the sweet things

I wanted to chat a little about about my husband, Joe. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how much he points me to Christ and I am so unbelievably thankful for him. I don't know if I ever realized how much he is a servant to Norah and me. He is always willing to step up and help with Norah. He does not let me parent and he be in the distance, he is right in and bold and is a great husband and father.

He is so much more than that though. I love that he knows truth and sticks to what is true, noble, right, lovely, and admirable. He is always striving to do right in God's eyes and does not waiver much in that truth. He does not live his life off of emotions but of truths. This quality is something I could learn from everyday.

I just love him and I wanted all of blogland to know how great of a guy he really is!

i do what she does

I have been a terrible blogger lately. I have been down with poisoning myself with food I did not even have the energy to read blogs for days nevertheless write one...anyway I am back and super excited to blog about something Andrea M taught me how to do.

I like to copy things that she does because she is my sister and I think she is cool. One day she made bread for a fantastic "snowed in" party that we had at our house. There was only one thing better that night than the party--AMW's BREAD!

So I decided to make the bread myself...post HER recipe on my blog and let all of you in blogland try this stuff! I made it again this morning for the second time and it was better than the first. I am thinking about only baking bread now and never buying it...ever! It's easy, healthy, and my family loves it! Anyway...see the recipe below, bake and enjoy!

{if she got the recipe from somewhere online and it is your recipe please accept my apologizes!...but it is good:) }

I love excuses the use the kitchen aid mixer

The ingredients

pre rising

post rising...i was so surprised it rose!

finished product

The Master Recipe: Boule

(Artisan Free-Form Loaf)

Makes 4 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour (3 1/4c Bread flour & 3 1/4c Whole wheat flour)

Mixing and Storing the Dough

1. Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.

4. Cover loosely. Do not use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately two hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to about five hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. We recommend refrigerating the dough at least three hours before shaping a loaf. And relax! You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.

Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four “sides,” rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it doesn’t need to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.

6. Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking.

7. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf.

8. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1⁄4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread expand during baking.)

9. With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.

10. Refrigerate the remaining dough in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next two weeks: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.

Valentine's Day isn't just for a significant other

There are many things that I have learned from my mother but the one I learned recently is that Valentine's day is not just to celebrate that special "person" in your life. I have never been a big fan of Valentine's day. Growing up I never had a Valentine and even when I got married my husband and I never really did a big ta do for the day. The past two years however I have really grown to enjoy and anticipate the holiday thanks to my mom. She loves Valentine's day...always has, I guess she is that romantic type. She started a new tradition last year that I love. She throws a Valentine's day dinner for us kids, her parents, sisters, brother, and a few nieces and nephews. She does a sit down dinner on the fancy dishes and then we play games. It is such a good time to see relatives outside of a formal holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas to just be together. My mom really enjoys throwing the party and we enjoy going!

Did I mention my mom went to culinary school? She is a creative chef!

This year at my mom's party we ended up turning it into a surprise 50th Birthday party for her! She practically threw her own party, which was easy planning for us, but I think she was surprised to have some close friends show up as well as her relatives to help celebrate her. One thing we did to make the party extra special is have all of the guests tell my mom what about her makes her so special. I think it is important to let people know how much they are loved and it was a great way to show my mom how much we all care about her!

This attitude of showing lots of people in your life how much you care about them on this day is a great thing. It has made me appreciate the holiday in a way I never have before. On Valentine's Day I even made a nice dinner and invited my mother-in-law over. I think people thought it was inappropriate because they think I should have just had a special dinner for my husband but I wanted my mother-in-law to know that I care about her as well and that is why I wanted to have her over!

We decorated the party with some ideas from martha stewart. Enjoy the pictures and see the link to the tutorial below to make this decorations yourself!

Pom pom's
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias

NC being her crazy self!

my day in pictures

I work at my moms bakery...a lot of people think that I can go to work when I want and not when I don't want to, but the truth is I have to go there everyday 8:30 - 5. If I miss a day or even part of a day I know my work will be waiting for me when I get there. So...when I saw the snow on the ground I had to decide whether to endure the weather and go or stay home. To say that I never stay home is an understatement...I ALWAYS go into work. The work hangs over my head all day if I don't. Well...today I chose to stay home. It is a weird thing, being at home all day. This never happens!!

