Sister Sourdough

This is my sister-in-law Sandy. She is Andrew's oldest sister and I knew I loved her personality the second I met her. Her teenage son loves to make videos and Sandy is a top-notch cook so the two collaborated to make her first cooking video on YouTube. Don't expect measurements of any kind (um, do you guys need a publicist?) or a finished project! Just sit back and enjoy the entertainment.

Sandy's Sourdough Bread Tutorial

Thrifting

Some new baby girl things home from the thrift store. I got this nesting instinct to clean these clothes (I won't admit how many hot wash cycles I use) and arrange them in cute baskets for baby's arrival. They only last in the basket long enough for a photo since Reade or Blake usually dumps all the contents out so they can pretend they are in space jail. Fleeting moments of cute before real life sets in. Hm, that sounds a lot like parenting.

I am curious to see what outfits get worn and which ones stay on the hangers:


A mini pregnancy diary:
* I have been having some serious Braxton Hicks contractions to warm my body up for the big day. One was so big I had to breathe through it and grasp on to my Costco shopping cart.
* A scene I replay in my head 100 times a day: I take a crochet hook, size E or F, and dig deep into my rear end and pull my sciatic nerve out with my bare hands.
* I have entered into that phase where I lean up against a counter and accidentally knock things over with my belly.
* I have no motivation to take another picture of myself pregnant.

Lorax

Blake's grandma took him to the movie theaters for the first time for a grandma/grandson afternoon to see The Lorax. He loved the experience and had a blast:


3-D glasses and everything:


My doggy bag of popcorn traveling home with them:


Ellen took Blake back to her house and we met up with them once Reade woke up from his 3+ hour nap. Andrew made some delicious sourdough loaves to go with dinner:


Looking forward to another week of fun.

More Products

Here are a few more products I saw yesterday that caught my attention.

Why did I find these bunnies in hutches so fascinating? They seemed so life like as they all sat there begging people to take them home:


This was at Bed Bath & Beyond and I like how it acts like bed bugs would not crawl up into it for a ride home to your house:

Amazon

This post is to review an item I bought at Costco that I found thanks to the reviews on Amazon.com. Blake sleeps on a blow up mattress in our bedroom when guests stay overnight. We have been through two blow up mattresses and I got fed up with them popping after the fifth use. I know I can patch the things, but they seem to blow out somewhere else on the next inflation. Andrew told me he used to sleep on a trifold foam mattress whenever he slept over at his grandparents. I looked them up and couldn't believe that they are $200 from futon shops. My kids are little so I decided to go the cheap route. They have them on amazon.com for $65, but they looked so cheap. For the first time, I read the eight comments attached to the reviews. Someone posted that you can find a similar product at Costco for $48. That sounded better to me. I called Costco the next day and the customer service woman told me they had 72 in stock. Let's just say they now have 71.

Unfolded:


Trifold:


Info:


Item # (from Mountain View, CA Costco):


It is not the firmest mattress, but will definitely do the job.

Scones

I had a play date with our old neighbors today and decided to bring everyone some scones since my lemon tree is full of ripe fruit. The recipe was super simple to use and turned out yummy.

Reade got out his stool and tried his hardest to reach those lemons:


I decided to save time by using the Cuisinart:


Who needs a scone pan anyway?:


Packaged and ready to go:


I found the recipe here. I doubled the amount and prepared it my way:

3 CUPS white flour
1 CUP whole wheat flour
1/2 CUP sugar
2 Tsp baking powder
2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1 CUP chilled butter (2 sticks)
1 CUP sour milk (1 cup milk with 3 tsp. lemon juice added - let sit for 5 minutes)
Zest of two lemons
Additional sugars

Add all ingredients into Cuisinart. Pulse slowly until the dough sticks together. Dump onto floured counter and knead until it all sticks together. Split dough into two balls and shape each one into a flat disc about and inch thick. Cut with dough cutter (like a pizza) to get eight pieces each. Arrange on two, oiled cookie sheets with enough space since they will puff out a bit. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

There was lemon juice left over so I added about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the mix and a bit of water. It was really runny, but I lightly brushed the mixture over the top of the cooled scones and then sprinkled them with sugar. This way they aren't super dry and have a tiny amount of sweetness on top.

Clover

I need to get cracking on my St. Patrick's Day crafts/leprechaun traps. This is one of my favorite holidays and there is so much to do before that leprechaun tries to make off with anything he deems lucky from our house:

Can clover stand up to my brilliant idea involving a glue gun? We shall see:

Photo

Permission was granted from our neighbors to gather some clover from their yard for terrariums/traps:

Photo

You have to check out this blog post. Kind of sickens me to think about eating it, but what a great idea: