Changing brands

My sweet husband has been more than helpful around the house lately.  Be it a "honey do" project such as hanging up shelves or washing dishes after dinner, he has totally stepped up his game.  To be honest, I had to ask him if he felt like I wasn't doing enough and that's why he felt he had to step in.  Exactly the opposite.  He said he felt like I had more than enough to do and he felt he could lighten my load by helping out.  I know I 'm bragging, but I am so grateful for my husband and the ways he shows me he cares.  These small tasks mean a lot since one of my primary love languages is acts of service.

This brings me to a recent night of washing dishes that gave us both a good belly laugh.  I am not a loyal buyer of any one brand of dish washing detergent; I typically buy the brand that is on sale at Costco be it the name brand or Kirkland.  The last mega pack we had contained little gel packs where all you  had to do was pop one in the dishwasher and turn it on.  I bought a new mega pack of a different brand the key change being that the new packets were wrapped individually so you need to unwrap each one before throwing it in the dishwasher. Hubby thought this difference was inconsequential.  I hope I used that word right.

After said night of dish washing I open the door to unload our warm dishes and find that the little silver packet of soap is still sitting in the bottom of the dishwasher.  Totally unaffected by the high temperature and streaming water that apparently were solely responsible for cleaning our dishes.  I point this out, we both have a good laugh, and go about our business.  The funny part?  He did the same exact thing a few weeks later claiming he forgot once again.  Cue really good belly laugh.

I love that man.  I really do:)  Especially when he does the dishes and makes me laugh really hard.

I'm becoming a hoarder

Or so says my husband.

HB and Katherine had Daddy all to themselves as I went to help the local FFA Ag Sales team with their last practice as their volunteer coach.  As I do each time I leave Kelly with the kids, I leave a list with a few reminders that includes general times he can expect to feed and bathe our children, et cetera.  Kelly does a great job making sure tummies are full, little bottoms are dry and everyone goes to bed generally happy and pretty much clean.

This time though, Kelly took his responsibilities over the top.  (We use the phrase "over the top" around here to describe exceptionally great things and often with saracasm as we refer to exceptionally not so great things.)  Earlier that same day I had made a pile of papers that Kelly needed to go through which included a few pieces of mail, some forms and a few other items that I cannot remember at this point.  I didn't mention the pile to Kelly before leaving however upon my return I was pleasantly surprised that he saw the pile AND sorted it (read: thrown away).  I was actually more than pleasantly surprised.  I was down right delighted.  I sang his praises about being a great husband and daddy and then I noticed that the remaining pile which contained my papers looked significantly smaller.  So much so that it warranted me rifling through the papers to take account of the situation.

I asked him if he accidentally went through my pile to which he replied, "Yeah, you are kind of becoming a hoarder."  I then asked what he threw away out of my pile and he looked totally oblivious so I walked over to the trash can and started pulling out our mail-in ballots for the local election (totally not important), several handouts from the pediatrician that I had just gotten that morning from HB's 18-month well check and a handful of other documents.

My husband's initiative to clear off our counter that night brought us both a good chuckle although I would not go so far as claiming to be a hoarder of paper or any other item for that matter.  I will admit that I have a genetic disorder for something I inherited from my mother called "stack and pile" disease where I basically suffer from stacking and piling papers and other important items around my home.  I go through piles as I have the time, sometimes re-stacking after sifting and organizing.  Hoarding though?  Naw, that's a step too far.

Happy 2nd Anniversary

Note: I scheduled this post about two weeks ago knowing that baby K's due date fell four days before our anniversary.  I am hoping she is here by the time this is published. 

Two years of marriage have flown by - who knew it would go by so fast?  My husband has truly been an unexpected gift from God because I never expected to get married (note to self: I should do a post on that someday).  Has it all been easy? No.  Has it all been worthwhile.  Definitely. 

Kelly - I am so blessed by your hardworking nature and the sincerity with which you approach all relationships. You are talented beyond words and I love seeing the way your problem solve and create with your hands.  You surprise me all the time with interesting pieces from your past and you make me laugh at the most hill-billiest of things.  I look forward to the next year of marriage with you, not to mention the following 57 after that!

Happy wedding day!

Happy one year! This was taken on our first date after having our son one month before this anniversary.

Easter 2013 - we are now a family of 3 1/2 as we approach our second anniversary! Hopefully a family of four...c'mon on baby K!

Salsa!

Whatcha Making Wednesday: Homemade Salsa

My hubby goes back to work today after a month of vacation...tear, sigh, pout.  He is a firefighter and typically requests vacation for the majority of the month of April so he can lamb out our flock of 40 ewes.  I am grateful that he has such awesome benefits, vacation time being just one of them, and am especially thankful for the time he had at home for the past month.  Seriously though, where did the time go?  The month started off with a quick trip to Montana for my grandmother's memorial service and has since flown by as we celebrated our son's first birthday and made 50 gallons of homemade ice cream for various events (hubby re-built a 1 1/2 horse John Deere engine to churn 5 gallons at a time).  Today's WMW post is in honor of hubby - he makes great homemade salsa for guys at the fire station and here at our casa too!

