Mr. Fix it

This is my cute husband Jeff. But for this post I'm going to call him "Mr. Fix it". I'm pretty sure he can fix anything. Last summer I told him about my friends air conditioner that only worked on low or high. It had been that way for a couple of years. He googles the problem, tells my friend what to buy and then fixes it for her. Easy as pie. I could go on about his expertise on fixing things. But I just wanted to share my favorite 2 stories.

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Fix it and I were at some drive-thru somewhere......He was tapping his card against the window when.......It fell through the crack! I thought for sure he would have to call and cancel his credit card. But no, that would be too easy. What does Mr. Fix it do?

He takes apart the car door or course. Wouldn't you? I thought for sure the door would never work again. But it does. Good as new (as in 1996 new!). And in this picture you can see him proudly holding up his card.

I didn't find the next story so funny. Mr. Fix it and I live in a small apartment. With a teensy kitchen. Which is fine for right now. I'm in heaven having my own place for the first time in my life. So, one day as I'm getting ready to make some chicken fried rice (which was heaven by the way!), Jeff comes in and starts pulling out this drawer next to the stove. Next thing I know he has wood glue and some sort of tool thing attached to the drawers. Now I love his talent of fixing things, but really while I'm cooking dinner in our TINY kitchen? As I turned around from the stove I stabbed my side on that stupid tool thing sticking out. You can see the soy sauce next to the glue! Don't worry. I saved dinner.

Good thing I have pictures like this:

To remind me of how stinking cute he is!!!!!!!!

Oreo Cupcake

A couple months ago my co-worker had a birthday. I used this as an excuse to try out a recipe I had printed out from: http://www.beantownbaker.com/. They did not disappoint!!! I think to date they are my favorite thing I've baked. I've discovered that Jeff doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so unless I want to gain 6,000 lbs.......I need to bake for other people! Although, I believe he ate about 3 of these over a couple days:) They were pretty easy to make (well I did have a few OCD moments in splitting the Oreos for the bottom, but that's between me and the Oreos). They were REALLY delicious. I will definitely be making them again!! In fact typing up this post makes me want to make them now!

Oreo Cupcakes

1 stick of butter (the original called for unsalted but I only had salted and it worked fine)

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups flour + 2 TBS for the Oreo chunks

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 2/3 cup sugar

3 large egg white, at room temperature

1 pkg Oreo Cookies (45)

Preheat oven to 350F. Insert liners into the cupcake pan (I'm a big dork but I LOVED the imprint of the Oreo on the liner. It's little things like that make me happy!)

Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with the filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut the other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves also, for garnishing.

Cut the remaining Oreo cookies (23 or so) into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 TBS of flour and set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in the sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1 stick butter at room temperature

1 TBS vanilla extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble the cupcakes

Once cupcakes have cooled completely, frost with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle the crushed Oreos and place 1/2 of an Oreo on the top of each cupcake!

How I came to live on the prairie.......

Not too long ago, I was a single gal living the good life in Boston. I had lived in that area for a total of about 5ish years and loved every second of it. I had a really great group of friends who I did EVERYTHING with....Including a trip to Bob's in the middle of a huge snowstorm.....at 1:00 in the morning.....(With my 8 month pregnant future sister-in-law:) In the spring of 2010 I was dating a guy I had met online. He lived in D.C. At the end of March we met each other in New York for the day. I had a really great time and thought that this could be promising.....At the beginning of April we made plans for me to come see him in D.C. during my vacation. This is where it all got interesting! One of my best friends Jennifer would always say "I wish you were closer to my brother's age. You would be perfect for each other." I assumed he was like 18 or something. Then one day, while eating at Denny's she showed me a picture of her brother at a cousin's wedding. I took one look and thought, "holy cow, he's cute!" And it just so happened that he was going to be coming to Boston for "Patriots Day." I met him and instantly thought he was so adorable. We got to hang out for a few days and had a great (and slightly awkward) time. The day after he left I called up D.C. guy and told him it wasn't going to work out. After about a week of getting to know each other on where else but Facebook, Jeff asked me how I would feel about him coming back out to Boston so we could go on a date. I of course said I would LOVE it. So a couple weeks later he came back out and took me on our first date to Fenway.















I think I called my mom on the way home and told her that I thought he was the one. And a couple of days later while we were on a day trip to Nantucket, I knew I had fallen in LOVE. Long story short, he proposed on the 4th of July while I was out visiting him in OK. We got married on November 27th, 2010 in the Manti Temple. And now here I am living on the prairie in Edmond, OK. This blog is a way for me to share with family and friends the life Jeff and I are building together. It's been an amazing 5 months so far!