Melancholy Monday

Couldn't sleep last night for the life of me. So tired. And feeling icky today. I blame the Taco Bell Bryan was craving last night that we ate for dinner. Poor choices. Taking the day off of work to compensate for those.

It is a windy, windy day here in Texas! We are due for 'torrential' rains here today, tomorrow, and the next, but at the moment it's sunny, and gusty. Blech. Can't wait for everyone to freak out about water in the road.

Texans, I love most of you, but none of you have any clue how to drive in rain. Coloradans have the same problem. We're great in three feet of snow, but two inches of water?? Blasphemy!! However, I'm still loads better than those here. Just saying.

Our cheapy loft re-do is just about complete! I have some art I want to get up in here, but other than that, we're finished! I'm pretty happy with it. I wish wish wish we could do more major renovations, but I'll take what I can get. It's better, in any case.

Off to get a few things done - can't stand being home and not doing anything!

Healthy Marriages: Compromise

As Bryan and I are only in our 15th month of marriage, we are still trying to navigate the wonder of compromise. We're pretty good at it, I have to say...but it's still a lot of work. 

At our (apparently) weekly Ikea shopping trip, we were having trouble compromising on a desk. He wanted an L shaped desk that I felt was too big for the space. I found a smaller, but equally as functional L shaped desk with a pull-out. He didn't like it. Thus became the dilemma. He didn't want to compromise on an L shape, and I didn't want anything too huge that took away from the space. Ikea didn't do a great job of providing alternatives that we could both agree on, either. In the end, we left Ikea. He was stressed, I was irritated, and we were halfway to an argument in the middle of the desk department. 

However, on our crabby way home, we realized we still needed to go to Home Depot for some brackets and (other guy stuff I can't remember). While we were there, I let him do his thing (he needed alone time) and I wandered around on my own. There, in aisle something and such, was the perfect solution: shelves. We have a good sized desk, and to make it an L would just require a shelf mounted to the wall. When Bryan caught up with me, I pointed this out. He checked his measurements, and voila! A shelf would work! 

Thankfully, this was a solution we were BOTH happy with - and our wallets thanked us, because one shelf and brackets ended up being way less expensive than a whole brand new desk. It took a little cursing, a lot of angst, and some time away, but we eventually found our solution. I wish every disagreement could be solved with a trip to Home Depot, but for now, I'll take what I can get. 

Compromise: The hardest thing about marriage.

Dinnertime: Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I should preface this by saying I love anything easy, that can generally be made with what I have at home. The less time spent at the grocery, the better. That said, this pretty much fits the bill! I think this is super yummy and easy, and really, very healthy for you!

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Image via: Weight Watchers

2 1/2 cup(s) water, divided    1 cup(s) uncooked white rice, long grain-variety    2 tsp olive oil      1 3/4 cup(s) (sliced) uncooked red onion(s), chopped, divided      1 medium banana pepper(s), cubanelle or other sweet pepper, diced (about 1 cup)    1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic    1 tsp Durkee ground cumin, or other brand    1 tsp dried oregano      31 oz canned black beans, two 15.5 oz cans (undrained)    1 tsp table salt, or to taste    1 Tbsp red wine vinegar    2/3 cup(s) cilantro, fresh, chopped, divided      1 medium fresh lime(s), cut into 6 wedges   In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil; add rice and cook as package directs. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of onion and all of the pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, cumin and oregano; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in beans and their liquid, remaining 1/2 cup of water and salt; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for flavors to blend, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vinegar and 1/3 cup of cilantro. To serve, spoon beans over rice; sprinkle with 1/4 cup of remaining onion and 1/3 cup of remaining cilantro; squeeze fresh lime juice over top. Yields about 3/4 cup of beans and 1/2 cup of rice per serving. Sprinkle with salt before serving, if desired I also really like putting some deeelicious cheese on there. Cheese is a food group for me...sooooo.

St. Paddy's

Love the weekends OH SO MUCH. More progress on the upstairs loft! We went to Marshall's (oh yeah!) and found some fantastic things, including this pillow that I am in LOVE with:

I love vintage looking pillows and this is my new favorite thing. And a bargain!! Love love love love!

We went to a British pub for lunch today, where the surprisingly massive Texan population of British and Irish congregates all gather. We LOVE this place. And it was perfect today. We watched the England vs. Ireland rugby and had some green beer. Perfect. Now we're relaxing at home, the downstairs is finally clean and the weather is 'meh.'

