Busy Busy Busy

This day has sure been busy, which is very good, I feel like I've done a lot. The best part of the day was when I figured out why I have been so motivated of late, and strangely enough its all due to tv. I know everyone who reads this is going to go "tv???", but it's very true. I recently started watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show on netflix (the best use of my husbands xbox-lol) and the women on the show are always so busy. They are cooking, cleaning, sewing, baking, all the time and if that's happening and I'm sitting and not even crocheting I feel sooo lazy! Watching this show really has made me feel like I could do so much more, starting with bread, I used to make all of our bread by hand in Idaho and then just gave it up, not quite sure why. So I figured if the women in the 50's could work making bread into their schedule then so can I, and on more than special occasions and specialty breads too! So this morning when I got up I decided today was bread making day and I needed to make at least 2 loaves to make it through at least 5 days.

They just look so warm and cozy and comforting on the counter. They make me think how wonderful they will look on the counter when the weather turns cold and the frost hugs the grass, I can't wait!

Easy plain bread recipe
Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

The next step in my productive day is to bring out the newly relocated sewing machine and work on something, even if I have to leave it unfinished. Well, I finished it! I took sewing lessons from a woman who lived in Bayshore (the development I grew up in) when I was about 9, I remember riding my bike to her house and then home again afterwards with whatever I had made in my backpack. I have always felt comfortable with a sewing machine because of those lessons, but hadn't picked up a pattern since those days. Until today. I had just started looking at school clothes for Finnley a few weeks ago and just can't stand so many of them! She's only six for gosh sakes! I want her to look like a 6 year old girl, she can dress and look 13 when she is! So, I went to the sewing department and picked up 2 patterns marked easy, picked out some basic material in colours and prints I thought my little girl would like and brought them home. That was Thursday last week, and it took the weekend to build up the confidence to actually open the pattern.

So this morning with two loaves of bread happily rising on the stove-top I opened the forbidding pattern, and immediately wished I hadn't-lol. I had forgotten all the instructions, and how large pattern sheet are! It took a bit of time, a little bit of internet searching, and some remembering my sewing lessons but I managed to do it. I took my time and went slow which is hard for me with sewing, pinned everything as I was supposed to though that's hard for me too, and voila! I had made Finn a cute little sun dress, it only took 6 hours (minus finishing bread, making lunch, and wrangling kids).
It fits, Its well made, she looks like a 6 year old should, and there is something deeply satisfying about seeing my daughter running around in something I've made for her with my own hands. And better still she likes it.

playing waitress yesterday

I probably would have been able to make 2 blueberry cakes, if it weren't for the little thieves I live with.

Blueberry cake for breakfast! It sure didn't last long!