THE JOY OF BAKING

Talkin' 'bout the weather
This is it. It's really fall. No, seriously. The day time temps are down in the mid-sixties. The wind has been a-blowing and we've had three very wet days. The Wachita River, which flows south of town is VERY full. There's been flooding: mainly in Anadarko to our west, but a little here. The drainage is bad and the streets flood a lot. Friday, during the drive home from Seminary, it was so bad I could barely see. Couldn't it just wait until I got home?

That big flier is Junior, the Juvenile red-tailed hawk that's been hanging around the church and the park. He got shy when Analiese went to take a picture!

Cozy Life
It has been nice and cozy at home, though. Preparing for my event on Saturday, I had lots to do. Cleaning up the house, cooking, baking. The latter has made the house smell so nice!

There is nothing like the smell of steamy, cinnamon-y cookies as you open the oven door. I made iced apple oatmeal cookies and...talk about heaven!

They tasted good too, which I guess is the point. I delivered some to a friend who's not been well. She said they tasted disgusting...in front of her husband. She didn't want to share!

There is also nothing like the smell of yeasty rolls as you open the oven door. I made some very easy (only one 20-minute rise!) rolls that turned out so soft, aromatic and luscious. I had a sister from church pick on up and just smell it because it's so wonderful! Grocery store rolls are not the same! I think she ate several of those rolls, too, because they were every bit as yummy as they smelled!

Soup Swap
So all the baking and cleaning was for the RS Soup Swap on Saturday. Saturday dawned cool and wet...perfect weather. But a lot of people backed out: sick, busy, no babysitter. I only had five guests, but we had a good time. I'd made black bean soup and split pea, someone brought pinto bean and ham, we had two chicken noodles (one with homemade noodles!) and clam chowder. The rolls and the cookies were a hit and we just had fun sitting back and talking. Everyone got to take home a little extra soup, too, plus I collected recipes. I'm going to assemble them and then share it with the RS.

Social Media Fast
President Nelson gave the challenge Saturday Night. Sunday, after uploading last week's blog, I began my fast. No Facebook, plus I added no YouTube or games. If I was going to take a break from worldly stuff, might as well do it right! Actually, I found out this week that others have done the same. Inspiration!

The first day or so, I got a little twitchy, because I'd reach for my phone to do something only to have to put it down again. Also, I came to a realization that Pinterest is actually social media (I don't use Twitter or Snapchat and rarely ever look at my Instagram). But I use Pinterest for thing like recipes and Seminary, so I resolved not to BROWSE Pinterest, but get what I needed, when I needed it, and then get out.

After that, it wasn't too bad. I would have liked to have reminded the RS sisters about Saturday's soup swap and I wasn't able to use FB to contact Seminary students, but I have other ways to get a hold of them.  But I found time to do other worthwhile things: read (especially the Book of Mormon, which was another challenge the prophet gave the sisters Saturday night), do Indexing, visit sisters and, as the week went on, clean my house up for the Saturday visitors. Plenty of time, no stress. I think there may have even been a nap or two included there (wink).

I came to the conclusion today (no, it doesn't end for me until the end of Wednesday) that maybe the reason was to get us to wake up and see where our time had really been going. Also, many sisters I've spoken to have found better, happier things to be doing. Definitely an improvement. So much of it has been time-wasters. To be honest, I went to it (too much) for stress and boredom relief.

Drive Drive Drive
I do a lot of transporting of kids back and forth. To work. To YW. Etc. Well, Saturday, the very day of my Soup Swap activity, I had a lot of it to do. In between everything else.

Saturday morning Jonathan needed to be in Norman by 7:30 to go with the YSA ward to the Dallas temple (I cannot WAIT for OKC to reopen!) That was about an hour up and back. Then I rushed home go get my soups ready for the sisters coming at noon (I'd made the rolls and cookies the day before). Then...I had to take Analiese to work at 11:00, after which I ran home, took a shower, reheated the rolls and set the tables. Considering the past three days of cooking and baking, it was nice to have a couple of hours to sit down and relax.

Because...after that I had to pick up Analiese from work, deliver soup to my sister-friend, and then head up to Norman again to get Jonathan! I was so exhausted driving home.  This next week should prove to be quieter. Good! I need a rest!

ANALIESE ANTICS: She likes to put Pom in the hood of her jacket!

ANALIESE ANTICS: 'Nuff said.

This truck made me laugh. Even his plate is goofy!