Daily Bread, Laundry Piles, THEN Compost Piles, Potatoes

Its a great day outside and I'd LOVE to spend it all outdoors, but some jobs just need my attention.

Preschoolers who don't always make it through the night dry can produce some pretty impressive laundry piles.  In my haste to make it outdoors and get some work accomplished before my afternoon of driving and evening of meetings, I forgot about the day's pile of wet bedding.  When my husband went to put our daughter to bed, there was the pile of bedding, right where I left it.  He pulled together some spare bedding and put the extra tired girl to bed.  Then dragged the laundry down to wash it for me.  "What did you do all day?" he asked.  Plenty, just not the laundry.

I think the Universe was trying to teach me a lesson in living in the moment, completion, follow through etc., because this morning we woke up to another wet bed and more bedding to wash.  I am forcing myself to finish it BEFORE I head out the door.  In the meantime, I'll bake some bread.

Don't let me fool you into thinking that I am a fabulous baker of bread.  I let them machine do the work.  I just add the ingredients.

As the mother of teenage boys and the keeper of the checkbook, I was becoming increasingly alarmed at our rising grocery bills.  On non-school days, my family can knock off a loaf of bread a day.  At nearly $4 a loaf, I was watching our grocery money being eaten up very quickly.

So I pulled out the breadmaker that I had nearly retired a half a dozen times and found it a permanent home on the countertop.

I normally make a loaf of bread every day or so.  I have found that if I bake it, they will eat it.  I can throw the ingredients into the breadmaker in less than five minutes and it generally costs me less than a dollar a loaf.  I know exactly what is in that bread because I made it.  Its so easy, its embarrassing.

Once that loaf is going and my laundry is under control, THEN I'll head out to the garden to build my compost pile and plant some potatoes.

My breadmachine is a hand-me-down from a friend looking to get more counterspace.  I thought of passing it on myself several times for the same reason, UNTIL I realized how cheaply I could make my family’s bread.

Family’s Favorite Bread Recipe

• 3 T. melted butter, cooled to room temperature
• 1 c. milk, room temperature
• 4 T. sugar
• 1 ½ t. salt
• 3 c. flour
• 2 ¼ t. yeast

1. Add the above ingredients to the breadmachine pan in the above order.
2. Follow breadmachine’s instructions for a 1 ½# loaf.