Nice buns, Betty. Err, I mean, this post is about cinnamon-raisin bread.

Hello, world!

I've been busy.

On the one hand, I've been so busy preparing new units for my English students that I haven't had time to post.

On the other hand, I've found a wonderful distraction from preparing new units for my English students.

TaDa!
I have made my first foray in to the world of breadmaking, and it's been a success!

Ok, so I didn't knead the dough myself. But I did borrow the breadmaker that did it from Adrienne at Happenscraps, etc. (Thanks, Adrienne!) And that counts for something, right?

Ok, fine. So it's a lazy foray, but it's a foray nonetheless.

A lazy foray. That sounds like a really bad dance move, doesn't it? (Copyright Teri2010)

Ok, so anyway, I have made two loaves of white bread, whole-wheat cinnamon rolls, and a loaf of the best cinnamon-raisin bread I've ever had.
I'm even going to tell you how I did it, because I'm all generous like that.

First, I made a dough recipe I found on Food.com. (You can find the original post here - thank you to the talented baker who posted it!) Here's the recipe:

Put the following ingredients into your breadmaker on the "dough" setting.

• 1 1/4 c warm water
• 2 tsp butter
• 3 c white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered milk
• 2 tsp yeast
  

*****Editor's note: The breadmaker peeps insist that you have to add the ingredients in the order listed...but I may or may not have twice forgotten to add the little paddle that kneads the dough before I added the ingredients...and then I may or may not have had to dig down to the bottom of the bowl-thingy to put it in, thereby stirring up the ingredients and messing up the layers. May or may not. We can't be certain.

By the way, I didn't use breadmaker yeast - I was just guessing that you only knead that if you're baking the bread right in the breadmaker.

Get it? Knead?

Snort.

Anyway, I added all those ingredients, then turned that sucker on. Then I tried to find something else to do because I am oh-so-patient that way.

Oh look! A kitty!
Ok, so this is where it gets a little creative, because I've never done this before. After looking up some recipes for this stuff, I determined that I wanted to use the bread recipe I had tried and liked, and then just experiment with the raisin-cinnamon aspect.

This was truly an experiment, because everything I read said that add-ins make it rise more slowly, and that the sugar content, etc. causes all sorts of changes. I didn't have any issues, though.

Anyway, when it let out that if-you're-gonna-add-something-add-it-now beep, I added half a cup of raisins.

***Editor's note: Do not add "two scoops" unless your scoops are around a quarter cup. I'm just saying...if you want some bread with your raisins, do not let Kellog's clever marketing put you on auto-pilot.

Then, I let it go through its first rise in the breadmaker.

And then I waited again.

Oh look! A puppy!
Alright, so then it beeped, and I removed the dough and rolled it out to around 10" by 16".

Ok, so I actually froze the dough because I had to go out, then thawed it and rolled it out. Gosh, you're nosey.

I melted some butter (maybe 3 tablespoons) and slathered it all over the surface of the dough. Then, I used some leftover brown-sugar-and-cinnamon-concoction from the cinnamon buns of the other day, sprinkled that on, and rubbed it in a little for good measure. It was about 1/3 c of sugar with perhaps 1 tsp of cinnamon mixed in. Then, I took the cinnamon shaker and added a little more all over.

Next, I rolled up the loaf from the narrow side, pinched the ends closed, then tucked them under, and put the loaf in a greased loaf pan.

After letting it rise for 35 minutes, I baked it for another 35 at 350...

Et voila!
The most scrumptious cinnamon-raisin bread I've ever had!
Mmmmm.
"Noooo, don't eat me!"

Shut up, bread.

Here's da fibs...

So we've had some guesses, but here'r the answers...

1. I once got a ticket for passing a clearly-marked Oregon state trooper. Yes, I saw he was a state trooper before I did it. No, it was not one of my more intelligent moments.
Actually, it was a Washington state trooper. Fib.

2. I am probably the only person in the world to have seen the Backstreet Boys, Eminem, Keith Urban, Hole, ZZ Top, and Weird Al Yankovic in concert. "Eclectic" is an understatement.
I've seen 'em all...except Weird Al. Although, that would probably be fun, too. Fib.

