I confess ......I am a addict

   Now men unless your addiction is along the line of this one you may not be interested in this post. I know you may be addicted to repair tools you have 3 of or maybe your gun collection and all the alterations your doing to that AR-15. Remember now if you didn't have one of these addicts in the family you would be pretty miserable. LOL

Definition of addicted. : having an addiction: a : exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity addicted.

  Some dummy forgot to add addictions to things like BAKING ! That addiction includes all the other little things included in the baking addiction. If I go a few days without baking something or trying to perfect a new recipe I just get real antsy. I figured that out one time when I was busy for a few days and I got to get back into the kitchen. I noticed although I was tired I was actually happier and relaxed more inside.
    I talked to my brother tonight. He said I reminded him of our Dad's mom. We called her Mam maw. He said she was always in the kitchen. He said she had a peach cobbler that when she took it to a function people would line up for her peach cobbler and if you didn't get in that line early you were just out of luck!
    How about including that collection of Sprinkles addiction?Now my sprinkles are pretty much non existent I have 1 Lb each of those tiny beads called nonpareil sprinkles in red and white. That 1 lb can cost anywhere from $12 - $16 depending on where you can find what your looking for. I want to get a lb of each basic color so I can mix as I please for whatever purpose.  See that picture of bottles below, that is pretty much a normal mess for a lot of folks

   Now if you go on Pinterest you will see fancy smancy things like that stuff in these pictures below. You may accidentally see folks with something that well organized in a bakery business but very few folks at home have it. Now the little one in the middle ok, a home baker might have that or in small fruit jars. Most of the time bakers dream and drool and wish for those big pretty collections.

             

   Then you have issues with not being able to turn down those cute little Cupcake liners. The best ones are the grease proof that aren't oily on the bottom after baking. Yet for some crazy reason we see something on sale and it really doesn't matter if they leak grease or not. They just have something about them ....... you know you don't have any that look like what you see. You don't really need them but then again you do.... it's not like you can pass these things up! It's only a couple of dollars rite ? But where to put them once you take them home???? You don't really have a nice neat place like the pictures below. You could just throw them in the box or drawer or on the shelf with the other ones you have to dig through any time you need them. It's not like you have any in that particular design category to put them with.

      

   Did you know that some home bakers display their sprinkles and cupcake liners like home decorating? It's like showing off you collection but also decorating.
      Then you get into food coloring. It's not as simple as the old McCormick 4 package squirt bottles any more. You have many many colors in liquids, pastes and gels. I try not to use food coloring just because normally I'm allergic to everything but sometimes I indulge. I think I have about 12 in the paste form somewhere.
Wow! Now this is Organized !
 

 

    Did I mention tips??? You know those things we put on the bag that holds the icings? They make those pretty flowers and swirls and things on a cake or cookie.  Your talking about a whole nother world of wonder! See those fancy looking ones at the bottom of the picture? Those are called Russian Tips. They are the do all have all of tips. They make wonderfully intricate designs with just one motion. I don't have any of the Russian Tips. I have maybe a fourth of what you see below.

  

      How about all those cake pans and casserole dishes and 9" deep dish pie plates and cookie sheets ?? Loaf Pans -- Good Grief ! The recipe tells you it fits in and makes 1 loaf. Well hells bells ! I have at least 3 different size loaf pans probably more. I have a bread loaf pan, tiny mini pans, and several sizes in between. Believe me you only have so much room in a kitchen! You can never ever just need one. If you have one of any pan I promise you cooking can' t be done with just one of those pans. You have to have at least 2 to be able to get any production at all. Cookie sheets ?? Holly Molly I have at least 4 big rimmed cookie sheets probably more. I can put 3 at a time in my convection oven and really turn out some cookies!  Not everyone can afford a nice new kitchen decked out that wonderful. I know many people have heard of Wilton Brand baking pans. I do have a lot of those, Shoot they must be at least 20 years old! My new favorites are the Fat Daddio's® Bakeware. they are nice heavy weight pans. If you go to this link you can see pics of all the cool things they have I'm not making money off of it I just wish I had loot to buy some of it! I have just maybe 6 pans ???
https://www.google.com/search?q=fat+daddio+cake+pans&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJjsPrwMDnAhUEa60KHesDDyIQ_AUoAnoECA0QBA&biw=1067&bih=463
    I can't decide sometimes if I like pinterest Not only does it kill a lot of time but look at all this stuff it can get a baker dreaming about ! Pretty stuff all organized and neat and just perfect ! You should see my stuff..... nowhere near this cool in all these pics. I will put a post on real life baking folks soon.

      

     I can only dream for anything this well organized ! I am sure I have forgotten a few things but you just can't cover it all. What do I like about baking? I like being the dessert lady. I like being the one that people turn to wanting me to fix something pretty and tasty.  Nothing out of a box or served on some ugly plastic covered containers. Why would anyone want to go to the trouble of baking something, making the mess all over the kitchen (even with boxed goods) an then turn around an put it in some ugly ugly plastic big A** container just all slopped together and say done here it is, come eat. Good grief, at least try to make something look good so that you start drooling and sniffing the air around all that chocolate or caramel goodness just waiting for you to save a spot in your tummy for dessert!
    Anytime I go to a function I tell folks they are my taste testers. I get to try out new recipes on them.My biggest challenge has been trying to cook desserts for VEGANS ! I just can't bake some things without EGGS ! I can work around the butter and milk but not the eggs yet. Most of the time they turn out pretty good. Sometimes I think I totally mess up even the regular recipes and apologize and serve it anyway. It makes me wonder sometimes...... I think it's a mess up but it still disappears or very little left over at all and people come back for seconds! Some folks I ask to tell me what kind of cake or pie they want so I can try out a new recipe. It's fun.  When the dessert disappears, or you look down the table and see someone closing their eyes and can't talk until the 3rd bite or if I drop something off and they are texting or calling me for recipes or drooling over the phone you know you must of hit the recipe on the button enough. Ain't nothing like baking something and having folks in their happy spot when they eat it.

Love

Ranchmama

We are a MESS !

The people I talk to on the email lists on the net pretty much knows as a nation we are a mess! Most of the time we are referring to the nations government and how it is conducted or the people that have no clue just what kind of MESS we are really in.
   What I would like to talk and maybe rant about is the real people at home. The people that actually make up the National MESS as a whole. Those individuals and families out there we encounter every day for some of us.
    I live a fairly sheltered life here on the ranch. Go to town when I have to otherwise about once a week. I don't socialize much. Just don't need to when I am busy and a lot of people don't live like I do so not so much in common sometimes. I do have net friends and keep up with family on the net with emails and FB sometimes after a while I call to hear a voice about every month or so.
   I do encounter folks that we hire to help out around here. I get to know them pretty well either with helping someone with something when they ask or seems like I make a pretty good sounding board.
   What I am seeing isn't all that much political folks but just people trying to survive the day or week. Most of the time it is about money and paying bills but anymore many of these people are having a hard time putting food on the table. I know a couple of hunters that can put meat on the table but then I know some that don't hunt, have a gun in the house and wouldn't know how to either shoot the gun or hunt. Gardens do not seem to be a common thing with these folks. Some of it they don't have the know how. Most of it I think is just too preoccupied struggling with life. Folks say get help with food stamps and all but these folks don't seem to qualify from what they say. If they do it isn't enough to do much good.
   I know one man that works for $50 a day. Hard worker. We pay him $10 a hr. and I try to give him some frozen hamburger meat for a couple of meals. He said they usually eat hot dogs for their meat. An other person I know is the only single mother working in the family of 2 teen girls, a grandmother, a baby and a adult brother in the house. Whatever funds they may get goes really quick!
   All these people are used to tough times and being what a lot of people would call poor. They cope, they cut corners better than I could any day!
   What I am also seeing with other people are problems other than money. We are talking about health issues with pain, addictions with drugs, gambling and who knows what else.
   Then you have people that have survived and gotten away from physical and mental abuse. I know of women that have been put in the hospital by men and lucky enough to get away and change their lives. Still the abuse goes on. They have survived but the mental issues that go along with it are still there. It is amazing some of the little things that can be attributed with abuses. Their reactions to life situations, their thinking isn't clear and although their life is much better they really don't know how to cope and manage to make true progress and not have to struggle not only with money but with the rest of the family and the quirks they may have acquired through the years of abuse.
    We are a nation of broken people. Millions of people are truly broken big time. We are all a little goofy and have cute or just plain weird harmless quirks. I am talking about people that are broken just enough not to have a complete whole moderately happy family out there. Then you have the serious millions of folks that are so broken in the head they are dangerous or generally a useless drain on the government or the community or family around them.
    Some folks just can't be fixed even with good meds. They are such a mess they really one day need to disappear. I know that is brutal but true. Other folks can be fixed. It would take time but it's like they need to start all over from kindergarten on the basics. That is a lot of hand holding for a long time!
    Even if you were to fix folks up with whatever government or charity program out there..... it should be only temporary and I think many of the programs are only to get by a little easier. I'm sure there is counseling to talk to folks to work through whatever but I am not sure (since I have no training or actual experience with that sort of thing) how much of that isn't just a band - aid for something that will never heal enough.
     I just don't know if these damages from folks growing up in continuous drama can acquire enough skills to graduate to total independence of government or private helping hands. They have not been trained or wired that way from childhood many times. It's like getting a plow horse and putting a really well known jockey on top of it and expecting them to win the Kentucky Derby. It AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Some folks get a good start in family life but later on they are always behind the 8 ball. Many just flat out get overwhelmed with life and all the things they have to handle. One stressful thing after another, daily sometimes.
   How in the heck do we fix it. I don't think nationwide government programs are the answer.I think it needs to be more of a local thing.
Well that is all for now.
I will think more about how to Clean up or Fix The MESS another time.

Love
Ranchmama