“V”ictories..even small ones

Remember my post yesterday about our big fight before bed on Monday?

Well, last night, we celebrated our victory in overcoming that fight, continuing to learn and love and forgive each other when we fail at communicating with care, and for simply the sake of celebrating.

So, we made cupcakes.

And we enjoyed them.

Yum. Yum. Yum.

Yum. I'll celebrate love with my love, any day!

We know that we’re going to have bad days when we just get on each other’s nerves. We also have days when we are overcome by the awesome amount of love we have for each other.

You want to know something crazy? Some days, both of those things happen.

That’s something surprisingly wonderful I’ve learned in our nearly ten months of marriage.

And I’d say that’s worth celebrating.

Life’s about the little things, after all, right?

What about you? What do you celebrate and why? Better yet, how do you celebrate?

And for this, I give thanks…

After a long weekend (4 nights, 5 days) away from home, Hubs and I are back in our little apartment and tucked in away from the cold.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly did. And because so much has happened I’ve decided to do a quick recap of our Thanksgiving weekend, newlywed wife style. (In case you don’t know what that means, I’ll be throwing in my thoughts, insights, questions, ideas, opinions, etc. while sharing the stories of our trip home. Hope you don’t mind my sometimes random, sometimes wandering thoughts!)

1. We spent Thanksgiving day away from my family this year, which is hard. But that means we spent Thanksgiving with Wyatt’s family, which is great. We have so many wonderful family members that we want to spend time and that want to spend time with us. It really is a blessing we don’t take for granted.

(The holidays are both wonderful and hard because sharing our time is so important. More on this later.) However, since we were home for so many days this weekend, we were able to spend time at both parents’ houses. We headed to Sedalia on Wednesday after Hubs got home from work and spend that night and Thursday night at the in-laws. Then, we re-packed our suitcase and moved into my parents’ house for Friday and Saturday nights. It sucks moving around and living out of a suitcase, but it’s great to see both groups of people in one weekend, especially when we have no real plans and can just hang out, talk, and relax…and cook. And bake. Which brings me to my next point…

2. I love holiday baking. This year, Hubs and I made the pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Using our prize-winning recipe from my Grandma Lois. They turned out super yummy.

We're proud of our pies. Who wouldn't be?

We made pumpkin and two pecans. He’s saving one to take to work tomorrow. His coworkers are about to get super lucky. Or at least their taste buds are.

It's goodness and beauty and blessing all in one pie pan. Yum.

Baking or cooking with Wyatt is one of my favorite things to do. He’s great at so many things and I’m thankful he’s willing to spend time with me doing something I love, even if he’d rather do something else. He doesn’t love to bake as much as I do, and honestly, he’d rather eat more meat than dessert any day but he knows I consider dessert an important part of any meal and I love that he appreciates that about me.

I also made this pumpkin beauty the day after Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. It was divine.

Candied pecans, pumpkin, and cheesecake. Yup, I'm serious.

Oh my. I feel the holiday pounds packing on already. And you know what, I don’t care. Not one bit.

In fact, I wish no one did. People are supposed to eat delicious things for the next 2 months. (Not that you aren’t supposed to eat delicious things all year long…) I know that people try to watch their weight and stay healthy. I’m all for that. I try to eat as many healthy things as I can. I run, I do kick-boxing, and pilates as many days a week as I can, usually every day, but I also don’t ever make my mouth suffer for my stomach’s sake. It’s all about moderation, people. Eat the cheesecake if you want. Just not the whole one.

Or in my case, eat both slices of cheesecake, since Hubs decided he didn’t want it.

Yum. (The second slice was yummy, too.)

3. We got a jump start on our holiday spirit by “shopping” in my parents’ basement for old Christmas decorations they no longer use or want. We found this.

It's an old Christmas tree in need of some love!

We also found a bunch of stuff Hubs says we can’t have. I understand. Everything we bring into our apartment is something we’re going to have to carry out when we buy a house. And while I agree with that argument, I still want it to be our home, and feel like a home should feel.

Maybe this is the sentimental side of me, but I don’t want to live only thinking about how inconvenient something will be in the future. I’m all for planning, and thinking ahead to the future, but I’m also for making today the best it can be. It’s a point of discussion and contention for us every time I want to bring stuff home. And it isn’t that he doesn’t want or appreciate the stuff, he just knows how heavy it will be going back down those three flights of stairs…. (But this is a discussion for another whole blog post…)

4. We did a little black Friday shopping for the first time ever. And by little, I mean, we waited until noon, and went to look at what all was left, and what all had been cleared out. It was fun. We got in no fights, saw no cops, and were shoved or pushed or stolen from zero times. We bought 2 little things for Christmas gifts for family members. We stand by our decision to stay in and in bed the morning after Thanksgiving. Kudos to those who enjoy it. We just do not.

