I love to cook, I truly do. In my dreams, I think it would be really awesome to go to culinary school someday and become a chef. Don't foresee that ever happening, but hey, a girl can dream. And really I consider myself to be pretty good in the kitchen. I can even make bread. Maybe in culinary school they could teach me how to make pie crusts that were worth a darn.
You see, for as long as I've been in the kitchen (since I was a teenager) I have NEVER been able to make pie crusts. I've tried Betty Crocker, I've tried Better Homes and Gardens, and I've even tried Grandma Gladys' No-fail Pie Crust. Heck, I even failed that one! I've tried just about everything I can think of and I still can't make a pie crust to save my life! And I LURVE pie crust! I love chicken pot pie and apple pie and chocolate cream pie... and I love the thought of making them... until I remember that they ALL have pie crusts... blurg...
So here for your laughing pleasure, are some pictures of the peach pie that I made for my family for Valentine's Day using Grandma Gladys' recipe. She would be appalled.
Before baking:
After baking:
Any suggestions or even more fool proof recipes to share? I mean, it still tasted fine, but who wants to take a pie to someone that looks like that? Not this happy homemaker!
I don't know if other Diocese do this, but in our diocese, a team of priests play a team of Knights of Columbus members each year in a basketball game to benefit vocations. We had always wanted to attend, but had never had the chance to do so until this year. Andy's parents treated us to dinner and the game on Valentine's Eve. We had a great time watching our parish priest play (he was one of the best players on the team!) I also thought it was a neat way to show Ira that priests do more than just "religious" things. It was truly a great evening! If you ever have the chance to go, I'd highly encourage it! Pardon the quality of the pictures - it's not easy to take pictures of a sporting event from far away!
Fr. Andy (our pastor) warming up before the game. And no, he's not shooting at the goal in the picture - it's a little confusing I suppose, the goal is just off the right side of the picture.
While Andy was off work, we made the decision to finally use the money we had set aside for finishing our basement. It wasn't an easy decision, given our financial situation at the time (unemployed.) But we knew that we had the money and TIME to do it then, and figured we'd regret it when Andy went back to work and we still had the money, but not the time anymore.
So he spent a good 5-6 weeks finishing one half of our basement completely on his own: electrical, drywall, painting stairwell, finish carpentry, EVERYTHING. Okay, we did have the carpet laid, I forgot; oh and I made up the outlets (under Andy's guidance) (can I get a woot?!) But still. On prior home improvement projects, I at least helped on the things that I could (drywall, painting.) But my contribution to this project was watching the kids. It was a lot of long LONG days for everyone involved, but we couldn't be MORE happy with how everything turned out!
So without further ado, (because I actually remembered to do this!) I present to you before, during and after pictures!!!
Here is the stairwell. Note the linoleum that was replaced by clean white woodwork. Pardon the painters tape on the "after." I guess it was taken before we were completely finished. Here is the stairway. After pricing balusters (I always called them spindles), Andy came up with a plan to make his own. The pre-made ones would have cost about 8 dollars each. The ones he made cost about 10 dollars total. The best part is, I actually like the ones he made better than anything we could find in store!
I also love how much safer it is for the kids to go down the stairs! That big gap always scared me to death, not only when the kids were going up/down, but when I myself was carrying things up and down it! Hooray for a railing!!
Here is the East side of the basement: aka the play room. It is SO nice to have a space where the kids can spread out all of their toys and be completely "out of the way" of the rest of the house. We spend most of our time downstairs now (when we're not outside.) We purposely made the entire basement "baby-proof" so that I can have somewhere to go with Ruby where don't really have to tell her "no." It has been SO NICE! Ira's drumset usually goes on that little wall by the stairs, but it's all gone right now and I didn't really feel like dragging it out just to take a "finished" picture.
And here is the West side of the basement. We moved our TV and computer downstairs to make a "den" and truly love the feel of it. It just seems so much cozier than upstairs. Like I said, we really do spend most of our time downstairs now.
As you might have seen in some of the pictures above, one special place in the basement is the closet under the stairs. That was one thing that I actually did do in the basement. It was Ira and my's special project. He really helped me come out of my completely un-artistic shell. I was picturing straight clean lines and perfectly measured everything, because that's just who I am. I am not that creative, nor artistic, so why I thought I would undertake this project in the first place is a little beyond me. But Ira truly helped me to let go of my "visions/plans" and go with the artistic flow. We couldn't be more thrilled with how this little closet turned out!
