Finally Strawberry Season!

I'm so excited it's finally strawberry season here. Or at least I was very excited at the beginning. I am beginning to get strawberry saturated. I feel like I've accomplished a lot this year in the strawberry department though. I froze 1 flat of strawberries (which I have done the last couple of years). I also made strawberry-oatmeal bread and muffins, which are always popular at our house, along with one strawberry pie. My new accomplishment was strawberry jam. A few years ago I made a small batch of strawberry jam, and I wasn't too pleased with how it turned out. This year I got my grandma's strawberry jam recipe from my Aunt Nancy, and it turned out really well. It is freezer jam, so it was relatively easy, and I made 24 jars of jam! I still have about half a flat of strawberries left, and I'm planning on trying out Kristen's strawberry bread recipe, and then freezing the rest.

Painting...

I've wasted a lot of time the last few days staring at my bedroom walls trying to figure out what colors to paint them... I moved into my new place last week, and for the first time ever I am allowed to paint my bedroom whatever colors I want... and I'm finding the decision a bit overwhelming. I came to the conclusion that I am simply not a color-coordinated person! I'm trying to reconcile all the random (and extremely colorful) junk that I own and refuse to get rid of to all of the new (and extremely colorful) stuff that I recently bought that

makes me really happy... and I just have to come to terms with the fact that it's not going to match perfectly like certain other bedrooms I have seen recently. And I think I'm okay with that. : )

Exhibits A and B: (notice the swirly lamp on the left of the second tier)

ALSO, I made a discovery last year that is a wonderful innovations for transient college students (or anyone who is lazy or just fears permenance). Wall Pops, are little vinyl wall paper shapes you can stick on your wall, and they actually look just like paint. The best part is that they peel right off without ripping off paint, so you can adjust them or remove them really easily. Needless to say, this also adds to my helpless jumble of color options... Ah well, I can justify it by reminding myself that I'm still in college. : )

BTW, I'm definitely painting one wall yellow. I love yellow. : )

Book List

Even though Bridget is not my first child, I have been managing to read while I nurse her most of the time lately. :) The way I work it in is that I get all the house stuff/school stuff done when Bridget is awake so that I can spend time with Andrew and Laura whenever she is napping. While she's sleeping we do the reading of longer books and jumping on the trampoline-basically all the things that she would have no patience for. I also try to include Andrew and Laura in the housework so they're getting attention while I'm doing that. Laura is a big fan of doing laundry these days. Then I feel like I can justify reading something of my own whenever I'm nursing Bridget. I will admit that nursing sessions have gotten a little longer since I have been doing this.
Anyway, here is my reading list for the summer:
Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis (I'm about 2/3 of the way done)
The Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The History of the Calculus and Its Conceptual Development by Carl B. Boyer
Plus a couple of novels and a book I'm reading with a women's study group
We'll see what I actually get accomplished on my list.

French Bread

I have been making this bread a lot lately, and it gets eaten up VERY quickly. It is really easy. It takes a while from start to finish, so it's good to do on a day when you are just around the house.
Put in bread machine:
1.25 cups warm water
1.25 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 and 1/3 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
Run a dough cycle.
After dough cycle ends, roll it out into a rectangle (about 8 by 12 inches). Roll up the long end. Brush with olive oil. Let rise about an hour. Brush with egg white. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 or until you knock the bread and it sounds hollow.