A (very short) Lesson in Humility

I am very competitive.

I usually try to mask this fact by being a generous loser and not gloating when I do win.  Truthfully though, I hate to lose and I love to win.  Well, I've learned that God has a sense of humor about that kind of thing and so, of course, my husband is naturally an expert at any game he plays.

I am truly amazed at how brilliant of a strategist My Mr. is, somehow his mind is always able to think two, five, or even twenty steps ahead of me and pretty much everyone he plays with.  In fact, most of his family refuses to play games of strategy with him because they're so tired of losing.  Well, then I come along with my passive aggressive competitive drive thinking, "I pretty much win all the time against my family!  Yay!  A challenge!"

...

And then a lesson on humility for probably the rest of my gaming career... or for the rest of my life, whichever comes first.  

For the (almost) two years My Mr. and I have been gaming together he's beaten me most of the time.  It depends somewhat on what game we're playing, but for the most part he wins, and I'm learning to be okay with that.  In fact, I still enjoy playing whatever it is we play just because I'm hanging out with him.  I'm learning to lose and to be ok with it; here I am thinking about how much I've grown and how nice it is to not care so much about winning.

Then we started playing Dominion.

I'm basically in love with this game.

We got it on Wednesday and we've already played it so much the cards look worn.  We play while having breakfast, we play while watching a movie, we play if he has an hour free before work... seriously, this is what we do with games!

Anyways, I cannot win.  I've won twice in all the times we've played and both times were just barely a win (I think 7 pts ahead is my record right now).  When he wins he doesn't just win, he stomps me; it's not even a close game.  And it was ok.  You know, I've learned how to lose.  It makes me try harder next time and such, whatever. 

Today, he mercilessly, horribly, brutally creamed me. 

Needless to say there were some words after the game was finally over, then there were some apologies from both sides, and then we agreed to play again when he gets home.

And he agreed not to use that card combination on me again, thank goodness!

Such is the life of a gaming couple.  You play, you bicker, you make up, and you play again.

Kajo

Ever After

Yesterday My Mr. and I celebrated our six months of bliss.  Six months ago we stood together in my parents wooded back yard on top of Serenity Hill.  Surrounded by friends and family we said our vows with cracking voices and happy tears.  We kissed as man and wife just as the first rays of the sunset burst through the dappled leaves and lit the green forest with yellow brilliance. 

Truthfully, I don't remember much past that, just flashes here and there.  Mostly I remember laughter and music.  It was chilly, but I was so excited I hardly noticed.  There was dancing and cake, and a clambering bustle of happy faces.  I remember an absolute fog of unending bird seed, and then it was quiet and we were driving away down the long winding hill, marveling at how fast the night had passed.

Since then I've become more and more convinced that no two people more suited for one another than the two of us.  We have our flaws.  We fight, not often, but we do.  We fail each other and hurt one another, but we are so much more than our flaws.  He is my best friend, my favorite companion, the love of my whole life. 

Sometimes we spend our nights talking beside the fire about how much fun it would be to travel the world.  Sometimes we pull out board games, or play League of Legends late into the night.

We love to laugh together and we're there for each other when we're hurting.  We build each other up and push each other to grow.  We strive to understand that we're different people and we function differently so we'll sometimes do things that the other doesn't understand.  We're man and woman.  We're fundamentally different and it's often a struggle to figure each other out, so we try to be very plain with each other when expressing ourselves.  Sometimes we simply say, "I don't know why I'm upset, but I am," and then we talk about it. 

I love married life.  I know it won't always be easy.  We'll have hardships and trials, but we've got each other and we have a gracious, loving God.

Hallelujah for six months of bliss! :)

Kajo

 

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

I'm pleased to FINALLY announce that the Lovecraftian Cloches I've been working on this winter are finally going up in the shop today! :) Hooray!

