Journaling Cooking and Crafts

I wanted to make a cooking and crafts blog around this time last year. But then I got pregnant, which brought on months of morning sickness that wouldn't allow me to even enter a kitchen let alone cook, and made me super lazy in the craft department (Poor Katie - I only ever managed to knit her three squares to her baby blanket!)

Well, Katie is my new inspiration (at least now that she's here!) In the crafts department, I have a head full of ideas for things I want to make her. An entire line of tutus, tutu dresses, ruffled dresses, hair bows, crocheted stuffed animals, fairy costumes, princess dresses and hallowen costumes. I want to make princess and family quilts! I want to make her lots of unique and pretty pieces of clothing for her and her dolls/bears.

I also want to learn how to cook and bake really well. When I turn on the Food Network (my favorite channel) and watch my favorite chefs, I don't want to feel so inferior - I want to eventually get that good. Not all of the great cooks were professionally trained, in fact many figured it out on their own. I want to do that.

But I want to be an even better baker. I love to bake. I have no idea why - cooking is creative and fun, you get to fool around and experiment. Baking is a careful science, a by-the-rules type of game. I hate science and I hate having to follow rules. So it's an illogical love, but I can't help it - I clearly favor baking more. Maybe it's because you can make desserts look beautiful and can play with them after they're done baking. Either way, I have a fantasy in my head of starting a little bakery in town many years from now, (in fact, I know the very building I'd love to set up shop in!) and getting to not only teach my children how to bake great, but to run a little place with them. I already ran all my plans by Katie and she obviously thinks they're great - she listens with smiles and rapt attention. However, seeing that 6 weeks old is a tad too young to be helping in a bakery, I'm obviously talking about quite a few (a lot) years away. But that's ok - half the fun of plans is dreaming them up for years, and I need lots of practice before taking such a leap. So far I do pies the best, but pies alone won't go very far. I have so much to learn!

Since my craft supply is almost nil (I have some yarn, a needle-less sewing machine and about a yard of lavendar fabric) it's going to take a little while to lift all of those projects off the ground. I'm going to start with crocheting and tutus first. I already have what I need for practicing crochet and I'm going to buy my tutu materials next week or so, depending on the money situation. I'm super excited! I'm going to be hard pressed to find much time right now, since Katie's few naps are spent cleaning or snoozing myself, but I'll get there and it'll eventually become easier.

So here's the start of my long awaited new blog!