I've been both busy and unmotivated since I last updated, which has made Christmas preparations difficult. I have so much to do, but the weather has been so gray and gloomy for over a month now that sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning can be the most successful part of my day. Christmas Eve is only a week away, and I still have shopping to finish, menus to plan, food to buy, presents to wrap and cleaning to do. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

I seem to do better when I have commitments to honor. Back during book fair, I got roped into signing up to help out with the hearing and vision testing at Becca's school this week. I had to do that Monday and today, plus I had Market Day today, so I was at the school for NINE HOURS (plus five hours Monday). Certainly kept my mind off my stress for a while!

Another recent commitment was my monthly Baking Gals project. It took me a couple weeks after picking my team to get myself into gear and get it done, but I got it sent out last Friday. I baked about four dozen Oatmeal Scotchies and made some Glazed Pecans. I made Oatmeal Scotchies for the first time a couple weeks before I made them for Operation Baking Gals, and right now they are my new favorite cookie. I also bought some Main Cup coffee, some Coffee Nips, gum, Blow-Pops and candy canes. Lauren and Becca wrote letters and I added a card. I don't think my box will get there before Christmas, but since there are a bunch of us on the team, the boxes should be staggered throughout the month.

Here are a few pictures of the goodies:

The picture of the glazed nuts didn't turn out that great, but they tasted delicious!



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Round 3 for me was completed last Thursday and sent out to Iraq on Friday. According to the information I got, the troop I was baking for was really into coffee. So I made Mocha Morsels, omitting the nuts. I also made Espresso Brownies, but I baked the brownies in a mini-muffin pan, which made about 3 dozen.

I also included some coffee candy, some fresh-ground coffee from my favorite local restaurant and a bag of local caramel popcorn (that was decided at the last minute, so I didn't get it in the pictures). I hope everything is enjoyed!

Here are a few pictures:

Yummy cookies and brownies (we know they were yummy because we had to test them!):



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This month I baked all bar cookies. We had from September 27th to October 6th to get everything baked and shipped, but I didn't get to it until Sunday the 5th. Last weekend was Chris's birthday weekend, then last week was busy, and blah blah blah, I'm baking at the last minute. So bar cookies made it easier. However, I was not thinking ahead, because I had planned to individually wrap the bars after cutting - there were about 7 or 8 dozen bars total to wrap! Thankfully, Chris helped out and the two of us got them wrapped in under 30 minutes.

I can't even remember the exact names of the recipes, and I don't have the recipes, either! I had checked a book out of the library called "The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need : 201 Mouthwatering, Kid-Pleasing Treats" that had some really good recipes, but it was due yesterday, so I had to return it before I had time to copy down recipes.

I made a nut-topped caramel shortbread bar that smelled like a Payday candy bar (mmmmmmmmmm), a cookie bar with chocolate chips and chopped walnuts, and a cookie bar (the Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe in a jellyroll pan) with chocolate chips, dried cranberries and coconut.



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I also stopped at the drugstore on the way to the post office and picked up a bunch of non-meltable Halloween candy (the package was going to Iraq). Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of everything all packaged up. I really did this in a hurry - next time I can hopefully take my time, because I do enjoy participating in this project.

Wednesday I spent the afternoon baking cookies to send out. I made chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Both were very yummy! I had testers, of course, once school was over, then Chris tested some when he got home from work. Hopefully they will be enjoyed by the recipients as well.

I really had fun with this, and plan to participate again if there's a Round 3, depending on when it is.

Here are a few pictures of baking day:

On that plate are just a few dozen cookies. There were lots more cooling on baking sheets around the kitchen! Can you find the dog in this picture?



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I am participating in a great project called Operation Baking Gals. Those of us participating bake cookies or other goodies and send them to soldiers overseas. I am on Team Meet Me in the Kitchen. If you are interested in joining, just go to Operation Baking Gals and follow the instructions.

I will be leaving this entry up at the top of my journal until Round 2 is over and all baked goods have been sent, so scroll down for regular entries until then.