Windy, cloudy/sunny, about 80 degrees. I'm sure it will storm later today or tomorrow, but for now, I'm enjoying the mild temps.

Making some deeelicious black/red beans and rice tonight - will post recipe later!

This Week's Treat: Chocolate Molasses Maple Toffee

Um. YUM. Let me say that, straight off the bat. I am so deliciously in love with this toffee. I found this great spot here in Dallas that as toffee like fudge, and it has maple and pecans and is an orgasm in my mouth. So, since then, I have been wanting maple toffee more than I want sleep. So I made my own!!

This is more candy-like, less toffee-like, because of lack of toffee bits, but it's so crazy easy, that a toffee n00b like me could figure it out - BEHOLD: Delicious toffee that totally kills my diet:

Chocolate Molasses Maple Toffee

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup (or extract - I didn't have extract so I used syrup instead and it came out fine)
• 1 1.2 cups milk chocolate chips

Combine white sugar, brown sugar, butter, water, molasses and cinnamon in 3 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring gently until sugar dissolves. Cover and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes. Wash down sugar crystals from side of pan. Uncover and cook to hard crack stage at 300 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and maple extract. Pour into 15 by 10 by 1-inch greased cookie sheet (that has edges!!), quickly spreading mixture to edges of pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over hot toffee. Let stand 1 minute or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over candy. Let set (about 15 minutes). Remove toffee from pan and CRACK - the best part. Refrigerate after letting set - it tends to get a little gooey. 

Anyway, this is sooo good. You get a little cinnamon, and a lot of delicious. The molasses, which I've never used before, had a weird smell, so don't let that fool you. The toffee is amazing. If I bothered to get toffee bits and sprinkle those on top, it would be even better!

Ikea

Ikea has, crazily enough, become Bryan and I's Friday night date spot. Totally by accident, of course. We just think of the projects we need to do this weekend, and Ikea seems the best place to kick it off.

We have thus spent the last THREE Friday nights at Ikea. This is both awesome and horribly sad.

The week before last, we were picking up little things - candles, towels, storage, etc...

Last week, we were re-doing our living room. We got an entertainment center.

This week, we are re-doing our loft area upstairs. We needed a desk and a sofa-bed (or, as I kept referring to it, a 'sofa-couch').

Anyway, a good portion of our cash has thus far gone to Ikea, their furniture, and their magical $3.99 meatballs.

Also went and picked up the cuuuuuuuuuuttest little things for my niece's 1st birthday yesterday - a cute little coat and a 'Sleep Sheep' that plays little sounds and hums to get you to sleep. I think I need want one, too.

Workplace Shenanigans

Gotta love the big boss' birthday. This only took an hour and a half! WHAT! My co-workers Maryann, Greg and I, along with a few people who popped in blew up about 300 balloons and covered my boss' cube with wrapping paper and Justin Bieber posters. Oh yeaaah. Nothing says class like balloons and Bieber.

Magic. Pure magic.

I was so incredibly tired all day today, but this makes it all better. Mostly.

Mid-Week Blues

Holy cow, I am tired.

I was exhausted when I woke up, and stayed that way all day. All I want is some major sleep. And some toffee. Not necessarily in that order. But definitely both of them.

Waaah!!!

Healthy Marriages

There was an article on Yahoo News today about what makes happy couples. I consider my hubs and I to be pretty darn happy, so I read to see if we were 'doing things right' as it were.

I was happy to see that pet names were on the list! You see, my husband and I are WEIRD. Flat out weird. We go to Ikea on date night. We have a stash of board games meant for 5 year olds. We make fart jokes.We make stupid dances up. and puns. Oh, the puns.

Example A: Bryan, literally JUST NOW, created the following conversation:

B:"Do we have a wok?"
A: "Yes."
B: "We do?!?"
A: "Yeah, we never used it. It's in the cabinet in the dining room."
B: "Wok you say?!?" ...lots of giggles.

And, we have lots of stupid nicknames for each other.

HIS for ME
Hunn-ney (not honey, but huuuunnneeeey drawn out nice and long...and most often, in babytalk)

MINE for HIM
Hunn-ney (see above)
Honey Boobhead. I have no idea why I started this. But I did. And it's what I call him.

In public, we are, naturally...less weird. We stick to the standbys: Dear, honey, sweetie...etc.

We started saying our weird 'hunney' thing so much that we would regularly call others the name as well on accident. We started going to family functions taking bets on who was going to "hunney" someone first. It happens a lot more often than you might think.

