Hmmm... interesting results

So... I followed a advice of a friend, Nicole. I added less water, 1 & 1/3 cup of water. I DID add olive oil but forgot to put it in right at first and scrambled to put it in as the machine had just started it's cycle (I'm real smart, :I).

The results are certainly the best I've had so far in a matter of speaking, but the bread was still not edible.

I was told by a few to just play around with the recipe and tweak things, but that is a hard thing to do if you don't even know the basics of bread making, such as the relationship between yeast and salt... or how to troubleshoot different results.

I've just found this website which I thought was great as it gives pictures and lists of instructions on bread making. It has a troubleshooting page with pics of problematic results and what the causes may have been. (I'm a VERY visual person)

Here is the site:

It gave me a few ideas I might try. I might try switching over to "bread flour" instead of all-purpose, I might also try my filtered Brita water, as I was using my tap water before cause I wanted "lukewarm" water. I might also try adding some lemon juice (my flour package also suggested this).

I'll let you know what the results are.

Breadmaking

Well, I still haven't made a successful bread.

I bought a bread machine and got my friend's recipe, one she has used for 11 years at least. It is so great. You get nice healthy heavy multi grain breads out of it. So my first machine broke down on the second loaf. Neither loaf worked out.

So I got a second different machine, thinking the machine might have been the cause of the dough not rising. Still no luck after 3 more breads. I also didn't like a setting on there. It lets the grains sit for 35 minutes in the machine before even starting the first cycle. To me that was a waste of time, but who knows, I am not expert on this.

I was told by a friend to check the date on my yeast. I told her I had just bought a new jar and sure enough when I checked the yeast was good for another 2 years. My mother in law thought maybe I had bought one that was "Traditional Rise" instead of "Quick" or "Instant" rise. Buuuut I checked and did buy the Instant one.

Nevertheless, I decided to get a new jar, just in case, and this time I got one that said specifically "BREAD MAKERS" even though I think it's all the same stuff, just different advertizing. I also got a new bread maker. It's a bit more compact thant the previous 2 and has a nice big basket like handle that swings over for easy transport (I like that).

I was all ready to eat perfect multi grain bread and tried my now 6th loaf..... but to no avail. I also tried one more with 1 extra tsp of yeast thinking maybe I got the recipe wrong. That didn't make any difference whatsoever. Here is what I got:

I called my friend who gave me the recipe and she confirmed I had it right and had followed it perfectly.

Now my question is, CAN ANYONE HELP ME !??! What am I doing wrong? This isn't just any recipe, it's proven itself over at least 11 years. I must be missing something here.

Now there are 2 reasons I have always loved my friend's recipe. First, it is delicious. Second, the method she uses is sooooo easy. She actually mixes, in a big Tupperware tub, enough ingredients for 5-6 loaves. When she wants to make a bread, she pours her water in the machine, scoops 4 cups of the mixture over top and sets the yeast on top and voila! She doesn't have to go through the trouble of getting all the ingredients out every time. I love this premixing idea, and it's especially good for someone like me who doesn't have much experience. Now if it only WORKED for me, lol.

Maybe someone can tell me what might be missing from this mixture. Here it goes:

Pre-Mix: 14 cups Whole Wheat Flour 6 cups White Flour 3 cups 7 Grain Cereal 2 cups Powdered Milk 2 cups Oats 1 cup Flax Seed

Mix dry ingredients together, and store in large plastic container.

Breadmaker: (For a 2lb loaf of bread) 1 7/8 - 2 cups Lukewarm water 2 Tbsp Brown or White Sugar 1 Tsp Salt

Dissolve Sugar and Salt in water. Pour in breadmaker.

Pour 4 cups of dry ingredients into water mixture (Do NOT mix with water)

Place 1 1/2 Tsp of yeast on top of dry ingredients.

Put on machine on Multigrain setting.

And voila!

Sounds easy enough. If you decide to try this, let me know if it works.

Gotta a kick out of this one...

Not sure if it's a true picture or a fake, but I still gotta a great kick out of it. In Grade 10 I told a joke to my wood shop teacher and he stared at me for the longest time (while I was laughing). He wasn't sure if he was aloud to laugh or not. I had asked him: "Do you know how we call Jehovah's Witnesses in China?" He didn't know. I said: "Diiiiing Doooong !!!"

