This new year hasn’t started out exactly as I’d hoped. You see, we’d gotten this momentum of good things going and had slightly figured things out…but as the world does, it threw a kink in the plan. When Mat went to work after the mandatory break they made him take UNPAID from the 24th – 1st, they told him they were not only cutting his hours from 40 to 37, but also decreasing his pay by $3.00/hr. Perhaps some people don’t notice an extra $10K a year missing form their paycheck, but in this house, every penny counts. Ouch. This has come as a pretty big blow. Especially since I am still ticked at this company for saying they were going to get health insurance and still not doing it. We are a ticking time bomb with no health insurance. Did I mention my baby girl has her first runny nose of her entire life, but it’s a good thing I am not one of those “rush to the Dr.” types of Mama’s because we can’t afford it. Dear Australia, I miss you, and your philosophy that Healthcare is a RIGHT, not a privilege.
All of that is about to change. A few new doors and other opportunities have been opened. My husband has integrity. He is a ballroom dance instructor…he sells an elegant, true-to-form service. He doesn’t take ridiculous amounts of people’s money and sell them crap and call it gold. This studio had the word “Ballroom” in their name, but they didn’t want to teach ballroom dancing…they wanted to teach country and western dancing in their blue jeans to the younger crowd but still charge them $116/lesson. Their marketing was not matching their service. This is probably the reason they are going under. It’s really a shame…the financial backer of the whole thing was a really lovely lady. Anyway…glad my husband has gotten out of their before he sank with the ship. In one day he has left one job and been offered two with another interview tomorrow as well. Secretly, I am hoping he takes the job at the dance studio — it’s the studio his job in Atlanta had taken their business plan from so it’s something he is very familiar with. They are incredibly successful and friendly. Plus I might be able to do some work from home for them. They get my vote!!
On a different note…I have started making my own bread. It was DELISH. So incredibly happy with how it turned out. Even happier that I froze two loaves worth of dough. It took 6 hours, but totally worth it. Dear Santa, next year I want a bread machine.
homemade wheat bread...mmmm
I’m into making things at the moment. I’m a real Martha Stewart. For lunch today I had homemade broccoli and cheese soup (thank you magic bullet). Oh, did I mention, I’m back on dairy! WHOOHOO. Tanami has not seemed to be bothered by it. Though I am limiting it simply because my body (while it may be smaller) feels happier when it isn’t bogged down with cow’s milk. Speaking of making things…I’ve found a few recipes I can’t wait to try out. Nope, they aren’t for food. One is for dishwasher detergent, and another one is for all-purpose cleaner. Seeing how I am into all things natural…I’m ditching the green cleaning solution that I currently use and making my own. My kid likes to lick things…doors, the oven, the fridge…so I want to be cleaning these things that are safe for her — and if I am lucky things that might deter her from such strange activities. Our dishwasher is pretty crap at getting things clean so I can only imagine the ick that is left on the dishes. No thanks.
I also broke out the sewing machine and made an attempt at sewing…a finger puppet. So maybe there is a hole in it from where the sewing machine went absolutely crazy fast and I couldn’t control it…but otherwise, I think I did well not to sew my finger to it. I just have a problem of wanting things to happen immediately without so much as reading an instruction manual….but I think I am going to have to suck it up and read about it a bit.
To get in the habit of practicing with my camera, I’ve started the 365 project. You can follow me here I don’t know if I will really complete it since I am already finding it difficult to find the time every day to get a photo decent enough to put on it. I am wanting to change the layout of my blog a bit anyway and make it more about photos and less about words. Don’t photos speak a thousand words anyway? I don’t know…but I’m finding myself wanting to withdraw from technology these days. My little shadow doesn’t allow me much time to myself and I think time is better spent doing things like showering than typing out long blog posts.
Life is changing quickly. I can’t wait to see what this week will bring.
Came across your site, because I cook everything all natural. After I found out my son had ADHD. I did this. To think the marshmellow cereal he was eating was majing him worse. Food dyes are the worse. Like yelow dye it causes hypwr activity in children, and blue dye cause cancer.
sorry for the typo mistakes my computer froze.l meant marsh mallow. Your bread looks yummy! I love making everything from scratch. Also organic!
Its amazing the things the FDA allows into food that is consumed by children isn’t it!! I suppose though, we live in a society where the gov’t makes money off people being sick.
Do you have any good websites you get recipes from? I love making everything as well..I’m just trying to balance the expense because it seems everything healthy is the most expensive!
I’ve been making my own bread for about three years now. As background I have to tell you that our favorite recipes aren’t necessarily the healthiest–I often use white bread flour (I have yet to find a source for reasonably priced whole wheat bread flour) but I *do* like that there’s no preservatives or unnecessary ingredients, and bread for us is a luxury (I make it probably once a week) and not a staple.
Here’s links to a few of our favorite recipes:
Light Oat Bread: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/light-oat-bread/
Potato Bread:http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-wonderful-bread/detail.aspx
French bread:http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-baguettes/detail.aspx
Pizza dough:http://allrecipes.com/recipe/garlic-lovers-pizza-crust-for-the-bread-machine/detail.aspx
I find that using bread flour is essential–without it you just don’t get the same rise and texture. If you have access to a Costco they sell 50 lb bags of it for around $16; definitely the cheapest price around. Their prices for yeast are also around 1/10th of what you’d pay at the grocery store. Ask around; chances are someone you know has a membership and would let you tag along on a trip (you can just pay cash when using someone else’s card).
Also, on the bread machine thing…I use a bread machine on the dough setting and then shape and bake in the oven. I hate the weird shapes you get baking in the machine and I get better results if I can monitor the second rise (esp based on home temperature and humidity). The thing is, if you’re only using the machine to mix and knead the dough *any* machine will work about the same. Mine died last year and I didn’t want to spend a bunch of $$ on a new one, I checked goodwill and found one in good working condition–it was pretty no frills, but it had the dough setting I needed and was only $10. Since I can thoroughly wash every piece of it before using, buying used for something like that doesn’t bother me at all.
happy new year sweet lady may it open many doors. x
ps. i use a nikon 18-135mm. thank you for the kind note, i still have no idea about the technical side of photography. i don’t even know how to use photoshop.
Amy,
Sorry about all that has happened, but you know what it will work out for the better.
Check out this cleaner listed here…
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/blanchard100.html
its a peppermint spray cleaner that I adore! I will never go back to storebought cleaners.
My husband bought me a Zojirushi bread machine for Christmas….Absolutely adore it!
Wow, comments! Thank you everyone for taking a moment to share your knowledge with me
September – great idea about costco…we just got a Sam’s membership as a x-mas gift so I bet I could get a good deal there as well. I didn’t even think about the fact my Mama had given me a standing mixer she was no longer using – it’s living in my laundry room because I don’t have the space for it, but I bet it would be SO much easier to make the dough in than the way I did it. Glad you reminded me about it!
Happy New Year to you and your littles as well, Kristi!! Love love love your photography, technical or not, it’s given me such inspiration in so many ways.
And THANK YOU Melody! That’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Can’t wait to whip some of them up. Where do you get the ingredients? Whole Foods, or some place like that?
I bought mine on Amazon paid about $26.00 for all the ingredients and it will last me for ages…. I never thought to check Whole Foods as there isn’t one really close.
Give it a try you will love it!