i do work ya know

Recently a co-worker and I threw a bridal luncheon for our boss.  I of course handled all the decorations and I made cupcakes since I am the professional cake decorator in the office.  I also made her wedding and grooms cake, the bouquets, boutonnieres and table centerpieces for the wedding.  

I originally made 4 pom poms and hung them from the ceiling for the shower.

My boss loved them so much she had a bright idea to use them as the centerpieces, so I made 4 more.  I have to say I liked it.  It took me an hour total to make all these pom poms (since I had to stop a few times to tend to a certain little girl).

Kiera loved the pom poms so much she wanted me to make some for her room.

I didn't know where to put them so this is where they went.  Whatever. 

To bake the cakes for the wedding it took 2 1/2 hours, which is now my new record time for that many cakes.  There were 2-8x12's, 2-8" rounds, and 2-4" rounds! 

To make 4 bouquets and 5 boutonnieres took probably 3 hours total.  The flowers were all fake.  I would not have even tried with real flowers.   They way I was man handling them they would have been mangled to death. 

People are always saying "You could be a party planner" or "Why don't you do this on the side?" 

Because I don't want to. 

I don't want to be a party planner because I'm just not party thrower type of person.  I only throw parties for my child.  I have done it for family and/or friends but only because they asked if I would help them.  And when I help someone else I usually end up telling them what to do.  I am the type of person that prefers to do it all myself because usually it doesn't get done right or at all!  I get a vision in my head of how things should be and when they don't go as planned I'm not happy.  Only that happens in other aspects of my life too.  Gotta change that.  Just like at the shower, for some reason the other people in charge of bringing the food thought it was at 4, not noon.  So here I am at 11:30 scrambling around to call everyone to tell them to get the food to the office because it is at NOON!  Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!

I did make cakes on the side all last year as a test run but it is just soooooo time consuming.  And the money I made wasn't enough to actually support us.  It was just a little extra spending money. There are only a handful of extremely close friends or family that I will make a cake for now. 

Doing these activities on the "side" just isn't practical for me.  I work 40 hours a week in an office ya know!  I have a young child (and husband) to care for at home.  We only get to play and do the really fun stuff on the weekends.  And then when I when I do a craft on the weekend I plan it around Kiera's nap time.  

I am only awake and at home during the week for about 5 1/2 hours  a day!  Yes I am serious.  5 1/12 hours a day out of 24.  That means the other 19 1/2 hours I am either at work or driving or sleeping.  I only have approximately 3-4 hours with my daughter and husband in the evenings. 
 

  Now if I were a stay at home mom I would have much more time to make cute things and promote a business and all that.  But I'm not.  Don't get me wrong, I love decorating cakes and decorating for parties and making flower bouquets and crafts, but I have more important things I would rather be doing.  Like having dance parties with K-Dub.

I do get annoyed that a lot of people just assume that I want to plan their wedding reception or throw parties for everyone or make a cake at the drop of a hat.  

Some of them even have kids at home or did many years ago.  Do they not realize or have they forgotten what it's like to have a young family?

Do other people go through this? 

You have a talent and people think that just because they know you they are entitled to receive your services without question or for free. 

So yeah, I know I have been griping, but I just don't get what is going through some peoples heads.  I will leave on a positive note because I really try not to be Debbie Downer about things.  I am extremely flattered that people actually like what I do and would put their trust in me to help them with whatever important is going on in their lives.  And you know, they probably don't know anyone who is crafty or can come up with fun ideas.  It is a talent that not everyone possesses.