Cooking with Joy!

Every afternoon when I begin to get dinner started, I am overcome with joy at the simplicity of preparing dinner for my family.  Much of this has to do with the fact that for the first one and a half years of my cooking life (when we first were married because let's be honest, I never cooked before that unless you count heating up frozen food or putting together salads and sandwiches...), I would come home from work around 5:30 or 6 PM (and if I made it back earlier, would somehow find myself online working or on the phone working) and after merely changing out of stiff work clothes and heels, not even having the time to take a breather and watch any television, I'd be getting dinner ready.  I never thought much of it, especially considering the 5:30 or 6 PM end of work day was a surprisingly welcome change compared to the unpredictable work schedule I held as an auditor prior to that.  When I was in that role, I never really stopped to think of the co-workers I had who had families who probably wanted very much to leave in time for dinner.  I guess I was in my own little bubble of... go work out, grab a bite to eat from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or eat something frozen I had at home... or alternatively, work and then eat on the man.  I was okay with the latter most of the time but I tried to dutifully respect others who wanted to leave work to sit in traffic for an hour at 5 PM and wondered if they ever made it home in time for dinner.  *shrug

Because of the gratitude I felt for being off earlier than most of my peers still in audit, I just sucked it up and tried to halt my hunger while I made an effort to do the chore of cooking dinner.  I guess in a way, I dreaded it a bit.. but I couldn't help but think I was still lucky compared to those still working.  I did secretly wonder how any woman could revel in joy of domesticity when it was after a long day of work (and there are women out there who do, but I am not one of them).

I often wondered why people liked cooking at all.  I much preferred buying something and handing it to the professionals to get it right.  I enjoyed savoring the taste so delicate and scrumptious that attempting to imitate it would just result in disappointment and waste of time on my part.  But even at work, there were those who loved coming in with baked goods for all of us.  I wondered often, but then again, eating their delicious product was a much better use of my time than wondering...

Now that I'm working part-time from home and with Jordan for most of the day, I have the luxury of planning out our weekly menus, thinking of recipes I'd like to try from Pinterest and elsewhere, and then cooking it without the time pressure I felt when I was tired, hungry, and trying to get it done asap.  I often fail and some of the stuff I make it quite disgusting, but Andy willingly tries it and I have been encouraged to keep on trucking.  I've had a few successes here and there and I'm learning.. slowly, but surely!  Lately, I've been having so much fun with it.. I even tried baking.  *gasp!  I of course failed in every way possible, but hopefully with my next effort, things will get better.  I still don't know how I can mess up a basic cookie recipe, but it's never consistent and it's really a hit or miss when I do it.

Needless to say, I am finding joy in cooking.  I never thought I would, but I have and it's much better when I enjoy it and do it versus when I don't and do it.  Seems simple enough, but I seem to forget that when I'm wrapped up in errands and tasks and just don't have the energy to be of good cheer.

Side note... I have begun to capitalize on YouTube tutorials.

I had a palette from MAC Cosmetics with only one eyeshadow tin because when I bought it, I assumed I could transfer the other two pots of eye shadow I had easily.  To my dismay, they were glued down and impossible to remove.  Or so they told me (evil conniving make-up people in black).  I used some make-up to distract Jordan while he was on the diaper pad, and then got to thinking if I should just exchange the full eyeshadow pots for a free lipstick (because of MAC's Mac Back program - 6 containers in exchange for lipstick or gloss).  But a quick google search got me a video teaching me to remove part of the pot with a tweezer, and then put the remaining plastic and tin part on a piece of foil, on a flat iron, and then removing the tin pot from the plastic pot with a needle.  I easily removed two of the eyeshadows from the pots I had and plopped 'em into my near empty palette, and now I have 6 used MAC containers to trade in!  I was esctatic to learn this, especially since I rarely use any of the make-up I have but really liked the one MAC lipstick I did have (which after five years.. is all gone!) Who knows how much longer it would have taken me to use all that eye shadow.. it's hardly got a dent in it.  Maybe I will begin putting eye shadow on everyday... err, too much effort, I'll work on showering everyday first.  

I also YouTubed how to wrap wontons.  I had learned from my mother-in-law about a year ago and had instructions from the package, but somehow, they were just so ugly and I couldn't recall how May had done it before.  So after a plate of uglies, I decided to do a quick YouTube search.  I  quickly found instructions, followed them, and got really cute looking wontons with the remainder of my wonton skin and meat.  See... clear winner!

Immature... Kind Of

I've been thinking of wall art I want in our kitchen and everything I've browsed on Pinterest is really cute, really inspiring, and easy to do-it-yourself!

some fabric, a frame, old utensils, and some paint and this could be done in under $7

might be harder, but I kind of like it as a large print if I had a large wall to put it on in the kitchen (which I don't)

super cute, but kind of looks too similar to the wall art frames I'm going to have in the boys'/guest bathroom

The truth is, the above wall art designs are all kind of too mature and grown up for me.

