Long-awaited details about stuff and junk

I know I know, but let me explain!

First: It's hard when you're no longer planning a wedding to write about cool stuff because I'm not doing cool stuff anymore. Meaning I'm not doing anymore awesome projects or freaking out about any more deadlines.

Second: Our lab is moving, I'm not moving with it, so I had to pack up my stuff and prepare for my lying in at home with my computer and my gestating thesis. It's not quite quickened yet, but my committee is ready, and my defense is set for August 6th, so I have to get my midwifing on (are you guys liking my Elizabethan birthing references? They make me giggle.)

Third: The house has little things here and there that still aren't 100% where we want them to be. Have a look see:

Now, as a disclaimer, most if not all of these boxes are either half empty already or they're just waiting to be transported to their final resting place (the four boxes/crates in the back by the door are Christmas decorations and costume stuff). Yeah, also there's a hamper there, and video games that just need to go upstairs, a TV that just doesn't have a stand yet, etc... But it does get frustrating sometimes, Kyle feels there should be no more boxes! I'm learning to ignore him ;) Either way, even today I was still arranging our bookshelves some more, so I just take it a day at a time.

We are starting to get into a pretty good routine. Our computers are finally set up the way we want them, which is the last reason I hadn't done a post in awhile, I had a computer sitting in a box, it's now on a desk, check it!

This computer stuff is right up against all the clutter, so it's a thin line between progress and insanity right now. Order and Chaos.

Also, It's more fun to sit on the couch watching old reruns of The New Adventures of Old Christine when your puppy is playing footsy with you:

It tickled!



Anyway, who cares right? I'm here now! Yay!



Last time I posted, I wanted so badly to make summer strawberry pudding; a recipe I got from Alton:

So I did, I macerated my strawberries, which I talked about last time, and which were awesome as strawberry shortcakes once I actually made the whipped cream (they weren't bad with greek yogurt, just a bit too sour, stick with the really-bad-for-you-but-awesome whipped heavy cream). Anyway, I set out to make this pudding:

You need four standard tin cans, tops and bottoms removed, a loaf of potato bread, and a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Oh, butter the bottom piece of potato bread.

You waste A LOT of potato bread. Anyway, I put the buttered bread rounds on the bottom, butter side up, then put some strawberries plus juice on top, then layered another round of bread, more strawberries, etc...

 Looks so pretty, right?? And so so easy!

After the last piece of bread, put the lids back on top of the pudding, and weight with four smaller cans, soda cans are what Alton suggests, but I discovered that tomato soup cans are actually perfectly sized!

Let this set in your fridge for at least 8 hours, the pectin from the strawberries makes the whole thing gel together!

Look how pretty!!! I forgot to take a picture of one with whipped cream on it, but, yeah, put whipped cream on it. OK, so that was the fun part right? Ready for the not so awesome part? It was super sour! I was so disappointed. Maybe I picked a bad wine, maybe I let it set too long (I did it overnight), maybe there was too much air to it and the wine fermented, maybe strawberries and tin equals ick... I have no idea, please don't let my negative experience sway you from trying, but I had half a mind to write to Alton and ask what gives, because I was super super excited to eat this and I couldn't even get through more than a couple bites :( And Kyle was going to suffer through it for me too, and he wouldn't say it was bad until I said it was bad (and then he apologized a bunch of times... he's such a sport and a sweetie!).

Anyway, I don't want to dwell on it, it was a big disappointment, that's the last I'll say. So let's move on to cooler stuff. Last I'll report on today is that we finally got the house looking presentable enough for me to show you some pictures! There are still a few things laying around, please don't judge, but for the most part, come on in!

As you walk in the front door, this is our living room, complete with new coffee table and sofa and loveseat. The shelf is our DVD shelf, I just filled that up a few days ago because we just rearranged our furniture to fit it in a few days ago. Here's a better look at the furniture from the other side of the room:

There are doors to kitchen and dining room as well as stairs to the upper level, but since this picture is taken standing in the opening of the dining room, we'll go there next, just turn around:

Besides the boxes on the left that need to be recycled and the boxes on the right that need to be put away, I'm super happy with our little dining room. We have those great french doors and I've got all my cookbooks and entertaining stuff on the rack on the left and pots and pans on the rack on the right. I like the set up a lot. We're totally almost there to being totally domesticated!

Our kitchen/dining room is all nice and open, which makes the kitchen feel bigger, which is necessary because it's not a huge kitchen. But it's awesome and I'm so happy with it, from my dishwasher that makes life 50 million times easier to the hood which is an actual working hood to my oven that cooks stuff fast without heating the whole house, to the window over the sink, which I just don't think anyone should ever have to live without.

Anyway, I'll gush more later, that doorway leads down to the lower level of the house wherein lies my pride and joy; the library:

Our old couch sits in this cozy, low-ceilinged room on the lower level with our books. ALL our books:

This is such a cozy cozy place. Soft light (it only looks blaring because my cell phone camera is no professional camera), you're away from the rest of the house and confined by the low ceilings. I love it, I read and nap here all the time. There's even a door separating this room from the rest of the downstairs where the other bonus rooms are (including the computer room). Lastly, if you go back upstairs and then up the stairs from the entrance, you'll get to the top floor, where the bedrooms are. There are four bedrooms but the only one worth a damn is the one with our new bedroom furniture in it:

I'm in a weird corner here, but there's our dresser and chest of drawers, brand new from Bassett. That door leads to our master bath. If you go to another weird corner, the closed door is the door entering the bedroom, and the open door is the door to our walk-in closet. And of course this is our new platform bed and night stands:

So that's where the magic happens. Haha! Just kidding, I mean, gross. OK, well that's my cue. I could ramble on and on, but my back hurts from the odd angle of my desk and chair, and I've got other important stuff to do today! I hope the mass of pictures today makes up for my long absences a little. As I mentioned before, I've got to get lots and lots of work done on my thesis, so I will continue to be sporadic, but thanks to everyone who keeps sticking around!