remember when things were green?

I was sooo seriously busy with work and the house the last half of 2007, there's no way a post was going to happen. I didn't even have time to keep up on reading blogs, let alone maintain one. At one point, I was about 40 pages behind on the houseblogs blogroll. Ouch. Since I am an obsessive, type-A, completest (redundant much?) I worked my way through most of them over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Anyway, I want credit for my accomplishments. In addition to the major house project I made headway on (details to come), I also renovated my traffic island.



The public works crews already sucked up one of the shrubs when they were doing leaf clean-up. I'll definitely be out there again in the spring to re-plant. Hope I can remember the plant variety!



Yeah, it looks pretty pathetic and tiny now, but I expect great things in three years.

Also took time to go on a few garden tours. This place was really nice. There was a covered patio area at the bottom of this waterfall with much too comfy seats. I lingered for far too long enjoying this view.

bread, take 2

The second whole wheat attempt went much better, thanks to this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Whole-Wheat-Bread/Detail.aspx No pics, because it's just about gone. :)

The only thing I still need to change is to NOT put the machine on the ground while it bakes. Since I stomp around the house like a Clydesdale, this bread "fell" in the last 20 minutes or so. Still good though.

Besides, I tried putting it on the dining room table and it made the table shake like crazy. It'll be a long time before I have anywhere stable to place it....

mmmm.....bread

Totally random post here....but my brother got me a breadmaker for xmas. Hard to believe, but I actually asked for one. I lost one in the 'separation' and occasionally get the craving. However, I never get the craving to knead and babysit the dough myself. Solution = breadmaker.

Apparently, much research was done to pick the correct one, so I had to give it a whirl. For the first loaf, I went with wheat which is always a bit tricky. I used the recipe that came with the machine and it seemed a little odd to me but what do I know. The bread ended up being pretty dense, but okay tasting. Next time: french bread.


Tada, collapsed bread:



Then, when I figured out that the bottom (where the paddle goes) is actually the top: