Here is a great article on work-life balance for moms. It does not contain any secrets to finding the perfect solution. In fact its more of a sobering reality - but still nice to know you're not the only one trying to scream at your kids in silence when on a "work" call!

This is my kids in the morning (on the weekend)...

Do you think we're doing something wrong? (Don't answer that.)

Random thoughts...

Why when you are driving a specific route to see which way is faster to go, do you inevitably get stuck behind some slow poke screwing up your whole test?

Why can you never read those scramble codes that you are supposed to decipher in order to access some secured site?

Our plan to have a basement where the kids can play and watch TV has slightly backfired. Now, Sweat Pea thinks it is her OWN private place to "be alone." A little suspect don't ya think? Not to mention still leaves me upstairs with a 5 year old and Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Why is my idea of a nice Friday afternoon sitting on the patio with a book, not the same as JJ's, whose idea of a nice Friday afternoon is playing tag with me? Does he not know how tired I am???

Hump.

Back to work

I've been back to work with no time to write. There have been a few things over the past several weeks that I thought to myself, "I have to remember to write that down." And then when I went to post it, nothing. No recollection of what I wanted to say.

What I can say, is that I am still loving the bread. Except being back to work, its not as easy for me to make. Take last week for example. Made the bread. Left it out to proof. But instead of putting in the fridge after an hour I left it out for, oh, I don't know.....maybe 14 hours. So long that it proofed so much, the lid popped off. Still I didn't notice (or remember) until Jonathan said, "Is the bread supposed to do that?"

No, no it's not.

Ahhhhh....the joys of going back to work and feeling like a totally competent idiot.

I have one word for you.....

BREAD!

I have found (actually not true....my uncle discovered this bread and for that I will always be grateful to him) the best bread EVER and I must share it with the world. Seriously, I have no reason to ever buy bread again. This bread is as good as any bread you could buy in a bakery and certainly better than any you would buy at the grocery store.

It's dense, yet moist; soft on the inside, yet a crunchy crust on the outside. Perfect on its own, along side a bowl of soup, or for a tasty sandwich. I am telling you - perfection!

And it gets better....it is SO easy. I am not exaggerating. You will spend 3 minutes on this bread and have warm hot bread waiting. It is mixed and baked all in one pot. Hence no clean up! The one disadvantage is that it does need to "proof" overnight. I know....those of us who seek instant gratification struggle with this step but if you plan according, and bake the bread while you still have some left, its not a big deal.

Here is the even better news. The original recipe (which is a Jacques Pepin's one pot bread recipe) was made with all white flour. I, however, having loved this bread SO much and needing to eat it every day, decided I needed add at least a couple redeeming ingredients. So I substituted 1/4 of the white flour with whole wheat flour and added about 1-2 tablespoons of flax seed. It was AWESOME!

See for yourself....





Here is the recipe - (And just so I don't get sued....I feel the need to reiterate credit for the original recipe* and the method of baking, all goes to Jacques Pepin. Love ya Jacques!)

In a 3 quart non-stick sauce pot, mix 2 1/4 cups lukewarm water, with 1 tsp active dry yeast and 1 tablespoon salt. Add 3 cups white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 to 2 tablespoons flax seed. (I was not precise about how much I added.) Mix until well combined. Let sit covered for 1 hour. Scrape the sides a bit and push down gentle on the mix to deflate it a bit. (To be honest, this step is called for in Jacques version but I forgot to do it with my version and it did not seem to have mattered.) Refrigerate 12-14 hours. Bake uncovered at 425 for 1 hour. (Cover it after 45 minutes if getting to brown.) Let cool 5 minutes. Take it out of the pot and let cool.

*The original recipe was all white flour and contained no flax seed.

Enjoy! And to all you no-carb, low carb people......moderation is the key.....do NOT deprive yourself of this bread.

A terrible horrible no good very bad day

Yesterday, I took my car to be inspected. The guy came out and said, "I have some good news and some bad news. I'll start with the bad news. You need 3 new tires - well, really 4."

I was so annoyed. Actually annoyed does not really described it. When you are trying to live with some fiscal responsibility, the cost for 4 new tires, was not in the cards. I realize fiscally responsible people would have saved for an event like this but well, clearly, "trying" is the operative word in that sentence.

He gave me a quote but I decided to make a few phone calls before giving him the green light. First call was to Jonathan because I hate to feel alone in all this bad news. I really wanted him to feel the pain with me. And while I do think he felt the pain, he also said, "Yeah, I kind of knew we needed new tires." Really. Nice to have clued me in. Here I am, driving around all over creation with your off spring on a daily basis, in snow, sleet and rain no less. You might have mentioned it. I didn't say all that but my silence speaks volumes.

Next call was to NTB. I asked for a quote and then waited and waited and waited. While waiting, it occurred to me, I had yet to find out what the good news was. So I asked the guy. "Oh, there wasn't any, really..." But I respect his attempt to make this all better. He was feeling my pain and a little sympathy goes a long way.

Turns out the cost at NTB was the same as this local place around the corner so I gave them the green light - and made sure they take American Express because do you how expensive tires are????

Later.......In the midths of some ridiculous weather, our power went out. It went out right as we put the kids to bed and sat down with our Oreo's and beer. (The Oreo's were mine, the beer was Jonathan's.) Of course the kids were all freaked out so we had to go upstairs and basically go to sleep with them. I'm not generally opposed to going to bed at 8 o'clock, but I generally like to indulge in a bit of dessert before heading up. The thought of dessert is often what gets me through the day. Sad, but true. So shoved a couple Oreo's in my mouth and headed up.

The good news is the lights came on about 2 hours later. The bad news (more bad news) is that we discovered our back basement room is still getting some water. It was the perfect ending to a bad day.

Where do these people come from

Sweet Pea: I don't think I am comfortable with you reading my e-mailings.

Me: Well then I guess you don't gave to have e-mail, given you are 8 and all.

Sweet Pea: There are just some things I don't want you to read.

Me: Exactly. You do know you are only 8, right?

Sweet Pea: Big eye roll

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Me: JJ! Those are the same pants and socks you had on yesterday.

JJ: I know. I wanted to wear them again.

Me: You can't. They're dirty. That's gross.

JJ: Well then you should have washed them during the night.

Right because its not enough I am a slave to you during the day. I should have to work through the night too.

JJ: These pants make make me cool and I am going to wear them.

This was a battle I chose not to fight.

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Turns out when you go the ER and have an x-ray, and they tell you your daughter's thumb is not broken, they have no idea what they are talking about.

This was taken three days later.....



I am not sure I can live with the hot pink for three weeks. I pushed really hard for purple to no avail, obviously.

You can see in the picture how happy she was. She was THRILLED to get the cast. Until we were in the car and she had a itch. It could be a long three weeks of, "Can you helllllllllp me? I have a cast.....whahwhawhah......." And we'll have to be appropriately sympathetic because we treated her all week like she had a bruised thumb and basically told her to suck it up. (In our defense that is what they told us.) Regardless, no doubt she will make us pay.