Countdown has started

Graduation Day is Saturday and the family begins trickling in tonight starting with Keith and then descending into Tucson in intervals until Friday mid-morning when the last Gautreaux brother arrives.

The grad gown has been steamed, the hood has been experimented with, the internet has been scoured for help once said hood-experimenting proved fruitless, a dress has been snagged on sale at Anthropologie and as far as I can tell, we're good to go to have an amazingly busy but fun family-filled weekend.

Just a few more hours to go to vacuum, wash cars, and generally get our house and selves up to a reasonable facsimile of what people who have their lives together look like!

Woo!

Jeffrey and I are not the same

Jeffrey's last day of law school ended at exactly 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Did he immediately celebrate? Drinks all around at the bar? No. He went to an immigration bill forum.

Amazingly, I did get him to go out to dinner with me. He ordered the big plate of food and ate every morsel. I believe that was celebration enough.

This morning, did he sleep in, luxuriating in the fact that he had no where to be and no class to attend? No.
He woke up at 5:30 a.m. to play basketball. When that failed (furlough days, FAIL), he bought doughnuts (win!), and then came back and when I suggested he sit on the patio with me and enjoy the sun on the mountains for a minute, he seemed annoyed because he wanted to review paperwork to take to the notary. At 6:30 in the morning.

He sat with me for about five minutes, compromising to read over the papers on the patio, and then as soon as the last bite of my doughnut had been popped into my mouth, he looked at me and said, "So, can I go in and do this now?"

*sigh*

Some people just don't know how to have nothing to do.

I'm constantly amazed at his ability to work and be happy doing it. I wouldn't want it any other way. (Particularly because it turns out he AND the poodle then follow me around the house needing a little attention while I do stuff. How many years is medical school? Maybe he should enroll.)

Not an ambiturner

Our dog Lucy is old. I think this summer she'll be 13. In human years, this equates to 91.

Lucy has never had great strong legs -- her back knees have always been a bit off and her feet are little collie feet under a German Shepherd-like body. 

Now in her old age, she has good days and bad. Like humans, she wakes up with a crick in her neck sometimes. Today is one of those days.

The result is that she cannot turn left: Kind of like Derek Zoolander in the walk off. So now, if you call her to you from the wrong side, she has to make a circle to come see you.

And although it's kind of pathetic and obviously she is stiff and it hurts... it's still kind of funny.

I may have to have acupuncture done on her if the Rimadyl tablet doesn't straighten her out soon.

Projects for the weekend

I think I've watched everything I was interested in on Netflix Instant Viewing. This means I need to do some projects because "Dead Like Me" and the entire catalog of available "Dexter" episodes has sucked enough of my life away recently (there are additional Weeds discs on their way, but at a scant 30 minutes, they are safe, right?)

Here's what I have on tap for this weekend's projects (I know it's Valentine's Day on Sunday, but really? Once I give Jeffrey his annual 6-pack of Squirt soda with a bow on it, who gives a shit? Happy Birthday, Dad!):

• Make more bread.
• Finish purse project (will post when completed) started when my mom was visiting which was put down due to: 1. infuriating instructions that made my eyes cross and 2. Netflix instant viewing obsessions
• Create a kitchen garden by the window sill in the kitchen. The cyclamen like it, so I'm guessing basil will, too.
• Make Lucy a fleece dog coat. She is going to the groomer next weekend for her spring shave down, but she might get cold still. Also need to make Lily a new fleece crate blanket -- this does not count as it's own project as I just buy a yard of fleece and shove it in there.
• Start and finish photo album for Edith's birthday of our Fall Cruise. I have the parts, I just need to put them together.
• General housekeeping duties including trash and clutter removal, closet weeding, and Drano during the bathroom cleanings.
• Wash and wax little red car plus oil change. Consider washing Jeffrey's car.

That's right! Nothing but excitement at the Gautreaux house.

Best thing before sliced bread

My bread machine came yesterday, so after dinner, I found a recipe I had the ingredients for (French bread) and got it started.

Here are the results!

I made the 2-lb loaf with the medium darkness setting. then I made us sandwiches for our lunches today.

It made a hearty loaf, came out of the machine easily, and the best part? I watched a movie while it worked.

Awesome.

Who's got the crack?

On Saturday I was up at La Encantada to meet a friend for coffee at AJ's and to buy some yoga pants. (you can read all about my pants on Kat and Jules.)

Outside of AJ's, where the bell ringer stands at Christmas giving me a migraine and guilt, were angels. Little tiny angels with Minnie Mouse voices hovered over by weary parents all hocking crack.

That's right! Girl Scouts! I love when bell ringing season is replaced by helium-voiced cookie peddler season!

I snagged my box of thin mints and a box of samoas for Jeffrey. A father heartily congratulated me on my purchase and five little didn't-even-come-to-my-hip girls squealed with joy at my purchase and chorused a thank you.

Fuck yeah, little darlings. $4 a box? You better put on a show of cute for those suckers. FOUR DOLLARS!

omg thin mints are good.

Want to read about how I wasn't a Girl Scout? Click Here.

Loafing gets even lazier

Yesterday I ordered a bread machine. I know. You can make bread without a machine. And yes, it isn’t hard. You just wake up some yeast, give it some sugar to feast on, throw in a little flour and water, beat it to death, leave it to think about what it’s done, and then beat it back into submission before sticking it in a pan, letting it sit a while longer, and then baking it in an oven.
It has buttons!

But one of the problems with baking bread is you have babysit it. The temperature has to be just right. And you have to be around to smack it back down. And you have to bake it in an oven that may or may not be keeping correct temperatures and may or may not be being used to cook a chicken at the same time.

See, last weekend it was finally sunny and warm enough to rise bread dough (My oven doesn’t have a warming option). So I decided to make a quick loaf of white bread. Quick meaning it took most of the day and there was a delay because I had to go to a riding lesson and there was no one home to watch the bread become, well, bread. And I didn't knead the dough enough to make really good gluten because my arms are weenie and the bread came out a little more dense than I really like it.

But homemade bread is sooo good, it makes the house smell amazing, and it has way fewer chemicals and preservatives than the store bought stuff. I swear Jeffrey achieves his mental greatness at law school because I don’t feed him over processed foods (and has nothing to do with him being really smart or driven. Nope. Not at all...). Not only that? But making bread feels like an accomplishment. I realize this is dumb. It’s bread. It’s not magic.

But it feels like magic.

It’s just easier to make magic when a machine is involved that does everything except scoop the ingredients into itself.

The next appliance on the list of lazy from scratch cooking? Rice maker.