The bane of my existence

*Perhaps* I have mentioned it before, but I hate the whole-class snacks that are so common in preschool and Kindergarten. I don't mind that the kids have them, I just dread my turn to provide them. It has been easier since I settled on a standard snack--cheese bread. However, it's a bit of a challenge to have a fresh batch rady to go when the girls leave for school at 7:30 am.

Last night I assembled all the ingredients but didn't mix wet and dry. It was really easy when I got up to mix everything and get the dough ready. I didn't let it rise twice, only once in the pan. Here it is ready to go into the oven:
I used a little tub of garlic "butter" that came with a Papa John's pizza to spread over the top before I sprinkled on the cheese. It smelled divine as it baked. Here it is ready to be covered with a clean tea towel and go to school:

From the old dishwasher to . . .

Betcha thought I was going to say, " . . . to a new one!" Uh uh.



No, now we have a big hole where this one was. The new one was delivered today. Dh is fully capable of installing it. However, there was a crack on the side of the door that I didn't notice when it was delivered! So back it goes and we'll try again tomorrow. Luckily delivery (and redelivery . . . ) was included. I'll bet that dishwasher has been in more homes than just mine and Lowe's is just hoping someone will miss the crack and install it, then decide to just keep it rather than uninstall it and return it. I'm not impressed.

Anyway, I hope tonight was the last time to wash dishes by hand for awhile. The old dishwasher had a valve that stuck and didn't let enough water into the tub so everything came out with a heavy white film on it. It took about 10 days of handwashing before the dishes started to look good again. I'd really like to try getting that result from an AUTOMATIC dishwasher, not from the appendages at the ends of my arms.

The "A" family relay service

A decade ago I had a friend who could not talk. She could hear but couldn't talk. Because of this she used a relay service when she wanted to call me on the phone. She would type out her message to the relay person who would read it to me. I'd answer the relay person who would speak the message to her. If she had been hearing-impaired, she would have typed the message to my friend.

Well, we had to invent almost such a service tonight in our family. I have virtually lost my voice and my mother has poor hearing. I can't speak loud enough for her to hear me. The solution? I whisper the message to one of my daughters and she shouts it out to Grama. Works fine!

I'm wondering how my voice is going to be in the morning when I start calling my students. I may have a day of calling students at their intervals and begging off in my hoarse whisper. I hope it's better though. Luckily my other job involves listening only. Good for me.

From Medicinenet.com:

What are the symptoms of laryngitis?

Hoarseness and loss of voice is the primary symptom of laryngitis.

If the cause of laryngitis is infectious, patients most often will also present with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection or cold. There may also be:

a dry cough,


sore throat,


fever,


swollen lymph nodes (lymph glands) in the neck,


perhaps pain with swallowing, and


a feeling of fullness in the throat or neck.

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, and yep.

My little garden will soon be ready to plant

I'm hoping to grow everything from seeds this year and avoid the cost of ready-to-plant veggies and fruits.

I planted using old pots, foam cups, and veggie six-packs and used one of two open bags of potting mix. No out of pocket except for most of the seeds.

So far I have:

cucumbers
pumpkins
cantaloupe
watermelon
cherry tomatoes

and

butternut squash

I wrote the butternut squash last because I'm so pleased about it. I cut open a squash for dinner and looked at all those delectable seeds just waiting to be planted. I took them right out and planted two cups. They came up quickly. I do wonder about hybridization, etc, but we'll just see what they produce.

Here are two shots of the same plants almost ready for planting:

Despite living in hot Arizona, the way my yard is situated, I don't have a lot of space to plant. This is my first year in this house and I think next year I'll tear out a bit of lawn for planting. But that's NEXT year.

Except for the tomatoes (they're small because I had to replant them), the seedlings go into the ground this week.

This post is linked to $5 Dinners.

Contraband!!

Yes, that's it. A Kinder Surprise egg. A friend tried to sneak some over the US-Canadian border and you can bet he was STOPPED. They're illegal in the US--a non-food item encased in food. Oh and a child could choke on the capsule, but there is a warning on the label as there is on all such items in the US. I hope the customs agents enjoyed them.

Late night baking

C wanted me to make a delicious cream cheese lemon pie like I made last week but I was missing one ingredient. I told her to find another recipe for a pie she'd like and I'd make it for her. Next thing I knew, she was making peanut butter cookies. She really got into it!
I'm a little nervous to sample the finished product. I've found seven year olds don't usually measure things exactly the same way I would.

:-)

ETA: I told you I was a little nervous about the finished product. I should have been. Instead of 1/2 tsp of baking soda, she put in 1/2 cup. LOL