Lasagna

Husband and I had our first irreconcilable difference this week, in the form of lasagna filling. I prefer cottage cheese, but when Husband found out I was planning to make it with cottage cheese, he gave me this sad face. I have yet to learn to refuse this, but I remembered what my mom used to do to solve picky eater dilemmas, and decided to make split lasagna! It is pretty easy, you make it like normal except half the cheese mixture has cottage cheese, and the other half has ricotta.


Insert tinfoil to keep it separated

And voila!

Happy Husband AND happy Wife

Beignets

On Monday we got Cafe du Monde beignet mix from Rachael!

I'm a natural at this, being a native New Oreanian and all

Nana's rolling pin =)

Roxie likes to help

Happy Wife!

Earlier in the day we went to the Army Spouse Job Helping Office (not actual name). My resume was forwarded to a few CPA firms and as of Thursday I once again have a job! Now I just have to make it to actually going to the job. It starts on February 1st so we are almost there! Just in case I will not be answering any phone calls from my employer.

In the meantime I was able to spend the week getting all my IDs updated. New Alabama plates for the Hyundai, social security card with my new name, Army health insurance, and Alabama license with my new name. I am no longer legally allowed to drive without my glasses =( Husband says we will add a Lasik account to the budget!

Weekend!

Well folks, we made it to our first weekend as married people. We did lots of married people things, such as:

1. Go out with other married people. We met the Wynns and another friend, Wes, for dinner on Friday night. It was a restaurant that is exactly like Texas Roadhouse (cinammon butter and all), but is inexplicably named Santa Fe. After that we watched Salt at the Wynns' house. There was Pizza Hut dessert involved.

2. Go to Bed Bath and Beyond. Saturday, we ran errands. Included on the list was registering at Bed Bath and Beyond! We planned to start P90X too, but since there was only time for P90X OR a nap, you can probably guess which of those things actually happened.

3. Go to dance parties with other married people. Saturday night was Dance Central night at the Wilcoxes'. For those who don't know, this is a game on the Xbox Kinect. It does not require a controller, the Kinect reads your movements and you have to match the dance that the avatar is doing. It is pretty fun, although I think the wives enjoyed it more than the husbands. My Husband actually beat a few people! Not me of course, but still impressive. Our friend Jenna took a picture, which she dubbed, "Strangled by Matrimony"

He loves it

4. Go to church. On Sunday we went to the church that Husband has been attending with the Wynns. The great thing about this church is that they announce anniversaries and birthdays. Our oh-so-funny friend James stood up and announced that it was our 1 week anniversary. Husband was embarrassed. I was too, but I also love attention so whatever =) After church was pizza at Mellow Mushroom, then nap. While asleep, I got a phone call from my job that I had been offered the previous Tuesday. Apparently these "professionals" decided they didn't want to pay my recruiter, and instead of just asking if they could reduce my pay by a few dollars, they just rescinded the offer. No matter that I now was a week behind in looking for another job or that we had made a deal already, or that they knew about the fees BEFORE they offered me a job... ok ok, enough venting. So, the good news was that I now have some extra time to get my name changed on all my stuff once the marriage license comes in. Also, I was saved from working for jerks. Ok, seriously done venting. (spoiler alert: I have an interview today!)

5. Cook. Husband took over the kitchen reins and made us some awesome ribs in the Crock Pot. I will post the recipe some other time since it is on his phone.

All things considered, it was actually a great weekend and I was so thrilled to be able to hang out with my new permanent friend, as well as some of the new friends I now have in Alabama.

Day 5

Wednesday was pretty uninteresting, so let's skip to Thursday.

Our friend Mandy Wynn (mentioned earlier for her cake baking skills) teaches classes at the post gym. Specifically, spin class (or what I would later find out is actually called "power spin"). Since I want to lose some weight for the wedding and had nothing better to do, I agreed to try it out.

Meaner than she looks

Well, the "power" part of power spin means that there are breaks for weight lifting. Also, an hour and a half!! So, that was interesting! It was pretty tough for someone whose sole workout for the previous 3 months has been Hip Hop class. But I think I will definitely be going back, once I get feeling back in my legs.

Thursday night was Shepherd's Pie night. This is one of my favorite recipes, it is great comfort food.

1 1/4 lbs. potatos

1 lb. ground beef

4 cups mixed frozen vegetables (or corn if you have a picky husband...)

2 Tbsp. ketchup (much much more if you like a meatloafy flavor)

1/2 cups shredded cheese

3 large cloves garlic

2 Tbsp. flour

3/4 cup beef broth

3/4 cup sour cream

Cook potatos and garlic in boiling water for 20 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, brown meat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add mixed vegetables, broth and ketchup; cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Heat oven to 375. Drain potatos, return to pan. Add sour cream, mash. Stir in 1/4 cup cheese.

Spoon meat mixture into 8 inch baking dish; cover with potatos.

Bake 18 minutes. Top with remaining cheese, bake 2 minutes.

