Got Any Dough?

I am finally baking again! :) I tell you, just to press my hands in to that warm dough, yesterday, did something for me that is hard to explain. I made some french bread to take to my local writer's group's NaNoWriMo kick off party, and today I'm thinking of baking a quick batch of cookies. I have the stuff all laid out. After I write this post, I'm going to try to whip them up. But, back to yesterday.

I began, like any busy mom, by washing up several dishes. Then, while the water was running hot, I put 2 cups of it in a bowl and sprinkled in 2 tsps of active dry yeast. I let it sit for 10 mins while washing up some more dishes and putting a few away. Then, I measured out 2 tbsps of honey and stirred it in. I had never used honey in place of sugar, so this was a first for me. I mixed in 3 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour, one cup at a time. Then, I added 2 tsps of salt. After that, I mixed in another cup of flour with the spoon, before abandoning said spoon in place of my trusty hands. The lady who taught me to make bread used an electric mixer, but I'm glad I practiced with my hands, because now I know how it is supposed to feel.

When the fifth cup of flour turned out to be not enough, I added about a half a cup more, and kept on mixing. After several seconds, I plopped the mass on to my floured board and went to kneading. I kneaded and sweated, all the while talking to my girls. They asked questions like, "What shape are you going to make it? Who will get to eat it? How much longer before we can taste it? Can I help?" :)

When my dough felt smooth and silky, I placed it in an oiled bowl, covered it and washed more dishes. Then, I took a break. lol

During my break, I drank some hot tea, played on FaceBook, and ate a slice of pizza...and did more dishes.

An hour after placing a towel over my dough to keep in the warmth, I pulled the towel off and tried to separate it in to 3 loaves, as I was taught to do. But, I'm not a good divider, so I ended up with 5 loaves. All we needed now, I remember telling my girls, was a couple of fish and we'd have a dinner like Jesus served to the folks who came to hear him teach. So, as you can imagine, while I rolled out each ball of dough in to a circle-like shape, I told them the story of the 2 fish and 5 loaves that Jesus fed to the 5,000 men plus women and children.

When the circle-like shapes were ready, I rolled them up, pinched the edges and placed them on a piece of parchment paper that was lining my bread pan. I attempted to cut small slits in them to resemble french bread, but I didn't do a very good job. :)

I reached for a bowl to crack an egg in to, but instead of one bowl coming down, 3 bowls came down. I was not prepared, and they fell on to the counter, where 2 broke. One almost in half, the other had a crack in it, but still, I had to worry about cleaning up glass shards.

When that mess was finally cleaned up, I cracked an egg in to a bowl with no cracks in it, and separated the yoke from the white. Let me say here, that Faith is a big help during this kind of separation. lol I took a fork and beat that egg white before brushing it on to my prepared loaves. By now the oven was preheating to 350. Forgot to mention that part. Sorry. :)

I baked the bread at 350 for about 20 minutes. Since my oven is old and doesn't brown things well, I like using the egg white. Folks see a golden color and they have no idea that without that egg white, my bread would be as pale as the dough it came from. Ha!

So, last night at the NaNoWriMo party, my bread went well with the yummy soup that my friend Peggy brought. The bread was crumblier than it usually is, but I do not know if that is because I used honey or if I had too much flour in the dough. Could have ben the weather, too. You wouldn't think barometric pressure, temps outside and whether the wind is blowing or not would have anything to do with bread, but it does.

As for the party, it was fun. We ate dinner together, drank some yummy sweet tea and wrote on our works in progress. I wrote only about 792 words, but I was tired. Still tired this morning and thinking about a second cup of coffee. I shouldn't, but I might anyway.

Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend, and i hope you'll come back and see me on Monday.

Writing, Parties and FaceBook

Since my blog post about writer's block,
http://oldtimechristian.blogspot.com/2011/10/and-diagnosis-is-writers-block.html
I've actually started writing on that story. I still do not have a clear picture of what it will be, but that's all right. In fact, writing in bits and pieces was how "Wild Heart" and it's sequel "To Tame A Heart" came in to being. i like to describe it as a puzzle. Scenes, or rather parts of scenes come to me. I write them down, then over time I fill in the connecting paragraphs until…voila! A book! Ok, so I shouldn't say it's a book at that point; it's actually a first draft. lol But, you get what I'ms saying. Right? :)

A friend told me once that when she wrote her first book, she would sometimes write 60 pages at a time. Ok, y'all, I'd love to say that, but it's just not so. I did write around 2000 words last night, though. One night, while writing "To Tame A Heart", I stayed up until 5 in the morning, just writing, so maybe I got 60 pages out of that, but I don't think so. When I say I'm writing, that doesn't always mean I'm sitting still, typing away on the Mac Book. Sometimes, it means I'm editing something I wrote at an earlier date. Sometimes, it means I am reading what I wrote and trying to figure out where it came from. lol

Ok, I've talked enough about writing. On to another subject.

Took my girls to a Halloween/costume/fall party the other night. They had a blast. There were games, a contest, treat bags and pizza. Ahem, I'm still trying to figure out which was their favorite, the treat bags or the games. lol When asked if I had a good time at the party, i hesitated before saying, "My girls had fun, and that's all that matters."

Parties like that one have not been "fun" for me in a long time, I hate to admit. I feel rather awkward, if you want the truth. I don't know anyone well enough to have a conversation, and if i did, I wouldn't be able to hear them over the noise of the kids. And, lemme tell y'all, that place was noisy. :) In fact, lots of noise like that, added to the fact I can't see, makes me, for all intents and purposes, blind and deaf. Sometimes, I wish I could clone myself. Except, my other self would be able to see; that way, the sighted Shannon could go to parties and the blind one could find something else to do. But, back to the girls, they had fun, and honestly, I'll do it again just to make them happy.

My church is having a Gospel sing tomorrow night. If you live close enough…and if you live far away…you are welcome. :) I wanted to create an event on FaceBook yesterday, so folks would know about it and so everyone would know they were invited. Well, lemme tell ya, it took me over an hour to create that event. I'm not sure I even did it right, but a couple of folks have already RSVPed, so I guess I didn't do so bad. :) I tried to not invite certain of my friends, mostly so I wouldn't hurt any feelings, but I couldn't find a button for that. I tried to invite everyone on my friend list, but then the page reloaded on me, and every box I checked became unchecked again. Deed, FaceBook can be annoying. Anyway, I think that from now on, I'm going to just post an announcement for an event in my status. It would be much simpler and might keep me from sighing so much. :)

So, what nuggets of wisdom have I gleaned from writing, costume parties and FaceBook? Life's too short to get hung up on the little things. If I trust in the Lord, the book will happen. If I'm there for my girls, they will remember it when they are grown. And, the fad of FB will fade one day. Ha!

Y'all enjoy your weekend, and be sure to come back and visit me on Monday. I'm considering a few giveaways, now that the holidays are fast approaching. If you are interested in winning a free copy of one of my books, comment on this post. If I get at least 10 comments, I'll do the giveaways. If not, I won't.

Items available for the giveaway, are as follows:
Wild Heart in paperback autographed by moi
To Tame A Heart in paperback autographed by moi
Wild Heart in audio
and
To Tame A Heart in audio

The audio books are read by W. B. Ward, and you can find him on the web at
www.wbward.com

To read more about my books, go to
www.wildheartbook.com

To learn more about the group singing at my church tomorrow night, go to
www.hoyfamily.net

Happy Friday!