Notice the little handprint flowers and a footprint sunflower. We made the grass and bushes with our fingers. The clouds were made using scrunched up walmart sacks. I painted the sun and the tree on the side wall. The pink hand on top of Ira's hill is touching the clouds because Ira thought it would be so cool to touch the sky.
So there you have it! At some point, we hope to finish the other half. The far door leads to a storage room that will remain unfinished. The middle door will lead to a fairly decent-sized bedroom. And the door closest to the stairs will hopefully be a full bathroom someday.
So this is the first time I've ever done a link up, but I thought this might be a fun way to find some new blogs/readers! If you are new here, take a chance to look around and be sure to leave a comment! I LOVE comments!!!
Questions
(1) Where do you get your pizza from?
(2) How would you define your decorating style?
(3) Where do you regularly buy your clothes?
(4) What was the last clothing item you purchased?
(5) What do you prefer in your home: candles or flowers?
Answers
1) Anymore these days, it's just more economical to make our own pizza at home. Our latest favorite is bacon cheeseburger pizza. (Use ketchup and mustard instead of pizza sauce, then top with hamburger, pickles, onions, cooked chopped up bacon, and cheddar cheese! Yummy!)
2) I love to decorate with photographs. Most of the "decorations" in my home are framed pictures of various sizes and shapes. I also like things to be clean looking, so you won't see a lot of trinkets/baubles sitting around. They just annoy me because they look cluttery and I have to dust around them!
3) I buy most of my clothes online because I'm tall (6'1") and most stores don't carry talls in store. Gap has an awesome line of tall clothes (available online only), so most of my shirts are from Gap. I like Buckle's jeans because I can get them in the length I need (35.5" inseam) and they last forever (okay, not forever, but I just finally replaced a pair I bought in college 8 years ago). I like the style of Vanity's clothes, I just haven't bought clothes from there for awhile.
4) I bought two pairs of BKE Wendi jeans from the Buckle with a gift card I received for Christmas!
5) Candles, definitely. They last WAY longer than flowers!
Ira has always been so special to me. Although we didn't find out what we were having when we were pregnant with him, I really thought he was a boy, and honestly really hoped he was too. Perhaps I'm weird, but I just really wanted to give my husband a son.
When he was little, I called him my little buddy. He helped me so much when we were struggling with our miscarriages. He was a bright spot in a dark time. And for such a long time, it was just the two of us at home during the days. So when Ruby came along, a part of me really missed our "just the two of us" that we used to have such an abundance of.
So one day, I decided to take him to town for a special "date" - just the two of us. He got to pick where his booster seat would go in the car (big deal for him!) And I told him when we left home that he would have TWO surprises waiting for him when we got to town. He was SO excited and just glowed with happiness the whole way to town (having attention lavished on solely him is something that just doesn't happen a lot anymore!)
When we got to town, he got to help pick out all the paint colors for a special project. Then I blindfolded him to drive to our next surprise. (He was positively giddy.)
I "unblindfolded" him when we got to Braums. He was so excited! It was a real treat for him because he'd never been to Braums (an ice cream shop for those who don't know) but had seen it dozens of times and asked to go there. I let him pick whatever he wanted - a double dip ice cream cone with Birthday Cake and Peanut Butter ice cream.
He didn't eat a whole lot of it, but we saved it in a cup and brought it home and he ate a lot of it over the next few days.
He also got to go to Kid to Kid and pick out a movie. They had Toy Story, which is like his FAVORITE movie right now (and also the only Disney movie that he'll watch.) I had a coupon, so we ended up getting it for like 7 cents or something.
It was SO wonderful to get to spend some time "just the two of us." I'm not sure who got more out of the day, quite honestly! I love you silly little boy! I hope we can go on a "date" again soon!
Ira is totally into making paper chains for things. So about two months before his birthday, he decided he wanted to make a paper chain to count down to his birthday.
I have just a FEW stickers lying around. So we decorated each link with stickers and markers.
Here is the STACK of links for our paper chain.
