I've been neglecting my blog. But if I could show you my schedule, outline my days, maybe there would be an understanding of why I am so uninspired and can only heave a sigh of exhaustion when I approach it.
Today-
I woke up early thinking about my To Do list so I just got up and got to it. I had three boxes of tomatoes waiting to be made into something that would keep for winter and they were starting to go bad so I began the day by washing them and starting some of them roasting in the oven and the rest in a pot on the stove. After that I baked four loaves of sourdough bread and began school with my two boys.
Last weekend was my last wedding of the season. It was delivered early Saturday morning and I heaved a sigh of relief and relished the thought of a weekend without deadlines- the first in many months. Before wedding season even ends, apple turnover season begins. Every week, the boys have been peeling boxes of apples and Alyssa and I have been making and rolling dough, pinching and baking hand pies. This week the order is a big one for the annual Harvest Festival. But there was no cake on the baking schedule.
Then I got a call from a friend who wanted to provide large cakes for the local crisis pregnancy center's fundraiser. I get a lot of calls for fundraisers but this is one I really wanted to do despite the fact that my week is already very full of apple turnovers. I said yes to cake and supporting an organization I care about.
The only way I will pull everything off this week is to bake some cake today, so after school lessons were finished I got right to the cake baking. The boys peeled apples and then I had apple filling to bake too. Of course, there is also supper since around here people expect to eat once in awhile. My goal was to get supper on early so I put beef stew on the stove.
I should have photographed the kitchen at about 5:00. Large cakes cooling on racks, pans of apple turnover filling also cooling, beef stew and pots of tomato sauce (still) on the stove, cake batter bowls stacked in the sink and I have miles to go before I sleep.
Supper over, on to the next project. Finishing this tiling project-
Three hours later and the last tile is on, the boys are heading to bed, the kitchen is getting its final clean-up and it's time for the last task of the day.
Another cake.
I had a request from a photographer for a prop cake. She is shooting a one year old baby's birthday photos and wants a frilly pink cake for the child to mash into. My last project of the day is to pipe ruffly buttercream to a vanilla cake for a birthday baby.
And now it's midnight and I'm writing a blog post.
Tomorrow there is more cake to bake, apple turnovers to create, school lessons to teach and always, always, a kitchen to clean.
I'm starting to look forward to a serious winter storm that just shuts everything down.
Wait. Did I really say that?