Baking Weekend 2025

This past weekend Two weekends ago was our annual Baking Weekend. Baking Weekend started as Baking Day twenty-five-ish years or so ago. It became quickly apparent that just a day wasn't going to work, and we expanded to Friday night for dough prepping, then baking all day Saturday. Then, that wasn't quite enough time to get everything done, and we expanded to baking on Sunday as well. Every year, it's a production, and I'm so thankful that Mom has the beautiful lodge and hosts our craziness.

This year, we had a little surprise! My Staci's daughter, S, joined us for the first time since she was a wee one. It's been 15 years and she's now in college! On top of that, my nieces and nephew decided to join us (usually one or two come up, but to have all three is a treat). AND ... the day before Baking Weekend, this little video popped up in my Facebook Memories:

The kids were so little! Now, they're (almost) all grown-ass humans, Asset being the exception, but she's a senior in high school. With all four of the not-so-littles at the lodge together for the first time in 15 years, we had a brief thought of re-enacting the video, but we were way too busy for that. Instead, we made them pose for pictures around the magic window cookies.

The pictures of the four of them were taken on Sunday, as we were wrapping up, so the pictures are out of order, but I'm just so excited and thrilled by this happiness, I had to share it right away.

After almost 30 years of doing baking weekend, you'd think we would have it all sorted out and we'd be a smooth, cookie baking machine, right? The truth is, we always get it done, but there's usually a lot of chaos involved. This year, however, we made a couple of changes that did turn us into a nice, smoothly running machine.

Annual group picture with my girls.

First, instead of piling ingredients onto the counter in the corner of the kitchen, we set up a six foot table outside the kitchen and piled everything there. That eased up congestion in the kitchen - we went out to the table to get the ingredients we needed for specific projects, then returned everything back to the table when we were finished.

A moment of brilliance that made everyone's life so much easier.

Several years ago, we started to prep the doughs that needed to chill on Friday night so that they'd be ready to go Saturday morning. For that, we are a well-oiled machine. We've had years of practice. We can crank out six batches of magic window cookie dough and a batch of gingerbread in less than an hour. Three of us got bowls, two of us measured out everything and dumped them into the bowls, and Mom supervised and washed bowls between batches. It works like a charm.

It's also the perfect time for us to catch up with each other before the real craziness starts Saturday morning. 

Mom keeps our tally board from year to year, and it's always fun to look back to see what we did the previous year. It looks like we were slacking a bit in 2023 with only 936 (78 dozen) cookies made. I'd have to look back at my memories to see why we did so few. 2024 was more of a normal year for us, with 1,420 (118.3 dozen) cookies made. That's pretty much our average, I think.

On Saturday, we usually jump right into our baking projects after breakfast, but this year, I suggested that we knock out the easiest projects first before moving into the more involved ones, and to leave the magic window cookies and gingerbread for later in the day when there were more hands to help. Nebalee's crew always comes in on Saturday afternoon and stays through Sunday.

Robs always comes up with fun projects, and this year she made peppermint Grinch cookies that were super easy and so very tasty.

These Grinch cookies were a hit!

We hit our groove pretty quickly and cookies started flying out of the kitchen. Not many action photos were taken, because we were having fun and cranking out the cookies. About noon, though, hunger for actual food, not cookie dough, kicked in and we paused long enough to munch on some real food.

The table filling up quickly.

After we recharged our batteries with lunch and a brief sit-down, we were back at it. We put S to work crushing the jolly ranchers for the magic window cookies. It was a lot easier for her this time than it was when she was just a four year-old and the mallet was as heavy as she was.

Nebalee and her boo showed up in the afternoon, followed by her kids, and their energy invigorated us. By the end of the day, we had quite a list of cookies completed, a full table, and we were dog tired.

Us, too, Reba. Us, too.

Saturday night's cookie-laden table.

Tally as of the end of day one.

Breakfast on Sunday was lively, with everyone there, which made my heart happy. As a raging introvert, it's not often that I jump into and relish chaos because it's absolutely exhausting in a family of extreme extroverts. However, a couple of times a year, my heart overflows with happiness at the chaos.

