Well, here we are, creeping up to another New Year's Day. I don't know about you, but New Year's Day in my head translates to: New Life Starts Today. I don't necessarily gravitate to the whole New Year's resolutions track (though I do certainly see the value in it). I do, however, for whatever reason, have this magical thinking thing going on where I just think everything will be new and different and just the way I dreamed it would/should be: I'll wake up on New Years Day and I'll be thinner, less creaky, more energetic, a better partner, my businesses will take off, Mira will become more self-sufficient without losing her need for me, I will remember to write my blog nearly every day, I will cook better and I will be an instant success at baking...
It's nice to have dreams!
Though I fully recognize that none of these things will just happen because I have to hang a new calendar, it doesn't stop my brain from taking me on a new adventure each year about two weeks prior to the holiday.
I think it is because of this that I always start minor changes in my life and start to take some sort of an "inventory" of where I am, where I want to be, where I wish I was, where I thought I would be, what kind of mother am I, am I at least sufficient in love and creativity, do I have enough skills, what if the apocalypse happens tomorrow, am I prepared if I am lucky enough to survive? Yeah, I know, but it's inevitable: my mind always wants to end things with the ending of the world as we know it.
Anyway.
So this year as I started to take inventory I realized two things simultaneously: I'm broke and I don't know how to bake.
Utilizing those two observations, I spent a bit of my limited resource and bought supplies and for the last two days have been trying my hand at creating within myself: a baker. I've always been a decent cook, but the world of baking seemed light years away. For some reason, I had this idea that because you can't really taste-test the end product well before you're there (as you can in cooking), I just thought I would be an instant failure.
Turns out: cookies ain't so tough!
Now I have something to offer the loved ones around me AND I'm facing the new year with a new skill to pursue and (nearly) perfect!
By the way: I have to admit that the only reason I even THOUGH I could take on baking is thanks mostly to Alton Brown. Thanks, Stranger!
