Slightly About Max.

First of all, why are there no Ranch Style Beans in St. Louis?

That is so weird to me.

Here I am trying to make chili because its freaking frigid outside and when I ask my husband to grab two cans of Ranch Style Beans, he looks at me all crazy.

"What's that? Like made with Ranch dressing?!"

*shakes head*

It is SO cold here today. It's been flurrying snow all day and the wind is unforgiving. As I said in my facebook status update earlier today, the wind is blowing like it got in a raging lover's spat with Chicago and stormed out in the middle of the night to terrorize the Gateway City. You can hear it wailing as it bashes around town, destroying all of Chicago's love letters, leaving little specks of white floating in the air. At least that's what popped in my head when it woke me up this morning. Our spare bedroom window is NOT properly sealed so it was freezing in there when I got out of bed today.*

*I've decided that the bed in the Spare Oom is more comfortable, so rather than moving it, we've been sleeping in there. We'll move everything around once we finish painting... which I hope to do before we pick up Gotham.

Speaking of Gotham, I actually had to tell my husband "No, we cannot afford two puppies right now!" multiple times today! Me! Saying no to puppies, can you believe it?! I can't. We made the mistake(?) of going by another animal shelter today and 10 seconds after walking in, Todd spotted this adorable, 4 month old, "mostly" housebroken, brindle, boxer/pit** mix.

**there are usually an overabundance of pits and pit mixes at the St. Louis rescue shelters because the breeds are a fave of many of the irresponsible, thuggish men in the area. I'm sure some come from grave circumstances, but many of the pits are pups who are rescued after the mother is abandoned and a lot of the mixes are also abandoned as pups. This one was from a guy who had a boxer that mated with a pit and he kept this particular puppy, but then decided he didn't have time for the little guy, so he surrendered him.

Anyway, Todd sort of fell in love at first sight. The pup's name is Maxwell (or just Max, though he looks and acts more like a Wild Thing). Actually, he was pretty well-behaved for a puppy, he's just VERY affectionate (tongue. flying. everywhere.) and really active. With a little time and some discipline, I'm sure he'll grow up to be a very sweet, well-behaved dog. The thing is, as I said yesterday, we can only afford one dog right now. And if/when we do get a second one, I don't particularly want a pit mix OR another male dog. That is a lot of large, boy puppy to have in my house.

But...

(those were like the 5 individual seconds where he was moving slow enough to be captured on camera)

But NO! Sweet, yes. Really cool-looking, yes. Cute, absolutely. But we've committed to Gotham first, and I will not have TWO little boys peeing on my floor and bashing around my house, chewing holes in my throw pillows.

Lord, give me strength.

It's getting colder by the minute. I'm off to make this.

Mostly About Gotham.

- So, two of my last three posts have mentioned force fields. This was completely unintentional.

- Two months ago, I was 91% sure I was done with the restaurant business.

So please tell me why I filled out 3 server applications today.

I haven't given up hope by any means, and I'm still applying for jobs at universities, but bills are still rolling in, not to mention we'll have a new car payment and a 3 month old furry "baby", come January. I need income.

-I just realized I've yet to mention the "baby" on the blog as of yet. :) Now's as good a time as any!

So, this is Gotham.

Our sweet, little, floppy boxer boy. I love him. Obviously.

He'll be 5 weeks old tomorrow, and the plan is for Todd and I to drive over to Illinois (we're getting him from a friend of Todd's) 4 days before Christmas and pick him up!

Right now, he's learning to eat puppy food and chewing on his brothers and sisters.

Here are some of them. (G's in the middle.)

And yes, I know that's him because of various markings. There are 3 black pups in his litter; one of them has a white spot on his nose and white socks on all 4 feet, one kind of has a conehead, and the other one-- is Gotham. :) He has a little toe sock on his front left foot. You can see it in the first pic.

Actually we looked at/played with the little one 4 socked one next to him too. Very cute.

But Gotham fell asleep in Todd's arms so he won. :)

We want two puppies, but one is the wisest choice right now. We're planning on the other one being a humane society adoption. (We actually already found one little 7 month old girl who we love, but she's not available yet.) But for now, we're just excited to be getting a dog! Todd's had and raised dogs his whole life and he's a good trainer, so apart from the trials of teething and potty training and general puppy mischievousness, we're hoping he'll turn out to be a good boy.

