Plants, Sourdough, & Other Growing Things

Plants are thriving.

Another week of growth. 

I recently took them outside and they don't look so good now. Imagine fresh air and sunshine killing them...? Ah well. We're going to transplant this weekend and hope for the best. 

And speaking of growing: Rebekah's latest growth spurt has me reeling.

Also Rebe's hair is getting out of hand.

And while we are on the subject of growth and hair, my brother Michael sent me this picture in reaction to Rebekah's growth spurt. I have to admit the beard had me astonished.

But my astonishment surprised him and his wife. "The beard was white at Christmas," they said.  Well, yes, it was white but in my defense there was a little difference. Christmas beard is pictured below. Compare for yourself.

Now on to yeast. Don is continually wanting bread and I was running out of yeast. Amazon can send you some for some insane amount. So, I decided to go the sourdough route. Here's my starter.

24 hours growth on my sourdough starter:

The next day: doesn't look like it did much and I started to worry.

Next day it still doesn't look good. The internet says that's "hooch" on top. Don asked if we could drink it... I opted for no. 

The next day it still wasn't rising very well. I was discouraged.

So I brainstormed with my mom and she said it needed more substance (too thin) so I fed it a bunch of wheat flour to fatten it up.

And.... the next day - growth on my sourdough starter!

By now I was entirely confused. All the internet directions differ. I basically threw a bunch of wheat in and it grew. Not one internet solution said to do that. I felt like I was on my own and didn't know what to do so I experimented. 

This one I did nothing.

This one I added equal parts of water and flour.

This one I added twice as much flour than water.

The next morning they all grew. So maybe it doesn't matter. Who needs directions, eh? 

Next I tried the float test (back to my internet searches) and - success!

So I made bread. Which didn't turn out well. It was okay, but it didn't have the best taste. Perhaps my sourdough needs to ferment more? Or perhaps I don't know what I'm doing. 

However, through my asking questions and searching for information I called several people, one of which was my aunt Kim who was able to snag me some yeast, so yay! Sourdough doesn't have to work now! Let this be a lesson: when you try as hard as you can, the Lord sends you a bone.

So the next morning I made sourdough pancakes. They turned out very good.

I have just enough in the fridge to play with and now that it is just play I'm much more excited to see what I can do.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend started with two little blue marlins setting up home in our tree. They are little but if you look close....

Rebekah wanted to color eggs for Easter but I have this problem with food coloring in my food. I also have a poor memory of eating hard boiled eggs with blue and green whites. In the quarantine I just couldn't chance it, so we died shirts instead.

Yes, it's as messy as it looks. And we were just getting started.

My plants are showing me love. Got to love this heart shaped zucchini leaf.

That night Rebekah spoke to Don about the possibility of the Easter bunny coming, to which Don replied (in all seriousness) that because of the virus the Easter bunny would indeed not be coming. Rebekah was heart broken and even polo'ed her friend with the sad news. I was planning on using my tooth fairy chocolate coin stash so, on Sunday morning she was happily surprised.

The previous evening I had texted back and forth with my dear friends about what I could possibly do for Easter using ingredients I had at home.

They came through with this recipe from a years ago Friend magazine:

Rebekah and I jumped in.

The finished product:

At this point I went to finish up the tie die shirts. I had requests for a family picture and thought wearing the new shirts would be a good way to get Don and Rebe excited about taking one. So, I rinsed the shirts but I had no idea my hands would end up looking like this.

Shirts came out nice. Rebekah was first priority and her shirts came out the best. Next priority was Don. His looks pretty nice too. Mine? Well, I took the left over green and tiny bit of blue and got the following:

That night at dinner I played around with my phone while Don finished eating.

He was finally finished and it was picture time. Rebekah happily complied.

After refiguring out the timer on my phone, I got the family picture.

It was a unique Easter. The virus has been horrifying and problematic in so many ways, and yet it has brought many blessings. We are spending more time as a family, we are eating the food I make together at family dinner in which we converse together. We are working on forming better habits. While I am not grateful for the pandemic, I am grateful for Christ's healing power and can see and feel His spirit as it touches my family. So grateful for my Savior who always knows best. 

First of April

E-learning is not my favorite type of learning. It's interesting to me that although I was a public educator - highly in favor of public school, I am now a parent who is totally un-in-favor of public school. Seriously. She's second grade and I'm so done. But I digress. E-learning is difficult. It helps somewhat that Rebekah is more technologically minded than I am, and that if she can't figure it out and I can't either than Don is stuck at home with us as well and can help in a pinch.

But really the problem is the work. It's only 3 days a week and thank heavens for that little fact. For example, it's only Tuesday of a Tuesday - Thursday school week and Rebekah's cried twice, pitched at least 4 fits, and complained an infinite amount of times. I've bribed, snuggled, threatened, and so forth. Nothing is working. So we go on. Day after day.

Recently her teacher has implemented class chats. Seeing her classmates is a nice motivator and she enjoys it. I assume you're wondering about the hat: the students were asked to wear their favorite sports team hat. Rebekah chose this hat because it use to be her cousin Sam's hat. He plays soccer. So, that's Rebekah's favorite team. 

Rebekah has taken a page out of my book and wrote up a list of things to do with daddy. Although it's the last item on the list, I'm somewhat excited that "clean" made it on. 

The garden was an inspired idea. I literally wake up excited to see the growth. That's a tiny little pepper poking its head out of the ground. 

The cucumbers and zucchini grew so large their roots were growing out of the tray. Rebekah helped me replant them. I think I'll try to keep the cucumbers in this pot.

The zucchini will be transplanted. Mother suggested the bags in the pot to help me lift the plan out of the pot without much damage. As it is I have 3 zucchini plants. I only want one. No, I want them all, but I only need one. I'm in the process of finding them homes.

Rebekah helping me clean out the garage.

Rebekah decided to have an art sale. If you see anything you like let me know and I'll send it to you for a very conservative fee.

More spring.

I absolutely love these pink magnolia trees. Don doesn't like the multiple trunk scenario so we went with the lilac. However (and the picture doesn't do it justice) this will always be my favorite.

Speaking of favorites, my brother Michael found these at Walmart. Unfortunately all I get to do right now is stare at the picture.

Conference weekend came and with it came conference sweet rolls.

Rebe highly approves.

My zucchini plant spouting little heart shaped leaves.

Walked in on Rebekah brushing her teeth and noticed she had a little toothpaste on her nose.

When I questioned her about it, I got this:

My bread making skills are improving.

Loving the weather. The only way to quarantine is with much outdoor time. Rebekah is riding strong.

Even performing tricks. I showed this to Don and he quickly asked, "Are you riding your bike and recording a video at the same time...?" In answer I quickly showed him another picture.

Like this one. Sometimes laying on the table like this helps Rebekah have better e-learning days. And you know what? More power to her.

Sometimes we get bike rides with dad.

Rebekah does a little mermaid move at the end of this one.

Baking and more baking. Rebekah helps me do the chocolate chip topping.

Our muffins came out HUGE!

And, when in quarantine you use what you have, so Happy Valentines Day it is!