At some point in my future, I’d love to go back to playing in front of a crowd. It’s one of the most challenging things for me to do because of the level of fear and nervousness that come with it, especially when I am backing up a vocalist. But the reward is always the same: a feeling of accomplishment, a sense of purpose because I am using a gift graciously given to me by God, and the camaraderie that comes with being amongst other musicians.

I also love listening to music. While I love living in a small(er) town, there is a downside: I don’t have nearly as many opportunities to listen to the radio in the car, which used to be a consistent way for me to hear some new tunes now and then. We don’t have a stereo of any kind in the house (shocker, I know), and I avoid turning on the house computer during the day to minimize my time in front of a screen while the boys are awake. It usually becomes a huge distraction for me as well, so it benefits us both. I do have an iPod, but since I no longer have a gym membership and I haven’t quite figured out how to implement an exercise routine into my week, then I’m really only listening to it when traveling.

I’ve had $16.00 of iTunes credit for months now and I actually got an email reminder from iTunes about it – apparently they are quite distressed that I haven’t purchased any music recently!!

That’s my best explanation to how I really do love music – new music, old music, different genres of music – but that at this point in my life, I’m really not “in touch” with that love.

So what’s “Ear Candy” got to do with it all? Every now and then (thanks to a few Facebook friends), I find a few tunes or artists that I fall in love with. Thus, my “ear candy” posts will be dedicated to those moments that I am compelled to share my new discoveries.

So, for today’s Ear Candy, I’d like to introduce you to one song, sung by the original artist, as well as a cover song sung by a band. I had never heard of either of these people before hearing this song and I can’t help but sing the tune over and over again. I love the lyrics, I love the tune.

The song is called “Somebody That I Used To Know” and when I first heard it, I was watching a music video from a Facebook link. The band is called Walk Off The Earth. My first thought was “awkward” because it’s 5 people using 1 guitar. Then, at about 1:38, the song really takes off and I was hooked, mesmerized, and impressed at how “tight” the band played the song with just 1 instrument and their voices.

At some point in the last few days, I watched the video again and noticed that it was a cover song for an artist named Gotye. After listening to the original version of the song, as much as I loved the sound and uniqueness of the cover tune, I really REALLY liked the original artist’s version. The video really tells the story from the lyrics and it just made a lot more “sense” to me than the video from WOTE. Watch and listen…

I liken Gotye’s sound to Sting. It’s a rich sound, wide range and holds loads of possibilities for song choices. I did some digging around after seeing the original video and learned that Wouter “Wally” De Backer (aka Gotye) was born in Belgium but then moved with his family to Australia at the age of 2. Kimbra is a New Zealand native, which explains one reason why I had never heard of either of them before. From Wikipedia, the name "Gotye" is derived from "Gaultier" (or "Gautier" or "Gauthier"), the French translation of "Wouter". Thus, Gotye is technically the artist’s first name.

So, what is your impression of the song and/or the artist’s performances?

I was only slightly upset that the congregation was not given a sample on our way out the door!

And I was inspired. If this guy can make his own bread, then surely the same can be said for me! So to the Interwebs I went!

Needless to say, there are about a gajillion highly informative ways to make bread, with all kinds of tips and tricks, methods and warnings to heed. I decided to go with a recipe from the website Delectable Planet which included a video, being the more visual learner that I am.

Since I had plenty of whole wheat flour on-hand, then whole wheat bread it would be! I already knew it was easier and (probably) cheaper to just go to Costco and pay the $6 for my 2 loaves of Oroweat Whole Wheat Bread. The point for me to make the bread was partly to share in the experience with my youngest – just a “me and him” kind of thing. I also wanted to see if I could actually be successful at it. Last, I wanted to know if the taste would actually be worth the effort and expense of continuing to make it myself. I don’t own a bread machine, so I knew this would be an all-morning adventure and of course, the upside to making your own anything is that you’re well aware of the ingredients. Here’s all I needed for 2 loaves of whole wheat bread:

I thought I would use the King Arthur flour but I ended up having enough of the Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat flour, so that’s what I’m judging the bread on – not the King Arthur brand.

