Will You Be My Neighbor?!

Tim and I had wonderful neighbors in Lubbock! We were front yard neighbors. Meaning, we would all spend time in our front yards instead of our backyards so we could hang out together. We played basketball, planted flowers together, exchanged baked goods at Christmas, invited them to our wedding, and were invited to a quinceanera. Once after a long trip, Tim and I returned home to find our yard nicely edged and our flowers watered. Tim and I had wonderful neighbors in Lubbock!

As we were moving to the big city, we had many conversations wondering what our neighbors would be like. I was excited to get to know them and excited about building relationships with them like the ones we had in Lubbock. I wondered if they would come by as we were moving in. We could show them around the house and introduce them to our families. However, things did not turn out the way I had imagined. We have lived here 2 months and 12 days, and I still do not know my neighbors names. No one came by when we were moving in, no one introduced themselves, and no one hangs out in their front yard.

This has all been very disappointing to me; however, I have recently been convicted to stop pouting about it and introduce myself. Even though I am the new girl, that does not mean I am exempted from making an effort. So I am challenging myself, and I would like to challenge you, to get to know the neighbors. This truly can be a challenge. It can be awkward and bring up a lot of middle school insecurities, but it is well worth it when friendships begin to grow. I am going to begin this challenge by baking some cookies. Cookies always help break the ice! Now that I'm thinking about it, I think banana bread broke the ice in Lubbock. 

MaMa's Supreme Pound Cake

This weekend was my daddy's birthday. In order to celebrate, my mom's whole side of the family got together. Ha!

Now let's back track a little... I had gallbladder surgery earlier this year. When you have a body part removed, people like to feed you. I was all about this because prior to the surgery everything I ate made me sick...hence the gallbladder being removed. My parents, Tim, and sister-in-law also benefited from all of the feeding. In the mounds of food, there was 1 small bundt cake. Daddy used his keen senses, sniffed out the cake, and ate a piece every chance he got. It ended up that this was not just any ordinary bundt cake. This bundt cake happened to resemble the bundt cakes his grandmother, MaMa, used to make. With every bite of the bundt cake, he had stories about MaMa and reminisced about the many cakes they ate together.

For Daddy's birthday, I decided to do some detective work and ask nicely for the recipe to this cake.  MaMa's daugther, my MeMa (confused yet?), graciously handed the recipe over and the cake baking commenced. It was delicious!

This is my daddy. Happy birthday Daddy!

The recipe from MeMa. Oh, how I love that handwriting!

Most of the ingredients. Those not in the photo: sugar, milk, flour, and water.

Cream butter, shortening, and sugar well.

I do not think my life truly began before I had a Kitchenaid hand mixer.
Go get one right now if you do not already have one!!!!!

Add eggs, beating well after each.

Add coconut and rum flavoring.

In separate bowl, add flour, salt, and baking powder.

Mix milk and flour mixture alternatively into cream mixture.

Yummy! I may have licked the spoon! :)

Now, it's time to spray the bundt pan. I want everyone to experience the greatness that is Baker's Joy.
This stuff is a life and sanity saver. I will not go into detail about the cake I completely destroyed my first Christmas with the in-laws due to not using Baker's Joy. Don't put yourself thru the misery...just go get Baker's Joy.
Okay, I'll get off my soap box. 

Spray every last inch of your bundt pan with Baker's Joy. You cannot use too much of this stuff!

Ahh...pretty!

Trying not to leave any evidence.

Let's just take a moment to marvel at the fact that this cake is  not missing any parts. If you didn't get the hint before,
GO BUY BAKER'S JOY!!!

Now it's time for the glaze!

Mix water and sugar. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. of almond extract.

Brush water mixture over cake until all has soaked in.
The cake will turn much darker and remain that way.

Enjoy!

Supreme Pound Cake

Bake at 325 for 1.5 hours

Cake Ingredients

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 cup milk

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp coconut extract

1 tsp rum flavoring

Instructions for Cake

Grease bundt pan with Baker's Joy. Cream butter, shortening, and sugar well. Add eggs, beating well after each. Add flavoring. Add flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Alternate flour mixture and milk into cream mixture. Mix well. Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 1.5 hours or until the cake starts pulling back from sides of pan.

Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. almond extract

Instructions for Glaze

Mix water and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. of almond extract. Brush over hot cake until it has all soaked in.

Serve hot or cool.

The Rent House

Tim and I love looking at houses. After Tim's first interview, I became a crazy woman on a mission and began looking at houses online. That night at dinner, I confessed my premature house hunting to Tim. He sheepishly admitted that he had done the same. Consequently, we have chosen houses in Memphis, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas, Amarillo, and Dumas. It was fun to look and dream. But the real challenge was finding the house we would actually be living in. 

Tim has astounding Craigslist skills...it should be an Olympic sport...he would get the gold! So, believe it or not, we found our rent house on Craigslist. After 2 weeks of scouring every "for rent by owner" website, calling realtors, and trying to familiarize ourselves with the area we would be living, we made a fast and furious trip to the big city. In less than 24 hours, we looked at 10 houses, called about a half dozen more, scoured Craigslist some more, and signed a lease on our Home Sweet Craigslist Home. 

Then the real fun started...moving! Despite this being my 27th house, moving is still quite the chore. We are forever indebted to our friends and family that helped with this great feat. 

Let the nightmare begin!

Don't be fooled by the books on the shelves...this room was the worst.

Oh the horror! Oh the work that is ahead of us!

Now this is looking a little better. Bless my mother's saintly soul. She unpacked our entire kitchen!

The Engineer's Wife

The Engineer's Wife... The Engineer's Wife...all of my feminist friends cringe as I type these words. Has she lost her identity completely? Does she remember that once upon a time she had an identity without a man? What does her poor future hold? Dear friends, rest assure...I very much know who I am. I am a child of God. I am a believer. I am a daughter, sister, aunt. I am a friend. I am a scholar (that's for you, Erika). I am an advocate for the lost, abused, and depressed. I am a gardener. I am a cook. I am a quilter. I am a new resident of a very large city. And...I am an engineer's wife. These last 2 things are the very things that are most new to me. The 2 things I have had the least amount of practice with. The 2 things that lead me to writing this blog.

Come with me on this journey of discovering big city life and the adventure of being the wife of an engineer.