Tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought that at some point...children were supposed to SLEEP. Isn't there some kind of law of physics that says - What wakes up, must sleep at some point in their little life?!   People allllllllways tell new moms to "sleep when they sleep." But what happens if they DON'T EVER sleep? What then? I mean, besides the obvious zombie-like movements as I move through life putting my soda on top of the fridge, but not discovering it until weeks later and suddenly getting VERY nervous about where I put the scissors if the soda is in the scissors spot. And you guys... I can't even REACH the top of the fridge. Forget trying to wear clothing out of the house that *doesn't* have icing on it. Or remembering my own phone number when the new neighbor asks. (I PROMISE I'm not trying to avoid being friends!)

The most important part of any decorated cookie is the COOKIE. If you are just starting out on your cookie decorating journey of joy and happiness -- START HERE. No amount of cookie decorating magic can save a bad tasting or over baked cookie . You will end up with a cookie decorating journey of sadness and tears in the closet while eating the last of the cookie dough ice cream and crying even more because your kids already picked out all the cookie dough bits so all you really have is tears and vanilla flavored iced milk that was once cookie dough ice cream. Let's not start your cookie decorating journey by crying in the closet. You'll want to save that for icing consistency.

Last popcorn post on this blog - I promise! (Probably.) I just found out that my publisher will get copies of my book NEXT WEEK . Just think about it -- next week at this time YOU could be eating every one of these delicious recipes of popcorn goodness. Well...if you want a signed copy that is. :) Most retailers will be getting their copies closer to the release date...but since I live randomly close to my publishers... I'm going to go pick up some copies this weekend for you! For a LIMITED TIME ONLY you can order a SIGNED COPY of Gourmet Popcorn !! ( Once the copies I pick up this weekend are gone....you will no longer be able to order autographed copies of my book. ) So click the button below if you want a SIGNED COPY of my Gourmet Popcorn book to hold in your hot little hands!! UPDATE -- ALL COPIES HAVE BEEN PURCHASED!!  THANK YOU!!

I've always known that I'm basically a 10 year old. I mean... I NAMED MY BLOG LILALOA. Have you heard this story? I was fairly well sleep deprived one very early morning after a night of not sleeping while traveling across the country because of some delayed and cancelled flights. I was expecting my first child and aimlessly considering possible names for a girl as I stared out the window. I liked names like Avalyn and Lilly and Layla and Lila and eventually my sleep deprivation turned each of the names into the sum of their sounds. I found myself saying things like "Lee-Lee-La-Loh-La". I somehow landed on the sounds of  "Lie-Luh-Low-Uh" and determined in my extremely rational 4am brain that those sounds would be the name of my first child if it was a girl. Luckily, it was a boy and he dodged that bullet. So I gave the name to my newly born blog instead.

I started working on some New Year's Resolutions today. And by "working on them" I mean  "starting to make some." And by "resolutions" I mean "things I may or may not get around to in the next 2-12 months." You can be sure that doing things in a timely manner won't make the list this year. Want to know what does?

Years of cookie decorating has made "dinner" a very flexible word at my house. Some days I can't find 10 minutes to check the mail, much less make a traditional dinner made painstakingly by hand and from scratch with ingredients I grew in my own backyard. And on those days, I certainly don't have time to let all the possible dinner choices percolate in my brain before carefully selecting the most healthy, appealing, and seasonally appropriate menu items so that I can maximize the nutrient value for my young children while also convincing them to eat said menu item in a polite and genteel manner. I do my best. I make weekly menu plans and buy the vegetables and everything. But on my busiest of days... the allure of stretching dinner time for another 20 or 30 minutes is just too much to resist.