We also have stupid names and nicknames for our furry children.
Martin:
Chubba-wubb, Fatty fatty no friends (when we got Mochi it changed to Fatty fatty one friend), Fluffy nugget, etc...

Martin has his own song, of which I created...I'm like a 3 year old: "Maaaartin, you are so cute and fluffy, and I loooooove you!" To which Martin responds by peeing in my shoe.

Mochi:
She has no nicknames. Her personality speaks for itself. She also has no songs. Because she is not fluffy. This is how our minds operate.

So according to Yahoo, B and I have a fairly healthy marriage. I wouldn't call it normal, but it's very happy.

Pinterest

My sister-in-law introduced me to Pinterest I don't know how long ago. All I know is, it took me about 17 seconds before I was obsessed with it. Why? Heck if I know.

The concept is ridiculously simple: Pin things you like. On a board. Online. Oh, that's all it takes for me to waste 4 hours of my time?

Apparently, yes.

To be fair, it's got a ton of great ideas when it comes to cooking, cleaning, organizing, home design, etc. But then there are a few things that I just scratch my head at - example A: Political Propaganda. First off, there's about 212546548563121 sites out there that make more sense to post this stuff on. But for whatever reason, it ends up on Pinterest. Example B: Teenage bucket lists. These make me laugh, more often than not. Because they consist of things like "Fall in love with a country boy" and "Sleep in a parking lot." That last one I might have made up, but things that make an equal amount of sense I have seen. First off, that country boy might be a complete dick. Second, sleeping in a parking lot is asking for a) to be run over, or b) to be kidnapped. Just saying. They're hilarious.

I have five boards: Future Home, Food, Genius!, Things I Love, and Crafts*

*I don't actually craft. I just pretend I do.

My future home board is super full. As is "Things I Love" Crafts...not so much. Because I am the least crafty person of anyone I know. Having sausage fingers like mine, (short, fat) are not very adept at glue guns and the like. So I steer clear.

Anyhoots, I love this stupid site. Find me and follow me here.

Daylight Savings

I fully understand the purpose of daylight savings. I've had it explained to me numerous times. I get it.

However.

That doesn't mean I have to like it! Don't get me wrong, I loooooooove fall's daylight savings'. An extra hour of sleep?! YES PLEASE!

But this nonsense in the spring just makes me sad. Yes, I like the light in the evening. But losing a hour of sleep combined with waking up in pitch dark just starts my day off on a sour note.

You win another round, you fickle minx.

Texas Winter

Texas winter is weird. Very, very weird.

As a Colorado native, I expect winter to go something like this:

But here in Texas, I am having a winter like this:

You can see my confusion.

This Week's Treat: Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Since I am as of now unsuccessfully sticking to my resolutions about losing weight  (i.e. I lost 12 pounds and then promptly gained them all back) I've decided to cut back on treating myself. So, I have designated Sunday as my treat day. It is also to be my hobby day. So I've settled on baking one yummy thing every Sunday and enjoy it!

This week I was feeling pretty summer-y, or at least wanting to, since it is around 50 degrees and raining out. Texas winter is oh so mild compared to what we're used to in CO - no snow!?!? That was an adjustment.

Anyway, my spring/summery mood led me to make some deeelicious strawberry lemonade cupcakes. Lemon anything is fantastic, in my opinion, but adding strawberries just makes it that much better.

The Cupcakes:
1c Sugar
6 tbsp Butter
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2c Flour
1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2c Milk
Grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

Preheat to 350. Cream your butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add vanilla and lemon zest.

Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add half the ingredients, mixing until juuuuuust combined, then add milk. Add in the rest of the ingredients.

Pour into greased cupcake tins about halfway - these rise really nicely. Bake for 20 minutes ON THE NOSE. They will be done and beautiful - promise!

Strawberry Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature
3c Powdered Sugar (+1c on standby!)
2tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4c Chopped Strawberries (TIP: Chop these as teensy as you can!)
More lemon zest!! (2 lemons)

Cream butter until smooth in electric/handheld mixer. Add the powdered sugar slowly until mixed. Add vanilla. BEFORE you add in the strawberries, make sure you pat them down to get rid of excess water. Add them in to the mixture, and mix on HIGH. Add in zest. If you get some runny buttercream, add in the rest of the powdered sugar.

If you find your buttercream was waay to runny, go ahead and make them 'filled' cupcakes - inject the frosting mixture into the cupcake.. So yummy! (I might actually prefer it this way!) And then frost with regular vanilla store-bought frosting, if you like.

Next week...I'm thinking toffee!