What my husband does to annoy me...

Friends, family, pets, kids, spouses, they all have their annoying side.  They have these little quirks that they do just because they know it riles you up.  Well, have no fear, my hubster is not so different!  And it's annoying. 

Stop annoying me!
source

 
Here are some things he LOVES to do, just to annoy me:

     * rub my ponytail the wrong way so my hair stands up

     * pull the hood of my jacket or sweatshirt over my head, constantly (like five times in a row!)

     * fart really close to me

     * come into the bathroom and take over the sink area, completely, so there is no room for me

     * turn the lights off while I'm in the shower

     * use as much deodarant as possible so his armpits look like snow capped mountains

     * listen to the same song every time we get into the car

Yup - there are more things too.  The list could go on forever.  Now, he doesn't do any of these things maliciously.  Nope, he does them because he knows I get annoyed and then he does it again because by the third time I am so annoyed that I can't help laugh because he's so ridiculous.  Or because he does it in public and people smile at me in that "Your husband is soooo funny - what a goofball!" kinda way and I just can't help smile back because it's true.  He IS a goofball.  And he always makes me laugh, which makes me happy and I can almost forget that the only reason I'm laughing is because he tried to pull my sweatshirt hood over my head and down to my chin.  Six times in a row.

What crazy things does your husband do, just because he knows it annoys you??  Or is it just my husband?  Or do I just get annoyed really easily?

A Second Honeymoon

Last week and this week have been like a second honeymoon for hubsters and me. 

Why?

Well, because my sister, her husband, and her two girls have been on vacation in Cabo. 

What does that mean??

It means that hubsters and I have had the house to ourselves!!!  For two whole weeks!!!

Yup, when you live in a house with four adults, a two year old, and a 5 month old - a house of just us is pretty exciting.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely miss my sister and her family and I can't wait to grab my little nieces and shower them with kisses, but there are a lot of good perks about having the house to ourselves (I am in a list making mood).

1. Having the house to ourselves is something super special so it actually feels like we're on our honeymoon.  Minus the fact that we both have to go to work - that would put a damper on any honeymoon.
2. We can cook lots of red meat that my sister and her family doesn't like - just in the past 1.5 weeks we've had pork roast, pork ribs, flank steak, hamburger meat, and sirloin steak.  Yum.  Of course I have to cook it all so that takes a lot of time, so it reminds me to be very thankful that my sister does a lot of the cooking when she's here.
3. Hubs and I can go to the gym, go for a run, go out to eat, or stay home and no one cares!  Sometimes I feel guilty going out night after night and not spending more time at home.  However, if it's just us then no one misses us.
4. Hubs and I get to sleep in my sister's bed.  I know, I know, many of you may find this gross but I made sure to wash the sheets and will wash them again before they get back.  My sister has a KING size bed with a fabulous mattress and a oh-so-comfy pillow top.  It's fabulous.  Plus, they have a TV in their room and although I'm adamently against going to sleep with the TV on (or even having one in my bedroom), it's such a luxury for two weeks.
5. Lots of hot bubble baths.  My sister has a big garden tub in her bathroom and I have been getting my fill of bubble baths.  While Ivan watches TV, I hop in the tub with some yummy smelling bubbles and my book and read for hours (or until the water gets cold).  I have been really loving it!
6. When there are less people in the house the dogster is less crazy.  That is a huge relief.  He doesn't bark as much, there's not as much for him to eat, he is calmer not vying for our attention, and he is pretty well-behaved.  It's kinda nice.  Minus the fact that he misses my sister and so keeps sneaking upstairs and sleeping on her bed (I guess he likes her bed as much as Ivan and I do!).

Ok - I'll stop the list there.  I sure don't want my sister to think we don't ever want her to come back.  I love living with my sister and have enjoyed every moment of the last FOUR years (wow - it's been that long???).  It's just nice to have our own time sometimes.  However, I totally miss this little munchkin and can't wait for them to get home!!!  Our honeymoon can't last forever, right!



Oh so cute Bean!!  I miss you!!

  

I miss you too, P!  Can't wait to read more Dora!



It's a One Year Anniversay!!

