Surely no one thought I would actually give up names for the baby. Those, along with gender, will be a secret until the child gets here. However, Andrew and I are being good parents-to-be and doing our best to figure out what we'll name the child even though we have five more months to spare.
I should say for those of you who don't live in Mass, our baby does have a nickname floating around right now: Baby Floyd. Our dear friend Caleb decided on that. My cousin Steven also provided his choices when I told his family I was pregnant--Thurston Franc for a boy and Helga for a girl. I'm just gonna leave it at that.
About a week ago, I went to bed around 8, and Andrew stayed up to start his next batch of beer. I failed to remember from the last time how bad it smells when the wort (what beer is before it's been fermented) is brewing. I woke up around 9:30 or 10 to a horrible smell and made Andrew open doors and windows despite the fact that we're close to winter temps around here. I continued to wake up every half hour to an hour, and around 12:30 woke up to no Andrew in the bed. He never stays up that late. So of course I freaked out momentarily.
When I called for him, he answered from the living room. I asked what he was doing. His reply? I'm looking at baby names! Seriously? Up past midnight looking at baby names.
Now I feel this was a momentous occasion for him because, while he still likes to share outrageous names with me, he is actually thinking seriously about what we'll name our child. (His previous suggestions were names like Porterhouse.) He left me a note with some of the ones he liked, and then we checked out some websites together that night. I thought I might share some of the more ridiculous ones we found through our search.
Please don't name your child this...or if you do, know that I will laugh
Banjo: Andrew could not get over this name. Turns out Rachel Griffiths (celeb) has a son named this.
Yaakov: we giggled over this for a bit.
Anson: not really a humorous name, but it is if it's late at night and instead of reading "anson" you read "arson," it has potential.
Ballard: same as anson. I saw "bastard." Maybe I should get my eyes checked...
Xanadu: simply a fun name to say!
Baby: yes indeed, naming your baby what it is was on the list.
Rafiki: even if the Lion King is your fave movie ever, naming your kid after a baboon is probably not a good idea. What's more, this name was listed as appropriate for a girl or a boy.
Hades: need I comment? We also found Lucifer in a book the other day...
Fairy: listed as gender neutral...
And there are always those names that make you say, yeah yeah, that's a joke right? Like everyone has had twins at their school named Lemonjello and Orangejello. But those names are on lists! The one we found on the website we were searching was "Abcde," pronounced ab-suh-dee.
So of course, we decided if we have a boy, his name will be Abcde Banjo Holloway. Now stitch that on a sampler.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The year of natural disasters
What a year it has been. On April 27, the place I called home for 6 years (not to mention several other places around my home state of Alabama) was hit by several tornadoes. I didn't get to see the damage in Tuscaloosa until October, and by that time most of the crumbled buildings had been leveled for rebuilding. It was still crazy to see all that had taken place in a matter of minutes.
Then in June a tornado hit Springfield, Mass.--about 15 minutes from my house. While this was nothing compared to the ones in Alabama, a lot of damage was done. People are still recovering here--and most of these people have never been near a tornado.
Moving on to August, Hurricane Irene made her way up the East Coast, downgraded to a tropical storm and swept through New England. That was an interesting weekend. Our dear friends Aaron and Amanda tied the knot about an hour from where we live. Several members of their wedding party got stranded at the wedding site as the storm hit the night and day after the wedding. A&A made it to their honeymoon location in the Berkshires safely, but had to do some plan-changing due to weather and power outages.
I was working for a paper in Connecticut at the time, and Monday morning I had to drive around my towns taking pictures and talking with people about what they experienced. The damage was mostly in downed power lines, but flooding was a major problem in parts of Mass and especially Vermont. We usually take a paddling trip with Brett & Jenna over Labor Day weekend, but we decided to change our plans slightly and do some relief work that weekend instead. We borrowed a friend's condo at Sugarbush Resort and worked in two nearby Vermont towns.
One of those was Waterbury where a fabulous restaurant called The Alchemist is. Andrew and our friends like it because they brew good beer. I like it because the food is great, and it's fun to see my friends and husband get really excited about things they like. Because of the flooding, the restaurant lost everything. We cleaned out a house next door, so we stopped by to grab some pics at the end of the day.
