Ugh, Snow

 

I am officially tired of the snow.  I've had enough.  It can all leave now.  Parking is a nightmare.  It isn't going to melt until like May.  

 

The dog is enjoying himself, however.  He loves to bite it and run around in it and be crazy.  We got about 20-21 inches.  The girls cannot even play in it because they wouldn't be able to move.

 

We spent our Saturday finding inside things to do, which included blocks.  We love blocks and can play for about an hour with them.

 

We also played three games of CandyLand and the girls played in the basement.  Thank goodness our friends from Sunday School had their Superbowl regardless of the outside mess.  The girls and I had not been out of the house since Tuesday.  We had a lot of fun, and it made it easier to stay home today!

We are supposed to get up to a foot more starting tomorrow.  Yippee skippee.

 

And I wanted to show you this so that you could see why I limit the girls TV.  They were watching a music video.  Turn on the TV and they are zombies!  That is why we only do Sunday afternoons, one movie, or if we are going to be trapped inside all weekend, Saturday mornings as well.   

On another note, the girls and I have been watching zulucam.org, and it finally paid off today.  It is a camera that is set up at a wildlife reserve in Africa somewhere.  Today we saw two elephants!!  We were all really excited.  It gets dark there right around lunchtime here so that is when the animals start to come back.  Apparently, they also come early in the morning and the elephants come a lot at noon, but I haven't quite figured out the time differences yet.  I know we wouldn't see the early morning, but I don't know about the noontime.  It is worth it because different animals just wander by, but the elephants were the first that we were able to see really clearly and they stayed for a while!  Fun:)

 Well, tomorrow is Bible study, but I won't be going because I won't park or try to pull out of the parking spot in this crazy snow.  So it looks like we may be home for a few days again!

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Georgia Grace $50 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

English Muffins

I love Thomas' English Muffins; they are superior to any other muffin.  However, they also cost an arm and a leg for something that would only last a few days.  So when my Bread! cookbook had a recipe for English Muffins, I was stoked.  (I learned stoked from a Canadian friend I went to college with.) 

 

This is from page 113 in the book, btw.

2/3 c whole milk

2/3 c water

2 T melted butter

1 T sugar

1 t salt

2 c bread flour

2 c flour

2.5 t instant or fast-acting yeast

Fine cornmeal to dust

Put the ingredients in your bread machine as directed in your book.  For mine, that means wet first (along with melted butter), sugar and salt, then flours with a well for the yeast on the top.  Set machine to dough setting and start.  When cycle is complete, turn onto floured surface and knead into a smooth ball.  Divide dough into equal portions and shape each into a round, flat 1/2 inch thick disk.  Dust each with cornmeal and place in a warm place to rise for about 15 minutes (until they begin to lose their shape).  Don't let over-rise.

Heat a pan (preferably nonstick or a griddle) to somewhere between low and medium.  and lightly brush with oil (EVOO).  Cook as many as you can comfortably fit into pan at a time, about 8-10 minutes on each side.  Don't have the heat too high or the outside will burn without the inside cooking.  Flip and do other side.  They are done when they sound hollow when tapped.  Put the extra dough in the fridge so that it doesn't continue to rise.

I toasted mine and they were delicious!  Today I put egg salad on one, and it was great.  The girls like them a lot too!  The recipe says it only makes.  However, I disagree:)  I had a few huge ones.  I would definitely do them a little smaller and try to get the amounts of dough super-similar so that they all cook at the same rate.  The cornmeal on the outside is just like Thomas'!  

They weren't as nook and cranny filled as Thomas', but I think that was in part due to the fact that I didn't let them rise long enough after they were formed into disks because I was afraid they were getting too big!  They did have the same taste though.

I think this would be easy to do without the bread machine.  Just add the yeast to the water and sugar and let it activate and then add all the other ingredients and knead until smooth.  Let rise for at least an hour and then pick up where the recipe comes out of the bread pan.

I hope that you do get to try this!  I really did enjoy them:)

Do These Look Like Beds?

 

This was our bathroom two days ago.  Joel finished laying the flooring yesterday and is planning on putting the molding on this weekend.  I will post a picture when it is finished.  It looks great!

 

Pnut and Pilly were playing in their room, and when I went in they were "sleeping" in their "beds."  Pnut was tucked into the little area that is formed by a shelf built into the wall.  

 

Pilly was in the toy basket under at least three blankets.  She wanted more.  I said no.  

I am busy working on a project so I don't have much time to blog at night.  Hopefully, it will be wrapped up in a few days!  Tomorrow, I am hoping to do my post about homemade English Muffins...yum! 

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Out of Routine

Joel had the day off today because he was working on the bathroom floor.  He has replaced all of the floor tiles and just has to do the molding, which I hope he will do after work tomorrow night!  I would like to have the bathroom back in order.  I have a hard time with mess.  We are spending a lot less time upstairs because I don't like the mess!!

So since he was home, not a lot was accomplished today.  It's not his fault, it just messes up our routine!  That is probably one of my favorite words....routine!

  

  

Aside from dumping 1/3 of a container of mini-marshmallows on the floor today, they had a pretty good day!  We played "The Fast Game" for school today.  That is, Pnut points as quickly as she can to a flashcard as I call out the letter.  They are lined up across the table but not in order.  She loves this game, much better than memory!  

Tonight is the premiere of Lost!!!  We are super-excited:)  Only 13 minutes left so I had better go:)

What Went on Here

We had company over Saturday night, our friends who have a little girl Pnut's age.  They all had a lot of fun.  Most of the night they spent in the basement playing dress-up and kitchen.  Pnut asked us to come down and watch them, but we stayed upstairs to talk instead.  We should have gone down.

 

Pnut is the only one I got a picture of.  I wish I had gotten her friend because she was the worst one!  She had it all through her hair and her face was silver.  

 

 

I have no ink pads left.  We don't really care about the carpet in the basement, it is just a bound remnant, but still, I wouldn't have chosen this method of using up my ink pads.

 

This is the footprint that showed up best.  It is colorful.

 

Mostly we were thankful they were in dress-up clothes and not in the regular clothes.  This blue is all over a pair of Pilly's socks.  They cannot be salvaged.  I don't want to wash them because I don't want the ink to travel on to anything else.

They were so excited and proud of what they had done.  Gail said Maddie constantly pretends to put on make-up and sits in front a mirror.  Pilly wouldn't stop rubbing ink on stuff.  Her legs are still red.  The red is definitely the hardest to get out!

Okay, well, there is some work for me to do now.  Have a colorful day!