Spiderwebs

It’s a lot of work to cut all the holes and make it look right.

This year I backed off of our usual display. My son and I have been having medical issues since August. A few days ago, my husband tried to help with the display and fell off of the top step of our stepladder. (Like: completely off, onto his back and head.) Luckily, he missed the concrete. Thankfully, he didn’t break anything, but he really hurt himself. He’s almost 60. It takes a lot longer to heal when you get past 50. (I scratch the backs of my hands in the garden and it takes a month to heal!) I’m really happy he went to the hospital that night to make sure he wasn’t anything more, than bruised and sore.

No matter what we try right now, in general, we’re not making much forward progress. So, I had my kids put the dead body in the tree and I put up the beef netting that I ordered in September. I’m currently putting the holes in the netting and then I’ll put our black lights on it. It should be pretty cool.

I tried a lot of ideas to see what I would cut this with. I recommend brand new, really sharp, scissors. None of my older scissors would cut through this. Razor blades were useless because I already have them hung. It just wasn’t effective. If you sew, don’t waste your sewing scissors on this. I ended up cutting some grass lower on the webs, which dulled the edge. Just buy a cheap new pair of office/school scissors.

I’m doing “Halloween-lite” this year, and it was still a lot because of the prep work, and that I’m still sick. I can’t wait for my doctor to figure out what this is. I’m super over being sick and tired.

I am thanking God that what was wrong with my son was a super simple fix. He was so incredibly sick, and missed almost all of the first 9 weeks of school. I can’t believe that what he had: made him that sick. But, it’s completely under control now.

Again, if it can go wrong: it sure has.

On another note, I have been learning sourdough bread baking. Tonight, I baked my third and fourth loaf. Each time I make this bread it’s six hours (from mixing until baking), so in hopes of less work and more rewards: I made two loaves tonight. Of course, I would make two when I start a new recipe….so, I have two loaves now, that I have new problems with. It’s a lot of work but the bread is delicious (even if it isn’t perfect). Unfortunately, I broke a front filling, biting into the hard crust.

I tell you what. If it can go wrong right now, it is going wrong.

Spooky webs. This is a texture thing. There are certain visual textures that just gross me out, and this is one of those! Kind of like feeling a revulsion towards moldy food. My boys don’t like them for that reason!

Back to the bread: I tried some directions from a German baker for these two current loaves. His method was much more difficult, than the other guy I was following. Plus, my bread is disappointing even though my raw dough looked a lot better. I’ll put some links up soon for the reliable recipe. I think I originally started following the easiest and most fool proof recipe online. So, I’ll share soon.