Archive for » November, 2008 «

Because the Captain is preoccupied with administrative work for the Army most weekends, I’m left to amuse myself.

Easier said than done.

Sometimes I read (until I run out of new books). Sometimes I blog (unless I’m in a funk like I have been lately). And sometimes I watch a DVD (because, remember, we don’t have cable). If I’m feeling particularly wily, I vacuum or do laundry. But even with this lengthy list of worthwhile hobbies, I eventually bore myself.

Which is why I’ve taken up baking.

The good thing about baking is that it usually occupies me for hours (and the results of my labor are delicious).

The bad thing about baking is that it makes my ovaries weep.

Maybe in your house it was different, but in mine my mother baked when her children were around. The excitement of warm, tasty sweets was secondary to our delight that we were allowed to help with a grown-up task. Sometimes we merely licked the bowl, but other times we had the opportunity to frost cookies or dispense cupcake sprinkles. If we were especially fortunate, my mother would give us our own small balls of dough to roll and shape and squish.

So baking, for me, is a family activity. Only . . . I don’t have a family. Not quite.

Sometimes the cats “help.” Last week during my pie project they stood against the sides of the garbage pail and tried to catch apple peels as they dropped into the basket. They also show great interest in flour (particularly the black cat), much to my dismay. But for the most part, they know they’re not getting any baked goods, so they couldn’t be bothered. They’re much more interested in sitting in the window, which I’m forced to open every time I bake because the kitchen easily hits eighty-five degrees.

Today I felt the emptiness more acutely than ever when my new recipe for double chocolate chip cookies produced a batch much larger than I expected. When my mother used to make cookies, she could barely keep up with how fast we ate them. But I have no little cookie monsters to devour my snacks. It always surprises me just how much dessert a recipe yields. My cookie jar quickly overflowed, as did the large tupperware container I filled after it.

When I bake I think of the littl’uns I don’t yet have. When I’m done I see the desserts that aren’t needed for a PTA bake sale, a birthday party, or to counteract the healthy effects of a glass of milk.

It seems I’m always in a rush to get to the next stage in my life.

In the meantime, I’m going to be very popular at work.