Actually, he doesn't have a choice if he's going to live here. He'll adjust. :)

More pics to come in the next few weeks! Can't wait to bring you home, lil Gothamboy.

Bediquette

Do you know how hard it is learning to sleep in a full size bed with somebody after sleeping alone for 25 years?

I just have to say... it's not sexy.

People have been kneed in the kidney multiple times in one night. Other people have woken up with an elbow inches from their eyeball. Actually, this also happens a couple times a night. Still others are vicious cover stealers, snorers and diagonal sleepers who monopolize entire sides of the bed with just their leg. And then you wake up because you're frustrated that you can't move anywhere and you're also hella tired and barely thinking straight because it's WAY early and you're not entirely sure you're not dreaming. But then, through a fog, you sort of realize that you can't get mad at somebody for sleeping like a wild thing! They don't do it on purpose. Especially when they're sick.

(sigh) And we're not even 2 months in. lol.

Today, I was imagining the easy way out... A force field down the center of the mattress. We could just turn it on when we went to sleep and then anytime one of us got rowdy in our sleep, we'd just bounce into the force field and roll over and go back to sleep.

As if any newlywed couple could afford a force field mattress anyway... whatever.

Going to bed... wish me luck!

C is for Cookie... and Cherokee... and Church... and Cold!

Yesterday was unusual and excellent for several reasons.

1) Todd and I went to brunch at a little vegetarian diner with some of the August Gate crew. They had a full spread of things like hash browns and veggie crumble sausage (not bad) green curry with brown rice, brocolli cheddar quiche AND creme brulee french toast. Ridiculous.

2) After brunch, the boys split and the girls and I (there were 6 of us) strolled down Cherokee Row (the same street the diner is on) to browse the dozens of retro/vintage/folk art/antique shops and partake in the Cherokee Row Cookie Spree. All the shops handed out various cookies, coffee, hot apple cider (and one sweet old British man who owned an antique bookshop offered us some sherry too :). So we strolled the streets, sipping cider and eating cookies and trying to decide if anything was really a good deal.

3) I found several good deals. :) First, this table:

An adorable little shabby chic find, it goes perfectly with the colors of our living room (olive green, chocolate brown, cream and this orange). $20 bucks.

And...

Yay records! They were $2 a piece and the Stevie Wonder album is actually a 3 record anthology. SO. Awesome. The other ones that are harder to see are Mahalia Jackson's Sweet Little Jesus Boy (Christmas album that was a favorite of my Mom & my Mudear), the Jazz Masters (a classic jazz "mixtape", feat. Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Holiday, Hines, etc.), Peaches & Herb and the soundtrack to "My Fair Lady".

I also got a huge bag of vintage buttons, which I intend to use for various crafty things. Anyway, it was so much fun spending time with the girls and eating cookies.

3) August Gate is always a high point of the week :) it was our first Christmasy service and it was great to see everyone. After church, we had planned to go see The Civil Wars and Seabird at Cicero's, but I was worn out and Todd wasn't feeling great either. So we went home. I fixed us soup and sandwiches, we listened to some of our new records and then we watched Away We Go. About 1/2 way through, it started snowing. Pretty. :) It was a good night.

Speaking of my sweet, sick husband-- we gotta head out to the clinic, so I'll post again later.

What Do You Think?

Do you think that in Heaven, we'll have any recollection of life on Earth?

I assume we will, though I could easily be mistaken...

I think that the ability to remember our past life on Earth would make us that much more appreciative of Heaven. And perhaps we'd forget Earth eventually... but I wonder if we'll remember any of our old life and events on Earth, or if we'll just recognize people and know that we love them.

But to counter that, I wonder if there will be people in Heaven we recognize from Earth, who we still won't want to associate with. Will all wrongs be forgotten? Will all slates suddenly be clear? Will we pass through a "force field of forgiveness" and suddenly be reconciled with all the believers we had beef with on Earth?

I just wonder...

The Muses of St. Louis

I've become ridiculously domestic.

I mean, yesterday, I made lunch for my hubs to take to work, cut out two stockings (to be sewed on Saturday at a Christmas craft party) went grocery shopping, came home, made dinner for myself, cleaned the kitchen, spray painted our "Christmas Tree", made a batch of earl grey tea cookies, and then hand-sewed 5 Christmas ornaments!

