"B" is the Best for Last Name Initials

This weekend, we welcomed some dear friends into the club of the marrieds! We battled a bit of a snow storm to witness their love ceremony and we are so glad we made the treck. In our preparations for the trip up to the winter wonderland, we debated between which car to take. The fuel efficient passat that has battled the icy elements from California to South Dakota, or the gas guzzling beast with the 4 wheel drive. Well, rest assured that we took the smarter, less cost effective choice and we drove the work truck.
We made it up the hill and through the pass safe & sound in record time for tripping through a snow storm. We are currently on the trip back home, driving ever so slowly behind the chain of vehicles also leaving the white weekend escape.
Overall, we had a fantastic weekend celebrating the new Mr. & Mrs. Basham with all of our (and their) closest friends.
Congrats to our newest married friends! We are happy to share our last name initial (yay for "B" last names) and hopefully many married adventures in the years to come!

a trip to warmer weather …

based on my experiences in the great state of South Dakota, and through some very intellectual deductive reasoning, I have concluded that it is a rather cold state. 

my deductive reasoning is based on both historical and scientific research that I conducted over the past few years.  you see, the historical research dates all the way back to march of 2008, when I experienced my first 45-below-zero-with-the-wind-chill weather.  and then I have science to back me up.  snow, means frozen moisture, means cold.  times that by all the frozen moisture up in the sky, and you have 10 feet of snow.  {I should definitely go into teaching, right?}

but sometimes, things change.  and the fact that it’s been beyond freezing every time I’ve been to South Dakota in March {ok, so I’ve only been there in the 3rd month of the year once … but all the other times it was February and November, which in terms of the frozen weather thermometer, isn’t much different}, doesn’t mean it will be that way every time I visit in march.

in fact, the sun is planning on making an appearance for our trip to the southern dakota next week.  see:

it will be nice to see some sunlight after all this california rain.

who would have thought we’d be going to south dakota to get a tan? 

just kidding.

we are going there for much more than that … and we can’t wait!

oatmeal

I know it’s healthy for you, but I just can’t do it.  It’s been served to me many different ways … and still.  it tastes the same.  like a course scoop of bland dirt.  ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but you get the point.

neither of my parents like oatmeal … but that didn’t stop them from trying to make us like it.  {I guess I respect them for that}.  and it worked with their other two kids.  the eldest loves the steal cut kind.  the youngest devours plain old unsweetened bowls of the quaker kind by the barrels. 

and me?  well, I’ve heard people say that the middle child tends to be the greatest blend of both parentals {did I make that up?  or have I really heard it somewhere?} … and given that both parentals in this given situation don’t like oatmeal, what was I, as the middle child, left to do?  not like oatmeal as well.

I was just abiding by the rules of middle-childhood.  give me some credit.

although … when in a pinch {or when the morning escapes me}, I can and will serve myself a bowl of horse food oatmeal.  and this is how I eat it:

the pre-made, already sugared, kind.  apples and cinnamon.  that’s pretty much the only way I can gulp it down.

I don’t do the brown sugar.  or the fruit.  or the milk.  or the peanut butter {yes, that’s exactly how my husband does it … bleh}

and while I do appreciate the benefits to both your health and wallet that accompany oatmeal, I wish I liked it.  maybe, it’s an acquired taste.  maybe it will grow on me with age …

or maybe, I can just keep putting it in my smoothies so as to receive the health perks without having to taste it.  {this idea sounds like the winner}

however, I may have found a recipe that could turn me into an oatmeal lover.  it sounds incredible {except for the fact that oatmeal is the primary ingredient … but I might be able to get past it …}  and it’s uber healthy too.  I can’t recommend it yet, nor can I say it has turned me into an official oatmeal fanatic.  all because I haven’t tried it.  but here’s hoping this sweet {sounding} breakfast will provide me with a new outlet for morning nutrition:

Blueberry Oatmeal Cobbler

Blueberry Cobbler Oatmeal
(Serves 2)

Oatmeal

• ¾ cup steel cut oatmeal (or 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats)
• 2½ cups water
• ½ cup soy milk

Blueberry Sauce

• ¾ cup blueberries
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Crumble

• 15g almonds
• 1 tbsp old fashion oats

“Custard”

• ¼ cup protein powder vanilla
• 2 tbsp plain yogurt

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a small saucepan, bring water to the boil, add salt and oatmeal, lower heat, cover and cook for about 12-15 minutes, stirring often, until all liquid is absorbed and oatmeal is nice and creamy.
• Meanwhile, in a seperate saucepan, cook blueberries, water, lemon juice, chia seeds and agave nectar over low heat, stirring occasionally, until blueberries start to “explode” and sauce thickens. You might want to swoosh the blueberries a little bit with your spoon to help break them up. Set aside when ready.
• In a small non-stick pan, over medium heat, toast the sliced almonds and old fashion oats until golden and fragrant. Set aside.
• In small mixing bowl, mix protein powder with plain yogurt until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
• When all your components are ready, transfer to serving bowls, starting with oatmeal, then blueberry sauce, followed by custard and finally the crumble.

look at the calendar. it’s already 2013.

my job requires me to look at the calendar.  a lot.  I have to set dates for meetings, events, deadlines, and so on {as I’m sure a lot of people’s jobs do …}

and the more I look at the squares that symbolize a brief 24 hour period of time and the lines that encompass the 7 day periods … the shorter the year becomes.

for instance:

it is currently the end of month number 2.  in 1 week I have a fundraising dinner.  2 days later, I’m throwing a bridal shower for my best friend.  a week after that, we are at a wedding.  4 days after that, we celebrate the big ol’ numero tres. the  next day, we jet ourselves over to the southern dakota {praise the Lord}. and just a few short days later, it’s the 4th month of the year. 

and I can do that with every month, it seems.  I already feel like I’m running behind on erik’s 31st birthday, and it’s still 6 months away.  oh, but that number 6 is deceiving I tell you. 

