Good vs. Bad

I am not a baker. I love to cook because I can make things up. You really can't do this when baking, you must measure things. I made apple bread on Thursday. It turned out ok, but I didn't put enough apples in it (because I didn't measure them)and if I had it would have been three loaves instead of two. Then it would have cooked in the amount of time it was supposed to have cooked and wouldn't have gotten so dark on the top. It tastes great, but it is a little dark on top. Yesterday I made pumpkin bread using fresh pumpkin. Did I mention that you have to measure everything when you bake. I eyeballed the pumpkin and I should have measured out 3 1/2 cups. It didn't bake right and when I tried to put it back in the oven to try to cook the inside some more (knowing that it probably wouldn't work, but what the heck, it was ruined anyway) my oven made a hum and then a pop and it smelled like burnt plastic.

Oh joy, we thought an element had burnt out, but they both got red when we turned them on, so today I get to test the oven. I will turn it on and preheat it to 350 degrees. If there is no problem, I will turn it off and then make more pumpkin bread and apple bread to bake. Did I mention that I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and if my oven doesn't work (breathe) I will survive, I have alternatives.

Ok, I have ranted for the day and enough is enough. Life is grand.

I just finished up my second quarter as a Pilates instructor for Pierce College Continuing Education. I got excellent evaluations. It makes me feel like I have done what I set out to do when I am told that they enjoyed the exercise and feel stronger and it didn't hurt. I really don't want it to hurt. I also feel that it should strengthen a body in the position that we use it in.

One thing that a lot of people mentioned were hand-outs. Right now I hand out a list of the exercises that we do. They have made it clear that while this is nice, they don't get a lot of use out of it because they don't connect the name to the exercise. So I have asked what the protocol is around my making a booklet of the exercises for students to use at home. Of course, I would have to charge enough to print them, but this idea excites me. Students wouldn't have to buy the book, but it could be an option. Then my mind spins off to all the details and I have a project.


"Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?"

THICH NHAT HANH