Victory!!!! ...with sugar cookies

I'm really good at some things in life. Things like: single-handed-ly eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked, or watching Biggest Loser while downing raw cookie dough, or devouring a full bag of chips with Tostito's queso dip (ever tried it? so. dang. good.)

Some things in life I'm not so good at. Things like: making sugar cookies. Specifically cutoutable, edible, actually-taste-good, sugar cookies.

The one and only time I attempted such a feat, I was in a crazy inventive mood and decided it was a smart idea to alter a recipe I'd never made before because I like butter so much more than shortening and I did not want to use 10 cups of flour. The result? Super sticky, then super stiff, disgusting, tasteless, non-cutoutable, sugar cookies. I baked a few then threw the rest away. They were only barely edible when completely smothered in very sweet, thick, buttercream frosting. I was clearly not in a good state of mind that day. Because the end product was so horrific, I have been terrified to touch a sugar cookie recipe since.

This weekend, however, that all changed.

Enter: Our Best Bites Sugar Cookie Recipe!

I found this website, Our Best Bites, through several facebook posts and some recommendations by friends during a miserably hot, St Louis summer.
I was rather intrigued for two reasons:

1. they're Mormon, just like me.
2. they blog in a very entertaining way.

I started making a few of the recipes, and now I'm officially hooked. I read every blog post, have the cookbook, and their calendar is hanging on my wall. Sadly, these girls have no idea who I am... though they may know now (Hi Kate! Hi Sara!).

(almost) Every recipe that I have tried from their cookbook has turned out quite amazing, particularly the banana creme pie - heaven in a pie crust. I figured since I'd had so much success, why not try their sugar cookie recipe? Though first I suppose it's a good time to pause and tell you which recipe I did not have success with: Chipotle Chocolate Chili. I completely underestimated the level of spice that is contained in chipotle chilies in adobo sauce until after I had put an entire cans worth of sauce into the chili. Needless to say, there was much attempt at watering down and de-spicing the chili before we could eat it.

Moving on.

Sugar cookies. The biggest problem I had with the dough was the inability to stop eating it. I thought it looked a smidgen dry in my mixer bowl, but one taste confirmed it most definitely was not. I successfully rolled it out between two sheets of wax paper without sticky residue, and had zero problems transferring the cut cookies to a cookie sheet.

(notice the pan on the right has the thicker cookies, those turned out better, I'm just not great at rolling out dough to be evenly thick)

Post baking? A sugar cookie worthy of eating without frosting. (even when I accidentally overcooked a batch)

That has never happened to me, folks. I am a firm believer of dousing sugar cookies in a thick coating of buttercream frosting.  Perhaps that is because most sugar cookies I've tried are terribly bland. These magnificent shapes of buttery goodness could stand completely alone without the extra calories. Once smeared with buttercream, the result was, well, you think of a word better than incredible. And believe it or not, they tasted even better the second day.

All in all, VICTORY!

I vow to never make another sugar cookie recipe ever again.

Thank you, Sara & Kate, for making me feel like I can actually bake.

Octopus Arms & Instruction Manuals

Dear Mother of More Than One Child,

How the heck do you do it!? 

Love, Me

I have started babysitting a 2 year old girl for a friend of mine while she is finishing up school. In the few short weeks that I have been doing this, my eyes have been opened to a whole new world. It's called:

Pseudo-Mother-of-Two

Let me tell ya what, folks, if you thought carting around one child to do grocery shopping was a challenge, you're in for a big shocker. Though, most of you probably already know that.

In case you didn't know, here are some things I learned today.

10 Things I Learned as a Pseudo-Mother-of-Two While Grocery Shopping:

1.  When you hear a ding and the “door-ajar” light illuminates on your dashboard, it’s usually a good time to pull over and reestablish car safety.  Don’t forget to lock the doors every time you begin driving because it may happen again. 

2.    Just because you buckle a 13 month old into a grocery cart seat provides no guarantee that he will actually stay in the seat. Facing forward. Sitting down.

3.       Pulling a two year old out of the cart basket and urging “now stay by the cart, please!” provides no guarantee that she will actually stay by the cart.

4.       Old people don’t think it’s very funny to have a two year old using them as cones in an imaginary obstacle course.

5.       When you decide to unbuckle the 13 month old so he can freely turn to chat with the two year old, there is a high probability he may do a front flip dive bomb into the cart’s basket while your back is turned. (thankfully, and luckily, not the other direction)

6.       If two year old comes back to the cart, it may be a good idea to place her in the buckling seat and remove the 13 month old since he has a strange fascination with pushing the cart. This may, however, backfire and result in much slower movement, more icy stares, and random objects in little hands.

