September was a crazy busy month here on the Prairie.  We started another semester with DH teaching and me working on campus; and the adjustment back to “regular” after a wonderful summer took a little getting used to.  But we made it through!

Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for our house.

Don’t freak out, our house is still standing – praise the Lord!  ’Cuz it was close there, for a moment  - but it definitely took a bit of a beating.  Not intentional, of course.

Our house is over 100 years old, so you’d kind of expect it to be full of issues and ready to fall apart.  But sadly, most of the, shall we say, “issues” had to do with more modern conveniences.

I think it all originally started with the dishwasher, or so we thought.

As you can see from this picture, it’s not exactly hip and modern.  The thing is probably a good 15 years old, at least.  In dishwasher years, I’m pretty sure that’s close to death.  Because this thing is loud and clunky and smelly.

One happy day, we noticed a nice puddle of water around the base of our beloved elderly DW.  It seeped a bit into our basement and it was wet for a little while.  Deep down inside, I cheered a bit.  I would love to get a new one, and this was just the thing that needed to happen so that we could kick this old fogey to the curb.

But it didn’t happen again.  Bummer.

However, the DW did, for some reason that we still can’t figure out, retain water at the end of the cycle.  There would be about an inch of standing water in the bottom of the basin at the end of each completed cycle, and it would just sit there. And eventually, it was rank. Super duper gross.  The only way to get rid of it, was to find some random teeny tiny part of the cycle on the dial that drained the water (somewhere in the middle of the cycle) and have the DW do it again.  Very high-tech.

So I’m not sure if you would say that our DW is completely kaput, but it’s definitely on it’s last legs.  After the 83rd time messing with the draining water issue, I finally told DH that the DW is the first appliance we’re replacing.

And then we both agreed that we’d wait until our home warranty is up before we buy any appliances

Because the HW is how we got the new garbage disposal that also broke this month.  More on that in part 2.  (There’s going to be 4 parts, because yes, we did have THAT much go wrong…just you wait!)

that’s how often I’ve been to the hardware store.  I think I’ll need a glass of wine when I get my next CC statement.

Here’s some photos of the amazing baked fudge I made last night.  It was super easy.  Here’s a link to the step by step directions from Pioneer Woman.  We skipped making homemade whipped cream because I didn’t have any, but luckily we had some left over in a can from an ice cream party a while back.

Before the whipped cream…oh man, this stuff was amazing.

With the whipped cream.  I’m gaining weight just looking at it.  Don’t ask how much sugar and butter is in this, you’ll faint.

I had to adapt and make this without my mixer because, well…….

It’s in this pile of boxes.  See it on the bottom left?

Because…

We are…

MOVING!

More to come soon. 

Not much new to report this week, sorry for the lack of excitement! I was sick all of last week, and I’m still recovering a bit. Jerod returned from his trip to Chatanooga in good spirits, though unfortunately he caught a cold on his trip. He seems to be on the road to recovery though

Yesterday was Jerod’s birthday! It was a momentous milestone…I won’t share his age, but you can guess! Ha. I baked a German chocolate cake from scratch with one of my students – it was lots of fun! The cake came out really well. Next time I think I’ll try a different icing though, the chocolate buttercream didn’t work very well. Bummer.

But Royce, who doesn’t update his blog, will be happy to know that the cake dome he gave us as a wedding present has been used multiple times now!

We’re moving forward with our house hunt a bit in the next week – we’re going to try to get pre-approved, and hopefully meet with an agent early next week and take a look at some homes. I’m excited!

My apologies for the randomness of this post…a picture of the cake will be forthcoming!

I know you’ve all been waiting for it, they’re finally here.  A few pics from my surprise bridal shower a few weeks ago.  I couldn’t post everything because I didn’t want to COMPLETELY incriminate half of my friends.  :-)

Moments after the surprise, hence the look of astonishment and slightly crooked picture.  

The yummy mini-bundt cakes with edible flowers.  Mere’s mom made TONS of these little sugar flowers and brought them all the way from Washington!

The front and inside of invitations.

My favorite – the larger bundt, complete with potted flower inside, and windex to boot.  :-)

And they’re off!  The relay begins!

Kate gets her hair teased, I don’t think she liked it very much…

This idea was so non-PC/orthodox – the “baptism” was turning in circles 5 times within a little chicken wire fence.  Gotta give props to Sarah for creativity.

My “greek” bridesmaids – Kristen, Kate, me, Sarah and Meredith.  I was supposed to choose which one most resembled one of the girls from the movie.  Mere’s team won!

Most of the group – some students, roommates, IV friends!  Thanks for a great party!