I am not in a rush.  and neither should the calendar be in a rush.  so come on.  slow down.  take a deep breath.  enjoy the day.  embrace the minute why don’t you.

ok, that was a good pep talk.  thank you.  I needed that.

a perk of loving a contractor

well, he’s more than a contractor.  he’s a carpenter.  he’s a wood worker.  and he’s extraordinary.  (remember, I’m allowed to brag.  that was part of the whole “let’s exchange vows in front of everyone we know” day).

anyway, erik has been talking about building us a bed since we got married and we’ve been throwing design ideas around for a while .  he’s been collecting pieces of wood from different  jobs that have helped add to our our idea book (by “book”, I mean, the verbal check marks we make next to ideas that come to our brains) … and once he brought home the perfect wood, we got inspired.

last year, I stumbled upon this picture that had made it’s way around the world of the wide web:

source

with this picture and the wood from a fence he had just torn down, our minds began to race.  ahhhhh!!!! 

we both fell in love with the old, gray wood, sprinkled with green moss.  we are both suckers for that beefy, rustic look.  and the creativity began to sore.

but alas, life took the time away. 

until a few weeks ago, when he became determined to make it.  at least to point of being usable.  sleepable.  and comfortable.

after a rather relaxed morning/early afternoon, he decided he was going to put it together.  we had dinner plans to bid farewell to a friend at 7:00pm.  and then we had friends staying over that night.  and the house wasn’t cleaned.  if we started the bed, then we’d have to finish it, at least enough to sleep on it.  that night.

so we debated.  do it?  or don’t do it?

erik had already framed the head board and foot board, so the work was really just the assembly (although this type of assembly isn’t exactly like putting an IKEA bed together).  so what did we decide? 

do it.  and don’t stop until it’s done.

since our garage was too small to fit the gigantic cal-king masterpiece, we started hauling the wood upstairs.

 

  
we still have some work to do, like painting the frame and filling in the holes from the screws.  but you get the overall idea from these pictures:

our room is kind of small, so the bed takes up most of our walking space.  to give you a frame of reference as to how big-slash-tall it is:  when erik sits on the bed, his feet hang about 8 inches off of the ground.  he says he’s going to cut it down a little shorter, but we’ll see!  I’m not entirely opposed to having to jump on the bed. some kids never learn, right?

next step.  charcoal grey bedding with green pillows.  someday.  but until then, I’m thoroughly enjoying this masterpiece.

that boy in the glasses

erik benson, the boy that I talk about a lot, is … well … blind.  ok, maybe not blind exactly, but he certainly can’t see the clarity that my brown eyes view the world through.  he sees more of a blur.  and has thus, spent most of all of our togetherness {over 5 years, that is}, squinting and straining.  I must say, though, he’s pretty lucky that he’s able to “squint-it-out”, which must mean he’s not as blind as I think he is.  however, in an effort to relax the poor muscles in his face, we did what we said we would do {years ago}, and we took him to the eye doctor.  and not just the walmart kind of eye doctor {not that their doctors of vision are any less legit, but their selection of frames isn’t as, let’s say, sturdy, as my contractor-man needs}, but we went to the real, get-your-eyes-dilated, kind of doctor.  and they promptly signed him up for a nice new pair of specs.

and I must say, he sure does look cute:

lame picture I know, but it’s the best I could steal without him protesting

I wanted him to get something along the lines of these:

but he went for the traditional black frames instead. 

probably a smart move.

musical surprise

as usual, this christmas, I did my very best to conjure up a new and exciting surprise for mr. benson.  It had to be something he wouldn’t expect {hence, calling it a “surprise”}.  something that would blow him out of the water.  spoil him.  and totally throw him off guard.

as usual: my mission was accomplished to perfection.  I must say, I’m a really good surpriser.  maybe I like surprising so much, because I like being surprised.  but whatever the reason, I’m a total pro.

hence, when I told my other-half to close his eyes while I pulled his over-sized, brown-paper-bag-wrapped gift out of the closet, he was a little confused. 

you see, I hid the gift, so he wouldn’t try guessing.  if he just saw the little packages under the tree, receiving a gigantic gift would be totally unexpected.  {I even hid the gift at my office for a month so I wouldn’t have to freak out if he took a step near the surprise-filled closet.}

while sitting on the couch that christmas eve morning {we started our tradition of opening gifts to each other on christmas eve morning, so we could do the whole shebang with the parents on christmas … I love our own traditions!}, he looked up and down that large, rectangular shaped box, wondering what it could be.

a new set of irons? but why would she think of that?  that would be awesome, but, hmmmm …

nope.  much to his pleasant surprise, the box was filled with an instrument meant for strumming by his rough, contractor-like fingers. 

and it was love at first sight.

hence, I am good at surprises.

I had the counsel of some good musician friends on which guitar to get … out of all the potentials submitted to the all-knowing guitarist {within my price-range of course}, this was his choice.  it’s been over a month, and I still get compliments by all the guys on the gift I got my hubs.  score.  home run.  touch down.  and so on.