New blog!

Hello to my 2 readers.

You can now follow me at www.keckscakes.blogspot.com.

It's a blog all about my baking experiments. :)

Thanks for reading,

Kenz

House Fever

I feel like a lot of people I know ... people who got married around the same time as us ... are buying their first house. I'm getting jealous. I love our little duplex, it's awesome and it's plenty of room. But I want to paint! I want my yellow and gray living room. The yellow and gray living room in my head does not have tan walls.

Sigh.

I just have to keep telling myself that I have an awesome car ... once that's paid off we can save for a house. And I am very thankful that Garrett and I both have jobs that pay all the bills and leave plenty of room for fun too.

Nothing really

I just spent 7 dollars on something that will probably no longer exist in 3 hours.

1 box of Thin Mints

1 box of Samoas

(p.s. when I was a girl scout ... yes ... I was ... cookies were only 2 dollars a box, not this 3.50 crap.)

I accidentally forgot that Garrett hates coconut, but he was in bed when the next door neighbor's daughter rang the doorbell, so I didn't get his cookie input.

Actually, I did get his input ... yesterday ... when he said we didn't have the money for them this week and to wait until next week ...

But I will just say that having a sick husband makes me feel really helpless and cry for no reason, and the girl rang the doorbell right when I was in the middle of a breakdown and then she told me that I didn't even have to wait for the cookies, she already had them at their house. I was sold.

And in case you were wondering, 3 Samoas with a cup of coffee makes for an excellent breakfast.

February Blizzard, 2011

Well I am spending today camped out as close to Garrett's desktop and projector as possible because I am pretty sure it is letting out more heat than our actual heater. Either way, my toes are still freezing despite my two pairs of socks. Luckily my laptop tends to overheat which is making my legs nice and toasty.

I looked out our living room window this morning - there is huge snowdrift right in front of our duplex. I tried to open the front door, but I couldn't. Good thing we aren't going anywhere today!

The bad thing is - when the heck is this stuff going to melt if it's not going to get above 15 degrees?!

I normally think it is pretty amusing when Edmond closes school before the snow even starts falling - but the weathermen actually were right about the storm this time.

So. This week I am thankful for:

-Netflix

-A dryer to occasionally throw blankets into

-board games

-hot chocolate

-a husband who's body temperature is 200 degrees

Enjoy your snow days Edmond. 15 bucks says school will be cancelled tomorrow as well because it's still going to be freezing. Pretty sure Edmond has cancelled simply for freezing temps before now.

Oh. By the way. If you live in Edmond and you're reading this, you just survived Edmond's coldest night in 15 years. Congratulations.

So my husband can't smell ...

Garrett said I should write a post about living with an anosmic ... aka ... someone who can't smell.

Oh, p.s. in case you didn't already know this, Garrett can't smell.

So basically ... I always have to smell the milk. Which is unfortunate because my least favorite smell in the entire world is rotten milk, also, I don't even drink milk! So any time Garrett wants cereal, I have to smell the milk for him if it's close to the date on the carton so that he can eat without getting sick.

There are some things he does help out with though like ... I hate taking out the trash, mostly because our big trash bin smells AWFUL when you open it. So he takes out the trash almost all the time, which is terribly convienant for me.

Also, since he's male, he doesn't necessarily think bodily functions are gross, and obviously he doesn't know how bad of them smell. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm sure that there will be more things in the future that we will have to deal with ... dirty diapers ... but that won't be for 150 more years so I think we're ok for now.

The plus side is that I can pretty much buy any smelly house decorations that I want (Scensy, candles, febreeze) because he can't smell them so he doesn't care. Also, there is absolutely no point in buying body spray/perfume to make myself smell good, because he would never know the difference.

The end

New Job

I have been blessed with an awesome new job. The kids are great. I have not come home with a migraine. I have not come home crying. Garrett has not had to spend his evening listening to me complain about my job. It's awesome. The money is nice too - I think we will be able to pay off my new car in a little more than a year instead of 7. Whoot.

The kids names and ages are Pressley (4), Paisley (3), Payden (3), Prielle (18 months) and Pryce (15 months.). I feel sorry for Pryce because he is surrounded by girls. These girls are all cousins. It's awesome to see how unique they all are.

