Weekly Bread

I've been doing the low carb thing, but have discovered that as long as I keep my carbs at around 100 grams per day, I do pretty well. Add to that the fact that I bought a brand new bread cookbook on super clearance ($5!) and I've decided to institute Sunday bread night. The cookbook has pretty much every bread recipe you could think of, plus recipes for other baked goods like English muffins and croissants.

(Want to know why croissants taste so fantastic? Because you wrap a big slab of butter up in every single one.)

The cookbook also includes a bunch of recipes for the bread machine. My bread machine has been lonely and forlorn since I switched my eating to low carb, but no longer.

On the 10th, I made Anadama Bread, which Jason picked because it uses molasses (his favorite ingredient) and is considered a traditional Massachusetts bread (though we had never heard of it).

Unfortunately, the Anadama Bread didn't rise. So we wound up with a tasty bread brick. The bit that did rise actually tasted really good so I'm going to try to make it again in the future and see if I can make it work. I have a few theories as to what went wrong. First, I didn't use warm water, but just kind of medium temperature water. Second, the recipe only called for 1 teaspoon of yeast and generally I've found the bread machine breads use more than that. Third, I put in the ingredients in the order that the bread machine manual told me to (dry then liquid ingredients), rather than the order that the cookbook told me to (liquid then dry ingredients).

This past weekend, I made Maple Oatmeal Bread. I didn't have any oat bran, so just upped the oatmeal a bit. It turned out great! Light and fluffy, slightly wheaty with a touch of sweetness. This time I followed the cookbook's instructions and put the liquid ingredients in first, making sure the water was warm. I also doubled the yeast from 1 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons. One of those things seemed to fix the problem because the bread rose like a charm.

We'll be out of town for the next couple of Sundays, but I'll continue with our bread adventures when we get back.

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Woo hoo. Bread ADVENTURES! We are ragin' at our house.

Clean!

Since I have spent so much time griping about when Jason doesn't clean, I need to give him credit for when he does. After church yesterday we spent a good 4 or 5 hours cleaning. I tidied up the dining room, kitchen and living room, and switched out my winter clothes for summer clothes. I also made our dinner and our weekly bread (more on that in an upcoming post).

Jason picked up his stuff in the living room, and cleaned his closet. I usually don't let anyone see inside our bedroom, but anyone who might have caught a glimpse would have seen a mountain of clothes and other stuff flowing out of Jason's closet. He went through all of that stuff, folded and organized, and even got rid of a few things. I am so proud! I'm also thrilled that I can now access the full-length mirror on his closet door. Before I couldn't even stand in front of the mirror because there was a 2 foot high pile of stuff in front of the door.

As a bonus, he found a blanket that's been missing for 2 years in the back corner of his closet. I had a sneaking suspicion it was in there, but didn't push it.

The next battle is his desk. We'll tackle that AFTER Hawaii.

Heads Up

This is a public warning to my husband: I have 3 new knitting projects on deck, all with deadlines.

One of them I've been working on while we watch TV at night - you may have noticed. I'm hoping to get that one done before we go to Hawaii (in 10 days!!!).

The point is, there will be knitting.

I'm not ignoring you. I just have projects to complete.

Because I am Type A and apparently being swamped at work and church and having 3,000 projects to do at home already isn't enough.

Baby Project

Lately I haven't been as crazy with the knitting as I was. I've started a couple of things, but haven't found the time to finish them. However, some friends of ours just had their fourth baby and I wanted to make something for her.

So I made her a little sweater and hat.
My first sweater.
It's not perfect, but I think it came out pretty well.
It's called "The 5-Hour Baby Sweater", but it took substantially more than 5 hours. Maybe "The 5-Hour If You're Already a Very Seasoned Knitter Sweater".
The hat was a snap and is super cute.
Here's who I made it for. Look at those cheeks!

Getting Hot

That's the thermostat in my office. It reads 83 right now. A little while ago, it was up to 85.

On most days, I'm like a bug under a magnifying glass in here. I ADORE having windows, and the feeling of having arrived that they give me, but when the sun beats through them in the afternoons, it's like an oven. During the summer, I can counteract it with the AC. During the winter, I can open a window and let some cold air in.

Except today, see, it's 90 degrees in Providence and our building doesn't turn on the AC until May 15th. Tomorrow, it will be 72 and awesome, and next week it will be back down in the 60s, but for today, the 90 degrees is making it awfully hard to concentrate on work. Also, I kind of want to take off my hose. Also, I may want to take a nap.

I think I'll be leaving a little early today. Not that I have AC at my house, but I'm allowed to looked unfocused and dazed there. Besides, my boss already left, claiming heat exhaustion.

And I Promised To Be More Consistent...

Well, at least I'm posting regularly on the other blog.

I post that drama-filled post and then just leave you all hanging for 2 weeks. Sorry about that.

Over the past couple of weeks, things have slowed down a tiny bit at work and Jason and I have been making efforts to make the house more livable (according to my standards). The decluttering is a gargantuan task. Last weekend it took me a good 3 or 4 hours to clean off my desk and that side of the guest room, as well as organize my closet and do several loads of laundry. And I'm the tidier of the two of us!

I asked Jason the other night if it would help him or annoy him if I went through the stuff on his desk and tried to get things organized and make assessments about what I think should stay and what should go. He said that would actually be pretty helpful. I think he gets overwhelmed with the sheer size of the task and just prefers to make tidy piles in the corner that allow the guest room door to open most of the way, without actually going through or getting rid of anything. I have no emotional attachment to anything on his desk so that's my next project when I have a spare Saturday morning or afternoon.

You've probably all heard that Rhode Island has been slammed with rain and there have been severe floods. We live at the top of a hill and the worst we've seen is 1-2 inches of water in the basement. Until things dry out, we can't do laundry, but all of our stuff in storage down there is in plastic bins and we have running water and are perfectly fine. Having seen pictures of Warwick and Cranston I feel incredibly blessed.

This afternoon the sun is shining and the sky is blue and I pray that the waters recede quickly.