Explaining the Title

Polymath (n.): A person of great learning in several fields of study

     I was at work and we were eating (surprise!) someone else's baked treat that had been brought to celebrate a birthday. It was a DELICIOUS pecan monkeybread. I'm still drooling thinking about it. Anyways, I'm standing in the workroom, laminating cards for my students to use to play "Go Fish" (with fraction/decimal cards), and a coworker and I are discussing aforementioned monkeybread (drool). He starts asking about my baking ventures. "You're like, a talented baker, right? You just make all sorts of things?" We talk for a bit about that, my previous life with an egg allergy, baking inspiration, yada yada and then he asks how my other projects are going- the quilt I've been making, packing to move, prepping for the school year, blah blah.

     Enter another coworker, and coworker #1 says something along the lines of "Did you realize all the different stuff Sarah can do? I mean she has a million hobbies." So of course I'm flattered and embarrassed and try to avoid the conversation by bringing up whoever made the monkeybread (seriously I need a bib) and fumbling with my fraction/decimal cards. The two of them start talking about how I should start a blog. And one of them says "There's a lot of blogs out there, but you really have a lot of talents worth sharing!" Generally, I never share this sort of flattery. I admit, I enjoy it, and it made my day, but I don't usually like to brag about people bragging about me.  It even sounds weird in that sentence. But it's relevant to the next part of the story, so, yeah. I'll just be over here blushing (and drooling)...

     Fast forward to later that day, while I'm trying to finish THAT DARN QUILT. I'm tying knots (only 9 more to go!) and listening to this when-I-was-in-college-era mix of mostly acoustic mousic (I'm leaving that typo because I like it) when a Mason Jennings song comes on that made my brain wax a wee bit philosophical. I thought a good blog pursuit would be something about being a "Renaissance Woman." That sounds so...touristy, to me, though. It didn't feel flattering. Like, "Oh I can be a renaissance man but I'm a female so I have to classify that with gender specific vocabulary" and I just wrinkled my nose at the sound of introducing myself as "The Renaissance Woman." I also pictured this horrifying scenario where I just start getting offers to perform at Renaissance fairs, totally not the same thing.

     So I did what any average human being does, and I Google search the term "Renaissance man." There it is! My inspiration! I had completely forgotten about the Greek word where the idea of Renaissance man originated- polymath. I love the way the word polymath flows, though! And as a newly discovered math teacher, who's been nerding hard over manipulative activities this summer, the word has the added bonus of containing the word "math."

     I have always envisioned myself spending my life learning to be good at whatever I'm doing. I anticipate that my life ventures may change every now and then because I'm a very flexible person with a large variety of interests. I love the idea of using this blog to be a platform to that journey of becoming a person who spent their time on Earth cultivating knowledge of all sorts. Do I have a cluster of more strong interests? Sure. There will probably be a lot more posts on this blog related to things I pursue often- baking/creative outlets, active lifestyle pursuits (I haven't talked about running yet, have I?)- but I hope that my journey to discover and learn can bring along all sorts of people with me. I'm sure there are many interests that I have yet to discover, and I hope that blogging about them when I do discover will leave behind a trail of inspiration for others to follow.

Chapter 1: I'll probably forget about posting again for at least a week...

The World, as seen from somewhere in Jamaica (old honeymoon photo)

Hello world! 


      I have long wanted to begin an online presence to share art, poetry, ideas, recipes, or whatever else my little heart desired, but I've run into roadblocks. Not enough time, not having a functioning computer, forgetting to post, and, let's be real, a lack of material. I do not have the most interesting thoughts!

      Most of my thoughts revolve around a running to-do list in my brain, where my synapses are constantly sending a signal to one place and then another. It sounds like "don't forget to do laundry if you want your favorite running socks for your run tomorrow...I should actually put some socks on since my feet are cold!...speaking of cold, it will be spring and summer before you know it...oooh summer project list!...oooh summer travel list!...ooh lack of funds for most of the ideas that just got put on those lists....sigh...." and continues pretty much until I fall asleep. In the words of one of my good college friends, "WOMP." 

A "Work in Progress" snapshot.
Much Work.  Such focus. 

  So, now that the introduction to this blog is as thrilling as any I could spend months tweaking and working on, let's get started with material I DO have on hand. I've been participating in a "baking challenge" this year. Basically, I follow the 52weeksofbaking subreddit and each week they post a new challenge for the week. Could be an ingredient, maybe a theme, maybe a type of baked good; whatever it is I have a week to come up with my submission and upload a photo. 

      What reward is there? Is it a contest? I get these questions a lot. The answer is: several months ago I was griping to my husband about how the frosting on these cookies I made just did NOT look the way I wanted to. I had a white whine moment where I was all "these look SO ugly. This is not what I had pictured! HOW is this possible, I did all the things I should have done to make these turn out so cute, but they just look fugly. FUGLY!!" He did the traditional husband eyeroll and went straight into a very parental "Well, if you want to get good at decorating cookies, you're just going to have to practice more often." First, my brain did that synapse-running thing "I don't need practice! This is not a difficult task...although this is probably the 2nd time I've used this frosting and decorated sugar cookies with it...okay but really he just wants me to make cookies and cupcakes more often and he doesn't actually care what they look like..." etc. But approximately 30 seconds into that I thought, "Well, he's right!" 

1st photo attempt...The salt & pepper
are hiding a mousetrap. EW. What
was I thinking?!

     Hence the challenge. As the New Year began I was thinking of what my resolution would be. My resolution is usually something I decide to spend the year accomplishing. One year I set out to find facial cleansing products that did their job without destroying my skin or causing breakouts. One year it was do a better job cleaning out my closet (and bookshelves and whatever else I owned) and donating. This year, I decided, it would be to a) make better use of half the baking pans and trinkets I own but don't use very often, and b) try new baking things and get better at things I already do (such as decorating cookies).  This week's challenge was to  bake something that went with the theme of Chinese (or Lunar) New Year. I decided to make fortune cookies! 

      I used this recipe from ifood.tv mostly because the video was very helpful in learning to fold the cookies. The first round was definitely a little tricky, but after that it just got easier with each batch! This was definitely a fun challenge. Also a good snow day project- since you only make 3 at a time, well, it took a good part of the day to get them all done (It's not included on that website but one batch made about 45 cookies). 

Beautiful fortune cookies! Much better photo op. 

      I really should have ironed that cloth before taking those photos. Oops. So there's the first post. You got an idea of why you probably don't want to read this blog EVER again, then maybe I woo-ed you with a few nice photos (and one horrible one. I'm trying to show how multifaceted I am. Is it working? Guys?). And now you are thinking "Well, maybe the next post will be more graceful. I'll stick around to find out." Saaaaame thought my mother has had about me for 26 years, folks. But I'd appreciate it if you'd check out the next post just to check! Thanks for reading!