Task-switching (with bread machine recipes).

I've been keeping up with my practice of making shorter to-do lists on index cards very well.

 (Recall that I do have a master to-do list of ALL THE THINGS!!!! out of sight on my Wunderlist account.  So I'm not losing track of those things that don't make the cut today, but still need to be done sometime.  And I have a calendar, of course.)

So, today I made my little index card list, and it had eight items on it:

• Review evolutionary biology textbook for next year
• Check if high school Excel tutorial matches version on laptop
• Blog post
• See if we can use new geometry curriculum
• Help 7-yo with her AHG sports pin
• Grade papers on counter
• Put laundry away
• Clean out a shelf of china cabinet [so we can get rid of the cabinet when it's empty]

Later I thought of one more thing I wanted to put on my list, and as luck would have it, there was one line remaining on the index card, so I added it below:

• Print science quizzes for next module

So far so good.  Nine items on my list, including some for school, some for housework, some for personal creative outlet.   By lunchtime I had crossed a few of them off.

• ✓Review evolutionary biology textbook for next year
•   Check if high school Excel tutorial matches version on laptop
•   Blog post
•   See if we can use new geometry curriculum
• ✓Help 7-yo with her AHG sports pin
•   Grade papers on counter
• ✓Put laundry away
• ✓Clean out a shelf of china cabinet [so we can get rid of the cabinet when it's empty]

Then I got on Facebook and was reading a discussion about bread recipes.  It started in a post by  Melanie about bread machines, how she doesn't have one but relies on her stand mixer, and how I don't ever bake bread except using my bread machine.  Melanie posted her sandwich loaf recipe yesterday (scroll down to the second recipe), and I adapted it for the bread machine last night and tried the loaf this morning, and it was really good.  

That got me thinking it was time to update the chart of bread recipes that has been hanging on my fridge for a while, and that has accumulated Post-it notes and wedged-in index cards with new recipes, as well as layers of added notes scribbled on since I hung up the chart.

So I sat down at the computer and made a nice new chart, and printed it up and hung it on the fridge.

Lovely isn't it?  Ingredients down the left (in order of addition to the pan), recipes across the top, measurements in the grid.  Those are the eight recipes we make most often.  The bottom row has added instructions, such as which cycle to use.

Only of course this project was not something that had been on my index card.  So I had to sacrifice some other task from the card.  Out with grading papers:

• ✓Review evolutionary biology textbook for next year
•   Check if high school Excel tutorial matches version on laptop
•   Blog post
•   See if we can use new geometry curriculum
• ✓Help 7-yo with her AHG sports pin
• ✓  Grade papers on counter  Bread machine spreadsheet
• ✓Put laundry away
• ✓Clean out a shelf of china cabinet [so we can get rid of the cabinet when it's empty]

I guess I'll grade the papers another day, or maybe on the weekend.  The lesson here:  when you add one thing, something else has to give.

And hey!  I can now check off "Blog post."

P.S.   Download Bread machine spreadsheet

You're welcome!

 NOTE:  The file was updated a few hours after posting to correct the pizza dough recipe:  2 cups each of whole wheat and bread flour.

Comments

[Christy P.]

1) I hope that my bread machine is the same size as yours.

2) You should add a footer or header to the document with your name and date. Just good practice.

[bearing]

Mine will do either 1.5 or 2 lb loaves. All these loaves are 1.5 lb. The pizza dough would be 2 lbs except you don't bake it in the machine. (It's an inferior pizza dough but adapted pretty well to the bread machine for the purpose of deciding in the morning to have pizza for lunch.)

Good point about footer/header, will do that.

[Christy P.]

Given that almost all of the bread I make is of the no-knead variety, my first impression is "That's a lot of yeast! And milk!" Good reminder to dust off the bread machine. It has been displaced upstairs by the dehydrator and the espresso machine. Priorities.

[bearing]

Still the number two appliance in my kitchen after the Mr. Coffee. At this point I would rather have a bread machine than a microwave or a crock-pot.