My Pants Are Getting Tight....

I've decided weighing myself isn't a good thing? Hmm...maybe that is just myself trying to be nice to me....you know, out of sight out of mind...if I don't see it then it won't be a problem...however, I can feel it, on my clothes. Put some new washed pants on today and yes, usually new washed pants fit tighter then if you've worn them several days but I feel like these fit a little tighter then the last time they were washed. But I am doing it too myself, I'm baking like a mad woman these days, every weekend this house smells like one giant cookie!!!! I'm being pressured by stores to buy nuts and sugars and flours and more nuts and chocolate and BAKE BAKE BAKE...it's Christmas, I'm suppose to be baking and well, I'm weak, I love to bake...so I can't say no, I just say bring on the nuts....let's bake!!! And to make matters worse, I've not been to the gym in at least two weeks...see, I can't even remember the last time I was there, that's bad...real bad...but is there any hope for me the next week or two? NO! Are you kidding? Christmas is next week, have to have lots of good stuff here for Christmas....and then of course it's New Year and I'm having company- have to bake for company...even though they don't need it anymore then I do. So I guess I'm looking at the typical 1st of January as my kick off day....isn't it sad that I fall into that clichè of 1st of January as the big kick off to hopefully a new healthier lifestyle. I should be good all year long....and I'd probably say I am...but right now it's all hopeless. HUFF *deep fat sigh* The overweight chipmunk picture is suppose to be "me"- seemed fitting considering I live in the woods...hahaha...

Today was my last carrot cake for the Skafferiet. I also whipped up apple cinnamon rolls batter for her (made four times the batter for her) and she will bake them tomorrow before she opens. As fun as it's been baking for real paying customers, I'm glad I'm done baking as a "job". I'm one of those people who love to do something if I'm not required to do it, I just do it....if someone expects me to do something I drag my feet...don't ask me why, I just do. So I have struggled these last couple weeks with baking at the Skafferiet. It's been hard to go in and bake the same cake over again and over again. Only having one tiny regular household oven has made the baking go incredibly slow there so I don't get to bake anything else then the carrot cakes which are popular. But now it's over, the cakes looked good today so I was pleased. I hope she bakes the muffins correctly, I hate leaving the batter and would have preferred to bake the muffins myself but didn't have time. But Charlotte is a good cook, so I'm sure she will figure it out and it will be fine!

I have some recipies for herb bread and a Christmas bread with raisins. I'm thinking maybe I might bake these and also some Boboli bread. This way I can bake but I'm not baking to terribly dangerous things- well, dangerous is a strong word, let's say fattening...uff...that was pretty strong too, but it's the truth...more fat in a cookie then a bread. So I'll try making these things. I read in a cookbook at Skafferiet about some baking tips. Using less yeast then you think you need was one piece of advice. The longer you knead your bread the better it is. The longer you let your bread rise, the better- the best is to leave it in the fridge overnight...and it said not to mix salt and yeast...but there is usually salt in bread recipies, so I'm not sure what they meant by that except that maybe you should directly add the salt to the yeast as it's dissolving??? I'll test it out and we will see.

The snow is melting quickly and it's slushy and icy on the roads, I was sliding all over the place on my way to the Skafferiet today and home, heart jumped a couple times and I felt a little bit like a rally driver coming up here to the house, as I turned the corner my back swung out and back in again.....if I was a more confident driver I'd probably be shouting YEEEHAW and having fun with those kinds of moves, but I'm not...I hate driving so I'm holding onto the wheel really hard and thinking, "Oh shit oh shit oh shit..." I don't breath out until I see the car is ok and we aren't heading for a ditch or something....it's a nightmare...

I know there is a rain dance, but is there also a snow dance????