Kids, I have found just want your unadulterated love. No matter how you show it, they love receiving your attention- on their terms; even to the point of our distraction!
My boy is home for half term currently and is part of why I feel I have no time left in my days of late; as I'm trying to keep him forever occupied. However, I just happened to find a project that covers a lot of good points all around and has now seemed to become a favorite practice for all of us every few days. What is this secret, magical, causing no arguments, encourages camaraderie, project that we all enjoy; you ask? Bread; that's right I said bread!
It happened after an evening of watching telly together, for those of you who know remember back about 2-3 nights ago when a certain cottage farming program was on, and they were discussing making bread; not in a machine but by the old fashioned, do it yourself, by hand method. I initially looked at and long fully lusted after having such a talent; then I quickly had a nightmarish vision of the one time in my life I attempted to make bread and well- lets just say it made a fabulous door stop; so I dare not do another attempt at this mystical bread making as I care about my family to much to harm them in this way. Much to my dismay, by the end of the show my husband looked at me and said lets give that a go, I just looked at him and said yes, you go ahead with that!
The next day, before I realized what my hands were really doing, my husband walked into our kitchen to find me; radio- blasting rock tunes, my hair pulled crazily into a ponytail and me, elbow deep in dough with an "I'm going to conquer this" look of determination on my face! I swear, he tried not to hide his squelching smirk on his face. But I trooped on, then my 6 year old ran in, "What ya doing Mum?" "Wrestling with dough", I said. He raised his eyes at me over his glasses and said "Good luck with that!" Off he ran away. Blowing hair off my brow, I carried on then sat down with a book during the "proofing" time.
By the end of everything we actually had, I'm pleasant to say, a half decent loaf of fresh baked bread! My son exclaimed that "poofing" time, no I didn't misspell he said poof, was cool and could he try it next? Then my husband chirped in; maybe next time you could try this kind of pan, or this type of bread. So I threw the gauntlet down and said we're all having a bread off, every few days one of us will make a loaf of bread and compare it. My son loved that idea, being a boy and loving to get his hands grubby, while my husband loving a competition, agreed with a boyish grin of self satisfaction!
Yesterday was our sons turn making bread and I have to say his, is so much better than my attempt. He really got into and tried out all sorts of ninja moves on the dough to beat it into submission; then massaged the dough to relax it, so it could "poof" properly. He also found he loves baking now! So add another life skill to his ever strong bow of success, we're all getting nourished with healthy food, and we have immensely enjoyed tasting, while critiquing, every ones bread attempts. All of this without any arguments about life; in fact I'd say we've been doughed over to a state of pure bliss! Find something similar and to your likes then give it a try; who knows what joys you'll find. Thanks for the encouragment Hugh!
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Prepping Through Life; Slice, Chop!
Even though I have not been sitting down to my screen writing the last few days it doesn't mean that I have not been getting a swift kick from life in making me see it's lessons to be learned from!
Anyone who has ever lived with someone; can probably relate to the "how" and "why would I do this to myself?" thinking! At first living together is lovely and sometimes a dream come true; only to later realize uh, hold on, I have to change the way I've been happily doing things for "x" amount of years just because of someone else? I want to know who decreed that was a formal rule of proper living!
I must care about my other half dearly, more to the point, he must have the patience of a Saint to care about me just as much; as we have been together through some pretty tough spots together- my headstrong ways usually don't help add to the mix in a delightful way either. Yet, miraculously we still are quite keen of each others company. But there are times I look at him and wonder "Who the hell are you?" Only to realize later in the day, crap, I probably owe him an apology; that is exactly the case circa 3-4 days ago!
To be honest I could not even tell you what the whole palaver was about now but it did turn into me probably doing a bit of self sabotage and what would have been a lovely notion ended up with "us", namely me, not seeing eye to eye about something; thanks to my fiery temperament!
During "our", namely me, cooling off time I started to grab items out of the fridgerator to get dinner on. After the first 5 minutes of frantic pounding and demon chopping the poor, unsuspecting vegetables, I started to slow down and my mind started to wander a bit. I mean, I knew what I was doing, with very large- sharp, knife in hand, but repetitive motion, I found, has a tendency to chill me out and I can relax and start to think deeply. I thought of the stupidity of the "incident" and realized I was probably being a lot more selfish than I should have been, and that at the end of the day; did it all really matter? Well, no, I concluded it didn't really matter and I was getting bent for a very silly reason instead of looking at the positive in the situation; one of my many downfalls.
So as I was prepping the salad for tea that night I realized open communication is the way to go, I owed my other half an attempt at "I'm sorry" and wanted nothing more than to nourish my loved ones with something healthy and absolutely tasty for dinner; it seems to be one way I show my love- I feed those close to me with equisite food!
Bless his heart, when he saw me coming, he was a bit dubious with a " I wonder whats coming now" look. But I walked up to him, gave a hug and apologized for me being a selfish twit. With a smile creeping across his face "we", meaning me, sorted "things" out and ended up having a lovely evening together. So in future never underestimate the power of a good vegetable slicing to get your perspective in the right order about life. Or if you don't have any vegtables to hand, to demolish on your own accord, just order a salad and remember instead. :)
Anyone who has ever lived with someone; can probably relate to the "how" and "why would I do this to myself?" thinking! At first living together is lovely and sometimes a dream come true; only to later realize uh, hold on, I have to change the way I've been happily doing things for "x" amount of years just because of someone else? I want to know who decreed that was a formal rule of proper living!
I must care about my other half dearly, more to the point, he must have the patience of a Saint to care about me just as much; as we have been together through some pretty tough spots together- my headstrong ways usually don't help add to the mix in a delightful way either. Yet, miraculously we still are quite keen of each others company. But there are times I look at him and wonder "Who the hell are you?" Only to realize later in the day, crap, I probably owe him an apology; that is exactly the case circa 3-4 days ago!
To be honest I could not even tell you what the whole palaver was about now but it did turn into me probably doing a bit of self sabotage and what would have been a lovely notion ended up with "us", namely me, not seeing eye to eye about something; thanks to my fiery temperament!
During "our", namely me, cooling off time I started to grab items out of the fridgerator to get dinner on. After the first 5 minutes of frantic pounding and demon chopping the poor, unsuspecting vegetables, I started to slow down and my mind started to wander a bit. I mean, I knew what I was doing, with very large- sharp, knife in hand, but repetitive motion, I found, has a tendency to chill me out and I can relax and start to think deeply. I thought of the stupidity of the "incident" and realized I was probably being a lot more selfish than I should have been, and that at the end of the day; did it all really matter? Well, no, I concluded it didn't really matter and I was getting bent for a very silly reason instead of looking at the positive in the situation; one of my many downfalls.
So as I was prepping the salad for tea that night I realized open communication is the way to go, I owed my other half an attempt at "I'm sorry" and wanted nothing more than to nourish my loved ones with something healthy and absolutely tasty for dinner; it seems to be one way I show my love- I feed those close to me with equisite food!
Bless his heart, when he saw me coming, he was a bit dubious with a " I wonder whats coming now" look. But I walked up to him, gave a hug and apologized for me being a selfish twit. With a smile creeping across his face "we", meaning me, sorted "things" out and ended up having a lovely evening together. So in future never underestimate the power of a good vegetable slicing to get your perspective in the right order about life. Or if you don't have any vegtables to hand, to demolish on your own accord, just order a salad and remember instead. :)
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