High Five for Friday!

It really doesn't feel like Friday to me. I've only worked 3 days this week (and three days last week). But so much has been going on that I'm still exhausted! Normally, we slow way down at work this time of year, but clearly this year is an exception. We're just as busy as ever (which is good). A lot has been going on at the homefront, too. So I'm thankful I have a moment to think back over the week and reflect on my favorite things.

1. We went on a day trip to the beach. Luckily, we only live about an hour from the coast. We just decided Sunday morning to get up and go somewhere, and on the road I told DH, "let's go to Wilmington." We actually ended up in Wrightsville Beach at a restaurant on the beach, which was awesome. After lunch, we walked around the beach until we were all numb with cold, then we headed back to Wilmington. We visited the Children's Museum, which C absolutely loved, and walked around downtown for a while. It was such a great day! We're even thinking of heading back there for our annual trip in February (we go somewhere every year around our anniversary).

2. I did some major cleaning/organizing in C's room on New Year's Day. And now she loves to play in her room all the time!

3. I broke out my bread machine that DH got me for Christmas. I love that thing!! Last year, I borrowed my friend's machine and made some delicious bread, so I knew I'd love having my own machine. So far, I've made potato bread, basic white bread, and "Special Winter Bread." My favorite so far has been the plain ol' white bread. I'll have to find the recipe and do a post on it. I took a loaf to a Christmas party last weekend and everyone raved about how delicious it was. I still gotta figure out how to make smaller loaves with that thing, though. My loaves are humongous!!

4. I took C on a play date on New Year's Eve. We all had a really good time until C realized she was ready for her nap. Major breakdown!! I mean major. We ended up leaving sooner than I intended, but I learned something valuable that day. C is capable of putting herself to sleep if she absolutely must. Good to know, though I don't plan on stopping to rock her any time soon. Its much more peaceful if I (or someone) rocks her to sleep. I know she's 2 now, but I'm not in a hurry for her to grow up. ( :

5. Morning cuddles!! During the work week, I always wake up before C (she comes to our bed at some point in the early morning, but she always goes back to sleep). She's super hard to wake up in the mornings, and really hates to get up, so I let her sleep as long as possible while I get ready for work. Since I was off work for 4 days because of the holiday, I got to sleep late with C most days, which meant plenty of morning cuddle time! On those days, she'd wake up, look at me, and smile. Then tell me to go bring her breakfast in bed, haha. (Which I didn't do!)


So those are the highlights of my week. Its been a good one overall. I'm linking up with Lauren at from my grey desk blog today. Here's to a good weekend!!

Blogger is having issues right now and won't let me post any photos. So I'll have to come back later to do that! Bummer.

My first loaf of bread

I made my first loaf of homemade bread this weekend. Last week, I asked my friends on facebook if anyone had a bread machine I could borrow. I thought I might enjoy breadmaking, but I didn't want to buy an expensive machine only to find that I hated it. (And I am too lazy and impatient to make bread the old-fashioned way, by hand!) I lucked up and one of my good friends and neighbors had one she was willing to let me borrow.

I finally got a chance to try it this weekend, and wow! I'm hooked. I'm a huge bread eater, anyway - I mean, I could seriously live off of bread alone, I think - but my homemade bread was so GOOD! I just made plain white bread. Didn't think I should get too crazy my first go-round. It couldn't have been easier, either. You just dump all the ingredients in the bread machine, hit the start button, and you're done! C and I enjoyed watching the dough being mixed, and it was neat to keep checking on it and seeing it rise.

After one loaf of bread, I can see that this will be something I enjoy. I don't know if it will save me money, but I love the idea of making more of what we consume. I can see myself making bread every week, and even making extra to freeze.

My next goal is to find a better way to store the loaves I make. Right now, its in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Which is not a problem, except I'm worried that plastic is not the best way to store homemade bread. I also hate using disposable bags, even though I can rinse it out and reuse it for the next loaf. Sooooo....I've been looking at cloth bread bags! There are a ton of them out there - who knew? Of course, I LOVE the idea of a cloth bread bag!! ( :

This image is from Google images. I'll have my own bread bag soon and I'll take a picture! ( :

Updated to add the recipie I used!

White Bread for the Bread Machine

1 cup warm water



3 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 cups bread flower

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)

Just add everything to the bread machine in that order, and it'll work perfectly! I didn't have any bread flour, so I used all purpose flour, and it was fine. I will be buying bread flour for my next loaf, though, because bread flour is supposed to make for a "sturdier" bread. My loaf was kinda flimsy. I'm also gonna reduce the amount of salt in the next loaf, I think 1 1/2 teaspoons is a bit too much.