Baking Day

I am a very experienced baker.

Meaning...that I have experienced every possible failure. However, sometimes my efforts succeed, and Monday was, well, not one of those days.

What I wanted - crusty bread to go with soup.

Recipe used - Crusty White Bread, Making Fresh Bread

1 egg
1egg yolk
3/4 - 1 cup lukewarm water
4 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 t salt
2 t sugar
1 t yeast
2 T butter, diced

Combining the flour salt, sugar and yeast.

Note to self -
Next time, let MA watch a movie while I'm in the kitchen.

OK, back to work. Adding the butter.

Adding the eggs and warm water.

Oh, dear. Too much flour, perhaps? I added some extra water and
was able to get it to a knead able consistency.

After several hours of rising, the dough is
ready to shape.

Hum, this reminds me of something...

Aha! That's it!
(though I know that's not how it happened)

After rising a second time, I baked the loaves at 425 degrees.

The finished product

The bread was not at all like I wanted it to be. It wasn't crusty at all, with a strange taste. I think it was the whole wheat flour because last time I used white with this recipe and it was delicious.

Oh well, I'll try again another day.

Floyd Fest

Yet another family reunion! This time we camped at the family farm. Enjoy!

Melissa Anne was so excited to be camping for the second time.

And she got to go on a hay ride!
(a very chilly one)

Country scenes...

...including a dead feral pig.

This time, the pig cooker cooked Texas Toast.

cousins singing

Our campsite -
The ground really isn't that hard right?

Ha! You won't be laughing in a few hours, Lil.

Despite the hard, uneven ground and freezing temperatures, we made it through the night with enough humor left over to play with our shadows.

Eady shooting

A great example of what went on most of the weekend - talking and trying to stay warm!
Usually it doesn't get this cold in October, but it's great for me to wear all those winter sweaters I bought at yard sales this summer!

Hey, do ya'll need some toothpaste?

A long time ago.....in a galaxy far, far away....

Ok, maybe it was only a year and a half ago, and just down the street at the local CVS, but either way it changed the way I would look at buying stuff forever.

Usually, the word "coupon" isn't in a two-year-old's vocabulary, but Melissa Anne has known it for quite a while now.

Usually, mothers do not make their children take several hour-long trips to CVS and Rite Aid each week, and carry a very heavy "coupon book" while there.

Usually, people do not wake up to go to the grocery store at six in the morning, not to mention totally excited.

Usually, people's mailboxes are not crammed full with boxes full of free samples and coupons.

Usually, most people are not "friends" with the cash register at Rite Aid.

Usually, people do not get paid to take products out of the store.

But then again, homeschoolers never were "usual".

Thanks to Caroline's mom, this is all true for us. Thank you so much!!!!

For the last year I have had so much fun! I never thought I could spend so long in a drugstore without laying down on the floor and going to sleep. (Actually, I have sat down on the floor before to read a magazine. You get over the embarrassment pretty quick, trust me.) Getting all your, well, everything except some food for free is fun, not to mention totally cool. And it's all nice brands and salon products. And the food! It's mostly always good stuff, you know, like candy. And other junk - pizza, ice cream, cookies. However, in order to justify ourselves, we get all the healthy deals too. Like vegetables, Kashi cereal and yogurt. Sometimes though, there's a great deal on that one thing, like Benevia (this juice drink), that she can make money on! And then we find out it's disgusting.

And, you know, woman cannot live on barbecue sauce alone!

Here are some pictures of our more recent deals at Harris Teeter during Super Double coupons.

See the sign? $20. Not as good as usual, but there's toilet paper. And eggs and ice cream.

A little better, mostly junk food though. But there is salad! And whole wheat bread!
$15 ain't bad!

This is from a recent CVS trip. We paid 54 cent for all this.
That's more like it!

So with that said, are you sure you don't need some toothpaste? We've got 15 extra tubes!

NC 4-H Shooting Sports Tournament

Eady's rifle team -

Melissa Anne, future Annie Oakley, picking up some pointers!

Melissa Anne enjoying "Scooby nack"

shotgun

We threw David in the lake for getting a perfect score in shotgun...

...but Josh and Jake just wanted to.

JE got second individual in match rifle and her team won second as well.

My rifle team

I had a great time on Saturday and I hope everyone else did as well. Congratulations to everyone who won, and everyone else, too!

See more pictures here

10 miles behind me...

...and 10,000 more to go!

I used the free apron I got from saving 10 labels from cans of Hanover beans. (don't ya just love that!?) So total cost is as follows

Fabric - remnant -1.99
Pattern - 0.00
Trim, thread - from stash - 0.00

Cute baby - priceless

Friends


Mt mom's friend came over the other day with two of her little girls. I made chocolate pudding (from scratch!) because of an overabundance of eggs. Unfortunately, the recipe only used up 16 yolks!
A little lumpy, but everyone liked it!

Melissa Anne pushed Rachael...

...and pulled her!

Next post - a Christmas present!