i am baking today. scratch that, i am attempting to bake today. i'm making sourdough bread (from scratch! i even made the starter for the dough, which is a long, drawn out, slightly smelly, bacteria-involving process), but my dough is not rising. pf. i did the damage control mom phone call (which, may i say, i pretty much never have to do when baking--cooking, occasionally, but baking? not so much), and have amended the situation by dampening the towel laying over the bowl with warm water, and turning on the oven (which the dough is in a bowl on top of) so that the heat emanates upward. now i am waiting patiently to see if that does anything. i have also instructed the dog and cat to be very very quiet, and have turned down the volume on the tv very very low, because i specifically remember my mother telling us when we were little that if we made a lot of noise, the dough wouldn't rise. it may have just been a (very effective) way to shut us up, but i'm not taking any chances. i shall report back later with results.

ETA: i am the goddess of sourdough bread. holy yum, batman.