I'm linking to this article about organizing inside your car. I'm going to be getting my first car and I can always use more organization. I'm hoping my car won't fall into the chaos of almost everything else around me. Anyway, I'm including the link for my next Bewitching Vagabond column. Maybe I will get a couple of other car related things.

I never did write about the auction. It took two nights and at some points wasn't very interesting. Mainly this was because so many people didn't show up to be auctioned and others didn't show up to bid on them. Auction by proxy isn't fun to watch. I bought 4 men altogether, but I only kept three. One I traded for one of the others. The one I traded for seemed interesting but when I started talking to him a bit I was less sure. In the end men on IRC are really all the same. I think typing does something to their brain cells. You could probably make some version of that joke about men thinking with one head or the other, but never both.

Anyway, I did buy 3 men and at some point I will spend an hour amusing myself with them, in theory. In reality I will have to find some way to entertain them. I might just skip it since I have zero interest in cyber or virtual sex, same for phone sex, trading pics or any of the other stuff that it's popular to do. I would like to meet someone to begin a relationship with but I know that is highly unlikely on IRC or any kind of Internet chat. If you can't meet them face to face you really don't know who they are. The Internet works well as a way to find them and get a preview but I'm not even sure about that any more. People put on a face online, they may think they are more themselves, less intimidated, but it seems to me they are putting on a show and the real person could be someone else, completely different.

The whole pic trading thing does bug me. Men (probably women too but I don't encounter them in the same way) collect pictures as a way of putting notches in their bedposts. They don't care who you are, what you think or feel. Before they even know your name they are asking for your pic. Why? Because they only have 1043 and really hope to hit 2000 by the end of the month. Just as men used to collect phone numbers in a little black book. Cyber man collects image files. I actually do have a picture of myself scanned but I almost never give it out and when asked for it I tell them I don't have one.

I can't believe it's already this close to noon. No wonder I'm getting hungry, I skipped breakfast. At least I did have a shower this morning. I have one thing accomplished for the day. I have so much packing to do and I'm being very bad about procrastinating with it. I think I just hate moving and not really knowing where I am going to or if I'm going to anything at all. What 37 year old woman wants to move back to her parent's house, even if it is just a couple of weeks.

Before I get into another tail spin about why do I always fail at everything I'm going to make soup and get offline to phone my brother for his birthday today.

On the list today: updating HerCorner (for the whole month if I possibly can) updating Sandcastles and Dreamcatchers at Kids BackWash, packing, packing, packing, packing and more packing.

On the menu today: Campbell's Split Pea Soup, the last of the roasted peanuts and coffee starting off hot but usually drunk when cold.

On my mind today: words I like. I'm thinking to make a whole webpage up of words like serendipity, bewitch, beguile, bewilder, etc. Then there are things I like or am getting into like: typography, cartography, Paint Shop Pro, CSS, Lotus Notes, crazy quilting, walking as an exercise, yet more gardening and growing of plant life, old traditions and cultures, Paganism and city building games, nature, arts and crafts and etc. This list could go on all day but, I have a whole list of things to do.

I like reading my fortune cookie when we go out for Chinese food. Todd and I have had Chinese most weekends, there are several good buffets in the area. I used to write my fortunes into my old blog and I guess I never quite threw all of them away. So here for your amusement are my collection of fortunes.

You have an active mind and a keen imagination.

It is most enjoyable to talk with you.

You are talented in many ways.

You have a natural grace and a great consideration of others.

You will be spending time outdoors, in the mountains, near water.

You are tasting the sweets of success.

You will be fortunate in the opportunities presented to you.

There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead for you.

You will be recognized and honoured as a community leader.

You will make a fortune with your friends.

You are always welcome in any gathering.

You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.

That seems to be all of them. Now they will be tossed out with the rest of the stuff I'm not moving with me. Nice that they could have a last appearance before the end of their destiny. Although, who knows what might happen to them between now and the time they are finally composted back into the Earth.

My Bloginality is INFP!!!

As an INFP, you are Intraverted, iNtuative, Feeling , Perceiving. This makes your primary focus on Introverted Feeling with Extraverted Intuition.

