this and that

just a pile of thoughts. a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

• this morning i woke up to find that the dishwashing fairy had indeed not made a stop in my kitchen. i might have cried a little, maybe.
  
• we're riding in the car today and jacob says "mom, that lady in that car had a stick in her mouth. (i'm thinking, where is he going with this?) and there was smoke coming out of it." ahhhhh! so i dove into my cigarette lecture. maybe a little too straightforward for an almost-4-year-old, but i wanted him to get the point.
  
• jackson (our dog, 6 year old german shorthair pointer) had surgery 2 weeks ago. he had a torn cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in one of his hind legs. at the same time, we had the doc surgically remove 4 fatty tumors on his belly and thighs that had grown to be a little too large for our liking. he's healing well! he was putting weight on his leg just 5 or 6 days after surgery. he had his staples removed today and the doc was pleased with his progress. he's still pretty sore, and it's going to be a good 2 months before he will be allowed to run again. i sure hope he forgives us.
• last week our car was in the shop for some new rear breaks. (it seems like we've purchased new breaks every year since we have lived in kentucky. is it us, or is it the roads?) while our car was in the shop, we told the kids our car was busted and it had to be fixed. now that it is fixed, kate reminds me daily that "our car's not busted anymore, mommy!"
• tonight i baked some of my tried and true oatmeal wheat bread. yum! warm out of the oven with some butter on it....double yum! this kids enjoyed a slice before bed :) here's the recipe: 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup old fashioned oats, 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp salt. combine ingredients in a large bowl. add 2 cups bowling water. stir well, let sit for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. in another bowl, combine 1 pkg of yeast (i use 2 1/2 tsp), with 1/2 cup warm water and a pinch of sugar. let set for 5 minutes until frothy. combine the yeast mixture with the oatmeal mixture and 1 cup white flour. mix well. gradually add 3 more cups of flour. turn onto floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes, adding 1 more cup of flour as needed. cover with a little bit of oil and set in a covered bowl to rise for 1 hour. punch down and split dough in half. arrange in 2 greased loaf pans. cover and let rise for 30 minutes. bake at 325-350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. (this can also be made into dinner rolls, which would only bake for 12-15 minutes)
  
• update on my creamer post: i have not had a drop of non-dairy creamer since the day i found out you can make bombs out of the stuff. i can't believe i consumed so much of it before finding out! i've just been using good ol' fashioned creamer. ya know...half and half. i tried the homemade vanilla caramel recipe for a couple weeks, but something about it just wasn't right. it got weird whenever i added it to the hot coffee, like clumpy kinda. eww. i've also been using blue agave syrup as my sweetener. thanks to my sister for introducing me.
  
• speaking of coffee... yum!
• we had a taste of summer this weekend as temperatures were above 80 degrees. it was wonderful. we soaked up some vitamin D and got some yard work done.
• here's a shocker: i've been running. ok, maybe jogging is a better term to use. and ok, i've only gone twice. but you've got to start somewhere, right? i used to hate running. strongly dislike. in high school i was on the track team, just for one year, and that was all i needed to know i wasn't a runner. but i've been on the treadmill, just doing a walking/jogging combo during the last 3 months. and i guess that was enough to talk myself into going for a jog 2 weeks ago. and i ran for 25 minutes. i was shocked. i tried it again this weekend, and it happened again, 25 minutes. and i didn't hate it! now i just need to find the time do go more than 1 time a week. :)