Husband extraordinaire strikes again!

My birthday was yesterday, September 1, and for all I care it could have come and gone without any mention and I would be just fine. We had plans to go hang out with friends for Labor day, but they literally got rained out. The only other thing happening that day was that we were supposed to pick up my sister-in-laws KitchenAid mixer so that I could make some bread. I was just planning to send Nathan alone, but he broke it to me that he had actually planned for her to make me cheesecake (my favorite dessert). I could have taken this news a lot more gracefully then I did, but that's yet another character flaw that will have to be discussed later.

We get to my sister-in-law's only to have my husband say "what should be do first, cake or presents?" As you might have guessed, presents weren't on the "to-do list" previously mentioned, so I was a little shocked and thus very curious. Husband extraordinaire then proceeds to bring out a pretty good sized box. In it could pretty much be anything, but there's only one thing that I've been needing....

I like to be able to do everything myself. I'd rather make it then buy, so I'm constantly trying to learn how to do or make things that are useful to my family. There have been a couple things on my list that have alluded me.... sewing well (clothes etc.), keeping something green alive... and up until a little bit ago, making bread. We've tried a few "family recipe's" that we loved growing up, but we don't own Crisco or plan to in the near future, so they never quite turned out using alternative fat sources. We then tried a bread maker only to find that the loafs weren't the size that we wanted, and that was annoying. All the while I begrudgingly bought bread at the store and continued my unconscious pursuit to find something better. The answer came when I took home a loaf of bread from the colloquium I attend and the kids pretty much devoured it even though they already had quite a bit during the discussion. I had been following the fact that this couple was applying for a permit to sell bread, so I figured I would ask if I could be a fly on the wall while the next batch was made. They let me come watch and play 20 questions (basically comparing past failures and eagerly trying to figure out how to make future successes), and I came away with an ALL WHEAT FLOUR bread that used oil for the fat source. How awesome is that! Not to mention that the bread is so soft that you wouldn't ever know that there is no bread/white flour. So, I took this away in my excitement, but then my brain had to work. I didn't have a mixer, and this bread was going to have to be kneaded well. Like most people we don't have an endless supply of money so I couldn't just go buy one. Instead I got the idea to try and borrow my sister-in-law's mixer and she was gracious enough to let me steal it once a week. This was getting tiresome, but we had yummy bread that didn't have any preservatives and I didn't have to spend anything more then gas money (which actually by driving a Jeep Commander I may have been close to buying one just by not driving... gotta love gas prices!) Anyway, Nathan loved this bread, it was hard keeping enough of it around the house because we went through it quickly and I didn't have the ability to make more when we ran out, and I didn't have time enough to make what we needed for the week all at once. That brings us up to yesterday when we were supposed to get the mixer again, but instead.....

Husband Extraordinaire bought me a KitchenAid standing mixer in the pretty, pretty color of pink. Yay!

Needless to say we had some fresh bread for sandwiches this afternoon, we'll be making a larger batch of whole wheat pizza dough for yummy homemade pizza (much yummier and tastier then buying from somewhere), and husband extraordinaire will be getting Chocolate Lava cake for his birthday (Sep 30), courtesy of my present and the yummy list of recipes inside the instruction booklet!

ADDITIONALLY, I pretty much have a whole new living room/dinning room thanks to my hubby, or will at least after tomorrow. When we bought our condo we were too late to pick anything other then carpet and appliances. Since that meant that our dinning area was going to be carpeted too we went for the builder's cheap stuff (as in FREE), and planned to rip it out later and replace it with the laminate flooring that's in our entry and kitchen. With Nathan graduating and thus leaving in December we decided that we'd better get a move on our plan. With installation prices at $2 a square foot Nathan talked me into getting him the tools to do the project instead of paying those guys, and then he'd have them for later houses/projects. So, that's what we did, a happy man is one with power tools right? Anyway, he just installed my floor last week, Costco will be laying carpet tomorrow, hubby will put my moldings back on when he can, and then I'll post pictures onf my cute little house!