Happenings

Things are nice in my neck of the woods these days.

There’s a happy 5-month-old Little Man bouncing around the house. (Ok, kind of scooching. Almost rolling. And so close to sitting.)

Our house has gotten easier to look at on the inside. The 80s are indeed on their way out the door. Quite literally. This fabulous specimen was my least favorite piece in the house:

I only had to look at it for a year and a half before we replaced it with something much prettier. I originally had daydreams of doing to it what the guys in Office Space did to their copier. I'd like to link to a video of it but I can't find an uncensored one, and I'd like to keep this blog clean. Suffice to say they completely destroyed it in a field somewhere and left it alone to think about what it had done. I realize how unnecessarily angry I sound, but believe me, you would have some resentment too if you had to look at this thing every day for 15 months.

But I never went through with it. I realized that it never actively did me any harm (except eye strain, maybe), so I let it go semi-peacefully. I may have shot it a dirty look. I don’t think it was too emotionally damaged. (There I go, anthropomorphizing again. I think I may have issues.)

The weather is getting chillier, and I was finally able to put the down comforter on the bed (yay!). Thick, snuggly tube socks can be worn about the house, and one tends to get cravings for soups, homemade breads, and hot cups of tea.

Dear Husband is happy with my new hobby: cooking! I’ve found it’s incredibly therapeutic (not to mention tastier, cheaper, and usually healthier) to cook. I’m a little ashamed to admit that it took me this long to start getting involved in cooking and baking, but what can I say, I’m here now. And loving it. I love the feeling of making something new, making the house smell amazing, cleaning up the main living areas, and generally making the house look like Martha Stewart breezed through, adding little touches here and there… Ok, so I’m exaggerating. It pretty much never looks like that. But I do try to make it inviting and nice for when DH gets home. It’s amazing how sitting down at the table and having real, adult conversation every night can make you feel sane. And these days, just getting to the dinner table feels like a huge accomplishment.

So far this week I’ve been making dishes using recipes from this fabulous blog. I’ve made the Creamy Chicken Taquitos, the Peanut Butter Blondies, and the Blondie-Brownies. The jury is still out on the Blondie-brownies, as they are currently still cooling on my stovetop, but the taquitos were amazing. I messed up on the peanut butter blondies, but they turned out ok still. I’m really not a fan of blondies, but DH sure loves them and so do his coworkers! Talk about a great way to lose a batch of baked goods in a day. Great for trying out recipes and not having to worry about the results taunting me with temptation for the rest of the week.


Later this week I’m planning on making Gnocchi and trying out the “Perfect Sear on Chicken” Technique. I'm also waiting until Saturday to try out the Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes because then I can bring them to my dear friend's birthday party and unleash their fattening power on unsuspecting party guests (mwa ha ha ha!). I don't dare keep them in the house. I'm afraid I'll gain 5 pounds just by looking at them.


That's all for now. Happy October!