5. We made granola. It’s like my Christmas drug addiction. It’s a secret family recipe, and it’s the most addicting thing I’ve ever eaten. I’ll show you.

We sometimes give this stuff as gifts to friends for Christmas. Those people are lucky, let me tell you.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. At all. Wyatt doesn’t like it as much as I do, but that’s because his love affair with pecans hasn’t really begun yet. He’ll come around. Someday.

6. I realized I need to get moving on my gift for Hubs’s birthday. I have less than one week until we celebrate. He doesn’t even want to celebrate. He’s not very festive or excited about birthdays. We’re EXACT opposites there. I love celebrating birthdays.

7. I also realized we need to find a good compromise for Christmas festivities. He doesn’t like decorations as much as me. I love them. He doesn’t love giving or getting presents. I love them. He doesn’t like Christmas music. I love it. He’s not Mr. Scrooge, but I might start calling him that if he doesn’t perk up on the festivities after his birthday. I knew this long before I married him though, so it’s not a surprise. More on this later.

8. We reflected on our blessings. As is appropriate for every day, especially Thanksgiving. And we are truly blessed. Check out this page for my list!

9. I got a whole bunch of new craft supplies and ideas. I also made a couple more trees. I’m taking pictures and notes, and can’t wait to share all my adventures soon! I also went bridesmaid dress shopping for my best friend’s wedding (it will be way better than the movie by that name!). I can’t believe it’s getting so close to time. I can’t wait to celebrate and watch you begin your life with your husband! We have so much planning and showering and bachelorette-ing to do!

10. We’re now home, after this long, fantastic weekend of giving thanks and having fun. And you know what? I think I’m somehow even happier when I’m able to wrap up my weekend doing just this. Having a quick, quiet dinner with just the two of us after a weekend full of family and friends.

At home, eating frozen pizza and snuggling on the couch.

This is us, this is home, and this is our little family. Blessed? I think so.

10 Things My Kitchen Will Tell You

Here’s some things you can learn about me from my kitchen.

1. I’m fairly messy, though I like things to be neat. Case in point: I don’t want dishes all over the counter, but dislike unloading the dishwasher so I rise them and stack them nicely in the sink. Thus, I have dishes in my sink a lot of the time, or at least until I make myself unload and put away the clean dishes so I can reload.

2. I love to eat. Hence all the dirty dishes.

3. Hubs and I cook a lot. We’re newlyweds trying to save as much money as we can and it’s cheaper to eat in than out. Plus, I like to experiment. Last night when he texted me to say he was going to be home late, I asked him if it was okay to have an “experiment” for dinner. He said sure. So we had bacon-and-blue-cheese-butter-burger-twice-baked-potatoes.  (It was delicious.)

Yum. Yum. Yum. All because we had a little of this and a little of that to use.

Want to learn how to make them? I’ll tell you if you ask.

4. I like to bake. Currently, this is sitting on my counter.

Pear Crisp. Yum.

Except it’s now almost gone, since I made it on Monday.

Wanna know how to make it? I got the idea from here, but changed it, as usual. It’s easy, I’ll tell you.

Peel and slice 4 pears. I used ones that were getting too soft, so I had lots of bad spots to cut out, and I added 1 apple, peeled and sliced as well.

After I was done with that and washing the first peeler I tried to use, I realized why it hadn’t been working.

Apparently, I've never used that one before. Clearly, clear was the wrong color sticker to use, as it was invisible...at least to me. Good thing I had another peeler that worked much better.

Then, add 1/4 cup water, 1 Tbs lemon juice, and 1 Tbs maple syrup. Mix that up so everything’s coated.

For the top, mix 1 stick of melted butter, 2 packets of instant maple flavored oatmeal (uncooked), 11/2 cups brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups flour, and as much cinnamon as you like. I used about a 1/2 Tbs.

It should look something like this.

This is how happiness smells. This bowl of sweet goodness.

Then mix that up and put in on top of the pears. Don’t mush  it down, just crumble it on.

It should look like this. I'm telling you, it's easy, and your taste buds will thank me. Your belly will, too.

6. I love yellow. I have as many yellow kitchen accessories as possible in there, including my mixer, which I love, love, LOVE!

It should be considered art. Art that makes delicious foods.