3. Though I'm not at all Hungarian, I grew up in a heavily-Hungarian area and took Hungarian Immersion and Hungarian as a second language from Kindergarten to grade 12. This came in particularly handy when I had to tell a particularly belligerent restaurant patron that no, you cannot have garlic bread without the garlic, and please stop shaking the pepper shaker at me, you odd little man.
It was Russian...and the restaurant thing never happened, though I'd love it if it would!

4. One time I was in a plane that nearly crashed. I didn't know what was going on, so when the whole plane shook and the everything hit the ceiling, I was so nervous that I started giggling. Turns out, the pre-9/11 curtain that enclosed the cock-pit swung back during the turbulence and other passengers saw us headed for the ground. Come to think of it, they probably didn't appreciate the teenager giggling at the back of the plane. Huh.
This one's actually true. I was 16. We took the bus home after that.

5. A few years back, I went on a week-long hike through the Valhalla mountains in British Columbia. Fancying myself a real outdoorsman, I used my compass and left the main trail. It rained the whole time. While traversing a huge glacial moraine, I slipped and wedged my leg between two wet boulders, breaking it severely. Because I was no longer on trail I'd mapped out for my family, I had to keep going, or risk being eaten by a grizzly bear or a sasquatch or something, so I splinted my leg and kept walking...uphill...for miles and miles. When I was three days late arriving home, Search and Rescue was called out. Luckily, in the midst of dense fog, I'd managed to hear a child calling out to hear the sound of his own voice from a ranger station near the top of a mountain. I called back, and I followed his voice to the station, where they radioed for help and I was picked up in a helicopter. I was in a walking cast for weeks, but glad to be safely home.
Nope - this one happened to my dad when I was five. Ironically, we got lost dropping him off in a seeming labyrinth of logging roads and my poor mother spent the night in our minivan with 6 kids (some her own, some the neighbours') with no food, water, or blankets. The next morning, we were lucky to come across a logger who gave us directions and enough gas to get there.

6. My pet peeves include rudeness, gum anywhere other than in the garbage can or in someone's mouth, and feet. Not feet as in hooves, but feet as in 12 inches. I go metric all the way, baby.
All but the inches, though it'd be nice if we could all get on the same page with that one.

Thanks for playing along, everyone!

5 fibs and a truth

So Mandi from Tidbits from the Tremaynes is one of the funniest bloggers I've ever come across. Plus she's super inspiring and wickedly creative. Best of all, she makes Wayne's World references.

Clearly, she's my virtual BFF.

Go check her out, now. Now, I say!

So she gave me this:

(Thanks, Mandi!)

And now I have to give 5 fibs and a truth, and it's up to you to decide what's what. Everybody ready?

1. I once got a ticket for passing a clearly-marked Oregon state trooper. Yes, I saw he was a state trooper before I did it. No, it was not one of my more intelligent moments.

2. I am probably the only person in the world to have seen the Backstreet Boys, Eminem, Keith Urban, Hole, ZZ Top, and Weird Al Yankovic in concert. "Eclectic" is an understatement.

3. Though I'm not at all Hungarian, I grew up in a heavily-Hungarian area and took Hungarian Immersion and Hungarian as a second language from Kindergarten to grade 12. This came in particularly handy when I had to tell a particularly belligerent restaurant patron that no, you cannot have garlic bread without the garlic, and please stop shaking the pepper shaker at me, you odd little man.

4. One time I was in a plane that nearly crashed. I didn't know what was going on, so when the whole plane shook and the everything hit the ceiling, I was so nervous that I started giggling. Turns out, the pre-9/11 curtain that enclosed the cock-pit swung back during the turbulence and other passengers saw us headed for the ground. Come to think of it, they probably didn't appreciate the teenager giggling at the back of the plane. Huh.

