cinnamon bread

i made cinnamon bread last night. it was kind of an ordeal (because i had NO IDEA what i was doing) but worth it to have a warm piece of cinnamon bread this morning for breakfast.

my mom used to make cinnamon bread fairly often, but i've never made it or even really helped except for the sprinkling on of the cinnamon - which is the best part.

poor justin, i think he heard no less than 3 times, "come in here please. i need your HELP!" the first time i needed him to poor the milk mixture in while i mixed the dough. (you kitchen aid girls wouldn't have this problem, but i'm anti-kitchen aid. i think it tastes better hand mixed.) then i needed him to call my mom and put it on speaker for me so i would get my new phone all dirty. the first questions were, "how much flour do i add? what consistency is the dough supposed to be? oh i was supposed to measure the flour out? oops! i've never kneaded before, this is hard work!" then after i figured all that out and was trying to roll out this mass of super elastic dough i needed to call again. "justin!! help! ok mom, how am i supposed to roll this out. it won't stay! it keeps going back to it's round shape! i'm a pansy and need to put some muscle into it? ok. it's working now, thanks."

so for all you bakers out there who would like an amazing cinnamon bread recipe, here it is! remember to pinch the seam after you roll in the cinnamon. i ignored that step and only pinched the ends but not the bottom seam and some of the cinnamon leaked out and kind of burned the bottom. i'll know next time. and remember, if you want to get to bed before 11 you might want to start before 6. have fun!

Cinnamon Bread

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups unsifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 eggs at room temperature

Melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt
and undisolved yeast. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan.
Heat over low heat until liquid is warm. (Butter does not need to
melt.) Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium
speed of mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1/2 cup
flour, or enough flour to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed 2
minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour
to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead
until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in greased
bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon, Punch dough down; turn
out onto lightly floured board. Divide dough in half. Roll 1/2 the
dough into a 12x8 rectangle. Brush lightly with melted butter.
Sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll tightly from the
8" side like a jellyroll. Seal edges firmly. Seal ends of loaf and
fold underneath. Place loaf, seam side down, in greased loaf pan.
Repeat with remaining dough. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Bake, in a moderate oven (350 degrees) about 30 minutes or until done.
Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Eat half of first loaf for breakfast.

fall fun!

we've conformed

that's right, we got iphones last night. we sold a bunch of stuff (including my laptop) and walked into the at&t store and bought them. (with cash dave ramsey-ites) we left with only $15 dollars and 2 brand spankin new iphones. they're kind of a big deal.

the main reason we switched out of t-mobile is that when justin travels, he usually doesn't get service. you can imagine how frustrating that is. we wanted to switch to either at&t or verizon. well, seeing as how at&t has the iphone, it was pretty much a no brainer. the ironic thing is that at my desk at work, i get maybe one bar of service. what are the odds!?

anyway, we had lots of fun playing with them last night. i can now get on the internet ANY. TIME. I. WANT. i officially rock.

debate '08

well the big debate is tonight, right here in nashville tennessee, about 2 miles from our house, at belmont university. i'm really excited about it, even though i'll be watching it at home like everyone else in the country. i hope it's interesting. justin and i got bored a little over halfway through the VP debate and turned on a movie instead.

belmont has been gearing up for this for weeks. they've put up this ridiculous, flimsy chain link fence around campus. like that's really going to keep people out who want to do some harm! this morning on my walk in from the shuttle lot, (that's right, i walk instead of taking the shuttle. yay me!) at least 15 pairs of motorcycle cops drove down the street in front of me. i guess they've beefed up security everywhere. anyway, it'll be interesting going home from work today. i have to drive right next to belmont to get home and they've shut down all the surrounding streets.
well have fun watching tonight!

p.s. is this new background annoying? i can't decide.

this and that

--after 2 years of stealing wi-fi from our neighbors (yes we're THOSE people) they finally password protected their network. I'm really bummed. no more internet at home anymore. we're going to try to hold out until after christmas to actually have to pay for it ourselves. we'll see how long that lasts!

