Bread Baking Addiction

I have been on a bread baking kick for the last few days. My husband and kids can't seem to get enough of it lately, so I just keep making more. It is really easy and is so inexpensive to make. I have a smaller KitchenAid mixer, and this recipe is the perfect size for it. I only have to use my dough hook- no hand kneading necessary. It doesn't get much better than that! Here's the recipe if you're interested:


BASIC WHITE BREAD FOR KITCHENAID

½ cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 packages active dry yeast (4½ tsp active dry yeast)
1½ cups warm water (105 F to 115 F)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (Mine ends up being about 5½ cups.)

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. (Lukewarm is baby bottle warm- you shouldn't notice much of a difference from your body temperature. If you get it too hot- you will kill your yeast.)I do this step in the microwave on high for about 1-2 minutes- much less work!


Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 ½ cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.


Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.


Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.


Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf, and place in greased 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ -inch baking pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.


Bake at 400* F for 30 minutes, or until golden brown**. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. (Mine is done in under 20 minutes, so make sure you keep an eye on it.)


**For an extra special touch, rub butter on tops of loaves immediately after you take them out of the oven. I love that!


I hope you guys try it and love it. The crust is really tender and the middle is soft and fluffy. It really is the easiest bread recipe I've ever made. And the taste is MMMMMM! Go ahead, be brave, bake bread!

Natural Disasters

I just got this from the FEMA website.

The Different Types of Disasters and Hazards:

Chemical
Dam Failure
Earthquake
Fire or Wildfire
Flood
Hazardous Material
Heat
Hurricane
Landslide
Nuclear Power Plant Emergency
Terrorism
Thunderstorm
Tornado
Tsunami
Volcano
Wildfire
Winter Storm

For some reason, it doesn't list "four children." I'm not quite sure why. In my experience, they can cause quite a bit of damage. My house is proof of this. I've taken a few pictures to prove my case.

This is a picture of my living room right now. It was spotless before they came home from school.

This is a picture of Abbie's high chair. It's been wiped up a little, but will need its nightly bleaching soon.

And, finally, this is my older boys' room. It is a sty. I have informed them that as of right now, "Nice Mom" has gone away and her replacement, "Mean Mom" will be here until the house is spotless. We cleaned out Abbie and Campbell's room yesterday and found a small smorgasbord under Cam's bed. DISGUSTING! The food was beyond recognition. Did I ever think that was possible in my house? NO!!!

Children are amazing little creatures. They are so much fun, but such little savages at the same time. I never thought that kids could be so time-consuming! Being a mom really is like working two full-time jobs. They keep me hopping.

Another thing missing from FEMA's list is "husbands." I have a hubby with a little bit of a clutter problem. I go through piles of crap weekly trying to weed through them to find the stuff we actually need and get rid of what we don't. Bless his little heart he just can't throw things away. He comes from a family who saved EVERYTHING. I came from a family with very little sentimentality. The two worlds do not mix well. Clutter makes me nuts. I find myself lying awake at night thinking about ways to attack the craziness without making him think he's married to a psycho. (He might very well be.) I've come up with some great ideas, but I haven't implemented a single one of them.

Here's a picture of the computer desk right now. The pictures on the desktop are mine from my facebook addiction problem. The rest is stuff that hasn't made it to its place in the file cabinets or bookshelves.





This is a picture of Lain's side of the bed. I'm sure you're impressed with our dinky little laminate side tables. Our room is so gigantic that these are all that will fit on the sides of our bed. Don't worry, though, we are maximizing our space there. Check it out.




As much as I'd like to blame every disaster in my life on everyone else, I can't. My procrastination should make it to the top of the natural disasters list. I have a number of unfinished projects throughout our house and seem to start new ones all the time. It's a little insane. This is my to do list as it is written on my white board right now:


To Do:


Stain shed/swingset

Trim ceiling paint

Fix closet doors in boys' room

Fix drywall in bathroom/ paint bathroom

Hang towel bars

Fix sink (I should erase that because it's done. However, it should be replaced by, "fix garbage disposal.)

Paint range hood white

Paint basement

Prune fruit trees before spring


That list has been up there FOREVER!!! I have been putting Lain to work on it a little since he's been out of work. Here's what our bathroom looks like right now. It's progress, but who knows how long it will look like this!





So as I sit here typing away on my blog, I have 27 loads of laundry piled up, pee on the floor around the toilet, and my sink looks like this:




I guess I had better get busy before any other natural disasters come my way. Why can't someone take me away from all this and put me up in a hotel for a couple of days while a cleanup crew comes in and takes over? Just kidding! What else am I gonna do?

