Commitment Phobic?

I am finally getting around to trying to decide on window treatments in the living room. I'm not sure why I have such trepidation for the living room. I originally thought this might be the most fun room to pick window options. Well, there are so many options that I am rendered helpless. For instance, we can do just blinds (which is currently what we have for the three bedrooms), just curtains (which is what I'm trying out now), or we can do both. We can do one panel (they are small, long-ish windows), or we can try to do two small panels (which is what I'm leaning towards).

I finally decided to try to do just curtains because I would like some natural light in the living room even when they are closed. To make sure, though, I bought some very cheap tension rods to try out the look. If I end up liking the panels, I'll have Kevin install pretty outside-mount rods for the curtains (that's how we'll be able to actually have two per window). So, imagine a nice curtain rod with two panels per window. What do you think?

Here's the first window:
Here's window #2:Hmmm...I know it's probably the inside mount that I'm not liking about this, but I'm just not sure. Oh, and stay tuned as Kevin and I venture into the world of paint! :)

A Nativity Blessing

Kevin and I received a beautiful gift from Kyle, Kevin's brother. Kyle traveled to Africa last summer for a mission trip, and he brought us such a gorgeous nativity back. We were stunned by how amazing it was when we opened our present from him on Sunday. It is carved acacia wood, and the detail is incredible. Kevin and I are so excited because we did not have a set yet, and this has such wonderful meaning behind it. Thank you so much Kyle!

A Very Merry Christmas and A Winter Wonderland

This past week has gone by so quickly! I have several quick things to catch up on. First, holiday baking continued to include a flan for our Christmas Eve party and cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. Somehow all pictures except for two were deleted from our Christmas happenings before transferring to the computer, so I don't have any pictures to share of the yummy food. :(

Our Christmas Eve party was a blast (figuratively and literally as the winds were insane Thursday evening). We were very happy everyone was able to make it despite the winter weather. Kevin and I stayed up to go to the midnight service at our church, and it was a moderate size group considering the weather was really getting bad outside.

Our table just waiting for guests to arrive (one of the two pictures that didn't end up deleted).

We stayed at our house Christmas Eve, and we opened presents together (just the two of us) after eating cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. Kevin got me a flatware chest to hold our formal flatware, a new rain shower head, the new Dan Brown book, the rest of our placemats that coordinate with our china, and a new wallet. I got him a pasta insert for our stockpot, new super cozy slippers he can wear outside, and Spanish wine.

Our original plan was to head out immediately after cleaning up Christmas morning to my parents' house in Council Grove. Unfortunately, they received significant snow accumulation, and the roads were considered impassable at the time I called. Thankfully, a few hours later we were able to make it up to see them.

Benton is LOVING all the ice and snow! His sweet little nose looks cold, though.

Saturday, we headed back to Wichita to spend time with Kevin's maternal grandparents and extended family, and we had the Reynolds' Christmas on Sunday. It was so wonderful to see everyone, and we truly had a Merry Christmas!

A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

We FINALLY were able to put our Christmas tree in our living room last night! Kevin and I decided to do a living Christmas tree this year that we could then plant in our yard after Christmas because we currently have no trees in our yard. We discovered that they are only good in houses for a little less than a week. So, it was super exciting last night when we finally brought the tree in to decorate.


Ok, I realize this tree does NOT look like a traditional Christmas tree. While we were at the nursery, we were pricing living evergreens (starting in the mid 150's). We knew that we would be putting an evergreen in our backyard, and the salesperson we were working with suggested a deciduous tree that we would put in our front yard. We rolled our eyes for a minute, and then the idea started sounding better. If we were to spend that amount of money, we might as well get a tree that we REALLY wanted for our yard. We decided that a memory of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree might be fun for our first Christmas as a married couple. So, here is our Autumn Blaze maple in all of its glory!

The stockings were hung on the chimney with care...

I had to get a bit creative with some of my favorite ornaments (they match some of our china accent plates!) since our tree was obviously not able to handle them all.
Our bear family watching for snoops!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Day 3 of Holiday Baking

Today, I went with a classic. You just can't go wrong with chocolate chip cookies. This will be the last of the cookies for Holiday Baking Week, however there are still more recipes of other delightful desserts to try. I would LOVE to bake sugar cookies, but rolling gluten-free dough is a hassle I'd rather not experience this week.


As of right now, I think the snickerdoodles may be the pick for Santa's cookies. The chocolate chip is certainly good, but I think the snickerdoodles are a bit more festive.

Day 2 of Holiday Goodies

Today I went with a quicker recipe since I had to run errands all day. First I had a fasting blood test (yay, not), then I had to go to several different stores for Paella ingredients. After lunch, Benton got his Mini MakeRover (fur fluff, nails done, holiday spritz of gingerbread, foot fur trim).

The white chocolate pretzels are really yummy, and I sent a picture to Kevin to let him see what goodies I made today. We're excited when family will get here to help us eat all of our treats!

Holiday Baking Day 1

Today was the first holiday baking day of the season for us! We used Kevin's family snickerdoodle recipe, and they turned out great! We'll have to wait and see if this is the cookie of choice for Santa on Thursday evening...stay tuned!

