Kiersten’s Blog

I have had some requests for my whole wheat bread recipe lately.  Okay, it’s really my mom’s recipe.  I posted it about a year ago but have since changed my blog, so here it is again.  In much trial with a lot of success (and some error) I have learned that additional gluten really does make a difference and so does the kind of wheat you use.  It NEVER turns out as good when I use hard red wheat.  When I use hard white wheat (I grind it myself), it turns out moist and yummy.  I made bread a week ago and it’s still really good, not too crumbly at all.  Enjoy!

I use my trusty KitchenAid mixer to mix the dough.  You can use whatever you have, even your muscles if you like.  I’m not strong enough to use elbow grease.  I LOVE my KitchenAid!  I usually use about 9 and a half to 10 cups of whole wheat flour.  (Sometimes I’ll use all white flour and throw some soaked cracked wheat in or make cinnamon swirl bread instead.)  Mix 4 cups of hot water (I use the hottest I can get from my tap), 1/2 cup powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of salt and 5 heaping tablespoons of sugar (I usually use brown sugar for brown bread and white sugar for white bread.  Don’t ask me why, I don’t know) until dissolved.  Add about 4 cups of flour.  Add 1/2 cup of melted margarine or butter (I use butter).  Add a bit more flour (maybe 3 cups).  Then add 1/4 cup gluten and 2 tablespoons of yeast.  If you don’t have instant yeast, reduce the amount of water by 1/2 cup in the beginning so you can use 1/2 cup of warm water to soak the yeast in.  I have had better success with the instant yeast.  Add the rest of the flour.  Don’t add too much.  Keep your kneading attachment on and let the dough knead for 5-10 minutes longer, until it’s smooth and elastic.  If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour and knead a little longer.  Then transfer the dough into an oiled bowl and let it raise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.  I let it raise in my oven.  I’ll preheat it to 100 and then turn it off.  After it raises (about twice the original size) divide it into 3 balls.  Let it rest for 10 minutes.  Punch it down and form into loaves.  Raise in greased pans for about 20 minutes or less.  While they’re raising, preheat the oven to 400.  Bake on 400 for 13 minutes, then turn down the oven to 350 and bake 13 more minutes.  Take them out of the pans right after they come out of the oven.

Here I am at 34 weeks pregnant (and 5 pounds lighter than last week).  Okay, I’ll really be 34 weeks tomorrow.  I saw the doc today and everything continues to look good.  I’m right on track.  That’s what I hear every time.  That’s a good thing.  The other good news is I’m feeling much, much better.  That’s not saying much, though, as I still have this horrendous cough.  I don’t know what to do about it.  Cough syrup doesn’t even come close to doing anything for it.  I have these awful coughing fits that I just can’t seem to get rid of.  My stomach hurts from coughing so much and the little guy in my belly doesn’t really like it either.  London hates it.  She yells at me every time I cough.  It scares her.  All I’ve heard from the nurses is, “well, it’s going around.  Keep hydrated.”  Are you kidding me?  This is like shortness of breath and wheezing.  I can’t laugh or talk much without having an attack.  Nights are particularly bad, especially when I lay down.  Anyway, I’m sure it will get better sooner or later.  I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.  Any suggestions on making it go away would definitely be welcome!

This is what it looked like.  London and I stayed home to rest and get better.  The rest thing is happening.  Hopefully getting better will soon follow.  I still feel miserable, although a lot better than a couple of days ago.  London is acting fine but she’s obviously still sick.  She never just falls asleep.  I was tidying up just a little, while London sat at the table coloring pictures and watching a Living Scriptures movie.  Obviously she was a little tired.  I transferred her to her bed, where she is now sound asleep.  Maybe we’ll get dressed tomorrow.

I’ve been looking forward to tonight for a long time.  Now I’m just bummed.  We ordered tickets months ago to see Itzhak Perlman here in San Diego.  I have been wanting to see him my whole life and I was VERY excited to find tickets for only $25.  Taylor and I were going to go out to dinner and have a nice night together.  Then I got sick.  I still planned on going.  Then London got sick.  The concert started one minute ago and I’m sitting here typing while Taylor’s out somewhere studying (I made him leave so he won’t get sick too).  I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this sick and I’ve been sick a lot lately;  three times since Christmas, to be exact.  This pregnancy must really be taking a toll on my immune system.  I’ve had fevers off and on for a couple of days now and a horrible chest cough.

Krystal had this week off of work so she came down on Thursday to hang out and go to Sea World on Friday.  Since I was up all night Thursday night and felt horrible yesterday, she took London by herself while I stayed in bed and Taylor went to work.  It was such a blessing to have her here.  I don’t know what I would have done without her yesterday.  I needed to stay in bed all day.  I’m feeling a little better today, but definitely not well.  Hopefully things will clear up soon for me and London and I sure hope Taylor and Krystal don’t come down with it.  I’m especially worried about Taylor since he’s been so stressed lately with everything he has to do for work and the class he’s taking, plus his doctoral qualifying exams coming up next week.  I would feel awful if I gave this sickness to him.  Tomorrow I’ll start eating agin, I hope.  Yesterday all I had was fresh squeezed hot lemonade and a piece of toast.  Today I had a whole grapefruit and a small bowl of chicken noodle soup.  Well, I’m off to take more medicine and get more rest.

