"Mama, makin a cake?!"

When I announced that I was starting this blog, I had more than one person comment on how I have time to balance it all.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot.  Getting rid of my Facebook account will give me back some of my time, but that’s not the real answer.  Maybe it’s the organization that comes with my incessant list-making (I even add things to my To Do list that I have already done so that I can feel the satisfaction of crossing them off…yep.  I’m that weird.).  The real answer is that I simply have to find time to do the things I love, the things I get excited about.  I’m not sure who I would be without those things.  No matter how busy my work schedule gets, my family will always be my number one.  Chores may fall to the wayside so that I can play with Addy, lay in bed and laugh with Jason, talk to my mama on the phone, email one of my best friends in Oregon, etc.  Some of the things that other good mommas get done every night, I simply don’t.  This doesn’t mean that our house is a complete mess.  I can’t stand clutter, so that’s not the case at all.  There are just certain things that I let go.  I let this happen…often…

My philosophy is that the dishes and laundry can wait.  They will get done eventually.  Addy growing up won’t wait for later.  And doing some of the things I enjoy shouldn’t wait.  So most of the time, I try not to let them. 

Baking cakes has been recently added to the list of things I enjoy doing.  I had a great time making Addy’s first birthday cake.  Things just sort of snowballed from there.  I never would have imagined that anyone would be interested in something that I find so fun.  It’s humbling really.  I love that I have a creative outlet after a week of sitting in my cubicle and running back and forth to conference rooms for meetings.  I love the challenge.  I love that the idea of a tangible an end product (not that I’m not working toward the final goal of published financials at work, it’s just that this is more my own, more tangible).      

Maybe someday, when I retire, I’ll open up a little bakery.  I’ll grow old getting to be a part of the celebration of the milestones in people’s lives.  My grandbabies will come visit my shop.  I’ll be able to support other small business owners, local artisans.  I’ll sell aprons that another old bitty (who I probably met at BINGO) makes from her home.  I’ll be a part of the community.  Or maybe I’ll just keep doing it when I have time, from my home, and when someone is interested.  I’ll have something to share with Addy someday.  I mean, she already runs to the counter when she hears the mixer or sees the tools come out “Mama, makin’ a cake?!”  

 So for anyone interested, here are the four most recent cakes that I didn’t get around to posting on Facebook. 

Gardening-themed birthday cake...all handmade and edible, including the butterfly :)

  

Congrats cake for the sis-in-law...she rocked her Medical Assistant program :) 



Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mama!

Birthday cake for one cute, polite, 6 year old (Jason said an action figure was much cooler for a little dude than one sculpted out of fondant...he was right). 

So forget about the dishes and go out and do something that excites you this weekend!