Gotta be able to laugh at yourself. :)

Freezing Food

Ah, the convenience of having a freezer.... what would we do without them. When we got married and pregnant 2 weeks later I tried and tried to convince my husband that we would need an extra freezer (other than the one with the fridge). He didn't believe me. He had been a bachelor fir 34 years, why would HE need a freezer. Now he loves it. I was able to find a FREE freezer off the internet. This family had just bought a house and the previous owners had left behind a freezer. This new family already had one, so they were wanting to give away the old one. It is a standup freezer too !!! IT is great since we don't have to stack things on top of each other. It is probably only 7 cubic feet. But it's enough for our needs right now. When we got it, I got all excited and bought a little magnetic white board from Walmart to put on the outside of the freezer and keep a list of exactly what was in the freezer. My intentions of being organized were well meant, but weren't really successful. Of course you would want to buy a board big enough for the amount of food you will be keeping in the freezer. I bought the small one for our small freezer. See, as it is right now, we have to keep our freezer in the garage, since we are so tight on space in the house. It is a pain in the winter, when it's -30 C and we have to run to the garage to get something, which many times I wasn't even sure WAS in the freezer to start with. As for the list, it was ON the freezer door....in the garage. So here's what I've done. I finally erased the list that was on the board since the first time I had put it up, sad, I never kept it updated. I took inventory of what was in the freezer (I threw out a lot of old freezer burnt food, such a waste, but could have been prevented had I been organized). I took out my trusty little label maker and put categories on the little white board so they won't get erased when I change the list around every week. I wrote down all the inventory left, into the categories. And voila!! I am from now on going to keep the list in the house, on the fridge. I think this is a simple fix which I will hopefully keep up. I can now, from my kitchen, see whether or not I have a certain frozen good in the garage without having to go outside. If it is there, then I can go get it, and once back in the house, I can erase it from the board.

Short but Sweet Family Get-Together

We traveled north 2.5 hours this weekend to go visit my parents and brother and my hubby's brother and his wife (they happen to live in the same city). Turns out my hubby's parents who live 4 hours away from us, decided to go visit his brother on the same weekend.

We wanted to have dinner with both sides of the family but were only arriving Friday evening and leaving Sunday afternoon. SO we decided to all go together. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since both families have very different social backgrounds. The only thing they have in common is their faith(thankfully). When it comes to backgrounds, I grew up with parents on welfare and hubby grew up with parents giving him a $300 allowance each month (so you get the picture, lol).

But all went well... we had a very nice dinner at Doan's Vietnamese Restaurant which suited every one's taste AND wallet. They had really only, up to that point, spent time all together at our wedding.

My lil' boy was the star of the night of course, with all the attention from 4 gandparents :) .

Hardworking Hands vs. Pretty Hands

I don't know about you... but my hands are always dry. Hangnails, cracked nails, chewed up fingers. I started biting my nails when I was very young. Some will say that my hands are the way they are BECAUSE I chew my nails, but many times I chew my nails and bite my fingers BECAUSE they are dry and I don't have a nail file handy or something like that.

I have worked in the cleaning business for 7 years now. I got so tired of wearing gloves that I stopped. I was cleaning toilet bowls with harsh chemicals without any gloves. I know the first thing you might think is that it is just plain gross never mind unhealthy. My body is a furnace though and gloves always made me very hot and I couldn't do as good a job with them on... they were just a bother. As for the gross aspect, I was cleaning so many gross things in a day that it just didn't matter to me anymore. I would still need to go home and scrub my hands for 15 minutes (which made them even dryer).

Here are pictures of my hands every day. I am constantly creaming them up, but to no avail.

I have felt very discouraged about it. I KNOW my husband would want me to have softer nicer looking hands (and feet). I have very rough dry skin and when I rub him or my baby they feel like sandpaper. I usually start doing well for a while, filing my nails, putting clear polish on, putting cream on... but then I give up.

In the past, around 6 or 7 years ago, I had tried "cheap" Walmart fake nails. I simply don't have the money to get my nails done every week. Some women do, but I don't. Frankly, even if I did, I'm not sure I would personally feel right about spending huge amounts of money on my nails. that's just a personal opinion. Everyone has a different little "thing" they like to splurge on.

The first time I did my nails, I got many complements. They were far from perfect, but people didn't usually take the time to look up close. This week I went to Walmart and found the perfect little package of nails. Usually most of them don't suit the color of my skin or are made waaaaay too long. I just wanted a simple short french manicure that matches my skin and I found it! It is a Nailene Product called Nail Duets #71061 color: Natural Essence . They were so easy to apply(note: when you put the glue on, and then the nail, make sure you press really hard and don't lift for a few seconds, even to look at it, or else you might get some air bubbles like I did on a few nails). Other than the nail care tools I already had at home, I paid only $8.88 Canadian at Walmart for the nail kit. There are other kits out there that give you a big box of nails, but I haven't found another one that had them already painted with the french manicure and still looked natural. (I've tried the other kinds, and it took me forever just to paint the white strip on the tip, such a waste of time. This kit was quick and I'll be even quicker next time). I am quite happy with them. I feel like doing this gives me a boost on keeping up the care of my hands. I haven't chewed or bit my nails or used harsh cleaners on them since. It also felt really nice to take some quiet time for myself while the baby was sleeping. Only 5 more weeks and I won't have this luxury for a while. Here are the results.

