Jon Quixote, also known as "The Defoliater"...

Jon...
A Toy Sword...
A small Fruit Tree...

It was a draw.

Whole Wheat Bread...

I make three loaves of this bread every Saturday. Cutting is best done when bread is cold from the fridge.

In a bowl put warm water, yeast and honey. Set aside about 5-10 minutes. Next in large bowl mix wheat flour, bread flour and salt. Mix dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add oil and water/yeast. Mix until dough. Flour a flat surface and kneed dough about 7-10 minutes. Set dough in bowl and cover. Place in warm dark place to rise, 20 minutes or until doubled in size. When risen, punch down center to release air pockets. Grease bread pan and place dough in pan. Cover and let rise 20 minutes or until doubled. Preheat oven to 350, and bake for 30-40 minutes. Bread is done when you hear a hollow sound when tapped.

I loaf
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
2 1/4 cup bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)

Double the ingredients to get 3 loaves or 2 Large loaves

Betsy Wetsy, or a Doll that can Pee...

Katie: "Why does this doll have a hole on her butt?"
Mother: "So that she can pee."

Umm...I'm sorry, but remind me again why you would want a doll that can pee?

The Game's Afoot...

This past month, I've been trying out the GroceryGame. It's a service that tells you what groceries to buy at which store with what coupon on which day you will save the most money. Here is my take on it so far...

1. You have to pay a fee to use the service. This of course makes sense because someone has to do all the "leg" work.
2. You have to buy the Sunday newspaper, and have it delivered. The paper has coupons that are used to save you money.
3. There is a new shopping list every week. This means that you have to go shopping every week too, to get the best prices.
4. You have to stock up on things while they're cheap. So if you have 4 jars of peanut butter, you need to buy more if it's on the list for .19 cents.
5. You have to buy what you have coupons for. So no special diets here.
6. It takes time. You have to clip and sort coupons, and shop for specific items. No running in an out in a hurry.

So far, I'm not sure if I'm saving any money, but I sure am eating a lot of Crescent Rolls.

The Hole Truth...

I have just discovered that planting a tree, is not an easy thing to do. Did you know that the hole you dig has to be twice as wide as the width of the tree's root ball? Yeah, it does. And then it also has to be as deep as the root ball is tall. In addition to this you have to make the bottom around the root ball deeper so that it looks like the tree is sitting on an island in the middle of the hole. I don't know if you can picture this, but it's quite a lot of work. Oh, and let me suggest that you use a shovel. All I had was a hand spade...

They Came, They Saw, They Went Home...

My parents arrived late Monday night and stayed through Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful visit, celebrating Thanksgiving, my dad's birthday (undisclosed age), and Eddie's 8th birthday. It all passed too quickly, as they had to leave on Friday. I'm not embarrassed to say that I adore my parents, even if and when they drive me nuts. I truly believe myself blessed to have been raised by them, imperfect that they may be. So Mom and Dad, Thanks for stopping by, I'm looking forward to being nuts again soon.

Also, I had an absolutely lovely visit from my friend Katharyn over the weekend. She arrived after my parents left, and stayed through Sunday. Thanks Kat! It was very refreshing to have some girl time.

Oh, and thank you Lana for stopping by earlier this month, it really brightened my day!

The Turkey Wars...

I bought a frozen turkey. Well actually, I bought three frozen turkeys.
This is because of the Turkey Wars. What, you ask, are the Turkey Wars? Well I'll tell you, the Turkey Wars are when all the supermarkets fight to get you to buy their turkey by promising to meet any other store's price.
The end result for me was that on Tuesday, the week before Thanksgiving, I bought a Turkey for .47cents per lb! WOW! That is one cheap turkey (I thought). Until the Sunday before Thanksgiving arrived and I saw that the same turkey was then only .43cents per lb! No Way! I thought to myself, as I bought another turkey. And last of all, on the Tuesday right before Thanksgiving, I found myself at the store yet again, only to see that the Turkeys were now .39cents per lb. So as you can guess, I just had to buy another turkey.
The good news is that because they are all frozen turkeys, they all fit nicely into the bottom of my deep freezer in the garage, so I can now have cheap turkey anytime I want. Which is a good thing because I happen to love turkey.

Now if only I could get the cows to fight...