Let them eat Bread!

A couple a' confessions...

1) I'm a wee bit crazy. (If I had money, I could even be eccentric!)
2) Among other things, I like to bake. It's kinda the thing I do as a hobby.

Personally, I think I'm pretty good at it, but, you know, there's just not enough hours in the day to perfect my pie crust rolling technique. My friends and loved ones seem perfectly happy to help eat things, so I must be doing something right.

Any how, a couple nights ago I started up a batch of bread, specifically for the making of sandwiches. As most of the bread recipes I've garnered so far have been complex formulas of varying densities and artisan-itude (pretty sure that's not actually a word), I went searching the web for a sandwich bread with few ingredients.

Lo and behold, The Hungry Mouse's Homemade Sandwich Bread! (Or at least the loaf I made using this recipe.)

I mixed it up (sans mixer) and after an hour I was a little less than impressed with the amount that it had expanded. However, when I kneaded it a bit and then let it sit overnight in the bread pan, it rose quite well into a respectable loaf. And it baked up nicely; light and chewy in the middle with a decent crust that wasn't too crispy. Excellent tooth. (Though I may need to knead it a bit more next time, help it from being quite so crumbly?)

What I wasn't expecting was the slightly sour and rather salty taste... I had used the usual active dry yeast, but this was almost a sour dough! Not having previously been a huge fan of sour dough, it took a sec to get over, but it proved to make a quite tasty grilled cheese sandwich! As well as very enjoyable cinnamon toast.

And since I am crazy (see point #1), I have decided that I should try to use this recipe with 'wild yeast'. Or rather, mixing flour and water in a bowl and leaving it out on the counter for a few days. (Apparently whole wheat and/or spelt works best?) This mixture is supposed to entice any wild yeast beasties that may happen to be lurking about to come join them in the bread making fun. As I haven't been baking bread much in my own kitchen, I may have to leave the bowl out whilst making bread with the active dry yeast added and hope they decide to go bar hopping. Or maybe the bakery down the street* would be willing to let me leave my bowl out in their kitchen (bar any health code violations, of course). Or maybe they would be willing to sell me a sour dough starter... but that would be "cheating". ;o)


*They really are "happiness baked fresh daily". Sunny Lemon Babies? Vanilla Swirls? 'Nough said.

Miles to go... I get there eventually.

If any of this is actually coherent, I'll be a bit surprised. It's one in the morning and for the last two nights my sleep has been interrupted by a bat doing laps in my bedroom. I think I may have pinpointed the bat hole (a loose board in the built-in bookcase), and have covered the entire area in duct tape. If there are no more bat excursions, then I will be filling it up with expandable foam sealant. I am a handy man I am.

Of course, to get to the hole I had to move many stacks of fabric and balls of yarn. Some how I convinced myself I could pass on the yarn to a friend who knits (and if she doesn't want it, it's ALL going to the thrift store), and the wire mesh baskets they sat in went away as well.  I was able to get most of the good fabric into the cabinet with the other linens and wools. The rest went into the Tub-o-Stuff to be later organized and gone through. But that cleared up two large shelves that now house my sewing machines, laptop, camera box, paint tins, and sewing box. It looks like there's so much more space in that corner now. And I can see my desk, the previous home to said sewing machines, etc, again.

Also, I don't have to worry quite as much that the bat will take up residence in my fabric stash. Ugh.

Everything is better with wine and ice cream.

It's June 1st today, which means that I am moving in exactly 2 and a half months. I have no idea where I will be living yet; I certainly haven't signed a lease. I'll be using the stipend from the show I'm designing this summer for a security deposit and moving costs. And I won't get paid until after the show is over. The hazards of a freelance artist's life.

But something seemed to ease inside of me when I made that decision to wait until I had money in my hands, instead of trying to borrow it from somewhere else. Friends have enthusiastically offered up both storage space and a place to crash/transition in. I have no idea what August will bring, but now I'm excited.

So to get myself, and my space, ready I really have to crack down on all the cleaning and de-cluttering. I don't want to drag around all the boxes of old papers and bill statements and flotsam and jetsam. Some of the stuff I've started to go through is at least ten years old... It's a bit stunning to realize how much physical stuff I carry around. And yet, I can never seem to "find the time" to go through it all. As much as my inner Negative Nancy would like to guilty me into believing the opposite, it's a very emotionally and psychologically trying process.  It's really, really hard! So much of who I am somehow got caught up in "stuff" and it's hard to divide from that.