--i got a free facial last night. it was fabulous! my friend, ciara, bought this "year of beauty" thing from a skin care place and gave it to me. you get one facial, one make-up application, and one waxing a month for a whole year! it's pretty cool. i'll definitely do the facial, we'll see about the make-up (i'd need a place to go all gussied up) and i don't do waxing-i'm a baby. which brings me to my next point.

--my friend, colleen, is throwing a halloween party. it's a costume party. i figure, since i get a free make-up application i should take full advantage. so, keeping this in mind, what the heck should i dress up as? and should justin and i dress up together (like matching costumes-both pirates or football player and cheerleader or whatever) or should we just do our own thing? i need your advice!

--also, i am seriously considering starting a cookie business. specifically sugar cookies with my mom's secret recipe. i have received rave reviews every time i make them and i've have multiple people tell me i could sell them. so, heck, i'm going to try. first, i need a name. we originally decided on "the sweet secret" but thanks to some of my friend's dirty minds we decided that could be misinterpreted. SO...i need your input. what would you name a sugar cookie shop full of soft, delicious, melt in your mouth, amazingly decorated sugar cookies? :)

natchez trace parkway

the other day we went to the natchez trace parkway. we explored a little, but didn't walk any of the trails because they looked a little over-run with poison ivy. knowing my track record, we didn't want to take any chances with our shorts and flip-flops. there is a concrete bridge that is over a quarter mile long that is part of the beautiful drive. it's pretty cool. the view from the top is amazing. i want to go back when the trees start to turn colors. here's the afternoon in pictures.

NO GAS!

well, hurricane ike has started to affect nashville. justin went to four gas stations yesterday before finding gas at the 5th one. the two gas stations across the main street from our neighborhood are completely out. there are no prices on the signs and bags over the pumps. i was listening to the radio today and a lady called in saying she was at a gas station in brentwood and there were 50 people in line, 5-0!! and that the cops were there keeping the peace. AND, that they would only let you have so much. you were only allowed like 10 gallons or something. craziness!! they say it's supposed to be like this for 2 weeks.

poker night

we had our small group from church over for poker last night. (get up off the floor and back into your chair. YES, our church played poker.) and we played for money! (i'll give you another minute to get back in you chair again.) we also had some friends who aren't normally in our group. we had a blast!! enjoy the photos...

this is the non-competitive group. see how they're playing for pretzels and not real money? patient erich is teaching them how to play.

these pictures show the funniest part of the night. it's chris versus amanda. amanda has no clue how to play poker and chris is very competitive. i don't know if you can tell, but the flip is a 4 and two aces. (the flop doesn't matter in this scenario) chris goes all in. amanda calls him, so he has to show his cards first. he shows and 4 and something else that doesn't matter. so he has a pair of 4s and a pair of aces. amanda shows her cards and says, "aw man! all i have is two 4s!" (this means she has a full house and wins, but has no idea.) the look of joy at amanda's tone of voice and then pain when he realized he lost on chris's face was hilarious!

the winners! colleen and amanda decided to split the pot.

3 year olds are hilarious!

i talked to dakota today. here's how the conversation went:

A: Hey Kota!

D: When are you going to come visit me? And bring Riley?

A: Aw man! It's going to be a while. Probably not til Christmas. Is that ok?

D: I guess. I look at pictures of you on Nana's computer.

A: That's cool. Do you want me to send some new ones?

D: Yeah.

A: Ok, I'll send some new ones.

D: Ok, drive safe! And watch out for gloomy guses!

root canal

justin had to get a root canal on thursday. yucky! actually it wasn't that bad. he had chipped a tooth a while ago. i made a dentist appointment for him in may and they couldn't get him in til the end of august. craziness!

anyway, the dentist said he would have to get a root canal and a crown. before he left i looked into his mouth. i originally thought, oh he chipped a tooth, there must be a little tiny piece gone. a quarter of the freaking tooth was gone!! yikes. so he's finished with the first step and only a bit chipmunky on one side. i would not advise getting a root canal. they are freakishly expensive-even if you have insurance! he was in and out in less than 2 hours which is pretty good-i think. he gets his crown at the end of the month unless we can convince them to let him in earlier. he also has to have one of his wisdom teeth removed! argh dental work.