As I said, it's been a long time, so the chain is down to about 14 links now! Can't believe my silly little boy will be FIVE in a couple weeks! WOW!
Well hopefully at least! I've had trouble making the time to blog as of late. Which is fine, just so you know, it's pretty much the first thing to go if I get wrapped up in life. So if you don't hear from me for awhile - it's because life comes first!
That being said - the hubs is home and watching the kids so I'm going to take the opportunity to catch up on documenting our days. Be ready for (hopefully) a slew of posts!
I'm sure some of you have seen this recipe, but for those of you that haven't I thought I'd share!
This is an awesome recipe for 5 minute chocolate cake that you can make in the microwave. I've been making it for years and for some reason, it turns out a little different every time I make it. It's called:
Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. cocoa (I just use the same 1/4 c. measuring cup and fill it halfway)
1 egg
3 T. milk (again, same 1/4 c. meas. cup, filled three-quarters... perhaps this is why it always turns out differently)
3 T. oil
3 T chocolate chips (optional... sometimes I use them, oftentimes I don't)
small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. I decided to use homemade marshmallows instead of the chocolate chips.
I wouldn't suggest doing that... you'll see why later.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high)
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! (Unless of course, you've added marshmallows like me, in which case this would be what you see when you open the microwave:)
Allow to cool slightly then tip out onto a plate (or into a bowl if you're going to add milk/ice cream.)
ENJOY! If you're feeling particularly generous/frugal/guilty/healthy... feel free to share with someone. Or if you're like me and bored at home alone, EAT UP!
Apparently there's a handwriting post floating around blogland. I saw it on a friend's blog and thought it was a cute idea for a post. We see each other's typed writing all the time, but handwriting, not so much! I always love looking at other people's handwriting. I think it says something about your personality. Not sure what it says, but more often than not, it seems people's handwriting is similar to their personality/outlook.
Ten years ago today, the sweetest guy I know asked me to be his gal! So glad I said yes!! I've been working on this post on and off for a month now and decided today would be a good day to finish it up. Here's our love story:
At a TEC reunion in January 2001
Andy and I met at a Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend in 2000. He was a Senior and I was a Junior in High School. It was truly a God thing that we met. He volunteered at CYO to go to TEC on a whim (holy spirit.) Retreats aren't really his type of thing, but for some reason, he signed up. When everyone was gathering in the room at the start of the retreat, I saw him from across the room and thought he was so handsome. My heart skipped a beat when we were placed in the same group. (Truly mind you, I was there for a spiritual retreat and I wasn't a boy-crazy teenage girl - I was just drawn to something about him.) He says he thought I was the prettiest girl (ha!) We both thought to ourselves, "I would never have a chance with a guy/girl like that." We even had to introduce each other to the group. I mistakenly told everyone that he played golf instead of tennis. We had a truly Christ-centered retreat, and at the same time were inseparable. We both left the retreat thinking, "I could marry someone like that." He had a girlfriend at the time, and although I was BUMMED - I decided that I would just be a friend. We exchanged e-mail addresses and e-mailed back and forth for several months.He would ask for insight/advice about his relationship with his girlfriend, and I (although I hadn't ever been in a relationship) tried my best to give him good, honest help.
Before his cousin's wedding, March 17, 2001
In late February, I got an e-mail from him (I'll never forget - it was a Sunday morning) saying that he had broken up with his girlfriend and that maybe sometime we could go out and sulk about how we were both single together. We went to a high school basketball game in Hutch for our first "date." It was a 45 minute drive, but there was never any awkward silence. Heck, I think we talked the whole way there. I met some of his friends and his parents at the game. We talked the whole game through (I couldn't tell you who won/lost) and the whole way home too. Conversation just came naturally, easily.
On March 7th, 2001, a Wednesday (probably after Confirmation class?) he "asked me out" over Instant Messenger. We went to his cousin's wedding together on March 17th and he held my hand. The sweet beginnings of a wonderful relationship.
Andy's Senior Prom - 2001
It wasn't but a few months, and we were already talking about getting married (yes, still in High School.) What can I say? When you know, you know.
