Today, I cleaned my mini van. Took it to the car wash (got me WAY far away…lol) and used the bay type that you wash your car in, ya know the one with the spray hose on one side and the brush on the other side. Then I vaccumed it out and sprayed some smelly stuff in it…I love that stuff as long as I don’t use too much. When I got home, I got the armour all out and glass cleaner and cleaned the windows and dash. Last but not least, I used a special cleaner for the windshield to get the bug stuff…didn’t come off with the car wash stuff. Put on some stuff to keep the bugs and stuff from sticking to the windshield next time and went to work.

Now, the person that made me mad today was my husband. We have our own business cleaning and servicing commercial tile floors. I gave him the night off. He just was in one of those moods that I would rather not be around. I am sure I am not the only person who hasn’t wanted to be around their spouse due to a mood issue…LOL!

So, on a not so good note, what a way to start my Mothers Day. The electric went out, which normally isn’t really that big of a deal, BUT I have turkey eggs in my ‘bator! My first five eggs died before they hatched (fully formed, no deformities, must have had something not quite right for these guys), and with the next batch of 7 I only have one that looks like it has formed into a poult and I have 4 more that I just put in the ‘bator. With all that said, I don’t think I will have ANY poults this year. Very frustrating and sad. But…gotta keep tryin’! Everything happens for a reason, right? Ok, so I’m just trying to make myself feel better.

Here’s hoping everyone else is have a stupendous moms day!

On another note, I am a procrastinator! I am sure people get sick and tired of me ALWAYS sending cards and things out late! My step-mom never get’s her mothers day card before mothers day! Here it is, the day before mothers day and her card sits here on my computer desk….grrrrr. I will get it out today….I will get it out today….maybe if I kep repeating myself, it will get done!

Here’s hoping everyone has a great mothers day

Soon, my oldest daughter will be graduating high school…sigh. It just doesn’t seem possible already! Why do they have to grow up so darn fast! I remember when she was about 12 and said she was never leaving home. She was going to get married and her and her husband were going to live in her room and so were her kids! Too darn cute. ‘Course that’s not it now…it’s I can’t wait to move out! Why do they have to act like you are such horrible creatures and that life is going to be soooo much better once they move out? I know, I know. It’s there time to spread their wings and see how well they can fly. But this mom is having a hard time dealing with another leaving the nest.

Guess I better get used to it…this is going to be happening every other year for the next…6 years. Then a small break while my youngest gets to see what it’s like to be an only child at home. At least, that’s what they all make it seem like.

Adding a pic of my daughter in her prom dress. She is sooo beautiful!

If you have never shopped online, then this will be new for you. If you do, you need to check out www.zappos.com ! I have bought basketball shoes for two of my kids from there for the past 2 years. My son is 15, 6’4″ and wears a size 14 shoe! Not an easy thing to find in most stores in a style that looks good. Both times we have purchased shoes, the shoes were awesome (and they have a place for people to share their opinions on the shoes too!) and the shipping is SUPER fast! The shipping is free (unless you upgrade) but there is no reason to pay for faster shipping when it only takes 2 DAYS for them to get to you! If for any reason you need to return the shoes (or whatever you buy) return shipping is free as well! I have never had to return anything, but I have heard nothing but the best from this site! GO THERE! Check it out! And no, I am not affiliated in any way nor does this give me any perks, it’s just that good!

The next is Kodak. My husband bought me a printer, I believe last spring, and it’s made by Kodak. The ink cartridges are cheaper than any I’ve had to use before, and they last MUCH longer. Now here’s where the customer service comes in. My printer hasn’t been printing anything worth pooh. I tried cleaning the printer heads several times. This took alot of ink out of two new ink cartridges. I calibrated it and tried everything else in the troubleshoot guide on my computer. Then I went to their site. Went though the troubleshooting guide on the site as well. It had a few more things to try that wasn’t on my computer. They didn’t work either. While going through all this, at the end, it determined I needed a new printhead. They got some info from my printer and sent me the printhead….free! I’m assuming I actually filled out the waranty info ont his one! Anyway, not only did they send it out, but I got it in LESS than 24 hours from when I did the troubleshooting AND they sent me two new ink cartridges AND some photo paper! Maybe I’m easy to please, but that’s not what I’ve heard in the past! But I am impressed! I do not normaly experience this kind of service and this was something I needed to share.

The moral of this story is….not all experiences are bad and we can share the good ones too!!!