My biggest concern was that first step – the temperature of the water and making sure the yeast activates. I bought a (cheap) quick-read thermometer, measured out the 4 cups of water needed and the temperature was around 110, not the 115 it should have been. I threw the yeast in, stirred, and waited….no bubbles. Hmmm….smelled “yeasty” enough. But, not wanting to completely hijack my efforts at a good loaf of bread, I dumped it all out and went with the Trader Joe’s yeast packet I had recently picked up. The Fleischmann’s yeast had an expiration date of April 2012, so I figured it would be best to pitch it and go with a newer packet.

This time I added the 4 cups of water a little too warm (120) and then let it cool to 115. Then I added the yeast, stirred, waited….still no bubbles. Oh well – time to add 5 cups of flour and hope for the best!!

I had cranked the heat up to 68 in the house, which is WARM for me in my current state of battling hot flashes, but I knew the bread would need to rise in a warm environment. Thankfully it was a bright and sunny morning here, so I simply set the dough to rise in direct sunlight while the heater blasted away. After 30 minutes, it was time to add the remaining 3 cups of flour! (Throwing on your hooded bath towel is, of course, optional.)

Now, I consider myself to be a pretty strong gal when it comes to my arm muscles. Let me warn you upfront, if you have a stand mixer, I highly recommend using your dough hook attachment on this step. I successfully added the flour by hand but add in the hot flash factor and I was not a very happy camper near the end of it!

Now comes another reason why I wanted to make my own bread: the kneading process. Getting your hands into the dough, flour everywhere, strengthening your gut and arm muscles (if you’re paying attention to the process, that is), and not really being able to do anything but knead dough can have a calming, centered effect.

We put the towel over it and gave it another hour to rise. One hour….one hour…what could we do for one hour…Tadoodles of course!

Just a side note on this little product. I believe our particular Tadoodle art station it’s now at least 2 years old and yes, those markers still work just fine. I bring it out of the closet maybe 3 or 4 times a year and I’m always surprised when the ink comes flowing out! I recommend Tadoddles for toddlers on up, just know that they will get marker all over themselves and the things around them, but it has always cleaned up just fine with a couple of Costco baby wipes.

Once the dough has had time to rise, you get to “punch” it down.

This helps to remove gas bubbles that have built up. I had no idea it would literally feel like were punching something – the guy in the video makes it look like you’re pushing your hand into a soft pillow. Not so with my dough. It wasn’t a rock or anything, but it was more like punching into a waterbed cushion – not a lot of give and it did take more of that upper body strength we should all be working on!

I didn’t bother with weighing my 2 halves of dough, just eyeballed it and cut right down the middle. then I shaped them, plopped them into their oil-greased pans and I slathered on a tablespoon of melted butter between the two loaves. I figured that if the insides came out wacky that we could at least nibble on the buttery crust!

They baked for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It was recommended to let them sit in the pans for 5 to 15 minutes. I chose 10 minutes. Next time it’ll be the full 15 minutes.

At first they wouldn’t budge. I slid a knife around the edges, banged the pan on all sides against the cutting board and still – they would not come out of the pan! L could tell I was getting frustrated but I just let things set for another 5 minutes, did the knife bit again and they both popped out of the pans without anything left behind.

Voila – homemade whole wheat bread!

While the bread was cooling, I decided to see what kind of actual difference there was between my standard whole wheat bread loaf and these. There are approximately 20 slices of bread in the Oroweat loaf (not including the end pieces).

I was able to get 14 pieces out of the smaller loaf, so I’m going to assume that the larger loaf will give me 15, possibly 16 slices.

It was taste tested by my 2 growing lads and myself at lunch today. We all had peanut butter and jam on our slices of bread. Tasty? Yep! Soft? Definitely! Crust too hard? Nope – just right! Dense? Yes and probably “too” dense to have an actual sandwich. I’m guessing if the sandwich had lettuce along with meat of some kind it wouldn’t be too bad, but I couldn’t see myself making a PB&J with 2 slices of this bread. Maybe 1 slice in half would be alright.

My final analysis is that I will be making this bread again, though not every week. If I had the freezer space I could see spending a weekend baking up various breads and having them available in rotation with store-bought bread. I would definitely choose the homemade variety for health value as well as taste for things like buttered toast, egg on toast, things of that nature.

What’s your experience with making your own bread? Do you prefer the bread machine or doing it by hand?

Then it shifted to “Focus” which later became “Diligent.“ Nah, too harsh and I would easily have plenty of moments in the year that I could not focus on being diligent!

“Mindful” followed soon after, but that sounded too similar to last year’s WOTY, “Purposeful.”

