Long time, no blog...

So for any faithful readers, you may have been at a loss due to the lack of recent posts to my blog. (hahahaha, I doubt my inconsistent blogging is of any major concern to anyone, but I can always pretend, right?). Anyway, to justify my disapperance, I want to share with you a run-down of the past week's events...

*Monday morning pulled in around 12:30am after a 12 hour road trip home from a conference (that was GREAT!)...slept till 10 the next morning and tried to catch up on things

*Tuesday - did revisions on chapters 4 and 5 of dissertation and taught class

*Wednesday - meeting on campus, more revisions, typed "extra" pages (acknowledgements, table of contents, appendicies, etc.) for dissertation...stayed up ALL NIGHT (26 hours) to get it done

*Thursday - slept while The Wee One was at Mother's Day Out and then spent quality time with the fam. Spent lots of time comforting The Wee One as she started her injury streak - lauched herself backwards off the couch onto her head, dropped a window on her hand/wrist

*Friday - took care of The Wee One as she developed her 24-hour bug, visited with friends till late in the evening

*Saturday - worked on stuff for my classes, attended to The Wee One's scraped knees, attended the campus musical (way to go cast!)

*Sunday - church, made bread, made cookies, visited with friends and decorated cookies, bandaged bleeding knees (falling on scraped knees is never fun)

So, as you can see, it has been a very busy week, but overall a GREAT one!!!!! The dissertation is complete and has been submitted to my committee (prayers for the upcoming defense would be appreciated). The Wee One is healing well from her mishaps. Sleep has been caught up on. Everyone is feeling healthy - minus a few allergy issues.

Life is good and hopefully back on track to where I'll be back to posting on a more regular basis.

Miss Empathy

The Wee One has always been a caring and sweet child. However, lately we have noticed she has an uncanny ability to show empathy...for events on TV or in movies.

She is very intune with the emotions related to music. When the music gets sad, she gets a sad look on her face. When the music gets scary, she looks scared.

The other day we were watching Nemo and when Nemo finds his dad at the end, she started to tear up and cry and said, "Awwww."

The one that actually inspired this post is when the commercial below came on TV. As the music started to play, she crawled up on the couch and cuddled up with me. Then as the pictures of the sad animals came across the TV, she started to cry and tell me, "Momma, they so sad. Sad animals."

Don't tell me persuasive techniques don't work.

Amusment Parks - Fun or Frightful?

I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow and after reading a delightful recount of a day at Six Flags (Andi's Ramblings), I was reminded of my amusement park experiences.

As a child, I was very cautious and fearful of many things. Some made sense, but most were pretty unreasonable. For example, I was terribly shy and the thought of asking a sales clerk where the bread might be in a store would practically paralyze me. Ah...stories for another time.

When I was somewhere around 13 or 14, my parents took us to AstroWorld (an amusement park that used to be in Houston). My brother and I were crazy excited because we had never been to an amusement park before. However, once we got there I discovered my fears about certain things were not at a place where I could control or rationalize them.

We went on the sidewinder (or at least something like it) that turned us around and went up and down. I loved it. It was a nice secure ride. Good strong metal bars that held everything in place. Then we decided to take the ariel tram across the park to ride the roller coasters. Here comes the embarrassing part...


I FREAKED out. The concept of being suspended in the air by nothing but cables did not sit well with me. It is not a rational fear because I know that those cables are incredibly strong and needless to say, there are not many occurrences of cables just snapping in the middle of amusement parks, but regardless, I was terrified.

Keep in mind, I was in my early teens. That said, I did not handle the situation well. I literally started to bawl. Loud sobs, huge tears, shaking body. Not a pretty sight. As soon as we got off the ride, I was able to compose myself, but during the ride, the only consolation was my brother (younger) holding my hand and petting my shoulder telling me that everything would be okay.

We are typical siblings. We love each other dearly, but we sure picked on each other as kids. Not this time. Instead of making fun of his big sis, he took care of me. It sounds so silly, but I was terrified enough that little else comforted me. To this day, I remember the moment clearly and I will always cherish his unconditional love.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I discovered quickly that wooden roller coasters were not for me - way too rickety - but no more freak-outs. Overall, we had a great time, and I have been to other amusement parks since without major incident.


I ultimately place amusement parks in the fun category, but just don't ask me to ride an ariel tram.

The Ides of March

The Wee One has been growing and growing, and it is once again time to get her some shoes. So, yesterday I hit up my favorite kiddie store, Once Upon A Child. If you have small children and haven't checked out these stores, you must. They are a resale shop for clothes, furniture, toys, etc. Great place for kids stuff for great prices! I haven't done the resale part yet, but someday....

