The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski "Loved the dogginess of this story, having a hard time shaking the sorrow of it."

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy  by Margot Livesey"A nice read, but rather purposeless -- nothing sparkled. It's a Jane Eyre story, set in Iceland and Scotland, and told from the Jane's point of view."

whole wheat sandwich bread

This is the yummiest whole wheat bread ever. EVER. I mean it. It slices well, is soft and chewy at the same time, and has a light nutty flavor, not overbearing. The only problem with it is that I can't leave it alone. Just one more slice . . .

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread


Mix in your KitchenAid Standmixer

• 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 C water
• 3 Tb butter, cut up
• 2 1/3 C whole wheat bread flour
• 2 C white flour
• 3 T gluten flour
• 3 T brown sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 1/4 t breadmaker yeast

Turn oven on to lowest setting. Put ingredients into your stand mixer and run mixer on low for 4 minutes.

Turn oven off.  Set a dish cloth over the dough and set into oven. Let dough rise until double (about 1 hour).

Turn oven on to lowest setting. Knead dough for 4 minutes.  Turn oven off. Pop the bread back into the oven to rise until double (about 1 hour).


Turn oven on to lowest setting. Divide dough into two loaves.  Shape. Set into pans. Cover. Pop the bread back into the oven to rise until double (about 1 hour).  Take out of the oven.

Bake at 350 for 24 minutes.

Free-Range Organic Meat Chickens

Just dropped off 21 meat chickens at the butcher. Getting my farm girl on.

how to update your blog from Facebook or Library Thing RSS

My poor little blog has been neglected in favor of other outlets, specifically Library Thing.  I did want my Library Thing book reviews to show up here though, and as posts, not sidebar widgets.  I finally figured out how.

Blogger will let you post to an email address.  That is, you can send an email, and blogger will post it as a post.

Feed my Inbox will let you select RSS feeds and have them sent to your email box.

I bet you can figure out where this is going.

1. Find the RSS of whatever it is that you want to have posted in your blog.

• Facebook RSS can be found here. 
• Library Thing RSS is found on the profile page, in the lower right.  Just "copy link location".

2. Find your blogger email address.

• left column: Settings
• Mobile & Email

3. Visit Feed My Inbox.
4. Combine.
5. Repeat as necessary.

7/19 LibraryThing reviews

LibraryThing reviews The Tiger's Wife: A Novel by Tea Obreht July 18, 2012 at 10:37 PM chndlrs's review: "I enjoyed the stories within the story more than I enjoyed the stories. In fact, I would love to see a sequel built upon the inner stories." Random House (2011), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 352 pages Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand July 17, 2012 at 12:34 AM chndlrs's review: "Painful and important story of the improbable survival of Louise Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and WWII POW." Random House (2010), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 496 pages Micro: A Novel by Michael Crichton July 17, 2012 at 12:06 AM chndlrs's review: "Honey, I shrunk Jurassic Park." Harper (2011), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 448 pages

tent failure

Note to self: when husband packs tent and poles for you for mother/children camping trip, confirm that the tent and the poles go with one another and that the tent's rain fly gets packed as well.

resolution update

This year's resolutions:
FAIL 1. Be a kinder, more patient, more fun Mom.  Pray for me on this one please.
FAIL 2. Get the kids up at 7:00 on schooldays in order to get the mandatory work done before we leave the house.  Somehow we got involved in lots of midday activities and none of us are any good in the classroom after 3:00.
FAIL 3. Go for a walk or ride my exercise bike 4 times a week. 
FAIL 4. Go the gym twice week.
FAIL 5. Grow and preserve more food.
FAIL 6. Learn to trim Nutmeg's nails, keep the mats out, and do all the other grooming tasks.