Mountain Man Sandwich Bread

Mike and I used our bread machine that Mom and Dad got us for Christmas for the first time today. We made Mountain Herb Bread, or as Mike calls it, Mountain Man Sandwich Bread. It smelled delicious while cooking and when it beeped and we took it out to cool I was ready for the fight usually required to get the loaf out of the pan. However, the loaf slid right out, without a fight. Amazing.

It was in perfect condition, it rose beautifully and had perfectly golden crusts. The blade was still stuck inside but Sunbeam provided a blade removing hook that pulled it right out with no bread stuck to it at all. Again, amazing.

We gave it about 10-15mins to cool before cutting into it, during which time I called Mom to tell her that she needs the bread book she gave me and this bread machine. The bread tasted just as good as it looks and smells and might make some great salad croutons. Fingers crossed we have such a trouble free time with the next loaf.

It Is Finished.

Yes, indeed. Last night after a week-long reading marathon, I read the last page of The Count of Monte Cristo. I consider this one of my life's great accomplishments.

A Little Light Reading

A few weeks ago I put The Count of Monte Cristo on hold at the library. I've been on a kick to read the classics, and having a vague memory of the storyline from the movie, I thought it would be a fun read.

I finally got the notification that it was in, but when I went to pick it up I was in for a surprise. Nobody mentioned that The Count of Monte Cristo is 1200 pages long, and as a tome it's size rivals none other than The Holy BIBLE. The fact that the majority of my reading is done on the train while commuting to one place or another made Monte Cristo a less than practical choice, but I was determined. At the circulation desk they stamped my due date: Dec 1. 1200 pages by Dec 1. I had three weeks.

By Thanksgiving I was only at page 350. I renewed. New due date: Dec 22. I am now at page 500, and I have to admit that the story is thrilling. So many stories within stories, and I'm literally on the edge of my seat wondering how they will all weave back together. I do, however, have to carry the tome in it's own separate bag.

Last week on the train home from the office I was totally engrossed with The Count. I looked up occasionally to check the stop and noticed a man sitting across from me dozing. At one point he was startled awake by his bag falling off his lap. But no matter, I was enthralled in my book. As we approached Belmont the conductor announced that the train would be running express to Western. (While other people start grumbling and gathering up their belongings to switch to a local train, I love these surprise announcements because my stop is one after Western.) How convenient! I thought and went back to reading.

Bandits, buried treasure, clever witticisms, and danger all played themselves out deliciously in my mind, and the next time I looked up we were pulling out of the station AFTER mine! I inconspicuously gathered myself up and got off at the next stop. I couldn't believe I had zoned out so far that I hadn't even heard the conductor's announcement when we pulled into my station! Luckily there was a train already coming in the opposite direction.

Two stops later I got off, and who should alight with me? The sleeping man from the original train! Apparently we both missed our stop, and I silently gave him the "all for one, one for all" nod. If I ever see him again, I've got his back.

Blaise Michael

Yesterday morning at 3:12 in the morning, a stork dropped off Blaise Michael at Holland Hospital. After a short, but intense and unmedicated labor, Jennifer held Blaise on her chest as he blinked and tried to figure out what just happened to him. So far he is a calm and relaxed little guy who gazes into our eyes and follows our voices. Toby can't wait to teach him to play with trucks, and Elinore is smitten. She loves to hold him and keeps remarking at how cute he is.

Jennifer is recovering extremely well and looking forward to being discharged from the hospital tomorrow. Hopefully Blaise's calm and sweet-tempered nature will last once he gets home...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday, Mike and I went out and cut ourselves a Christmas tree. The place we're doing our new CSA also has a tree farm. We wanted to get a feel for the place and the people, so we gave it a go. We underestimated the cold and our hands froze during the tree selection and cutting. We ended up with a 7ft Canaan fir. I made an attempt at cutting but I wasn't very good at it and we would've been there for hours, so Mike took command of the hand saw.

The tree guys drilled, shook and twined our tree for us with old school hand (or foot)-operated instruments, and then helped us secure it to the car. We stopped in the shop to pick up our envelope with the bill and discovered a plethora of delicious jams and chutneys. I made have to send some to Mom and Dad.

Now we couldn't return home without everything we needed to decorate our family room so we stopped at Target on the way home and picked up ribbons, a tree skirt, tree lights and some garlands for the room. If only it was that easy. We got home and set up our garlands, pounded in our tree stand, wrapped the skirt and admired. Now for decorating! But first, from good instruction from Dad over the years, I checked the lights to make sure they all worked. One was out so I changed the bulb and then we wrapped the tree. We got 3/4 of the way up and ran out of lights and then half the strand went out. Then it came back on. Then back off. So Mike headed out to get some new lights at Ace (since it's close). I re-packaged the target lights and then we took out the new strand. Again, we checked to see if they worked and wrapped the tree. This time we only made it up half the tree. Thwarted again! We had the same amount of bulbs but 24 less feet of lights. Christmas spirit dwindling, we headed out AGAIN for more lights at Lowes/Home Depot. Nope. All they had were LED, colored and blinking lights. We did manage to get a carpet protector for the front door though. So Mike made the executive decision to go back to Target and buy a new strand of the original lights, plus 50 more, with the intention to return all others.

We arrived back at home, fingers crossed that Sabbath hadn't knocked over the tree. And found the tree, still standing. The lights all worked, and we successfully wrapped the tree first with lights, then ribbon. We had bought a variety of ball ornaments for 50% off at Michaels and took them out, ready to put the finishing touch on the tree and discovered NONE of the ornaments had wire or string with which to hang them. SERIOUSLY? We have no pipe cleaners or small enough twine but we had just bought ribbons for present wrapping. It didn't go well. None of the material was fabric to it was too hard to work with. Critical thinking time. Maybe some thread or floss from my blanket? Then Mike says, what about yarn? You just bought some. Yes! Yarn. So I grabbed the yarn and we cut pieces to tie on the ornaments. But it started fraying, so we resorted to licking and trimming the ends. Finally, we were able to put the ornaments on the tree. Then the star. But it wouldn't stay upright. We resorted to duct tape and pulling one of the branches through. It was worth it.

We have about 3 inches between the top of the star and the ceiling. Perfect. Our whole house smells of pine. Perfect. Our living room is very festive and we have some holiday kitchen towels and a table centerpiece. Let's hope wrapping presents isn't such a fiasco! Happy Holidays!