Here's a sneak peak at what will be in the shop later this evening:

Darkness Comes - Lovecraftian Cloche - $30.00

Misty Doom - Lovecraftian Cloche - $30.00



From the Depths - Lovecraftian Cloche - $30.00




Well, that's all for now!  Look for these lovelies and more at: www.kbspaddywacks.etsy.com

Kajo

The Blueberry Muffins? A case in poor product packaging and cooking instructions

I love blueberry muffins.  I almost never allow myself to make or buy them because I'm constantly in danger of switching my entire diet to consist solely of those delicious little baked lumps of heaven.   This week, however, as I was strolling the baking aisle looking for some vanilla extract, I passed a little packaging of pre-made blueberry muffin mix for $1...and I couldn't resist. 

Just add water?  I can do that!  Blueberry goodness, here I come!

Well, my husband and I had a pretty late night last night playing Dead of Winter, a zombie survival board game, with my brother-in-law.   If you're a total geek like us and you like both The Walking Dead and ridiculously complicated, fantastically exciting board games you should really look it up.  It's addicting.  Anyways, back to the story at hand!  We had a late night and I can't sleep in much, no matter how late I'm up, so this morning I woke up and immediately thought, "Oh! Muffins!"

Little did I know...

I'm really not a great cook.  I want to be, but I always have to follow the directions for just about everything I cook.  So, I whipped out this little bag of mix and started looking for instructions.

Ah, here we go!

Ok, so, I need 1/2 cup of water... Wait, where does it tell me how much mix to use?  Oh, Ok, I guess I can just look at the serving size, right?  1/4 cup mix.  That seems like an awful lot of water for only 1/4 cup mix, but I trust you, Betty Crocker.

Um... no.

This is clearly wrong.  These muffins are not only so watery I can basically see through them, but when I was pouring them into the tin all of the "blueberries" ended up in the top left muffin.  -.-
Betty Crocker, seriously?  Also, those pellets are not blueberries.

For kicks and giggles I baked them anyway, for the suggested amount of time.

So... Delicious?
(Note only one muffin has "blueberries")

Well, clearly that didn't work.  So, in order to get my fix and have some actually edible muffins, I fixed the ratio from 1/2 water: 1/4 mix... to the exact opposite.  Guess what!

They came out perfect!

As a side note, the packaging very considerately warns:

"Do not eat raw muffin batter"

Well, sorry, Betty Crocker, but you also told me to bake the worst muffins ever.  I'll take my chances.

Don't tell me what to do! 

Sorry for the terrifying picture, my morning has only consisted of making "muffins" and blogging so I haven't tried to tame the raging sea that is my hair yet.

And now it's time for tea and muffins.

kaJo


 

Dream Home

My Mr. and I often discuss the house we will eventually build together.  It's mostly hypothetical, fantastic ideas left unbridled by the restraint of finances but, in reality, we have a secret understanding of which suggestions are too big for our dream house unless some financial miracle takes place. 

We dream of vast stone fireplaces and exposed beams in the ceiling of our vaulted living room.  Of course, our living room comes complete with cat-walk that leads to a small reading nook in the large second-story window which looks out across the wooded drive leading up to the house.  Our house is secluded, but not out of the way, friends come by often to spend late nights in our game room laughing, adventuring, and rummaging through our walk-in closet full of the most wonderful board games, cards games, and video games imaginable for we are the most happy when we are at our nerdiest.  There is a table against one wall with five seats at it, this is where we play League until the early morning hours.

Upstairs there is a library with floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with leather bound books we've collected over the years. There's a fireplace, of course, and a cushioned window seat between two tall, dark shelves.  This is the room for snowy days when you want to stay warm and be whisked away from it all.  There's even a rolling ladder on the far wall, like the one in Beauty and the Beast, so vertically challenged people, like myself, can reach any book their heart desires.

