Self-Medication at its Finest
When you get only three or so hours of sleep because the baby (almost a toddler now, really) wakes up crying at midnight and does not go back to sleep till two or so, and then sleeps only fitfully till about 6, finally waking up for good with her feet stuck in your face (teething and snotty nose)....
When you have gotten through the day by breaking down and getting a grande skim half-caf mocha at the Starbucks drive through (gotta love the Starbucks drive through!) and then treated the girls to lunch out and done a little shoe shopping all to help make the day go a little faster...
When you give in to a little nap with the girls in the afternoon, but are still dead tired when half an hour later the preschooler announces that she is done making poopy and is ready to be wiped...
When the baby falls asleep during dinner, only to wake up on the way to bed and despite a nice warm bath and all the normal night-night routine, including the mandatory teaspoon of Motrin for the teething pain, refuses to go back to sleep and it is past her bedtime...
When the husband comes in and offers to take a turn...
Do you run downstairs and do the work that needs to be done, the work that should have been done last night? Hell, NO! If you are me, and it is today, you run down to the kitchen and mix up a batch of the best damn chocolate chip cookie dough on the planet* and you eat about five cookies' worth raw and you bake ten more cookies and while they are cooling you go back upstairs to relieve the husband.
And the baby is still crying, still agitated and still chewing on her fingers and snuffling the snot in her nose. So you leave her for a minute, you go fill a syringe with Tylenol, and you bring it back and let her suck it down (thank goodness she's decided she likes to drink the medicine these days). And now, even though you are still exhausted, you have a belly full of sugar and fat and you are calmer and have a bit more energy for a little while.
We relax together, and the baby drifts off to sleep. I lay her gently in the crib and cover her with her fuzzy blanket and creep off down the hall, down the stairs...
Down to the kitchen where my still-warm cookies are waiting for me, calling. And I went ahead and indulged in a plate of ooey gooey goodness, with a glass of cold-cold milk. And I read a few blogs and type up one of my own and I will watch a little TV and knit a little blankie and I will try to go to bed just a little bit early so that I can hope for at least a couple more hours of sleep tonight.
*My chocolate chip cookies really are to die for. When I crave chocolate chip cookies - all too often of course - no others will do at all. It's nothing special, reallly. I just follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle's chocolate chips package - and it's important because there are many other recipes out there, but they tend to use different proportions of sugar and flour. Make sure you use real, unsalted butter. Use real vanilla, and maybe splash a bit extra in there. Lately, I've been using the new Nestle dark chocolate chips which are awesome. Better yet, they don't have any soy lecithin in them like the other chocolate chips, which means that when I have them on hand I can either make cookies for Julie or just let her eat a couple out of the bag. Go ahead and throw in that cup of nuts, and make them pecans. Then, for the added extra-special super kick - mix a little cayenne pepper and cinnamon in with the flour mix. That's it. Can't buy it, most people don't use the high quality butter and vanilla and nuts, so even most homemade cookies disappoint me. And the spices mixed in - over the top! The kicker is, they're great the next day, but fresh out of the oven is the only true bliss. Uh-oh. They're calling.
When you have gotten through the day by breaking down and getting a grande skim half-caf mocha at the Starbucks drive through (gotta love the Starbucks drive through!) and then treated the girls to lunch out and done a little shoe shopping all to help make the day go a little faster...
When you give in to a little nap with the girls in the afternoon, but are still dead tired when half an hour later the preschooler announces that she is done making poopy and is ready to be wiped...
When the baby falls asleep during dinner, only to wake up on the way to bed and despite a nice warm bath and all the normal night-night routine, including the mandatory teaspoon of Motrin for the teething pain, refuses to go back to sleep and it is past her bedtime...
When the husband comes in and offers to take a turn...
Do you run downstairs and do the work that needs to be done, the work that should have been done last night? Hell, NO! If you are me, and it is today, you run down to the kitchen and mix up a batch of the best damn chocolate chip cookie dough on the planet* and you eat about five cookies' worth raw and you bake ten more cookies and while they are cooling you go back upstairs to relieve the husband.
And the baby is still crying, still agitated and still chewing on her fingers and snuffling the snot in her nose. So you leave her for a minute, you go fill a syringe with Tylenol, and you bring it back and let her suck it down (thank goodness she's decided she likes to drink the medicine these days). And now, even though you are still exhausted, you have a belly full of sugar and fat and you are calmer and have a bit more energy for a little while.
