Being poor is fun. Really, it is! You come up with the most creative things when you're poor! Gifts, dinners, date nights... They all turn out to be extremely interesting.
Take for example, last night's dinner. Talipia fillets, marinated in vinegar and honey, with a side of Spanish Rice. Granted, the talipia was dry and the rice was chewy, but who would have thought to put them together? It was a great combination! Grate the bit of cheese we have left over the rice, drench the fish in some soy sauce... Dinner was delicious.
My sister-in-law's birthday is today, and the Husband and I wanted to do something nice for her, but we're still low on cash. So, we came up with a great idea that would be great for both of us. The Husband and I are going to stay at their house with their three kids over night, and off our little apartment to them for the night. We'll watch the kids, bathe them, put them to bed, wake them up, give them breakfast and give the parents a full night off. They're going to chill-ax at our apartment, watch TV, probably go out for dinner, sleep in as long as they want, and we've provided breakfast stuff for them in the morning. Works out all around!
I just hope it works.... :-)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Bizabeff!!!
My best friend had her baby! Hooray for Isaac!!! 7lb 1oz, 20 in. Mom and baby are doing great! Congrats you two!
Cake is difficult to get out of your ear.
I've started decorating wedding cakes as a way to make some extra play money. I decorated cakes in highschool, and had a hard time finding a decently priced baker for our wedding. So, I now do cakes for other poor brides, and have fun doing it.
The Husband has always been very supportive of whatever I want to do, and for this venture even bought me the huge cake pans I needed to get started. What a good guy!
A few weeks ago, I had a three tier, chocolate with white buttercream-icing due for a wedding. I was trying to get a head start on it, and had baked the bottom layer a few days in advance of when it needed to be delivered. The Husband was studying for school, I was in the kitchen, and life was domestic.
After the cake had cooled, I whipped up a batch of icing to put a crumb layer on the cake to keep it moist. I had put the second layer on the first, had the cream cheese filling in between the layers, and had the crumb layer on the cake. Being the multi-tasking wonderful wife I am, I went in to the living room to fold laundry while the crumb layer set a bit before I kept working on it. When I got back to the cake, a HUGE crater had settled in the middle of the cake. The cake was too moist, and the weight of the icing had caused a crack.
I must have let out a wail, as the Husband came behind me, wrapped his arms around me and started to tell me it was ok, that I had a few more days to finish the cake, and that everything was going to be fine. In an effort to show him how frusturated I was, I did a fake karate chop about six inches over the cake. I turned to look at him, and he had an evil grin on his face.
Moments later, he had grabbed my forearms and was proceeding to make me "play drums" in the crater filled cake. Ten or fifteen swats later, the cake was destroyed, my hands were covered in chocolate and icing, and I was laughing. But then I got an evil grin too....
Think about it, if you have a ruined cake, your counter is already covered in cake, your hands are covered in cake... What is the logical thing to do? I did a half turn, gave the Husband an extremely loving look, and proceeded to smush my cake and icing covered hand all over the right side of his face.
The next fifteen minutes were a blur of cake and icing. We grabbed handfulls of the cake and smeared it in each faces, hair, in ears and around the neck. Towards the end, the Husband was grabbing handfulls of cake and throwing them down my shirt. I was reaching around him and smearing his back, under his clothes, with chocolaty goodness.
As you can see from the pictures, the kitchen was a mess, the apartment was a mess, and the two of us were COMPLETELY a mess. The Husband had a couple days of stubble on his face, which the icing stuck to very efficiently, and my long hair was great for blending in the dark chocolate. It took us over an hour and a half to get things somewhat clean again.
For an entire week afterwards, every time I would clean out my ears, I'd find small bits of chocolate cake... That couldn't have been good... :-P
The Husband has always been very supportive of whatever I want to do, and for this venture even bought me the huge cake pans I needed to get started. What a good guy!
A few weeks ago, I had a three tier, chocolate with white buttercream-icing due for a wedding. I was trying to get a head start on it, and had baked the bottom layer a few days in advance of when it needed to be delivered. The Husband was studying for school, I was in the kitchen, and life was domestic.