We didn't get any pictures of the places we worked, but we helped out at one home and one restaurant. At the home, we did things like pick up glass, spray mud off wood, rebuild a woodshed, clean floors, etc. At the restaurant, Andrew and I worked under the foundation to shovel mud from around the structural pillars (can't think of the correct terminology for this) so they could dry out. We were pretty nasty by the day's end.
If all of those events weren't enough, we then get to October. If I am remembering correctly, on the Thursday before Halloween we got a tiny bit of snow. You can see it here on my car:
But then on October 29-30 we had a nor'easter come through leaving at least 10 inches of snow in our town and tons of downed trees and power lines. I took some pics of when it started on Saturday, then Andrew and I put on our snow clothes and went to take pictures Sunday morning. Here are some pictures from our neighborhood:
Then in June a tornado hit Springfield, Mass.--about 15 minutes from my house. While this was nothing compared to the ones in Alabama, a lot of damage was done. People are still recovering here--and most of these people have never been near a tornado.
Moving on to August, Hurricane Irene made her way up the East Coast, downgraded to a tropical storm and swept through New England. That was an interesting weekend. Our dear friends Aaron and Amanda tied the knot about an hour from where we live. Several members of their wedding party got stranded at the wedding site as the storm hit the night and day after the wedding. A&A made it to their honeymoon location in the Berkshires safely, but had to do some plan-changing due to weather and power outages.
I was working for a paper in Connecticut at the time, and Monday morning I had to drive around my towns taking pictures and talking with people about what they experienced. The damage was mostly in downed power lines, but flooding was a major problem in parts of Mass and especially Vermont. We usually take a paddling trip with Brett & Jenna over Labor Day weekend, but we decided to change our plans slightly and do some relief work that weekend instead. We borrowed a friend's condo at Sugarbush Resort and worked in two nearby Vermont towns.
One of those was Waterbury where a fabulous restaurant called The Alchemist is. Andrew and our friends like it because they brew good beer. I like it because the food is great, and it's fun to see my friends and husband get really excited about things they like. Because of the flooding, the restaurant lost everything. We cleaned out a house next door, so we stopped by to grab some pics at the end of the day.
We didn't get any pictures of the places we worked, but we helped out at one home and one restaurant. At the home, we did things like pick up glass, spray mud off wood, rebuild a woodshed, clean floors, etc. At the restaurant, Andrew and I worked under the foundation to shovel mud from around the structural pillars (can't think of the correct terminology for this) so they could dry out. We were pretty nasty by the day's end.
If all of those events weren't enough, we then get to October. If I am remembering correctly, on the Thursday before Halloween we got a tiny bit of snow. You can see it here on my car:
But then on October 29-30 we had a nor'easter come through leaving at least 10 inches of snow in our town and tons of downed trees and power lines. I took some pics of when it started on Saturday, then Andrew and I put on our snow clothes and went to take pictures Sunday morning. Here are some pictures from our neighborhood:
Saturday
Saturday
Sunday morning
Our street
I took nearly 50 pictures that morning, so if you want to see more, check out my Facebook page. We had so much damage because the trees hadn't lost all of their leaves yet. Where we live, the snow was very heavy and wet, breaking tons of branches. I think most everyone in Mass had power back by the following Saturday, but in Connecticut some people went 10 days or more without power. We were lucky enough to be without it for only about 48 hours, and we had friends with power who let us crash.
I almost forgot--somewhere in there (end of summer, maybe?) we also felt a mini-earthquake! What will the last month and a half of 2011 hold for New England?
Monday, November 14, 2011
Kitchen Update
Alright, at long last, here are details of what we've done to the kitchen in the last however long. This post will mainly include pictures...hooray if you hate reading, and boo if you like witty banter :)
We got new floors!
A note on the new floors: we chose to go with Dura-Ceramic. We initially thought we had hardwood under the many layers of carpet, but that turned out to be false. There were a few more slats of hardwood between the kitchen and living room, but not many. We then moved on to tile. We figured we'd tile the kitchen but first put in a radiant heating system so the floors wouldn't be cold in the winter. After some research, we (by "we" I of course mean Andrew) decided those systems are expensive and often heat only a direct area--meaning the heat doesn't spread out over the whole tile. Our neighbor installs floors for a living, and he pointed us to this Dura-Ceramic stuff that looks like tile but is lighter, easier to install and warmer to the touch. Sold!
Andrew installed the recessed lighting and hanging pendants. Still on the hunt for globes...
