Victoria’s Birthday
For Victoria’s birthday we went to Olive Garden. Olive Garden is a great restaurant for adults. Luckily our party was large enough that they had to give us a private room (we only had to wait an hour four it) and the kids could run around a bit. They needed it after having to sit and wait an hour for a table. Part of the birthday celebration included cake and the waiters singing to Victoria. I don’t think she knew what to think when they started singing. Her expression bordered on scared to death. [singlepic=370,400,400] But she was intrigued by the candle.[singlepic=371,400,400]
Bread Woes
Maybe someone can help me out. Whenever I make white bread in the bread machine it works great. The bread rises well during both rise periods and a nice loaf comes out. Whenever I make wheat bread it’s another story. I grind the wheat, make the bread according to the recipe, it rises well during both rise cycles, not as well as the white bread, but still it rises to the top of the pan. Once the heater turns on the bread drops, it ends up being about half a pan full of bread, whereas the same amount of flour for the white bread makes at least a pan full. The frustrating thing is that the bread has risen to the top of the pan before the oven starts. It seems like the heat makes it shrink for some reason. I enjoy making bread but I am by no means an expert. I can put the ingredients in the pan and push the button. Any help would be appreciated.
Anniversary
Tomorrow is our anniversary. Our 5th Anniversary. As such, Laurie, I got you a special gift. But you get to figure out where it is. Have fun! (It will likely take you until tomorrow to find it.)
hint:
In brian lies the secret, kept, and hidden in the seeds.
Seed Catalogs
This is the time of year that the seed catalogs arrive in the mail. It is so fun to browse through them and try to decide what I want to grow the following year. In Arizona I have the problem of having two growing seasons, late winter to early summer and late summer to winter. I have to decide what I want to start now for spring and what I want to plant in the fall. I guess I could wait and buy seed in the summer, but the cool weather plants are all so delicious that I always want to plant something in the spring just to see how it will do.
I am in the process of trying to do a little landscaping as well. When we moved in we had a lot full of lawn with four trees. Three citrus trees, and an ornamental mulberry. I’ve cleaned up the area under the mulberry, and am trying to plant flowers there. I also cut out a flowerbed in the front yard where I could plant annuals. I still haven’t done much with that. I put a few seeds out and it is full of painted daisies. I need to do some formal landscaping with that. The flowers are so beautiful in the catalogs as well. I wish I could just rip all the bermuda grass out and plant flowerbeds. Maybe I’ll do that someday. I wonder how Kentucky Bluegrass would do here. Has anyone tried it? It is supposed to withstand heat and drought fairly well, and it shouldn’t take over the yard the way bermuda does. We also added an ash tree in the front yard. It looks silly right now, it is still a sapling, about 4 feet tall and about 1/3 inch in diameter. With all the leaves off right now it looks like a small stick coming out of the ground, but in a few years it will be a large tree.
Beautifying the yard is an exciting process. Maybe I’ll get some seeds started this Christmas break. Starting seeds is one of the most rewarding experience. From the tiny seed comes a small seedling that grows quickly. It quickly will be hundreds of times larger than the small seed it started from. It is a very exciting prospect. I think it is a wonderful experience, that really helps to understand Alma 32. Hopefully my children will enjoy it as much as I always have.
Hannah’s Favorite Song
Hannah has been singing this song for weeks now and I finally recorded her singing it. Enjoy.
