Just another maniac Wednesday

Okay, so the song is Monday but it's my blog so I say Wednesday.
Before 9:00am today I had done several loads of dishes by hand, several loads of laundry and started a batch of bread/cinnamon rolls. By 12:00 I had ran, had coffee with my friends,dug some yuccas, saved a toddler trapped in a car :)(not mine),and finished my bread and rolls.
Not that this is an entirely non-normal day. It just felt a bit fuller than usual, probably because I started my morning just wanting to lay in bed. Not an option.

Here is my bread experiment. I used this recipe. I made a double batch, using half for a loaf of bread and half for cinnamon rolls. They both turned out, but the loaf of bread got a little more than it's share of dough.

Yeast Rising


Second Rising
Big Enough For Ya?
Delicious.

Weekend

We did a lot of work in our yard this weekend. It felt good to honor spring by playing in the soil!
We moved around plants and large stones, had dinner outside and an egg hunt. I'd add more text about our weekend,but this app is not letting me type anywhere but here. I love blogger.

Dinner

homemade hamburger buns
brown sugar and butter carrots on the grill
hamburgers...patties from Gateway Market....one had jalapenos,bacon,and cheese in it
homemade refrigerator pickles and onions
(not the best picture of Sylvia, but hey who wants their picture taken when they are hungry and want to eat? She's a trooper!)

I don't have anything to say

I just hate seeing the same old post every time I visit my page. I'm like " Why doesn't this lady update her blog already!" Then I realize that lady is me and sulk away to stalk someone else's page.

Brrr...

It's a cold and snowy Sunday here in Iowa. My magnolia tree had started to bloom, but I'm guessing by tomorrow most of the buds will have fallen off due to the cold. I have several flats of seeds out on the porch. Many of them have started to come up but some are still behind. I'm using the power of positive thinking to help the rest emerge. I'll keep you posted on how that works ;)
It is beautiful, the snow. I moved my computer away from the dining room table and into the living room by the side window. I love that I can look out at my bird feeder. It helps me remember to fill it and I get to enjoy all the urban wildlife in my yard. There is a downy woodpecker that lives in the magnolia tree, a cardinal couple, a blue jay couple, many nuthatches and of course our state bird, the goldfinch. Apparently I'm also the hot spot for crows,squirrels and rabbits. By the way, we saw a beaver on the side of the road North of Grand the other day. Anyone know what beaver's stand for?

Vermicompost

We've got worms! To make compost that is. In our basement even. I split an order with a group of women and ended up with 500 redworms. They are small and wiggly and kind of gross but their 'castings' make for great compost and it's a fun project for the kids....well Jasper really, I think Sylvia could care less!
Taking care of worms is harder than you might think. They need a dark moist environment with organic material to eat and gritty material to help them digest.
We have ours in a see through bin which is cool when you want to gawk at them, but isn't a very dark. To fix this I've put a tarp around the bin to make them feel at home. I put newspapers, some cardboard, coffee grounds, a glass of water, and kitchen veggie/fruit scraps in with the worms. It's pretty stinky when you remove the lid, especially with the large amount of garlic.
I'm thinking I need a big compost outside too because we go through a lot of kitchen scraps. I hate throwing any of them away, but I don't think I should give them all to the worms.
I guess that will be another project!

More New Bags!

Check out my new bags. My bags are for sale at www.etsy.com/miajean or Vitae Design Collective in Des Moines.







This next one is already sold, sorry! :)