Failed Cookies and Strive for Five

So the Relief Society is having a Christmas function tonight at church and part of it is a cookie swap. So I went through my "Christmas Cookies" cookbook and found a recipe for kiss cookies for which I had all the ingredients except Hershey's Kisses. So I went to Wal-Mart again (I had to get a few other things that I didn't get on Tuesday night) and got mint truffle Hershey's Kisses. Because I love mint and chocolate together. I got home and got a shower and then started getting ready to make the cookies. Well, at this point I actually read through the recipe directions and learn that it's a cookie press recipe. Well, just great. Like I have a cookie press. So I try to find another recipe for these same basic types of cookies, but in all of my cookbooks, nothing. So I call Brad (because I figured he could look up a recipe online, since I don't have Internet at home) and he looks in one of their cookbooks and gives me one that calls for peanut butter. Which is all well and good, but it also calls for brown sugar and shortening, neither of which I have. So then I call my mom at work to ask her if she thinks it really matters if you use a cookie press. She said she didn't think so. So, I gave it a shot. Yeah, a total bummer. They are edible, but totally didn't turn out right. Especially the first batch, since I didn't make a hole in the cookie for the chocolate kiss to sit in. And so they melted and slid all over the place (which prompted me to put them, and the wire rack upon which they sat, into the refrigerator). (Oh, and I put the Kisses on AFTER I took the cookies out of the oven, in case anyone was wondering):
Notice the sad looking kisses that have melted to the point of no longer having a point... Anyway, the second batch came out slightly better, but they still don't look all that great:
I mean, they are edible, but they aren't anywhere near as good as I was imagining they'd be. Once again, this is why I don't generally attempt to break out of the Nilla mold. I should have gone with regular old chocolate chip :).

I spent the rest of the evening watching THE GREAT OUTDOORS (I bought it at Wal-Mart, because I just think I should own it :) ) and wrapping Christmas presents. I'm almost done, which is good, because I have to get the package in the mail to my family in Washington. I will finish up the wrapping tonight and mail it tomorrow. I think it will get there in time.

I so dislike getting up in the mornings. I think I have hit a wall, because I have not been able to get out of bed! I have rolled into work at least 5 minutes late each day this week. I doubt I'll redeem myself tomorrow... I don't know what the solution is, because it's not like I didn't just have a vacation... And even before that, I had a week off that I spent in Dothan. Maybe I'm still just trying to catch up on my sleep from my blitz weekend :).

Okay, so this morning, they had the awards ceremony for Strive for Five. Well, our genius idea was to take the bus, because we had to go to the Stadium and I was wearing heels and Annie said she didn't feel like walking over to the stadium. Well, we finally figured out which bus to take, and then we didn't know where "The Zone" is in the Stadium. So we literally walked all the way around the Stadium (this is no small stadium, by the way), before discovering that we had to go INSIDE. So we got there late. Anyway, there were refreshments and they were giving out awards for the teams that lost the most weight. I was amazed at how much weight some of the teams lost. One team lost a total of 66 pounds!!! Wow! Our team was somewhere at 7 pounds. Of course, I think we would have had more loss accounted for if I'd have been here last week to weigh in with my team. Instead, I was on a flight to Philly. I guess you can't have it all :). And at least they didn't weigh us today, since I certainly did heifer it up in the Northeast... Everything was about the food :).

After all the awards and stuff, we took a huge group picture in the stadium. And then, if we wanted to, we could get team pictures done by the professional photographer in the stadium as well. Well, you know I took my camera, because this was going to be the only time I was ever going to go inside the stadium. So we got a professional picture and then he also took a picture of the three of us with my camera. Okay, I totally don't like these pictures. I look TERRIBLE (which is a hazard of getting up with barely enough time to throw on clothes, and forget makeup). And my nose looks so fat! Too bad, too. Because the photographer was cute. Not that I was thinking he was a prospect or anything like that... But when you see a cute guy, you kinda hope you look semi-decent. Sigh... But I will share the pictures anyway. This is Le and me. And this is our team.