Yesterday they told me that they would like to keep me around until all their kids are in school! Yay for long-term jobs. :)

Wedding Pictures

I was re-looking through our wedding photos today - something I do on almost a weekly basis because I canNOT quit looking at them. :)

This is my favorite progression of photos:









The last one is on my top 3 favorite wedding pictures list.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

I have decided to add some recipes to my blog. I really enjoy baking. I have recently started trying to make up my own recipes instead of using someone else's idea.

So here we go - Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake.

First, the crust. The crust is always my favorite part of a cheesecake or pie. I could eat graham cracker crust FOR DAYS. For this crust you will need, two cups of crushed graham crackers, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup of butter.



I recently started putting powdered sugar (you can also use granulated sugar) in my graham cracker crusts. I stole this idea from It makes them SO good.

Anyways, you mix that all up with a fork, and then press it into a 9in Springform pan. If you don't have one and live in Edmond, come borrow mine. Press the crust all over the bottom and 1 in up the sides. This makes the crust really thick. If you don't like thick crust, use less graham crackers.
It should look like this:



Set the crust aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat 24oz of cream cheese. Make sure it is room temperature or it won't beat very easily. I try to buy cream cheese with "less fat" to make myself feel a little better.


Beat until smooth. Depending on how good your hand mixer is, you should be able to use it. I always at least try - that way I get to use my colorful bowls and I absolutely cannot stand cleaning my big mixer. My hand mixer worked just fine.
When the cream cheese is smooth, add 1/2 a cup of sugar. Mix in, and be sure to scrape the sides or else all the sugar will spread out to the edges of the bowl. Then add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating mixture after each.
When everything is mixed in, add 1 cup of Half and Half and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla. Afterwards the mixture will look like soup.



Divide the mixture evenly into 2 separate bowls. In one bowl, mix in 1/3 cup of peanut butter. I used the natural stuff. Make sure you mix it in with the mixture, not just with a fork. The fork won't mix it well enough. TRUST ME. :)
In the other bowl, mix in 1/2 a cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.



When everything is all mixed up, pour the peanut butter mixture over the crust. Then pour the chocolate mixture over that. I was really hoping for layers, but because both mixtures are so soupy, that didn't really work. So I just put the chocolate in the middle. I think next time I'll swirl it.



Place in the oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
When you take it out, turn the oven off. Put the cheesecake back in the oven for 2-3 hours. This prevents cracking. If you don't care about cracked cheesecake, then throw that baby in the oven until you just can't stand NOT eating it anymore. Ok, seriously ... at least 4 hours.

Go Bears

I am mentally prepping for today's game - Bears vs. Packers.

I found a Chicago Bears shirt at Old Navy, so I had to buy it. Duh.

If the Bears win today they will go to the Super Bowl!!!

Victory

Ok, like I said in my last post, I started Leslie Sansone's 5 Mile Walk at Home. It is .... AWESOME. It's only the 3rd day and I already have been able to do 4 of the 5 miles. It's so awesome! I don't know how effective at weight loss it's going to be, but I FEEL great!

Also, I haven't had coffee in 3 days, and I'm not dead yet. I think I can do this!!

On another note, I had a job interview yesterday to nanny for 5 kids under the age of 4. They are cousins, and all their names begin with P. I only remember 2 of them - Paisley and Preston. The other ones were really unusual. If I get it I will probably have to make them wear name tags. Haha. They seem like a really nice family. I hope that I get it! The pay is nice too - twice as much as I was making watching the child that broke my glasses, bit me, and slammed my hand in the back door multiple times. So if you guys could pray for that, I would appreciate it!

Starting today ...

Last week Garrett and I decided to start a less-carb diet. Not NO carb ... I like sourdough bread and pasta too much for that, not to mention that pasta is cheap so we eat it a lot. To be perfectly honest I could eat macaroni noodles with shredded cheese on top everyday. Oh wait. I do. Also, I made lasagna for some of Garrett's friends and we had so many left overs that we have had lasagna every night for the past 8 days. Ridiculous.
I also drink ridiculous amounts of coffee ... so I'm going to TRY to only drink coffee on the weekends because my favorite thing on a Saturday morning is curling up on the couch with Garrett and a nice cup of coffee. Hopefully I won't get too many caffeine withdrawal headaches.

So. Less carbs. Less coffee (sob). And starting Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home 5 Mile Burning Walk. It's AWESOME. You can break it down and do one mile at a time, or do all 5 miles at once. Basically her motto is "Walk Like A Runner." I did a mile this morning and it was awesome. She's really encouraging and not mean and yelling like Jillian. lol.