Sunday was primarily finishing up magic window cookies (the magnetic tally board stayed in the kitchen for easier tallying) and gingerbread. This year, our first batch of gingerbread refused to come together, so we whipped up another one and added water until the dough started looking and feeling "right", even though the recipe doesn't call for additional liquids.

Mid-morning, it was time to start packing up everyone's cookie bags/boxes/trays. I neglected to get a full table picture, but even after the packing up started, there were plenty on the table.

The table looked decimated, and we panic-baked a batch of Christmas M&M cookies that we'd forgotten to bake on Saturday. Once those hit the table, everything looked much better and we resumed packing up.

One of my jobs is the official tally nagger. We all love to know how much we baked each year, and I nag everyone to write their tallies down. This year, we had a record-breaking year! All cookies. Some years, we've counted any non-cookie items as well, such as fudge or chocolate-covered pretzels. This year's tally was strictly cookies.

Yes, that says 126 dozen!

There were a few left for Mom's cookie gift trays, and for her to put some magic window cookies up on the tree.

The biggest question we get every year is, "What do you do with all of those cookies?!"

We give them away. Every last one finds a home with friends/family/co-workers. Even with 126 dozen split between all of us, I realized that I forgot to make a box for a friend of ours, so Jay and I quick whipped up more Aztec and pumpkin spice cookies last night for today's deliver.

My Brain is Tired, Plus Pretty Pictures

Mid-October, I got a call from my boss. Our safety guy had been poached, I mean, borrowed, by another plant and would be out until at least the end of the year. Would I be interested in helping out here and there with the safety needs at our plant? My answer, was, of course, absolutely! I love, love my job in the lab, but we'd been fairly slow and I was starting to feel stagnant. Helping out in safety would engage my brain and keep me busy.

Holy cow, did my brain get engaged! I only had a few hours with our safety guy to go over things I needed to know to lead the weekly safety trainings and entering things into the corporate sites. When I say they poached, I mean, borrowed, him they did so very quickly. He learned he needed to be at the other plant, in another state the following Tuesday. I got the call asking for help on Thursday evening, which left Friday for me to get up to speed.

I've been exhausted since. Of course it wasn't just the two things I was tasked to do. After a couple of weeks, when I had gotten the hang of what I thought I'd be doing, a few more things got added on, and then the corporate people learned my name and next thing I know, about 75% of my day is safety and the rest in the lab. Thank goodness, my lab coworker can pick up my slack.

I learned last week that our safety guy is now going to be out of state until June, and he may choose not to return to our plant, which potentially leaves his position open. It's become pretty clear that I'm being groomed for his position, and for the most part, I'm game. The hardest part for me, if I took over his position, is that I'd have to leave the lab. I love the lab. I've poured my heart and soul into getting it running smoothly and efficiently. The thought of leaving the lab hurts my heart, even though I'd be given a chance to grow. 

It's a quandary.

On top of learning all I can about the safety side of things (and there is soooooooo much), I'm working on a book project. What little brain power I have left at the end of the week is spent sitting in front of my computer on Saturday morning trying to break down complex concepts into easy-to-digest coherent sentences. It's slow going. I'd like to complete a chapter a month, and have the book to the publisher by July. NaNoWriMo this ain't. Besides not having the dedicated time to sit and write for hours, like I did during NaNo, my 'spoons' are lacking by the time I get home at night.

It's no wonder, then, that in the evenings I'm doing low-brain activities. I've crocheted hats for the cats, yes I did, and am working on a few little amigurumi as gifts for the girls for this upcoming baking weekend. I'd better get a move on the last one! I only have tonight and tomorrow night to complete it.

Growing up, I was not a kid who played dress up. At all. I thought it was silly. But now, in my Feral Fifties, I'm having a great time dressing up the horses, the cats, and the outbuildings. I managed to get the Christmas decorations up for Whimsy and Maggie the day before the weather turned to crap.

The Magical Potting Shed (Maggie) in her Christmas clothes.

