Giving Up

Ugh. This one just got too wierd and dark. I loved The Other Boleyn Girl, so I was really excited to find another Gregory book at the library. This one is set in a less interesting time period (fine), the main character is not nearly as sympathetic (fine), there is an emphasis on "the dark arts", which is more science fiction-y than I usually read (fine), but when you put all of that together with a very graphic sex scene...well, I'm done.

Springtime

I didn't even know that winter had been hard on me until the weather started to warm up and I was happy for absolutely no other reason than the lawn was turning green. A trip to Lowe's with a crazed look in my eye resulted in my first-ever attempt at a garden. I don't have a reputation for keeping houseplants alive but these first little sprouts have turned the crazed look into a contented one.

Yummy In My Tummy

My brother-in-law's grandmother wrote a cookbook and history of Routt County, Colorado in 1990 (-ish). I am the proud owner of one of the few copies as there was only one printing. Elaine is a remarkable lady who just celebrated her 90th birthday. In honor of her achievements, I'm posting one of her recipes that I adapted recently by adding wheat flour to increase the fiber. It makes a lovely, dense, slightly sweet loaf of bread. I use my dough hook and stand mixer because kneading this by hand would probably kill me.



Elaine's Oatmeal Bread:
2 c. milk
1/4 c. warm water
2 T butter
1 pkg. yeast
2 c. oats
1/4 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 tsp. salt
2 c. wheat flour
2 1/2 c. (approx.) white flour

Scald milk and set aside to cool. Soften yeast in warm water for 8-10 minutes. Mix oatmeal, sugar, salt and butter in the mixing bowl. Add hot milk and mix until lukewarm. Add yeast and water mixture. Add 2 c. wheat flour, mix well. Slowly add additional 2 to 2 1/2 c. white flour and knead for 8 - 10 minutes. Cover, let rise, punch down. Divide in half and form two balls. Rest in loaf pans for 10 minutes (depending on the type of pan you may need to grease them first). Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

My Pretties

I received my earrings from Sulu Designs over a week ago and I've worn them several times. They match almost everything I own and strike a nice balance between pretty and professional.

After taking this photo of myself with a very powerful camera, though, I believe I will be purchasing some exfoliating and anti-aging cream this weekend.

Here We Come

We bought tickets to Australia last night! Our credit card is whimpering but we're so excited I can ignore that. Sister-in-Law and future Brother-in-Law live in Sydney, so we're going to visit them over Christmas. How am I going to wait 8 months? I'm not good at waiting…

Photo found here.

Hot Water

Our hot water heater went on the fritz on Sunday and we've been trying to get it fixed all week. Showering at 24 Hour Fitness every morning has not been my favorite, but it does make me grateful for all of the appliances that are working! Never have I felt such fondness for a furnace or a dishwasher...

Nothing like a little home repair drama to increase your stress level. To counter that, I've been reading quite a bit. Finished Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass on Tuesday with a sigh of contentment. Grafton's books never fail to entertain me. For a while in college I took up jogging because the main character runs three miles a day! Unfortunately, that phase did not last long.

Now I'm working on The Year of Living Biblically, which has been on my "To Read" list since it came out. I loved The Know-It-All so much I paid to have it shipped to my cousin in Malawi so she could read it! The new book is excellent and more thoughtful than I was expecting.

This week at the library I hit pay dirt. Sometimes I go in and feel noncommittal about what I end up checking out. This week it seemed like every book I saw was going to be interesting and exciting. My book bag was groaning with the strain of getting all of my finds back to the house.

Angst

The next time I'm in Seattle, I'm going to the Salon of Shame. From the website:

"The idea is simple: Seattleites stand before you and read their middle school diary passages, high school poetry, unsent letters, and other bits of horribly shameful, and inadvertently hilarious adolescent writing. Founded in 2005, the Salon is cathartic for readers and hilarious for listeners. Everybody wins when it comes to embarrassment!"

I get anxiety when I even think about my journals from junior high, so I've got to stand up and applaud for people who can get up and read from them.

(Image via paperbackwriter)

Practice

The Boss just purchased fancy-schmancy camera for our team to use to develop a database of images. I was practicing with it a few weeks ago in an effort to learn how to take a decent picture and did a photo series of my cube. Exciting subject, I know. However, even in the short amount of time I've had with the camera I've seen an improvement in my work. It's definitely been fun and makes the hours in my cube interesting. A quick glance at the books on the left just confirms the presence of my inner geek.