Alot O' Nuttin' Today!

These are some before photos of my painting adventure in the master bathroom. I will have after photos this weekend, although I just painted the trim and cabinets and doors. These will be scrapped soon, too!

I was looking out my kitchen window at this fat black bird of some type standing on the edge of my pool at the ladder. I was wondering what the fat black bird was doing as he kept looking at the pool. And then he jumped on the top rung of the ladder, shook around, and hopped back out. He looked around some more, jumped back in, shook his fat birdy body, and jumped back out. He then hopped over to the side of the ladder, looked in the pool, and decided it was too deep. He popped back over to the ladder. Looked around a bit and jumped back in on the top run for another shake. My pool as a bird bath! I wanted to get my camera, but I knew if I opened the door and the screen door, that fat black bird would be gone.

I am disgusted by the group of girls that they keep showing on the morning show. They lured that one girl over and beat the crap out of her while two boys acted as look outs. What kind of young women beat a girl to the point they knock her unconcious and then when she comes back around, beat the tar out of her again. And then the one girl's mother comes on to say it wasn't her daughter's fault she beat the *%$)(#* out of that girl because that girl was talking trash about her daughter on Facebook or My Space. WTF? Unfortunately, putting these girls in juvi will only teach them to be better criminals. It is a sad tale, and sadder that a parent tries to blame the victim for her daughter's bad choices.

I have to have a chuckle about these lawn commercials they keep showing...families rolling around in their lawn, actually lying on the grass...these are obviously commercials filmed by northerners. No southerner lies in the grass because we know we will be carted off by fire ants!

Speaking of fire ants. I was attacked while gardening yesterday. I have a nasty bite on my hand. I usually will go barefoot until I get the first ant bite on my toesies, but this year, I will not. Although I love being barefooted, there seems to be an inordinate amount of fire ants this year springing up. Too risky!

And lastly, I am sharing this bread recipe my friend sent me over the weekend because it is soooooo freakin' good. It tastes like bread from Carrabbas she says. We don't have a Carrabbas here, but it is chewey on the outside and light on the inside. Best served straight from the over with lots o butter!

Recipe: Basic Free Form Loaf
FLORIDA TODAY • April 3, 2008

Yields 4 loaves3 cups lukewarm water

11/2 tablespoons yeast (two packets)

11/2 tablespoons kosher salt

61/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal for the pizza peel



In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into water. Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered in a bowl with air holes, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel that is generously sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes if the dough hasn't been refrigerated. (Let rest for an hour and 40 minutes if it has been refrigerated.) Refrigerate any unused dough.

Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour 1 cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well-browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely on baking rack.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.