I finally stopped thinking about choosing only one word for a few days and instead centered my mind on the purpose of the word I was choosing.

I knew that the words I had been considering were all necessary for what I desire for the year to come.

I do need to get organized, or at least come up with a way to stay organized. Now that D is in school, there are a lot more things to keep track of. There are therapy appointments to schedule and plan for, fundraisers, preschool plans for D. I have doctor appointments to schedule as I enter into the world of hormone replacement therapy (joy). More importantly, there is an incredible amount of information that I am going to need at a moment’s notice if this is the year that we’ll receive our first foster child placement. I can screw up my own kid’s schedules and not sweat it too much, but I need to be on the ball big-time when things like visitations and doctor appointments come about for the child placed in our care.

I do need to focus more and to be diligent in not just letting my mind wander when I have downtime to myself. The older I get (*cough*) the more I’m finding that I don’t want to be wasteful with the precious hours given to me. I want to spend more of my downtime strengthening my mind and heart with Godly wisdom rather than feeding on what the world would choose to scream at me in those moments.

I do need to practice being mindful, most especially around my boys. I want them to know I’m listening to them when they’re speaking and communicating with me.

And that’s how it all led to choosing “Attentive” as my word of the year for 2012.

This year I turn 40 years old, and I still feel “weak” when it comes to knowing God; I don’t want to just know about God. I feel like I have said “I don’t know” more times this past year than ever before. It’s not that I think being attentive to God is going to mean that I’ll have a crystal clear picture of what lays ahead for me and my family. But I know from experience that the more I spend time with someone, communicating with them, sharing life with them, that I get to know them better. Spending time with them gives me a sense of security about being with them, almost getting to the point that I can “know” what to expect from them.

I want my children to see that Mommy has peace and security in the direction we are going as a family not just because I’ve lived enough years and made enough mistakes to know the better path but because I listened when God spoke to me. I stopped “doing” and started listening, choosing to abide in God’s presence rather than just physically “be” in church and amongst other believers.

I fully believe that God has a plan for all of us, both individually and with those we are joined in life together with. My desire for this year is a richer experience in my relationship with the living God.

Have you chosen a word for the year? Do you have a desire or a goal to focus on for the year to come?

Since the grandparents were still in town on the real Christmas Day, we had them over to our home for a visit with the boys. However, nobody was interested in having a real “dinner” since we had just had meals aplenty for the last two day.

My answer: appetizers!

I prepared 5 different appetizers that fed 5 adults & 2 children and we still had a bit of leftovers, but not nearly as much as if I had put on a full dinner table for that many people. And I use the term “prepared” lightly when it came to 2 of the dishes!

First up, party meatballs.

These can be done various ways but almost always result in deliciousness. I chose to use frozen meatballs for obvious reasons. Tossed them in the crockpot a few hours before mealtime, added a bottle of chili sauce and an 18 oz. jar of grape jelly, stirred well and set to High until the mixture was bubbling, then turned to low. Gave it a good stir every 45 minutes or so and once it looked and tasted “done” I put it in the covered dish and refrigerated it until it was time to eat. A quick reheat on the stove was all it needed.

Next, I put some chicken wings on 2 foil-lined baking sheets and set the oven to 375. (If you don’t use non-stick foil, then I highly recommend a good coating of olive oil to prevent the chicken pieces from sticking.) I baked the chicken pieces for 30 minutes, flipped them and baked for another 20 minutes or so. Then I glazed them with a sauce that came from this recipe, only I used 1/2 a cup of BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup of soy and a 1/4 cup of honey, then tinkered with it until it came to the taste level that I desired. My usual go-to sauce for chicken wings is 1/2 a cup of BBQ sauce with some garlic powder and chili powder thrown in. Delish! Once I basted the first side of the wing, I put them in the oven for about 10 minutes, then flipped them over, basted again, and baked for another 10 minutes or so.

The bacon-wrapped water chestnut appetizer is always a hit with just about any crowd you’re wanting to please. We served these on Thanksgiving Day and they were all gone within minutes. (If you have the fridge space, you can prep these ahead of time.) I suggest using bacon from the butcher section of the grocery store rather than the prepackaged bacon as the pieces are wider and thicker, not to mention tastier! Simply cut each piece of bacon in half, then split the halved piece in two, length-wise. Roll a whole water chestnut in brown sugar then wrap each chestnut with a cut piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. I used 2 cans of water chestnuts and a pound of bacon and still had 3 or 4 pieces of bacon left over. Place the wrapped chestnuts on a foil-lined baking sheet, then sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, keeping on eye that the bacon is done but not over-done. These should be eaten soon after they’re out of the oven for the yummiest results!