Anywho, back to my story. The Wee One loves this place because she can play with all the toys and while The Husband keeps an eye on her, I do my shopping. After about 30 minutes, I figured I had enough stuff and headed to checkout. Here comes the fun part...

To this point you have probably been thinking that this story is about the great deal I got. I will say that it was a great deal - about $40 for 2 pairs of shoes, 5 dresses, and 1 sweater - but that's not the point of my story.

I put all my stuff up on the counter and while I'm chatting with the sales clerk, another sales member comes up in a hurry. "You won't believe this...there is a pile of poop on the floor over there. I'm pretty sure it was that woman who is jumping in the car outside." Seriously. Poop on the floor. It took all of 10 seconds for the smell to drift over.

A debate over who did it started...the one girl was sure it was the adult. In my opinion it doesn't matter - it's just gross. It was really disturbing to me that the culprit (whoever in the family who did it) just rushed out of the store rather than deal with it. I mean, really, even if it was the adult woman, she could have said the kid did it and asked for things to clean it up. Disgusting and IRRESPONSIBLE.

Gives a whole new meaning to Beware the Ides of March.

Yummy Sourdough

So I've had this book (The Tassajara Bread Book) on my self for several years now. One that I swiped from my mother one Christmas when I wanted to make braided Christmas bread (beautiful and delicious). Recently, I noticed it and thought it would be nice to have fresh, homemade bread in the house like we did so much as a kid. I flipped through the very stained and used pages until I found the recipe for a sourdough starter. It is actually really easy, but I have included a few tips along with the recipe.

To make the starter you need:

1 tablespoon of dry yeast (I just use the instant yeast packets you can get at the store)

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons of sugar or honey (I have made it with both and there isn't much difference)

2 1/2 cups flour (I use a white/whole wheat mix...1 1/2 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat)

Mix the ingredients in a large container (glass or ceramic with lots of room for the starter to rise). The book makes a note to avoid metal containers and I would advise against plastic as it is a growing microrganisim. Let the starter ferment for 5 days, stirring daily. I leave set it in a corner of my kitchen with a clean wash rag over it to keep out dust. My mother suggested that I put mine crock in a bowl or put something under it to catch the mess if it over flows. Glad I listened...over flow everywhere the first time. The second time, I was able to watch it more throughout the first day so any time I saw it getting close to the overflow stage, I just stirred it back down. Ultimately, you are looking for a thick mud-like consistency.

Once the fermentation is done, you are ready to make bread. You will use a portion of this starter and replenish it so that you always have a starter going. Keep it in your fridge (after the initial fermentation) and you can store it basically forever, although it is suggested to use it at least once a week.

To make the bread:

The initial recipe makes 4 large loaves and I mean LARGE. I have cut it down to make 3-4 loaves that are of moderate size. I listed the original figures in parenthesis.

The night before you plan to make your bread -

Take a LARGE bowl and add 1-2 cups of your starter to 4 (9) cups of flour (the recipe calls for all whole wheat - I mix mine with 3 cups white and 1 cup wheat) without mixing. Then mix it while slowly adding 3 (7 1/2) cups of lukewarm water, a few cups at a time. You will mix until you get a thick pasty batter. It should look somewhat liquidy, but thick. Make sure you have mixed out any large lumps and then let it sit overnight. Again, I cover mine with a cloth because I live in the dust capitol of the world. : )

The next morning -

Your mix should look like a sponge with lots of bubbly holes. Remove 1-2 cups of the sponge and add to your starter. Mix it together and put it in the fridge for next time. Sorry, I kind of forgot to get a picture of this.

Now fold in 1 cup oil, 2 tablespoons salt, and 4 - 4 1/2 (10-12) cups flour (again, the recipe uses all whole wheat but I use a combo of 3 c white and 1 c wheat). When dough comes easily away from the bowl, but is still sticky, remove it and place on a floured bread board. I start with a wooden spoon, but by about the second cup of flour I swtich to my had mixer that has bread mixers. I use it on low.

Knead for 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary...you will definiately need to add flour as you go. Once in a consistency that you like, cut it into sections and make your loaves. Place each loaf in an oiled bread pan (I only have 2 so I usuall end up with at least 1 on a cookie sheet - sometimes I make it more round so I can use it like a bread bowl). Slit the tops and allow 2 hours for the dough to rise.

I had a special helper on this batch...she asked to wear this nightgown (that BTW no longer fits me so has become part of her dress-up collection). When I put it on her, she said, "I now pretty princess." So Princess Wee One worked gave a loving touch to her little section of dough...I'm sure it will be delicious.

After risen, brush the tops with water and place in pre-heated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Brush tops with water again and reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes. The originial recipe says to bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours. Mine is usually done in about 40 mins. The tops should be a nice brown.

Remove from oven and let cool. I use produce bags to store my bread. If making a large batch, you will want to find friends to share it with.