One was suppose to be a mock wonderbread recipe and the other was a recipe called Perfect White Bread. The wonderbread recipe was for a bread machine so I was kinda winging it on the baking part. This recipe only made one loaf and the other made two. After getting the doughs mixed and set to rise in their bowls, I really liked the texture and the way the Perfect White Bread looked. They both rose beautifully and I couldn’t wait to taste them! The wonderbread one, I cooked at 400 and set the timer for 30 min. I checked on it after about 10 and it was getting way too brown on the top so I lowered the temp. to 350. It looked good when it came out other than the dark top. I brushed butter on the top of it right after taking it out of the oven and let it cool. The other loaves were to cook at 400 for 35 min. After the first one came out so brown, I lowered the temp to 375. Not sure if that’s what did it or not, but they both fell and had flat tops! ERRR! Brushed butter on them too and after they cooled for a few, had a sample. The first one was VERY good. I will be making that one again and figuring out the right temp and time for it. The others, I didn’t like the taste of at all!!! So, they would probably be good for beef stew or something though.

I think I’ll add a recipe page. I’ll post the recipe for the mock wonder bread there and some other recipes I love to use.

Right now, I have a sour dough starter in my oven bubbling away that I just started yesterday! I am very impressed because this usually takes a few days to get it really going. If anyone is interested, all I use for my starter is 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour mixed and then put into a widemouth quart jar. I put a damp cloth, cheese cloth, paper towel (you get the picture) on top and put it in my oven with the light on. I usually warm the oven just a bit before I start so it’s nice and warm. Let sit and before you know it, it’s alive and is now your new friend that you feed and use to make some yummy sour dough recipes with!

Now I am off to get started on making some Salt Rising Bread. This is my husbands favorite for toasting but it’s harder to get started than sour dough. I’m a glutten for punishment I guess…I like to do things the old fashioned way. There are flours you can use to just make it but, I like to do it the traditional way.

Now, I have to wait for him to get there and we live about 40 min. from where I had the flat. I figured, I was probably going to have to tell a few people that hubby was on his way, since I WAS on a main highway. I must say, my faith in people has been slighted a bit. The only person that stopped was a state trooper and he only stopped to be sure I had help on the way. My husband and I cannot in good conscience let someone sit on the side of the road like that without at LEAST offering our help. I guess we’re a rare breed here in middle of nowhere, southwestern, NY.

My husband finally gets to where I’m at, breaks the spare (if you can call those little donut things a spare!) out of its nest and get’s it on. It’s low on air, nothing unusual for sitting for so long, so we have a portable tank and fill it up. Hubby follows me to destination, makes sure tire has right pressure and goes back home. He was going to stay and help me, but, he left the air flow adjuster for the woodstove wide open when he left and forgot to tell the kids that are at home. They are in bed and NOONE is anwering the phone!

So my knight takes off in his white van and gets home to find it was a good thing he got home when he did. We use fans to circulate the air and one of the fans in our room was squealing and smoking! And my kids kept on sleepin! I thank God he got home when he did and that everyone and everything was safe. His grace is never ending.

I get done at work, check that lovely little thing that’s gonna make it possible for me to make it home and it looks great! Off I go, slow of course, didn’t go over 45. It was kinda nice! I didn’t have to slow down when I got to the speed zones. Just kept going one steady speed! Turn down the road to get me home and….the back end starts to act funny. Get out…sure enough….the spare is going flat now! My knight made sure I had some fix-a-flat and the portable air tank, so got out and filled her up. Get to another town, check it out, seems to be doing good. Heading to next job before home. Get there…tire doin’ good. Go to go home…had to add more air…sigh…  Now I’m home and more than ready for bed.

I am now thankful I have such a wonderful and very handy husband, who in my eyes can do anything!

We are going to make a basic white bread and a recipe I found that is suppose to be like Wonder bread only better. I’ll let ya’all know how it goes after we’re done.

I’m also going to get a new sour dough bread starter going and some salt rising starter. One of my husbands favorite toasting breads is Salt Rising. It is not an easy bread to make nor is it very forgiving. You either do it right the first time or you start over!

Away I go to bake some bread. BBL with some pics and our decision of whether the Wonder Bread recipe was as good or better than the original.

Almost for got to add, what ya think of my new pic at the top of my page? My husband took that picture out back when we got our first snow. I think it looks awesome as my new header! He was proud I liked it enough to put it on my site. He’s always loved photography, and I am really pushing him to pursue his dream. So if ya’ll could, leave me a coment! Thanks!