So, as I laid in bed this morning I contemplated what I wanted to do today. My first thought -lay in bed all day long, reading good blogs and watching movies. I quickly decided that was not a good idea...instead I decided to paint the upstairs office that I talked about in an earlier post.



I really like the color. I only got halfway done before Norah Claire woke up from her nap. It is a good start! As I looked around at all that furniture underneath those drop cloths I realized I don't like any of them so I will be sanding, priming, and painting 4 book shelves...I hope it makes the room look more put together and cuter than before.

NC and I ate lunch and then we decided to go out in the snow and start shoveling. Norah was so cute in the snow. She kept eating it and picking up big pieces and putting it on the shovel for me. We were out there for an hour and she was not ready to come in!

This picture is her sitting on the little bit of snow I still needed to shovel. When we were out there she started singing her favorite Michael Buble song, she is hilarious!!

Then we came inside to warm up. I started looking around my house and realized that I do not get to see it much in natural light since I am not at my house often during the day so I decided it was a good day to take some "after" pictures of our main floor renovations. I hope you enjoy!!

living room before

living room after

bathroom before

Bathroom after

We added a foot from the kitchen to make this toilet nook

"Master" bedroom before

After

Norah's room before

NC room after

this is a pottery barn inspired bookshelf my dad made!

kitchen before

kitchen after





hallway before

hallway after

resting in Him

I apologize a head of time if this post is scattered brained. This week I have been having the hardest times trying to get my thoughts straight so maybe writing them out can make some sense if it all!

The other day I was at the gym...normal day nothing special. I was on the arch trainer, love that machine, truly a butt kicker! When I got off the machine I was so worn out I thought to myself something I have never thought before. "Wow...that must be what it means to beat your body." For some reason on that particular day I felt for a moment at least totally worn out from physically enduring a hard workout.

My mind immediately starting to spin from there and I have been resting in the thoughts surrounding sin. Do I beat my body daily fighting against sin in my life? I know I am not a slave to sin but I am to obedience and if I do not fight against sin what am I am slave of? I know that I am free from sin but I am well aware that there is sin that God wants me to work on...he convicts me of it and I am grateful. But I do not think I am mournful...tired from fighting against that convicted sin. I think I am comfortable in my own sin! I don't want to be comfortable...I want to beat my body against it!! I think God has been showing me what this is like lately, I am thankful but scared. Life is hard but joy is found in a grace-filled life!!!

I leave you with this verse that I read this morning. I found comfort and hope. God is a God that loves us and pursues us and desires to refine us to make us more like Him!! I love that!

::Romans 6:16:17::

"...-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

funday monday!

Yes I am well aware that it is actually Wednesday but I have not had time to post any of the fun crafts that I did on my day off {Monday!}

We are having a Valentine's day party at my parents house and I want to make some decorations...so I found this cool wreath to make!! If you want to make one too go here: http://simplesagedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/01/crepe-paper-wreath.html




I also have been wanting to make a scarf out of a shirt I bought at the Dollar Store. Did you know that the Dollar Store sells clothes?? I am always amazed by the things you can buy at that store. Anyway...I have been putting off making this scarf because it involved using the sewing machine and I have never used the sewing machine. Anyway it turned out great and I even had enough material to make NC one. She loves it...and actually has not taken it off!! If you want to make one here is how! http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2009/08/super-easy-t-shirt-scarf.html




This is a picture of her having a little snack in her PJ's and the scarf!!


Last but not least in Funday Monday...I was searching through my mom's thread to find a color to match the scarf and I found this earring making kit that has never been used so I decided to make a pair of earrings!! I think they turned out fantastically!!



I am super excited about the potentially for snow this Friday night because that means I can maybe be stuck in the house on Saturday to finally paint my office upstairs as well as start working on some of the furniture in my basement!!

Have a great day!