Easy vs. Hard

More often than not, I tend to do things the hard way. Well, maybe not, I guess it all depends on how you view it.

If you've never been a parent, despite what people may tell you (or warn you), you learn as you go, as your relationship with your child grows. Trial and error, figuring out what works and what doesn't, it's an ongoing process. The same can be said about everything; parenting is hard, writing a thesis is hard, changing a tire...HARD. All true if you've never done it before, but once you get the hang of it...

The same can be said for cake decorating. Sure, you can go to culinary school and they can teach you the fundamentals of cooking/baking, but until you're flying by the seat of your pants and winging it on your own, you haven't learned anything.

In my caking world, time management is key and probably my biggest challenge.

I like to think that I've scheduled my cakes appropriately and in most cases I do. Allowing myself ample time to bake, make fondant, buttercream and figurines. However, in my scheduling process, I think my big FAIL is always on assembly and decorating time.

Once everything is prepared, I just don't seem to schedule enough time for assembling and decorating. And it's in those 1:00-2:00 a.m. moments that I'm cursing myself and longing for my pillow, wondering if I'll EVER get this done.

Truth be told, icing my cakes, covering with fondant and stacking are my cake-nemesises* (nemesi..nemessisies??). This is where a nice big Somerset dough sheeter along with a dedicated work space would be GREAT. I'll tell ya, after rolling out some difficult fondant this weekend, my core is sore! Yah, that's right, my abs are killing me. I must've been throwing myself into my fondant.

Basically, what I'm saying is, what took me so long, shouldn't freakin' take me SOOO long. I'm sore, I'm exhausted and I've lost valuable time I could have been spending with my family.

I always say I'm going to do things differently so it's not so hard, but honestly, it's not always that easy. But, it's getting easier.

Oh, and everyone should have nemesises, because when you beat your nemesis, there's no better feeling. My other nememsis: holes with water on the golf course. It gets in my head and screws with me like a true superhero arch-villan would.