7.       Upon arrival at the check-out lane, it’s a really good workout to hold a squirmy 13 month old in one arm and load groceries onto the belt with the other arm. There is a good chance the cashier will finish the transaction before you can manage to get your wallet out.

8.       During the Aldi cart-change-at-cashier is a good time to re-buckle the 13 month old into the seat and transfer two year old to the ground.

9.       Thank goodness for double seated grocery carts at Costco!

10.   Good luck getting all the groceries inside without another catastrophe happening.

Overall, it was quite a humorous experience looking back on it. I now understand from experience how so many of you feel when people give you strange, icy, curious, looks in the store with more than one child. In my case, this sweet girl I'm watching looks very much like she could be my son's older sister. I look young enough as it is to have one child, but to have two seems absurd to other fellow shoppers. 

So, I tip my hat to you, mothers of multiple children, and commend you for your difficult work and for surviving any excursion outside your home without falling to pieces and dive bombing into a box of Godiva chocolates. 

If only we could be blessed with octopus arms and instruction manuals when we decide to have kids!

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P.S. After this excursion I fully believe puppies to be completely different than kids (in at least one way): You can leave them home while you go out!

Tenacity

Not too long ago Bubs and I were out for a spin and as we were returning home we had the windows rolled down enjoying the nice, warm, January breeze. And I'm not being sarcastic, for once. As we entered our little apartment cul-de-sac, we passed a man walking his dog and heard a couple of dogs barking their guts out in front of an open window.

Well, Bubs, you see, is very observant. Almost to the point that it is sometimes borderline annoying. Keyword: sometimes. Once we parked, I unloaded him onto the pavement, and started off for our bridge. He, however, had much different plans. Five buildings away he could still hear those dogs yapping out the window. Instead of following me, he perked up, and decided to forge his own way toward the sound. Me, being the amazing and wonderful mom that I am, followed him. Of course I also wanted to make sure an unsuspecting car wouldn't take him out, considering his choice of direction was on the road.

Little Bubs took my hand, then walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, never losing sight of his auditory goal. He only stopped and looked up when we came upon the open window with the dogs. He proceeded to stand there in awe, conjuring up a way to get closer and touch the dogs. Which, of course, was impossible. After several moments of watching, pointing, and mumbled baby jargon, I scooped him up and we headed back home. He was less than excited.

During this stroll, I learned two very important things:

1. My baby is tenacious. Very tenacious.
2. We must get a dog. Now.

As I reflect on this experience, I consider my own level of tenacity. Shortly after Mr. Man and I were married, I worked in a restaurant and had a less than stellar experience. We relocated across town, and I decided to find a new job. There was another restaurant in town that I was dying to work at. So I walked in, handed them an application, spoke with a manager, and was hired on the spot. I walked out and told my husband that I have never not been hired for a job that I have interviewed for. Several months later I heard of a job opening at a school, and as many of you know, was interviewed and hired within a 3 day period.

Still, to this day, I have never not been hired for a job that I was interviewed for.

During my teenage years I had tenacity in my dancing. There were so many times that I should have just given up and quit. But for some reason, I didn't. I had a deep, passionate, burning desire to dance.

Fast forward to the present. I feel like my tenacity has been lacking. I feel like I have been moseying about just trying to be the best wife and mother possible. As a result, I have lost sight of some things that I really want, dreams that I have, or deep, burning desires for accomplishment. I have lost some semblance of who I am.

Yes, I am a wife, mother, and daughter of God. I love those parts of me and wouldn't trade them for anything! However, sometimes I feel I have lost a little part of Karissa. I want to change that. I want to be better. I want to do more. I want to be more. And I have a dream. Or two, or three.

In college, I swore I would teach Kindergarten and write children's books when I "grew up". Well, children's literature is not exactly what I feel passionate about now. I do, however, still feel passionate about writing. It is an outlet for me. It is a way to express myself, my thoughts, my views, my opinions. So, thanks to something I read this morning that fed the fire inside me, I have big plans for the future. I have some hopes, some dreams, and some desire. I hope you will stick with me and continue reading whatever the heck comes out of my mouth as I try to figure out who, exactly, I am.

-k

"Due date" and picture!

We are just so excited about our soon-to-be newest addition to our family!!

We are expecting her arrival sometime around February 24-25.

We really cannot wait to meet her!
The suspense has been killing me.
But, I'm already completely in love from her picture.

Want to see?