Here are the steps I followed:

1. Wash my hands, remove any nail polish.

2. Trim and file my own nails.

3. Apply cuticle remover for 15 seconds on each finger.

4. Scrub away cuticles, use cuticle cutter for what's left.

5. Find the right fitting nails for every finger.

6. Apply glue on nail of ONE finger, then apply faux nail. Press really hard for a few seconds to prevent air bubbles. Don't apply glue on all fingers, just one at a time.

7. I chose to apply a coat of clear varnish to fill in some of the corners by the cuticles, so it would look uniform and natural and wouldn't show a seam.

8. Once everything is dry, apply almond oil on all your cuticles to soften and nourish them.

9. I decided to apply a co Q10 cream on my hand, followed by my regular Herbacin hand cream and then followed by my Silicone Foundation Primer (meant for the face, hehe). My hands look so wrinkled. I wanted them to look smoother.

And TA-DA !!!

So this was MY hopefully "NEW ROUTINE", feel free to share anything you would ad to it.

My messy house...now THAT'S a journey...

I feel overwhelmed probably 80% of the time. Housekeeping is really not my forte. Funny thing is I actually own and operate a residential/commercial cleaning business. I KNOW how to clean, but upkeep is my worse enemy. I love big projects and taking on new things. I love a super messy room transformed in a few hours. I love seeing a big difference. I seem to let things go until I have a big job to do. This is something I really need to work on, especially with the new baby due in only 39 days. It seems to me, like it does to so many other moms, that as soon as I clean someone walks behind me and spills things over, takes out stuff I've just put away... oh wait a minute, that's because THERE IS someone walking right behind me, making a mess all over. That would be an 18 month old little boy who gets bored when there are certain tasks he can't help me with. (Now my husband won't fully admit this, but he IS messier than when we dated and I know this for a fact since he hired me to be his house cleaner before we were married... and he use to put things away after using them.)

I have been trying hard to involve our lil boy in the house cleaning. Yesterday he helped with cleaning the fronts of all the kitchen cupboards and dust the living room...He actually does really well.

My husband can't stand mess (other people's mess), which is a good thing, cause I personally couldn't care less if I lived by myself. He keeps me in line. I don't care if there are dishes on the counter, I'm still gonna watch TV, or sew, or paint... But for me to be a good wife I've had to work on my mindset. First of all to please my husband's demands but most importantly, even if I wasn't married, I should be a clean organized person if I am going to claim to serve God.

Here are pics of my home a couple of days ago. I hate that feeling of not knowing where to start when EVERY room seems messy or disorganized. We live on the top floor of a house with tenants downstairs. We have 3 bedrooms, one bathroom and very small closets. It is about 950 square feet. In a messy home, all it takes is one thing on the floor or on the counter to make that whole room look messy. Arrrgghhhh.... that drives me nuts.

Now I remember many moms mentioning that 'getting a bigger home or more closets won't necessarily change the messiness or cleanliness of your home. And really why would God give you a nicer and bigger home if you can't even take proper care of that one he's given you already.' That really made a mark on me.

The pictures above showmy bedroom and my office/sewing room/study room...The walls use to be a dark taupe on the top and a very very dark purple brown on the bottom... it was sooo dark in there. My husband and I painted it together and I got some second hand shelving units that I painted and sewed curtains for. I also refurbished an Ikea dresser. This room can look great when it's all in order... I just can't seem to keep it that way.

The room above is my little boy's. We are trying to switch him over to a toddler bed, hence why the room is crowded right now.

Now when it comes to schedules... I know how to make those. In fact I've made my home binder after reading Candy Brauer's website and ebooks. I really like it and followed it for a while. I'm still not that far off from my schedule everyday... I am waaaay better than I was. I remember the week following my reading Candy's books, my husband commented on my improvements on the way to our meeting/church. He was wondering what had brought a change in me in the previous week. He said it was like night and day, my attitude was different altogether. I told him I had been praying for a long time and had finally found some good resources from other mom's. They were basically just repeating what they had read in the Bible and "translated" it in practical modern day to day formats. I know that if did my Bible study regularly I would get the same benefits.

My problem is CONSISTENCY !!!

And really if I was consistent in my Bible reading and study I think my consistency in all other areas of my life would improve.

I'd like to know if there are any other things that have encouraged mom's out there. Anything that could help me out with my housekeeping and Bible reading. (Now there are days when I'm just plain old tired due to the pregnancy, and any tricks on surmounting that would be very helpful as well).

I really need to try getting up earlier. That is actually one of my next goals. The problem right now if to find a way to do so without robbing my husband of any sleep. We live in an old house with really squeaky floors... It is hard to be quiet.

I look forward to any ideas or encouragement.

