Friday, December 14, 2007

Cookies Aftermath

First, I want to show off the cookies *I* MADE:




As I write this I am savoring the remnants of a Seven-Layer cookie bar… yum… And yeah, so much for the freakin’ willpower. Of course, I did fabulous all day yesterday. Unbelievably fabuloso. Even put on a pair of pants I wasn’t sure would fit and hadn’t worn in over a year. Not sure if they looked all right or not, but they were zippable so that was a plus. Am not looking forward to WW tomorrow but Oh-to-the-Well. That’s the start of a rap song by the way. One I’m making up. Sounds catchy… Oh-to-the-Well, Weight Watchers is hell.

So, a blast last night. Like 14 bottles of wine between 35 women, and ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! What does THAT say about my neighborhood? Yes, we like to par-tay. I have the best neighborhood in the entire world, minus the crack addicts that keep trying to rob all of us, I’d say it’s a pretty rockin’ hood! Not often does a hostess throw a party and does she actually GET to enjoy the party herself, but even I had a great time!

Mr. Manic was out of town so I got a babysitter to strap the three kids down upstairs so they would not murder one another so I could relax. Another thing I was a bit pre-stressed about was my carpets. The weather outside is frightful. Well, the snow has stopped, and there are no more ice storms, but that means it’s now all muddy and sloppy and salty and goopy out, which translates to muddy and sloppy and salty and goopy getting tracked all inside. If you haven’t guessed my now, I’m pretty anal about crumbs and dirt and messes so I was concerned about my carpets and asked one of my friends how rude it would be to ask everyone to remove their shoes upon entering.

“People will understand,” she said. “It’s crappy outside. They have kids, they know what it’s like.”

“But what if they don’t?” I whined.

“You’re creative, come up with something!” she suggested.

So I did:



And it worked:



And not having to worry about my carpets getting filthy and having to steam clean them today sure beat taking and handful of Xanax last night and following everyone around with a bottle of Resolve or Bubble wrapping the floor (remember that commercial from a few years ago?!)

Here are some pics of the cookies in my dining room the night before, as I had all the ladies drop them off in advance--look at all the boxes of cookies!



The pre-assembling of the cookies was even so much fun!

Here's how the boxes were shaping up as we assemly-line filled them in my kitchen:




Here's a close-up of what the boxes looked like after they were filled:



Cookie boxes filled -- Don't they look like pretty presents?





One of my neighbors who helped with the assembly line of cookie assortment box filling brought over a newspaper article on some la-dee-dah neighborhood cookie exchange and there was a photo of the women wearing their Burberry (did I even spell that right?) Gear, and drinking their la-dee-dah wine, with their foo-foo la-dee-dah whatever crap and they were looking all you-know, and I was like, “HEY! Let’s call the local paper and get them to come out and do a story on OUR cookie exchange, cuz ours is gonna be way better than this foo-foo one!”

So I called and left a message at the editorial desk, but sadly, no one returned my call. I bet they were afraid to come to this section of town seeing as we've got the crack addicts trolling around here lately looking for houses to break into. Too bad they didn't want the story though, cuz then they might have gotten some happening shots from a REAL cookie exchange party:







Anyway, it was so much fun, and neighbors were so gracious and kind and fun and I couldn’t ask for a better group of neighbors who I can honestly call girlfriends too! And guess what? I discovered this last year when I hosted the first Annual Manic Holiday Cookie Exchange. There’s this thing called a "hostess gift." I had no idea but people bring presents to the person hosting the party! Look at THIS:



I have decided to keep them all under the tree and open them Christmas day and make believe they are all from Santa Claus!

30 comments:

AutoSysGene said...

One word...yum-o!!

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Melissa--two words... YES-O!!

: )

Irene said...

Oh my, I am SO jealous...two of my absolutely favorite things - Cookies and WINE! You are very lucky to live in such a great neighborhood. I do miss that. The country life is quiet and beautiful, but sometimes I really miss the socializing! Sounded like a great time! Wish I were there!!

onthegomom said...

Seriously, LOVED this post! I could never pull this off myself and I am living vicariously (sp?) through yours! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

I am Heather...creator of all things crafty! said...

Hope you ate some cookies and drank some wine for me.

Carrie Wilson Link said...

Love this! Just found your "right" blog, I don't know what took me so damn long!

Start a trend with the shoe removal! Shoes don't belong on carpet! I'm so with you on that one!

Drewpy Drew said...

I like the shot of the candle with all the wine. I'm thinking that y'all had had a few and were like "Hey, we're a little drunk, lets light a fire!" LOL. All you had to do to make it a dude party was to call some old girlfriends.

I love the way you roll.

Party on, Wayne.

Cecily R said...

Um, I want one of those pretty boxes! How fun! Maybe next year I will copy you (only since I don't drink it'll have to be cookies and diet pepsi) so I can have my own hostess gift table.

What a great party...and obvioulsy a great hostess!

House of Jules said...

This could be the chocolate peppermint martinis (that I enjoyed with friends tonight; and that I will be posting the recipe for soon) talking, but this post gave me an idea for my own holiday get together:
WINE EXCHANGE!
(If you steal this idea before I get the chance to throw one of my own, you must invite me. I promise to take off my shoes!)
Jules
House of Jules

Anonymous said...

WOW! The cookies look great and I don't think the wine consumption was over the top at all - WAY less than 1/2 a botle each, quite respectable!