The kitchen is grand.  Marble counter tops, floors of stone and wood together, industrial piping snakes out of here and there providing towel racks, shelving, or just ambiance.  The kitchen feels like the heart of the house.  It's heavy and bright all at once.  A large window above the sink looks out into the little orchard behind our dream house where a bear of a dog sleeps in the shade of the trees.  In my dream house another large, sleeping dog lies in the corner of our kitchen on a mat we've placed there for him; he's not allowed inside... but I break that rule often because I enjoy his company.

In our dream house, the stairs are carpeted (in spite of my protesting) because little feet travel them often and old dogs can make the climb to sleep in the arms of a little one after a bad dream. 

Often our bed is full by day break in the dream house.  Little bodies crowd between My Mr. and me, and the dog, who's sneaked in during the night, is snoring soundly from the foot of the bed.  Our room is bright and warm and full of giggles. 

The dream house is busy.  There's always someone bustling or scurrying or dancing; it's a good kind of busy.  There's a small barn out back for a little herd of sheep and a chicken coop beside that.  Even on frosty mornings I wander out to greet my little friends and feed them.  There's a spinning wheel in the living room beside the fireplace.  In the spring I spend most of my time in the shed cleaning wool, getting it ready to be spun, and the rest of my time is spent up to my elbows in dirt planting this years gardens.  During the summer I always have purple fingers and a clothesline of rainbows strung up across the yard.  Inside, the kitchen is steamy and sticky with jams, juices, and jellies being canned.  In the fall, our pantry starts to fill up with canned goods from the garden and the kitchen now always smells of cinnamon and cloves.  In the evenings there's almost always some kind of bread being made and the delicious scent fills the house with a warm, comforting tone.  Winter is spent beside the fires or kicking off the drifts from snow-caked boots while tossing the damp, homemade scarves, hats, and socks into our simple laundry room to be cared for later.  There's always hot chocolate in the winter.  My Mr. makes the best hot chocolate and there are always little fingers, red from the snow, warming themselves against the mug as he sneaks them another marshmallow and warns them, with a wink, not to tell.

In the dream house, there are walls covered in pictures.  Smiling faces, past vacations to strange new places, friends, family, old, new.  There are drawings and doodles and crafts strung up in every room; creativity comes naturally there.  There's a craft room, in our dream house, with a rainbow wall of yarn.  It's as if all the colors or textures of yarn you could dream of can be found on that wall.  There's a loom in the corner and mannequins here and there dressed in costumes and armors from past cosplays.  The craft room is hap-hazardly organized because one can, almost certainly, never keep up with all the projects going on in the dream house. 

There's a patio out back, with a stone fire pit built in, and a grill.  We spend every night during the summer there.  There's a tree house, just far enough into the tree-line that it feels secretive, but close enough that little ears can hear the call for dinner even from their magical worlds far away.  A hammock is strung between two trees not far from the patio and when you lie there you can drift into daydream with the sound of the wind in the leaves.  There is serenity in the evening breeze at the dream house.

The couch cushions are often rearranged, in our dream house, into tents or castles or even shields.  Pillows become swords and blankets are reimagined as capes, dresses, and even sleds.  Giggles fill our home as My Mr. drags little souls around the scarred wooden floors on their quilted bob-sleds.

There is always music.  Always.  Whether it's My Mr. gaily playing a rag-time Fur Elise, or little fingers plinking at the keys in a music only they can understand, or a classic Mo-Town mix playing through the house speakers, or lullabies whispered to a little one, there is always music.  As often as there is music there is dancing.  Little toes on the tips of My Mr.'s shoes, boogying to our favorite tunes, practicing for a recital, or just to express wordless emotions. 

We dream often of our future home and the life we have ahead of us.  Perhaps it's not so much a dream of the structure we'll build from wood, nails, and brick but a dream of the home we'll create for each other and the ones we love.

kaJo

Deck the Halls

This Christmas is vastly different.  Not bad different, but it does take some getting used to.  My Mr. and I are very happily decorating the few small things in our home that can be decorated and sneaking presents around the house so the other doesn't see them.  It's fun and it's led to a lot of creativity.  For example:

This is our Christmas tree.  It's branches I found at the Farm and strung together with wire decorated with odds and ends. 