We started building and placing cabinets.
Credit for building the cabinets goes to: Brett & Jenna, Aaron and Andrew. Yep, I never touched a one. I don't think. Brett & Jenna built the first one on July 4, after which we decided it would be really fun to bring engaged and married couples over to the house for a rousing game of "Marriage Challenge." The idea would be that each couple had to put together one of our kitchen cabinets, according to the instructions and in a condition acceptable for install. We envisioned a few arguments, some wives walking away from the project, some husbands breaking our cabinets...so we nixed the idea. Then in August, our friend Aaron lived with us for three weeks before his wedding. Most mornings he woke up, ate breakfast, put together a cabinet or two, then headed out. We rarely saw him, but man, those cabinets got done! Andrew put together some with Aaron and did a little on his own.
Aaron and Andrew determining where the bottom of each upper cabinet would sit. They nailed a board in to keep them all level. The holes will eventually be covered with backsplash, though I forget they're even there.
The boys building and gluing.
Two cabinets are up!
Confession: Some of the cabinets may look a bit off to you in the final pics. Or you may have no idea what I'm talking about :) Our cabinets are where they are because our house was built with an interesting structure. Studs are where they shouldn't be and aren't where they should be. Not sure how it happened, but the cabinets had to hang where there were studs for them to be screwed into. Because of this, they are not centered around the window. I've dealt with the issue and moved on. Mostly. At the time I just left the house until the project was done, and I couldn't do anything about it!
The first countertop delivery came!
Andrew and Brett checking out the countertops. Unfortunately, they were bowed by a quarter-inch and had to be sent back. Three-ish weeks later we received another delivery.
New countertops! Andrew installed them alone (I did help...by sitting on them to hold them in place!) He then drew on them with Sharpie (eek!) to mark the cut-out for the sink.
Sink note: So glad we chatted with Brett before ordering the countertops. We were going to order them with the sink hole already cut out. If we had done this, the hole might not have centered up under our window. By doing it ourselves, we were able to get it exactly right. Otherwise we would've been out of luck if the placement was slightly off. Most sinks come with a template to help homeowners do this, but you can also measure the sink and draw it out like Andrew did. The good news is, you can be off by almost half an inch and it's all good since top-mounted sinks have an overhang.
Cutting the sink hole
Now that's focus...
Home stretch!
Empty hole for our new sink!
Now for some after pics. Remember, the kitchen is nowhere near "done." But it is in workable order--minus the fact that our pantry cabinets have yet to be secured to the wall. So our food is crammed in on one shelf per cabinet. And strewn on our counters.
Also, I debated on whether to clean up the kitchen before taking pictures. I decided that since vulnerability is a good quality, I would just give it to you like it is. Plus, I wouldn't have gotten this post up for another few weeks days if I had taken the time to clean. Andrew brewed beer last night (which is now on the list of things not to do at night/pre-bedtime due to the smell and pregnant wife combo) and he hasn't quite finished cleaning up. I'm being a good wife and leaving it for him when he gets home from work :)
The fridge/pantry combo. Another cabinet will go above the fridge.
And yes, Sherpa's ears made it into the pic as well...
Living room side: the trash can will eventually be in a special cabinet. For now it helps keep Sherpa blocked into the kitchen/mudroom when we leave the house.
The other side. Those holes in the sink cabinet will have drawers "glued" in place.
The view from the living room. The bar will be in place and barstools will be where the camping chair, microwave/toaster and buckets are. That big box is also used to block Sherpa in the kitchen. We currently have two microwaves--neither of which work 100%. The buckets hold cider that Andrew and his BFF Caleb are making and the beer Andrew brewed last night.
So hopefully that brings everyone up to date! Maybe one day I'll show you the inside of the cabinets...I should probably do that sooner rather than later while they're still organized. My lovely friend Sarah (who is a math teacher and crazy-organized about nearly everything) came over one day to help me fill them up. I still have one empty drawer and two big cabinets with lots of room left! So excited to have double the space of the previous kitchen...maybe even more!
Mixin' it up
You may have noticed in my last post that I detoured from the usual renovation posts to talk about something else, in this case, my pregnancy. I also recently changed the blog header and tag so it reads "home renovation + life along the way." I decided I'd like to write more about the things we do, trips we take, good recipes we find, crafts, sewing projects, etc. etc. And since I knew we were going to have a baby when I redesigned the header, I figured some of my family might like to be kept up to date with the kiddo once it gets here. Thus, you will begin seeing more posts that are non-renovation related, as well as posts about the house as we complete more projects.