My last 2 appetizers were easy preps, just chips and salsa (for any guests that wanted a really light fare) and a yummy jalapeno jelly that my sister-in-law had made for me tossed over a block of cream cheese. Add a few water crackers to the plate and you’ll have people begging for more! The jalapeno jelly was just the right amount of hot with sweet and the cream cheese gave it the creaminess to balance it all out.

Everyone loved the food, had plenty to eat, and I wasn’t stuck with a bunch of leftovers crowding my fridge! I highly suggest an appetizer dinner now and then for a change of pace to the routine, be it a holiday dinner or not. There are countless options to make it fun and festive and you can cater the food choices to your own family’s tastes.

What are you some food traditions your family shares in each year?

After 4 years in this house, we finally put up the Christmas lights, thanks to the help of my ever-lovin’ pa!

D has always loved driving around town looking at lights and “blow-ups” that people decorate their front yards with. I was able to score a nativity inflatable for us at one of last year’s Christmas clearance sales and the boys could not wait to see it out front this year.

This was the first year one of our kids had a chance to participate in a Christmas play. D was cute, funny and surprisingly a natural on the stage…especially in front of the microphone!

This was also the first year we enjoyed the annual Christmas parade in town. It’s never been a huge draw for Hubs and I with the boys being so little, but D’s school participated in it this year so I couldn’t really say no to going. I was surprised at how well he handled himself, wearing his cute hat and handing out candy and school brochures to the kids along the way. Apparently the holiday parade is a 2nd Halloween around here…SO.MUCH.CANDY!!

Ever since D’s first Christmas I have wanted a nativity scene in our home. Once we moved into our current house, it became difficult for me to find something that “fit” the home as well as our budget. My mother-in-law has given us several “play” nativities for the boys but I still longed to find something that could be for the family, not just something to play with.

I was pleasantly surprised when one of our older neighbors down the street called to catch me up on her recent health battle as well as to offer a nativity scene that they were looking to pass on to another family. I didn’t know what to expect but told her I’d be happy to take it off her hands.

It’s perfect.

I like the size as it all fits nicely on top of our shoe caddy in the hall.

I like that it’s decorative but not “girly” or unapproachable.

I like that it’s used. It looks loved, rather than old.

I like that the boys play with it but still have to learn to be careful with the pieces. My first instinct was to scream out something like “Hands off, little men!” since there’s pretty much nothing in my home that isn’t nicked, scratched, battered, or chewed on by the kids. Then reality set in pretty quick as they eagerly placed the animals and the people where they wanted to, rather than what the picture on the box showed….I quickly decided it wasn’t going to be my nativity scene, all perfectly set each time I walked by it. This is the family nativity scene, which means it looks different nearly every time I look at it.

Thankfully I’ve learned many a lesson in how to “let go” of my ideals by now, so it’s been fun seeing them interact with the pieces, rather than me pulling my hair out over it.

Christmas is 7 days away and I could not be happier about that! I have thrown the tree up, along with the decorations the day after Thanksgiving for years now, yet this is the first time it’s all really getting “old” to me. Maybe it’s the questions of WHEN is Christmas?? from D or maybe it’s all the CANDY and sweets that the boys have received. Christmas isn’t even HERE yet but I feel like we’ve been celebrating it for weeks now!

While I’ve had to battle this “gripe” in the back of my brain throughout this month, I’ve decided to make an effort into "building up to” Christmas next year. My plan is to bring out something to do with the holiday each weekend. Maybe I’ll start with the nativity scene. I’ve yet to do an Advent wreath with the boys, so that will be included next year. Another weekend will be the exterior decorations. We’ll celebrate the Christmas break from school by putting up the tree that weekend.

My hope is that we’ll be able to enjoy the symbols that are meant to help us give meaning to this beautiful holiday rather than having a bit of a mess in the house for 6 weeks, furniture moved around, sweets and treats to no end, and the list goes on. I mean, who wants to dust seasonal decorations? I certainly don’t!

Has the holiday been any different for you this year?
Do you plan to make changes next year?