Adventures with Pumpkins: Carving & Cooking

Can you guess whose pumpkin is whose?

Our approaches to pumpkin carving were a good example of our varying approaches to most things in life.

I kept my design simple since I had never carved a pumpkin before, but I still put a lot of thought into it. I sketched out my design, created vector art in Illustrator, printed it out, taped it to my pumpkin, and traced over it with a pushpin. 

Finally, I was able to start carving.

Nathan grabbed a knife and went at it, with no plan whatsoever.

"Are you making a dog or an alien?"

"I'm not sure yet!"

We're good for each other.

I toasted most of the seeds, but I wasn't impressed with how they turned out. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if I'm just not a fan.

I also put all the cutout pieces into the crock pot and made puree out of them. I got about a cup and a half out of it. Now I just have to decide what to do with it. I've made four pumpkin recipes so far this season, but I still have several recipes on my Pinterest pumpkin board left to try.

Have you had any adventures with pumpkin this year?

The Home of My Our Dreams

Source: thriftysolutionsforanurbangal.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I used to love watching the design shows on HGTV. I would look at all the beautiful remodels and think about how beautiful my own home would be. I've also collected a lot of images of home decor from design blogs and Pinterest.

It's fun to dream about the perfect bathroom...

Source: homestoriesatoz.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Or the ultimate kitchen...

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Amanda on Pinterest

But the thing I didn't realize before I was married? It isn't just up to me what my home looks like. It turns out some men actually have opinions about the way their homes are decorated! 

 

A man might hang up a fuzzy stocking poster in the bedroom because he made it in his college graphic design class and he's proud of it. And if his wife asks why it has to be on display in the bedroom, he may respond, "Where else should we put it?"

Or, a husband may wonder why his wife thinks a "random jar" qualifies as a decorative item - a beautiful, antique Ball jar that many women would love to have for all sorts of decorative purposes!

No, this isn't just my home. This is our home. A home where two opinions of what is and isn't beautiful clash and sometimes compromise. A home where a dog thinks tennis balls and stuffed hedgehogs belong in the kitchen. And one day, we'll have kids adding their own personalities and styles.

The year I had an apartment all to myself, I could decorate however I wanted. I could hang up my French posters and display my Ball jar without being questioned. But I'd rather come home to a husband and a dog than a lonely apartment decorated my way. While I may not love all of my husband's things, I love him enough that I can at least tolerate them. 


Home is really all about the people. It's about what you do in the home. Forget the little things you don't like about where you live and just focus on living!


 

How Do You Do Tacos?

A taco isn't a taco without hard-boiled eggs -- if you're Nathan, anyway. The ground beef should be saucy beef, like the kind you would use for sloppy joes. There should be tons of cheese and sour cream, but absolutely no lettuce or tomatoes.

I prefer my tacos more like taco salads, or haystacks as my mom calls them. I start with a base of lettuce, then add beef, tomatoes, black olives, salsa, and cheese. I crush tortilla chips or taco shells on top. I like my beef plain - no seasoning, and definitely no sauce.

I had avoided making tacos up until last week because I didn't want to deal with making saucy meat or boiling eggs. Thankfully, Nathan ended up being content with beef that was seasoned but not saucy. I attempted to boil eggs, although I managed to only boil them halfway (Nathan boiled them the rest of the way for us). I had my lettuce and tomatoes, and we were both able to enjoy our tacos. He thinks my way is nuts; I think his way is nuts. This is clearly a dinner that allows for some individuality.

So, how about you? What is essential for your taco night?

What I Gave Up for My Marriage

Marriage is all about sacrifices. Give and take. But what have I actually "given up" now that I'm a married woman?

My career Goals? No. Nathan is supportive of me getting a Masters' degree (should I choose to pursue one). 
Spending time with friends? No. I spent a Saturday with some college friends recently.
Hobbies? No. I'm reading for fun more than I have since elementary school.

What have I given up for my husband? One of these:

A top sheet.

Nathan hates sleeping with a top sheet. He claims they serve no purpose and always end up wadded up at the foot of the bed. I originally thought he would just have to get used to sleeping with one. When we were first married, it was warm enough that we didn't need any blankets. Nathan could tolerate sleeping with a top sheet by itself. But when it came time to pile on the blankets, the sheet had to go.

Yes, marriage is all about compromise and sacrifice...some sacrifices are just a little odder than others.

 

I've made it to 100 posts of Wedding/Newlywed Trek. Thanks for reading!

Married Filing Jointy

It was interesting to see what happens when five W2's, tuition payments, an HSA, interest from multiple bank accounts, and two 401(k) contributions come together, especially when the two people combining them were living in different states at the beginning of 2010.

We each had a different approach to filling out the paperwork, much like our different approaches to grocery shopping. While I like zooming through the store with my ordered list and getting out of there as soon as possible, Nathan prefers to go down every aisle to make sure he doesn't forget anything and is likely to get distracted by cookware or the goldfish. So when I started zooming through the tax form, Nathan wanted me to slow down so he could carefully examine every line. It was just too much for my type A personality, but rather than doing it myself, I let Nathan take over, which worked out well. My speedy method might be great for preventing impulse buys, but the extra time Nathan spent on our tax retun helped him discover a much larger refund than I would have found myself.

