Cake!

Today's 100 words:

This year my son wants a Spider-Man cake for his birthday. I've made sculpted cakes before but have never made one using a character cake pan, so I'm a little nervous about how it will turn out. I think if I can just get the cake out of the pan in one piece, the decorating process should go pretty well. It's an intricate design, and I've been told it can take about three hours just to complete the icing. I'm up for the challenge. I enjoy making the kids' cakes. They love them and talk about them all year.

Time to make the doughnuts bagels!

Today the kids and I did something we've never done before: we made homemade bagels. We followed this recipe, and although I can't call myself a baker by any stretch of the imagination, the bagels actually turned out quite well. They were lopsided and kind of ugly, but they tasted good, and that's what counts, right?

I found it relaxing to bake with the kids. Usually I'm stressed out, wondering how I'm going to fit everything I need to do into the nineteen or so hours I'm awake each day, but today I decided that I was going to put everything else aside--writing included--and spend some quality time with my kids. As someone posted in my comments yesterday, my kids are still young, and they need me now more than they ever will. I want to be there for them, do things with them, create memories that they'll never forget. My writing is important, but there is a season for everything, including writing. I'm certainly not going to stop writing, however; I have to write. I feel compelled to--and more importantly, I enjoy it.  What I'm going to try to do is stop stressing out about it--stop worrying about word counts and pages written and edited. I think that now is the time in my life when I need to focus on more than only my own desires, and if I can just relax a bit about what I want to do, I believe that things will fall into place.

As it is with so many things, I'm sure this resolution will be easier said than done, especially for my type A personality. When the hard days come, I'm going to focus on how much fun I had making those bagels with the kids, how nice it was to enjoy "real" time with them, time that wasn't spent at the dinner table or in the car driving to storytime or the grocery store. When it's kid time, I'm going to focus on them--and not worry about my writing projects.

I can write when we're done making those bagels.

Pulling an all-nighter

My son's fourth birthday is tomorrow, and I'm just starting my annual all-night birthday cake baking and decorating fest. I'm making him a Motherboard cake (from PBS's Cyberchase), and since I couldn't find a pattern, I'll be winging it--and crossing my fingers that it turns out okay. If it does, I'll try to post a pic tomorrow. Wish me luck!

But I'm not a baker!

My son will turn four on Monday, so I've been frantically looking for a pattern for his cake. I'm not a baker by any means, and I don't consider myself that artistic as far as cake design goes, but I do pretty well if I have a pattern and directions. Last year I made him a Wubbzy cake and my daughter a doggy cake, and both of them turned out really well. I was pretty proud that I, with my limited ability, had managed to make them. I found the step-by-step directions online, so the whole process went pretty smoothly. 

This year, however, my son is really interested in Cyberchase, a PBS show. His favorite character on the show seems to be Motherboard, so I've been trying to find directions for a Motherboard cake. I haven't had any luck, unfortunately, so I guess this year I'll have to wing it by finding a picture and trying my best to copy it onto a simple sheet cake. I'm a little nervous about how I'll do, but my husband keeps telling me that our son will be happy with it no matter what, and that makes me feel a little better. I'll try to post a picture of the results--unless the cake ends up too hideous for public viewing!