Cooking with my husband!

As I chip away at each of the topics of my "passions" (please know there will be more details later!), I come to cooking with my husband.

First of all, I have to tell you a bit about my husband, Lynn. He is my "reward" in this life! He is an amazing man. He is incredibly gently and kind, he listens thoroughly and then comes to conclusions. And, most of all ... he loves me very much. I feel a safety with him that I have never experienced in my life.

On top of all of this, he loves to do laundry! and, he loves to cook!!! I have found cooking is so fun when you don't have to do it all alone and then the cleanup all alone. It's so much more enjoyable and FUN to be able to do these "chores" with someone; it then becomes an art!

We watched the movie Julie and Julia and it truly inspired both of us ... to cook! and, to eat!!! We bought Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes I and II and some enameled cast iron and away we went. The food we have created has been incredible. Nothing we have cooked from Julia's cookbook has turned out anything less than perfect in presentation and in taste!

We cooked Boeuf Bourguignon a La Julia Child which was absolutely incredible ... and, then on to other delectable delights! We have found that nothing is "hard" just time consuming but, every moment spent is so worth it. It takes the boredom out of eating, that's for sure! Our taste buds are tantalized after every single bite!

My daughter, Sterling, gave us another cookbook from Pioneer Woman. We have cooked a number of her recipes and have found them to be just as incredible though on a different scale. If you are looking for everyday food that has a delightful twists, then this is the woman for you. You can go online to Pioneer Woman's website to check out her many recipes and try them out for yourself! They are delicious!!!

We each have our aprons hanging in the kitchen: his solid black of course and mine an animal print with pink bling on it ... it's all fun!

The enameled cast iron is a MUST! Cooking with it is amazing as everything cooks thoroughly and stays just the way you want it to be. We found LaCreuset to be way to expensive for us and we wanted them NOW! The 5 qt LaCreuset is about $250. So, we were in Macy's and found Martha Stewart's line of enameled cast iron cookware for so much less. We have a 3 qt, a 5qt and a 7qt and we paid around $250 for all three! We have found this line to do the job!!!

Anyway, I am sure there will be more on cooking later!!!

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a definite passion of mine. About 15 years ago, I went to a Creative Memories get-together. This was when Hobby Lobby and Michaels had 1 extremely small area dedicated to scrapbook as it wasn't a "thing" at the time.

The Creative Memories woman asked us a few questions
1) How much had we spent on camera equipment in the past 10 years? K-ching
2) How much had we spent on film in the past 10 years? K-ching
3) How much had we spent on film developing in the past 10 years? K-ching K-ching
4) Where are your photographs now?

Well, most of us had to admit they were in shoe boxes (or something of the sort) and in the tops of closets, attics, etc.

It really made one think........

So, I decided at that point that was really silly. So, first of all I dug around and found all of the photos that were in our house ... in various spots of course. I also found numerous canisters of film that had never been developed. I went and had them developed.

I then organized all the photos ... we had pictures spread out everywhere.

After that, I began and it's become more and more important as time has gone on. It is truly an archival passion that has developed. I am interested in maintaining the quality of the photos for generations to come.

I not only put the photos into albums ... I tell the stories of our family and our experiences. It will be there for generations and this gives me a sense of peace that the love I feel for the people in my life will be shared by my children, grandchildren, and so on. Our family's history is there in a pictoral fashion for all to share and hopefully enjoy.

The Beginning

I guess I have to start somewhere so here we go. Like I have said, this is about my passions which are varied. I am going to start with family.

I am 48 years old and love my age and my life. It couldn't be more incredible. For the first time in my life I feel safe, secure and loved. I feel totally comfortable with me and with all aspects of my life.

First of all, I have an amazing family. My family is a bit screwy so, for now I am going to deal with the present members. I have an amazing mom and an interesting step-father. I have two sisters; Joy is 10 years younger than me and lives in Oklahoma with her husband Shawn and daughter, Carmen ... and Carla is 17 years younger than me (3 years older than my daughter) and lives in Tyler, Texas with her husband Bobbie and her daughter, Eva. My two nieces are individual and precious. My brother, Pat lives here in Colorado. Pat is 8 years younger than me. He and I aren't really close but probably know more about each other than any of our other siblings since I work for him in his abstracting business. I will write more about each of them individually later.

I have one daughter, Sterling who will be 28 in May. She lives in Katy, Texas with her husband Bob and their two wonderful daughters, Hailee (5) and Heidi (18 months). These people are so incredibly embedded in my soul that I can't imagine life without any of them.

I have the most incredible husband, Lynn. Lynn and I met the summer I moved to Colorado in 2003 ... online! We moved in together in October of that year and got married in May 2007 and we both agree it was a fantastic decision. He is my life's greatest reward. He makes my heart sing!

Lynn and I bought a house in November of 2009 and we love our house. We live here with my step-daughter Andrea who is 19 and graduating from high school this year. We have great hopes for her future and wish her only good things in life. Andrea is a lovely person who I enjoy having in my life.

I will be breaking down each of these people and who and what they are in my life ... this will take time but, is important to me. I will be adding my thoughts and feelings about the varied "Passions" of my life as time goes on!