Teenagers Can Learn New Tricks!

Have you ever considered all of the things that require the use of your thumbs and wrists? Well, I have! Not because I'm some intellectual genius, but because I've been suffering with De Quervain's Tenosnovitis in my right wrist and thumb since June. Basically, my right wrist and thumb have been pretty useless for 5 months and it makes life really difficult, especially when it comes to diapering, cleaning and holding a baby.

It also hinders my ability to slice vegetables, stir batter or sauces and bake or do anything in the kitchen. Enter my youngest son. Shawn is still at home, he being only 16 and still in high school. So he gets to learn many things that my oldest sons weren't privy to because I had the full use of both hands and didn't need any help. (Thinking back on it, I wish I had taken the opportunity to teach more cooking skills to my older sons while they were home. Alas, regrets won't get the dishes washed! At least they know how to clean up. But I digress.)

Just like everyone else in America, our family is trying to save money. We're also trying to be more healthy (translation: I am trying to eat healthier, so by default everyone else is too!). So I decided that we could make our own bread. I used to make bread from scratch for my family every week. Boy did I have some nice biceps and triceps! How hard could it be to do it again, right? Ugh, not so. My hand prevents me from kneading the dough.

So then I think I'll just get out my bread maker. But being the ever efficient minded person that I am, I'm always trying to think about ways to maximize time and resources and the bread maker only makes one loaf at a time. I want to bake more than one loaf at a time because I only want to do it once a week.

So, I say to Shawn, "You're going to learn how to make bread! Isn't that cool?!?" Shawn just stares at me and wonders where I left my brain. But he's a good son and listens to my complaints and consents to "learn" how to make bread.

The first two times the kitchen was too cold and the bread hardly rose. But it was good and we ate it anyhow (saving money you know!). The third time was the charm! We proofed the bread in a warm oven (thanks GreenJello).

The long and short of it is that necessity really is the mother of invention and teenagers are wonderful people if given the chance. Thanks for the lovely bread, Shawn!