So. Many. Thoughts

My mind is just swimming with ideas for posting- it has just paralyzed me today. I've been on the verge of starting to write and then more ideas have come flooding. I'm trying to jot them down so that I'll have a list to refer to on days when I'm stumped. I always do have ideas for articles and things in my head, my problem is that I don't take the time to write them down. So I'm glad to have NaBloPoMo to give me some discipline in that direction.

So, today I'll write about bread and bread making. And creativity. I baked some lovely bread yesterday. I wasn't sure it was going to come together, it was very sticky, very loose. I poured it out on my counter with a bunch more flour and it started to take shape. I was still a bit skeptical; the dough was nothing like the challah I've been baking lately. Yet it rose beautifully; I divided it and put it in pans. When it was ready the whole family got together for the warm bread and melting butter (well, melting Smart Balance). It was delicious! It was a really wonderful bread, I only hope I can come close to duplicating it.

I did not learn bread making from my mother (I don't think she's ever used yeast at all), and my first attempts at challah were just awful; nothing like the soft yellowy goodness of my childhood. I decided to try again after my children were born. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but I can do it. It is delicious, and actually resembles challah! *gasp*

I love when the dough transforms. The moment the raw goods transform into bread dough- just miraculous. The soft, baby's bottom feel of the dough. Watching it rise, and turn into bread in the oven. I love turning 'nothing' into 'something.' I was thinking about this recently and realized that this is true of many of the activities that make me feel the best- baking, sewing, scrapbooking, and even writing.

In addition to creating something from nothing, I think these creative acts make me feel good because they are also acts of love.