Well, Shit. It’s Been a Minute. I haven’t forgotten about this little corner of the internet. I’ve just been in Colorado, baking everything I can think of, raising a toddler, and letting other people’s opinions get in my head. You know. Staying busy. Part of the reason I haven’t posted much is because people think I use AI to write my posts. Well, I do use it for edits because I have a shit ton of misspelled words and grammar that needs corrected. The stories, recipes, feelings, questionable decisions, and toddler complaints are mine. Unfortunately, I cannot blame artificial intelligence for those.
At some point , I started overthinking everything I wanted to write. Does this sound like me? Will someone think I didn’t write it? Do I need to submit a handwritten rough draft as proof? It took some of the fun out of something I started because I enjoyed it. I miss writing about my life, so here we are. You’ve missed a few things and you are welcome for the word vomit you’re about to get. Bee and I went to Colorado. Twelve hours in the car with a toddler, bread, and cookies, because I travel with baked goods now. Some people bring a suitcase. I bring Pueblo green chile cheddar loaves.
We stopped in my hometown for a breast cancer awareness 5K with my aunt, who is a breast cancer survivor. My second 5K of the year. Who am I? There was pink shit, beer, and brats, which helps get me interested in physical activity. Getting to do it with my aunt meant more than any of that, though. I’m grateful she was there with us. That’s the part worth celebrating. Then we had time at my mom’s, which is always a good excuse to head back to Colorado. She had even stocked my favorite Beehive Honey Wheat beer. That woman understands hospitality. I love Colorado.
Meanwhile, Wake & Baking has been keeping me busy. Garth and the Garth Bros got fed and tucked into the refrigerator while we were gone. Even my sourdough starter gets a vacation. Then I came home and needed him to wake up because we had things to do. There have been plain sourdough loaves, inclusion loaves, bagels, biscuits, tortillas, cookies, sauces, and English toffee. I made a pizza loaf with tomato sauce, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, Italian seasoning, chives, and rosemary. The size of that thing was ridiculous. Delicious, but ridiculous. The tortillas were less attractive. Several looked like they belonged in a geography lesson. I used a wine bottle as a rolling pin and gave the smoke alarm something to do. Very professional operation over here.
The sourdough biscuits with homemade sausage gravy were a much better situation. So was the avocado toast on my bread. I’m getting a lot of mileage out of flour and a jar of fermented goo. Then there are the cookies. I made cookies this past weekend that might be the best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life. I know how that sounds coming from the person who made them, but I’m standing by it. Humble brags everywhere. I rolled them into 75-gram balls, because if I’m having a cookie, I would like a COOKIE. I also put marshmallows in two to test my s’mores ideas. One with a graham cracker square underneath, another with crumbled graham cracker on top. This is the kind of research I’m willing to commit to. I’ve also been working on holiday gift baskets with homemade bread, sauces, and chocolate almond English toffee. The first toffee batch burned. The smoke alarm made a guest appearance in that reel, too. “It’s fine. Everything is fine.” Batch two was much more cooperative. In all of this, I’m recording, editing, writing recipes, washing dishes, and refreshing my Facebook page. As I’m writing this, Wake & Baking is EIGHT followers away from 1,000. Eight. I posted a reel of myself waiting over coffee with the Jeopardy music playing. Seventy-six views and nobody hit the fucking follow button. We’ve made a little progress since then, but I need more patience. Unfortunately, that is not an ingredient I keep in stock.
Bee, meanwhile, has plenty to contribute to my day. We’re still very much in our Toy Story era. We’re also in the stage where a tiny person has very big feelings and I’m supposed to know exactly what’s wrong, even when she doesn’t. Chapstick is “dapdick.” Lotion is “yotion.” I don’t particularly want either pronunciation corrected because they’re some of my favorite things right now. Potty training has had some plot twists. Toys need to be arranged to her specifications. I’m trying to bake, work on the page, and be present with her while she’s still little. Some days I feel pretty good about that. Other days, baking sounds dreadful and I’m tired as fuck.
I’ve had days this month when I wanted to quit the whole thing. The blog, the page, the constant trying to figure out what I’m doing. Then somebody makes one of my recipes, asks a question, orders something, or leaves a kind comment, and I want to keep going. I still have things I want to share here. Colorado trips. Family stuff. Bee being Bee. Recipes that work and the occasional batch that sets off an alarm. I may ask for help getting the words together, but I’ve got plenty of my own shit to say. I have eight followers to find. Take care.
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