7. I like organization. I have 2 cork boards, and 2 magnetic dry erase boards to help us remember where we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to pay. Bills have a way of creeping up on us.

8. I like things that are festive. Remember when I showed you how I decorated for Thanksgiving and Fall? (Here) Well, today I got some free “things” from the church I volunteer at and I can’t wait to show you guys tomorrow!

9. I don’t vacuum as much as I should. Probably because I hate my vacuum. It’s so heavy, and it smells so bad. I blame Wyatt’s old roommate who dried to vacuum up smelly carpet cleaner in an attempt to remove the dog smell from their duplex’s carpet. Wyatt promised if I don’t get one for Christmas that we can go buy one. So in the meantime, yes, we have crumbs. Judge me if you want. I don’t care.

10. Hubs and I are crazy about each other and have been for a long time. You’ll see that evidenced by the collection of ridiculously happy-sappy photos on our fridge that dates back several years. I am not a huge fan of cluttered fridges, or clutter in general, but our fridge was kind of dingy and white, so I figured, why not cover it up? You can also tell this by looking in the cabinets. You’ll find the cheezits I make sure we always have on hand for Wyatt’s lunches, and the olives Wyatt put in the cart for me even though they’re expensive. You’ll also see the empty Mountain Dew box from where I surprised Wyatt last Tuesday with his favorite drink we never buy. Oh, and the milk for the cocoa I’m about to make from this night.

Aren't we cute?

There, now that you have a better idea of me and my kitchen. What about you? What rooms in your house give away all your secrets?

P.S. I linked this post up with Newlywed Recipe Linky.

My husband had cake for breakfast this morning…

Does that mean I’m a good wife or a bad wife?

Last night I got bit by the baking bug, and dived into a homemade from scratch chocolate cake at 8:00pm. All in all, it went pretty well, but I’ll go ahead and say this now. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever made.

Maybe because I was distracted by the loud shooting noises coming from Wyatt playing video games in the living room.  (Just kidding, he’s actually doing a lot better about having the volume lower.)

But all jokes aside, the cake part came out great. The icing? Well, I’ll start at the beginning.

I started out with a recipe from my giant Betty Crocker cookbook. (Thanks, Grandma B!)

A nice way to spend a night. Diving into a cookbook devoted entirely to baking.

And like I said already, the cake came out great. It smelled good, it looked good… (It also looked huge. I mean, there’s just two of us! Why did I bake a whole cake?!?)

mmmm....who doesn't love chocolate cake? ...other than my friend, Jill...

…the only thing that would have made it better would be if I had 2 round cake pans instead of just one 13×9. But I’m a newlywed with a tiny kitchen, and in my promises during my wedding, I promised to be a creative problem solver.

So my idea? Use the big rectangle and cut it in half!

Which worked okay…sorta.

Because the way that a cake rises in the middle of a big pan like that didn’t make a great-looking stacked cake once it was cut in half. Wyatt offered the suggestion to trim some of the cake off to make it sit better. But me, ever the conserver, didn’t want to waste any of it…but alas, I should have done that, because we had several gaps around the edges where the rounded ends didn’t meet.

So, I learned my lesson. Next time, I’ll trim the cake. But I’m working on a way to “re-use” the trimmed off part, other than to just eat those myself while everyone else enjoys the pretty cake.

Anyway, I decided to use a chocolate ganache in between the two layers of cake. And I’ve never made that before either, so I went online and found a recipe, or rather two recipes from great sources (Bakergirl and Joy of Baking) and I mixed up a combination between the two.

And I was pretty nervous because it started out looking like this:

Not so smooth…uh oh.

And then, just when I though I’d ruined it, this happened:

Ah, that’s better…

So at last, I had ganache.

TA-DA!

And then, since I was still waiting for the cake to cool, I thought, “hey, I’ll make frosting, too!”

(spoiler alert: I didn’t need frosting…)

But the frosting, unlike the ganache, I had no trouble with. And it came out beautifully.

Creamy cocoa buttercream. Yum.

Too bad I didn’t get to use it.

Because there was so much ganache we decided to just dump it all over the cake and make it almost like a glazed frosting. And after that, there was no way to use the frosting. So now I have a container of homemade chocolate frosting in my fridge, just waiting to make some other to-be-made dessert even more delicious.

I’m sure it will be good on some cake. Just not this cake.

Still, even with no frosting, it looks pretty good...I mean, it's chocolate cake.

But at the end of the night, we had our cake. And ate it, too!

One piece down, lots more to go, especially because I've got another cake to bake to keep that forgotten frosting from getting too lonely in my fridge.