Speaking of projects, this week I'll have pictures up of our "almost finished" kitchen--90% of the cabinets are in, the countertops (minus the bar) are in and the sink works! Woohoo! We also completely cleaned out our garage on Saturday--to the point my car can actually fit in there! Besides more little things in the kitchen (think backsplash, trim, installing the bar, securing the pantry cabinets), we have a laundry list of projects to accomplish by the time the baby gets here. We'll see how far we get. Things we'd *like* to complete include: finishing the ceiling in the living room and hallway, painting those areas, maybe redoing the floor in the mudroom and, of course, repainting a room for the nursery. Unfortunately, I've been told I can't paint (can't say I'm terribly sad about that!), but stay tuned as I try to find ways around that...
Ready, set, approximately 25 weeks to go!
Speaking of projects, this week I'll have pictures up of our "almost finished" kitchen--90% of the cabinets are in, the countertops (minus the bar) are in and the sink works! Woohoo! We also completely cleaned out our garage on Saturday--to the point my car can actually fit in there! Besides more little things in the kitchen (think backsplash, trim, installing the bar, securing the pantry cabinets), we have a laundry list of projects to accomplish by the time the baby gets here. We'll see how far we get. Things we'd *like* to complete include: finishing the ceiling in the living room and hallway, painting those areas, maybe redoing the floor in the mudroom and, of course, repainting a room for the nursery. Unfortunately, I've been told I can't paint (can't say I'm terribly sad about that!), but stay tuned as I try to find ways around that...
Ready, set, approximately 25 weeks to go!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Upcoming project: the new home addition
Before anyone begins thinking we're terribly crazy, our "new addition" has nothing to do with adding on to the existing structure of our home. We have yet to finish the kitchen (small glitch with the countertops), and we'd be really dumb to start something of that size in October with snow coming!
In actuality, the new addition comes in the form of a person...we are expecting our first child in May! (It seems even crazier to write this down than it does to just tell people, by the way. The enormity of the situation has yet to fully sink in!)
Our precious pup Sherpa, who turned five a couple weeks ago, will now be a big brother! He just doesn't know it yet. For those of you who would like the full story with the few details we have to this point, continue reading.
Finding Out
We found out we were pregnant on Sept. 12 with a home pregnancy test. The day before I competed in a triathlon in Connecticut. That morning I was feeling especially queasy, but since it was a.) 5 a.m. and b.) I get car sick and was in the back of a minivan, I didn't think much of it. I was also a little nervous since it was my first tri. By the time we got to the race and got our gear set up, I was totally fine.
I had been thinking I could be pregnant, but because tests cost about $10 each Andrew wouldn't let me get one until I was two weeks late. This is also because I had taken one the month before, after being about 5 days late. (TMI alert: I went off birth control pills several months ago because I did a lot of research and don't believe they are completely safe, so I've been late a lot since then. Alert over.)
Anywho, he conceded, I took the test and it was positive. The next day on Sept. 13, I called the doctor and had an appointment that day. They confirmed my pregnancy and said I was six weeks along.
Today I am 12 weeks and hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat this afternoon!
Sharing the News
We wanted to keep it a secret until the second trimester, which was difficult because I have been feeling terrible. I haven't been vomiting, but I'm constantly nauseous. Fun fun! I have said this a few times already and will say it again: I have no idea why women say "I want to be pregnant." You should say, "I want to have a baby." I will love and care for this child, but after the last few weeks, pregnancy is for the birds. I'm grateful for the time to prepare...I just really hope I start feeling better so I can actually read all the info I need to and stuff like that.
We did tell a couple of people early out of necessity, which did help that someone other than us knew. Over the last week we shared the news with our families, close friends and then our church on Sunday. I wrote a song to Oasis' "Wonderwall" to announce the news.
A few notable reactions:
My friend Kristin--screamed louder than anyone. Twice.
Our niece, Ava--Andrew said, "Ava, you're going to be a cousin." Silence. Her mom, Logan, said, "Wait, I'm going to be an aunt?!" to which Ava said, "I'm going to be an uncle!!"
