Is this real life?

I recently found an app on Pinterest, and I have to give it a go. Apparently, you select the items you have currently in your kitchen, and it gives you a recipe. Well I found one for yellow cake.... in a mug. In. The. Mircowave. 

It's 9:30 at night. I have to try this!

Here's my story.

You'll Need:
2 tbsp. Flour 
1.5 tbsp. Sugar 
1/4 tsp. Baking powder 
1/8 tsp. Salt 
2 tbsp. Milk 
3/4 tbsp. Oil 
1/4 tsp. Vanilla

Mix all the ingredients and microwave for about a minute and a half.

Oh my gosh, it actually worked. And this is the only bite I had. Hubbers annihilated it. 

Dear Dorm Friends. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!

Thank you, Pinterest. Thank you. 

With Love As Always, 

Courtney 

Reflections

There it is. That's the first meal I cooked for Jeremy when he got his first apartment. We were 22 years old, engaged, and completely clueless. I still lived on campus, but I very frequently went over to cook supper. I figured that with him not getting off work until 7, I had plenty of time to burn supper and start over. And I did, a lot.

That meal up there? That's tacos, canned corn, and a .79 7 minute rice pack. In the glasses? That's the most epic mixture of both orange and cherry kool-aid that you will ever experience. When I see this picture, I see extremely humble beginnings, two clueless kids hopelessly in love and tackling the world together, and yet I can pinpoint this exact moment as the start of my love of being in the kitchen. I think that's why I took the picture.

I've come a long way in the kitchen. First of all, I will never buy that rice again. It's terrible. We've graduated from kool-aid to water and milk (for health, not choice) and I very rarely make tacos like this anymore. I don't use as much processed food in our meals because I want to keep my family healthy.

I don't know why I feel like sharing this with you. I guess because I keep getting emails and comments about "I am impressed with your cooking!" and "I need to learn to cook!" Here's where I started! With a 15 minute taco recipe.

I do this blog for this reason. You can get there. Not just as a spouse or a homemaker, but in anything! In one year's time I've got from dorm-room microwave disaster to a wife, homemaker, and executive chef in the Ingle household. Small beginnings my friends, small beginnings.

Love, as always,
Courtney

Oh Right... I'm Supposed To Study!

So I've posted about casseroles...

I've posted about crockpots..

About relationships, pets, and working out..

But I've never posted about the one thing that drove me to blogging.. I've never posted about being a student!

Students have to study right? I know, it sucks. I hate it. But I have found some awesome study tips and tricks along the way that I am going to share with you now.

Music

I work in radio. My life revolves around listening to the radio, listening to music or having background noise at all times. Needless to say, the silent study thing doesn't work for me, but neither does rocking out to Kelly Clarkson. Instrumentals help me a ton, and I've found that on 8tracks.com I can listen to premade playlists. Try the study+relax+instrumentals genre! Nothing is more soothing and yet gets you pumped as a piano rendition of Hall of Fame by The Script. Great, great study music.

Want new music and old school greats? Check out Southern Miss Radio and stream it live. Yes, this is completely biased because I work there, but it is also great to study to. I told you, I work in radio, and that's my place.

Study Techniques

There are tons of reading methods for you heavy-reading-burdened scholars. Personally, I've mastered the art of scanning the reading for graduate school, but that doesn't always work. I suggest the SQ3R method. It does take a lot of time, but it's worth it.

Flashcards work for more than just math. If you're having to study concepts (which I do, a lot) take the flashcard and write the name of the theory, concept, etc on one side and on the other side write everything you need to know about that subject. For example, if you're studying critical cultural theory (I have a test tonight :/ ), on one side of the card you'd write "hot medium." On the other side, you'd write "the medium is the message, Marshall MacLuhan. A hot medium is one that gives extensive data to the receiver without much interpretation or work from the receiver. Ex: television."
Run through those bad boys a few times, you'll be surprised how quickly you'll learn it.

Planning

Be organized. I can't even begin to tell you how important that is. Use different highlighters on your calendar for different classes, write everything down, and have different binder divisions or different notebooks for different subjects. Don't do like me and write things down on random loose sheets of paper.

