A Productive Weekend

Last weekend was our first at home with no guest, David doesn’t count at this point, and nowhere to go. I took full advantage of the time to cook, bake and sew.

Friday Jack and I decided to make some dinner rolls to go with the potroast we were making.   “The River Cottage Bread Handbook” had just arrived in the mail the previous day so I was very motivated. Baking with kids is an art form I’ve decided. Here is what happened that afternoon.

Jack was kneading the dough as I was checking the recipe when I looked over and saw him using his face to knead the dough… “Jack what are you doing? Don’t use your face, buddy. That’s dirty.” “Well, Kim, why didn’t you tell me?!” (in a very annoyed voice) -funny- His hands were full of wet dough and he decided he’s done helping so he’s going to “wash them.” To him this means to use the clean dish rag and wipe his hands on it and get the dough all over the floor and the dish towel. “Jack you are getting that everywhere.  Wash your hands with warm water so it will all come off.”  So he gets his stool and stands on it to wash his hands. Meanwhile I’m still kneading the dough with sticky icky hands. Then I hear him. “Kim…. I’m slipping….” and I see Aydan slipping out of her chair at the same time (it was on the ground so it wouldn’t have been too bad of a fall but defiantly not a good thing). So I’m holding Aydan with  my foot in her chair so she doesn’t fall out and using my gross hand to hold the stool from slipping out from under Jack.  David came pretty quickly to rescue us all.  Once we were all settled down I threw the dough in the Kitchen Aid and laughed at my attempt to knead dough with my hands.  The whole process took about 2 hours. They were ready just in time for dinner and were very good although they were a bit dense. I will let them proof for longer next time.

We decided that we would wake up early and go to some yard sales on Saturday morning. Patrick went on Craigslist and mapped out the whole morning for us. We went to a few different neighborhoods and checked out a few different yard sales, a massive community yard sale and one estate sale. It’s crazy how once you have a child you want to have every good book in the world for them. Well, North Arlington yard sales are the place to find them and for a good deal. We came away with a pile of children’s books and a few other odds and ends. The best part of the yard selling was finding some really cheap Wii, XBox 360 games, and some economic text books that we paid a total of $25 for and have already sold a few of them on Amazon for $50.  So we were able to pay for the other stuff we bought that day at the sales.  I know, it’s funny. We don’t do it to make money, we just like yard selling and it’s even nicer to do it for free.

Later that day I made a couple hot pads.  I found this fabric that I really liked at JoAnne’s and thought that it would be a fun pattern for something in the kitchen.  I thought they would make fun gifts. When I went online to find a pattern I googles, “Homemade Oven Mitt Pattern” the first thing to pop up was The Office Christmas episode… if you know what I’m talking about you’ll know how deflated I felt after seeing that. I kept on though, thinking it really wasn’t that bad of a gift… They turned out ok. I think they will be enjoyed by the people I give them to.

I really like having a slow Sunday morning and then heading off to church. I really don’t like being rushed on Sundays so we choose to go to the later service.  I made some scones for breakfast using the “The River Cottage Bread Handbook.” The scones turned out well. They needed more sugar but were good anyway.

Sunday was also a big day for Aydan. She tried her Johnny Jumper for the first time and ate her first food, a very very thin dish of avocado! Both she took to slowly but has since gained some appreciation for them.

It was a great relaxing, productive and fun weekend.