5. A few years back, I went on a week-long hike through the Valhalla mountains in British Columbia. Fancying myself a real outdoorsman, I used my compass and left the main trail. It rained the whole time. While traversing a huge glacial moraine, I slipped and wedged my leg between two wet boulders, breaking it severely. Because I was no longer on trail I'd mapped out for my family, I had to keep going, or risk being eaten by a grizzly bear or a sasquatch or something, so I splinted my leg and kept walking...uphill...for miles and miles. When I was three days late arriving home, Search and Rescue was called out. Luckily, in the midst of dense fog, I'd managed to hear a child calling out to hear the sound of his own voice from a ranger station near the top of a mountain. I called back, and I followed his voice to the station, where they radioed for help and I was picked up in a helicopter. I was in a walking cast for weeks, but glad to be safely home.

6. My pet peeves include rudeness, gum anywhere other than in the garbage can or in someone's mouth, and feet. Not feet as in hooves, but feet as in 12 inches. I go metric all the way, baby.

Ok - any guesses?

I'm passing along this Creative Blogger award to...

• Adrienne, the woman of a thousand brilliant ideas, from Happenscraps, Etc.
• Jennifer, the woman I am convinced never makes a scrapbook page that is anything less than scrappy perfection, from Scrapping Daze
• Susan, a new blogger who inspired me this morning with the most adorable little crocheted flowers, from My Paper Passion

(Thanks for inspiring me to be creative, Mandi, Adrienne, Jennifer, and Susan!)

Ignore the photo-pollution. This post is about an end table, not my poor housekeeping.

We have this little end table in our living room.

See it peeking out there, beside the chair?
Ok, so it's actually a nightstand. But it holds DVDs, so whatever. If Martha Stewart ever comes over I'll be so sure to hold my head in shame.

Now it looks like this!
***Editor's Note: There's a lot of picture-pollution in this post. As in, stuff in the picture that really shouldn't be there. Case in point, the cord and dog bed above. If Martha Stewart ever reads my blog I'll be so sure to hold my head in shame.

You see, I hated this stupid thing. It's beat up. It's an eyesore. It doesn't match anything else in the room. It slept with my boyfriend.
Well, all except that last one.

So I took it outside.

I sanded it.

I spray painted it with some leftover stuff.

I scuffed up the edges.

I was so excited I forgot to put down a drop cloth.
Oops.

And then I added new knobs from Mee-Kayl's at a buck and half a pop.
And now?

A matching, dent-hiding, interestingly-knobbed, wouldn't-dare-to-even-look-at-my-boyfriend end table.
Whatcha think?

Linkin' up, cause this piece o' junk is pretty funky, if I do say so myself.

I call this one, "I Think the Graphics Fairy is my Fairy Godmother".

Seriously.

'Cause take a look at what she helped me make.
I call this one, "Nest+Walt Whitman=Drool".

The quotation reads, "I believe a leaf of grass is no less that the journey-work of the stars."

But of course, you'd know that if I knew how to make Publisher save the whole works as a picture. You know. With the quote attached.

So you'll just have to take my word for it.

Speaking of home decor, one of these things is not like the other:
I call this one, "Maybe I'll blend!"

Pile o' crap turned necklace organizer

See this pile o' crap? Two canvases from Valoo Villahge at $4.99 a pop, felt leftovers, scrap paper (both "un-needed" and "of the scrapbooking variety"), a nearly-empty bottle of ModPodge, some fabric glue that I never use, and (the only non-crap item) some gorgeous Moda newsprint fabric I got for a steal from Sew Dang Cute a while back.
I turned it into this:
And then I hung my otherwise unworn, forgotten, tangled-into-a-knot-only-a-small-child-with-incredible-manual-dexterity-could-unravel necklaces on it.

How? Oh, I am so glad you asked.

1. You have to find yourself two of the ugliest canvases you've ever seen. The uglier the better. It will be that much more satisfying when you cover them up. The cheaper the better, as there's no sense using an expensive canvas that you're only going to cover up.

2. Then, spread some fabric glue in a haphazard manner and cover that sucker with leftover felt from all of those felt projects you thought you were going to make because they seemed like a good idea at the time and felt is so cheap but you didn't ever get to it so now it just takes up space in your drawer and every time you look at it, you think "curses, you useless felt."

