lessons learned

As I was making bread today, I realized how retarded (not literally but you know what I'm talking about) I am. I was thinking about how when I was baking bread with my Aunt last week, she doesn't even measure her stuff. She just knows how much to use. I think that is so amazing! I am a measure it freak. I measure everything I bake. Even my laundry detergent I measure. Okay, well that's partly because the pre-measurable pump on it is not working properly, but I don't just add a random amount to the wash. It's a bad habit. I always worry that when I'm cooking with my Aunt that what we are making won't turn out, but it always does. She is a wonderful cook. It makes me realize I have a lot to learn. I guess if you bake enough, you know how much 1 cup of flour looks like, or 3/4 cup of sugar looks like. I believe that there are recipes for a reason. I guess that's why I'm not a professional baker or chef. My skills are in cleaning and organizing other people's houses...which is ironic given the last post. I can organize and clean and actually really love doing it for other people, but for myself....that's a different story. When I organize my house, Matt asks me for about 2 days where things are. Crazy, I know.

Tanner and I have just been hanging out the last 2 days. I am finally taking him to the Doctor this afternoon to be checked out. I would rather do it now than have to take him to the hospital this weekend when my sister is here. I have a feeling he has bronchitis (or however you spell it). It would be the first time if he did have it. We have a terrible time at getting colds. I think it was partly because we moved and it was a new environment and we had a couple of colds at the beginning of the year. Though none of us have had a cold since April or May. So I guess that's good. Tanner's had 2 bladder infections since May. They were right after each other so that wasn't good. But I guess not being sick for 5 or 6 months is good. We went through a period when he was 2 that he was sick with a cold or something else about every 6 weeks. And last year, he wasn't hardly sick at all. I think it helped that I switched him to Soy Milk and took him off of Cow's milk. I know that is a huge topic to discuss, so I won't. I know everyone has their opinions and I have found that it has helped us. Not everyone thinks it's good for you or thinks that it's helpful, but I do. My friend sent me an article about Soy Milk verses Cow's Milk and I found it quite interesting. Anyway, I have found that it helped him not get sick.

I really enjoy being more of a homemaker and doing things like baking bread and making jam. I would really like to get into canning. I am hoping next year I can do it. I need to get some more mason jars. If any of you have any that you are not using anymore or have excess and would like to give away, let me know. I am more than happy to take them off your hands. I would have made more jam this year but I didn't have enough jars so next year I'll do more.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll update you later as to what the Doctor says about Tanner.