We relax together, and the baby drifts off to sleep. I lay her gently in the crib and cover her with her fuzzy blanket and creep off down the hall, down the stairs...
Down to the kitchen where my still-warm cookies are waiting for me, calling. And I went ahead and indulged in a plate of ooey gooey goodness, with a glass of cold-cold milk. And I read a few blogs and type up one of my own and I will watch a little TV and knit a little blankie and I will try to go to bed just a little bit early so that I can hope for at least a couple more hours of sleep tonight.
*My chocolate chip cookies really are to die for. When I crave chocolate chip cookies - all too often of course - no others will do at all. It's nothing special, reallly. I just follow the recipe on the back of the Nestle's chocolate chips package - and it's important because there are many other recipes out there, but they tend to use different proportions of sugar and flour. Make sure you use real, unsalted butter. Use real vanilla, and maybe splash a bit extra in there. Lately, I've been using the new Nestle dark chocolate chips which are awesome. Better yet, they don't have any soy lecithin in them like the other chocolate chips, which means that when I have them on hand I can either make cookies for Julie or just let her eat a couple out of the bag. Go ahead and throw in that cup of nuts, and make them pecans. Then, for the added extra-special super kick - mix a little cayenne pepper and cinnamon in with the flour mix. That's it. Can't buy it, most people don't use the high quality butter and vanilla and nuts, so even most homemade cookies disappoint me. And the spices mixed in - over the top! The kicker is, they're great the next day, but fresh out of the oven is the only true bliss. Uh-oh. They're calling.
posted by Shelly Kang at 8:55 PM
11 Comments:
The new Nestle's chips DON"T have soy? ARe you serious? My best friend is very allergic to soy, and I've been looking for chocolate without it, which so far has been nonexistent. I want to make cookies for her. Thank you, Shelly!
Oh boy, I want some cookies!! I'll have to try and make those, soon!! Hope you and Sophie get a better nights sleep tonight.
I have never heard of throwing cayenne in! What made you think of that?
How much cayenne? I want to try it, but I can imagine it going very wrong if I use the wrong amount. :)
And, boy, do I eagerly await the day when both of my girls can wipe their own poopy bottoms. I was pretty happy when we got to that point with my big girl (now six). Hang in there!
I've enjoyed reading your blog over the last several weeks. Reminiscing about when my daughters were small...how could my older girl have turned 30 recently? Seems like she was just your girls' age. Enjoy your days, even the rough ones turn into beautiful memories.
I think you should try what I consider the best chocolate chip cookie recipe sometime (and, I'll try yours!).
Joy of Cooking, Oatmeal cookies, add chocolate chips (1/2 bag for single recipie, but I always double it).
Its amazing.
Sounds delicious! I have a friend who substitutes a package of dry instant pudding mix for some of the flour. (Put the mix in the measuring cup then add the rest of the flour to the measuring cup till you have the needed amount). I tried to leave a post yesterday but I can rarely get the visual verification. It comes up with that little x in the box.
Yesterday, I was going to tell you that most of the sock yarn on Etsy sells for $16-$20/skein. Go for it!
I use that same recipe and peo0ple are always asking for it. When I say it's the ne on the back of the package they don't believe me! I'm going to give the hot pepper and cinnamon a try next time. My pwn personal secret ingredient? Chopped up left-over Easter bunnies! As well as the chips of course.
heather s
Mmm cookies! I've never put cayenne in my cookies, although I put tons of ancho chili powder in my Mexican hot chocolate. Hmm...something new to try. I hope today goes better!
Just wanted to say- I know what you meant when you said you treated the girls to lunch, but I'm getting a kick out of deliberately mis-understanding which definition of treating...as if they normally pay for lunch. :) (Ok, It's funny in my head) LOL.
Here was me feeling all sorry for you because of the baby-troubles and the I reach the end of your post and I'm desperately envious.
Get thee behind me, cookie monster!
I use the nestle toll house recipe too, with good quality butter and vanilla they can't be beat! Here's another hack for you: toffee bits. About half a bag, which is just shy of a cup, when you bake the cookies the toffee bits melt and the whole cookie becomes butterscotchy. My friends have declared them to be "crack" and I only make them for special occasions, because they are SO addictive.
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