Odds & Ends

otherwise known as Bits and Pieces of Life.

I'm feeling a little random right now. So I'm not quite sure what will come out here.

I'm listening to my ipod on shuffle. Right now, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul (It's All about You)" as sung by Dave Fellingham is on. I got this album called "Worship Together" on itunes because it has Stuart Townend's music, which I really like. I don't know much about Dave Fellingham other than what I hear on this album, but what I do know is that he is English. How do I know? "Alpha and Omega" comes out as "Alpher and Omeger". Omega isn't as obvious but Alpha sticks out every time and cracks me up. Which is not so good considering it's a quiet, worshipful song.

I finished The Thirteenth Tale tonight. I resisted picking it up for the last two nights but today after lunch, I started it and took a "little" time later to read it completely. It's a well-written, good story but it's dark. I think the theme is redemption but it's one that isn't so obvious.

Wednesdays are nice days around here. I don't have to go anywhere and we usually get a solid day's work in, as well as leaving me time to do other work. The younger girls & I made 3 apple pies this morning and the crust for the pumpkin pies for the weekend. Two apple pies went in our freezer and the third in a friend's because she was kind enough to give me foil pie plates when all three stores in town were out of the right size.

We have some serious cleaning to do for the weekend and I just realized that I'll be gone to the city all day Friday. Well, I guess we'll get started tomorrow. Family is coming Saturday and Sunday so that will be a nice treat. I need to make buns for the weekend too but I'll probably do them on Saturday so they'll be fresh.

I realized tonight that I forgot to make bread today and we won't have any for breakfast. I decided to make a quick batch of English Muffin Loaf. I just remembered it was rising as I went through the kitchen and smelt that wonderful yeasty smell so I turned on the oven. Thankfully, it doesn't take long to bake.

My mom gave me this recipe years ago. I have no idea where it's from but we like it. It's especially good toasted - it holds the heat for a long time so peanut butter melts at just the right rate!

This is a quick recipe to make too, which is an added bonus, especially when I don't remember to start it until after 8 pm.

English Muffin Loaf

5-6 c. flour
2 pkg (Tablespoons) yeast
1 T. sugar
2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
3 T. cornmeal

Combine 3 cups flour with yeast, sugar, salt and soda. Heat milk & water until very warm. Add liquid to dry mixture and beat well. (Note: I mix the yeast with the liquid first and let it soften; I get better results that way but your yeast may be just fine.) Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff batter. Divide into two and spoon into loaf pans greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover & let rise about 45 minutes. Bake 25 minutes at 425. Remove from pans immediately.

I spent about 45 minutes on Algebra tonight. Word problems involving rate of speed. After a bit of help from a friend, I'm figuring it out and hopefully my son will be even more successful tomorrow. This is my first time through Algebra since highschool so I find it really helps to work the problems ahead of him. That way when he has problems, I know what to look for; it doesn't take me fifteen minutes to figure it out. Well, not most of the time, anyway. Generally, I like it but I didn't like word problems in highschool and I still don't like them! When someone else points out how to do them, I can see it immediately. But not always before.

The reassuring part is that this is my oldest, the guinea pig. As the next three go through it, I should actually know what we're doing. :-)

I should maybe mention for my American readers that the reason family is coming this weekend and we're having buns and pies is that this weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving. We like it.

Happy October!