Prophetic dreams: My friend Christie had a dream a few weeks ago that I was two months and showing, making an announcement at church. I found out yesterday that my friend Katharine also had a dream recently that I was pregnant.
Suspicious: my step-mother, great aunt and cousin Leah. I should point out that my step-sister-in-law is due in March, and my sister-in-law is due in April. Lots of babies!
Secrets
We are not going to find out what we're having, nor are we revealing names until the baby is here, in our arms and given said name. Sorry!!
In actuality, the new addition comes in the form of a person...we are expecting our first child in May! (It seems even crazier to write this down than it does to just tell people, by the way. The enormity of the situation has yet to fully sink in!)
Our precious pup Sherpa, who turned five a couple weeks ago, will now be a big brother! He just doesn't know it yet. For those of you who would like the full story with the few details we have to this point, continue reading.
Finding Out
We found out we were pregnant on Sept. 12 with a home pregnancy test. The day before I competed in a triathlon in Connecticut. That morning I was feeling especially queasy, but since it was a.) 5 a.m. and b.) I get car sick and was in the back of a minivan, I didn't think much of it. I was also a little nervous since it was my first tri. By the time we got to the race and got our gear set up, I was totally fine.
I had been thinking I could be pregnant, but because tests cost about $10 each Andrew wouldn't let me get one until I was two weeks late. This is also because I had taken one the month before, after being about 5 days late. (TMI alert: I went off birth control pills several months ago because I did a lot of research and don't believe they are completely safe, so I've been late a lot since then. Alert over.)
Anywho, he conceded, I took the test and it was positive. The next day on Sept. 13, I called the doctor and had an appointment that day. They confirmed my pregnancy and said I was six weeks along.
Today I am 12 weeks and hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat this afternoon!
Sharing the News
We wanted to keep it a secret until the second trimester, which was difficult because I have been feeling terrible. I haven't been vomiting, but I'm constantly nauseous. Fun fun! I have said this a few times already and will say it again: I have no idea why women say "I want to be pregnant." You should say, "I want to have a baby." I will love and care for this child, but after the last few weeks, pregnancy is for the birds. I'm grateful for the time to prepare...I just really hope I start feeling better so I can actually read all the info I need to and stuff like that.
We did tell a couple of people early out of necessity, which did help that someone other than us knew. Over the last week we shared the news with our families, close friends and then our church on Sunday. I wrote a song to Oasis' "Wonderwall" to announce the news.
A few notable reactions:
My friend Kristin--screamed louder than anyone. Twice.
Our niece, Ava--Andrew said, "Ava, you're going to be a cousin." Silence. Her mom, Logan, said, "Wait, I'm going to be an aunt?!" to which Ava said, "I'm going to be an uncle!!"
Prophetic dreams: My friend Christie had a dream a few weeks ago that I was two months and showing, making an announcement at church. I found out yesterday that my friend Katharine also had a dream recently that I was pregnant.
Suspicious: my step-mother, great aunt and cousin Leah. I should point out that my step-sister-in-law is due in March, and my sister-in-law is due in April. Lots of babies!
Secrets
We are not going to find out what we're having, nor are we revealing names until the baby is here, in our arms and given said name. Sorry!!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Baking in the remodel
The events of this post happened about two months ago...oh well :)
So two months ago we were in August, and the kitchen remodel was in a similar state as it is now. That seems sad--we are making progress, just had a little hitch that I'll get into in another post. My friend Kristin's birthday was July 31, and my friend Laura's birthday was August 5. (You can read their blog here.) To celebrate, Kristin's husband, Mike, decided to have a little party for the two of them.
One day he handed me the August edition of Rachael Ray's magazine and showed me several fun birthday cake ideas. Kristin liked one in particular, but there were a few others she thought were pretty cool, too. I told him I'd make three of them: one that looked like pancakes, one where the cake is baked inside ice cream cones and one that was a rainbow-colored cake. Each was pretty easy and used a box mix, and two of the three were smaller looking so I figured it would be fun to have options. Now remember, I have no sink in my kitchen and no counters. I did have a working oven, though, so I assured Mike everything would be fine.
Fast forward to August 9, the day before the party. I got a call from Laura's husband, Caleb, asking if I might be able to pick up a cake he ordered from a bakery in Easthampton. At this point, I was unaware that anyone else was bringing dessert. He said it was a cake that he and Laura had tried and loved and that it would feed 20 people. I'm really glad Caleb called me because I knew we wouldn't have 20 people at the party, meaning I didn't need to bake three different cakes in addition to the one he ordered.