Having only been in the kitchen for about three years, I feel like I am still a newbie.  I am not yet a connoisseur of fine tableware, dining or kitchenware for that matter (I told my sister-in-law we'd use paper plates for Thanksgiving since we had no fine china and she laughed and made Andy and I think twice about hosting Thanksgiving until we had proper china or someone to borrow it from).  I barely got a food scale for Christmas that I've only used twice so far.  I use my Vitamix for smoothies, soups, food processing, chicken shredding, and pretty much everything, and I only have one serving spoon and fork.  My nicest kitchen appliance besides the Vitamix is my Crate and Barrel ice cream scooper.  So you see.... the kitchen is not a place I fully feel comfortable nor do I really know how I want it to look, though the above ideas are a good place to start.

In reality... I wanted to put up prints more like this...

 Andy said "spork" was too far from Luke and that this wasn't funny.  

 He said this should have had "you lose sum" first.

 I had to explain to Andy that "YOLO" means "you only live once" - yeah, I'm way cooler than my hubs

 Andy just barely started eating sushi after we got married, so this is stretching it for him, he's more of a California roll and teriyaki kind of guy, but at least he indulges me when we go to my mom's friends' sushi place and get a TON of free yummy raw fish on the house.

 So maybe in the end, I will only have one of these hilarious but also kinda cheesy prints. And the wok may have to stay.  

but these are so much funnier and entertaining than the other boring ones.  Right..?!

In other news, thanks to the Adobe Photoshop my in-laws gave me for Christmas last year, I finally got around to doing something productive on it while we watched TV on Friday night.  

Here are my creations for the boys' bathroom, which will also be the guest bathroom.  At first, I wanted to go with a nautical theme, thinking that the colors would be light blue, navy blue, white, and red (perfect for when we have a daughter eventually)... but since we don't have much of a connection to nautical things besides me having been a Mariner at Dana Middle School and knowing how to chant the Mariners Ahoy cheer as a drill team member, it seemed a bit silly.  So instead, I decided to stick with the color motif and made these instead.   

They'll be put in white frames, am considering matting them if I feel they need more depth, and then we can keep our blue bathroom rugs, towels, and I'll just purchase some cute light blue hand towels and red ribbons to tie 'em together for the guests.  Yay!

Things To Do Before We Get To The Home

In college, looking for a job the fall before graduation (including recruiting schmoozing events, updating the resume, applying online, and attending all the pre-interview dinners, interviews, and making sure you have the right conservative accountant outfit of suit, closed toe shoes, and the right neutral make-up) was like having another class.  In medical school, applying for residency (including scheduling interviews, flights, hotels, and rental cars, paying for all the travel costs, saying good-bye to Andy for odd days here and there and single mommy'in it with Jordan) was like having another job.  In real life, trying to buy a home is like ... the worst.  It's a weird concoction of super fun obsessive hobby, really sad realization of how much real life costs, miscellaneous and overwhelming administrative assistant type of file accumulation and correspondence with your real estate agent, the mortgage professional, home inspectors, contractors, and title company, and intense excitement at the anticipation of having a place to call home for four years with a growing family.

This is what life has been for us for the last couple of weeks as it relates to the new home purchase.  

We made an offer with earnest money ($$) to show we meant it.  They came back with a counter.  We countered again. They said no and stuck to their original counter with a tiny more help with closing costs.  We accepted.  Then, we got their due diligence and ordered a home inspection ($$!) After that, we got contractors to quote us how much the work would be to get the house ready for us (add a laundry room upstairs and increase a rail that's too low).  We went back to the seller and asked for help ($$) with fixing some of the things the home inspection report came back with.  They came back and said, we'll help you with some of it.  We said... okay, sure... let's go on!  We then sent all our home loan requested documents to the mortgage professional.  This consisted of two years worth of W-2s, tax returns, last two months of our bank statements and pay stubs, and statements for our other mutual funds, 401ks, school loan documents, and school transcripts.  We then looked through four different home warranties to pick one, called the title company to confirm they had our information, and continually e-mailed the mortgage professional and our realtor, as well as bugging Andy's parents almost everyday about what to do about this or that.  They've made a few trips to take photos for us, and we continually consult with them on where exactly we should put our laundry room and other home things.  We feel very out of water and if there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that at least the next time we do this.. it might go a bit smoother and we might not be so lost.  We feel like the newbies who were struggling to open the stroller the first time we took newborn Jordan to Costco, unsure, a bit mortified, and laughing at our own ignorance along the way.  

Buying a home is not only expensive but also a lot of work, even before you get to the home!  We're excited though, and it's all going to be worth it (we hope!).  When the home stuff was a little too much, I complained to Andy about how it might be smarter to just rent.  He pointed out the advantages that I was overlooking... how it's a much better investment than rent (also cuz we're bad at investing our money and it literally just sits there), and how we'd have the luxury to do what we wanted on the walls and decorations and have it for four years.  So true.  So true.  My husband's so darn smart sometimes!  

And now, I should go to sleep... but of course I'm watching HGTV again.  Eek.  I really should stop now, but I feel like I am learning so much!  And since we have been going through the list of renovation we need to do immediately, would like to do eventually, and dream about doing someday, I know our priorities and know we cannot expect an HGTV home for our first home.  