Ups and Downs

Up - I think Garrett likes his new job. He doesn't talk about it a whole lot, so I think he must like it. He's just trying to learn everything before the other person on his project leaves for a week while his wife has a baby.

Down - I need a new job.
I started a nanny job January 4th for a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old. I should've known what I was getting into when the 2-year-old threw a temper tantrum during my interview when her mom wouldn't give her fruit snacks ... but I took the job anyway. Basically they have be on salary - so when they told me the yearly amount it sounded like a lot. But when I averaged it out, it comes to only about 7 bucks an hour. So - I'm making less than minimum wage working with a kid who is out of control. I just feel like everyday I am fighting a losing battle. I leave everyday with a migraine and come home, whine to Garrett, and then crash on the couch. So I quit. After only a week. I feel bad, but I just couldn't do it anymore. She is definitely one of those kids who is used to getting her own way all the time. I felt like every time we were making some progress, the parents un-did my work that night. She also does this thing where whenever you tell her to stop doing something (pulling the dog's tail ... running over the baby's foot with her Dora 4 wheeler, throwing toys ...) it just makes her do it more. Out. Of. Control.
Anyways, I'm there until they find another nanny.

So ... if you know anyone who needs a nanny, let me know. Preferably a Christian family who will have the same values as me (this family didn't) and preferably one with kids over the age of 2.

2010 Wrap Up

I spent Christmas of 2009 at my boyfriend-of-2-month's house because my flights were cancelled due to a blizzard. Waking up to him on Christmas morning was the BEST. THING. EVER. I definitely thought, "I could marry this boy." Yes. After 2 months. When you know, you know ....

On to 2010.

January = my 2nd to last semester of college, although I didn't know it at the time. I was planning on going until May 2011.
February = turning 22. Felt about the same as being 21. But my roommates did get me some epic presents and decorated the whole apartment with streamers.
February also was my first Valentine's Day with a "significant other" ... Garrett got me a Transformers comforter. I knew it was love.
March = started freaking out because Garrett and I were talking about getting engaged after only dating for 5 months. Who does that? Oh. Us.
April = Vanessa got engaged, Megan got engaged, and on April 27th ... GARRETT AND I GOT ENGAGED! Seriously, a great way to end finals week. :)
May = We decided to plan a wedding in less than 4 months.
June = went crazy planning a wedding. Enrolled in 24 credit hours for the following semester so I could graduate the same time as Garrett. (WHAT was I smoking?)
July = went crazy planning a wedding.
August = wedding month! First Vanessa on August 12th, and then I married my best friend on August 20th. Chelsea flew down from Washington to be one of my bridesmaids which meant so much to me. Brady flew in from Colorado. Phoebe, Hannah, James, and Ryan drove through the night to make it to the wedding. Justin came from Chicago. Caitlin flew in from the North East. All my dad's family came in from Oklahoma. I was so amazed at how many people were willing to travel.
Kristen was my maid of honor, Josh was my best man, and Megan, Mumby, and Chelsea were my bridesmaids. It was the greatest thing ever. Annetta was there to make delicious food and make sure that I didn't lose my mind.
After the wedding we spent 7 amazing days in my favorite city - Chicago. Yeah. I cried when we left. Whatever.
2 days after the honeymoon we went back to school. Garrett took 18 hours and I took 24. Yeah. We're dumb.
September/October/November/December = worked our butts off but still managed to get ridiculous amounts of sleep. :)
December = Both of us got jobs for after graduation. I'm going to be a full time nanny, and Garrett is working at Red Earth Systems doing something with software ... oil ... check writing ... I don't know. Then we graduated on December 17th!
On December 25th we spent Christmas day with Garrett's family, and I was reassured that I married into an awesome family and I am so excited that I have the opportunity to spend as many Christmases as I want with them.
On the 27th we traveled to Colorado. We spent some time with Curtis, Josh, Phoebe, and Brady. It was so awesome to reconnect with some of my best friends.
On December 31st we risked death and drove up a snowy mountain to make it to my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. (Slight exaggeration ... but only slight. haha)
And on January 1st, 2011 my sister got married to Luke Crumb ... who has probably had a crush on her since she was 10. It was awesome to see them finally get married.