"Becky Home Ec-ky"

[This title is courtesy of one of my co-workers, who called me "Becky Home Ec-ky" after I brought in some homemade cinnamon rolls (which were still nothing compared to my mom's, by the way)]

Yesterday we had a "snow day" off of work, so I decided it was the perfect time to try my hand at making homemade bread. My mom gave me a bread mixer (not to be confused with a bread-maker) for my birthday last April, so I thought it was high time I put it to use! You may not know this, but my mother is an excellent baker and cook, and is known for her breads and rolls. She even has a title, "The Bread Lady," and for years she sold her goods at a local grocery store at home. Her cinnamon rolls are the best! Anyway, I have her recipe for whole wheat bread, and though I didn't have any wheat flour, I thought that using all-purpose flour might still do the trick. The above picture is the end result; however, don't be fooled by that skillfully posed picture, for that is only one angle of my homemade bread attempt. The dough didn't seem to be as smooth and airy as I remembered, and it wouldn't shape itself into a nice, smooth loaf, but I figured it would all come out better after rising/baking in the oven. This is the full picture of my finished product, and yes it's as hard as a rock (a chewy, edible rock):

And for the best angle yet:

I am still not quite sure what happened. I think I added too much flour, or should have used bread flour, or didn't let it rise long enough. Something went wrong! Bread making is much more of an acquired skill than I thought. Apparently it will take a lot of practice. I can't just get away with my "follow-the recipe" cooking skills. Also, for those that live here in memphis, have you had trouble getting things to rise very well? Everything I rise and bake seems to come out too dense, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Less flour? More yeast?

Also, I took my first successful pregnancy-belly photo. This is me at 20 weeks, and no, it's not the same pink shirt that buddy didn't like. That one was "too ruffly":
It doesn't really look like a pregnancy belly yet, just that I've gotten thicker around the middle. Oh, well, I'm sure the real belly will come. I can still button my pants, but it's pretty uncomfortable when I sit down, so I've been wearing those bella bands over my unbuttoned pants. Much more comfortable. Though I still have to unzip my pants all the way when I'm driving. Good thing no one can see through the car, except there was one time last week that I got out of the car and forgot my pants were unzipped; I almost lost them running up the stairs at our apartment complex. My goal for the rest of the pregnancy is to make sure I don't actually lose my pants. Hope I can make it.