We have had a good Valentine’s weekend. Yesterday we spent the day as a family at Sea World because we didn’t get to go the other day when London pooped. Taylor had the day off and apparently nobody else did because the place was dead. That was fine with me! We got to see everything we wanted to in minimal time. It was a fun day for all. We spent today just hanging out. Taylor had a lot to do for work so I played with London. We got a babysitter tonight so we could go out to dinner. After dinner we went to the bookstore and the mall and just walked around, hoping that by the time we got home, London would be in bed. I just got back from taking the babysitter home and Taylor’s reading London books so obviously our dreams didn’t come true. She may have been in bed if she wasn’t so manipulative and sneaky. Let me illustrate her sneakiness. About a month ago we bought a sticker book for her to use once she stopped wearing diapers altogether. We have not made it to that point yet, although she did poop in the potty a few days ago. Because of that, she thinks she gets ALL of her potty prizes. She asked me about playing with her new sticker book and I again explained to her that she still doesn’t get it unless she poops in the potty all the time and not in a diaper anymore. She’s definitely smart enough to understand that. Tonight while Taylor and I were out, London told the babysitter that she wanted to play with the new sticker book (that she knew was off limits). She told her where it was and everything. When we came home (past the time London should have been in bed) she had a guilty look on her face. There was the new sticker book, half way done. What a sneak! She manipulated the babysitter to let her stay up later and she convinced her that she could play with something she knew she wasn’t supposed to. I really need to keep a close eye on this girl.

Confession: I peed my pants today. Yup, I’m thirty years old and I can’t control my bladder. I’m okay with posting this for the world to see because I’m pretty sure there are only maybe ten of you who read my blog in the first place and I know of at least two or three of you who have had this problem so I’m sure I won’t be judged too harshly. Let me also mention that I’m 32 weeks pregnant. I’m sure the problem is mostly due to that. Lately I have had to go pee quite often during the day. I still don’t get up every night. I don’t know how that happens. Usually I have to go really bad when I’m coming home from somewhere. I’ll be dancing around as I pull London from her car seat. She always says to me, “Hold it in. Don’t go pee in your underwear!” I reassure her that I’ll be fine as long as we get in the house FAST. And I always make it. Except for today. London and I took a walk to Target. I started noticing the feeling on the way home but it really wasn’t that bad. When I stopped at the mailbox, I realized how badly I really needed to go. I wondered if I would make it. Of course I would make it home. I always do. Well, I didn’t. As I was unloading the stroller and folding it up to put in the car, I leaked. Just a little. It wasn’t like I had pee running down my legs or anything nasty like that. And then I made it to the bathroom. Oh, sweet relief. I guess I’ll make sure I go at the store next time. Maybe after the baby comes, I’ll be able to control myself a little better.

Just before bed tonight, London decided she needed to draw a few pictures. She wanted to draw a picture of me. Taylor told her to make sure she made me with a big belly, so if you notice, there’s a baby in my belly. Also, I got a nose this time! She never gives anybody noses. I’m so lucky! I asked her what those spots on my nose were. London’s answer, “Boogers.” Thanks.

