So, I've heard the term "preggo brain" or "pregnancy brain" since I was pregnant with my first. (I really don't like the term "preggo much, but that is beside the point). And it is so true. I am forgetting things, losing things, and just making stupid STUPID mistakes. Simple things like putting the milk in the cabinet and cereal in the fridge. Or finding my keys in the freezer. Or driving off from my house with my purse on the HOOD (not the roof where I can't see it - but right there in front of my eyes, on the hood!).
Now, I can understand the evolutionary reason behind many of the pregnancy symptoms. My boobs hurt because they are preparing for milk. My joints hurt because hormones are causing them to losen, to prepare for the birth (my body apprently hasn't gotten the memo that I will be having a c-section and lose joints are not necessary!). My feet are wider for the same reason. My gums are now bleeding because my body has a lot of extra blood pumping through it - because the baby needs it. Lots of things that just make sense. But what good does a ditzy brain do the baby? I can't figure it out.
But it is causing me a great deal of frustration. Yesterday I had to make cookies for the cookie swap at work. The cookie I always make is this WONDERFUL light thin crispy sesame wafer (with ground pecans!), with a drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate across the top. They are so good. And so easy. I've made them for years - and they always come out perfect.
Until last night. I don't know what I was thinking. I KNOW that a stick of butter is a 1/2 cup. But I looked at the stick and it said 1 stick = 8 tbsp = 1/4 lb. Now - it said 1/4 POUND. It made no mention of cups. But, I read it as 1/4 cup and thought I was remembering the "1 stick = 1/2 cup" wrong. So, I went with what the package said (or what I thought it said).
I mixed up the cookies and put the dough in the fridge to harden (easier to work with that way) while I dealt with dinner and getting the kids in bed. I then relaxed a bit before starting. About 10 pm I go downstairs to bake the cookies. First batch in ... after the 7 to 9 minutes they are supposed to bake they are still very soft and white. They should be crispy and brown and ready to come out. They also spread out a lot. It looked very wrong.
I left them in another 9 minutes - light brown, but still looked funny with lots of holes in them. Took them out to let cool. When I tried to scoop a cookie up with the spatula, it just fell apart into little tiny bits of browned flour and sesame seeds. Nothing held together. NOTHING. All of them were like this.
In digging into it, trying to find my problem - I realized that I had used double the butter. YUM ... except they won't bake and be cookies. I spent another hour and a half trying to repair the damage - adding more flour and sesame seeds to the remaining dough (though no telling how much was actually left). Baking isn't like cooking. You don't "fix" it. Measurements are critical. I tried and tried (baking one cookie at a time) - but there was no repairing the dough. And I had no more butter.
Since Katrina, you don't just run to the store at 1 am to buy butter. The stores are no longer 24 hours. Not even the convenient store around the corner is open past 11. So, I gave up. I had a bowl of sesame 'granola' (with the chocolate drizzled on top) and ate spoon fulls of buttery sugary sesame seeds. But no cookies. My poor husband had to deal with a sobbing hormonal woman, in bed at 1:00 am crying about cookies.
Tonight, I've got to make the cookies to make up for not having them at the swap today. I also have a meeting at the country club. It is the general membership meeting and I've gotten myself nominated to the board this year -election is tonight. How I get myself into things that I don't have time for, I don't know. But I hear that the board meetings are fun (held in the bar where the liquor is!! - not that I can partake right now ... but I'll be an officer at least a year). And I did state that I would take the job with the least amount of responsibility (scheduling club rentals). I guess this is making up for not being on the board of the PTO this year. And really, this summer I'll be home on maternity leave and therefore at the pool with the kids pretty much EVERY day. So I'll be there anyway.
I have a bit of excitement later this week - Thursday is my big "anatomy ultrasound". This is where they check the baby's detailed measurements, check all of the organs, etc - and where they will tell me the gender. I did not find out what I was having with Zachary and Philip - so this will be the first time I'm going to know before delivery. I'm pretty excited.
Wednesday I'm looking forward to lunch with friends.
And Friday the kids have their classroom Holiday parties - I'm going to Zachary's and took the rest of the day off.
Maybe we will FINALLY get the tree up this coming weekend. I still have my big tree for sale, the new slim tree arrived last week. I can't wait to get it up and decorated.
But it is causing me a great deal of frustration. Yesterday I had to make cookies for the cookie swap at work. The cookie I always make is this WONDERFUL light thin crispy sesame wafer (with ground pecans!), with a drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate across the top. They are so good. And so easy. I've made them for years - and they always come out perfect.
Until last night. I don't know what I was thinking. I KNOW that a stick of butter is a 1/2 cup. But I looked at the stick and it said 1 stick = 8 tbsp = 1/4 lb. Now - it said 1/4 POUND. It made no mention of cups. But, I read it as 1/4 cup and thought I was remembering the "1 stick = 1/2 cup" wrong. So, I went with what the package said (or what I thought it said).
I mixed up the cookies and put the dough in the fridge to harden (easier to work with that way) while I dealt with dinner and getting the kids in bed. I then relaxed a bit before starting. About 10 pm I go downstairs to bake the cookies. First batch in ... after the 7 to 9 minutes they are supposed to bake they are still very soft and white. They should be crispy and brown and ready to come out. They also spread out a lot. It looked very wrong.
I left them in another 9 minutes - light brown, but still looked funny with lots of holes in them. Took them out to let cool. When I tried to scoop a cookie up with the spatula, it just fell apart into little tiny bits of browned flour and sesame seeds. Nothing held together. NOTHING. All of them were like this.
In digging into it, trying to find my problem - I realized that I had used double the butter. YUM ... except they won't bake and be cookies. I spent another hour and a half trying to repair the damage - adding more flour and sesame seeds to the remaining dough (though no telling how much was actually left). Baking isn't like cooking. You don't "fix" it. Measurements are critical. I tried and tried (baking one cookie at a time) - but there was no repairing the dough. And I had no more butter.
Since Katrina, you don't just run to the store at 1 am to buy butter. The stores are no longer 24 hours. Not even the convenient store around the corner is open past 11. So, I gave up. I had a bowl of sesame 'granola' (with the chocolate drizzled on top) and ate spoon fulls of buttery sugary sesame seeds. But no cookies. My poor husband had to deal with a sobbing hormonal woman, in bed at 1:00 am crying about cookies.
Tonight, I've got to make the cookies to make up for not having them at the swap today. I also have a meeting at the country club. It is the general membership meeting and I've gotten myself nominated to the board this year -election is tonight. How I get myself into things that I don't have time for, I don't know. But I hear that the board meetings are fun (held in the bar where the liquor is!! - not that I can partake right now ... but I'll be an officer at least a year). And I did state that I would take the job with the least amount of responsibility (scheduling club rentals). I guess this is making up for not being on the board of the PTO this year. And really, this summer I'll be home on maternity leave and therefore at the pool with the kids pretty much EVERY day. So I'll be there anyway.
I have a bit of excitement later this week - Thursday is my big "anatomy ultrasound". This is where they check the baby's detailed measurements, check all of the organs, etc - and where they will tell me the gender. I did not find out what I was having with Zachary and Philip - so this will be the first time I'm going to know before delivery. I'm pretty excited.
Wednesday I'm looking forward to lunch with friends.
And Friday the kids have their classroom Holiday parties - I'm going to Zachary's and took the rest of the day off.
Maybe we will FINALLY get the tree up this coming weekend. I still have my big tree for sale, the new slim tree arrived last week. I can't wait to get it up and decorated.
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