The Whimsical Treehouse (Whimsy)
with her Christmas colors on.

As I was standing on the stepladder, trying to get everything hung, I was feeling so grateful for my aerial classes, which have given me the confidence and strength to do things like this. (I was even more thankful for my aerial classes as the Bionic Cowgirl and I were building Whimsy! There was a lot of climbing, balancing, and strength required that came directly from my circus classes.)

The day after getting the decorations up, I woke up to hoar frost coating everything. I absolutely love looking at hoar frost, but don't love that in order for it to show up, humidity and cold are required.

Thanks to a tip from my tattoo artist, I was able to get a good close-up of the frost. She takes pictures of all of her tattoo work, and told me last time she uses the 2x setting on her phone's camera for better detail. I am by no means a photographer, but when I wanted to take a picture of the frost coating the red bulb, I remembered her telling me that and gave it a try. I love the results.

It didn't look like much from the
outside, but inside looking out
was gorgeous.

Two days after the hoar frost, the snow came. I have to leave for work before the sun comes up, and with these stupid shorter days, it's dark when I get home, so I asked L.E. to take 'first snow' pictures for me.

Though the outsides were decorated, I hadn't completed decorating the insides yet. There's not a ton that goes in each, just a small Christmas tree and a few decorations. Whimsy's decorations haven't changed much from last year: a tree, stockings for her and Maggie, and this year's addition, a chicken ornament for Mary Kathryn, Queen of the Retirement Home.

I'd hoped the lights would show
up better in the dark, but this is 
what I ended up with.

Maggie got no Christmas love last year, so all of her decorations, inside and out, are new. Since Maggie is named after Dame Maggie Smith, of Hogwarts fame, I tried to lean into the Harry Potter theme with floating candles. Jay helped me hang them, and I enjoyed turning them on with my remote-control wand.

She looks so warm and cozy from the outside.

The floating candles make me smile.

From the inside, looking out.

Eventually, Maggie's walls will be insulated and finished. I had the entire north wall insulated, but hadn't gotten around to hanging the OSB on that wall and the upper insulation blew down. I've hired Autobot and her boyfriend to do the finish work for me later this month. Right now, Maggie has become a catch-all, and I need to be able to hang shelves and organize her. She's also supposed to be our "guest house", so I need to get her warm and sealed up.

Baking Weekend is just two days away, so I hope to have some lovely updates from that to write about, and I'm hoping that my full brain will start to adjust to the new job so I have the energy to continue to blog.

Northern Lights, Take II

After I'd taken my fill of pictures on Veteran's Day, I finally called it a day and crawled into bed. I was scrolling through social media, as one does when they're supposed to be sleeping, and I saw so many pictures of people who thought to use the Aurora as a background for other pictures.

I saw people standing with their horses, dogs, friends, family ... so many different pictures using the gorgeous lights as a background, and I cursed myself for not thinking of doing it myself. However, the meteorologists said that the Aurora would make another appearance the following day, and they'd be even more spectacular. I'm not sure how they thought they'd be more spectacular than what I'd already seen, but I was willing to trust them. 

I knew I didn't want to bother with pulling the horses from the pen once the sun was down, and I didn't want to try to get pictures of them in the pen, so that was out.

However ... I knew I needed pictures of Whimsy and Maggie in the foreground of the lights. I waited and waited all day, excited to see the lights again and planning my photoshoot of the buildings. Dark came and I waited and waited.

Nothing.

No extra bright visible lights as had been promised by those lying meteorologists. I mean, I shouldn't have been disappointed, because when are they ever right more than 50% of the time? But I persisted. I went out every half hour or so with my phone and took pictures of the sky, just in case the lights weren't visible to the naked eye.

Eventually, it paid off, and I had a full-on photoshoot with Whimsy and Maggie. I stayed up way past my bedtime, and the next day at work was rough, but I got some pictures that I'm happy with.

Whimsy (left) and Maggie (right) 12Nov2025

I tried a little different angle to see if I could get both of them.

I love this one of Whimsy

This one of Maggie is probably my favorite of the bunch.

