I did it! I did it! I did it! I'm so tired, I'm crying....but I did it!!! What did I do? I finished the cookbook - all of it. I didn't leave any recipes out. I also finished the favors and over 200 cookies. But it was a LONG day. It's 6:05am. I have gotten 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. And, I have no intention of going to bed now. I'd just have to wake up again in 3 hours and it would be painful.

So, how did I get here? I can't even remember where I started this morning....oh yes...Walmart. I never did get onto their site before I took my "nap" between 5 am and 9 am this morning. So, the first thing I did was to upload the pictures. I can't remember if I did any other work. After a couple of phone calls, I headed off to Walmart. I visited mom at work to get her opinion of the favors. The biggest decision...who to say "Thank You" from. I think the shower is being given by the bride's maids....but if I don't include Donna, she'll probably get offended. So, they simply say "Thank You".

Becky came by around lunch so I got busy talking. Mom stopped by and offered to pick up additional ingredients for the cookies. It must have been 3ish when I started making the dough. I made 5 batches and stuck them in individual bowls in the fridge. I then ran out because I needed a gift bag for the cookbook. I also ran to Acme for the carmel dip and apples. And I bought gas for $1.93 a gallon! Up until this point, my day was GREAT. Oh, and Pottery Barn called to tell me my table top is in! It took only 4 days. Isn't that fabulous! After tomorrow, my focus needs to be the second bedroom. Should I show you a before picture? Well, think of the dining room picture from a couple of days ago and multiply it by like 20. It's bad. I don't see bare floor.

Anyway...I baked the cookies in RECORD time - 207 cookies in less than 2 hours. The dough was really hard to work with at first. But, once I got a technique down, I was flying through them. Do you have any idea what 200 cookies looks like? It's one thing to have them in a container. But these things needed to lay flat for 2 hours for the icing! I don't have that much surface space. I didn't think I could give up the dining room table (but I could have). So, I started working on the tags and recipe cards. I realized at 9:15 that I didn't have enough red paper. Luckily, I fould some very similar card stock that coordinated. Oh, and the worst part...next time I try a cookie recipe, I'm going to try the ENTIRE recipe. It wrapped onto the next page for the icing. There were pots and electric mixers and very specific instructions for the icing. Of course, they weren't included on the card, but I had just enough white paper left that I thought it could work. The icing was a HEADACHE, but it turned out wonderfully. I decided to give 5 cookies to each of the 40 guests. Two of the cookies would be iced, the others plain. I like them plain. So, once I got all of the parts cut out and the flowers attached with the jeweled brad, I decided to see if I could squeeze the icing directions on. This brings me to 1:30 when my COMPUTER CRASHED!!! I couldn't get it to stay on. It kept going into safe mode. It crapped out TWICE while printing - wasting what was left of my precious, white paper (the 69 cents per sheet stuff). Somehow, miraculously, it works again. I'm still holding my breath, but now I'll just lose this post. No biggie. This is what I'm doing to stay awake....CRAP...I was planning on making Brooke's shower card....plenty of time....calm down...keep it simple (right Julie?).

Okay....where was I...oh, that's right...well, I already showed you the favors so you know they turned out GORGEOUS. I think they look pretty professional if I do say so myself.

So, around 2 or 3 (lost track), I dove into the last 4 recipes (5 pages) for the cookbook. I FLEW threw them without my computer giving me any more problems. Some of them are even creative! And, I took the time to ink all of the edges. It's the little things that add so much. The last thing (before scanning and assembly) was to reprint the page with the typo. Well, I accidentally printed the wrong page and wasted the remaining sheet of paper. Oh well. You know "our oil over garlic" instead of "pour oil over garlic". I've never claimed to be perfect - well, maybe I have, but I prove that I'm not daily.

So, my biggest fear was punching holes for the spiral in the binder. I created a template and it couldn't be easier. The holes lined up perfectly and everything. The only thing left to do was to insert the spiral. Boy, was that a hassle, but still easier than I'd feared. It was an exciting moment when I got it in, turned it around and realized the stupid cover was on backwards and upside down!!!!! I had to rip it out and do it again. But, it's done and it's also GORGEOUS. Okay, I wanted to show you a picture, but blogger isn't letting me. I'll get them here, I promise.

Wow, all of the sudden I'm tired. UGH. I wonder if I have any wedding shower cards around....I do...but I already signed it with my last name and it doesn't have an envelope.....hmmm....I don't have envelopes for a card if I wanted to make one....well, I think on that note I should sign off....I have my work cut out for me. Hope you're having wonderful, happy dreams...