinner. So what does he ask for? Lasagna, so poor Ethan was out shopping for ingredients at 10pm lastnight. 

This week is killing my diet, I’m just grabbing what ever is close. At this rate I won’t be suprized if I gain 5 lbs or more this week. What’s getting me is eating right before bed, and the fact that I’m eating things like left over pasta. By the end of the day I’m so hungry that I don’t seem to care what I’m eating, just something and then I pass out. That has got to stop!

My house is a mess, and you can not see any part of my couch as it is buried under a mountain of laundry that needs to be folded. Jarod was so funny yesterday morning, he said, ” I don’t want to be disrespectful, and I know how hard you’re working on the gingerbread, but could you do my laundry? I’m wearing my last pair of underpants. ”

So, I’m going to fold my clothes, chisle the inch of royal icing of my countertops and make a freaking lasagna. But first…I want to check in on all of you.

Hello Buddies, I’m going to be MIA for a couple of days. I’m up to my ass in gingerbread this week. I made 3 today, and need to get another 7 done this week. I’ll be checking in on you, although I may not have time to comment on all your blogs. Gotta go…the oven is beeping at me.

Buddies..there is not a flat surface in my home that is not currently covered with rack after rack of gingerbread. I baked 3 houses worth lastnight and it is everywhere. It also looks like I haven’t dusted in about 2 months because of all the flour and powderd sugar that is released into the air when I turn the mixer on.

This is the time of year when my family and neighbors wait with eager anticipation of hearing me yell out ” dammit ” while I am baking. They are trained to come running, like a cat to a can opener, because they know that means I cracked one of the walls, and they get to eat the pieces that aren’t structually sound. Ethan sat here lastnight with a huge glass of milk and ate an entire front wall all by himself.

And I have one question…what genius at the M&M company decided that they need 3 different shades of green M&M’s in the red and green bags? There’s a lime green, regular green, and a dark green. I know this sounds like a silly thing to be annoyed with, but having to seperate those suckers takes a lot of time, because they look like crap if you use the different shades side by side.

My fingers look like snausages, so the water retention is in full effect. So no Sunday weigh in for me. I’m off to buy more candy, I love wandering around the candy isle at the store looking for things that I can use. This year I’m using cotton candy to look like the smoke coming out of the chimmney, last year I used ribbon candy. I also found edible Legos. They’re pez like, but you can actually build with them, so I’ll use those for presents under the tree inside the house.

Be well Buddies, and yes I got my money, it took a bit of a fight but I got it.

I managed to get about 70% of the house cleaned up from the other day, I’ll finish the rest today and of course do the laundry that has piled up over the week. My eaing hasn’t been the greatest this week, but it hasn’t been terrible. I can feel the pms monster getting ready to rear it’s ugly head, and I have decided to not look at much less use the scale until after everything is said and done on that front.

Someone from my friend’s family is supposed to be returning all of my containers and serving plates today, as well as bring me a check to reimburse me for the money I spent. It was $240, and to be honest, I don’t have that much extra spending cash this time of year. I really hope that this doesn’t turn into yet another problem, but I have a feeling that it will.

I’ve decided that if I do not recieve that money this weekend, my friend is going to have to make other day care arrangements until I do. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the only leverage I have in this situation. After all the bs surrounding the last few days, I’ll be damned if I get stuck with the bill as well. So perhaps if her family’s nonsence starts to effect her schedule, she’ll light a fire under them.

I have to hit the store today and stock up on more baking supplies, tis the Christmas cookie season. Don’t worry, I won’t eat any of them. After a full day of holiday baking, I’m so tired of looking at cookies that resisting is never an issue.

I am writing this from the shambles that used to be my house. There is not a plate, nor cup, nor fork that isn’t dirty.( Did I mention that I do not own a dishwasher? ) I could feed a family of 12 with just the food that is left on my floor, and I am looking and a pretty sizable Hawiian Punch stain on my chair ( defective sippy cup accident ).

The last guest left lastnight just before 11:30pm, tired is an understatement. I wound up having 13, count them, 13 children here ranging in age from 9mos to 10yrs, plus a 14 yr old. They left the 14 yr old here to help me, but within half an hour he was throwing up from the onset of a migraine. What a night!

One of the “gentlemen ” here, and I use that term loosely, whom I had never met before, almost got himself slapped. I was pouring a glass of root beer, and commented on how I could never be a bartender, referring to the amount of foam in the glass. This guy looked me straight in the face and said, ” I could tell just by looking at you that you give good head. “  I was shocked, and so were the 5 other people who heard him.

I leaned in and told him that I would let that one comment slide, because I am assuming that being in mourning has effected his judgement, but that if he ever spoke to me like that again there would likely be another death in the family.

So at some point today I will find the energy to clean my filthy house. Then again it would probably be easier to just move.