» dc metro moms

How to Make Gooey Cookies Every Time!

Nicole — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:32:56 +0000

How do make cookies gooey, or even soft, and therefore edible? My cookies resemble bricks.

I’ve never been a big cookie maker. It just never occurred to me to bake my own cookies when I can buy great ones from the Giant bakery…  Is that wrong?

Now, my son has his own baking set, complete with rolling pin, whisk, cookie cutters and cookie sheet and he LOVES to bake cookies because we get down on the floor of the kitchen and mix up all the ingredients and cut out the cookies on a sheet.

Yes, the sheet is on the floor… but the cookies are on the sheet, so they don’t touch the floor… No, you don’t have to sample any cookies when you come over!

We’ve been baking a lot lately, producing lots of hard, almost candy-like cookies. My son doesn’t even want to eat them. He just likes baking them.

And then, a breakthrough- soft cookies, like a grandmother makes! I did it! I found out the secret to soft cookies!

How you ask?

I mentioned my desire to know the magical formula to tender cookies to my mother-in- law. How does one achieve the wanted texture? How do I make cookies that don’t harden enough to hurt the teeth?

What’s the rub- practice?… a secret ingredient?… maybe just more of an ingredient, like butter?

My mother-in-law looked at me and very matter-a-factly said, “Oh, just cook them a minute or two less than the instructions say to.”

What? Are you kidding? That’s it?

So I tried it… and it worked. So… I feel good for succeeding in my discovery of good cookie making.  But on the other hand- Man, do I feel silly!

This is not a physics theorem. This is not hard. Does everyone know this?  Am I the only one who DIDN’T know this?  Wow.

But, regardless of how non-chef-like I feel, I am now inspired. My next venture- CAKES!

Talk amongst yourselves…

I originally wrote this post for DC Metro Moms…

DC Metro Moms is Closing… Sniff

Nicole — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:15:07 +0000

It’s with a heavy heart… and SHOCK that I write

that DC Metro Moms is closing… for now.

We’ll continue in some capacity, we’re already working on it.

I love the women I’ve met throughout my time as a contributor

to DC Metro Moms.

And I thank DC Metro Moms for teaching me about online communities and social media. I’m shocked and saddened, and I’m also taking this as a life lesson and business lesson. I realize that social media and blogging communities take A TON more work than people think…

I’m keeping my eyes and ears open… and my heart open as we, DC Metro Mom contributors, go forward to stay together and work together- to keep moms and dads connected…

In the Nation’s Capital.

Graco and DC Metro Moms Donate 3 Car Seats to Fallen Officer’s Widow Expecting Triplets

Nicole — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:01:03 +0000

It was my pleasure, on behalf of Graco and DC Metro Moms, to give the Montgomery County Police 3 brand new Graco car seats for Melissa Ayala, widow of Officer Hector Ayala, who died in the line of duty in April.

A Police Officer, who was also a dear friend of Hector Ayala, came to my home to pick them up and he also gave me some information to tell everyone in our community and beyond.

Melissa is doing as well as can be expected, and will most likely give birth this week. She and the babies are healthy, although she is in pain and discomfort (but we all know as mothers, that being pregnant with triplets cannot be easy).

I also learned that the gender of the babies is unknown, it’s been too hard to tell…

Yeah, I know. I swallowed hard learning that. Not only is this woman giving birth to triplets IMMINENTLY- without her husband- she doesn’t know any of their genders…

The Officer added that she is receiving baby stuff right now but he worries,

“When they’re 6 months…”

“When they’re 1…”

“When they’re 2…”

Okay. So this is tough…

THIS IS WHAT WE CAN DO RIGHT NOW.

Melissa already has a 14 month old son, so she does have some boy stuff.

SHE HAS NO GIRL STUFF OR CLOTHES. We’ll know this week if she needs any girl stuff. I’ll let you know.

If you have any baby or toddler toys, accessories, clothes, etc. that you were planning to give away, please consider putting them away for now, and giving them to the Ayala family.

Please leave a comment if you want to be informed and/or involved in helping with donations to Mrs. Ayala and her triplets, and her son. I will save everyone’s email and periodically ask for specific things that she needs. The Montgomery County Police are contacting me when she has a need for something.

Also, if you have any contacts or relationships with companies that may be willing to donate their products to the triplets, please leave a comment and let me know.

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers for the triplets, they have been passed on and it is a great comfort that the brand new car seats are ready for them. They will be safe when they are taken home from the hospital.

This all came to pass basically through tweets; our online community is strong. Let’s use our community to continue to help this mother.

Thank You for your kindness.

About My Fabulous Bag At The DC SVMoms BitDefender Blogger/Brand Event (and where to get it)

Nicole — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:29:28 +0000

Courtesy of The Preppy Pink Pony

Like I said in my last post, I had a super duper wonderful time at the blogger event at the Ritz on Sunday.

So many people wished me a Happy Birthday, it was truly lovely!

Almost as many people asked me about my bag… and where to get it…

(Let’s be clear, I just love this bag. I am not getting compensated for this, in fact, I just went back to this store yesterday and bought 2 more bags (sshhh- for presents.))

You can get your very own super cool, everyone-will-ask-you-where-you-got-it-bag at The Preppy Pink Pony in McLean, VA, on Chain Bridge Road.

YOU CAN ALSO CUSTOM ORDER YOUR BAG ONLINE.

Here’s my Bag-

As you can see, you can also get these bags with a shoulder strap, like mine.

The Preppy Pink Pony has lots of other bags, and purses, and jewelry, and baby gifts, and belts, and everything else! The owner is Virginia, and she’s incredibly gracious and helpful!

These bags are handmade in Thailand and are helping women in specific villages make a better living for themselves and their families…

MOM POWER!!

… You’re Welcome,

Wowwy KaZowy-The DC SVMoms Blogger-Brand Symposium

Nicole — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:54:56 +0000

courtesy of Sue at MotherhoodandMe.com!

Wowwy KaZowy! I had a BLAST at the SVMoms Blogger- Brand Symposium at the Ritz Yesterday!!!!!

Got to meet fabulous new bloggers, actually had meaningful conversations with bloggers I know, got great swag-

and best of all- got to ring in the START of my 40’s with wonderful women (and a few men)!

That’s me on the far left with my head turned toward the speakers!

GIRL POWER!

Thank you to everyone for singing Happy Birthday to me!

Love You Gals!

xoxoxoxo

I Had Poop Under My Nails Too…

Nicole — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:34:30 +0000

Being a mom to a baby,

and even harder sometimes- a toddler, can be tough.

Rewarding, but tough.

You get the snuggles,

the baby fat rolls,

the mama-unconditional-I-need-you-stuff,

that you don’t always get being the mom of a 6-year-old.

But you also get the I-can’t-leave-the-room-for-a-minute, blow your nose, and diaper disaster stuff.

You don’t always shower (shhh… it’s okay) and sometimes you’re in sweats…

And sometimes, just when you think you are getting-it-all-together,

you find out you’ve been walking around all day with Cheerios stuck to your butt…

But it’s okay, because at least you didn’t find poop under your fingernails… like I did…

Click Here to Find Out If I Lost it When I Discovered PooP Underneath My Fingernails… At DC Metro Moms…

Look At My Shoes!

Nicole — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:08:01 +0000

Go Look At My Shoes-

On Jodifur,

I’m the one on the right!

It’s Always Shoe Friday at Jodifur!

How To Get Exactly What You Want

Nicole — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:31:24 +0000

Ahhh, a question for the ages…

How do you get what you want?

Well I’m here to tell you! But, first of all-

this does not apply to ‘world peace’… ‘a cure for cancer’… ‘to end homelessness’… ‘I want a pony’… well, maybe the last one.

All those ‘wants’ are great. I want world peace too. I want a cancer-free world too. I want everyone to have a home too…

But we all gotta start somewhere… ‘Start Small- End Big’, I always say. So let’s master how to get exactly what we want in terms of the ‘small stuff’, then we can go from there. After all, if you have little things… and little ones, around you that make you happy- you’re going to be a better mom and person and you’ll be happier…

Happier? A Better Person, you may say? Yes. And here’s how to do it-

I am revealing an age-old philosophy… a formula… a system of beliefs, if you will.

Have you read The Secret? Yes, so have I…

Click Here to Continue Reading This At DC Metro Moms…

Helping Police Widow Expecting Triplets

Nicole — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:53:07 +0000

Less than a month ago I wrote this post about a mother who is now a widow.

Melissa Ayala lost her husband, a Montgomery County Police Officer, last month and is expecting triplets next month.

She has now registered at Buy Buy Baby.

And you can view her registry directly here.

The wonderful people at Graco are donating

3 car seats to Melissa for her triplets

on behalf of Graco and DC Metro Moms!

Let’s work together to help this mom out,

Please consider getting her something from her registry.

Peace.

Mom! Can I Have A Urinal ?!

Nicole — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:38:07 +0000

We recently went out to dinner… that’s not uncommon. I had to excuse myself to go to the restroom, and my son announced that he had to go too… that’s not uncommon.

We each finished our business and were washing our hands and my son said,

“I really like those stand-up toilets. You guys (irony, maybe?) don’t have them in here.”

I told him that stand-up toilets, or rather urinals, were just in men’s bathrooms (and he didn’t ask me why… yey).

So he decided right then and there, that ‘he was going to have Dad take him to the bathroom from now on.’

Yey Again! Cool! My husband and I don’t have to give each other the look when we are seated, ready to eat, and our son says he has to go to the bathroom! It’s all him now! Our little guy has become a Big Guy and he wants to use stand-up toilets! Hurray!

So none of this is all that uncommon… until we got home,

and my son asked in a very sweet voice, as I’m tucking him into bed,

“Mom, can I have a urinal?… Can we get a urinal when we put an addition on our house?”

Click Here to Continue Reading at DC Metro Moms…