Moving Andy up to college - 2001
My Senior Prom - 2002
He decided to go to Pittsburg State to get a degree in Construction Engineering Technology after High School. It was a 3-4 hour drive, but we talked on the phone every night (I had a stack of phone cards 6 inches tall by the time he graduated) and he came back every weekend. Yes, every weekend. I think in the 3.5 years he was in college, he missed coming home 3 weekends (2 of which were weekends that his parents and I went down there for football games.)
Before a Singing Quaker concert - 2002
While I would have loved to be close (geographically) to Andy during college, I really wanted to go to Friends. So we continued our "long-distance" relationship. It worked just fine for us. And really, it was good for us too. We spent a LOT of hours on the phone/instant messenger just talking. About what being married would be like, about having a big family, about me staying home with our kids, and of course all the day-to-day stuff too. And when he was back on the weekends, we spent as much time together as possible (sometimes to the chagrin of my family - see, I was the first to date in my family - so I had the distinct "pleasure" of being the first to date/marry/have kids - it's a tricky role.)
The night we got engaged - 2003
After talking about marrying for nearly 2 years (which seemed like an eternity then), Andy asked my dad for my hand in marriage sometime in August 2003. He proposed on August 22nd at my house, in our basement, where we were getting ready to watch a movie. It was private and sweet and just what I'd wanted it to be. Andy still had 3 semesters left of college and I had 4 semesters left, so we made plans to marry the summer after I graduated college - June 2005.
The time leading up to our wedding was busy with both of us being full-time college students working part-time. But Andy always found time and money to take me out on dates each weekend. Looking back now and knowing how tight money was for him, I'm not sure how he did it - but he's just that kind of guy - he makes things work. I never knew that he would spend his last dollars to get home on the weekends and take me out. It doesn't surprise me though. He's that kind of guy.
I was so proud to see him work hard enough to graduate a semester early so that he could work for 6 months and get settled into an apartment before we got married. While he endured the stress of his Senior Project that last semester, he also got to endure the stress of me student teaching. I can't tell you how many times he had to reassure me over the phone that I could indeed make it through the next day and that I would live to see my graduation. But he was calm and patient every time. He never seems to get frustrated with my craziness (of which there is a lot.)
We didn't want our wedding to be a "fussy" event - just a big fun day. And what a day June 4th was! The church was packed with family and friends for our wedding. The wedding itself was one of the most beautiful Masses I'd ever attended. And with around 450 invited guests, we started our marriage with the biggest party we've ever thrown. We had a live band at our wedding dance that played 50s, 60s, &; 70s music. Everybody danced long into the night - long after we left at 10:00.
At Emeril's Restaurant on our honeymoon
We left for our honeymoon the next day. At the airport in line at the ticket counter, I had a meltdown because I couldn't find the lock for my luggage. I wasn't being very nice, but still Andy was patient and calm. He really is the most level-headed person I know. Despite a slightly bumpy start, we had a wonderful honeymoon in Orlando, FL and can't wait to go on a second honeymoon someday!
Family of 3!
Our first year as husband and wife included lots of life changing events (and if you go back to January '05) the list includes: Andy starting his first "real" job as a construction superintendent, me turning 21 & graduating from college (on the same day), getting married, starting my first "real" job as a 4th grade teacher, getting pregnant, losing my grandfather, buying a house, giving birth to our first-born, and quitting my job as a teacher to stay at home. However, with God's grace and the solid relationship we had built over the last 4 years, it wasn't until the year was over and my mom mentioned something about what a year it had been that we really realized just how big of a year it was.
Family of 4!
The rest, as they say is history. Since that year, we've been pregnant 4 times and sent 3 babies to Heaven. We moved again and we now have 2 wonderful kiddos. Life hasn't always been easy, and everything that we dreamed about in those long ago days of dating hasn't come to pass. But the life that we have been given has been even more beautiful than anything we ever dreamed of. The trials God has blessed us with have been so good for us. And the blessings he's given us have been pretty amazing too!
NFP Night of Romance February 2011
And all of those amazing qualities that I was so in love with in Andy as my boyfriend are the same qualities that now make Andy such a wonderful hubby and daddy. I couldn't ask for a more perfect partner to travel down the road of life with. And although I don't think that I could possibly be more in love with him, I know that I will love him more tomorrow than I did today. Love you babe!