Oh wait...that's just me?3. Pat yourself on the back for already making the world a little less ugly.

***Editor's note: My apologies to any of you who may have this canvas in your home. I'm sure you have a good reason for it. Sayyyy...I've got a great little project for you! See step 1 above.

4. Spread the fabric over the canvas making sure it's straight, then flip it over and start staple-gunning that sucker. This is where you get to punish that canvas for being so ugly. It's like a voodoo-doll for fugly.
5. Reassure yourself that un-stapled staples are not a result of your absurdly-weak arms, but rather a function of this clearly less-than-adequate staple gun.
Et voila!
6. Find a design on your Cricut or other such cutting device and cut that baby out. Preferably, cut it from paper you'll never use, like that stuff that comes pre-loaded in your scrapbooks, like so:
***Editor's note: My apologies to the designer of this branch and the birds; I downloaded these so long ago that I honestly don't know where they came from. If you happen to know, please pass it along so that I can give credit where credit is due!

7. Add the birds, then hang.
8. Stick some pins in the top being sure to go through the felt and hang your necklaces or shoelaces or bolo-ties from it. (Hey, who am I to judge?)
9. And if you're incredibly fickle like me, relish in the fact that you can always remove the pins and use it as wall art. Incredibly awesome wall art.

Just sayin'.

Favourite! Like! Adore! Swoon!

Seriously, people. I was taking photos like a mad woman as soon as I had it up on the wall.

And then my camera died. Curses!

But, finally, the battery is charged, and now I get to share with you a project two years in the making.

Here she is...my preeeeeeciousssssssss... (what's the html code for "creepy Gollum voice"?)

So, this is a combination of two deep and dark desires: to find/create a very large piece of art that would more substantially decorate my otherwise-boring living room wall, and to use this funky window thingy that I found at the eco-center 2 years ago and have been carting around ever since.

Now, I've taken some pictures of the process, but listen up. If we're going to be friends, you need to know that I'm hasty and impetuous and usually forget to take pictures of crucial things. Like "Befores". And "Durings". And people who say, "Take a picture. It will last longer," when they catch me staring.

Ok?

Ok.

So. here's the closest thing I have to a "Before." The frame thingy is, apparently, a lightweight grid-frame that would be put over glass to make it look like it has panes. Or "pains", if it's splintery.
I was so excited to discover that this gorgeous Basic Grey "Pyrus" paper line matches the colours in the house we rent. I'm talking excited. With a capital "Eeek".

I cut my papers down to 9.5"x11.5" to allow for a little overhang for each "window". Then, I laid them out over the grid to find a layout that I liked.

I printed some of my favourite photos of us and the critters on my printer, and then mounted them on larger scrap white paper, as they printed 8.5"x11".
I added some quotations I love printed onto more Pyrus paper.
Then I used a $1 role of tacky tape from Ye Olde Dollar Shoppe around the edges, and mounted each piece.
So here's the wall before. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! Errr...I mean, to the clutter on the side table (which also got a make-over today. The table, not the clutter. Post to come.)

Boring, right? A total snooze-fest.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....Wha? Wait, what were we talking about?

Oh, right.

So I grabbed him by his big fat head and said. "Look man, I'm not going to jail for you, or anybody!"

Oh, wait...uhhh, wrong story. Hehe...he.

Now, this frame thingy doesn't have a hanger on it. And I didn't have any hanger thingys lying around. Good thing I'm resourceful...
...because I ripped this sucker off the back of another picture frame that had a spare.

So here it is!

Doesn't that just look so much more proportional than that wright-iron candleholder?
In case you're wondering (gosh, you're nosy!) here's one of the quotations:
...and here's the other:
Sigh. I think I'm going to go look at it again.

And it cost me next to nothing. Around $10 worth of paper, plus the frame at $5, and then some scrap paper and printer ink.

Seriously, people. Favourite. Project. Ever. (What's the html code for "swoon"?)