I don't know where this came from. It's like I turned 25 and met Todd and realized I wanted to spend my life with him, and then slowly turned into Good Housekeeping McGee.

Well, more like Real Simple McGee or Domino McGee.

Actually, I can't put this on Todd... ever since working at Saffire and becoming work BFF's with Vinny, I've become kind of a foodie. I like new crazy things, but I love good comfort food. From every genre. I want to know how to make all of it and I want to feed everyone so they can experience it and love it too!

Also, since moving to STL I've found myself surrounded by a LOT of supercrafty women, juggling jobs and families and new mommyhood with a passion for creativity. Anyway, being around them has reawakened this part of me that wants to bust out the sewing machine and learn how to knit and DIY decorate my whole house. I mean, my mom has always been into things like that, and the two of us together tend to be pretty creative... but I feel like that part of me fell dormant for awhile, covered by college life or a full-time waitress gig and all the bustle of Music City.

But here... now... my house is my own. If I don't decorate it and cook in it, it will be filled with taupe walls (maddening, NOT soothing!) and ketchup packets and craigslist items (most of which are great. Todd is an excellent craigslist scout.) And I'm inspired! The creative ladies I know are all strong, hard-working women and great wives who love the Lord and are dealing with life just like everyone else. They take pride in their work and their great food and their households. And they've made me realize that these various forms of expression are not only enjoyable, but necessary.

I used to stay up really late every night. It wasn't uncommon for me to trade emails with my creative partners-in-crime after 2am. It was a regular occurrence for me to fall asleep in front of a word document covered in a character analysis or running dialogue or musings about my own future. But things are different now. I've merged my life into someone else's and even my sleeping schedule is not my own. I don't think it ever will be again.

I find myself dreaming as much as ever, but never getting much down on paper or screen. These days, my creative releases show up in my house decor, the color of my walls, my unpacking/organizational endeavors, my attempts to be thrifty with food other household purchases, the color palette on my eyes, the outfits I put together or-- my personal favorite... probably todd's too-- in the food I put on the table.

Also, I'm pretty sure that in the next few weeks, I'm going to chop off most of my hair. My real hair. But that's another blog post.

I guess what I'm saying is that my creativity is evolving... nothing has been lost... but there are definitely new facets.

And how about that, I'm actually spelling the word definitely correct on purpose.

it is a new era indeed.

Comidas

Okay, just to let you know, I've set a quiet, personal goal of writing 31 blog entries this month. I've tried to do this lots of times before and it hasn't happened. But I really need to write something every day and I really hope this month will be different. I'm just going to write when I'm feelin it. About whatever I feel like writing about... hence 2 posts in one day.

Just wanted to offer a quick cooking tip for-- anyone, really.

I'm a decent cook, but a messy one. I don't do time limits. I can't. I really, generally have no idea how long it'll take me to make something. And I usually leave the kitchen looking wretched, regardless of what I cook. So anytime I find something that helps me organize my time while cooking, I'm into it.

So here's my favorite simple, helpful hint as of late:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. This is KEY. Don't put anything in there until its heated through. Otherwise the timing is all off.

• Get a glass pyrex pan and lightly grease the bottom of it. Then take any chicken breast, thawed or semi thawed (actually I'm pretty sure it'll work frozen too, I just haven't tried it), lay it in the pan and sprinkle it with your favorite seasoning (taco seasoning, lemon pepper, garlic, thyme and rosemary, cajun seasoning, whatever you want). Cover it with aluminum foil.

• Stick it in the oven for 25-35 minutes (30 is a happy medium for me, but it depends on your oven). In 30 minutes, you will have juicy, delicious, mouthwateringly fantastic chicken to put with whatever sides you can make in 30 minutes. Plus, while the chicken is cooking, you don't have to think about it!
  

My past 2 experiences with this have been amazing. The first, I did taco seasoning and topped it with salsa before I baked it. In 30 minutes, I heated up a can of black beans and microwaved a 90 second bag of spanish rice. When I took out the chicken, I sprinkled it with cheddar jack cheese. Yummy!

Today, I used thyme and lemon pepper with a little lemon juice. While it cooked, I made bow tie pasta and peas, mixed 'em up and seasoned it with olive oil, chicken broth, lemon juice, thyme, garlic salt, lemon pepper and sea salt. Took the chicken out, sliced it and laid it over the pasta. SO delicious.

Just thought I'd share. :)