Warning: this is a long one. This may be a gross subject for some of you but I haven’t posted poop progress in a while so if you don’t want to read it, I won’t be offended. I get a little worried when London goes more than a couple of days without pooping. This usually means she is or soon will be constipated. It had been two or three days so last night before she went to bed, I gave her a laxative. She pooped right away and I assumed that was not the laxative doing it’s job yet. I let her stay in her diaper as long as possible this morning, hoping she would do her business before I had to give her a bath. The business did not get taken care of. Mid-morning she started telling me that her tummy hurt. Then she started telling me her bum hurt. I could see when she would have the painful bouts and would rush her to the bathroom. I tried to explain to her that if she would just poop, everything would be all better. Her bum wouldn’t hurt anymore. For some reason, she doesn’t care. She would rather be in pain. After about 2 hours of running her to the bathroom every ten minutes, I started getting desperate. Before I get too far, let me mention that London has a plethora of prizes that she receives by doing her dirty work in the potty. She gets 10 stickers on her chart! That’s a lot, in case you didn’t know. She also gets to choose a prize from the prize bag. In addition, she gets M&Ms. She has also had a sticker book in the cupboard I bought for her months ago that I promised she could play with when she pooped in the potty. Lastly, she would get to call Jeff Wiggle (okay, it was really Taylor with an Aussie accent but London didn’t know). I would think that any one of these rewards would be enough, but apparently, pooping is really that bad. Anyway, back to my story. As time wore on this morning, I was getting more and more desperate, as was London. She was crying and in pain, sitting on the potty because she wouldn’t just let it come out. Finally I told her that if she went poop in the potty today, I would take her to Sea World today (if it wasn’t raining). I told her that as soon as Daddy came home from work with the car, if she pooped, we would get in it and go directly to Sea World. I don’t think that’s what pushed her over the edge, but she finally pooped. I don’t think she really meant to, but she did. She was so much happier after that. And so was I.
Later this afternoon (since it was raining so we didn’t go to Sea World) London and I decided to walk across the street to Michael’s to buy some much needed stickers. I didn’t have one left, let alone ten. Of course I make her go potty before we leave the house. Unbeknownst to her, as she was peeing, she was also pooping. She was pretty excited to see that she had done it again. Twice in a day! Now I’m pretty sure it won’t happen again for another six months. Either way, she got another prize from the prize bag and was quick to remind me that I promised her just yesterday that she could get something really cool at the Disney store if she pooped in the potty two times. I was sure it would be a number of months before that happened. Obviously I was wrong. I promised her a trip to the Disney store in the near future and we took off to Michael’s, umbrella in hand. Once we found the stickers we wanted to buy, waited in line, had the cashier run back for a price check because the stickers we were buying were marked on clearance and they didn’t ring up that way, and were ready to pay, I noticed a problem. I didn’t have my wallet. I promised the cashier I would be back in ten minutes. I walked outside and called Taylor, hoping he would run my wallet to us. But as I was calling him, it started to rain. London and I walked home, empty handed. Just as we were walking up the stairs to our apartment complex, our umbrella turned inside out. We ran up the stairs, trying to keep as dry as possible without the umbrella flying away from us. We made it home, cold and wet and stickerless. It looks like I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. The only problem: I can’t figure out how Sea World is going to fit into the schedule. Maybe we’ll have to save that excitement for another day.

There have been so many days when I question why I ever had a child. Today was the opposite. London and I had a fun day together. Taylor was gone all day at work. That’s no fun but we made the best of it. I promised her early on that we could go to the “baby store.” It’s a children’s consignment store and there’s a play area that she loves to play in. While I was shopping she sat in the corner of the play area and read books. It was difficult to peel her away from the huge stack of books she was reading and had read. She didn’t make it through the whole stack so she didn’t want to leave but I’m sure she read no less than twenty books. They were in a tall pile on the table when she was finished. Between our stop there and our stop at Target, I spent just over $20 and bought a pair of jeans for London, some slacks and jeans for the little guy, along with a shortall outfit and a couple of onesies, and a maternity jacket for myself. I love getting good deals! Plus, London was so good the whole time we were gone. We watched “Finding Nemo” when we got home. She wanted to make heart cookies this afternoon but I told her we had to clean the house first. She helped the best she could but she got a little crazy. London has a ton of stuffed animals. They’re in a hammock above her bed, but she likes to sleep with a lot of them. She probably has twenty of them just in her bed. As she was cleaning up, she thought it would be a fun idea to pick as many up into her arms as she could fit. I was cleaning in another room and I could hear her in her room yelling, “I’m holding way too many animals!” as she was laughing hysterically. I went in to see what all the commotion was about and through her laughs I heard , “Take a picture! I’m holding way too many animals!” She was standing on her bed, watching herself in her mirrored closet doors. She thought she was the funniest thing ever. So of course I had to take some pictures. One of these days I’ll get the video up of her singing through the whole ordeal. We had such a fun day cleaning and playing together. Why can’t every day be like today?

London isn’t one to follow a crowd…usually. It’s the same with her hairstyles. Her hair is as wild and crazy as her personality. Most days I’m lucky if I can get a comb through it. Sometimes it’s easier to just give her a bath so that I can wash and condition it, rather than the ritual of wetting it with detangler just so I can make it slightly presentable. Because of all the curls, it never seems to grow. I don’t notice it looking longer, but I do notice the fro getting bigger. I think it could be tamed. I think there are things that could be done to make it look good. Of course, this would take time and patience on my part, but I’m willing to try. London is not. But we’re making progress. Lately she has wanted a clip in the front of her hair at all times. This keeps it from going in her face, which she hates. The clip was definitely progress. Now she actually lets me put bows in her hair and she likes it! Today we had an even bigger breakthrough. I asked her if she wanted a ponytail. Of course she didn’t. She’s still traumatized from the last time she had a ponytail. I then asked her if she wanted braids. Once I showed her what a braid was, she consented to have it done and let me put two french braids in her hair! I think it’s a minor miracle! Is this really my child? Not only did she let me put them in, she left them in. All day. And now she’s sleeping, still with braids in her hair! I can’t believe it. Maybe the braids are paving the way for me to actually be able to style her hair. Oh, the possibilities!