Tag Archives: home

I love a man in a kitchen

I’ve talked before about how much my husband does in the kitchen–as my sous-chef/support staff, as a baker of the same chocolate chip recipe on a regular basis, as a dish-washer, encourager, and as . . .

. . . well, a derriere to spank. When I get the urge. Which is frequently.

And it’s not just any derriere, either. It’s a mighty fine piece of God’s workmanship.

There’s just something about the husband + kitchen combination that encourages my hand to . . . well, you get the gist.

Don’t be shocked–it’s nothing you haven’t heard before on this blog.

Anyway, today is my lovebug’s 29th birthday. Birthday surprises are hiding in my pants drawer, to be revealed tonight. A dinner date will be happening soon. And as for the cake at hand . . . well, he still claims that I owe him 2 lemon cakes. He cannot be argued down from this iron-clad stance. He has dug his heels in and will not budge until 2 lemon cakes have been produced (by me) and consumed (by him).

We’ll just have to see what happens.

I guess if this is the biggest controversy in our marriage–how many lemon cakes I owe him at a given point in time–you could say that I really have nothing to complain about. That I have, in fact, a lot to be thankful for in this man who goes out of his way to love me and serve me, makes me coffee every morning, faithfully deals with any household issue I deem “gross” (trash; bugs; kitchen floor; sink drain; bathtub drain, etc. etc.), gives me back skritchlies every single evening, reads me Harry Potter until I fall asleep at night, listens patiently and pours me a glass of wine when I’m stressed, sends me little emails during the day to tell me he’s thinking about me or praying for me–and the list could go on and on. He’s smart, disciplined, faithful (to me, to God, to his friends, commitments, health–it’s a huge part of who he is), a hard worker, a generous giver, funny (make that hilarious), sensitive, well-read, passionate, always striving to better himself–the whole package. Designed by God before the beginning of time–and I say: Good job God! Thanks for letting me have him for our time here on earth.

And oh yeah–he has a great, smackable butt.

But I think we already covered that.

Happy birthday, baby! Welcome to the last year of your 20’s (where I’ll be joining you in a couple months)–it’s been a great decade of togetherness and love and the adventure of finding out who we are, and I’m sure this last year will be no different. I love you!

Where we’ll be next Christmas

Just wanted to give you guys a glimpse of where we plan on being next Christmas.

Here!

My parents are building a house in snowy Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and it’s gonna be a beaut. So much thought has gone into this house, and it’s starting to pay off as the vision comes together.

I’m so glad they have the chance to build this. After years and years living in a variety of apartments across the U.S. and Spain and renovating the heck out of every place they inhabited since they were about 24 years old, they finally get to build something they like from the get-go. Which won’t require walls and doors to be torn down and shifted to their satisfaction, or bathrooms to be gutted and re-worked, or stucco on the ceiling that has to be laboriously scraped off. I’m especially happy for my mom, who has dreamed of designing a house for years, and now gets to fulfill that dream.

Mom and Dad spent about 9 years in their last apartment in Madrid making it work, redoing the kitchen themselves, spackling things, tearing holes in walls, building cabinets with their own two hands, etc. etc. (Mom destroyed her knees in the process of tiling and destroyed her arms in the process of spackling and sanding the walls) They did a great job of making it as beautiful as possible, but all their efforts aside, this apartment was a dark cave where no sunlight EVER hit.

I remember being there for Christmas years ago and never wanting to get out of bed because it felt like nighttime 24/7. Have you ever lived in a dark cave? Do you know what I’m talking about?? That feeling is no fun, man. It’s depressing, in fact. So it brings joy to my heart that now my parents will have plenty of light, streaming through the windows of the sun room Mom is so thrilled about, and through the windows of this studio.

Where she can paint!

Sunlight makes such a difference in our state of general happiness, doesn’t it?

Mom regularly posts picture updates on facebook so that we can see the whole process–the construction team just recently installed a good amount of insulation and has started putting in dry wall. But when we visited my parents for Christmas, I got to see the house in person for the first time.

 

Though these pictures are a little outdated and much more progress has been made since December, I thought you guys might enjoy seeing a glimpse of the work-in-progress. I can’t wait to celebrate next Christmas in this gorgeous space!

Is it too soon to start dreaming fuzzy dreams about the holidays? I hope not . . . because there’s no way I can stop now that I’ve started. I have visions of childhood Christmas music peacefully playing in the background, 4-part harmony happening spontaneously as we intone Christmas carols while doing the dishes, steaming cups of espresso welcoming us to the breakfast table, Christmas brew simmering on the stove, an angel food cake being whipped together Christmas Eve, the whole family gathered (spouses included) for the first time in many years . . . and of course, little James (an almost 2-year-old by then) toddling around, and other wee babies whom we’ve not yet met being passed from person to person and snuggled to death (my cousin Steve and Steph are having their first pretty dang soon, and my sister Heidi is pregnant again–yippee-yay-yay!) (aside note: looks like my strategy worked).

Ah. After this little parenthesis of day-dreaming, I think I’ll float around for the rest of the day in a cloud of peace.