Burnt oatmeal cookies smell like popcorn?

It's TUESDAY. No posts since Friday! Holy potatoes!

It's 12:17 am and instead of catching up on sleep, I'm trying to catch up on blogs as I wait for my cookies to bake. Yes, cookies. Somehow I got bamboozled into baking cookies for my fellow jury members...all 20-something of them. I mentioned this to our admin assistant when I walked into the office this evening and all she said was, "as if you don't have enough to do."

It's true. My name is Karena and I just can't say no. I think it's pretty evident with all the stuff I've been juggling lately. Instead of taking advantage of the fact that I don't have to be in the office Mondays - Fridays, I've found a way to get into the office when I'm not at jury duty or at the store. Instead of saying 'hey, ease up on my hours' at the store, I deal with it. Instead of taking time to chill out, I try to cram in some runs and cooking/baking sessions.

And I secretly love it all. I think part of me really enjoys running from one thing to another. I love the stress? The rush? The control? Who knows. It can't be good.

Anyway, I left the office around 8 and was determined to get a run/walk in. I needed it. Stopped at the Giant for some important ingredients and then made my way home. I noticed all 3 treadmills were full (um, at 8:45? seriously?) so I took my time getting changed. Perfect timing - by the time I got down there, all the treadmills were free :)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report that I have worked my way up to a 4:1 run/walk and kept up my speed! Woohoo! Since I upped the run portion, I kept my total time short - 25 minutes. I threw Nemo on when I got back to the apartment just to be safe and then it was time to bake!

I decided to go with those Oatmeal Crasin with White Chocolate Chip Cookies I sent to Jamie earlier this year. Um, DISASTER. I think I need to take a time out from baking. This is the THIRD botched baking attempt in the past month and a half! I have no idea what went wrong...maybe I messed something up along the way. Math and I aren't good friends. I was also on the phone with my sister trying to get baking advice...Math+Karena+phone conversation = ??

It also doesn't help that I was also trying to find this stupid song from The Devil Wears Prada (o, did I mention I was also half watching that? Sensory overload!!). I love it in a beachy/summer dance club circa 2001 sort of way.

Anyway, this is what they looked like.

Yes, those are burnt nuggets on the left side. I may have forgotten to put the timer on for that batch. I also didn't realize that cinnamon was absent from my spice cabinet. Luckily we had 2 cinnamon sticks from a random spice set Jamie and I picked up when we were in Grenada. I ground those suckers up in a coffee grinder and almost fell over they were so potent. My cookies taste like a cinnamon stick. AAAGGGHHH. Whatever. I think I prefaced the whole 'ok, I'll bake cookies' thing with 'I'm really not a good baker.' Are you a better cook or a better baker? Are you one of the lucky ones that's good at both???

Ok. Off to bed. FINALLY done with the rest of the cookies. Hoping to get another run/walk in tomorrow morning, but since it's almost 1am, I seriously doubt that's happening. I wonder if the security guards at jury duty will look at me funny for going on a run during my lunch break. I always wonder what security guards think of people wandering into office buildings in workout attire. I like to think it's totally normal...maybe....