Goodbye Tiger

I bring sad news. My cat of near 20 years has passed on in his sleep. It is a melancholy knowledge. He was very old and had a very good life. We will miss him.

Idle hands

Justin has been immersed in his PS3 game Fallout 3 since the day we brought it home. I love watching him play it. It's very much like watching a movie for me, and I love to crochet and scrapbook with a movie on in the background so it works out great.

That said, Saturday was Shantelle's Baby shower! She had me all thinking Baby this and Baby that. So while I sat on the couch next to my gamer hubby, I made her baby a hat!


It's Sooooo Teeny! I had to put the key beside it as proof! Anyways, we're expecting company for dinner tonight so I should go get the house ready. Hope you're all well!

Lazy Friday

So this morning Madeline and I have been busy. We baked two loaves of white bread from scratch, and made our first attempt at Shortbread cookies. The bread recipe was awesome:

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

And I would recommend it to anyone.

Short breads need some work. But Madeline sure had fun making them so here are some pics to prove it.

Late Christmas

Due to all the running about, and not being in the country for Christmas this year, Justin and I decided that we would wait till our return from Canada before we bought our gifts for each other. So Last week I bought him a Playstation 3 and Fallout 3. He purchased himself Little Big Planet and an extra controller.

This past Saturday, we all went out looking for my Elliptical machine that I wanted, and found one at Walmart that was actually really decent and not crappy in construction. It's even a Gold's Gym machine.

So now we have a decent start at our own home gym. I have a Pilates mat and a small set of free weights as well. I used the machine this morning and burned 450 calories in under an hour. Lets see how much pain I'll be in tomorrow. :P

We have also started our own version of the Spin Challenge today. We tried to start it last week, but things just didn't work out that way. So here goes. Exercise, no eating meals that we do not prepare ourselves and no paying for a gym membership.



~S

Delay

Sorry for the delay in an update. We got home on Monday at Midnight and have been working solid since then. I grabbed a Carpet Steamer that was on sale at Target and have been working on the carpets at home. We'll go out and look at Elliptical machines this weekend, that's what I asked for as a Christmas Present.

I'll make a more detailed update sometime this weekend if I can. We're off to celebrate Tony's birthday tonight.

Hope all is well!

~S

A Few Pictures of Our Canadian Christmas, To Tide You Over. :P