We both sincerely apologize for any hurt or silly feeling feelings we may have caused. We were merely going for the shock & awe factor. We just wanted to be a little silly and play a trick. When we really are pregnant, you will absolutely know it's not a trick! Thanks for all the funny reactions. And 75+ page views on our post! 

As you may or may not know, I have been begging for a puppy for years. We finally came to an agreement to get one and we couldn't be more excited. We found this little sweetheart just two days ago and almost instantly knew she was the one. She is a shih poo (shih tzu-poodle mix), will not shed, and will be around 10-12 lbs at adult. This picture is when she was only about 4 weeks old, and we are expecting some updated pictures this weekend! Shih poo in simple terms means "fluff ball of joy." 

So, now that you know the real news, let's vote on names again!!!

Trixie, Kora, Kloe, or Lola? (Kiki is out)

Our Big Announcement!!!

Well we thought that we would let everyone know that we are expecting another baby. We just found out this week that it's a GIRL!!! We thought that we would take a vote on what you think the name should be. The options are:

Trixie, Kiki, Lola, Kora, or Kloe

Let us know what you think!!
We are so excited!!!

Love you all,
S + K

Downton Abbey

I am completely smitten by this show:


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We watched it for the first time on Friday night.
By Sunday night we had completed 7 episodes, or the entire first season.

I cannot wait to start the second season!
It was also confirmed that there will be a third season starting this September!

Hallelujah for finding such an addicting show!
Thank you Gorgeous for letting me in on the secret!

I need at least one more sentence with an exclamation mark!

If you haven't watched Downton Abbey, please, oh please, go find the first season and start watching. I know Netflix has season 1 and pbs.org has the beginning of season 2 (though it wasn't working for me last night for some reason).

Top 10 Favorite Things from 2011

(and January 2012, and 2008, and...well, just some favorite stuff)


1. Favorite Hair Product/Shampoo:

Big Sexy Hair Big Volume Shampoo and Conditioner

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The first time I used this, I was in love. The second time I used it, I was deeper in love. Then I started only shampooing every other day, with this shampoo, and I am completely smitten. If you couldn't guess, I love this stuff! It does magical things to my hair.

2. Favorite Skin Care combo:
Deep Action Cream Cleanser & Mary Kay Day Solution
 
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So this face cleanser has been on my favorites list before. I've been using it for about 3 years. I believe  cleanser to be a very personal thing for every woman's skin. Something that works wonders on one person may cause another to quarantine herself to her room for a week because of the breakouts. I've tried many, many different cleansers and combos, even higher end products, and this has been the one that has consistently kept my break outs away. For about $5 a tube, it is definitely worth it! Plus, it must be good because our local Walmart can't seem to keep it on the shelves!

In addition to that, I found that when combined with the MK day solution as a moisturizer, I have a winning combo for my skin. The day solution is absolutely silky smooth and incredibly light weight. I love it. When my bottle ran out my heart broke a little. I just can't bring myself to pay $30/ounce at this point in my life. But, when I can, I sure as heck will! Because it is truly, absolutely, incredibly, amazing. Maybe I'll start saving up...

3. Favorite Shoes: 


Sperry's.

















Over Christmas I traversed to DSW with my sweet sister and mom. I had no intention of buying shoes since we'd just had Christmas. However, I had been dying for some flat shoes that were not tennis shoes, but a little more dressy, yet still casual. I found a pair of clearance buys for $20 that fit okay and were kinda cute. In the same aisle were a bunch of Sperry's. My mom urged me to try some on, saying they'd be way cute on me and I could pull them off because they're kinda preppy, but I couldn't decide if I thought they were cute or not. Then I tried them on. Instantaneously they became much more cute and felt uber de duber comfy! I hemmed and hawed about getting them, not sure if they were really awesome or not, and I felt like I couldn't spend the money right at that moment, so I passed.

I took home the clearance buys (really lame sorta-Sperry's-knock-offs) and tried them on the next morning. So. Not. Comfy. They went right back to the store. The Sperry's had been nagging my brain all day so I decided to try them on for Mr. Man. He approved, and they were suddenly in a bag and going home with me.

Later, I talked to my super cute and trendy other sister about them and she said she had a pair of Sperry's and loved them! She highly recommended them and assured me they were very cute.

Since my pair came home with me, I have not regretted buying them for one single tiny second. They are hands down the most comfortable pair of "flats" I have ever worn. Including tennis shoes. They are also super versatile and go with everything! I didn't get the traditional tan colored ones, mine are dark grey, and I feel good about it. Also since purchase I have seen people everywhere (especially in Chesterfield) wearing Sperry's. Funny how that happens.

Now I can't decide if I think Toms are really cute or not. Sometimes I love em, sometimes I hate em. I think I'd have to try them on and get my own pair to make an honest and fair judgement.