A love letter

Dearest Hobby Lobby,

Thank you for having absolutely everything I still need for Christmas 50% off. You never fool around with your sales, and I appreciate how you never play games. Trust and honesty are so important in a relationship, and I trust you. You have quality items, and I think I have finally found the "one" (store, that is). We truly deserve one another.

Love always,
Deb "the one who was racing down aisles with a smile and a hint of tears" Reynolds

Pizza

Today, I had a serious pizza craving. Ever since I was diagnosed with Celiac and unable to eat gluten, pizza is the food that I just have to have from time to time. I'm not entirely sure why because it wasn't really a staple in our house growing up. Even in college, I was nowhere near as excited about pizza as I am now. I have a handful of times slipped intentionally and had regular pizza. However, it just isn't worth the 48 hours of intense stomach cramping, lethargy, and cognitive drowsiness, especially when I have an important job interview tomorrow.

My obsession with pizza after diagnosis was significantly reduced about a year ago when Manhattan's Lemmy's Pizzeria started offering gluten-free pizza. Kansas City has a handful of options as well that surfaced in that time. However, there is NO place in Wichita to order gluten-free pizza, which has made the cravings come back. Usually when I want it, it's more of an impulse than wanting to spend time to make it, which we've done a few times as well.

Today, though, I was happy to see that our closest Dillons carries frozen Amy's personal size cheese gluten-free pizza. I added some peperoni and extra mozzarella to it.

It turned out great in under 15 minutes! Yummy!

Fun to prep

A few days ago, I had fun figuring out which pieces of china, serveware, crystal, etc., to use for our Christmas Eve party. Kevin is making his famous paella, and I'm helping with the flan and side dishes. I really enjoyed getting our Snowflake Wilton Armetale pieces out for the first time! The platter we are planning to use also for cookies for santa.


The winning combination of china pieces and linens.We are mixing our wedding china with Kate Spade Library Lane Aqua china I had previously to make it whimsical, and we also didn't have enough to use just our wedding china. The Kate Spade I received as presents when it was being discontinued, and I really liked it. My Grandmother Murphy was a huge fan of china and crystal, and I'm not even sure how many sets she had! I'm pretty sure I got my love of fine dinnerware from her, although even my Mom has 24 place settings of china!

Christmas is getting so close! Kevin and I are so excited to share our first very married Christmas!

Vote for Benton

Benton is a contestant for Hallmark's cutest dog of the season. He could use your vote!



Vote for Benton as the cutest dog of the holiday season at Hallmark! Click here!

Silent Afternoon

I found out a very useful piece of information this afternoon. Benton is soothed by slow Christmas music, and his favorite is Silent Night. He had been quite restless after a walk, really all morning, and I played some Christmas music. It didn't really make a difference until Silent Night came on. He was practically in a coma. So, I played it by different artists. He is in a deep sleep. Yes, it could be a coincidence, but I like to think my fur baby is enjoying his Christmas season. :)

Shhhh! It's a surprise!

I got these at a local bakery this afternoon!

Three years ago today...

Kevin and I had our first date three years ago on December 2, 2006. We had agreed to go have a glass of wine at 4 Olives. The funny part was, Kevin had decided to make a meatloaf that night for his dinner (we were meeting up after dinner). I didn't realize at the time exactly how long his recipe took, so for part of the time I was worried he had changed his mind since he was supposed to call after he had finished. I called 4 Olives to find out how late they stayed open, and I was thankful to hear 11pm. At 10pm, Kevin finally called! I had debated about changing into my pajamas earlier, and I was happy I hadn't. We love to make that meatloaf now because it is such a funny memory. I can attest to the fact that it does take awhile! It's amazing if you need a good recipe!
At the UMCM house before Christmas break


Good Eats Meatloaf


We ended up having a wonderful time! I was intentionally VERY slow with my glass of white zinfandel to make sure to have an excuse to stay longer. Thankfully, the head football coach at the time at KSU (Ron Prince and his wife Zoe) came in after us to have dinner, and the restaurant ended up not kicking everyone out until almost midnight.

Making dinner for New Year's Eve at the UMCM house 2006


After leaving 4 Olives, we went to my house to watch a movie because we both didn't want the night to end yet. I'm not even sure what the movie was because we talked through the entire thing! The next few weeks were filled with opportunities to hang out together: Kevin made Spanish tortilla for me (an egg and potato dish similar to an omelette but meant for dinner), I made lasagna for him at my house, we went to Aggieville with friends a few times, and he made paella at my house for a bunch of our friends who hadn't yet met (who ended up getting along like they had known each other for years!).Our friend, Claire Lindh, took pictures of us for my 22nd birthday April 25, 2007


On December 15, the day before Kevin had to leave for Olathe for Christmas break, we both decided that it was "official" that we were a couple. We had only phone conversations for the next couple of weeks, but we certainly had plenty to talk about!

Two years ago today on December 2, 2007...

Kevin proposed. The rest, as they say, is history.

My feelings exactly

It is really cold and windy here today. I think Benton has the right idea.