HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!

We hope you have a great day on Friday!!! Amazing how the time flies by, isn't it? It is hard to believe it we were out there two years ago.

February is turning out to be a busy month for birthdays, with Brian's and yours, and now Baby Jake having his birthday the same day as Brian's. And Skyler has a birthday coming up this month too. Amazing how they all add up.

I hope your weather continues nicer, I am pretty sure that the weather thing showed that you had some nicer weather coming up? I imagine your flowers are gorgeous!

I am tired and can't think, so I will go ahead and stop for now and will post more later on! Take care all, and especially you, Mom! Have a great day!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN!!!!!!

Today is Brian's 23rd birthday! Amazing, isn't it? How did he get to be so old? Not that it is old, of course, but I'm not old enough for him to be that old--haha.

I hope you have a great day, Brian! I am guessing no work today, what a nice change! I don't remember your birthday ever falling on President's Day before, although I guess it probably has.

We are still chilly here, but are due to continue to warm and will have some nice weather soon. Thank goodness! I have had enough chilly weather--haha.

We saw a blimp today on the way home from pt. It reminded me of the time when I was pregnant with Brian and went to a Halloween party as a Goodyear blimp.

Not much going on around here, so will go for now, but wanted to be sure to mention Brian's birthday!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

I hope you all have a great day! The sun is shining here, and the azalea bush in the front is still covered in blooms--it really looks pretty! We have one more day, it seems, before the next cold front comes through. Oh well.

I have tried posting before, but blogger hasn't been cooperating. Not sure what the problem has been. I switched over to the new blogger and that all went well, but since then, had not been able to post. Anne tried it last night from her screen name, and had no trouble at all. So, today I came to it through mozilla instead of AOL, and all was fine.

Not too much going on here, except the familiar routine of taking Anne to pt. She is making progress and that is always a good thing! We try to run an errand or two after---enough to keep her up and moving, and not enough to wear her out badly.

I made bread yesterday and it was a new recipe from my book. I think it is called "Feather Loaf" and it is indeed nice and light. Anne had wondered if there was a recipe (without milk) that wasn't quite as dense as the bread I have been making. Well, this is it. It did call for 1/3 cup butter, and I put in just a bit less than 1/3 cup of olive oil instead. I don't know what it would have tasted like with the butter, but it tastes great with the oil! It called for making two long loaves--sort of like French or Italian bread is formed. I did one that way, shaped the other and put it in a loaf pan. They are both really good. I guess we have a new favorite recipe? Oh, as I indirectly mentioned, it makes two loafs. With the butter/oil in it though, it will stay fresh longer, so we should be fine. It is supposed to freeze well too, if we find we need to do that.

Well, I am sure I have bored you enough by now--haha! Time to leave for pt will be upon me before I know it, so that's it for now and I will post again soon! Have a happy Valentine's Day, eh?!!

Baking and Other Stuff

Well, I guess it has been a while, hasn't it? I haven't meant to be away so long.

Anne is back at pt again, but then I might have mentioned that before. It is coming along nicely. Lisa has put her on the exercise bike twice now, and it seems to help. But the best part of that, of course, is that it helps make her stronger. She was on for 6 minutes today, and was really zipping along, when she finished it said she had gone half a mile. Not bad!!!

So, I spend my days taking her to pt, trying to work on the house, doing some exercise (finally!), and actually, doing some baking. I have started baking bread again. I haven't drug out the bread machine, although I might at some point. I have been making totally scratch bread. I had been thinking about it for a while, especially after seeking and finding my bread book again. I am so glad it wasn't still in a box! Also, Anne had found that the bread we had been buying had been upsetting her stomach. We aren't sure what component of the bread was bothering her, but thought it worth a try to see if home made bread would work better for her. The answer was yes! I made a list of the white bread recipes that took no milk, since that is something that bothers her. I have quite a list, and figured I would work my way through, finding which ones we liked best. Well, I have made that first recipe twice now. We all seem to like it and although it isn't very soft, like a typical sandwich bread, it is still very good and is wonderful toasted. It also slices nicely, which is really good in my book! It is very much like an Italian bread, in loaf form. Although, it is called "An Engish Loaf". Here is a photo of the current loaf:




This photo was taken yesterday, and those cut slices are all gone already. I figure I will be making bread again tomorrow. It is an easy to make recipe, and makes one 8.5 x 4.5 loaf. Yummm!

Yesterday we were home all day, and I made up the recipe for gingerbread scones that Anne found on the computer when Brian and Christine were here. The dough is very soft, and almost impossible to knead that few "kneads" that the directions call for, so I think some tinkering will be called for. The scones are very good, however, and are quite gingerbread-y!




Well, I guess that just about catches me up. Take care and I will try to write more again soon!