I Suck At Making A Gingerbread Man

Friday was quite the interesting day.

Earlier in the day, I discovered that my garage door was not properly working. And by not properly working, I mean that the remote control was not opening the garage door. Naturally, my initial reaction was that the battery needed to be replaced in the remote control.

After replacing the battery, I tried the remote control again. Nothing. The door did not budge. Looking at the wall panel in the garage, I noticed the wall panel had a flickering light on it. So after rummaging through my tool bench, I finally came upon the instruction manual for the garage door.

Following the troubleshooting tips in the instruction manual, I tested the wires and the safety sensors connected to the garage door opener. There were no problems. Yet for some reason, the remote control was not working.

And as proof that sometimes parents know best, my mother who was over to watch over my daughter (Briana) suggested that I search the web. Sure enough, I found someone who experienced a similar issue. Turns out, the cause was that the wall panel in the garage has a lock function. The lock function apparently... locks the remote control from opening the garage door. (Shows you how often I use this feature.)

Somehow this button was pressed on the wall panel. So simply hitting the button again releases the lock. Yes, it was that easy of a solution. When I clicked the remote, the garage door opened! Yay! I guess I probably should have read my instruction manual a little more closely. Oh well.

Anyway, following my garage door incident, Karen, Briana and I went to a cookie swap. Prior to last week, I had never been involved in a cookie swap. And now, I have been to two cookie swaps in six days. Needless to say, the swap was great.

The cookie swap was held by someone involved with the Norwell Public library. With Karen being a similar member of the library group, she was invited to partake in the swap. And as Karen's spouse, I got to partake in the fun. It pays to be involved with the public library.

For me, it was a nice to meet other people who live in the town. I was not expecting much. After all, all I knew about the event was that it was a simple cookie swap at someone's house who was equally involved with the library. I was picturing a bunch of older women... with Karen.

Oh how wrong I was. For starters, the house was absolutely amazing. I don't know
if any words can describe how gorgeous this house was. And the host and her family were so down to earth. In fact, I'm not sure how their family does it. I have trouble with just one child. Their family consisted of seven children.

Interestingly enough, they would have had eight children were it not for the fact that they lost one. As bizarre as this sounds, I find it interesting when I learn that other people have lost children. Losing children seems more common than I realize (or television would have you believe). Having lost a child myself, I guess I find some solace to know that I am not alone.

Anyway, I was amazed with this family. Their children were all well behaved. And I must say, the mom must be like mom of the year or something. To say she is talented is an understatement. From the cookies she made for the cookie swap, to raising seven children, to making gingerbread men, there seems like nothing that his woman could not do.

Speaking of gingerbread men, I had the opportunity to make my first gingerbread man. Too bad I suck at making a gingerbread man. This woman had baked a gazillion gingerbread men and women and babies for all of us to decorate. It was... amazing. Like I said, I'm not sure there is anything this woman cannot do.

For anyone curious, Karen was excited to make a purse for her gingerbread man out of Necco wafers. My gingerbread man looked a little puffy. I covered my gingerbread man in mini marshmallows. My thought was to put a white puffy down jacket on my gingerbread man... to keep him warm. Sadly, it looks like my gingerbread man is the bastard child of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man.

Regardless, I had a fantastic time on Friday. I was not expecting to have so much fun at the cookie swap. I'm glad that I was able to be a part of it.