I love how we complement each other like that.

Why I Clean the Bathtub

As I strive to keep our apartment clean, I have to remind myself at times why I do certain chores. Am I doing it because it's necessary for our well-being? Am I doing it to because I think it will make Nathan happy? In the case of some chores, I am really only doing them for my benefit. The main example of this is cleaning the bathtub. As I was scrubbing the tub tonight, I told Nathan,

"I never feel like this bathtub is truly clean. That's the bad thing about old apartments like this."

"That's funny," he said, "I never feel like it's truly dirty.

A simple fact I never fully realized until recently is that no one will be able to appreciate our clean bathtub except for me. You see, while I have perfect vision, Nathan can't see much of anything without his glasses. I might worry about a single hair or spot of soap on the floor of the tub, but Nathan wouldn't even know there was a floor if he weren't standing on it. While it's possible that we will have a guest who can see in the shower, all of the guests that have used our shower so far wear glasses.

There are plenty of things I do solely for Nathan's benefit, like attempting to neatly fold his underwear just how he likes it, but the cleanliness of the bathtub doesn't really matter that much to him. I clean it because it matters to me. I like to shower in a clean bathtub, and I want our guests to be able to shower in a clean bathtub, whether or not they can actually tell the difference.

The Nerd and the Free Spirit

When it comes to the budget, Dave Ramsey says one spouse is the Nerd and the other is the Free Spirit. The nerd enjoys numbers and coming up with the budget, while the free spirit doesn't care about it and feels controlled by it.

It isn't so black and white with Nathan and I. We're both nerds in some ways, but we can also be free spirits. While Nathan may seem like the nerd at first glance since he loves accounting and is working on an MBA, I have kept records of my earnings and spending since I was 11 years old and engage in what Nathan refers to as "stalking" our bank accounts online ("Did you enjoy that Arby's you had for lunch?").

When it comes to creating the budget, Nathan is the nerd. He sets the amounts for each category each month, and he was the one who planned out our debt snowball. Although I offer some input, I remain the "whatever you want" free spirit for the most part. Being the Excel guru that he is, he set up an amazing budget tracking spreadsheet for us with all kinds of drop down menus and formulas.

However, in terms of actually tracking the budget and trying to ensure that we stick with it, I become the nerd. I'm the one who records all the transactions in our Excel spreadsheet and makes sure bills get paid on time. I will give Nathan reports and observations on how we're doing with the budget.

The important thing is that we both know where we want to be financially and we're working together to get there. If we agree on the budget, we shouldn't have any major disagreements over money.

Finding a New Normal

After all the wedding gifts were unwrapped...

After all of my stuff was moved out of my old apartment...

After we bought a few more things that we needed to be able to live together...

It was time to figure out how to live together!

How do we spend time together when you're both working full time, and one of you is also working on an MBA and multiple computer certifications while the other tackles most of the cooking and chores?  

How do we cook meals when one of us is a "meatitarian" who hates nearly every vegetable and the other doesn't even eat meat on a daily basis?

What do we do when one of us is a total night owl who takes forever to get up in the morning and the other is an early bird who shuts down fast around 10:00 each night?

This is the journey that we're on right now. Were we aware of these traits in each other before we got married? Absolutely, but it's still an adjustment when you aren't used to seeing each other every day. 

How to live together...how to be a wife...that's what I'll be blogging about now.

For anyone still interested in reading about our wedding, I have the pro photos now, but I'm doing all the editing and sorting myself (since I'm a control freak/tight wad/masochist). So, it'll take me awhile to get those posted. I just decided I should go ahead and switch gears to blogging about newlywed life while we're still newlyweds. :/

You put THAT on the registry?!

I'm not sure what is really considered a "normal" wedding registry these days. With the average age for a first marriage on the rise, many people are living on their own before marrying. Nathan and I are both currently living alone in apartments, and we each have skillets and pans, dishes and glasses, tables and chairs... The only thing we will really need once we're married is a queen size bed and some bedding.

We couldn't exactly ask ourselves "Do we absolutely need this?" when creating our registry or it would have only a handful of items on it. What did we ask? As it turns out, Nathan and I asked ourselves (and each other) different questions. My thinking was along the lines of "Would someone actually buy this?" while Nathan's was "Would we use this regularly?" Some examples...

Nathan was baffled when he looked at our registry online and saw this leaf platter. How often would we actually use it?

Then I realized that Nathan had made his own addition as well...

A Nikon D300 S. Who would buy that for us?

But don't get me wrong, putting together didn't cause us any real conflict; for the most part we just laughed at each other. Plus, there were quite a few items we agreed on.

I think we've talked about getting a Wii pretty much the entire time we've been dating. We haven't been able to buy one yet since we've had other priorities, so it was a registry must.

Our registry is currently about 40% items related to camping and outdoor activities, including a couple of these sleeping bags. We're really excited about going camping together, so we need the gear to do it.

We've also picked out some kitchen items that we would definitely use if we had them.

I'm pretty excited about making some real waffles with this waffle maker.

  

 

Nathan would love to grill chicken on this huge George Foreman grill.

I'm excited to see what everyone ends up choosing for us!