After the cake had cooled, I whipped up a batch of icing to put a crumb layer on the cake to keep it moist. I had put the second layer on the first, had the cream cheese filling in between the layers, and had the crumb layer on the cake. Being the multi-tasking wonderful wife I am, I went in to the living room to fold laundry while the crumb layer set a bit before I kept working on it. When I got back to the cake, a HUGE crater had settled in the middle of the cake. The cake was too moist, and the weight of the icing had caused a crack.
I must have let out a wail, as the Husband came behind me, wrapped his arms around me and started to tell me it was ok, that I had a few more days to finish the cake, and that everything was going to be fine. In an effort to show him how frusturated I was, I did a fake karate chop about six inches over the cake. I turned to look at him, and he had an evil grin on his face.
Moments later, he had grabbed my forearms and was proceeding to make me "play drums" in the crater filled cake. Ten or fifteen swats later, the cake was destroyed, my hands were covered in chocolate and icing, and I was laughing. But then I got an evil grin too....
Think about it, if you have a ruined cake, your counter is already covered in cake, your hands are covered in cake... What is the logical thing to do? I did a half turn, gave the Husband an extremely loving look, and proceeded to smush my cake and icing covered hand all over the right side of his face.
The next fifteen minutes were a blur of cake and icing. We grabbed handfulls of the cake and smeared it in each faces, hair, in ears and around the neck. Towards the end, the Husband was grabbing handfulls of cake and throwing them down my shirt. I was reaching around him and smearing his back, under his clothes, with chocolaty goodness.
As you can see from the pictures, the kitchen was a mess, the apartment was a mess, and the two of us were COMPLETELY a mess. The Husband had a couple days of stubble on his face, which the icing stuck to very efficiently, and my long hair was great for blending in the dark chocolate. It took us over an hour and a half to get things somewhat clean again.
For an entire week afterwards, every time I would clean out my ears, I'd find small bits of chocolate cake... That couldn't have been good... :-P
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Camping, or something like it.
I love camping. I really do! We registered for, and were thankful to receive, many lovely camping items. Sleeping bags, a big tent, a camp stove, hot-dog pokers... People were very generous to us! And I was so excited!
AFTER the wedding, I come to find out my loving husband's idea of "roughing-it" is a Motel 8 without cable TV. Hmmm..... This could be interesting.
About four weeks ago, I somehow convinced him to go on a road-trip up to Yellowstone National Park, and that camping in October wouldn't be TOO cold. Yes, I can be evil too... But I was really excited!
Thursday evening we spent several hours gathering out camping equipment, shopping for the little things we didn't have, gassing up the car, debating about needing extra blankets, and generally having a good time. We bought stuff for smores, I pre-made tin-foil dinners we could just stick in the fire, we opened the boxes on all of our new camping stuff, and went to bed around eleven o'clock, prepped and ready for the morning.
After sleeping in to a DELICIOUS nine o'clock (ok, delicious to the wife... the husband has trouble getting out of bed at two in the afternoon...) we got up, put the final stuff in the car and headed out. We started out in Utah, which was mildly cloudy. Once we reached Idaho, it started to smatter a little bit of rain. In northern Idaho, it started to pour down rain. By the time we reached Montana, it was snowing good and heavy and starting to stick to the grass.
Around the time it started to snow, the husband started throwing out other options for the night. "Honey, what do you think about getting a hotel room?" "Um... I don't know if the tent is THIS waterproof..." "I promise I'll take you on a two day camping trip in the spring." Finally, I agreed to consider a hotel for the night, but only after we'd gone to the campsite and eaten dinner over the fire. If it was STILL that wet and miserable, I said I would consider a hotel. The husband wasn't too happy about the arragement, but was a saint enough to keep his mouth shut.
We reached a tiny town called West Yellowstone, which is a tourist trap decorated to look like a little mining/logging town. As we drove through the center of town, I realized we had nothing to cover ourselves with while we had a campfire, and saw the local park had picnic tables with awnings. We pulled in to the park, and sat in the car for a few minutes while I cried at my ruined camping trip. It was still raining/snowing/sleeting, it was really cold, and the husband didn't want anything to do with nature at that moment.
