This is the time of year that I am at my most vulnerable for self-delusion. I used to do it with gardening catalogs but now that my knees are shot and I have far less patience than I used to have, I confine my gardening activities to hoping that a blossom will be tall enough to show above the weed tops.
No now I delude myself into thinking that I am the perfect housewife. Icy winter can rage outside, but inside my domicile is warm and cozy thanks to my housewifley efforts. To this end, I’ve set out a wild riot of curtains, tablecloth and area rugs in the kitchen to liven things up. Everything looked so blah and sterile after the Christmas things came down but now my spirit is cheered for the whole 5 minutes that it takes me to bread. That is my attention span these days. FYI – I am becoming positively expert in cloaking and slashing.
I enjoy the slashing. Probably too much.
It’s not only bread that keeps me busy but also beverages. Thinking about beverages and planning for beverages. In the evening I can’t wait to go to bed so that I can get up early and start the coffee pot. I’m working mostly from home these days so when the clock starts heading to 4 or so, I plan on what it will be like to go downstairs and sit in my big velvet chair to have a cocktail while I watch pop culture trash* I have DVR’d.
I don’t always have a cocktail and sometimes I pour the first cup of coffee and let it sit until it gets cold. So it’s not so much the beverages themselves as it is the anticipation of beverages. Anyway, it’s all about the illusion/delusion of being safe and cozy in a storybook house. So really just a lot of free time and nothing much to do.
*Amish Mafia **
**Have you seen this thing? It’s so totally fake and contrary to everything ever known about the Amish and Mennonites but I can’t help it. It’s just getting good now – Merlin from Ohio is moving in on Lebanon Levi’s territory in a bid to take over Lancaster County. Esther, who does all of her confessionals dressed in severe Amish garb and full face makeup of the type known as “war paint”, is just leading Levi on to advance her loser brother’s position in Levi’s organization but she really has the hots for Jolin (who is actually pretty hot), a tattooed Mennonite who is featured in every episode either shirtless or checking out his automatic rifles in front a picture of Jesus, And now Merlin is bringing in midgets from Ohio to smash things up. No one mentions midgets, but one imported smasher did go so far as to say that Amish are shorter in Ohio. The whole thing is played over a Jaws-like soundtrack meant to heighten anxiety. It is delicious. ***
*** I probably wouldn’t have gotten so wrapped up in this if the new season of American Gypsies had started. That one is my true trash TV love.
Cripes Suzette 
LOL, re: Pop Culture Trash*
I saw a tv promo for Double Divas (must have been TLC, formerly known as The Learning Channel, I may be wrong). Wait for it ….. a new reality series about Bra Fitters ! Set your DVR !
Happy New Year Suze, one of my cyber-resolutions is to spend more time on smart blogs rather than the UK Daily Mail U.S. (Baby Bumps in Bikinis!) Showbiz site 😀
I don’t have a resolution except for some half-assed thing about housecleaning all of the bedrooms on a regular basis. Again, delusions of housewifery.
I found myself staring at the photo of your sunny kitchen and couldn’t figure out what fascinated me. It wasn’t the retro tablecloth and floor mat, it was the white cabinets and the yellow walls.
I don’t know how to explain it, but here in Arizona where the sun shines all. the. time., we dim and darken our interiors.
We’re grateful for cloudy days, it’s such a relief for the eyes.
Anyhow, here’s to looking forward to a great new year.
(p.s. I wish I was your neighbor, the bread looks really delish)
I lived a long time with wall-to-wall beige in here, followed by the stripped wallpaper look. The egg yolk yellow was a drastic measure that had to be taken.
Your bread looks so good. I told myself I wasn’t going to get that cookbook because I don’t have room in my frige for a bucket, but I’m weakening.
Trash TV is getting so bad I can hardly stand to watch it for 2 or 3 hours a day!;)
Well, I started out with a large square container from the dollar store and it was almost big enough. I was able to fit that onto a lower shelf but sometimes the dough filled every inch of it. This taller arrangement allows freedom to rise. You could save room if you had something tall with squared off sides. I like the unabashed bucketness of this one.
Suzette … love the joyful look and feel of your kitchen! A question … what is the round blue and orange looking “ball” hanging from what appears to be a ribbon with a bow off of a silver extended hook like thingy on the very far right of the photo?
I’m with SRDEM65 …. I too, wish I was living in your neck o’ the woods … the breads you have been showing us look soooooo yummy and I am a HUGE fan of bread … especially dark, sultry breads with crusty exteriors. Whipped butter and warm bread is pure decadence!
Goodness … just thinking about the scent of baking bread is making my mouth water. 😉
Blessings to you in 2013 … please keep us laughing!
That is the corporate holiday ornament from my unnamed employer hanging from the designated banana hook area of the fruit basket. They sent one last year too but I don’t think I saved it because I didn’t know it was going to be A THING.
❤ you forever, Jann.
The NYT recently had an article about fanatical Amish who assaulted some other, slightly less fanatical, Amish for being not as devout. They cut their hair and shaved their beards to teach them a lesson.
While I am sure this show represents real Amish about as well as RHoNJ represents actual New Jersey housewives, it is still interesting from a “religion eventually rots your mind” standpoint.
I went to school in Pennsylvania Amish country and even back then it was plain that all was not as it seemed.
(Plus, they run notoriously abusive puppy mills so they can go to blazes.)
Speaking of RHoNJ, there’s another non-intellectual tv comedy that I’m totally enamored with called The Neighbors. I cannot even begin to explain except to say it’s set in a gated community in NJ. This week, the alien wife wanted to fit in with the human neighbors so she used Teresa G as the role model for what a housewife is supposed to be.
Funny!
Although maybe its just me.
No, it’s not just you. The neighbors is great.