Can I finally finish unpacking?

I'm getting ready to build a closet unit. Bought the lumber this morning, going to a friend's house to do a couple of precision cuts, charging the drill, and we'll see what the afternoon brings.

My *hope* is the shelves will offer enough room to empty the last few boxes that have been sitting in the spare room since last June. I'd love to say that's the only place the mess is coming from, but I can't! (sigh.) I wonder if building shelves will help with my domestic goddess cause... or if it just proves that I'm industrious!

A day's work

I made a loaf of bread and a batch of bagels this afternoon. I've gotten pretty good at wheat bread - I use the bread machine to knead/rise, then finish the loaves in the regular oven. I do that so the pieces of bread will fit in the toaster.

It's only my second attempt at bagels, and they came out MUCH prettier this week. They actually look like bagels! Last week's bagels were ugly but delicious. I used a different recipe; hopefully they aren't pretty but yucky. Too hot to taste right now.

It took the better part of the afternoon, but I'm very proud.

Ha! Bagels!

Ok, so they may be the ugliest bagels I've ever seen in my life... but I made them from scratch, so ha!

Sporadically over the last couple of years, and more consistently over the last couple of months, I have been making bread from scratch. Something about putting in five ingredients and ending up with a delicious loaf of bread - rather than the alternative that comes from the store with thirty-some ingredients I can't even pronounce - appeals to me. If only I could get a slicer. Guess that is an acquired talent.

Today I tried bagels for the first time. I don't know that I conquered them, but at least they are recognizable as... well, at least they resemble lumpy amateur bagels. Let's just see how they taste.

Solicited?

My pottery has become a feature on my brother's blog.

Exciting News

Closing next Friday on our condo! We've been under contract for almost two months and boy has it been a roller coaster. One thing after another. Finally this morning I got the call I've been waiting for: "we're all set!"

So now my domestic training gets kicked into full gear. My mother was here this weekend to help me pick out paint colors and furniture for our tentative (now almost definite!) new home. In my mind, I have the whole place decorated, and almost organized. As I begin to pack up six years of life in my old apartment, I am thinking about all the closet space and how I plan to use it. How I plan to add shelves here, stack tubs there, use this closet for everyday access, that closet for seasonal storage... I'm very excited.

I hope that I will become more motivated to keep a clean house because I will be in a place I love and take pride in. And most importantly, a place with enough space for two (plus a soon-to-be doggie!)

Here's something I learned recently.

So I learned something a few weeks ago. Not that it really surprises me... I AM a second grade teacher, after all.

Kids are messy!

Leonard's niece was here for the weekend, and we had a great time with her. Lots of laughs, lots of hugs, and lots of little spills and piles of toys to pick up! Wow, I thought it was hard to keep up with just the two of us!

On Saturday morning we were playing with her on the bedroom floor. She had a sippy cup of juice and it tipped over, dripping just a little onto the floor. I picked it up and she said "uh-oh!" and ran out of the room. She came back with a wad of toilet paper and started cleaning it up! It was so cute.

A little while later I walked by the bathroom and this is what I found:

How precious is that?

Cookies!

This morning I baked cookies for a book club meeting. As my brother says, I have the "cookie gift"... but it's only because I was taught by the best!

Here are some of the little secrets my grandmother taught me when I was a little girl:

• Have every ingredient at room temperature before starting.
• Sift the flour before you measure it. Don't omit this step!
• Once you add flour to the dough, just stir, don't beat! You don't want to activate the gluten because that will make hard cookies.
• Make small cookies. They taste better.

Today's cookie selection is the famous Nestle Tollhouse cookie. Except I used some butterscotch chips too.

Cookies are so much fun!