Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

So we've really gotten into this homemade bread thing. Gene's mom and dad bought us a breadmaker for Christmas and we didn't get a chance to use it until about a week or so ago. Why? Because I'm a pioneer woman and I don't have electricity.

It's a long story, but essentially, I don't have any outlets in my kitchen. I do however, have computer, stove and fridge so I'm good. I also sit my toaster on the floor in the hallway. It's like camping.

With toasters.
And breadmakers.

So anyway, I have to remind Gene that I'm a pioneer woman. I'm doing it like the olden days. You know, kneading away at my bread... letting it rise... punching it down and letting it rise again.

As I watch through the little window.

It seem so counter productive. "Homemade"... for you, by a little machine.
I've decided however that we must pull back. My pants aren't loose anymore.



My other foray into wilderness living is making my own laundry detergent. It was a fairly simple process. Grate the soap (I used Ivory), add some washing soda and borax, mix and voila! I stored it in an antique ball jar on top of the dryer, you know, to make myself feel old tymey

(note: don't use ivory. It doesn't dissolve very well in cold water, I'll be using dial I think for the next batch. I'm stubborn like that)

Cept that I decided I wanted my ivory soap to be smaller, hence the hand held blender. *huge mistake*


You know, they don't like it when you get that crap in your eyes:

For real they're not kidding:

After the eye flush, as recommended by the box, that I read exclusively with my right eye, all that I ended up getting out of my left eye was a cat hair.

Sigh.

I'm fairly confident I would have failed as a pioneer woman. They would have lost me somewhere around petticoats and no AC.