Kitchen Kaos

It seems like we've had a series of kitchen disasters lately. A couple of Fridays ago, our kitchen and dining room lights went out all of a sudden while I was vacuuming the living room. Several of our outlets in the living room also quit working, which included our wireless internet as well. This happened on a Friday morning, of course, and I was unable to get our property maintenance person to return my phone calls.

They finally sent someone out on Monday morning and though the maintenance guy was very sweet and a Jack-of-All-Trades, he couldn't fix our lighting issue, even though we had already moved several pieces of furniture. The property management company contracted for a professional electrician to come out on Wednesday, and according to Tom, he fixed it in about 5 minutes without moving any furniture. According to this guy, the problem was a loose wire and would have been entirely avoided if the builders hadn't done such a shoddy job in constructing the place. But the point is -- I had to cook, and we had to eat, in the dark this entire time!

Our second disaster happened last night. When we came home, we discovered that our refridgerator decided to retire and everything in our fridge and freezer was "sweating." This came at an especially bad time since we had a TON of Thanksgiving leftovers, and plus I needed to bake cupcakes and a quiche for a potluck I was attending the next day. Luckily, we were able to store 2/3 of our food at a neighbor's, kept some in a cooler chest, and threw the rest away. The property management came and determined that we needed a new fridge (surprise!). He says that he can't give us a working fridge until tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Sundays are my least favorite days of the week. It is the last day to complete all of my house chores *and* to get all my studying done for the week ahead. Things go terribly wrong when neither are done, but rarely, both get accomplished. Sundays are ephemeral; before I know it, the day has slipped through my fingers. I found myself wondering where all the time went just last week, and here is the answer:

The day started off nice and early. I woke up at 6am and was at the grocery store by 7am. I was done with my grocery shopping by 8am, and Tom made me breakfast by the time I got home. I read the Sunday papers until 10am and Tom and I went for a 3-mile walk and was back home by 11am. I put some potatoes in the oven to bake while I showered. Then I made myself lunch and started cooking. I baked 24 cupcakes and a green bean casserole. By the time I was finished it was around 2pm or so. I prepared for my meeting at 4pm and met with my school group from 4-6pm. I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and fixed a quick dinner. 

Well, there goes my Sunday!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

My first trimester of pregnancy has been good so far. The list of pregnancy symptoms for the first trimester includes: fatigue, frequent urination, nausea, excess saliva, constipation, heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating, food aversions and cravings, breast changes, visible veins, increase in vaginal discharge, occasional headaches, occasional faintness or dizziness, and weight gain. Really, given this list it's amazing that women are willing to get pregnant at all! But I suppose that a bundle of joy that is half yours is worth the physical ailments (plus the pain during birth). 

I first knew I was pregnant when I had an urgent and insatiable craving for lemonade, something I have never cared for before. But on that day, I had to have it. Thereafter, I've been craving things that were sour or tangy, like key lime flavored yogurt, cranberry juice, lemons, yakult, ketchup, sour candy, and my newly discovered favorite treat...pro-biotic tangy frozen yogurt from Pudding on the Rice. No pickles yet.

Luckily, I did not experience any nausea or "morning sickness," but in my first trimester (and yawn...I think now too) I have been more tired than usual. I've been prone to frequent naps as well as going to bed fairly early. Still, it beats getting friendly with the porcelain bowl.

Dream Theory

I had a really strange dream the other day. I dreamt that Tom bought a 28-room Victorian house for us before I even saw it. When I told Tom this, he said, oh that must have been a nightmare for you. LOL. The strange thing about this dream was how vivid everything was. The owners of this house were anxious to sell and so we bought this house for a ridiculously good price. The owners were also anxious to leave town and they left everything behind, including food in the fridge as well as their Golden retriever named Billie, and sold it "as is."

The previous owners were antique collectors, so the house was full of Victorian antiques, some valuable but mostly junk. In my dream, I surveyed every room to see what they had left behind and I can still recall every unusual trinket. I also remember this oddly shaped room that was painted blue. Tom had begun moving some of his stuff into this room, like his guitars and video games. I remember saying to him, "Well, where am I going to put my Stampin' Up! stuff?" He then opens up another room and says, "In here." 

There were two other strange things about this house. First, it was part of a townhome situated in the middle of a lovely park. Next to the house was a cute little outdoor cafe with chairs and tables outside, but it was closed indefinitely. And the townhome association had a "knight" theme and we had a knight's helmet as our door knocker. Second, I looked out the window at one point and could have sworn that I saw our neighbor, dressed in a full knight's armor, walking out his front door. When I pointed this out to Tom, we couldn't see anyone in a knight's costume except for joggers and their dogs running through the park.

