I want in on the fun....

I found out about this fun swap on Jeannie's blog, and I am hoping to be a part of the fun.

A Contest to Good to Resist

M and I LOVE Pace Picante Sauce, so when I saw the giveaway that $5 Dollar Dinners was hosting, I knew I had to enter. Pace has agreeded to give the winner 5 of their speciality sauces and a cookbook. Want to enter?  Go here

Wordless Wednesday - His & Hers

Try This Recipe Tuesday

M and I love to eat - we take great joy in our food. Perhaps it is the fact that we come from families where family gathering often centered around food. M's family always shares Sunday lunch together (although we call dinner down here in the South)at his Meme's. My family has a tradition of getting together at my Aunt Gail's every Thanksgiving. At that meal, I know to look for certain dishes - Aunt Cheryl's Bannana Split Cake, Mema's Apple Salad, Aunt Joy's Shrimp and Rice, Aunt Gail's "dressing" (aka stuffing). Food is a huge part of our heritage, but unforutnately the food that we grew up eating (and loving) is not necessarily the healthiest. M and I have committed to try and live a healthier lifestyle and the largest component of that will be eating better.

In the 2 months since our wedding, we have eaten healthier, but I find we are eating the same things over and over again. Chicken salads, turkey burgers, stir-fry dishes - all healthy, all delicious - but my tastebuds are getting a bit bored. So in order to spice up our kitchen (and the blog), I have deemed Tuesdays "Try This Receipe" Tuesday. M and I will comb thru the myriad of food blogs, receipes sites and cookbooks we own to find a "new to us" receipe. We will then preare that meal, and I'll showcase the experience with pics and our thoughts right here.

If you my readers, have any contributions to make to "Try This Receipe Tuesday" you can either e-mail me or leave it as a comment.

Made Me Smile Monday

Mondays are notrosiouly busy days for me. And more often than not, they are the days where anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. This usually leads to a Kim (or a M) who is grouchy, short-tempered, and all together not too much fun to be around. So in an effort to combat this, each Monday I (or M if I can convince him to join the blogging world) will post 5 things that made us smile. Perhaps if we focus on the positive then our attitudes will shift to the positive.

The Question M and I are asked most....

When are you going to have children?

 

 

People started asking this question within hours...okay maybe days.... of M proposing to me. While I was still trying to process that fact that I was going to get married and become someone's wife- riends, family, church members, and even random strangers wanted to know when I was going to create another life and jump feet (or head) first into motherhood. M and I managed to downplay the question during the wedding planning process, but once we got back from the honeymoon the questions started again. 

 

I suppose that a lot of it centers on the innate human inquisitiveness.....or in our town the fact that people are just plain nosey. Perhaps it is the fact that M and I got married later than many of our local friends and acquaintances.  M's brother and sister-in-law married in their early twenties, and most of the my high school friends married within a few years of graduation.  But in the realm of my college friends, I am the first to get married --- the others are not in serious relationships, and for a few of them they have no desire to rush down the altar.

 

M and I do want children. We love our role as Aunt and Uncle to our 2 nieces, 2 nephews, and the 1 that is on the way. And we can't wait to hold our on child in our arms, but why does it seem that people want us to do right this very second.  M and I think it would be better to take time to adjust to being a married couple and living together, before we add another human into the mix.  Reading over that last sentence, I wonder if that sounds callous or selfish - it is not intended to be.  M and I know that we will be better parents if we our stronger as man and wife.

 

Does that mean we don't know when we are going to start our family?  Not at all.  I am nothing if not a planner by nature. You who followed me thru the wedding process know that I like to outline my options, formulate a timeline, and work towards the goal. And in some sense, we've done that for our family but it is a little more organic.  I've have been on birth control since January as to ensure that we did not return from our honeymoon with more than dirty laundry.  But I am one of those woman who does not respond well to birth control - four brands in five months - and I am still getting sick every time I take the pill, along with other side effects that are bit too personal to share here.  After much discussion, M and I decided that on our 3 month anniversary, I would come off the pill, and we will being to just the natural family planning method for pregnancy prevention.  While NFP may not be full proof, the research I've read proves it can be used effectively if done diligently - and trust me I'll be diligent.  At Christmas, M and I will reevaluate our situation and decide them if we want to start trying for a baby, if we are not ready -- we will give it another 3 months, and reevaluate things on our 1 year anniversary.  We won't get obsessive about having a baby until we have gone a full 2 years without any luck.....and God willing, we won't have that bridge to cross.

 

So there it is, the question we are asked most, our responses, and our plan for starting a family. I apologize if this is more than you wanted to know, but I felt like it was a time in our lives that needed to be recorded and captured.

Scratches, Brusies and Scars

My legs look like I've either been beaten or in a really bad fight. But I haven't.....it just means M and I have been doing a lot of "mountain biking" since our purchase last weekend. I should say that I live in south Georgia, which isn't home to a single mountain. But we've got hills - and 60 plus acres of woods/farm land to explore. And we have been exploring it quite a bit.  I've been able to enjoy nature's beauty - and on occasion it's more vicious side - think tangling with a thorn thicket.

 

But I've loved every minute of it - my quads have other opinions - and can't wait for this rain to go away so I can go out again. :-)