Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Bake Sales and Indecision

Last week Gwendolyn brought a note home from school requesting the parents donate baked items for a bake sale that will run in conjunction with a gift bazaar the church is having.  This should be no big deal, right?  They didn't request a specific item so any type of baked good or treat should be fine.  And I am a pretty good cook, even if I do say so myself.  I suppose for other people who don't reside in my head, which should otherwise be known as crazy fruitcake territory, it probably wouldn't be a big deal.

I immediately started racking my head trying to figure out the very perfect baked sale item to send.  I have hundreds of dessert recipes saved in my online cookbook and even more saved on google reader, I should be able to come up with something.  But some things are better served warm and immediately, some things may need to be chilled so they might go bad waiting to be bought-  Oh God, what if no one buys what I make?!  Then the teachers and parents might think less of me... and Gwendolyn... and I will ruin everything for Maggie before she ever gets there!  I have issues, what can I say?  So I took to twitter to ask what they thought I should make.  The general consensus there was pie or rice krispy treats.  I mulled that over, but then I was afraid my pie crust would get soggy or that I would need to individually wrap the rice krispy treats.  I told Keary I needed to take a baked treat and he asked if I was just going to bake the cookie dough I have in the fridge.
"I have to do more than that.  I am pretty sure the school expects more than store-bought refrigerator cookie dough cookies."
So I texted Mom.  I don't remember bake sales growing up, but surely there were and she took goods to them.  She suggested I take a 7-Up cake or any bundt cake because "bundt cakes look pretty so they sell well." That made sense.  I mean unless you have seen some of the bundt cakes I have made that have gotten stuck in the pan, but I could probably handle making a 7-Up cake.  It will probably come out of the pan this time.  And then she sent me "Or just go buy some frozen cinnamon rolls and pass them off as your own like I used to.  You have two small children and a dog.  It is just a school bake sale.  What matters is you donate something."  Apparently she realized I was over-thinking and thinking in circles.

And I was relieved for a few minutes.  Until my mind amped back up and I started thinking about all the other parents having kids too and they are probably busy and still having to donate baked goods.  Their baked goods will probably be fancily decorated too.  And those parents will probably be dressed nice when they drop off their goodies... And will have gone to the gym earlier in the day where they continue to prepare to run their half-marathons or teach aerobics.  Then they will go home and prepare nearly gourmet dinners and not yell or snap at their kids or husbands...

So it seems I have tried to wrap up my self-worth and children's future in what I am donating to a school bake sale.  Now I just hope I don't pass on my crazy fruitcakes patterns of thinking to my children.

I am probably going to take a 7-Up cake.  Or pass off frozen cinnamon rolls as my own.

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