Mix the following ingredients using a blender:
2 14 oz. cans of stewed tomatoes
1 small can of El Pato
1 bunch of cilantro (I included a picture of cilantro fresh from our garden - it is growing out of control!!)
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
garlic salt to taste

I like my salsa on the smoother side so I tend to blend the mixture too long for hubby's taste.  He likes it chunkier so sometimes he uses sliced, stewed tomatoes or you could even use a petite diced tomato and then just rough chop the veggies and give it all a good stir in a bowl.  Enjoy!

Bruschetta

Whatcha Making Wednesday: Bruschetta

My sweet hubby volunteered to make me dinner during Valentine's week - I appreciated having a night off from dinner prep but I also enjoyed his thoughtfulness as I enter my third trimester.  His menu included steak, corn on the cob and bruschetta.  He made it from memory based on what he helped make at the fire station previously, and since I'm already bragging, I'll have to admit that it was pretty darn good!  I love, love, loved the bruschetta he made (with Brandy's help) and snacked on it for two days after dinner that night.  If you're looking for a quick and easy appetizer or  even want to serve it as a side dish like we did, bruschetta is the way to go!

Hubby didn't follow a formal recipe - but I wanted to share this with you anyway because it was so delicious and I love that he made it for me!  Here's an approximate recipe based on my observations:

1. Toast french bread - either use a griddle or do this in the oven.  Brush bread with butter first.  To save on time, buy the french bread already cut up like hubby did!

2. Dice tomatoes and fresh, minced garlic.  Crumble feta cheese over mixture.  Add a dash of white vinegar, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Top toasted bread with tomato mixture.

If you're looking for some type of specific quantities, this Taste of Home recipe is fairly similar (with the exception of the vinegar).  And this Black Peppercorn recipe is also similar but uses lemon juice instead of vinegar for a splash of acidity.

What is your "go to" appetizer that you like to make at home?

Of Masquerades and Home Improvement

Brandy attended Winter Formal this past weekend and she looked beautiful!  I can't believe how grown up she has become in the almost three years that I've known her.  Our sweet neighbor gave her the dress (she wore it to a dance at a different high school last year) and she made the mask. 

After marrying almost two years ago, we excitedly spent our Home Depot and Lowe's gift cards. We purchased items for numerous projects including new bathroom hardware, door knobs, drawer pulls, paint and more paint, and new electrical outlets and light switches. We looked forward to putting a few finishing touches on Kelly's home after I moved in. We started several of the projects right away - "we" meaning Kelly did the work and I observed and took pictures. One project though was started but needed finishing, especially now that Lil Man is on the move and crawling around our home.

Kelly was kindly updating our light switches and outlets last week, with HB's help of course!



Flowers for Momma

The first time Kelly brought me flowers was on the Friday before my fall break as a teacher in October 2010.  I had actually taken a student to an FFA event so I was gone for the afternoon but when I returned to my classroom I found a beautiful, hand picked bouquet of Black Eyed Susans.  They were wild and pretty and I was absolutely delighted to find them sitting on my desk!  Now two years, to the day, later my husband helped my handsome 5-month old son pick his first bouquet for me!  Again, I was delighted to see my baby and my hubby walk in the door with a small bunch of yellow and pink lantana.  I proudly displayed them on my kitchen windowsill in a mason jar the entire week!

Three Strikes

I want to preface this post by saying I love my husband. I think he's the best husband in the world. (I hope everything thinks the same thing about their husbands too!) This post is about him - his ability to fix things and his ability to make me laugh.

Two weekends ago we set out to repair a few items at our rental house. We refer to the rental house as our Chateau - it makes us feel hoity toity. It's actually the house that I first bought when I moved to Buckeye to teach four years ago. We feel fortunate to have found renters willing to pay what we wanted without negotiation. Renters who pay in cash. And renters who so far have taken good care of the house. Aside from these blessings, renting the Chateau has involved a few small headaches along the way. These headaches have been caused by us though - I could have been more ambitious about moving all my stuff this summer while I had time. However, I waited until we found renter's to make the final move which also coincided with my first week of school. With that said, a few things needed fixing and we didn't have time PRIOR to the renters moving in. Hence, the story of three strikes at the Chateau.

Strike one - the food disposal didn't work. Is that what it's even called? You know the thing that grinds nasty food scraps in your sink? I can never remember what to call it. Anyway it didn't work so Kelly set out to replace it. The broken disposal was on so tightly though that he ended up banging and twisting the thing to get it out. In the process though he sliced his finger pretty darn good. At one point I thought he cut his chin too because he had blood dripping off his chin after swiping his chin.

