Procrastination and Apple Cake

I find that I subconsciously procrastinate in getting certain things done. Usually these things are tasks that I know would/should benefit me somehow. I don't normally procrastinate getting some of the more mundane things, such as housework, done.

What have I been putting off lately? Getting some reading done. I had promised a friend that I would follow a course of action that he had outlined for me almost 2 months ago. One of the things I was suppose to do was read a book. Mind you, it is a technical piece I have to read. In the past two months, I have only managed to finish reading 2 chapters. This is rather pathetic. Why has it taken me so long to finish 2 chapters? It wasn't for lack of time. I think I just subconsciously found other things to do to distract myself from the reading.

So just what exactly have I been doing to distract myself? Chatting. Visiting certain websites on a regular basis. Puttering around the house. A variety of different things depending on the mood and such. This week, I have been baking. My excuse for the baking is that it's the holiday season. I have this need to bake around the holidays. At least, that's my excuse.

I guess I really need to resolve myself to get this "homework" done. I've got to stop procrastinating and finding excuse to put this off any longer. I really need to dedicate at least an hour or two each day to this. I guess another factor in this is motivation. I seem to be lacking some motivation to get this done. I know it's all in my head. I will need to mentally give myself a quick swift kick in the pants to get going again. The intention is there.

Elsewhere...

As mentioned, I have been baking this week. One goal I had was to make an appel cake. On Wednesday, I tried a recipe from the Silver Spoon cookbook. It did not come out too well. :-p

It came out a bit too dense and dry. Yesterday, after doing a quick search, I found another recipe to try. This time, it came out a little better.

This one came out lighter and more moist. The assembly for this one was different in the the apple slices were placed in the bottom of the pan and the batter poured over it. In the first one, the chopped apples were mixed in with the batter. Another problem with the first one was that the mixture became very thick. I'm not sure what the cause for that was. The recipe asked for self-rising flour. I didn't have that on hand so I substituted regular flour with baking powder. Oh well.