i finally own a gun.

I’m going to try to do this fast before I pass out!

The cookie fundraiser is a success! This weekend, we baked 300 dozen cookies and raised $1,300 for breast cancer research. I’m proud of our team. It was really hard work, and totally worth it.

Today we all converged on Robin‘s monstrous, pimped-out kitchen and baked like maniacs. Wendy and I developed this intense system for packaging up the cookies, and I think we did a pretty awesome job. Man, that was a ton of work. We got really punchy. And maybe a little foul-mouthed. If it’s possible for a team of seven (eight??) to have a bad crowd, we’re it.

Tomorrow and Tuesday, we’ll be delivering cookies and collecting money. Please be standing at your door with cash in hand, or ELSE.

So, now I’m going to go back to last week, just to confuse you. Thursday night, I calculated all my ingredients for the cookies I was responsible for (peanut blossums, the ones with the Hershey’s Kiss on top). I ran to Target for the candy, only realizing on the way there that I actually had to unwrap them. SIX HUNDRED HERSHEY’S KISSES. I did it, though. It’s too bad I’m too old for sweatshop work. I also bought a monster bag of flour and a barrel of peanut butter (I may be exaggerating just a little) and all the other stuff I needed, which actually wasn’t that much, considering I planned to make 55 dozen cookies.

Friday, I started baking. I got two gigantic metal bowls, so I could mix up two quadruple-batches at once. I got through almost 30 dozen before I started losing it. There were cookies everywhere. On every available cat-proof surface. I shoved artwork in cabinets to have stacking-space. I utilized creative containers and cooling racks. I turned off the radiators and opened the windows to get the chocolate to harden. The bottoms of my feet were encrusted with sugar. Talk about cookie-efficiency, though. Henry Ford would be proud.

The boy rescued me around 10. I turned off the oven for the night, and he made guacamole. We lounged on the couch. He gave me a massage. I’m totally spoiled.

It sucked having an early hair appointment Saturday morning, but seeing Mahogany always makes everything better. I went from there to the store for more peanut butter, then headed home and turned on the oven again. I baked like a crazyperson all day, and he reappeared in the afternoon to help. We were rolling dough in sugar and stacking cookies in piles up until the very moment we had to leave for my work holiday party at the Mall of America.

I had no idea what to expect from the party, but I knew it would be good. Pam bought the company this year, and she was excited about having a big event. We met for dinner at Tucci Benucch, which was way better than I expected. She stuffed us full with a four-course meal, and got us drunk at the same time. Then she told us the rest of the evening’s plans: we had an hour and a half to go shopping in the mall. Were to pick out something that meant Christmas to us, something that represented ourselves or our hobbies, and something that we would never ordinarily buy for ourselves. She told us that we were to spend the money we were allotted and give her the receipts, or we’d have to give the remainder back. She handed us $300 apiece, and we were off stumbling through the mall, shocked and giddy.

I decided to buy my ice skates, so we went up to Sports Authority. As I headed to the back of the store, I heard him calling my name. I turned and saw him standing there, grinning, next to a big stack of paintball guns.

Screw ice skates, man.

For my xmas-reminder, I got an ornament at the Sanrio store. I buy a Hello Kitty ornament every year. It was kind of funny handing the girl a $100 bill for a $4 purchase.

It took us a little while to figure out something nice that I wouldn’t normally splurge on. We searched the bedroom department at Bloomingdales and Macy’s and finally came up with a set of 500-thread-count sheets. I’d never spend money on something that nice. So awesome.

We met up with everybody at 9pm at Ruby Tuesday, where Pam had reserved tables in the back. She bought MORE drinks. We took turns wearing the paintball helmet. Then we had to show off our stuff. It was so much fun. Jane got silk pajamas. Jim got a robotic vacuum cleaner. Suzanne (our new coworker who doesn’t start til next year) got a really nice suitcase. Tom got a guitar, because he took lessons as a little kid and wanted to re-learn. Micci and Catherine got matching rings. Pam gave us yet another gift in an envelope on the way out. It was pretty unbelievable.

Afterwards, a group of us went over to the lounge at the Thunderbird Hotel. Awwwyeah. It was awesome to hang out with Micci and Catherine again. I like Suzanne a lot, so I can’t wait for her to start there. Her boyfriend wants to come play paintball with us, too. Rock on.

We got home after one, and I threw the very last batch of cookies in the oven before I went to bed. I woke from a bad dream in the middle of the night, in which the cats managed to unwedge the boxes from the windowsill and destroy all my cookies. I totally had cookie-anxiety, dudes.

So, you already read the rest of this rambling story, and it’s time for me to sleep. Since I was too lazy to actually work this into the post, here is the collection of photos I have from this weekend.

cocoa posing
flowers
wrapping presents for the aliveness project, with cat-help
tom and jane in the paintball helmet
matt in the paintball helmet
600 hershey’s kisses
what every available surface in my apt looked like
lots of cookies
even more cookies
4/7 of team boobylicious (jane, robin, suzanne, and nicole)

If I dream about cookies again, I’m gonna be pissed. Night!
Jenni