euphrasyne

I lost one of my cats last February and I still cry over him. It is amazing how much they are family.

Are you having problems with the bread being dense or the rolls with the dough or both? Are you using a bread maker or by hand? I'm assuming you mean the bread, so possible problems in order of likelihood: 1. Too much flour. Sift it with a sifter or fluff with a spoon before you measure. Be careful adding more flour when you kneed. 2. Over or under kneading the dough. Risen but dense over, flatter but dense is under. 3. Rising --is the yeast good? Are you letting it rise at a good temperature for the correct amount of time? It may be too cold in your house for it. Turn on your oven to 200F. Turn it off. Let it rise in the oven that is off. It needs time to rise properly, but if it overrises, it will collapse and be dense and slightly flatter but still risen. Bolillo recipes are very similar to traditional French recipes. No added oil or fat. Is the French bread recipe you are using truly French or does it have added milk/sugar like Italian? Make sure it is just flour, salt, water, yeast and just enough sugar/honey to rise the yeast for a true French or bolillo recipe. Also, you want steam to create that expected crispy crust with French or bolillo, so put a pan with a few ice cubes into the oven on a lower shelf or beside it if you have to when you bake it. Basic French scant cup water 1 T sugar 3/4 t salt 2 1/4 c flour 1 1/2 t yeast Basic Italian 1 1/2 T oil scant cup water * 1 T sugar 1 t salt 1 T dry milk* 2 1/4 c flour 1 1/2 t yeast herbs to taste (*can use warm milk instead of water and dry milk) **a scant cup means take out about a T or 2. Sometimes I cheat and add 1 T oil to the French. It comes out with the crispy crust, but the inside is slightly softer and I like it better that way.

That is beautiful! I wish my hands didn't hurt so much so I could do more fine needlework.

The toilet chair doesn't have to roll in an out. We set up ours in the bathroom and it never moved. When he sat down, he just sat down on it rather than the toilet. It isn't very wide and fits in *most small bathrooms. It folds up and unfolds to get into the room for the initial set up.

They make toilet chairs that sit over a toilet. Like this one: Amazon.com: OasisSpace Rolling Shower Chair 400 lb, Rolling Commode Transport Chair with Wheels and Padded Seat for Handicap, Elderly, Injured and Disabled: Health & Personal Care . If you have a sick or heavy person, they can really save the plumbing. We had to use these when my heavier uncle got sick years ago. I cleared up all the xmas stuff and got the kids started on virtual school again. The baby is growing like a weed; she is going through formula and diapers at a greater rate than expected. I'm still upset that my milk never came in enough to exclusively breastfeed, but it is what it is. DH is going to make a shopping trip after work today to pick up some more "coo and poo" items. She can almost roll over --90% of the way but the last elbow cannot quite get over--, so mobility is in the near future and babyproofing is happening. Both older kids have almost killed themselves on the stairgate we put in at the bottom of the stairs. It stays open if you leave it all the way (which I like), but swings itself closed with the slightest nudge and took a beating from the teens. Overall, I am glad that it is there but the cats and kids find it annoying. One of my internal hard drives failed (not C:\, I have 3 internal drives) and I was concerned because I keep collections on that one. Books, recipes, planner pages, excel sheets, etc. It was a 4Tb drive that was about half full. DH ordered a SATA to USB converter so I could get the data off it, but I needed some of the data now. He made fun of me because I insisted on removing the drive, putting it in a ziplock baggie and tossing it in the freezer for a few hours. He was laughing at me less when it worked and I spent all day yesterday moving data over to the other internal 4Tb drive. He looked into the issue and decided that I need a new internal HD for everyday data storage. My solid state C is fine, but he is replacing the damaged one with a newer, bigger 8Tb drive with double cache so it should be much faster when loading and moving files. I'm not sure if the future looks more like Little House, Mad Max, or Star Trek, but I'm flexible.

If you like detailed historical fiction similar to Auel, Alice Brochardt is amazing. Her silver wolf series is great -- Shapeshifters in ancient Rome so you get a bit of fantasy and a bit of history. She also has an Arthurian series about Guinevere that ties into the characters from the Silver Wolf series.