This is defined as a NF personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Idealist (Identity Seeking) type, and more specifically the Healers or Idealist

As a weblogger, you have wonderful words to express your feelings because of your idealism. Because you don't like conflict, you may be likely to make one list of links and leave it for a long time without updating for fear of offending.

Today I'm going to look for more templates and see if I can do more with my front page, of the blog. It's fun but since I know so little about coding I don't want to mess things up and not have a clue how to put them back.

Anyway, this morning Todd and I went out for breakfast, just a drive thru thing but I like that. McDonalds sausage and egg is my favourite. Even their coffee has been getting better. I don't go often, not even once a month. We ate in the park which was nice. Things are easier between us now. Makes me almost doubt myself but I don't want to go back. I still remember the 4 months he stopped talking to me and things he said that really knocked me around at the time.

We went driving around to yard sales this morning, after the park breakfast. I didn't want to buy anything since I'm moving and at this point it's all just more stuff. But, at a church sale they were selling everything for a dollar. They handed out grocery bags and you could fill them for a dollar. I put in as many pairs of jeans as I could, Todd added a book he wanted and we got it all for a dollar. I will use the jeans for making things. Ideally a new denim knapsack or purse thing and some kind of denim quilt would be very lovely too. I could embroider it and then make it all patchworked together. I think that would be ideal. I wouldn't really need a pattern since it would be in the crazy quilt style.

Anyway, I've agreed to take part in an auction later today. It's for an IRC channel I have been visiting for a long time, on and off. It's not a nice girl thing but it will be something different. Sometimes I have serious doubts about the whole nice girl/ BDSM girl thing. It seems so over the top for who I think I am. Yet, I do like the ideas behind it. Not all of it, just like with Wicca, I have my own version of it that works for me. In BDSM I think its more about seduction than anything else. I'm not into even the idea of pain, not even so much as spanking. So, we will see how the auction goes. I devoted a column to it on the Adult BackWash column I write: Bait & Switch.

A guy I had known on IRC for a long time was a real jerk last night. I guess I had forgotten that I was on IRC. Never really expect much from IRC people and don't trust anything male there. That should be the number one rule. I'm not bitter about it, angry I guess, but not bitter. I wondered if I would still go to the auction but decided I would because I had said I would. Maybe I will get in the spirit of things and still have a few laughs.

Anyway, the husband is about to get into the shower and go to his company picnic with his Mother. I could have gone but it's a hot day and I'm not really that impressed with all the ladies he works with. They all seem to think I am the evil bitch now that we are getting divorced.

When I was a kid one of the best things was doing stuff with my Mom. Even though we didn't get things exactly right, or as well as she could have done it herself, my Mom was pretty good about letting us do things by ourselves. We did cooking, gardening and crafts all year round. Christmas was the time of year for the most cooking and crafts. We would have a lot of family come to our house every holiday but Christmas was the busiest time of all.

I really remember peeling what seemed like hundreds of apples for pies. Kneading the dough for hours and hours to make bread, of course it was only about half an hour that I actually lasted. We made homemade jam, tried making candles at least once. I did sewing too but that was usually in front of the TV and we didn't have as much chatting and fun.

Here is a recipe which I found on the Internet a couple of weeks ago. I've since made it twice and its turned out great, even when I didn't measure carefully and adapted it to make less bread since its only me that will be here to eat it. You can help make this with your Mom, or Dad or Grandparents, whoever you choose. Bread is a bit fussy, you should have the room warm so the yeast will rise. The kneading is still good arm muscle exercise too.

Enjoy the recipe, this is my adaptation of it.

Boil a kettle of water, let it sit in a large bowl or measuring cup until its lukewarm. That means its hotter than just being warm. Sprinkle a package of dry yeast (not the fast kind) over the water. Then sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over top of the yeast. Cover it up so its nice and warm and leave it to start growing. If its happy, nice and warm and left alone, it will grow. In ten minutes check it and see.

Now, add all the ingredients to a large bowl, big enough for your bread to grow about double in size while it rises.

Here is what you will be adding to your yeast:

half a cup (or less) sugar half a cup (or less) canola oil a sprinkle of salt 2 tablespoons of white vinegar 2 cups of water (more or less) 8 cups of flour (more or less)

By more or less I just mean that you can make a bigger or smaller batch of dough. With the flour I didn't measure it, just kept working it in and then kneading until it stopped cementing itself to the countertop.

