Maybe Only Funny to Me

Just a quick story that makes me giggle before I head off for work today. First, a few things you should know:

1) Wednesday night is bacon night. Yes, every Wednesday BACON is part of our meal. Be it on potatoes, in a casserole, in biscuits or standing alone, bacon is on our dinner table.

2) Branden has a very nice friend who raises chickens and has given me free eggs! If you've read my blog for a while you may know that I LOVE eggs and always have more than a dozen in the house. I have never met this man but I would believe that he is the type who would pull a puppy out of a river simply because he gave me FREE eggs. :)

3)Our new fridge has been dripping water into the bottom and, consequently, onto the kitchen floor so Branden called the management company. They sent a guy to fix it yesterday.

4)Most of our life has been moved to our new apartment but there's still stuff over at the old-- mostly stuff we don't need... Oh, and the animal members of our household which Branden considers to be part of the stuff we need and I, well, we'll just say I'm loving leaving every door open and walking through an apartment that is almost completely devoid of drifting fur. Among those things still at the old place are all the condiments that go in a refrigerator door and most of the random things you have in your fridge but never think about. I brought over butter, eggs, cheese, bacon and a package of bratwurst as those seemed to be the only things in there that I cared about moving in the small cooler I had at that time.

Branden's friend sent him home with two dozen MORE eggs on Wed. :) Since it was bacon night and we had little to eat in the house, we had bacon and eggs and finished off a different dozen of eggs. I left the carton on the counter so Branden could return it to his friend. Our fridge now contains three cartons of eggs. When we came home yesterday there was a note saying that the fridge was fixed. I opened the fridge and saw for a brief instant what the maintenance guy must have seen: empty shelves except for a block of cheese, a couple bottles of water, a pack of brats and three dozen eggs with another empty egg carton sitting next to the fridge. Kinda makes you wonder what's up with these people, doesn't it?

It may not be funny to you, but I had a good giggle.

June So Far

Kids are out of school, the cicadas are buzzing like mad and the heat index put us at about 100 degrees today... It's summertime in St. Louis! (If you've never lived in a humid state and don't know about heat index, here's a little reading for you! Also, if you, like Branden, haven't lived in a state with cicadas and don't know what I'm talking about, Wikipedia has an article about them, too.)

We signed our new lease Tuesday evening and have started moving in. I'm really excited for this new place, if you didn't guess from my previous post. I know that I mentioned that it has two bathrooms and this current apartment only has one so you know what that means: We need to buy new things! :) I have never been in a position to really buy nice, matching bathroom items but we still had some wedding gift cards... So when Branden suggested that we run to the Mart that is Wal I immediately decided it was time to spend them. I was so excited about our new towels and bath curtain that I declared we must go and hang them up without delay. (And now I'm writing a blog about them so I MUST be extraordinarily excited about ordinary things.) We chose a green and brown color scheme and I put the towels on the bar exactly as Martha Stewart would have. It's not completely finished but we have a decent guest bathroom!

I know that paragraph was a little rambling and not well thought-out but it is after midnight and I've got to work in the morning and I'm forcing myself to not read it over and over to come up with better wording. If I let myself, I can write a blog in ten minutes and then spend the next hour editing... Must resist editing urges! So here's a fairly un-edited blog to let you know that I'm alive, things are moving forward and, most of all, I have nice brown and green towels in a bathroom that all my guests will see.

Slightly Disjointed Ramblings

I'm counting down the Mondays until I no longer have to pay for laundry... Including today there are 3. That's not to say that I will immediately be doing laundry there full time but I will do the less essential stuff there and do the more essential stuff as we move in.

In continued good news, I got a raise at work! I trained a part-time employee who works under me and have become more of a manager. I love my job and it's great that my boss puts her faith in me and appreciates my efforts.

I turned 29 last month. It's not too different from 28 to be honest and, so far, I haven't felt any kind of panic about the fact that I'll be 30 next year. Branden's 31st birthday is Wednesday so we're both getting older. :P He took today off so he could have a three-day weekend before the big day.

We are down to one laptop. Mine has been more of a tabletop- unable to be moved without it shutting down- for a few months and a little over a week ago it decided to stop turning on altogether. Because of this I'll be even more unlikely to post in the next couple of months. Branden is waiting for me to finish typing and it's incredibly hard to concentrate with that knowledge so I'll go for now. If you made it though all my rambling, thanks for reading and I'll post more when I can.

Super Fast Post

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I don't tend to post when I'm feeling down because I figure that nobody really wants to read my whining. Recently I've been feeling REALLY down about myself but today I have some good news so I'm going to share!