LOL its all good

I love to bake even though I cannot eat too much of it myself anymore It depends on what type of bread you want to make. Red wheat has a higher gluten content than white which makes for much better rustic type bread loaves; it has a slightly nuttier flavor. White has less gluten which does better in say ....dinner rolls; it has a slightly sweeter flavor because of the lack of gluten. The red will have a slightly nuttier flavor. Soft wheat has less protein with a crumblier, more powdery like texture and is better for crackers, cakes, and pie crust. If you are mostly making sourdough, some type of french/italian bread, or other older recipe type stuff, you want any of the hard red. Winter/spring are about the same and are really just grown in different places. The hard red will also do better if you are eating wheat meat (seitan) for vegetarian or survival reasons. Unless I want to sell a bunch of cakes, I stick with red--it is a better all purpose wheat with more applications. Despite the current 'war on gluten,' it is actually better to have it (for most people.) Gluten is basically protein and gives the bread its dense structure and keeps it from crumbling. My best brown bread recipe calls for adding in extra gluten and flax. I used this website to explain the differences to one of my kids last month: A Guide to Common Wheat Flours | Serious Eats Your flat breads can be made with any type of wheat but for may do better with a white--just like biscuits. I might suggest getting small batches of each and using them to make different things --red for bread and white for biscuits/cakes/tortillas.

You are right, CG. I didn't look closely enough. It is early here and I need more coffee. I have these: Amazon.com: WD 2TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive, Black - WDBYVG0020BBK-WESN: Electronics but I got it a few years back from best buy and only paid about $30 for it. (Red one in pic) I'd buy more of these. I like it because the color makes it easy to find and identify. I have a Toshiba 3TB one that looks sort of like this one, but again I only paid around $25~30 for it: Amazon.com: Toshiba Canvio Basics 3.0 1 TB Portable Hard Drive (Black)(HDTB210XK3BA): Electronics (small black one in pic) I like this one best because it loads fast and is small. I also have some 5TB seagate ones that have to plug in but I hate those. DO NOT BUY, they are TERRIBLE and I want to throw them out. They are similar to this, but a 5TB in this brand and product: Amazon.com: Seagate Desktop 8TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 For PC Laptop And Mac, 1-year Rescue Service (STGY8000400): Computers & Accessories (large black one in pic)

Its free storage for the most part. Get an external hard drive and update it every so often. I use the google storage to transfer things between devices, but you get what you pay for and free storage is free storage; it is almost always better to back up your own stuff. Amazon has 3TB storage for under $27 Amazon.com: Portable External Hard Drive USB3.0 SATA HDD Storage (160G, Gray): Computers & Accessories

Welcome back If anyone is needing help due to corona, the following links may be helpful in the US. COVID-19 Claims Reimbursement to Health Care Providers and Facilities for Testing, Treatment, and Vaccine Administration for the Uninsured | Official web site of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration (hrsa.gov) Government Response to Coronavirus, COVID-19 | USAGov Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients of NIH Funding | grants.nih.gov Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information | Official web site of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration (hrsa.gov) The last link has several places where health care providers can apply directly for assistance.

The bread maker I had before was a Breadman Ultimate and I also had a Breadman Corner Bakery, but the heating element finally went out. The new one is a KBS Pro Amazon.com: KBS Pro Stainless Steel Bread Machine, 2LB 17-in-1 Programmable XL Bread Maker with Fruit Nut Dispenser, Nonstick Ceramic Pan& Digital Touch Panel, 3 Loaf Sizes 3 Crust Colors, Reserve& Keep Warm Set: Kitchen & Dining It was cheaper during the 'black friday' sales on Amazon. I haven't used it enough times to recommend it yet, but it does seem to have a billion bells and whistles with lots of manipulatable rise times. I just need to figure out how to change the different cycles. When looking for a bread machine, you typically get what you pay for. Things to take into consideration: What size loaf it makes: I need one that does at least 1 & 2 lb because I make a lot of both sizes. Crust Color or manual bake time manipulation: Do you need one that changes bake time? I need to adjust the bake time. A darker or lighter crust option will fix that if you cannot manually manipulate the actual bake time. Shape and size of the machine: I didn't care because I had a nice spot for it, but some people do. Shape and size of the bread pan: some make taller loaves and some make shorter loaves. I found that the taller loaf does not rise as well and I prefer a shorter, wider pan. It makes a more square loaf of bread, but I'm ok with that. Noise level: some people care, I don't. The breadman was very loud, but he KBS seems quiet. Bread programs: hit a button and have the cycle you need just start--ie, white, wheat, french, sourdough, dessert, fruit, etc. I love this feature. I use french a lot. Manual Program: ability to input specific cycle times. KBS doesn't have it and it is usually a very expensive option. If I could afford it, I'd get a zojirushi, but I can't so... If you prefer to mix your own dough and just want to minimize things you have to clean and have less sticking issues, I recommend this (I got mine much cheaper and this price seems a bit high to me: Amazon.com: Lekue Silicone Bread Maker, Model #, Brown: Bread Tubes: Kitchen & Dining I have a Lekue. I mix the dough in it, let it rise in it, then bake it in it. One thing to wash and the bread DOES NOT stick. ever.

Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes 1c flour 2 T sugar 2 t baking powder 1/2 t cinnamon 1 egg 1c applesauce 1 t vanilla 1-3 T water as needed. Mix Wet into dry and add enough water to consistency. Let sit 5m and fry as usual. *notes, batter will be thick and puffy, it pours thick and comes out with a moist texture in the middle. I made a quadruple batch and they raved over it. Flash freeze leftovers and stack in a freezer bag for later meals. The individual applesauce cups are roughly 1/2 c each; I used 8 in a 4 batch. Use flavored applesauce to change the flavor of the pancake. Change cinnamon to another spice if desired.

DD12 goes to school 2 days per week. She missed the bus one day last week and I had to take her. That is the only time I have been outside my house in about 4 weeks now. I am not unhappy about that. It is amazing how fast 'weird, anti-social, agoraphobe' can turn into 'poster child for what everyone should be doing.' My therapist praised me for staying home with my new baby (televisit on google duo.) Yea...that was a really hard change....not. Anyway its nice to know that I'm no longer crazy, just very safe. I've been trying to catch up on the cleaning and get ready for the holidays. I'm concerned I may finally run out of wrapping paper (haven't bought any in 3 years now) this year and need to get more. I'm trying to rotate inventory and use up things that need using. The school keeps sending us food that the kids will not eat and insane amounts of applesauce. I found a pancake recipe calling for applesauce that everyone RAVED over and it used up 8 containers because I made a quadruple batch and froze half of it for breakfasts later. They didn't like what I did with the carrots, so I washed off the ginger seasoning from the leftovers and dumped them into a chicken soup--that went over just fine. I broke down and got some new kitchen stuff off Amazon. I got a new bread maker. I'm not sure if I like the way the controls work, but the test loaf I made came out fine. Biscuit cutter circle set in 12 sizes, hollow steel rolling pin, steel scraper/copper, and a flour sifter. I cannot eat much bread, but the family loves it and I need to start making it again for them. I've had my kitchen aid stand mixer since 2000. 20 years and it still works great. I have almost all the attachments and use them regularly. January I'm going to focus on making things homemade and using only things I have on hand.

The older teen passed her test and got her learner's permit so we have a new driver in the house. I've spent this week trying to normalize the routine with moderate success. The baby is sleeping a 6-7 hour stretch at night now so all things are possible. I've been thinking about my ex-FIL a lot lately. He died about two years ago around Thanksgiving. He was a 7th generation Methodist minister retired and got his PhD in psych to spend the second half of his life working with MR children. He basically preached when he talked, but it was in a good way and he was a jovial guy. One story he told over and over through the years was about the rain in Texas. They lived on the edge of the desert and were often in a bad drought. Everyone liked the local preacher to pray for rain and said he had a line to God on it. Well one Sunday he comes in and starts to pray for rain but stops and tells the congregation that they really want the rain, they are prepared to ask God for it. "But you don't actually believe it will happen. You want this so bad that you are actually praying for it and depending on it, but you do not BELIEVE that it will happen. How do I know you don't BELIEVE? Not a single one of you brought an umbrella to church today." I prepare for the worst, but do I ever prepare for the best? What do I actually Believe in? (from a non religious aspect) That umbrella haunts me sometimes.

The old fashioned way to clean problematic areas without a bottle brush is to use rice. Add soap, water, and a small amount dry rice then shake, shake, shake until it is clean. I cooked too much and we had a nice Thanksgiving lunch. Leftovers for dinner and then we put the tree up and decorated it. I'll finish the rest of the winter decorations today. The isolation is wearing on DD17 and she got into it with everyone. Yea, teenagers. This too shall pass. DD12 asked me, 'are holidays always this stressful?' I said yes. My favorite holiday is groundhog day. There is a giant, fluffy rat, and I don't have to do anything. Also, no one notices anything I do or don't do and rarely does family feel the need to be super dramatic and show their @$$.

I once told my aunt that the ramp was for me not her. "I am just so out of shape I cannot help like I need to. I need this ramp for *me* so *I* can get things done right. Please help me with this. I know you need it too, but with both of us needing it, it just made so much sense." It worked and we got a ramp at her house.

I used to work in insurance for a living and my mom did provider appeals for BCBS for a long time. I worked for a self insured, a high retention insured, and normal type insured. I can tell you hands down if they went self insured it is not better and they only went that way because they have some sort of exceptionally high claim rate that makes traditional insurance more expensive for them. When you see 'self insured' it either means the owner has control issues or they have severe claim issues and are trying to manipulate the business model from the inside. It NEVER works out that way, but companies remain convinced that they can save money by adjusting the claims themselves.

