Trying New Things

In transitioning from a busy careerperson to a busy stay-at-home mom, I've found that I need to purposefully expand my horizons. At work, I found new projects and was given new projects -- that's just how work works. Things change all the time. At home, if I wanted to, I could do literally almost exactly the same thing every day. Get up, change diapers, feed Soph, put her down for naps, clean up, watch Baby Einstein, go to Target, etc. So I need to find New Things to do, and I like to try to do something new every day.

For example, one day I decided to rent a movie from a Redbox for the first time. (We were exclusively Family Video patrons.) I know, that doesn't sound too exciting. Often my New Thing of the day isn't exciting. It couldn't be... it's Wisconsin in winter and I have a baby. It's not like I'm going to go skydiving or cliffjumping. But that's OK. I had to make new neural connections (or whatever happens in your brain) to figure the big Redbox thing out and try not to make a scene in the grocery store. And when I was successful, I felt a little triumphant inside. Even though it was just a Redbox movie. (Bonus: the next day's new thing -- returning a Redbox movie!)

Today's New Thing was perhaps my best yet -- I made bread. Not from a box, not with a machine, not even just quick bread. I made dough, with actual yeast and actual bread flour, let it rise, and baked it. The whole time, things really didn't seem to be going as they should. I actually almost tossed the dough at one point because it didn't seem like it was rising properly. But I stuck with it, and when I opened the oven at the end of the process, VOILA! It was beautiful, and my house smelled heavenly.

I guess my point is that trying new things is fun, and it makes you feel good about yourself. Even if my bread-making endeavor had completely failed, I probably would have had at least an inkling of I did wrong, and I could have tried again another day with more success. Also, bread is delicious. :) Here's the recipe if you feel like trying something new.

Ingredients

2 cups warm water (110 F)

2/3 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof 10 minutes or so until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well-oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

The finished product!

Drive-Through Windows

It is approximately one million times more convenient for a person with a baby to use an establishment's drive-through window rather than going in to do her business, whatever it might be. More places should understand that.

That's really all I've got on this one. Thank you, Walgreens. Thank you, McDonalds. Thank you, most banks. Thank you, Starbucks on McKee Road. I shall patronize you more in the future because you offer me the convenience of not getting my child out of her carseat for a <5 minute stop. :)

These Pictures

Our baby was a puker. A "happy puker," as our doctor put it, so no acid reflux scariness or anything, but a big-time puker nonetheless. These pictures, as you might suspect, were taken only a few seconds apart. I love that her face is nearly identical in both pictures... except for the Vesuvius-like spew of spit-up that is just starting to flow from her mouth. 

This was my every day for, oh, the first 5 or 6 months of Sophie's life. I wouldn't change one thing about our little angel... except maybe the all the spit-up. That I could have done without.

Hyperbole and a Half

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

This is a fantastic blog written by a girl named Allie. From what I can tell, she is nuts and fragile and sharply funny. She's a great writer and a ...great? ...artist in MS Paint. (Can you be a great artist in MS Paint? If you can, she is.) Her drawings are strangely perfect paired with her stories and mirror her style.

Careful, you can get lost in this blog. (And careful, she's got a dirty mouth.) To get to the heart of things, read "The God of Cake," "How a Fish Almost Destroyed My Childhood," "This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult," and "The Alot is Better Than You at Everything." It might not appeal to everyone, but when I read her posts, I am usually also laughing. Enjoy.
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Aah! Just kidding! One more you have to read: "The Four Levels of Social Entrapment!" Because we've all been there.

The Ricky Gervais Show

I just love this show. It's on HBO, which we actually no longer get, but I have a bunch of them DVRed and will never, ever delete them because they are hilarious. They originated from a series of podcasts by Ricky Gervais, Steven Merchant -- his co-writer of the Office -- and their friend Karl Pilkington. They animated the podcast talks and made it into a TV show.

There's no plot or anything, it's just random conversations with funny cartoon graphics of really funny but sometimes profane chatter. Ricky and Steven basically just make fun of Karl and his crazy ideas about the world, like that all of the inventions that are worth inventing have already been invented. And that Dyson, the vacuum guy, is right up there with Einstein and Newton on the list of history's great minds. And that ants don't really do anything, they just carry things around. There also use great British-type words like "telly" and "advert" and "glacier" but pronounced like "glass-i-er." Like a funny, cartoon Bear Grylls. :) Anyway, consider the podcasts and TV show endorsed. They make me laugh like nothing else.