Valentines Fun- Late again!

Valentine's Day was kind of crazy at our house. We have all been sick for a couple of weeks now, so the usual cookie decorating and valentine making didn't happen. We were able to get a couple of little things done, however, and I actually remembered to take pictures!

I volunteered for Campbell's kindergarten class Valentine's party this year. I was in charge of the craft. It's harder than I thought to find something easy enough for little 5-year-old fingers yet hard enough to take up the time that the kids were in my rotation. I found this little flower on MarthaStewart.com and added the pipe cleaner stem to hold the flower up. It was really fun and the kids loved making them! The sad thing was that Campbell couldn't even be there. He had strep AGAIN! (Our whole family is on antibiotics because of this, BUT that's another story.) I saved some for us to do at home. Didn't they turn out cute?

I'm assistant room mom in Adam's class and helped with the snack in there. My friend and I did a healthy snack because the kids were already decorating sugar cookies in another rotation. She made some yummy dips and apples. She also cut cheese with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. I made breadsticks shaped like "X"s and "O"s. We're supposed to bring store-bought stuff, but it's really hard to find healthy store-bought things. We cheated. I did buy the canned breadsticks, though. I think that should count. Adam said the kids liked it all. I couldn't stay because I had to take Preston to the pediatrician. (He had pinkeye.)

The kids had a lot of fun eating candy and reading their valentines. Hopefully next year we will be healthy enough to do some more fun stuff at home!

Loving It!

I know, I know, "Come What May and Love It." Right? Well, it's coming and I'm really trying to love it.

Last week the water heater stopped working. The plumber came and fixed it. $775 later we had hot water again. YAY! That kinda made my stomach turn, but such is life with an old house. I can love this. Worse things could happen.

They did. That night Lain was let go from his job. Manufacturing companies just aren't spending as much so his company's numbers were down. Lain was the low man on the totem pole- BYE BYE! So, here we are again with no job, 4 kids and a crappy old house. I am loving it.

I had a root canal this morning and Preston's been barfing all day. Loving it! I have a big paper due this weekend that I am totally lost on. Internet classes do NOT rule. They are very hard to manage while your toddler is climbing all over you and your kids are fighting over someone hitting the "pause" button on the Wii remote. I decided it is Lain's moment for school, not mine. I dropped my classes today. There is only so much I can deal with at once. I'm a wimp! BUT, I'm loving it!

As negative as this post sounds, I really am happy! My decision to take Elder Wirthlin's advice this year has really helped change my perspective. I am grateful for the little things and I'm trying to seek for learning in my trials. I know we will be okay. There are bigger things out there waiting for us! Besides, look at this cute little girl......

That's all I need to help put a smile on my face!



Hope you all are LOVING IT!

Long Time, No Blog...

The Holidays have come and gone with no blogging for Sarah.

December was a crazy, but great, month. I had a hysterectomy on the 12th. My mom came up to help out with the kids and I didn't want her to go home! We sewed a lot and I got to eat some of my mom's excellent cooking! I really appreciate her coming. Preston's birthday was on the 13th (as was my Anniversary) and he had fun having Grandma here for that. It was a good day for him.

I did really well with my surgery. The first week, I didn't feel like I had had surgery at all. I felt really great. AS SOON AS MY MOM LEFT, I had pain! I guess I partied too much with Debi! Thankfully, Meg came and stayed for a couple of days, and we laid low the whole time. It was great to spend time with her, too. I popped a couple of pain pills and we built the cutest snowman ever! GOOD TIMES! I'm feeling great now!

Christmas was wonderful! The kids had a lot of fun playing with their new toys and we just enjoyed spending time as a family. Abbie got a new play kitchen and she adores it! We also got the family a Wii and it has served as an excellent source of bribery for the kids. The problem is, it is HIGHLY addictive. That doesn't help out when you have papers to write and homework to do! If only there were a way to incorporate the two. HMMM.....

Now we're back to the daily grind. Lain and I are taking our classes. The kids are in school and life is just rolling along. I am trying to keep my New Year's resolutions of 1)Come What May and Love It (Elder Wirthlin's talk from last conference- a MUST read) 2)stick to my budget 3)get skinny and take better care of myself. So far, #1 and #2 are coming along, but my surgery has not helped out #3. I'm hoping to get back to the gym this week! I have been trying to eat better, though.

I hope all of my blogging buddies will have patience with me. I will try to write more. I miss the blogging world! I'll post some pics from the Holidays!