On to August 10. I decided to go with the pancake cake since that was the one Kristin really liked. Here is a picture from the magazine of the finished product:
I gathered all of my ingredients together on an IKEA cabinet that we were using in the living room.
You need a yellow cake mix, whatever the cake mix calls for, powdered sugar, water and sprinkles. I then got my set-up ready on the stove. Remember...no counters. (I didn't end up using my big mixer--it was easier to do my hand.)
I melted butter in my pan, had my cake mix ready in the bowl and then got to work. You pour the cake batter in your pan a little at a time the same way you would to make pancakes. Now I like Rachael Ray, but I will say I feel like the recipe lied a little. The cooking time given was about 8-9 minutes on the first side, then a few more on the other. I'm pretty sure I only needed about 2 minutes on the first side, then about 15 seconds on the other. Just cook them like you would pancakes--wait for the bubbles before you flip. It is a little trickier to flip cake batter as opposed to pancake batter, but if you work at it, it is possible I promise! (Andrew benefited from my mistakes, though!) Here are some cooking pics:
Once you make a stack, you can then make the icing drizzle for the top. The recipe said to mix powdered sugar together with water, then drizzle on the stack. I read on another blog that you could also use milk or orange juice. So I headed to the bathroom--my source of water--and made the topping, drizzled it and added sprinkles. Here's the finished cake--the icing doesn't look as thick as the one in the magazine, but it worked!
At this point I got really worried. The cake didn't look so great to me, I thought it would get too soggy since the party was in another hour, on and on. Andrew said it tasted good, but I wasn't convinced. I finished it up anyway and hoped for the best. I broke a wooden skewer in half, cut out a triangle of card stock, wrote happy birthday on the card stock, then taped the flag to the skewer. Voila! Who needs candles?
Turns out, the cake was great and everyone loved it. It definitely took more work than I anticipated--mainly because I was running through my house looking for better spatulas to flip with or trying to find a ladle for the batter, etc. Cooking and baking is definitely harder when your supplies are spread throughout your home.
One last note: The batter lasted me forever. I read on another blog that someone got 9 pancakes out of their batter. I got about 16! I made 7 or 8 for Kristin and Laura's party, then made the rest for Andrew and our house guest, Aaron. I made several of the pancakes, then I think just made a bowl of the icing for them to dip it in.
So two months ago we were in August, and the kitchen remodel was in a similar state as it is now. That seems sad--we are making progress, just had a little hitch that I'll get into in another post. My friend Kristin's birthday was July 31, and my friend Laura's birthday was August 5. (You can read their blog here.) To celebrate, Kristin's husband, Mike, decided to have a little party for the two of them.
One day he handed me the August edition of Rachael Ray's magazine and showed me several fun birthday cake ideas. Kristin liked one in particular, but there were a few others she thought were pretty cool, too. I told him I'd make three of them: one that looked like pancakes, one where the cake is baked inside ice cream cones and one that was a rainbow-colored cake. Each was pretty easy and used a box mix, and two of the three were smaller looking so I figured it would be fun to have options. Now remember, I have no sink in my kitchen and no counters. I did have a working oven, though, so I assured Mike everything would be fine.
Fast forward to August 9, the day before the party. I got a call from Laura's husband, Caleb, asking if I might be able to pick up a cake he ordered from a bakery in Easthampton. At this point, I was unaware that anyone else was bringing dessert. He said it was a cake that he and Laura had tried and loved and that it would feed 20 people. I'm really glad Caleb called me because I knew we wouldn't have 20 people at the party, meaning I didn't need to bake three different cakes in addition to the one he ordered.
On to August 10. I decided to go with the pancake cake since that was the one Kristin really liked. Here is a picture from the magazine of the finished product:
I gathered all of my ingredients together on an IKEA cabinet that we were using in the living room.
You need a yellow cake mix, whatever the cake mix calls for, powdered sugar, water and sprinkles. I then got my set-up ready on the stove. Remember...no counters. (I didn't end up using my big mixer--it was easier to do my hand.)