Not pictured: Happy Husband

Day 3

Tuesday, first lazy day of my marriage (well, for me anyway). Husband was back to work, and I set about to familiarize myself with Enterprise. Since we did not have time on Monday to grocery shop together at the nice, new Dothan Publix, I found myself grocery shopping alone at the not nice, not new Enterprise Wal-Mart. Actually, it wasn't too bad. Then home to start unpacking, which will be hard to do until our roommate Zach Mako moves out. But I was able to get some stuff hung up in the closet, since sweet Husband moved his stuff out into the hall closet and onto shelves.

Next, it was time to cook my first meal as Mrs. Weaver! Since I have a brand new crockpot, I decided to try out my recipe for Bill's Famous Roast Beef & Gravy. This is how to make it:

4 lbs Chuck Roast
1 onion, sliced into rings
1 can cream of celery
1 can cream of mushroom
2 beef buillion cubes
2 cups water
1 package Lipton onion and mushroom soup

Place onion rings in bottom of slow cooker. Seer chuck roast (good luck with this part!) and place on top of onions. Mix up remaining ingredients and pour on top of roast. Cover and cook for 8 hours on low.

I also added carrots and mushrooms because I didn't feel like making salad.

In the meantime, a few solicitors came by hocking magazines. Since I have Husband's key, I kept checking the door, thinking it was him coming home for lunch. Somehow they saw or heard me, because they would wave when I looked through the peephole, forcing me to open the door and actually talk to them.

Now I did not want to keep checking the door, but I also do not like leaving the door unlocked. However, I quickly realized a solution:



Now I could work on my mashed potatos in peace with the door unlocked. Somehow I timed the mashed potatos perfectly to coincide with Husband's arrival home. And managed not to point a gun at him!

The result of my recipe?




One happy Husband =)

Awkward smile, as promised.

Day 2

Monday morning we were awoken at 0800 sharp by my recruiter. An interview!! The interview was for a firm in Dothan that needed a contract worker for busy season. As much as I am ready to get out of public accounting and into private, this seemed like a great opportunity to get some networking done and it would be over just in time for me to have a break before the wedding.

The Wynns came over with a welcoming gift that Mandy baked:

We didn't get to chat long since we were on our way to Dothan, but we did take a few minutes to destroy the cake after they left:

*Disclaimer: not our Franzia

Well off we went to the big city of Dothan (about a 30 minute commute). First order of business was to print off new resumes with my new name and address! Then the interview. Luckily I had experience in a lot of the industries that this firm works in, and I felt like the interview went really well. (spoiler alert: I got the job!)

Afterward we went shopping for some work pants at the mall, which thankfully has my work outfit store, New York and Company. Quick break for a sushi date, and then on to register at Target. It was a little tough since we don't know how we will decorate yet, but we managed to get a lot of our kitchen stuff and other odds and ends listed. The good (or bad, I suppose) thing about getting married on the older side is that we both already have a lot of household goods. Now we just have to suffer through the next 4 months with less than satisfactory kitchen appliances. (Handheld mixer, ugh!)

Arms...so...tired...

Upgrade!

Day 1

The main reason we chose to minimoon at a casino was the brunch buffet. On Sunday we got up earlyish to beat the rush. They had pretty much anything you could ever want to eat. And in the tradition of the Weaver family, I took pictures of the food. Husband likes to smile awkwardly when I do this. (See also, Day 3)

A nice older man at the table next to us also offered to take a picture. He had an interesting gold/diamond scorpion necklace. He also had a little trouble with the camera, and the first few pics were of his feet. But, we were eventually successful. In the meantime, they changed the buffet to lunch food. Husband went and got a prime rib sandwich. There is no picture because said sandwich was quickly stowed away for lunch. The waitress definately noticed.

After brunch we got back into the car for the 7 hour trip home. Every hour or so one of us would blurt out, "We're MARRIED!" Otherwise, the trip was pretty boring. But it was nice just to hang out together.

Finally we arrived home. Husband found out that carrying one's wife across the threshold is an actual thing that he had to do. He is so cute.

At Home with the Weavers

Hello! I am now a married girl, and since all of my married friends have blogs I assume that is a requirement! This will be to keep our family and friends updated on all the newlywed bliss going on here in the newest Weaver household.

Day 0

Let's start at the beginning. Robert Wylie Weaver III and I were married on January 15, 2011. We are having a wedding in May, but for many reasons decided to do things the Army way and get married first (the main reason being impatience!) Robert flew in on Saturday morning, and his parents picked him up and drove him to my house. My mom decorated our house to look wedding-y. My dad made his traditional Saturday morning pancakes, with a bride shaped pancake to commemorate the occassion.

My mom bought me a bouquet and my dad walked me down the stairs and gave me away. Bill (Husband's conveniently preacher stepdad) had us read some vows that were really nice. We exchanged rings as well, and then that was that! We both felt like we were watching ourselves say the vows, it was so surreal.

After that it was brunch with my and Husband's parents. My mom got petit fours and tuxedo strawberries (my favorite). I think it was good but I was way too distracted to taste much.

Finally it was time to finish loading the Civic with as much as we could squeeze in there, and drive off into the sunset. We stopped at L'Aberge du Lac in Lake Charles for our minimoon. Somehow we pretty much broke even after 3 hours of Blackjack, and had a lot of fun playing together. I don't know the finer points of how to play so Husband had to help me out a lot.

My sweet husband even managed not to snore!