february in review

i like february.  january is long and cold, and march is long and almost, but not spring, and february is a fun little month in between with 2 holidays and one last potential for snow.  the travis february in review:

• webb and i have been sick all month.  huge bummer.  i have had a sinus thing for two weeks now.  i am going to the doctor tomorrow.  i called the nurse to see if i should come in and she said, stuffy for two weeks?  YES.
• we tried eating healthier this month, and had a full week of veggie dinners.  Try out these recipes if you want: stuffed potatoes, spinach enchiladas, black bean veggie burgers (yum – my first veggie burger)  and spinach stuffed squash boats.
• webb started rolling over from front to back.  but has recently forgotten how.
• we got a new car, an acura mdx.  we like it.  lots of space in the rear for extremely easy removal and insertion of the stroller.  it does look mom-ish.  but with spunk.
• webb loves watching TV, which we try to avoid.  yesterday, he was sneakily trying to watch tv while hanging out in evan’s lap.  evan turned the tv off and he proceeded to cry for 30+ minutes.
• we did not go anywhere this month except a quick trip greensboro.  i’m itching for some travel.  so we’ll see…!

sourdough.

i am not the portrait of domesticity… reference my kitchen loaded with dirty dishes below:

however, now that i am going to be staying at home with webb, i am diving into domestic activities that can keep things at home interesting. project one was sourdough bread. my mom always said making the sourdough starter was the hardest part, so i attempted this first using this recipe.  this turned out to be a good move because you have to let the starter sour for a week before you can make the bread.  Everyone should try this, it was pretty easy.  I do not have a thermometer for the warm water, so if you don’t either, here’s my tip, wait until the water is hot to the touch but not so hot it burns you, and that should be about in the right range.  So then you mix everything up and just let the bowl sit on your counter for a week.  Here’s my starter after one week:

I then tried to follow through and make the whole recipe in the bread machine. It was gross. So much for taking the easy way out.  The following week, I used this recipe instead and did not use the bread machine. Perfection!!  This bread is/was seriously delicious, see below.  I followed the recipe, with the following exceptions: kneaded the bread for only 5 mins (i got bored), omitted egg and onions (egg, too complicated even though it really probably isn’t that hard, onions, yuck), and i took it out after 30 mins and it was very doughy, so I cooked it at 300 degrees for another 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

goodbye truck.

with three people in the family now, we’re outgrowing evan’s tacoma. we don’t try to all ride in it everyday, but at least once a saturday we head to home depot with the truck… evan driving, webb facing rear in the front seat, and me spread out side to side over the jump seats in the extended cab. it’s not terrible but we’ve decided an suv will suit us better if we can sell for a good price. it’ll be sad to see it go because it has served us SO well for almost 5 years. it has been crucial during our 4 moves, countless house projects and a couple of trips off the beaten path in the mountains. we cleaned it up on saturday and took a few pics of the men in the man mobile…

my mom said they also had to sell their “thing” back when i was born as it didn’t have a/c. it may be a sad rite of passage (really for evan, let’s be honest, trucks aren’t my fav) but this face is totally worth it…