I melted butter in my pan, had my cake mix ready in the bowl and then got to work. You pour the cake batter in your pan a little at a time the same way you would to make pancakes. Now I like Rachael Ray, but I will say I feel like the recipe lied a little. The cooking time given was about 8-9 minutes on the first side, then a few more on the other. I'm pretty sure I only needed about 2 minutes on the first side, then about 15 seconds on the other. Just cook them like you would pancakes--wait for the bubbles before you flip. It is a little trickier to flip cake batter as opposed to pancake batter, but if you work at it, it is possible I promise! (Andrew benefited from my mistakes, though!) Here are some cooking pics:
Once you make a stack, you can then make the icing drizzle for the top. The recipe said to mix powdered sugar together with water, then drizzle on the stack. I read on another blog that you could also use milk or orange juice. So I headed to the bathroom--my source of water--and made the topping, drizzled it and added sprinkles. Here's the finished cake--the icing doesn't look as thick as the one in the magazine, but it worked!
At this point I got really worried. The cake didn't look so great to me, I thought it would get too soggy since the party was in another hour, on and on. Andrew said it tasted good, but I wasn't convinced. I finished it up anyway and hoped for the best. I broke a wooden skewer in half, cut out a triangle of card stock, wrote happy birthday on the card stock, then taped the flag to the skewer. Voila! Who needs candles?
Turns out, the cake was great and everyone loved it. It definitely took more work than I anticipated--mainly because I was running through my house looking for better spatulas to flip with or trying to find a ladle for the batter, etc. Cooking and baking is definitely harder when your supplies are spread throughout your home.
One last note: The batter lasted me forever. I read on another blog that someone got 9 pancakes out of their batter. I got about 16! I made 7 or 8 for Kristin and Laura's party, then made the rest for Andrew and our house guest, Aaron. I made several of the pancakes, then I think just made a bowl of the icing for them to dip it in.
Monday, October 3, 2011
And, we're back in the game!
The game of dishes that is. Most of you have no idea what I just [mis]quoted, unless your name is Mike Thomas, but it's from one of my favorite movies--Ten Things I Hate About You. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character kisses Larisa Oleynik's character, she gets out of the car and he says, "And I'm back in the game!" and simultaneously hits the steering wheel for dramatic effect.
I apologize for that brief tangent, but since my last post lacked random humor, I felt it was needed :)
Anywho....our dishwasher works! Let that sink in...
OUR DISHWASHER WORKS!!!
Well, we hope. Our first full cycle has yet to complete. But we're 10 minutes in and no flood yet.
I realize these pictures will show a bit more work than what I've told you about to this point, but the news is so exciting I had to share this first. Expect some more backlogged-work-updates soon.
We woke up Saturday morning with nothing major to do until later in the evening, so Andrew decided to do some plumbing. And plumb he did. My beautiful husband hooked up our dishwasher in only a couple of hours and two trips to the store.
All I know is there was something about drilling holes in the floor, hooking up some PEX tubing, the use of teflon tape and voila, it worked! He ran a quick rinse cycle to make sure nothing leaked, then we loaded her up!
Because we don't have our countertops in yet, the dishwasher isn't "built-in" so to speak. When you open the door it becomes top heavy, so Andrew had to hold it while I loaded it. I've never seen dirty dishes look so beautiful.
And that green light and the minutes on the face mean it's working. Clean dishes minus the bathtub, here we come!!
I apologize for that brief tangent, but since my last post lacked random humor, I felt it was needed :)
Anywho....our dishwasher works! Let that sink in...
OUR DISHWASHER WORKS!!!
Well, we hope. Our first full cycle has yet to complete. But we're 10 minutes in and no flood yet.
I realize these pictures will show a bit more work than what I've told you about to this point, but the news is so exciting I had to share this first. Expect some more backlogged-work-updates soon.
We woke up Saturday morning with nothing major to do until later in the evening, so Andrew decided to do some plumbing. And plumb he did. My beautiful husband hooked up our dishwasher in only a couple of hours and two trips to the store.
blurry....he caught me taking pictures
All I know is there was something about drilling holes in the floor, hooking up some PEX tubing, the use of teflon tape and voila, it worked! He ran a quick rinse cycle to make sure nothing leaked, then we loaded her up!
Because we don't have our countertops in yet, the dishwasher isn't "built-in" so to speak. When you open the door it becomes top heavy, so Andrew had to hold it while I loaded it. I've never seen dirty dishes look so beautiful.
Even better, free soap included!
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