To help with the process, I'm buckling down and finally doing the Apartment Therapy "8-step Home Cure" and "create a home that works for [me] - physically, emotionally, and spiritually". Or at least get my stuff together enough to be ready for anything.  This week? Making a list of needed repairs, remove one item from your apartment, vacuum/mop floors, etc. Essentially getting a plan together and gettin' right in there.

And I'm going to blog it all... the whole process. Accountability and all that. 

Welcome to Summer!

...sort of.

It's still maybe 45 or 50 degrees (Fahrenheit) around here, but it's been getting sunnier. So last night my house-mate H--- showed me how to change the tire on my bike and check it over, so that it would be road worthy. Biking around is definitely one of those signs of summer (even if we're not there yet), and I love how it feels like flying. I think that no matter where I live, I will always make sure that I have a bike. With a basket on the back. Mine is actually a black milk crate, which reminds me I need to add a couple more zip ties to secure it better...

I also feel much better about trying bike repairs on my own, now that he's walked me through it once. I always feel most nervous about things I've never attempted before. Perhaps I fear that I will completely ruin things beyond repair? But all it takes it one person to show me once (with the occasional reminders) and I'm fearless. I've got a new skill and and instant boost to my confidence. I may have to start going to the women's bike nights at Revolution Cycles... or, OOOH! The Full Moon Bike Ride is next week!

Further Bike Improvement Check List:

• Fenders (for rainy weather)
• Batteries for the bike light (for riding in the dark)
• one of those bike multi-tools with all the handy wrenches and things?
• a DIY cuff grabber thingy so I don't have to roll my pants legs up or get them stuck in the gears
• Maybe a little handlebar-purse for when I don't have a bag?

But I had a cupcake anyway.

No cleaning done today... and none yesterday. But I've hardly been home, so I haven't made any new messes either.

Accomplishment 1: The bed has been made every morning now for the last few days.

It's funny how making your bed can lead to such a sense of accomplishment. It's always been one of those details that's fallen by the wayside. But even the way the sheets and things lay all straight makes such a difference in how open and calm the room feels. I am such a perfectionist...

Accomplishment 2: The vast majority of all my bad clutter has been corralled into one spot.

It's a rather large spot, but it's just the one BAD spot. There's plenty of other little things that could be organized/arranged better, but it's not BAD. Again, this makes everything feel much more open and calm. I can find things. (Like my back up sewing machine that was 'lost' in the BAD spot.) I can move around with out worrying so much that I'm going to knock something over.

God, I make it sound like an episode of Hoarder's. It wasn't quite that bad, but when you're living in such a small space things get crowded quickly. And it's rather hard to escape the analogy that the 'clutter' in my space reflected how overwhelmed I feel/felt by all the stressors in my life. I've long suspected that if I could get my physical space "together" then the rest of my life would just fall into place.

Let's test this theory, shall we?

Hello, Floor!

Since this seams like it may be my last, full, free weekend for a while, I made the decision to not go anywhere, not spend anything and just clean. I started a new job, and several new projects are in the works, so I really needed to banish some clutter and get everything set. It had gotten pretty bad since I came back from vacation a couple weeks ago. There was still a lot to be unpacked and laundry to be done... not to mention the still disorganized fabric and art supplies strewn liberally all over.

Yes, the smug grin on my face does mean that "was" is the optimal word.  I haven't finished every thing, but a big chunk of the every day sorts of clutter has been banished. Yesterday was full of laundry and sweeping and taking out of the trash. It also involved some procrastinating inspirational blog viewing which made me want to run out on a tour of the thrift stores to see if I could find a new bookshelf, or some kitschy china to decorate with. But I held firm. I only left the house to put the rugs out on the porch in the sun.

Today's plan involves brunch with the house-mates and re-organizing the fabric "pantry". Also, I have managed to "misplace" my back-up sewing machine... It may just be under the pile of fabric. Keep your fingers crossed for me? With the other one in the shop, waiting for a tune-up, I'm going to need this one soon.

Ta-Da!

Sweet! #1 and #3 checked off the Ta-Da list before noon.  Now on to organizing the mess-under-the-bed.