Baking Bread

         I love baking bread, I started baking all of my families breads about a year and a half ago. I took a serious look what we where eating as a family, not just bread but everything that was a convenience food and decided we could do better. I could do better. Growing up my mom, and when I got old enough I helped as well,  made everything we ate from scratch. I wanted to go back to that simplicity. I jumped right in with both feet and  I haven't looked back. When I first started I mixed the bread by hand, I loved how the dough felt in my hands, but I won't lie it was difficult. Christmas of that year my wonderful husband bought me this...

wonderful Kitchen Aid mixer, it has made my bread making much easier. I can safely say that next to my crock pot this is my favorite kitchen gadget. It makes getting to this step..

so simple, no more wrist pain! I can mix a 2 loaf batch and let the dough hook do most of the kneading for me. Then I cover, let it rise shape the loaves and bake.

Yum!

Cleaning Out

     Well I had a fairly busy weekend, and got a lot of closets cleaned out, even my husband threw a few things in the give away pile. So far I have on the pile 3 garbage bags of clothes, a small bag of shoes, a bicycle my daughter has out grown, and a box of house hold items. I still need to hit up the kitchen today, and get our coffee and tea mugs down to a manageable level.

        Now that it is out of the closest and in a pile it is time to give it away. Time to do some posting on my local freecycle and maybe craigslist as well. I am interested to know what do you do when you clean out closets and need to donate the purged items?

Christine

The Urge to Purge

   I don't know if it is the move that I know is coming in November, but I feel the need to Purge. I try keep things pretty simple already, I don't keep totes of decor items stored away (mainly because I don't have any storage). Yet I have been looking through closets and cupboards lately wondering why I have the need for 35 coffee mugs and tea cups, (my husband and I are the only ones who use them).
   Before our move in May, I was a consigning, freecycling gal. Things felt so clean and refreshed, it was wonderful to see someone else finding enjoyment in the things we no longer needed. Don't get me wrong I love to go thrifting and hitting up the yard sales on the weekends.  So with that in mind I think it is time to sort through, and have a purging weekend.


Christine

Beautiful, Soothing and at times Destructive

Well the I went to bed last night to the sound of rain. The sound of rain on the roof while I sleep brings back fond memories of growing up on our family farm. There is nothing more soothing than the sound of rain on a tin roof. I went to bed peaceful and woke up feeling good, until I walked the dog this morning. I walked out the back door and found this

Little pieces of wood next to the house in our side yard. I did not like the look of that, but some else had more pressing issues. After walking and feed my little buddy I went back outside to discover where the small pieces of wood had come from. That is when I saw this..

And this..

It rained so hard during the night that the boards over the stone wall at the side of the house separated completely, and rain blew inside the wall. This is the exterior wall for the dining room, upon first inspection it did not appear that water had come into the house. When I started looking closer I noticed that the carpet all along that wall is wet, very very wet. So now with more rain pending for today I wait to hear back from the landlord.

Been Busy

I have been so busy in the last few months that I have terribly neglected my blog. We are officially moved in to our little house here in Texas, but we will be moving again in the Very near future! I actually don't mind the moving twice in 1 year for my self but I hate that our move in November will interfere with the kids school. Hopefully if everything is timed just right we can be on the road headed back east during the fall break.

Right now our little piece of Texas is having very mild weather. We were in Texas for a brief time 6 years ago and in July it was HOT! I am liking the lower temperatures, but my hair does not appreciate the humidity that I thought we left behind in Georgia! As I type I can hear the rain tapping on my window, it is a very soothing sound.

Now that I am home full time while we are here, I hope to catch up on some of my projects. I hope to be showing them off here very soon.

Christine