Manage your time. Use a planner, schedule your breaks, and realize (for your own good) that you can't just spew forth a 20 page historical media research project with a proposal the day before it's due.
__________

Look, I'm a professional student. I've spent every single school year since I was five (I'm approaching 24) in school. I have learned that what once worked doesn't work anymore, that it continuously takes work, self-awareness, and organization to nail those grades. But if I could do it, you could. I know you could :) So get to the books, boo. You've got some studying to do.

Love as always,

Courtney :)

Super Spouses Must Super Take Care of Themselves! So Hit The Gym :(

When I got married, my body was in the best shape of my life. I had been working out almost every day, focusing mostly on the P90x Ab Ripper X. My dress fit beautifully,  draping where it should and clinging where it should.

Fast forward to now.

I just ate a Double Angus cheeseburger with curly fries and a large kool-aid from the campus choke-and-croak. As usual, I reminisce on the days of grabbing a salad after a rewarding workout, eating a banana between classes, and loving my body. Those days have been replaced by burgers, fries, and fleeting thoughts of joining the gym again and getting back to my long lost love.

Hubbers loves my body! He says I'm cute and curvy and he's proud of that... but I miss my abs. I don't really need to lose weight, just tone up. Siting here and bellyaching won't help my current situation, so this week, I'm joining the gym again.

I'm no beginner, but I feel like I should start from a beginner's level since it has been almost 9 months since I worked out. I decided to do a little research and see what I could find. Hoping to find realistic and manageable results, I found The Beginner Fitness Junkie. Angela does a great job of sharing her journey. Much like myself, she's a little reluctant to give up her favorite foods, but she's trying to make healthier choices that coincide with her workout routine.

I'm going to keep making the foods I make because I like them. I enjoy them, and Jeremy enjoys them. But I will also be on the lookout for some healthier snacks and smoothies which will also help with my workout. My Pinterest board "fitness" will keep you up to date on everything I'm pinning for consideration.

Until next time, my friends, all I can offer you is this piece of advice. If you don't like something, change it. YOU alone have the power to say "I'm not doing this anymore," and make the changes you need to your routine to get you back to where you want to be.

Love always,
Courtney

I Don't Do It Alone

Last night I had a moment of frustration. The laundry was done but we'd never actually gotten to the point of putting it away, the dog made a "mistake" in the carpet and the cat was having a great time terrorizing the dog. I had homework piled on top of my desk and halfway up the wall, and Jeremy and I were both just mentally and physically exhausted.

The homework thing had really gotten to me. At times I feel as if all the chaos in my house would not be there if I had not gone to graduate school. I needed to vent so before collapsing from exhaustion in my bed as Jeremy set up the weather radio, this is the conversation that happened with a friend that's out of town:

Me: I can't wait to see something other than this pavement jungle. I gotta get outta here. 

BFF: Yea no doubt lol

Me: I just need a break

BFF: I know it, you've been kicking all kinds of butt lately. 

Me: Well it comes with a price, a hard one. I'm tired. I feel like I having been showing much attention to my loved ones lately, the housework is lacking, my thoughts are scattered and Jeremy's bored. 

BFF: It's all going to be worth it, you know that, right? 

Me: I know... but nothing is really more important to me than a happy home and a happy husband. 

BFF: I know.. and what I also know is you being as successful as  you are and can be and will be makes him happy. He's proud of you.. we both are. 

Me: I know.. but I have equal pride in you guys and I fail to show it. 

BFF: Fail? Who said you do that? 

Me: I just don't feel like I show you guys how much I appreciate you. It's the little things, ya know? It means the world to me that Jeremy reminds me to eat breakfast (mornings are hectic, I often forget causing my hypoglycemia to kick into overdrive) and buys me Cadbury Cream eggs to surprise me. It warmed my heart when I fell asleep today and you reminded me to take my glasses off so they wouldn't break.  I love it when I cook and you and Hubbers fight over what's left. This is my own little family, you see? And I'd do anything I can for it. 

BFF: I know you would.. and we would do the same. You may not think you show appreciation but he sees it, I see it. You cook dinner after work, help him clean house after 10+ hours at school. It adds up. You're a great student, amazing wife, and the best friend/sister I could ask for. 

Me: Thank you ;) but I couldn't do it without help. 