Our lease is up June 30 and we HATE our apartment so we've been looking to move. Today we found out that we have been approved for the apartment we want! It's not actually any closer to our workplaces but there a long list of good things that come with it, namely:

A) It's a nicer complex with a decent parking lot, cleaner areas and well-maintained buildings.
B) Branden's friend lives there so we have a first-hand account of how the management company, well, manages things. Also, because Branden's friend lives there we actually have a neighbor to whom we will be neighborly... Have I ever mentioned that we're not really neighborly?
C) Not only are there washers and dryers in all units, the ones in our apartment are brand-spanking-NEW! Oh, yes, front load, high efficiency, stackable Whirlpool washer and dryer that will likely ruin me for every other washer and dryer for years to come and they will be ours to use for as long as we choose to stay!
D) As if that wasn't enough, the apartment also has a LARGE kitchen with a full-sized stove. And the kitchen is open to the living room so I can still be part of the living-action while cooking.
E) Oh, yes, there's more! TWO bathrooms and a balcony!
F) Before I go any leave out the grain of sugar that tipped the scale completely, our first month's rent is free so we can sign the lease June 1st and have an entire month to move and clean this craptastic apartment without paying any extra.

HUZZAH, HUZZAH!! New apartment here we come!

3.14 and My Grandmother's Cookbook

Today is Pi Day so... I made cheesy chicken pot pie, from scratch, for dinner. :)

The basic recipes for both the filling and the cheese crust came from my grandma's cookbook. Oh, yes, that's right, there's CHEESE in the pie crust as well! I have made my own changes- the cheese wasn't one of them- but the overall intent is the same: Deliciousness in a savory pie crust.

I don't know if I've mentioned before that I have a cookbook that once belonged to my grandmother on my dad's side. In it you will find instructions for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING kitchen and cooking related! If you ever need to know how to eviscerate poultry or rabbit, I have the instructions. Are you curious as to how to set a proper table or what was considered necessary when starting a kitchen in the late 1940s? I have that information as well and, not surprisingly, it's not completely irrelevant in today's world. I can also give you multiple recipes for jello salads and aspics which nobody in their right mind would consider making today. I can tell you what the temperature range is for an oven heated to moderate and how to test your oven when there is no temperature gauge. There is even a section on nutrition and a Wartime Postscript instructing you to use that information to keep your family healthy because, "A healthy nation is the best contribution our homes can make to our war effort." (I told you it was from the 1940s.)

My grandma's cookbook is full of history- including, but not limited to, the family kind. It's over fifty years old and is full of notes and recipes that she scribbled in margins, in the index, on both the front flyleaf and the back one, the title page... Pretty much everywhere there was a little space. Also tucked between the pages are recipes written on note cards and newspaper clippings. It's my own treasure chest- filled with the kind of gold that not everyone will appreciate- and I am incredibly lucky to have it.

*Update* I intended to post the recipe but got busy writing about the book. :P If anyone is interested in having it, let me know and I'll post it here.

"Hold Me Like You'll Never Let Me Go"

I like hugs. No, I love hugs. When I am having a bad day, a hug is all I want. When Branden and I are arguing or I am freaking out over something, Branden could stop most of it in its tracks if he'd just reach out a give me a good hug... Which is hard for him to do as it's completely against his nature but it'd be a wise thing for him to remember if he wants problems to be solved more quickly. Nothing calms me faster or soothes me more than being held, really held, by someone who loves me.

When words fail, there are always hugs and I give them when I have nothing else to give. I've been told that I give good hugs and I put that down to the fact that I try to give the kind of hugs I wish to receive. It's hard to describe what I mean and I can't show you because you are on the other side of a computer screen, likely many miles from where I am... I'll do my best, though.

To begin, a good hug needs to have feeling behind it. Anyone can toss their arms around someone for a nanosecond with little-to-no feeling before rushing off to do whatever they think is important. To be a good hug, no, a TRUE hug, there needs to be love. Be it love for a spouse or other family member, love for a friend or just love for a fellow being in need, it is the most important part of a true hug.

A true hug should be firm but not like a boa constrictor. You're not trying to squeeze the life out of someone, but hold the life in. Be it joy or pain spilling out, a hug is emotion contained in our arms.

A true hug should give you permission to fall apart when you need to because the person hugging you will be holding the pieces together. Cry on my shoulder, let that part inside you snap because I won't let any of your pieces get lost. They are right here in my arms waiting until you can hold on to them again. I cannot fix you with a hug but I can buy you a little time to help you fix yourself.

A true hug doesn't have a time limit. It lasts as long as is needed. Maybe it's just a short moment in time, a quick reassurance before we head our separate ways. Maybe it's multiple minutes when comfort is needed or we are parting for a long period of time.

A true hug is pure and safe. There are no ulterior motives. You cannot take a hug. Hugs can only be given and their value doesn't decrease with number or frequency of use.