Part 2

Dressing for God

I've notice on many blogs, there is a great emphasis put on girls looking like girls, being well dressed, decent and this must be carried through from everyday life, to chores, to of course going to church. I haven't seen much written about boys. I don't have a little girl yet (hoping for one, one day). In the mean time I try to follow a similar interest in how I dress my lil' boy, "D".

Now I actually find it difficult to find appropriate close for him when it comes to going to God's house. I see many mothers put their little boys in just khaki pants and a t-shirt... which of course is comfortable, but in my opinion a little too laid back for church. Now I know it is difficult to find cute proper dress clothes for boys (at least it is in Canada, and I have heard the States have a lot more to offer for those items), but I enjoy finding such clothes for him since I don't have a little girl to dress up :). I don't want to impose my personal opinion on this matter and I can't think of a specific verse that mentions exactly how men and boys should dress, but I will look up examples of men in the past and post what I find in the future.

I also want to commend anyone who first of all made it to church with their kids, not matter how they were dressed as it is quite the feat just to make it there and help them pay any kind of attention and be respectful.

I just want to share a few ideas I have used in dressing D. Last week, I was really tired in the evening and hubby offered to go to our meeting/church WITH D. so that I could rest at home alone. It was sooo nice to get a break with no one in the house. But of course, that is the night T. got a complement on how well dressed our boy D. was and I wasn't there to hear it. A sister in our congregation said that she thought we were ones of a few who seem to put great care in dressing our little boy. I was so happy to hear that all my efforts weren't going unnoticed.

Now here in Canada it is quite hard to find any dress up clothes for boys as I have stated. There are only a couple occasions a year when you can find dress pants and ties. Nevermind getting full suits, you have to get those from the States or on Ebay or something similar. Nice shirts are also a little hard to find...soooo I have had to make sure I shop at the right times in the years. For example during this last holidays season I shopped for ties. Now I decided to also buy bigger ones, if they were nice enough, even if they wouldn't fit D. right away... that way I won't have to wait till the next holiday season. I've done this for a few items. My husband didn't understand why I would buy clothes so far ahead, but now I am thankful as he also is, because I've had a nice variety of well fitted clothes as he's grown.

I also shop in thrift stores all the time. The prices are incredible and you can find unique pieces that nearly no one else will have. These will also be available most of the year, contrary to big chain stores.

Here are a few pictures of my boy now. He has MANY outfits in many colors, but I didn't have pictures of them all.

Decisions on Home Schooling

I have done what I've consider "tons" of research on homeschooling and I still feel like I have only scratched the surface. There are sooo many benefits in doing it, but also sooo many ways of doing it. I have been reading several mom blogs on the subject. I have been very encouraged by Candy's blog @ http://www.keepingthehome.com/ and another mom's @ http://www.ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/ . "Home Sweet Home School" was also an excellent book to read, very encouraging, (somewhat redundant in some parts) but nonetheless excellent with regard to including a Christian way of life as an integral part of schooling. A big kick in the butt for those who don't feel up to par as a "teacher".

I have to come to realize that if I want homeschooling to work for my family, it will have to come from a deep belief within, not just a mere trend that I want to follow or a "cool" thing to do. I am known for starting really neat and cool projects, but never quite finishing them or losing interest halfway through and starting a new project.

Now my oldest boy is 18 months old right now (my second is due in 7 weeks). Some might think this is silly, but knowing myself, I am starting my schooling preps NOW.... not 2 months before the start of school. In fact, I now have to view it as "I am already homeschooling" and need to keep it up.

So today a friend an I will be going to a Argyll Home Education Centre in our city http://argyll.epsb.ca/. I actually home schooled myself through this program when I was in Grade 10 and 11. I failed miserably as I am not or I should say, was not, disciplined at all (I'm trying to stay positive here, hehe). My parents also had very little involvement in my home schooling as it was mostly done online with online teachers.

Now this Home School Centre offers many ways of home schooling and I want to be completely involved in schooling my children (contrary to my parents way of doing this). I want to use their programs mainly as a guideline and source of resources. I am interested in the traditional or perhaps blended programs, where parents have the most control.

My friend is new to this "home schooling" thing and she want to accompany me to see for herself, learn more and see what the requirements and curriculums are.

I will let you know soon what I thought of my visit there.

Finger Knitting

While surfing different blogs not so long ago, I stumbled upon THIS YouTube video on finger knitting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3LKAlDz9ig I decided to try it. I will probably use it as a fun home school project when the time comes. This is the end result, a little scarf for my boy:

Now because the width of the scarf depends on the width of your hand, this ended up being a very looooong skinny "scarf". I ended up watching TV and didn't notice how long I had made it. So I folded it in 3 and tied the ends together. I then added pompoms (is that how you call them in English?). They aren't perfect. One is nicer than the other, oh well. After folding it, it ended up being of a perfect length for my lil boy.