I think you were entitled to fall off the wagon, it was only one small cookie after all (note: I don't eat chocolate and have never encountered a seven layer doodah!)

Good luck at the weigh in!

PS yes you did spell Burberry correctly!

T with Honey said...

Living with cookies like that in your house and not eating them before the party means you've got some mighty strong will power.

But I feel so country bumpkin right now... I had no idea that I'm supposed to bring a hostess gift to this kind of thing. Eh, you learn something new everyday!

Melisa Wells said...

I love hostess gifts...in fact, I have to get one for a party I'm going to tomorrow.

What did YOU get, Manic? I need some ideas!

Melisa
Remembering Ruby
and
Suburban Scrawl

Anonymous said...

What a blast! I want to move to your neighborhood. I would say you don't know how lucky you are, but you totally do. You deserve to have neighbors like this and friends like this.

Great idea for the carpet, very creative touch!!

Don't worry about WW, the impt. thing is the overall picture, that you just keep going. You'll have the ups and downs. Such is life.

XOXXO

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

I just went to weigh in.

LOST 2.2!!!

And ate probably FOUR cookies or more yesterday! But did try to tally them in my QUICK TRACK points counter. I am thrilled!

Hostess gift ideas: candles, chocolates, ornaments, coasters, jellies/jams, a couple of things I was like WTF, nice regift! hahahah. But it is really the thought that counts, right? Hee hee!

Jules, I used to make peppermint martinis and put a York peppermint patty at the bottom of the glass--yum! And I keep meaning to tell you that my blogger photo was taken at House of Blues on that old funky cement chair that used to be outside of the hotel. Recognize it?

I like the idea of the Wine Exchange. And here's the other thing. I have a TON of wine left over. Because when I invited everyone, I tell those with the last names A - L to bring a bottle of wine; those with the last names M - W to bring an appetizer. Those with the last names XYZ have to stay after to help clean up!

Cecily--Diet Pepsi totally works--more calories for COOKIES!!!

B. said...

What a great idea to get to know your neighbors. I wouldn't want to host it at my house because it simply isn't big enough, but I'd volunteer the people on the corner who have a huge house!

Eileen said...

This looks great. My kind of party- lots of butter laden goods and wine.

blog author said...

i thought the bottle of wine WAS the hostess gift?! ha. shows how sophisticated i am.

congrats on the weight loss, and the will power! i couldn't have survived the night before without a nibble or two.

and i loved your shoe sign!

Jenster said...

I've got a sudden craving for Christmas cookies!

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

What fun! A lot more red dye than I'd ever want to eat though! Makes kids NUTTY!!!! Oh yes it does. Then again, if I drank all that wine who'd care! What a great bunch of photos, thanks for sharing them! I have tons of brownies covered in ganache and/or caramel and toffee and peppermint bark in my freezer waiting to pop out tomorrow for teacher gifts. Delish but not very colorful - even the Peppermint bark has no artificial dye (Trader Joe's!) I'm a stickler on that one.

ORION said...

Very cool!
By the way it is a cultural no no in Hawaii to ever wear shoes in houses. Everybody here removes them at the front door...
It's even true for boats here in the harbor.
So you would fit right in...
Mr. Orion even walked off in someone else's shoes once...

Shelley said...

That party looks awesome, I want one! And I can't believe that you lost 2.2 lbs, you go girl! Hell, I think if you can make it to New Year's without gaining any weight, you're way ahead of the game. And you're losing! Weight, not the game. Hee.

ThursdayNext said...

Oh how delicious and lovely...I want to grab those cookies through my monitor. :) This Friday I am making just three kinds of cookies with my boyfriend: pignoli cookies, peanut butter and jelly thumbprints, and sugar cookies. I cannot wait!

Patti said...

whoa....so. many. cookies!

and the shoe thing reminded me of that sex in the city episode when carrie lost her manolo's!

Stephanie J. Blake said...

Start a cookie diet craze! Looked like loads of fun MM!!!

And Also. I am a FREAK about my new carpet and at my kid's birthday party, my BFF spilled a WHOLE GLASS OF RED WINE on it!

I almost passed out.

Luckily, I chose wisely. Dark brown carpet with massive Stainmaster so the wine beaded up, and we blotted it off with no problems.

Tanya said...

I love cookies. Is it too late to plan a party for Wednesday and tell my friends to bring some?

Thats a great party idea.

blog author said...

Sorry to have to do this, but i needed to move my blog, and didnt want to post on the old blog as to the new address. i'll explain later. anyway, the new URL is

http://my-mundane-musings.blogspot.com/

('my' instead of 'mels')
update your bookmarks! :)
Thanks -
Melek

Moll said...

So...I had to google "cookie exchange" to totally get this post (yes, I am moron). I had no idea what your guys were doing! But, now that I know...I am so jealous! I want to do one. I spent all weekend making double and triple batches of 4 different kinds of cookies in my first ever holiday/disaster bake off - an exchange would have been easier and far more fun!

Trish Ryan said...

That looks like all kinds of happiness :)

Tara J. Tew said...

What a fun hood!!! I moved to a subdivision where we also enjoy each other's company.. It is so nice!!
I like the wine exchange idea too!!

Monnik said...

oh my gosh, this looks like SO MUCH fun! I am so jealous!!! And I love the sign you made. Very creative and awesome.