BFF: Sure you could, you just don't have to :)

Do you see why I bust my butt so hard? My husband, my family, my friends.. they all support me like this. They. Are. Amazing. But I feel like I need to clear up a little detail.

I'm not a maid, nor am I treated like one. I clean house and cook for my husband because I want to. If I didn't, he'd do it, and he has when I failed. But I feel like my purpose as HIS wife, not just a wife, but HIS wife, is to do what I can everyday to show him how much I appreciate his hard work and how insanely in love I am with him. I'm not held with chains to the stove everyday. Jeremy and I actually split the chores.

Gallup did an interesting article on how spouses share the workload. You should check it out! You may find that it's not as black and white as most would think. It would make you see that the old fashioned wife and husband scenario is still the same.... and completely different at the same time.

If I cook, he washes dishes. If I sweep, he vacuums. If I walk the dog, he cleans the litter box. I clean the tubs, he does the counters. WE. SPLIT. EVERYTHING.

I couldn't be a super spouse without my super spouse! We meet in the middle and it makes us a team of Super Spouses.

Now I've given you a very deep look into my home life. What do you think? How do you share the chores? Do you ever get asked about how you feel regarding being the homemaker? Leave a comment below and we'll discuss it.

Be powerful, be precious, be patient.

Love as always,
Courtney

A Dessert For My Soul....Tastes Like A Million Bucks!

Before I can tell you about this pie, let me tell you why it is so near and dear to my heart.

The oldest lady in that picture? That's my MawMaw Berry. In this picture we were celebrating her 90th birthday. Due to Alzheimer's, she barely knew who most of us were unless we "introduced" ourselves. It was hard to see her like this as she was always the one to cook for the family, talk, laugh with everyone, fret to the extreme over Y2K and dote like crazy on her grandbabies. This woman was blessed with these beautiful, old, wrinkly hands that cooked us the best food in the whole world. This picture was taken February 2012.

In June 2012, just three short weeks before Jeremy and I got married, MawMaw Berry was reunited with her husband Woodrow Berry in Heaven. She lived a long and blessed life and she blessed many others. At her funeral, my mother, stepfathers, aunt, uncle, MawMaw, PawPaw, brother, sister, and cousins did our best to eat the food provided by the church, but all it did was stir up memories of when MawMaw Berry could still stand to cook.

We remembered dumplins and fried chicken and fresh butterbeans and boiled shrimp and cornbread muffins and greens and gravy... but we mostly remembered her Millionaire Pie. She didn't write down the recipe, she didn't tell anyone exactly how it was made. We had already lost our grandmother, great grandmother, mother... and now losing her recipes just added to the heartache.

Being the cookly wife that I am and using my MawMaw Berry as inspiration, I made a bold statement at that funeral dinner. "I'm gonna make that Millionaire Pie. It may not be as good, but I'm gonna make it."

This month, MawMaw Berry would have been 91 years old. Therefore, I celebrated her memory by making her pie. It's incredible how simple it was. I found this recipe off Pinterest, but it is incredibly similar to what I had from MawMaw Berry.

You'll need:
1 carton (8oz) of cool whip from the freezer section
1 (10oz) can of crushed pineapple
1 can (14oz) of Eagle Brand condensed milk
3 Tbs. of lemon juice
3/4 cup of crushed pecans (or as many pecans as you like.)
2 Graham Cracker pie crusts.

Combine cool whip, condensed milk, crushed pineapple, lemon juice, and crushed pecans in the mixer (or bowl) and mix well. It should look like the picture above. 

Pour the pie mixture into the two pie crusts..

 And refrigerate for two hours. 

When you finally cut into this heavenly piece of Millionaire Pie, it'll look like this. The longer it sits, the firmer it gets but you really cannot wait longer than two hours to taste this!

It holds together nicely, so long as you keep it refrigerated. 

It was an honor and a blessing to be able to make this pie for you. I feel like I got to spend a little time with my MawMaw Berry today. I can only hope that I'll be half the wife, homemaker, and mother that she was. Enjoy this pie my friends.

Oh, and take a moment to read up on Alzheimer's. Be aware of the dangers, the symptoms, the signs, and the treatments for Alzheimer's. I lost someone to it, but I pray you don't have to. 

Love always, 

Courtney