I made bread

A little while ago I tried making bread for the first time. It wasn't actually all the difficult but I was suprised at how much waiting was involved. It ended up taking me most of the day to bake 2 loaves but I was able to make sugar cookies, whip up a batch of royal icing to decorate them with and then make a chocolate banana cake with buttercream frosting while I was waiting for the bread to rise at different stages. All in all, I enjoyed the experience and was really glad that I had a standmixer to do all the hard work for me!

In other news, the house renos are progressing smoothly. Our new bedroom is almost finished and I hope to post pictures of the process in a few days (as soon as the new flooring is down and the furniture is). My research is going well, all the quantitative data has now been entered into the database but no analyses have been run. The qualitative data is coming along too, 11 interviews have been completed and transcribing will begin this weekend (ack!).

Alex's new bike is now safe and sound at home.

A new addition to the family!

Although I had planned to spend the day in the house working on my research, I ended up downtown at the Harley-Davidson dealership and am now the proud owner of a new Buell bike. It's a gift for Alex.

Here's how it all happened: My husband Alex is an avid motorcycle rider. He's one of those guys that'll ride through the winter if you let him. With the spring weather hopefully on the way Alex has been talking incessantly about bike season. He built a vintage bike last year and has been planning to rebuild the engine and do some modifications before the riding season hits. However, he's been putting all his spare time into working on the house so he hasn't had much time to put toward his bike. He was feeling a bit discouraged about everything he has left to do on it and about how expensive some of the parts were going to be so I suggested dropping the whole rebuild project and buying a new bike. We did some research online (although Alex already knew what he wanted after falling in love with a Buell model he had seen at the bike show in December) and off we went to the dealership. It was retail therapy at it's best.

Here's Alex with his new bike. He picks it up next week. Now, if only all this snow would disappear!

Paying it Forward

Eva looking cute

An extreme close-up of Max's nose

I love this concept! I just found out about this group from knitticrafy (and signed up to be one of her recipients - how could I refuse? Have the seen the awesome crafts she creates, and btw, thank you VERY much for my way cool apron at Christmas). Here's what you need to know...

"It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join :)"

I can't wait to see what my handmade gift will be...and to see who will post to request a gift from me. Remember, you must have a blog of your own so that you can make the same offer to others. I'll try and get some pictures of past crafts on this site to entice you. What might I make? I love to bake and make fudge but that would only work if someone was local to me. Maybe a cool wooden bowl? Something done on my sewing machine (which has just been serviced and is raring to go)? A luxurious bar of handmade soap? Who knows! If you're interested, please respond to this post and join the exchange.

My introduction to blogging!

I enjoy reading blogs, looking at blogs and hearing about my friends' blogs but I have never made a blog...until now. I don't know that I'll have much to say but I'll try.

It might take some time to get things going but I figure I can use this blog to discuss random things that interest me, bore everyone with pictures of my pets and keep my family and friends updated on my traveling, crafts and life in general. I can also show progress on our never-ending home renovation projects and I hope that reporting on my dissertation research will help keep my motivation up. I'm midway into my last year as a grad student and have some looming deadlines that I just can't miss!