Stir all the ingredients until its too thick to stir in your bowl. Now, before you get your hands really messy with dough, pour some flour on the counter where you will be kneading the dough. Pour about a cup of flour and keep it handy in case you need more. Smooth some flour over the counter and put your lump of dough on top. Now, last thing to do before you start kneading is put some oil in the bottom of your bowl. This keeps the dough from sticking when you let it sit to rise.

Now, you're ready for the kneading. Roll up your sleeves. Hold your arms out in front of you. If you have your hands up, facing the dough that bottom part of the palm of your hand is what you use to knead the bread. Don't knead with your fingers, that just gets messy. If you push the bread around with that bottom part of your hand you will find it much easier. Don't forget to bend your elbows as you smush and roll that dough. Do turn it as you knead. Its pretty much knead, turn, knead, turn, etc. Just a quarter turn each time.

Keep kneading for at least 15 minutes. My Mom and my Great Aunt Alice, used to tell me to knead it until it squeaked. I didn't believe them about it squeaking but a couple of times I kneaded it for a really long time and it did squeak! It was so funny. Once it starts squeaking they come more and more often. But, your arms will be rubbery by then. Get your brothers and sisters, all your family to help. Tell them to wash their hands first. Sometimes people forget that they are actually going to be eating that dough a little later.

Now, when you've decided you are all kneaded out, put the dough in the oiled bowl. Rub oil over the surface and then turn it over so top and bottom are both oiled. It doesn't need a thick coat, just a little does fine. Cover it up again, just as you did when it was just yeast and leave it to rise, grow again. This time you can give it an hour. Now its got all that flour weighing it down so it takes longer for the yeast to grow. Keep the room warm, or at least keep the bread dough warm.

After its had an hour to rise come back and have a look. This time you will punch it down. As kids we always liked this part. It was funny to see it deflate down. Give it a couple of punches if you like, just don't go crazy. Remember you will be eating this later.

Making the bread into shapes doesn't take long once you get the hang of it. You can make a loaf of bread or individual buns. A loaf is just a big chunk of dough which you turn the edges down underneath itself until the top is a nice smooth round shape. Oil your pan, not too much oil, your crust doesn't need to fry just bake. Put that aside to rise for the last time, cover it up, just as before.

Making buns is no big trick. You don't need muffin trays if you don't have them or don't want to wash all those individual holes in the tray. I like to just use a deep cooking pan, the same kind I make lasagna and other casseroles in. Buns also need that nice rounded, smooth top. The bottom will be hidden so its ok to be funny looking. Try to keep all your buns the same size so none burn.

Take a glob of dough in one hand. Find kind of a smooth spot to start with and then shape the dough with your fingers so that spot is at the top of a globe shape of dough. Now, choose which hand is easier to work with and hold your thumb and index finger together in a circle shape. Push your globe shape dough through the whole with the smooth surface going through first. This stretches the smooth surface even more. When the dough is mostly through the hole of your fingers use your other hand to push the bottom ends up inside and together to the centre. Now you have made a bun. Stick the first one in the centre of your pan with the rough looking bottom side down. Now put all the next buns you make around that first one until you have the pan full. Don't squish them together to fill the pan. Remember, they are going to rise again and will easily fill the pan when they have grown. Sometimes they even grow a tiny bit more in the oven before the heat starts to cook them.

Once your buns or loaf of bread have had about an hour to rise, all nice and warm, just as before, its time to finally cook them. During that last rising time, the last few minutes, you can get the oven warming up. It can to about 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Its a nice feeling to put your bread in the oven, after all your work kneading and making buns and all that time waiting for them to grow! Watch that they don't start to burn. Sometimes they cook fast, it depends on your oven. Expect it will take 15 to 30 minutes. You know they are done when the tops look golden and if you tap the top with a fork it will sound hollow.

Don't forget your oven mitts when pulling them out of the oven. I hope you have butter to put on them. Few things are as good as fresh homemade bread, still warm from the oven with butter on them. My Mom used to put a little butter over the tops of all the bread and buns, just to give them a nice shiny look.

Enjoy the bread. I hope it can be a real family day for you.