Neighbor kids and bread

We have some neighbor kids who have started to come over and ask to play. They live a couple blocks away, and while I know where they live, I have never met their parents. So I told them they can play, but they have to stay outside until their mom comes with them sometime to talk to me and tell me it's okay for them to play inside. They can only come in to use the bathroom or get a drink. Am I mean? I would NEVER let my kids go play at someone's house that I didn't know!!! And to play without me there, I would have to know the family quite well. The kids are about 9, 7, and 5 years old. Any thoughts? I don't want to be mean, but I'm not comfortable having them inside without knowing their family at least a little bit. They seem like really nice kids and do a good job including everyone and I keep all the windows open so I can monitor them all really closely.

Anyway, they were here today and I was baking. I made bread, pizza, and was working on cookies when they all came in for drinks. They asked if they could have cookies and I said probably not because I wasn't going to cook them until after I cooked dinner and they had to go home at dinner time. But I told them they could have a slice of bread if they wanted. The oldest boy looked at me funny and said, "We just buy our bread, but we do make sandwiches out of it." I explained this is homemade bread and it was cooking in the oven. The expression got even more confused and he asked, "So is it just bread or is it from ingredients?" I just had to laugh.

(I ended up sticking in one pan of cookies before the pizza, so they got those instead of bread, then I sent them home so my kids could do their jobs while the pizza cooked).

Favorite household helpers

I was tagged to share my household tools that I love and couldn't live without.

First is my KitchenAid. I use it at least once a day. I have the big professional one and can make 6 loaves of bread at a time.

Second is my Nutramill wheat grinder. I love it. In the time my yeast is proofing, I can grind all the flour for a batch of bread. Fresh bread with fresh flour, YUMMY!

Third is my big upright freezer. I would be lost without it.

Fourth is my Dyson vacuum. I've only had it a year, but it stills works just like when we bought it. I was tired of cheap vacuums that fizzled and stopped working good after 6 months. And a good vacuum is essential with a little one who eats EVERYTHING!!!! It's another tool that gets used at least daily.

The other tools that comes to mind, are the little nylon scrapers from pampered chef. I think they are only $1-2 each, but they are wonderful, for dishes, and scraping playdough off the table, for cleaning counters. . . . I bought some for my mom because I hated visiting have having to clean the kitchen without them.

And my Silpat, a flat pan liner thing that nothing sticks too. It makes clean up great.

Oh, on the cleaning side of things, I love Magic Erasers too.



Okay, anyone who read this all the way through is tagged. What household tools do you love? What ones were a waste of money?