This is the first ornament we bought together last January on a ski trip.

I love foxes, so my littlest brother, Gizmo, painted an ornament for my tree.  It says "I love you" on the back in his handwriting.

These little bears were a wedding gift from one of my cousin's little girls.

 I think this is why I've always loved the Christmas trees in our family.  Ever since I was little mom would buy each of the kids a new ornament every Christmas to help us remember the special things that happened throughout the year. And then, every year, we'd unpack the old ornaments and hang them all up as a family.  It was like unpacking years of memories and holding them in your hands again.  I'd pull out a Tangled ornament and remember The Perfect Thanksgiving (a tale for another day), a little dancing fairy for the days spent playing in the woods,  a silver plaque for a lost dog, an octopus for the start of my blog. 

Our tree is simple, colorful, and already full of love and memories even though it's only our first Christmas.  This year is tough, different, and exciting.  We don't have an ornament for it yet, but whatever it is has a lot to reflect because this year has been a handful.  We're spending the winter in our living room and kitchen because this house has too many rooms and it would be silly to heat them all and I'm loving it.  Last night we made a pallet in front of the fireplace and cuddled while we watched Friends.  This morning has been spent in our PJs playing League, sipping hot tea, and trying to rest-the-heck out of our colds.  The night before we were up until 4:00 a.m. telling stories from our childhood and laughing together. 

In sickness and in health
In wealth or poverty
Now and forever.

Life is beautiful.

Merry Christmas,

kaJo

Bump in the Night

I'm a fan of horror stories.  Not exactly an avid fan, but I do enjoy the occasional spook or scare from time to time, even if the good ones are getting harder and harder to find.  One of my favorite shows of all time is The X-Files and I've seen classics like The Ring, The Grudge -- both the English and Japanese versions of each -- and numerous other horror films.  I'm a fan of H. P. Lovecraft's work and I'm especially fond of playing scary video games with my dad. 

All of that to say, I don't think I scary terribly easily.  Sure, there have been a few times in my childhood and even into early adulthood that I've slept with the light on (just in case) but in general I'm hard to scare.  Just ask my brother, Nails, over the years he's tried to scare me, mostly by jumping out at me at random times.  He's only succeeded twice over the course of almost ten years.  One of those times he deeply regrets because it came during finals week when tensions high and he got an earful for it.

Now, all of that to say there is one film I've seen that still haunts me enough that my husband basically won't let anyone even talk about it around me anymore.  It's just called Lights Out.  I won't even post a link to it here because I want to spare you all the terror and myself the nightmares from just seeing the screen-shot of it.  Here's my advice should you decide against my warning to look it up:

1. Watch it during the day.
2. Watch it with someone.
3. Don't actually watch it cause it's awful.

It's a two minute video.  Two minutes!  Maybe two and a half and I could not sleep with the lights off for about two months after seeing it and I'm not even embarrassed by that cause I'm still scared of it.

Okay, that's about enough background, because really this post it just to say that this is the conversation My Mr. and I just had:

Me: I don't like things that shouldn't be. Because if they are then I have no idea how to fight it or protect myself.  Like the thing in Lights Out.

My Mr.: Yeah...I watched another film by those people...

Me:  No! Why?!  I can't ever see that.

My Mr.: Yeah.  It was worse.

Me (this was the part where I started to actually almost tear up... no joke): What?  How?

My Mr.: I won't describe it at all, but it's actually bothered me for the past few nights.  Like, it didn't exactly scare me because I know it's not real, but when I lay down I find myself thinking about it.


And that's how I became afraid of a video clip floating around on the internet that I've never seen and I don't know anything about other than the title.  I'm not going to share it here because I want to spare anyone who might go looking for it because it apparently spooked my husband who I'm pretty sure isn't afraid of anything. 

Yeah.  Okay.

Sweet dreams!

kaJo