Hugs are one of the things I miss the most about living close to my family. Phones and internet have enabled me to keep communication going but they won't let me touch anyone. There are many moments in my current life that I would do just about anything to wrap my arms around my sister or to spend thirty seconds in my dad's embrace. My mom has told me that I am the most physically affectionate of all of her children and that I taught our family how to hug. If I do only that with my life then I will have made the world a better place.

But I am not content to only do that. I want everyone to learn how to hug. So do me- and yourself- a favor: When you leave your computer, go hug someone. Practice giving true hugs because the next time I see you, I intend to give you one and I hope that you'll give one back to me.

Nobody Will Ever Know... Except That I'm Putting It In a Blog

Branden likes to tease me about being clumsy. Sometimes the teasing is a little hurtful, honestly, but it's not as if he's teasing me about something that's untrue. I do seem to trip a lot, drop things and knock things down often. Which is part of the reason that when I do these things without a witness, it's almost something for me to take pride in.

Today I totally bit it on the ice next to my car and nobody saw me fall. Unfortunately, I went to City Museum on January 29 and my bruises are still healing. Even though I was immediately able to get up on my own, I fell on quite a few of those bruises and re-bruised as well as created new ones. I also think I twisted my right knee a little bit. :S

No worries, though, nobody saw!

Enjoy The Blow

There is a poem I read about fifteen years ago about a person who lives next door to the zoo. There's a terrible storm and the zookeeper brings the animals over one by one to sit in the tub, relax in the living room and cuddle in the bed. One piece of the poem has stuck with me and I sometimes repeat it to myself. It's just a couple of lines but it goes like this: Hunker down, Enjoy the blow.

This morning I was on my way to work and I heard on the radio that the malls were closed. I decided that I'd better call my boss. As it turns out, she was calling people and telling them to stay home. I decided then that I was going to enjoy the blow. I stopped at a grocery store on the way home where I picked up everything I needed to make potato soup and a dozen eggs... Just because I could.

I arrived home safely and told Branden my work was closed- my first snow day in 13 years! After he was out of bed, I jumped on the St. Louis bandwagon and made us french toast for breakfast. We spent most of the day messing around on our computers and watching TV while the freezing rain came down outside. I baked potatoes and made them into delicious soup and we've just relaxed. So far things have been MUCH less severe than predicted but we're under a blizzard warning until tomorrow at noon so we'll see.

Weather, like life, is hard to predict and we only get so many days to sit inside while the storm does its thing outside. Hunker down, enjoy the blow.

French Toast

Every time there is a winter storm coming, the residents of St. Louis make french toast. Nobody talks about it, in fact I suspect that I am revealing a secret right now and may be unwittingly putting our lives here at risk. I am, however, willing to risk harm to get the truth out. So how did I, an outsider, come to possess this knowledge if nobody speaks of it?

It's simple: Deductive reasoning. Every time the weather people predict a storm, everyone heads out and purchases copious amounts of bread, milk and eggs. And what do you make with these three ingredients? FRENCH TOAST!

But wait, you may say, maybe they are buying other items to eat with their milk, bread, and eggs. Nope! Peanut butter and jelly are left on the shelves, flour and sugar can be found in every store and soup? Well, you'll find cans of all varieties hopefully waiting to be taken home. Alas, the soup waits in vain. We were in Wal-Mart earlier today and there was not one carton of eggs left on the shelf and bread was wiped out. There was plenty of soup, though!

Now that I posses this knowledge, what am I going to do? I would think it'd be obvious. I'm going to stockpile maple syrup and sell it to my neighbors at excessively high prices every time it snows!

Peanut Butter Frosting

I was informed today that I need to post more often... It's true. I've even made a goal to write more often. So what have I been up to? Well, today I made cupcakes from honey pound cake with peanut butter frosting. I wasn't horribly impressed with the cake- it didn't taste enough of honey and it needs something more- but the frosting was pretty tasty.

Since I followed the advise of commenters on a recipe, I need to write down the recipe as I made it and I may as well share in the process.

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c creamy peanut butter (Skippy worked for me)
1 T Vanilla extract (I used the real stuff)
2 c powdered sugar
1/3 c heavy cream, plus maybe a little more

Cream together butter and peanut butter until you can't see any butter. Add vanilla and mix until it's incorporated.
Add one cup powdered sugar and, while mixing, slowly add about half the cream. Once that's incorporated, add the other cup of sugar and slowly drizzle in the rest of the cream while mixing. If your icing is too thick, or just not as creamy as you'd like, drizzle in a little more cream until you've reached a good consistency.

I didn't add any extra cream to mine and it was a tiny bit thicker than I'd have liked, but I was still able to spread it on my cupcakes without a problem. It was nice and fluffy and tasted like peanut butter deliciousness. I can imagine that it'd be good on brownies, chocolate cupcakes, graham crackers... And other things that are good with peanut butter.

So there's a post for you. I will try to be better about posting in the future. In the mean time, enjoy your frosting!