4. Favorite Foundation:

Mary Kay Matte Wear Liquid Foundation

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No, I am not a Mary Kay rep. Yes, I used to be.

Last summer I reluctantly went to a facial party because I needed new foundation. I used MK liquid in the past, but I hadn't heard of this new kind before. The rep, who I'm now friends with, had this foundation to sample. I was pretty confident I would want my previous kind, but after sampling it, I decided to get a tube. I paid the extra 5 bucks and loved every drop of it. When it was gone, I decided to save a buck and get my previous type. After a week or two of wear, I hated it. So I called up my friend, switched out for the Matte Wear, and I've been a happy camper since!

MK also has this same foundation in Luminous wear for people with normal/dry skin. I've heard amazing things about it. Since my skin is combo/oily, the matte wear is perfect for me.

5. Favorite Make Up Trick:

Contouring and Highlighting your face.
 
before & after (this is not me)
                                  
I found this blog post over the summer about makeup application. It took me a couple tries to get it right, but ever since then I apply my makeup this way (not necessarily the eyes, just the face). I cannot believe the difference it makes to contour and highlight your face! I had no idea. All you need is some base, good bronzer, blush, and some white eye shadow or highlighter. It helps to have an eyebrow pencil and eyelash curler as well. Check out the blog and try it yourself. The results are amazing!

6. Favorite Trader Joe's "find":

Quick Steel Cut Oats



Let's face it. How many of us love steel cut oats and realistically have 30-45 minutes in the morning to whip up a batch for breakfast? Not me. Enter: TJ's Quick Steel Cut Oats. They cook in about 8 minutes or less and they are delicious. I may actually venture to say I like the texture of them better than regular steel oats. Top with some fresh or frozen blueberries, sliced banana, a pinch of sugar, a generous dose of cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, a dot of butter, and a dash of milk, and you've got yourself a very quick and easy, healthy, hearty, and delicious breakfast!

Even my baby goes crazy over these oats. He loves them.

7. Favorite Home Work-out:

Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30


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You've already heard how much I love the DVD, but I'll say it again: I love JM's Ripped in 30!!! Every time I do these workouts, I see and feel results. It's an incredible, full body workout, including cardio and strength, in less than 35 minutes. So doable for a mom with a tight schedule! If you want to focus on abs, check out her 6 Week Six Pack dvd. I saw a huge difference in my abs after doing the workout only 3 times a week for about 4-5 weeks.


8. Favorite Mixing Bowls:

Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls

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I confess, I've had these bowls since we got married 3 1/2 years ago. But I've never talked about nor featured them. I use these bowls almost every single day. They still look brand spankin' new. If you're in the market for new mixing bowls, have a couple extra bucks to spend, and want something amazing, buy these. You will not be disappointed. I would be surprised to find a bad review written about them.

9. Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe:


Dodds Family cookies



So here's the deal folks. I tried these cookies when Mr. Man and I were courtin'. They were to die for. He told me that when I became a Dodds I would have to learn how to make them as good as his mom. Well, I did just that. And boy are they amazing! Then I took it a step further and made a few tweaks and changes to fit my personality. Because of that, I have created my most favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe in the whole world. I have yet to try another cookie that I like better. Yes, I sound prideful, and maybe I am a little, but I need to give a whole heck of a lot of credit to my amazing mother in law who provided me with the bones for my cookies. As you can see from this picture, her recipe is well loved and dripped on. For me, when I turn to a page in a cookbook that is crinkled, wrinkled, stained, and smeared, I know it is one of the best recipes in the book.

So, thank you, Mom Dodds, for this amazing recipe and an amazing son for a husband!

If you want to check out my version of the recipe, click here 


10. Favorite Toddler product:

Munchkin Snack Catcher

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Before Bubs was born, a friend of mine had these little snack cups. I thought they were cool but I didn't realize how cool until I got them. You see, my child likes to eat...sometimes. But he doesn't like eating snacks in his highchair, it gets too messy if I put a pile on the couch or floor in reach, and I don't have the time or patience to sit and hold a handful of snack for him to walk over and eat every 5 minutes. Enter: Munchkin Snack Catchers.

Two words: Life Saver.

He now runs around happily clutching his cup, dipping his hand inside whenever he feels the inkling to nibble. He loves it because he can eat when he wants, where he wants, and I love it because it's mess free and I don't have to be the snack holder anymore! Please try it if you're looking for a snacking solution. You should not be disappointed.



And that, my friends, is my list of 10 favorite things! What are some of your favorite things? I'd love to hear from ya!