I Need To Stop Watching HGTV

In anticipation of being a home owner soon, I've been watching a little too much HGTV.  And by a little too much, I mean WAY TOO MUCH.  As a result, I am a little too familiar with the following new terms, all of which we will not have in our first home.  Backsplash and open-concept.  Oh but how much I'd love to have some cute backsplash in my kitchen and an open-concept with the kitchen and living room.

How I wish so badly, we could have gotten together with the Property Brothers with our budget and my wants.  I would even be just as skeptical, if not more, than all the wives who always are incredulous about the worn down homes shown to them.  I would even be more dramatic and more angry when the costs went up (slightly) on the things we wanted and had to change last minute.  And I would be so grateful and overly excited after seeing the renovation that my face would be priceless, my gratitude endless, and my love for the new house would be infinite.  I'd be the perfect token Asian character on their show.  Sadly, our soon to be new house is on its way to closing and we won't be getting any makeover by Jonathan and Drew.  

I need to stop watching HGTV.

On another note, do you think in say ten or twenty years, everyone will be wanting a separate and closed off kitchen from the living room (opposite of the awesome current open-concept), brass lights, wood paneling, and vintage yellow colored appliances?

Excuse My Lack of Blogging

Lately, all my free time has been devoted to consolidating all our loan documents, creating a list of home renovations, talking with contractors, inspectors, our agent, the title representative, and thinking of cheap DIY decorating ideas, designing the layout of our den, the restroom, and the boys' room, and ranking in order of priority the many things I'd like to update in the home (both short and long term).  So excuse my lack of blogging which has fallen in priority ranking.  Here's what we've been doing per my iPhone, though I have also been lacking in that department.

 It was Grandma's birthday, so Jordan made her a card with sparkly letters.  

 Daddy built Jordan and Finn a fort!  It was amazing and that night, Jordan learned the word "up" as Finn kept asking if Andy could put it up again when they tore it down.  

 After three rebuilds, Andy got tired, but not these two boys! "Up! Up! Up!" they kept chanting. 

Jordan has this obsession with glasses.  He loves his lenseless frames, these above, aviators, white shades, you name it, he will put it on and thinks he is just so cool.  

Holy Cow, Owning a Home Is Expensive!

I'm suddenly having a waive of regret for my lavish spending in my single days (I'm being slightly sarcastic as I don't think I was that lavish).  But then again, there are things I could have been more frugal about.  There was one roommate I had who was so good with her money, within a year of working, she had enough to pay all cash for a car!  I always laughed at how careful she was being, but now I'm jealous.  All those dollars wasted on clothing not even in style anymore, purses that don't get used, and shoes that just sit in the closet.  All those toiletries, facial products, and make-up that was thrown away when I decluttered before our last move or still sit in my drawers somewhere for the hopes of one day using them.  The little things that really do add up.  *sigh.  I seriously can't believe how much owning a home is going to be!  I thought we had done quite well with our savings, but now not only is the down payment going to take a huge chunk, but all the work we must do before we can move in (and it's not much compared to some of the homes we were looking at) is going to cost us an arm and a leg!

First, we have the down payment.
Then, there is the home inspection.
Next, there is home insurance.
Oh, and don't forget we have to do some contract work to add a washer and dryer line which is currently estimated at around $12K!
And of course, there is the cost of the appliances (fridge, washer, and dryer)
Last, we will need some curtains or blinds, something to cover our windows that are all without cover.

Eek!

This is before any deco on our part, any DIY furniture additions, frames, cute welcome to our home but please take off your shoes signs, any wreaths, any closet lining, etc. And we had hoped to upgrade to a King bed but that may have to wait a few years.  

It's going to be a very interesting budgeting year.  I am playing around with our budget to see where we can scrimp and save, but it's not looking good.  Maybe we need to stop dining out once a week or budget our weekly outings at $15 or less for all three of us.  Every last bit seems to count now.  We are saving a bit from a week of vacation to LA that has been cancelled since I will be too far along with baby #2.  Anyone have tips on how to save money?

Onward we go!

Update: I took a hard look through our budget and actuals from prior year, and like any real finance person evaluating a budget and where to cut costs... we've made some decisions on where to cut down on the luxuries of our lives.

We are getting rid of our gym membership (and the free childcare and pool access that comes with it) because frankly, we never got out there as much as we wanted and I have become reacquainted with P90x and Bar Method DVDs, we are cutting our eating out budget to $45 a month which is about once a month or twice if we eat on the cheap and with coupons, our grocery budget to $300 (that one is going to be hard for me!), and our hobbies are down to $40 a month.  Those are the costs we can control the most, as for baby and household which is budgeted at $50 and $40 per month, that might be a bit hard to control or space out when there are good Costco diaper sales or we're out of toilet paper, but we'll have to make do and hope the other cuts we made are good enough.  It's tough living on a budget, but I hope it's worth it.

I've mentioned in the past that we try to live by the 10-20-70 rule, tithe 10%, save 20% and spend 70% and we actually have been pretty spot on, but the challenge will be keeping that up with the house purchase.  *big gulp... Hopefully our tax return will be good to us again.  Fingers crossed!