HAPPY MONDAY

It's 8:53 AM on a Monday morning.

My husband just left to take our oldest to school, thirty minutes late.

That's because, between 7 AM and now,

our four year old wet our bed and me,

the cat had explosive diarrhea on the living room wall,

and our oldest dropped a jar of pickle juice all over the kitchen.

So, I am sitting here in a camo t-shirt of my husband's and satiny pajama pants with a hole in the crotch, because it was the first thing I could find when I got peed on this morning.

Motherhood is a lot of things, but it isn't glamorous.

So, now I am regrouping and making a plan (since going back to bed and starting this day over isn't an option).

First, get out of this baggy shirt and worn pajamas. Those aren't doing anything positive for morale.

Second, I am going to bring order to this chaos by doing a series of 15 minute room rescues, with the kitchen and master bedroom being priorities. When those two rooms are in order, the rest of the house seems to follow suit.

Third, while implementing stages one and two, I will be looking for joy in it all.

Happy Monday to you!

WINNER!!!


Wow, where did this week go?! I was out of town all last week, which subsequently, has thrown this week into a tailspin. At any rate, please forgive me for being so late in announcing the winner for the book give away. I really need to work on being more timely.

The winner of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is Eileen!! Eileen, please email me your contact info, and congratulations!

GIVE AWAY: ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois had been on my wish list for quite a while. I had heard nothing but rave reviews from everyone that had baked from it. So I was THRILLED when I won my very own copy from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship. Ever since, I have been cranking out 5-6 loaves a week of beautiful, delicious loaves of bread.

I have always wanted to make bread on a regular basis and love the process of bread baking. I love to knead it and I love the yeasty smell that fills the house. However, it just seemed too time consuming and daunting to make it every week.  We have a great bakery in town and I have always happily given them my patronage. But it could get expensive. And now that I have this book, and see how simple bread making can really be, I feel a little silly that it took me so long to do it!! 

Today, for Easter lunch, I was in charge of bringing the bread. I made four loaves this morning, in between feeding the kids breakfast and getting the family ready for church. The bread received rave reviews from everyone. My brother, who works at the bakery in town, said that my bread was better than that at the bakery! My sweet husband said that I should open my own bakery! And my children said that my bread is the best they have ever had! 

I don't own many cookbooks and of the ones I do own, I only consult 1-2 regularly. This is a book that is in heavy rotation. It is absolutely brilliant. If you are interested in making bread for your friends and family, without a big commitment of time, you need this book! And, the publishers of this cookbook have generously agreed to donate a copy to one of my readers!! 

You may enter to win up to three times by:

1. Leaving a comment.

2. Tweet or Facebook about the give away.

3. Share this give away on your blog, linking back to this post.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm, est, on Saturday, April 10th and I will post the winner (selected from a random generator) on the following Monday. Contest is open to residents of US and Canada. If you don't win, I highly recommend buying this book. It won't take long to pay for itself and the satisfaction that comes from making delicious bread is well worth the money!

And check out the website, Artisan Bread in Five, for great recipes and tips!