So what was the point of my dream? I think it was a nightmare, but not for the same reason Tom gave. I think it's a nightmare because in real life, I hate Victorian homes and antiques because I think they're creepy. They are both items a dead person use to own. But the real petrifying part of the dream was that deep down, I knew that the previous owners were eager to split because the house was haunted. Not only that, but the house made some of its inhabitants go crazy and see visions that were either real or imaginary, such as the neighbor in a knight's armor. I have no idea where this dream came from because I wasn't thinking of Victorian houses earlier that day, but I guess it's easy to let your fears sneak up on you.

A.M. P.M.

Before I met Tom, I was a total night-owl. I would often stay up watching TV until midnight and I loved to sleep in until 10am or 11am the next day. Late afternoons and early evenings would be my "prime time" as my brain started to awaken and I found myself more alert.

Tom is just the opposite. Like his dad, he loves the mornings and he LOVES to wake up early. He is chipper and energetic while I am crabby and cranky. Tom would wake up, be ready to go, and essentially hit the ground running. In the event that we had to get up early for a roadtrip or something, I would often comment to Tom, "Can you believe all these people are out on the road already?!?" He would reply, "People like to get up early."

I couldn't understand why any reasonable person would voluntarily wake up at 6am or 7am, or eek(!), even earlier, unless you worked in construction or had some sort of (awful) employment which required it.

But since I've known Tom, I have really come to appreciate the value of waking up early. For one thing, you can accomplish so much more in the day. For another thing, like most animals, humans are diurnal (as oppose to nocturnal) so it is best to be productive during the day. Finally, as an added bonus, there are very few things that beat the crisp morning air.

Glue

Everyone loves to hate big conglomerates, but I have to say, when it comes to glue and other things adhesive, I vow to only by 3M products from now on. While I love generic brands as much as the next person, I have found generic glue sticks and packing tape to be *noticeably* far less superior than 3M products. Even though 3M products costs sometimes three times as much as generics, they are worth the grievances in my book.

Wedding Tips

There are TONS of wedding tips out there - online, in books, you name it! So I figured, why not add my two cents? Here are my top 5 Saves & Splurges for a wedding:

Splurge

1. Photographer - Given that Tom and I are both students right now, I was astounded by some photographers asking for $6,000-$10,000 to take pictures at your wedding! I had really given up on finding a photographer at our going rate until I met Didi at a law school function. She seemed like a really nice person and she sympathized with our student-situation and gave us a generous discount. Because photographs and your memory are all that remain from your wedding, I highly recommend hiring a professional rather than asking friends or family, or leaving it unassigned.

2. DJ - We had specific songs we wanted to play for each event (i.e. for the flower girl, ring bearer, seating of the mothers, and the couple's dance). We also wanted to incorporate karaoke as part of our reception. Finding a DJ who is also a KJ is no easy feat, but we did it!

3. Florist - I splurged on the flowers for the wedding party but bought these bright yellow chrysthanemums from Home Depot for the centerpieces.

4. Open Bar - Apparently it's highly kosher to have an open bar at a wedding, which we did.

5. Food - We love to eat, so we served salmon, steak, beans, salad, rolls, corn on the cob, potato salad, fruit crisps, plus two types of cake!

Save

1. Cake - We bought our wedding cake and groom's cake from Costco. All cakes are made from flour, butter, and sugar, and they all taste the same, so why not?

2. Personalized Items - At first I did look into personalizing ribbons with our names and date, but the cost was going to be something like $10 for a yard of ribbon. Thinking that most of these are going to end up in the trash, I went with a generic red gingham ribbon that matched our tableclothes. I don't think anyone noticed the difference. We chose to personalize our wedding in other ways by giving every out-of-town guest a welcome bag.

3. Invitations & Notices - Again, most Save-the-Date notices end up in the trash or buried in a drawer so we sent out our Save-the-Date with a picture of the two of us in a .pdf via email. Luckily for me, I had the time and materials to make my own invitations for the wedding, rehearsal dinner, and family brunch.

4. Decorations - I used the same tin pails for the rehearsal dinner as I did for the wedding reception. For the rehearsal dinner, I filled them with salt water taffy and flowers the next night. Guests got to eat the taffy and take home a tin-ful of flowers. Thanks IKEA!

5. Dress - I know that not every bride can do this, but I got an $80 wedding dress from J.Crew because the style was discontinuing! It didn't bother me none since it was exactly what I was looking for - a long ivory halter. Also, we skimped on the tux and Tom just wore his suit, keeping with our wedding "informal."

Cheers!