The chicken coop/repurposed silo on the far left (barely visible),
then Whimsy and Maggie.

I'm happy with the pictures, but still kicking myself that I didn't think to do this the night before. I need to give myself some grace, because the night before was all about wonder and awe. I'm still so thrilled to have finally seen the dancing lights that I think it might go down as one of my top ten days this year.

It Took 54 Years

I know the internet is ablaze with pictures of the Aurora Borealis, and I approve. In fact, I haven't feel such cohesiveness in social media in, well, ever ... I firmly believe that social media's purpose in life is to share cat memes/videos and collective amazing events like this.

I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, but expected that I'd have to travel to some cold, Nordic country to do so. When they appeared, so vibrantly, in the Colorado sky, visible to the naked eye, on Veteran's Day I was awe struck. We just don't get to see them, not with the eyes God gave us, anyway.

I saw something pop up on Facebook that basically said, "go outside NOW, and look at the sky", then I started seeing pictures pop up from local friends. I slipped into my muck boots, threw on a coat, and walked to the north end of the property, away from the security lights.

The glow took my breath away, and I snapped a few pictures with my regular phone settings. I stood out there for a few minutes feeling so blessed to get to see them, but had to head back inside because I had dinner on the stove.

This is a pretty accurate representation of what
my eyes saw.

Digger and the Gremlin were visiting, so I made them come out and look as well. Digger was properly awed, but the Gremlin didn't much care. And why would he? He's three and a half, and has no idea how rare it is to see the dancing lights in Colorado.

The light show just kept going and going. After dinner, I headed back out to take more pictures, using the night setting on my phone as someone suggested. Holy wow, what a difference! These pictures were taken from essentially the same place as the earlier ones. The sky was a bit brighter, as the lights really came on strong, but using the night setting on the camera made a huge difference.

L.E. had been at yoga, and when she drove in, I accosted her as she got out of her car. I made her come stand with me under the magical lights.

We stood out there a bit, then Digger and the Gremlin came to tell us goodbye, and we got another little piece of magic. Gremlin has been speech delayed, but he's catching up by leaps and bounds ever since their living situation improved. He told me bye, then looked over at L.E. and said, "bye bye, L.E." then gave her a big hug. We all just melted, it's the first time he's called her by name and said it so clearly.

I wasn't ready to be done with the lights when they left, so I went over to the sunset bench and moved it so we could see the lights. L.E. and I just sat out there together for a bit, enjoying the show. 

The view from the sunset bench.

I'm happy to have gotten the green and
red layer, as well as the stars.

It really was a magical night, and who knows when I'll get to see them, visible to the naked eye, again?

A Heart Full of Gratitude

Last week, in my aerial class, I was the only student in class, which meant I got quality one-on-one time with the instructor, who also happens to be the owner of the circus center. Super Jes was subbing for our usual instructor, and it's always a treat when I get to spend time with her.

When I joined the now-defunct Old Lady Circus Club four years ago, I found a family and support system that I never expected. To be considered "old" enough for OLCC, one only had to be 35+, and I had just turned 50. I completely understand that 35 in the aerial world is old, but it still made me giggle.

OLCC was like playing on the playground to me, and I made some good playground friends. Super Jes, the owner of the facility, was one of them. She's an incredible, supportive human being who just makes me feel better being around her. Dutchess Lindy, who specializes in (hula) hoop flow, is another who just welcomed me with open arms.

When I started at the circus center, there was only one studio/gym, and a couple of years ago, they expanded to another studio right next door. The original studio is small, crowded, and feels like home.

Dance trapeze in OLCC

After Mom and Bill's accident almost three years ago, one of the first places I went to feel some normalcy was the circus center. I had to get back to OLCC, and my "old lady" friends. For the first time since the accident, I could breathe. Stepping into the studio was like a giant hug.

Lyra or aerial hoop

OLCC has evolved into an adult performance troupe, and I've moved into regular classes. The majority of my classes are now held in the new studio, which is very nice, but it's not home.

