Friday, we had plans to go to the Meacham's (Jon & Jeff went to high school together) for dinner. Sadly, the whole family got sick the night before, so we had to take a rain check. I had already made Crescent Roll Chicken (a variation on this recipe) the night before, so we invited ourselves over to the Hillstrom's (Scott & Jeff went to high school together-noticing a pattern?). While we were sad that the Meacham's were sick and we didn't get to see them, we were excited to see the Hillstrom's. Heidi (Hillstrom) had just been put on bedrest that week, so it worked out well that they didn't have to worry about dinner.We had a great time eating and chatting!
Saturday, started out early with a haircut for me. It is quite a bit shorter!! I haven't tried my hair curly since I got it cut, so we'll see how that goes.
Not the best picture, but the only picture I have of the new cut.
After the haircut, I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things so I could make bread for a work party that night. I stopped at home to start the bread machine for the first loaf, and realized I had run out of sugar!!! This would not have been a big deal, except I had JUST been to the store and I had 6 hours and 15 minutes to make 2 loafs of bread that each took 3 hours. Ooops. Kindly, Jeff went to the store to pick up sugar while I ate lunch. Once he got back, I started the bread machine and I was off to the craft store.
Earlier this week I came up with a great idea for a Christmas present for my parents and my in-laws. Only trouble is I didn't have much time to get it done! So, off to the craft store(s) to get what I needed. (I will post about the finished projects after Christmas!) The first store had one of the items I needed, but not the others. I decided to only buy enough to make one as I figured I could come back if I didn't find a better fit elsewhere. (Plus, I only had one coupon and let's be real if at all possible never pay full price at the craft store). Off to the next store, they had several items on my list, but again only one coupon! Also, overpriced, definitely cannot pay full price on something overpriced! At the third store, I bought the last item I needed with a coupon and thankfully much better price.
After the craft stores, I stopped at my in-laws to borrow their 1 1/2 lb bread machine (solution to starting loaf #1 late, get another bread machine-genius right. Too bad I didn't think of that before I stressed out for several minutes). As the recipe (well someone who commented on the recipe) said the loaf was 1 1/2 lbs I wasn't worried. Once I got home I put in loaf #2. The first fault in my new plan-my mother in law's machine took longer to bake than mine! Loaf #2 was schedule to finish baking exactly when we needed to leave (not allowing for time to cool and cut).
Once loaf #2 was in, I started to make the desserts that I needed for a family party on Sunday. I decided to make brownies and blondies since I had all the ingredients on hand. Wrong again! I put the brownies in without a problem (I had remembered to buy a mix that morning). Once I started making the blondies, I realized that I had bread flour and not All Purpose flour. After a few phone calls and some google searching I decided it wouldn't be a problem to use bread flour. (They actually turned out totally fine with the bread flour). After that crisis was averted, we started to smell something burning. I went over to bread machine #2 where loaf #2 was cooking, well it turns out that the bread I was making is more like 2 lbs. There was a bit of overflow. I decided to let it keep cooking and hope and pray that it would turn out ok.
At this point, I sent Jeff back to craft store #1 to try to buy more of that item I had only bought one of...and by the time he got there they were sold out!! After a little freaking out, I decided I would just have to get that item during the week (success luckily). By the time I had this all done, I didn't have time to start my craft (for what I had supplies for)! I had to put it off until the next day. I went upstairs and got ready for my work party. Loaf #2 came out looking like a very tall fat mushroom, but I think it tasted better than loaf #1. Go figure. (The bread machine did require a good amount of cleaning up..) We ended up leaving a little late, but both loafs of bread turned out great! Apparently, I wasn't the only one who's day was not turning out as planned. We passed three accidents in a small stretch of road!
I am on the International Accounting team for my company, so we decided to have an international themed potluck. Everyone brought food from one of the countries they work with. I wanted to make a fancier dish, but bread was all I had time for. I found this recipe for Portugal sweet bread. So, in honor of my recent trip to Portugal, I went for it. It didn't really taste all the unique, but it did taste great (or at least I thought so!). After dinner, we played Christmas themed charades, two truths and a lie, and the newlywed game. It was a lot of fun! I learned a lot about my coworkers. We have a great team at work and it is fun to get to spend some time relaxing with them and getting to know their spouses.
Sunday, was a little bit calmer. We started out the morning right by going to church. I had my day tightly scheduled, so when the bishopric asked us to stay after church I was a little stressed. After we met with the bishopric, I got a new calling (more on that later), we rushed home so I could start on my craft. I completed step one, then I cut up the brownies & blondies for the family party that night. I then left Jeff at home, while I went to Scott & Chandra's (Scott & I are second cousins) so that Chandra could help me complete step 2 and 3 for one of the projects and step 2 for the other. We hadn't seen each other in awhile, so we enjoyed having a chance to catch up! Steps 2 & 3 took longer than planned, so I ended up being an hour late to the family Christmas party.
I got to the party in time to eat dinner quickly before the acting out of the nativity. Most of the cousins helped out in the acting out of the nativity and then we had a white elephant exchange. It was actually relatively calm for a Fletcher family white elephant. Usually, Jeff's uncles steal from the little kids and make them cry. This time the youngest cousins got smart. They sat at the end of the line so that they could have the last say! The youngest was trying to decide what to choose, and one of the older cousin's kept telling him he shouldn't take his gift! So, of course he did!! It was great. He ended up with a bobble head of the Washington State coach. (Don't worry, at the end of the night he ended up with something he enjoyed more).
Overall, it was quite a busy weekend!! I hardly sat down for more than a few minutes. For someone who is not very domestic, in one weekend I made chicken crescent rolls, 2 loafs of bread, brownies, blondies, and 1.5 crafts. I was quite stressed out throughout the whole process, but everything ended up working out AND luckily I married a very patient man who while he thinks I am crazy, (and tries to stop me when I get these crazy ideas about how much I can fit into a week or weekend) helped me out, dealt with several freak outs, and did his best to keep me calm! He even brought me a donut after I sent him to the store (smart man!) Things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped, but everything turned out alright in the end!
December 13-15, 2013
