Today, I started the day not feeling terribly organized or on-task. My word for the year is Focus, but it was not hanging with me today. I have a few friends who chose the same word, so I am assuming they were holding it hostage. Or it just likes them better. Anyway, by noon, it was clear I was not going to get much writing done, so I just closed my laptop and decided to do something else. I have learned that sometimes this is the best decision you can make when things are just not going well. Just stop. I was feeling a little like this…

I had a custom order to work on for my Junque Rethunque business, so I got that finished up and ready to mail, and I prepared to finish a new endeavor: fresh-baked bread. Like, baked in MY oven. Whoa.

My sister, the clear winner of the “Foodie” title in my family, made a loaf of this bread recently and posted a photo of it on Instagram, with a rave review. She sent me the recipe when I asked, and I decided that my recently-organized baking cabinets needed to be put to use. Yesterday, I whipped up the dough for the bread and put it aside to rise overnight, and thank goodness – it saved my day!

When I lifted the towel that was covering the mixing bowl this morning, I was not impressed, let me tell you. It was lumpy and pocked like my face when I was a 14-year-old. (Ew. Too much?) But I was willing to give it a chance. I mean, I had invested walnuts and cranberries and time already.

So after running to the post office and picking up Boychild from school, and taking him to piano lessons… I finally got back to the bread. I was able to use my new Dutch oven pot that my sweet family gave me for my birthday. The woman who originally created the recipe uses a Le Creuset that costs over $200.00. Mine was $30.00 from Tuesday Morning. It worked fine. *ahem*

Look at that awesomeness! Thanks to this bread, and the chili-and-perfectly-al-dente-mac I made for dinner, this day has been salvaged. Now, I feel like this…

Well. You know what I mean. It was a bon jour after all. :)