*Most 2 car garages are 20x20 so I'm comfortable with my 34ft clothesline which is front to back not 'all lines together.' I currently only have it extended a bit over half where it is. I can fit 2 king sheets and 3 pair of big men's pants per line with the current (half) extension. King blankets and quilts are heavy so I prefer to do only 1 blanket per line with lighter weight sheets or such on the rest of the line. The spacing is roughly the same as the old metal T bar clothesline I had at my previous house. The tension is not as tight as I might like, but so far it has not been an issue. Single lines would be easier to change the tension, but I like that the retractable gives me 5 with a smaller hook point as one end is attached to a tree. It hooks in the middle and the 'arms' hang out past the tree. We did a big grocery trip on Saturday so I should only need 1 more grocery trip close to Christmas to finish out this year. We went to Food Lion, Aldis, and BJs. Toilet paper was scarce and paper towels were non-existent. Aldi's had a few (less than 10) of the paper towel 6 packs so we got one. They had 3 self check out lines and 2 registers open at BJs. We waited in line for about half an hour to pay when we were done. We will eat out of the pantry/freezer for the next 4-6 weeks. If things are calm enough then, I'll do another big trip. If they are super crazy, we will stick with the pantry/freezer for another 4-6 weeks after that and revise as needed. Seriously, I am not leaving this house after the hearing aid fiasco. I mean it this time. Nothing got done yesterday because I was still overwhelmed from Saturday's trip. DH is taking off early today to take baby to her dr. appt. I cannot face leaving and she is due for shots. Today I will get the dishes and laundry under control even if they topple and kill me. Mt. St. Laundry is about to be conquered.

We have this clothesline Amazon.com: Household Essentials 17145-1 Retractable Clothesline 5-Line Dryer | Indoor or Outdoor Use | Hang Wet or Dry Laundry: Home & Kitchen It is mostly metal and retraceable. I have it attached to a fence and a tree in the back yard. I've had it about a year and am very happy with it.

I have an old crop n style (scrapbook tote) that is basically a small square suitcase that rolls with a handle. I use it to carry things in from the car sometimes. It rolls up steps just fine without a ramp. A ramp would be nice, but it still works quite well with just steps. I use it like you would a furniture dolly when using it. If I don't have kids to haul everything back and forth, I use that. This is exactly what mine looks like down to the pixels, but I've had mine about 15 years and I think I paid $50 for it. I think most of the grocery carts are similar without the extra flaps and small parts. https://www.joann.com/crop-in-style-xxl-totes/6772131.html

