A Valentine's Surprise

I was searching through Pinterest for the last month looking for a cute idea for my daughter's valentines.  There were so many to choose from, I decided to combine a couple of ideas and add my own twist on it.  It was easy once my prototype was completed.

Start with a basic rolled sugar cookie recipe.  Roll out the dough (1/8" thick) and cut out three full hearts for each cookie stack.  Before baking, cut out a smaller heart from one of the three hearts you have.  While baking the cookies make royal icing.  Divide royal icing and dyed it.  (I did seven colors.  For the face of the cookie I used pink, purple, blue green, yellow, and orange and for the writing I used red.)  Also, during this time, opened all the small boxes of conversation hearts and pour them into a bowl.  (Next year I will look to see if they sell them in bulk.)

When all the basics are made, ice half of the full hearts with a color, let them dry and then write on each.  While those are drying, take the blank hearts without the cut outs and lay them out.  Take a heart with a cut out and on one side, ice a line around the back side, then adhered to a blank heart without the cut out and press gently.  Repeat with the rest of the cut outs.

When the bottom 2/3rd of the stacks are complete and cry, fill them with the conversation hearts.  (I found that 7-9 hearts were sufficient.)  Make sure your conversation hearts are not too thick or the top cookie will not close.  (I used Sweethearts and my cookie dough is rolled to 1/8" thick and it all fit perfectly.)  This is important, because part of the fun of this cookie is from the anticipation when you shake it, you can hear something rattling inside.  If the candy is too thick or if there are too many, you will miss out on this part of the excitement.

When all of the previous icing steps are dry, ice a line on the other face of the cut out heart, while that icing is wet, top the stack with a heart cookie that is decorated as a conversation heart, press gently and let dry.

Viola!  Conversation hearts in a conversation heart cookie.  Enjoy.

Until Next Time,

Blair

Better Late Than Never?

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, probably because I never keep mine.  I should refer to it as the first thing I will not follow through with this year.  This year I decided to skip the extreme cleanse and the ridiculous exercise regimen and go with trying to correct something that I have struggled with for years and know I can fix it over time.  I decided to become more aware of my time.

As my husband says, I need a time manager.  I am always late and always in a hurry.  I realize that I not only effect myself, but I effect my whole family and it just isn’t fair.  I know it is looked down upon when you are late, flustered, and in a rush.  It’s not that I am unorganized or that I do not consider other’s time as precious as mine.  I just underestimate the time it will take me to complete tasks, large and small.  I thought, wake up lady!  I really do need a time manager and I'm a big girl, so that falls into the long list of my responsibilities.  I need to give myself real perspective on how long things will take.  Whether it is a commute, a gourmet meal, or a craft project.   I constantly underestimate how much time is involved with completing tasks.

I find myself being pushed right up to a due date or a start time and not only do I get stressed but I snap at my husband and expect my three year old to function as an 25 year old so we can be on time.  I lose precious time with my daughter.  Time that I could be spent allowing her to help me and learn from what we are doing together.  I needed to fix this for myself and for the sake of everyone else that depends on me.
I decided to fix my bad habit by taking the amount of time that pops into my head to complete a given task, then I increase my time allotment by 50-75%.  In time, I hope to have more realistic estimations in my head, but until then, I overestimate like crazy.  I am utilizing my electronic calendars and reminders more which is helping.  If anything, I have time to spare and a lot less stress all around.  It is still a struggle and I need to stop and really think about, but it will become part of who I am over time.
My status report is that I have only been late two times since the beginning of the year.  One time I tried to cram in an errand, shame-shame!  The second time was just by a few minutes and it was due to a nap.  My daughters, not mine.  LOL!
I decided to share this because I think it is important to set attainable goals for ourselves and be proud when we achieve them.  Being on time may not be your goal, but it just goes to show that putting your mind, time, and effort into something pays off.

Until Next Time,
Blair