cookie wednesdays + in-laws for dinner wednesdays =

exhausted amy wednesdays

most days i am thinking of the day’s blogpost throughout the day.  i’m thinking of creative ways to post the information i’ve gathered throughout the day.  i’m thinking that i can’t wait to get the kids in bed and settle down with my laptop and get my ideas in print.  and then the precious time comes, and i’m exhausted.

i’m in a “let’s just hurry and get this posted”- no matter how good it is.  it’s the moments like these where i’m both overwhelmed at the commitment i’ve made with my sister to blog daily for the year and i’m super grateful i made that commitment- because too many days end like these:  i’m just too tired to really think about my day and the things that mattered to me that day.  but, i’m always glad- after the fact- that i took the time to blog. 

i’ve learned a lot from myself.  even when i’m tired.  and even when i don’t feel like posting anything.  today was definitely one of those days where so much was going on, but i’m too spent to detail it all. 

i’m ahead of myself.  i made about 60-70 dozen cookies 2 weeks ago.  i baked about half of them (froze about 1/2 of those) and scooped out and froze the rest of the cookie dough (chocolate chip/reese’s pieces, molasses, sugar). 

and boy was i glad i did when my mixer broke that morning (on the last batch) and i had to mail it in to be repaired.  making cookie dough and cookies all day was worth the blister i got on my finger from scooping so many cookies- because it meant i didn’t have to stress out about being without my mixer for the next several weeks.

and today, when somewhere around 25 kids showed up, i was really glad that i hadn’t been baking cookies ALL morning (just most of the morning).  because i wasn’t a wreck.

this is what cookie wednesday starts out looking like:

about 6 dozen [displayed] cookies,  a gallon of milk, small paper plates, napkins, and cups, and ray anxiously waiting for the party to start.

  

this is the “after” picture, but it’s not very accurate because more people kept showing up and i had to replenish the cookie trays.  today, we went through:

• 4 dozen chocolate chip/reese’s pieces
• 3 1/2 dozen molasses
• 2 1/2 dozen sugar w/sprinkles
• 2 1/2 dozen peanut butter w/hershey’s kisses
• 2  dozen plain peanut butter
• 2 gallons of milk

wow. 

mostly, i have a smile on my face the entire afternoon as i watch these teenagers eat and jump on the trampoline and eat and play the piano and eat and hover around the computer in the kitchen listening to music and eat and play games and just hang out with each other. 

but, honestly, when it’s super loud, and some of them are complaining about the types of cookies i decided to bake that day and the kids are chasing each other all over the house and riding the futons down the stairs, and when they spill their milk and pretend not to notice, i have to remind myself to not stress out. 

i have to remind myself that this is a good thing.  that this  is what i want happening in my house.  that eating a dozen cookies all by myself is absolutely fine,  that this is where i want my daughter to be:  in a home where the parent is home and surrounded by lots of good friends.  that this is neighborhood central.  that the chaos and mess and exhaustion are worth it. 

because it is. 

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