Cupcake Wars: Eating to World Peace

I am a gym rat.  I also bake a lot of high caloric foods.  Maybe that is why I am a gym rat.  Necessity.  The dichotomy is not really that blatant until I am at the gym watching Cupcake Wars as my machine reads that I have just finished a 900 calorie work out.  I would like to formally apologize to those at the gym with me who are stuck watching it.  I have no desire to change this behavior.  I like both activities. I like them simultaneously.  But if you ever run into someone who mentions that they go to the gym with some crazy who watches the Food Network while at the gym, you can go ahead and tell them I sometimes feel guilt about this (since they probably aren't reading this blog). 

Of all of the shows I watch on the Food Network while at the gym, Cupcake Wars is quickly becoming a favorite.  Who knew cupcaking could be an extreme sport?  Those cupcakers are kind of hard core and their contribution to society does not go unnoticed.  Cupcakes are so cute and cuddly.  It is hard to be mad at life with your mouth full of cupcake.  Try it.  Stop reading. Bake a batch of cupcakes.  Eat them and then mid-bite try to be mad about something.  Can't do it?  Just as I suspected.  I hypothesize that cupcakes are the answer to world peace.  Anyone want to sponsor my bakery so I can test this theory? Please and thank you. 

I got to have a little cupcake wars of my own this weekend.  Carrot cake cupcakes vs. devil's food cake cupcakes vs. cheesecake cupcakes. 

Contestant 1:

Contestant 2:

Contestant 3:

Oh wait.  The were all sugary therefore delicious therefore they all won.  Cupcake war over.  I guess its a good thing I am not a judge on the show. It would turn into the YMCA where everybody is a winner as long as they had fun.  I don't think you could produce a show on such principles.  They probably need some drama to make it enjoyable for the viewers. 

I might be a bad judge of cupcakes but I am a good judge of how much my kids have learned.  Yes, yes, yes we have standardized tests that show how much kids have learned from you but the most telling event happened for me today.  We were taking our district wide reading test and when my one of my students finished, she said, "Ms. A, that was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!"  I was elated. Not because she found the test easy (although that was a bonus) but because she quoted me.  I say that all the time.  I'm not sure what that says about America's future that I have a lot of mini-me's floating around out there calling things easy-peasy-lemon-sqeezy but I am gonna say I felt this I'm-a-rockstar sensation bubbling up from within.   Changing kids for the better is a pretty awesome job to have.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  The happiness that stems from these types of moments is priceless.  Whether it is the moments like biting into a melt-in-your-mouth-fresh cupcake or waking up and driving to do what you love, just do it.  Life is too short to not seek joy.  As they say in the book of James, life is but a mist.  Fill it and fill it well.  Where your passion is, where your heart is, there lies your meaning.  Fixate on these things; seeking purpose and finding that which spurs you on to leave a legacy of your own.  I wouldn't say that this task is so "easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy" but I would say it's the cream filling to your Hostess.  It's the good stuff. 

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8