I'm back again!

SO much has gone on since my last post, and eventually I will get around to the rest of them, but there's only one that I really feel like blogging about today.

The biggest and most heartbreaking thing that has happened was another member of our WSP family was taken from us on May 31. Trooper Sean O'Connell was a loving husband, father, son, brother and friend, and an incredible example of what it means to be a great Trooper. I try to find God in every bad situation, and boy, did He show up. There is very little that compares to the Law Enforcement family. In a week's time, our agency, along with many more around the state and country, and the Behind The Badge Foundation, banded together to rally around his family and to lay him to rest with a fitting and dignified service. In fact,our Spouses' Association is still organizing meals to be dropped off into next month.

I came across something on Pinterest this afternoon that spurred this post. For something fun to do with your kids, it was suggested to take goodies to your local Fire House to "Thank a Firefighter." By all means, please do! They are brave and special public servants. In both of the line-of-duty processions I've been in since getting married, they have lined the overpasses with their trucks, flags and stood at attention or with their hands covering their hearts as every single car passes. With the 19 men and women who gave their lives recently in Arizona, the firefighters around the country could use a pick-me up. We feel that in this house as well, as it brings up an old wound for my husband. One of his very best friends gave his life fighting the Thirty Mile Fire exactly 12 years ago today. He was had turned 21 just days before his death.

That being said, please think about doing the same thing for your local Police Officers, County Sheriffs and/or State Patrol/Police. While firefighters are always hailed as heroes, most of the time, Law Enforcement are pitted as "the mean guy who gave me a ticket for no reason," "the jerk who arrested so-and-so," or someone who will "come take you to jail" if one is "bad." Not only would bringing a treat and a note of thanks to your local station/office be a welcome change to the grief many police officers get on a daily basis, it would give your children a positive view of the Good Guys, letting them know they can trust them as well as the firefighters if they ever would be in need of help.

It's not easy being green. Wait! Yes it is. RePurposing containers.

In my effort to decrease our garbage and recycling load, I decided to turn to my trusty pal, Pinterest (seriously, what did we do before this little gem?!) and put a few more things into the "Pinterest: Accomplished" board. 

Started with the parmesan cheese shaker container that I finally emptied. I don't use a lot of it, (mostly because I prefer the grated or wedge of parmesan or romano cheese to the powdered stuff) but it was here when I moved in, and I'm not one usually to let things go to waste. There were several different ideas for this style of container: yarn/twine dispenser, baking soda or borax shaker and what I ended up doing - Dusting flour

I LOVE baking. Especially pies and roll-out sugar cookies. This little contraption is going to greatly aid in the elimination of what our buddy Alton Brown has coined "club hand". You know, when your hand is a little greasy or moist from working with your pie crust dough, cookie dough, bread dough ("Any kind of dough." Movie: Zoolander) and you stick your hand in the flour only for it to become coated and caked well enough to consider how it might look fried to a crispy, golden brown. With my new little flour buddy, all I will need to do is shake, shake, shake, señora. 

While cleaning out my spice cupboard, I realized I had two containers of "Italian Seasoning" and since one of said containers was nearly empty, I decided the tiny bit left in the plastic bottle could be combined into the nice glass shaker in the twirly spice rack on the counter. I could've just thrown the plastic into the recycle bin, but I took pause. One of the suggestions for the ginormous Costco-sized parmesan shaker was powdered sugar. I don't use THAT much of the stuff (despite having a lifetime-supply due to our blended pantry) so the smaller shaker would do just fine for shaking the lovely "snow" onto waffles, pancakes, muffins, cookies, etc. A wash and dry later, we have a new shaker for the confectioner in all of us. 

Heck of a lot better than spending $1 on one at the dollar store. Now I can spend that G.Washington on something I really need.... like more ribbon from the discount ribbon bin. Because who DOESN'T need more ribbon? 

My Daily Bread... and the night of the sanitized pantry

With the hubs on night shift and me "home making", I've been keeping his schedule. It makes it a lot easier to function as a newly-married couple when we're not on opposite schedules, only seeing each other for a few hours a day. Yesterday was a bit of a different story. I had a girlie day planned with my mom and my 11-week-old niece. Since dear mama lives about an hour and a half away from me and is on a daytime schedule, I kind-of tried to adjust mine to get down there by 9am. BACKFIRE! I ended up getting to sleep two hours early, but that still put my eyelids shutting at 2am and getting up at 7. Whoops! But I digress.

While passing the baby back and forth, talking about Pinterest (Mom got her invite recently), I asked if she still had her bread machine and if she ever used it. She knew what I was getting at - "Would you like to.... borrow it?" Such a smart lady, that mom of mine! Not only did she donate her hunk of Oster-carb-making wonder, but she also threw in a Bread Machine cookbook and 10 pounds each of King Arthur Whole Wheat and Bread Flours. SCORE! On my way out of town, I stopped at my favorite grocery store (Winco... I just sang that. It's that awesome - don't worry, I'll write a post solely about the wonders of Winco soon) and raided their bulk section for pantry items I was out of or running low on (also thanks to Pinterest). 

After throwing a quick pesto sauce together, tossing it with some chicken and whole wheat pasta to fuel the hubs and sending him out on his night of crime fighting, I started in on my kitchen. I set up the bread machine on the end of our breakfast bar and started my loaf of Honey Wheat (recipe below). Despite the startling noises at the begining of the different cycles making me pee a little, all was going wonderfully. 

Then, I found them. While sweeping the floor of my gloriously stocked pantry, I saw the Cosco-sized box of large dog biscuits was completely infested with weevils. I froke (froke - [frəːk] verb. Past-tense of freak. "She froke out when she saw the bugs in her pantry") so hard that when I jumped back, my broom handle broke one of the light bulbs in the light fixture (pictured below). Cue removing EVERYTHING from the floor of the pantry, cleaning furiously with my bottle of vinegar, and checking every grain/wheat product for any sign of those filthy little crap-heads. At least I now have an in depth knowledge of everything in our pantry, it's re-organized and it sparkles.

The dangling bulb after being hit with my swift ninja moves

When I was just about done cleaning the pantry, the Oster signaled it's carb delivery was ready to be removed. OH and she was lovely. After letting the loaf cool for a few minutes (and pulling out the stove to clean around and behind it) I cut into it and tasted my first bread machine win. Behold, the power of freshly baked yumminess. 

Honey Wheat Bread

Yeild: 1 Pound Loaf

Ingredients: 

1/2 c. milk (non-fat, lactose-free at this house)

1/4 c. water

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. honey (excited to try it with local, raw honey this spring)

1 tbsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour

1/2 c. bread flour

2 tsp. yeast

Directions: 

Place room-temp ingredients in the pan of your bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer's directions. Set for whole-wheat bread with a medium crust.