During this prolonged unemployment I have been challenged with ways to keep busy, stay useful, and sane. There are any number of things I could be doing with my time besides setting on my ass watching TV, surfing FB, Pinterest or any other internet based time waster. Frankly, I can’t with a clean conscience turn the TV on during the day. It depresses me and saps any self-esteem I may have.

Instead, I could be mudding the bonus room we’re trying to finish. It’s tedious, dirty and I’m not very confident in my abilities. I can clean this house, again. I tire quickly of dusting and I should do it at least once a week but I usually only get the energy for that twice a month. We have carpet and even though it’s the bane of my domestic existence (well isn’t that a pathetic thing to say?) I manage to vacuum it twice a week. Oh how I yearn for hardwood floors.

What I have been doing is planning the wedding. Designing wedding programs. Shopping online and at the store I’ve learned to hate, Bed Bath and Beyond. I could literally never step foot in that store again. Ugh. I should have registered at Lowe’s and Pottery Barn. Oh well, hindsight you know.

I have also been baking. Now that’s exactly what a soon-to-be-bride absolutely should be doing, right? Ugh. It fills the time and it tastes good. Last week I got it in my head that I needed to make Italian Peasant Bread so that I could then make some proper French toast. HA! Yes, that’s exactly what I needed to do to fit into a tight wedding dress. Oh, good grief! I found a fabulous recipe online by this professor at a college. His directions were very thorough and impossible to follow. So I adapted them for my own use. The bread did in deed turn out beautiful. This picture was of his bread, not mine but mine was equally beautiful.

Pane Rustico – Italian Peasant Bread

And if this wasn’t enough trouble to get into, last weekend, upon seeing some apples in the fridge, I thought, “Hey those need to be used! Make a pie!” Yeah, not a great idea.  I put it together anyway and by Tuesday night, D and I had it all eaten. Pie, pie, I love pie! It was so very tasty!