Dance mom deets, new cookie bar recipe, midweek hum-drum stuff

 

When you are shopping with a 3-year-old who is pushing her own tiny cart, you buy a particular kind of impulse item.

Also we had to take a break on a bench after we checked out yesterday because she was REALLY HUNGRY FOR MY COOKIE. MY TUMMY IS SO HUNGRY.

She dressed herself, by the way, and I am loving her style POV. (I mean, she picked out her clothes— still needed help with the shirt and tights).

We mainly just go to the store for Valentine sugar cookies these days because Minnie is super into them, and then the other kids eat them, too, and then Minnie asks for one, and we start all over again.

I was really feeling my new $3 jeans— until Minnie asked if I had a baby in my tummy. Honestly,I should have bought a size down, but they are final sale, so **shrug**’

The waist is like under the boobs high, and they get SUPER STRETCHED OUT— I forgot how stretched out non-stretch jeans get by the end of the day. But. Guys. $3.

A fellow dance mom showed me how to use a topsy tail to wrap hair around a ponytail holder without using bobby pins or hairspray (Dorothy had 2 dances that call for high ponies with the hair tie covered by hair, and last year, I would make the ponytail and leave a piece of hair out to wrap around and be pinned in place, but this was always kind of fraught and would sometimes be loose by the end of a dance and then required so much hairspray that it would be hard to change her hair to a different style for a different dance. This year, she has 3 high pony numbers and 2 bubble braid low pigtail dances, plus one double Dutch braid routine— depending on scheduling at competitions, she could need a new ‘do for each dance, so a lower hairspray option is awesome).

(You just make a pony like normal and then choose a small section to wrap around the tie. When you are done wrapping, thread that section through the big loop of a topsy tail and use the device to pull the hair under the wrap and band, back into the pony.)

Now I just need to work on gettin the ponytail IN THE CNETER OF HER HEAD, which is hard when she is constantly moving. (Also the style sheet says it needs to be SLICKED BACK, which this one is obviously not).

Minnie is Very Into making Valentines now and has developed an interest in greeting cards more generally. She was OVER THE MOON to get a Valentine in the mail from her Florida grandparents and is so excited to send the one in return—- it’s pretty adorable.

I made the most awesome cookie bars the other day! I didn’t feel like making actual cookies, but I was dying for something ridiculously sweet, so I made up this little gem of a recipe:

1 stick butter, softened to room temp (I throw it in the microwave for 20 seconds on defrost)

1 cup peanut butter (I use a particular store brand that is super cheap for baking, and when I bought a jar of it years ago, Be asked WHY DID YOU BUY THE PORN PEANUT BUTTER, and I honestly have not looked at him the same way since)

1 1/4 c brown sugar 

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

(Mix these together)

 (In another bowl)

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

2 tsp corn starch 

2 1/2 c flour

(Whisk these together. Add to mixture and mix until combined)

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup M&Ms

(Mix in gently)

(Bake in parchment-lined glass baking dish (mine was 9X11) at 350 for 15-17 mins)

So chewy! So perfect! Not super pretty, but SUPER DELISH

Cheers!