I’m not even talking blog guilt. I had a patient yesterday ask me if I still had my blog and I had to think about it for a minute. What blog? I’m just kidding. I love my hobby and I love sharing pictures with you. I hate that over the past year, I have been doing 99 percent of my cookie decorating at night so any pictures I could take would be completely useless. Most times, I am finishing cookies at night and running them out the door first thing in the morning so all I can usually manage is a quick picture on my phone. But things are going to change come next September. And this brings me to my guilt.
Since having Ben, four and a half years ago, I have only worked two days a week. Thirteen hours to be exact. He goes to preschool three days, which means he is home with me the rest of the week. Next year everything is going to change. Bryan will be finishing school next month and (hopefully) working full time soon after that (angels singing!)!! But this means that he will no longer be able to be home on the two days I work. This means if Ben were to go to kindergarden half day next year, no one would be home to get him on the bus. So, even though I’m only working thirteen hours a week, we are probably going to pay to send him to full day kindergarden. This makes me really sad. So this year I have over compensated a bit.
Wait, let me share a cookie picture so you don’t get bored and leave me….
Yes. I am aware it’s a Halloween picture. Yes, I am aware it’s the third week of November.
Anyway…. Overcompensating. My kids, between the two of them, have an activity every single day of the week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. When one activity ends for the season, another one starts. I’m having a blast spending so much quality time with them driving back and forth from activity to activity. And believe me, my kids like to be active. They don’t complain at all and they are tireless. It’s not affecting school work at all, if anything, it’s helped Ellie adjust to the demands of third grade by forcing her to manage her time.
Wait, another picture? OK…. 
But I am definitely sacrificing the “me” time. Fortunately I enjoy making cookies. That won’t stop anytime soon, I hope. And I’m trying to let go of some of this guilt that I feel, knowing I’ll have three days next year that I am home while the kids are at school. For one thing, I’ll have all of those daylight hours to work and even take some step by step photos.
Oh, another picture? Sure. 
I plan on spending the next few months brainstorming ideas to help Ellie’s Bites grow. In order to do that, I’d love to hear your ideas. Is there anything you’d like to see? I know there are a lot of cookie blogs out there now. This is a wonderful community and nothing can replace the friends I have made through this shared hobby. I definitely have no intention of stopping cookies. But would you like to see other things? Other recipes? Not just desserts but anything goes? How about crafts? Maybe some posts that are just ramblings about the really funny things my kids do? Would you stop visiting my site if you showed up to see a cookie, and instead found a post about how my son now goes through approximately three rolls of duct tape a week just building things? (He’s seriously like the MacGyver of four year olds with duct tape.) I appreciate any and all feed back. I want to make this a fun place to share and learn and maybe even just laugh. (In the interest of full disclosure, I do not make any money off of this blog. I am on a wordpress hosted site and do not make money from advertisements or endorsements. If I could devote more time and energy to this space, I would like to potentially own my own site and make a little extra money. Not from you, I would never ever charge you. But from allowing advertisements. Anyway…. that’s just a thought in the future.)
And I’ll leave you with one last picture. 
I have a lot of cookies I haven’t shared yet sitting on my computer. I thought I would break them down into several posts. Today’s post was obviously about my newest obsession. Using stencils and royal icing to create texture on cookies. I just purchased some fondant molds recently and I can’t wait for the opportunity to start playing around with those!
Look for more soon, (hopefully lol). And thank you for putting up with my rambling!
Ellie's Bites Decorated Cookies 