...12.27...Friday Update...

...a few more Christmas-y things...

...we call things like this Ma Jong set gifts for the house...as they're not really 'for' either one of us...

...y'all have probably already seen me using this little cutting board...I originally got it as one of the gifts for the family Christmas party...but it didn't quite meet the cost parameters...and it was a handy size so I thought we'd just keep it...it came with the lumberjack patterned towel...

...but the board had a weird sort of finish...I'm sure it was food safe...but I thought it'd look and perform better if I sanded it off and then oiled it the way I do our other cutting boards...

...and I like the way it looks leaned up against the larger one on the counter...

...and another 'house' present...a heated blanket...

...it's so fuzzy and soft and warm...

...and...I don't think I ever showed you the lamps we got to replace the ones we moved down to the big room...

...everything back in place...it's the same old headboard that I made when we lived in West Virginia...

...the little blanket control does add a bit of clutter to the nightstand...

...one of my little gifties was a new set of silpats...and one of them is specifically for lifting a loaf of bread out of the dutch oven...

...so of course on Christmas afternoon I wanted to give that a try...and I got out the bread machine my sweet sissie had given me after a visit where she heard my old one screeching...

...and then I 'tested' my yeast...and found that it is in fact NOT alive...so I put that little project on hold until the stores opened up and I could get some yeast...

...and moved on to another project...my sweet little yarn themed puzzle...

...pretty easy separating out the different colours on this one and getting started...

...just moving from one colour to another across the puzzle left to right...

...I just worked on it off and on over the course of the day...and into the next day when I finished it...

...it probably took a couple of hours...I love puzzles and this one was super fun...

...and I started setting up the bonsai trees Our Airman gave us...

...I soaked the little soil pucks...

...and put all the different seeds under damp paper towels under grow lights...only one of them requires the heating pad to germinate...

...and then Thursday morning the grocery store was open again...so I bought some new yeast...

...and mixed everything up in the bread maker...only 1/2 teaspoon of yeast to make 'artisan' bread...

...I let it run through the dough cycle 3 times...for a total of about 5 hours...

...the little silpat with handles did work perfectly for lifiting the loaf out of the dutch oven...

...and forced myself to wait a 1/2 hour before cutting into the this super squishy and crusty bread...

...it turned out perfectly...what is better than fresh baked bread...and now I'm thinking of all kinds of other artisan breads to make this way...walnut cranberry...raisin...olive...

...and then I spent some time setting up the new camera...this is the very first photo ever using the new camera...

...I hope you're having a wonderful holiday with your family...

~Have a lovely day!