Silks last week, learning arabesque
into backbend

With Super Jes as my instructor last week, even in the new studio, I felt a piece of home. Who knew that joining a writer friend of mine on a whim four years ago would morph into something my soul needs? Not so much the aerial skills, which are fun and I love, but the support and love from the women who have been by my side through this journey.

There is one skill - a basic mount into any apparatus - the pullover that I've struggled with my entire circus journey. I get it, then I lose confidence, and I spend another few months relearning it, only to lose confidence ... it's become a vicious cycle. Super Jes literally held my hand through it last week. I managed successfully twice due to her support and belief that I could do it. She didn't spot me through it, she didn't physically help me through it, she simply covered my right hand with hers and that's all it took.

Last week's class, being the only student who showed up, and with Super Jes as my instructor was definitely a "my cup runneth over" class and I'm forever thankful.

Hallowe'en Decorating

Last year, Nebalee found the coolest Hallowe'en craft that we were unable to do, because finding pool noodles in Colorado in October is practically impossible. However, this year, I stumbled across some at the Dollar Store, and snatched up enough to make both of us the gothic candle craft that we couldn't make last year.

All it took was $20 in pool noodles, $5 in spray paint, $5 in black ceramic plates to act as bases for Nebalee's, and $83 solar tea lights. Yes, you read that right, eighty-three dollars! So much for a cheap craft, lol. The solar tea lights are worth it, because of the time saved in not having to turn on and off all of the tea lights if they were battery-operated. To me, it's worth it to not have to waste time remembering to go out and turn on twenty lights, then turn them off in the morning.

I knew I wanted two sets to put at the end of Whimsy' archway, and two sets to put into Maggie's gothic bird cages, plus two sets for Nebalee's house. The first thing I did when I got home was to cut them in staggered heights, then tape them together so I could glue them.

All taped and ready for gluing.

For a smart person, sometimes I'm not so smart. Do you know that hot glue and foam pool noodles don't play well together? If I'd stopped for three seconds and thought about it, I might have picked up some glue when I picked up the pool noodles. I finally figured out a way to make the hot glue and the foam pool noodles play nicely enough to stick together. Jay then added some wood glue (the only glue we had at the time) around the top, and let it run down so it would look like melting wax once painted.

Wood glue on foam takes forever to try, and I impatiently waited until it was "dry enough" to take outside and paint.

Once they were all painted and dried, I took them to their assigned spots. I wired the two for Whimsy to her arch, since I knew the winds would blow them away if I didn't. I mean, if the wind can blow down a whole outhouse, my foam gothic candles wouldn't stand a chance. With them in place, I again had to wait for the tea lights to be delivered. And then I had to wait until I had time to go add them to the candles.

The tea lights didn't fit down inside the hole of the pool noodles, so some creative carving was required, which was messy and time consuming, but so worth it!

The first night, I only had time
to carve holes in one set of candles.

But look at how amazing these are!

It took a week after the first tea lights were installed to get the rest installed. Digger and the Gremlin were over the night I was carving and installing the rest of the tea lights and I basically just ignored them in my quest to complete the project. I think they'll forgive me.

I love them in the gothic birdcages,
and they're protected from the wind.

I realized that my candelabra would go very nicely on the shelves I moved into Maggie, so I moved it from the potting bench over to the shelves. Those tapers are battery operated, so they only get turned on for "special occasions", i.e. when I feel like walking out and turning them on.

Last month, Jay had won a gold skull in a game, and he thought it would be great in Whimsy, if I added a tea light to it. He's right - it would look amazing in Whimsy, but once I moved the candelabra to the window shelf, I decided that the skull needed to go there, too. Since we live on an old farm, "treasures" resurface every spring, and I've been collecting them. This year's treasures included a lot of animal bones, so I made a temporary wreath of rib bones for the base of the skull.

I just love the way this all came together. Yes, Maggie is a bit lopsided, with the candelabra and skull in one window, but I still love it. There's still time, I might find something to go in the other window before Hallowe'en. This is honestly the first time I'm disappointed that we never have any trick or treaters.

This just makes me so happy. <grin>