DECISIONS DECISIONS

I have one of those irritating decisions to make. You know the ones. The kind that niggle at the back of your mind. They are not important, not a matter of life or death but they just won't be ignored. I know what I should say but I am not sure that it tallies with what I want to say.

So. Here's the conundrum. As those of you that read my postings regularly will know, I dabble with making cakes. They are the celebration type. White, bit of piping, handcrafted flowers on the top. Generally I just do them for friends either for free or, if they insist, a proportion of the commercial price. At some point between me agreeing to do the cake and its actual completion, I usually fret a bit about it and moan to anyone who wants to listen (and isn't the person for whom I am doing the cake). And then, when it's finished everyone is delighted and that's the end of that for a bit. Keen readers will also remember the nightmare that I had doing a commercial wedding cake in the summer and how I swore I was never going to do a cake that I was being paid for again.

So, now we come to the issue. It was my mum's 70th birthday party so of course I did a cake (and a spare one for cutting and serving.) The party was held at a local, newly refurbished gastro pub and jolly nice it was too. After the guests had gone and we were rounding up children and cakeboxes, the chap in charge complimented me on my cake and offered me a job making them for the events that they hold there, at an attractive rate. I smiled politely, said thank you but that it was just a hobby. He told me his name and asked me to have a think about it.

So I am thinking about it. My gut reaction is to run for the hills. I am busy enough. I get stressed when I have a cake to do. Do I need to put myself through that regularly? But on the other hand, life should be all about challenges. When I actually get started, it doesn't take that long to make them. I could do myself a few commercial little designs which I could rattle off without too much heartache. And I could earn myself a bit of extra spends. But I know that I would dread it and hate having the pressure. But if I do them more regularly the pressure might ease.

And there you have it. Round and round it goes in my head and won't go away. I toss backwards the pros and cons and don't reach any kind of conclusion. I want to say no because I'm not sure I can be bothered but I know that I ought to say yes. What do you think I should do?