Domestic Diva

Earlier this week, for the first time ever I made bread. Yes bread! From scratch! As in no box or bread maker or anything. I know this doesn't seem very exciting to many of you. But for me it was a proud moment.

I decided I wanted to make bread for some Christmas gifts this year. As someone who loves bread, the fact that this was my first attempt ever at the age of almost 30 is laughable. But anything with yeast intimidates me. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's so finicky. I always here about peoples bread not rising properly because they "killed the yeast". I don't have a good track record of reactions when things I bake don't turn out properly ( any long time blog followers may remember my post titled Birthday Cake Meltdown when I ended up throwing cake all over my kitchen in a fit of rage). But I was determined to hone my baking skills.

It was touch and go there. At times I questioned what was going on and had to call my friend for reassurance. But when all was said and done, Ta Da!

Isn't it pretty? And here they are all wrapped up and ready for gifting. I put chocolate chips in the dough for some, and on top for others. 

I actually set out to make six loafs. One I lost after the rising process... I didn't have enough flour down and it was a goopy sticky mess. The other two I didn't bake long enough at first so I tried to bake them for a little longer and they weren't quite right. We kept those ones. And ate them all. Despite not being perfectly baked.

All and all it was  a TON of work and my body was aching afterwards. Standing in the kitchen for like 4 hours when you are 7 months pregnant is not a great idea. And I think I used every bowl, spoon and kitchen utensil I own. But it was delicious and helped me conquer my yeast fear. Bring on the bread recipes! Actually bring them on in a few months when I'm not pregnant anymore, LOL.

Going Postal

Ah this time of year. I love it. Yet hate it at the same time. Why you ask? LINES!!!!! Everywhere I go there are lines miles long! Pre Brynlee I wasn't so bugged by a long line. I would just wait patiently. Long lines gave me time to think, ponder if you will. Now with Brynlee a long line means death.

For those of you who have not waited in a long line with a 3 year old I do not recommend it. At least not with my 3 year old. She will stay with me patiently for about 1 minute. And then she starts touching stuff, people, whatever. So, I usually try to plan accordingly. If I'm going to have to go somewhere where I know I will have to wait a while I do my best to either go while she is in school or work something out with someone who can watch her ( ie Megan, my life savor!).

However I had a package to mail, and the clock was ticking. Christmas is coming and I just wanted to get it into the mail to be sure it gets there on time.

So I braved the post office on a Friday with Brynlee in tow. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot I knew it was a bad idea. Was there anyone in the town of Queen Creek that was not at the post office at that time? I don't think so. We walked into a HUGE line. But there was a smaller one to use the self serve kiosk. I'm all about the self serve kiosks these days. So I waited in that line. While it was shorter than the other one, it was by no means short. We finally got to the kiosk only to find out that my package was in fact too large to go down the chute, and that I would have to wait in the other line. So not happening. So after waiting for no reason at all, making me late for an appointment I had we left. There might have been some pregnant woman rage involved. I might have cried ( yes I cried, what can I tell you I'm hormonal). I might have thrown my box down in my fit of rage. Not to worry, there was nothing fragile in there. Even though I was seeing red I knew I didn't want to actually damage the contents of my box!

I decided I would go the post office first thing the next day ( Saturday) without Brynlee. According to the website the post office opened at 9am on Saturdays. At 8:55 my box and I entered the doors of the post office. Luckily they have like a vestibule thing here, so we didn't have to wait outside. Not planning on being at the post office for very long, I was basically in my PJ's with no make up or bra on for that matter. Imagine my surprise when I saw 8 other people lined up. That's Ok! 8 I can handle. I took my place at the end of the line. At 9:05 I began to wonder what was going on. The actual post office was still not open. I looked at the door and saw that it said the Saturday hours were 10:30am to 1:30pm. 10:30!!???? I mentioned this to the lady behind me who told me that she had called the post office and the recording told her it opened at 9:00am. Word spread throughout the now lengthy line that it appeared they did not actually open until 10:30 despite the info on the website and phone. We could hear workers milling around in the back. One of my fellow patrons rang the door bell repeatedly until a postal worker opened it, advising us that they did not in fact open for another hour and 15 min. Mob mentality struck. Talk about some angry postal patrons!

Ugh. What was I to do? Let the post office get the best of me, again? I'd already waited 20 min at this point. However there were no chairs, no bathrooms and no water fountain ( all necessities to a pregnant lady).  The idea of going home again with my package and having to make a 3rd attempt at mailing it another time was not one I wanted to entertain. I decided to wait it out.

About 30 min later I was re thinking my decision. My back was killing me and I was doing the pee dance. As the mob grew angrier and angrier ( more people had shown up by this time) someone else decided to ring the doorbell repeatedly. When another postal worker answered, I threw myself on her mercy. Bathroom! Please let me use a bathroom! Not only did she let me use the bathroom, she actually opened up a window early to help us! And the people that were in front of me in line actually let me go first. It was a Christmas post office miracle.

I came home that day 1 package lighter. But more importantly I gained a new respect for postal workers and man kind.

Reality of Age

As the year 2013 winds down, the reality that my 20's will be coming to an end shortly hits me. Luckily for me my due date is 10 days before my 30th birthday so I'm guessing there won't be much time to mourn the loss of my youth.

Unfortunately though my body reminds me that age is creeping in on me and my once resilient body is not so resilient.

I used to be able to read in the car, no problem. Books, magazines, comic books ( yes Ashley and I spent the better part of a trip to Calico ghost town reading Archie comics when we were like 10). I always felt bad for those poor people who got car sick. Now I am one. I can barely read a magazine in the car without getting a raging head ache. It's so annoying. And boring. Especially on rides from Arizona to California where there is nothing but barren waste land to look at. I'm not sure when exactly this happened, but I hate it. I've tried the front seat, I've tried the back seat. No dice. My days of putting long car time to use have come and gone.

I used to have NO allergies. I could eat it, use it, touch it whatever. And it didn't bother me. Then earlier this year I developed the strangest allergy ever. After using the same lipstick for 10 ( yes 10!) years I'm suddenly allergic to it. They didn't add any new ingredients. I didn't change brands. Just one day my lips decided they wanted to ruin my life as far as makeup goes ( pardon the dramatics, but it really is annoying). It took me weeks and weeks to figure out what is was. I thought it was the Arizona climate. I thought it was my lotion, the water, anything. Anything but the lipstick that had been so good to me for a decade. I finally faced reality and gave up on old faithful. Red swollen burning itching lips where not worth it. I've yet to find another lipstick that I actually like. And I have NO color in my lips so if I don't wear something I look like a corpse. I think the allergy might actually be getting worse. On Thanksgiving this year I said screw it and wore my old lipstick. Just for one day. And my lips looked great if I do say so myself.  It used to take a couple of days of consecutive lipstick use for the allergy to flair. Not anymore. Now I use it one day and pay the price with swollen aching lips for the next 4 days.

It makes me wonder what will happen next. I can't sleep on the floor comfortably anymore ( even pre pregnancy I couldn't do that) but that's something I would expect with age. Strange allergies and the loss of my ability to read I was not anticipating!