I will start this post with a sourdough update because I never would have thought that setting a goal to make homemade sourdough this year would lead to me making two to three loaves a week.
It’s been three months since I made my first loaf with Doughbra (my starter), and I’ve finally gotten the courage to make bread for other people.
Here’s a loaf I made for my coach on Saturday.
The awe of pulling a fresh loaf from the oven has not faded, and I’m not sure it ever will. It is so satisfying! And oddly, therapeutic.
I’m planning a post for Substack where I outline my technique. I’m by no means an expert, but I have been getting consistent results using an approach I read about on Reddit.
Tonight, I made French Toast for dinner using a cinnamon raisin loaf I made yesterday, and O… M… G!!!
I followed this recipe and highly recommend a little brown sugar in your French Toast custard. I never added it before, genius!
Birds
I think I’ve shared my current bird obsession. Well, I mean OUR current bird obsessions. The Husband and I have been dabbling in the birdwatching department, and we love it.
An old friend got me a bird feeder with a camera for my birthday last year, and we’ve been having a blast identifying our feathered visitors. Here are a few from this week:
We get a lot of Cardinals and House Finches, but the Goldfinch and Catbird were new visitors. It was the first time we’ve seen them since getting the feeder.
Our next move is to get one of those window feeders, and we are thinking of putting up a few birdhouses with time-lapse cameras in them.
I’ll keep you posted. We may work on it together this summer.
Yes, we’re geeks.
Yes, we’re old.
We’re not fighting it any longer.
Brothers
Finally, these two.
They don’t read the blog, so I can get all sappy for a minute.
Watching them blossom into young men is so emotional in ways I could have never predicted.
Ev is wrapping up middle school in a couple of weeks, and we are going to his High School info night tomorrow. He is freaking out about it too, in the cutest way. I’m looking forward to this transition for him. He’s already talking about learning how to drive and getting a job.
This is quite literally the polar opposite of his older brother, who hated school, needed to be pushed to learn how to drive, and never wanted to work.
Now, however, Ry is working full time as a machinist and enjoying it!
I surprised him when he came home from work with an edible arrangement (he’s obsessed with fruit) on Friday.
Then we cooked together to celebrate.
I made homemade fettuccine…
While he made chicken Parm…
We put it together with the sauce The Husband made last weekend, and boom! Chicken Parm, his favorite dish.
In Other News This Week…
I had the family over for a BBQ on Sunday, and we got in a game of croquet.
I like having everyone over on Sunday when we have Monday off work, so I can enjoy Monday doing whatever I want.
And what did I decide to do? Murph. I don’t know why. I’m regretting now because I am SO sore. Then again, I’m also glad I did it because my coach got this awesome video of me doing kipping pullups!
Afterwards, I came home and enjoyed this flavor bomb of a yogurt bowl that I posted about on Substak.
Then The Husband and I went hiking.
I mean, look at these two. <3
We snuck in a selfie too.
It was a great day and another great week. I knocked off lots of goals, sneaking them in before the end of the month!
Okay, gotta go. Hope you had a great week!
2025 Goal Check In
- Blog Weekly.
- so far… ✔️
- Paint More. Don’t overthink it.
- so far…✔️ (meh… haven’t been fitting it in)
- Make a new handmade pasta monthly.
- Jan ✔️ ✔️
- Feb ✔️ ✔️
- March ❌
- April ✔️✔️
- May ✔️ (See above!)
- Hike at least twice a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️
- March ✔️ ✔️
- April ✔️✔️
- May ✔️✔️✔️
- Perform one unassisted dip.
- Training!
- Perform five strict pull-ups.
- Training
- Handstand walk.
- Training!
- Take at least three yoga classes a month.
- Jan ✔️✔️✔️
- Feb ✔️✔️✔️
- March ✔️✔️✔️
- April ✔️✔️ ❌
- May ✔️✔️✔️
- Make homemade sourdough bread.
- ✔️✔️✔️OMG I did it!✔️✔️✔️
- Take the kids to Iceland.
- Training underway
- Fix the holes in my house (long story, lots of plumbing issues this year).
- Two holes down, two to go!
- Continue my Spanish Streak on Duolingo (I’m on day 1,231!!).
- so far…✔️ day 1377 (Doing it as soon as I hit publish!)
- Take a Spanish class in person.
- No update. 🙁
- Plan something special for The Husband’s 50th birthday!
- Research is underway.
- Snatch 125lbs.
- Training!
- Compete in at least one weightlifting meet.
- Walk a minimum of half a mile daily with Marsh and, preferably, with the Husband, but I can’t base my goal on him.
- 130/138 days so far this year. (Missed two days this week, SO MUCH RAIN)
- Track my movie-watching on Letterboxd.
- so far…✔️ Click here to see!
- Keep my citrus trees alive! (I have a lemon and a lime tree I named Laverne and Shirley. Laverne is not doing too well after a disastrous root rot issue this fall, but we are doing our best.)
- so far…✔️ They are outside! Thriving!!
- Host an extended family dinner monthly.
- Jan ✔️
- Feb ✔️
- March ✔️
- April ✔️
- May ✔️
- Clean out and organize my closet and drawers.
- Thrift more and purchase no brand-new clothes.
- so far…✔️
- Take daily supplements more consistently.
- so far…✔️ (Killing it!)
- Reduce alcohol consumption to once or twice a month.
- Jan ❌ 1/18, 1/23, 1/31 (close!)
- Feb 2/1, 2/15 ✔️
- March 3/22 ✔️
- April 4/25, 4/26 ✔️
- May 5/3, 5/10 (I’m making it!)
- Cook one new recipe/dish a month.