Eventually, we got out of the car, unpacked dinner and proceeded to build a fire in a puddle and try to cook my pre-prepared tin-foil dinners. It didn't really work. The fire kept going out from the rain, the vegetables never did fully cook, and both of us were soaking wet.
So, I agreed to a hotel.
After driving the length of the little town, we found a cute collection of wooden cabins, marketed as "The Hibernation Station". Very much fun and very much cute!
All through this, the Husband was SOOOO thoughtful and kind. He knew I was looking forward to camping, he knew I really liked this type of thing, and he was doing his best to make it happen for me. He tried to stay optomistic about sleeping in the tent. He was understanding about my NEED for a fire, and helped fan the coals in the rain to keep the fire going. When we couldn't keep the fire going any more and my fingers and ears were frozen, he put me in the car to get warm and extenguished the pathetic fire himself. He was such a trooper.
Ok, so most women wouldn't complain about sleeping in a king sized bed next to their extremely thoughtful husband, after several bars of chocolate (leftover from the smores) and after taking a jacuzzi bath while watching a gas fire flicker in the moonlight.
But darn it, I wanted to go camping.
AFTER the wedding, I come to find out my loving husband's idea of "roughing-it" is a Motel 8 without cable TV. Hmmm..... This could be interesting.
About four weeks ago, I somehow convinced him to go on a road-trip up to Yellowstone National Park, and that camping in October wouldn't be TOO cold. Yes, I can be evil too... But I was really excited!
Thursday evening we spent several hours gathering out camping equipment, shopping for the little things we didn't have, gassing up the car, debating about needing extra blankets, and generally having a good time. We bought stuff for smores, I pre-made tin-foil dinners we could just stick in the fire, we opened the boxes on all of our new camping stuff, and went to bed around eleven o'clock, prepped and ready for the morning.
After sleeping in to a DELICIOUS nine o'clock (ok, delicious to the wife... the husband has trouble getting out of bed at two in the afternoon...) we got up, put the final stuff in the car and headed out. We started out in Utah, which was mildly cloudy. Once we reached Idaho, it started to smatter a little bit of rain. In northern Idaho, it started to pour down rain. By the time we reached Montana, it was snowing good and heavy and starting to stick to the grass.
Around the time it started to snow, the husband started throwing out other options for the night. "Honey, what do you think about getting a hotel room?" "Um... I don't know if the tent is THIS waterproof..." "I promise I'll take you on a two day camping trip in the spring." Finally, I agreed to consider a hotel for the night, but only after we'd gone to the campsite and eaten dinner over the fire. If it was STILL that wet and miserable, I said I would consider a hotel. The husband wasn't too happy about the arragement, but was a saint enough to keep his mouth shut.
We reached a tiny town called West Yellowstone, which is a tourist trap decorated to look like a little mining/logging town. As we drove through the center of town, I realized we had nothing to cover ourselves with while we had a campfire, and saw the local park had picnic tables with awnings. We pulled in to the park, and sat in the car for a few minutes while I cried at my ruined camping trip. It was still raining/snowing/sleeting, it was really cold, and the husband didn't want anything to do with nature at that moment.
Eventually, we got out of the car, unpacked dinner and proceeded to build a fire in a puddle and try to cook my pre-prepared tin-foil dinners. It didn't really work. The fire kept going out from the rain, the vegetables never did fully cook, and both of us were soaking wet.
So, I agreed to a hotel.
After driving the length of the little town, we found a cute collection of wooden cabins, marketed as "The Hibernation Station". Very much fun and very much cute!
All through this, the Husband was SOOOO thoughtful and kind. He knew I was looking forward to camping, he knew I really liked this type of thing, and he was doing his best to make it happen for me. He tried to stay optomistic about sleeping in the tent. He was understanding about my NEED for a fire, and helped fan the coals in the rain to keep the fire going. When we couldn't keep the fire going any more and my fingers and ears were frozen, he put me in the car to get warm and extenguished the pathetic fire himself. He was such a trooper.
Ok, so most women wouldn't complain about sleeping in a king sized bed next to their extremely thoughtful husband, after several bars of chocolate (leftover from the smores) and after taking a jacuzzi bath while watching a gas fire flicker in the moonlight.
But darn it, I wanted to go camping.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