Strike two - there was a partially installed ceiling fan in a guest bedroom. When I say partially I mean that it was hanging by wires from the ceiling. Kelly eventually got this bad boy installed, and without slicing any body parts open. However, when he carried the broken ceiling fan outside to throw in the trash our renter's dogs bit him. They were Taco Bell dogs at that - Chihuahuas.

Strike three - as I mentioned before we made the final move in haste. We had to leave behind my washer and dryer although our renter's planned to use their own. We removed the dryer without a problem. Kelly turned off the valves on the washer and began unscrewing the lines from the back of the washer. Before we knew it the cold water line was spraying water all over the place - in Kelly's face, on the laundry room shelves, at the door, on the tile etc. Everywhere but where we wanted it. I eventually opened the door into the garage so Kelly could spray water outside until he managed to kink the line and stop the water.

We eventually got the water cleaned up and drove away - wet from the water incident, and a little beat up after making repairs. Okay, let's be honest, Kelly was a little beat up. While everything was happening I just kept quietly telling myself that someday we'd laugh about this. Thankfully we did afterwards. And this my friends, is why I love my hubby. I love his patience, handiness and sense of humor.

The Heisman Strong Arm

We have been married two and a half months and have enjoyed each second immensely! I thought it was about time I tried to make an honest effort to get in touch with my blogging self and post my version of how I met my husband got to this point. And never fear, my husband will make an appearance as a guest blogger and post his side of the story too! I had planned on posting both of these before the wedding but I figured better late than never since lots of you have asked for our story...

I remember meeting Kelly for the very first time - I had heard lots about my husband in advance so I was expecting him to be very nice and have really pretty eyes. Everything I had heard about him was confirmed in the first moment we met - he was really nice and his eyes were amazing. The morning we met was at a workshop for my students at school; Kelly was presenting information on showing sheep! I thought about the possibility of dating Kelly for a millisecond but quickly shoved that thought aside as I began taking pictures of the workshop that morning.

Later that next week Kelly texted me and asked if I wanted to grab coffee or go to dinner sometime. I said yes without hesitating thinking "what do I have to lose?" We went to a La Placita, a local Mexican restaurant, where we continued to go about once a month for dinner for the next seven months. Kelly says that I gave himthe Heisman strong arm, that I just kept pushing him away. But seven months after we met I finally agreed to truly date Kelly and not just have dinner once a month. All during this proces of slowly getting to know him, his character, sense of humor and commitment to family and faith became very apparent. I was working through my own "issues" though - I had become very content being single and had never really been intent on marrying someone. I think my sub-conscious knew what a good catch Kelly truly was so I was struggling with the fact that this relationship had good long term potential.

That first week in October 2010 we grabbed coffee on a Friday evening and then Kelly had to work a 48-hour shift. He was letting the Ag department borrow his sheep again for yet another workshop. That evening while having coffee Kell told me several times to make sure that I checked out the sheep the next day. I thought he was crazy for telling me this because I was of course going to do that without being told! That next day brought a huge surprise - Kelly had shorn his first note to me in the wool of his eight sheep that we had borrowed. The message read "Katy's the best and prettiest 2!" I was shocked - and delighted.

The month of October went by quickly and I became very intrigued and very "into" Kelly - I couldn't get enough time with him. After what I consider our first real date (how can that be...eight months into things?) we sat in my driveway talking for several hours. I got out of the truck and the little voice in my head told me that I could marry him. I wrote him a note that evening telling him this very thing.

After working through some issues our relationship progressed rapidly althought I kep telling everyone that we were just talking things slowly. I don't know when we started talking marriage but by the time January rolled around we were talking about when Kelly would ask my dad for my hand in marriage. The three day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend came and went and Kelly missed his chance to ask my dad when we visited my family that weekend. He ended up driving up a week later to ask my dad for my hand in marriage and then we were engaged a few weeks later.

It was the night of the FFA Pie Auction and Potluck - after a rvery romantic dinner with 60 of my closest FFA members and their families, we headed home to enjoy a delightful apple pie and watch a movie. I was so set on watching this movie that it cracks me up that Kelly humored me all while having that ring in his pocket. I was exhausted after the movie but Kelly seemed like he wanted to talk so I listened. He was being very thoughtful and serious and I just had no clue why this was necessary at 11:30pm at night. Kelly seemed distracted so I looked up and he was texting - or so I thought. After asking him what he was doing he told me that he sent me a picture. I opened the text up on my phone and there was a picture with another shorn message - "Katy will you marry me?" I couldn't have been happier or more surprised in that moment because I did not expect the question then. I obviously said yes and two days later I gave Kelly the letter I wrote to him back in October after our first "real date."