I had a Soap Opera Day and I never ever want to leave my house ever again. 430 get up with baby and get the ball rolling for the day. 730 get up kids and make sure DD17 has all hearing aid supplies. 8 feed baby, make sure DD17 has all hearing aid supplies, get DD17 and baby ready to leave 830 make sure DD17 has all hearing aid supplies (see a theme here?) 9 attempt to walk out door. Baby vomits all over carseat and outfit. DD17 clean carseat. I clean baby. 9:10 attempt to leave. van will not crank. Call husband frantically asking if emergency battery would work in this situation. He walks me through process. 9:25 Van cranks, I have grease all over my hands, I wipe them on a burp cloth and jump into van. Halfway down road I realize I've left garage door up and decide... 'eff it, too late to do anything.' 9:40 no traffic and we are making great time. On other side of tunnel DD17 yells "OH NO I FORGOT MY HEARING AID BLUETOOTH PIECE" the piece we are going to the doctor about. 'eff it, too late to do anything.' 9:45 We discover parking is insane, drive all the way around EVMS looking for parking, end up a half mile away in the campus parking garage. 9:55 Go into building and are told to stand to side because we CANNOT GO IN with the baby because of covid. People gawk at me. We are now 'those people.' Baby is in a wrap on my chest sleeping peacefully. More like a doll than a baby. 10 am told to reschedule when I dont have baby. I state that I never have childcare and do i need to find a different audiologist? I'm being very nice, but panicky and anxious. Literally, there is no one who can watch the baby. Seriously I'm alone to the point where DD17 and DD12 had to stay alone while I had baby in hospital. 1015 After asking who I can complain to (nicely b/c front door people are just following orders) they relent and let me in with baby 1030 Tears are trickling down my cheek because of panic attack in doctor office. I tell them to ignore me and I cannot control it. 1115 We will need to come back in 6 weeks to deal with new hearing aids. dr. tells me to just wear baby in next time (exactly like this time) and wear a big coat over her and smuggle her in. ......seriously? 1140 On way back to van, I see baby hat on sidewalk (very unique hat, definitely mine) where apparently DD17 dropped it out of diaper bag on sidewalk on the previous 1/2 mile walk from parking garage to office. I put it back in bag and pray no one thinks I'm taking random hats off ground as a billion people walk around me. we make it back to van and it cranks just fine. I do not need emergency jumper that I put in car earlier. 12 on way home guy cuts in front of me with no notice, I slam on breaks and diaper bag on floor goes flying and stuff goes flying all over floor. DD17 begs for McDonalds and I explain that I am going home and that is not happening...repeatedly. 1 home, all kids fed, baby who has been a sleeping dream during the entire fiasco decides to become fussy. 330 finally got super fussy baby to nap on a blanket on my desk right in front of me. I am trapped at desk b/c today might be the day she decides to roll. I decide to play a video game on computer (keyboard is under desk and I can easily see monitor over sleeping baby.) 4 Husband comes home, sees me at computer. baby wakes up, DH asks about housework then takes baby for a few minutes then puts her on floor playmat. 420 I pick fussy baby up off playmat and talk to dh who also had a bad day. I realize that hat is not in diaper bag as I tell DH about that part. Is it in van from slamming on breaks or did DD17 drop it somewhere on sidewalk again? Things begin to unravel. 6 Older kids have a fend for themselves dinner and go about their evening plans. Unraveling continues for me, DH, and baby. 7 More unraveling. I begin to cry and tell DH I'm giving baby bath and going to bed. 8 baby has been bathed and fed and I coddle her on bedroom couch. DH decides to cut up some sausage and cheese for both of us to try to stop the unraveling. 10 I finally get to sleep. 3am back up with baby and starting today. It can't be worse than yesterday It was awful when I was caught up in it yesterday and it is still terrible today, but I can look at it almost like comedy of errors now. But I'm still not leaving again. NEVER. DH is just going to have to take off work and deal with anything else away from the house because I am NOT leaving.

This weekend was very productive; we worked on several long running projects. DH fixed the broken jack on the RV and added an electric jack. He got the ball rolling on fixing the awning. We cleaned out 3 kitchen cabinets, cut shelf liner to fit and reorganized the storage containers and bakeware that was in them. The kids and I cleaned all the appliances on the long kitchen counter. We opened up all the windows to air out the house and vacuumed all the ducts with the shop vac to get rid of the dust. The cooking was hit and miss last week. I did manage to use up a LOT of leftovers and bits and pieces that needed to be used before they went bad. The school gives out free weekday lunches and breakfasts to the kids for the rest of the year (comes in a large bag 2x per week for home use), but some of it is nasty and some of it the kids will not eat. I'm having a hard time thinking up ways to reuse some of it. Each month, I get roughly 6 packs of BBQ chicken wings that DD17 will not eat no matter what. Today, DD12 is going to wash off all the nasty BBQ sauce, coat them in homemade buffalo sauce and cook them that way to see if they become edible. I've managed to dump some of the bland vegetables into soup, the blueberries into muffins, the uneaten apples and oranges became jam. I haven't bought milk since this started--we're just using it out of the individual cartons and I've frozen a few. The wholegrain poptarts and the zee zee's cereal bars are both completely nasty and no one will eat them. I hate to throw them out. Maybe the squirrels would want them? Duds: Mexican lasagna (with tortillas) Mixed reactions: BBQ cornbread cassarole, Black beans and rice (instead of red beans and rice), blueberry muffins, fruit compote Hits: Crispy salsa chicken, Snickers trifle, Lemon poppyseed muffins I need to sit down and make a meal plan for this week. I am running behind schedule.

Littlesister, When DD12 was 8 she had to have 6 teeth pulled (she had a double row of shark teeth) at once and they sent her to Dr. Jett over by the Little Caesars on Western Branch Blvd & Tyre Neck. He was very old fashioned and his practice was in a converted antique house. When DD17 had her wisdom teeth out they sent her to Dr. Szakaly in that blue complex at the corner of Western Branch Blvd and Taylor Road. If Midgette can't do what you need, maybe one of the others can.

Littlesister, we go to Midgette Familly Dentistry. Four of us have cycled through in the last 3 months and they are mostly back to business as usual. We like them for everyone. I never have teeth issues, but DH has had to have several things done and likes them a lot. They are across from the small Food Lion at the corner of Taylor Road and 664 near the YMCA and bowling alley.