Last week hubs and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  In the marriage world, especially in this day and age, that can be a milestone.  I'm not gonna lie - it wasn't an easy year.  Marriage is HARD and it's even harder when you have never lived together, have been separated for three years, come from two very different cultures, and speak very different languages (although I communicate just fine in Spanish, at times I feel like our ability to express ourselves well is hindered by our language differences).  So, we had a LOT of adjusting to do this past year.  However, I feel like we actually did adjust a lot, even if we still have a long way to go.  And for the most part, things are a lot easier than they were the first few months - so I'm hoping that things get easier as time goes on.  Of course, the status quot is never stagnant so that's not really possible - throw in a house, kids, career changes, moves, etc. and there is a whole other realm of adjustment that must be done.  I think we can handle it though - we survived our first year!

Something that really surprised me was how exciting our anniversary day was.  I kinda thought it was going to be like Valentine's Day - I never feel much different on Valentine's Day than any other day.  However, I was honestly excited on our anniversary and we both spent many moments talking about our wedding day and what we were doing in that exact moment one year ago, etc.  It was fun to relive the day and remember how much fun we had.  And I think we said a record number of "I love yous".

I also made an announcement in church so everyone clapped for us and afterward we got a lot of congratulations.  It was a great way to start the day!

Our main event was dinner out at a nice restaurant.  We had had grand plans of using our tax refund to stay the night at a hotel in the city, or go to the aquarium, or spend the weekend in Hershey Park, etc.  But when push comes to shove, we are kinda broke and cheap and wanted to save our tax refund for something else...so all we did was stuff ourselves full of food!  It was fun though!

The highlight of the day though?  This:

We put our wedding clothes back on a took pictures outside!!  It was actually a lot of fun pulling out my dress and getting back into it (even if it was a LOT tighter than it was last year).  It wasn't quite as exciting as it was last year when I put it on - not having a real wedding to go to definitely cuts down on the excitement - but it was still fun putting everything on.  Even hubs put his suit back on - minus the tie because no matter how many lessons my father gave him, he still hasn't figured it out.

Also, notice hubs's new glasses - apparently all this time hubs's had problem seeing.  Good thing we found that out!  Now he has a nice pair of transition lenses that he loves - which is good because we pretty much paid an arm and a leg for those lenses.  Glasses are EXPENSIVE!!

But, anyway, the wedding anniversary was so much fun and I'm kinda sad we have to wait an entire year to do it again.  I still can't believe we've been married for a year!  Time sure does fly - I wonder what our second year of marriage has in store for us??  I can't wait to find out!!

Sopa de Frijoles

My main mission in Honduras, after visiting my friends, etc., was to learn how to make a bunch of Honduran food.  I love Honduran food myself, but my husby really loves it and misses it after months and months of American food (or Indian food or Chinese food or any other food that's not Honduran).  I remember those days in Honduras, when I would crave something like couscous or Kraft Mac and Cheese - things that were non-existant in Honduras.  I'd find myself in the only air-conditioned restaurant in Choluteca: Wendy's.  Yup, the fast-food chain.  Wendy's never tasted as yummy as it did in Honduras!

So, I figured I could share a few of my attempts at re-cooking the Honduran food I cooked in my Honduran sister's kitchen.  First on the list was Sopa de Frijoles (Red Bean Soup).  Hondurans eat a lot of soup, which surprised me since it's so hot.  It took me a while to become accustomed to eating hot soup when it was 100* out.  However, back home in Maryland it is NOT 100* right now so Sopa de Frijoles sounded just right.

The only annoying part from this entire experience was hubsters trying to tell me what to do and insisting that he knew how to cook it - even though I'm sure he can count the minutes he's spent in the kitchen on one hand.

So, here's the recipe (although like a true Honduran, there is no measuring...so just go with your gut!):




One serving of soup - I love the eggs so I put lots of them in - it is not normal


Sopa de Frijoles

1. First, sort the beans.  I used small red beans but you can only find these in Latino stores and they are usually imported from El Salvador.  They are very different from kidney beans.  You might be able to use black beans but I've never tried it.  Even if you buy the beans and they are packaged it's a good idea to sort them and pick out ones that look funny or are cracked or shrivelled.
2. After you have a good amount of beans (maybe two cups or so, depending how many days you want to eat soup), wash them in cold water.  You'll notice a few beans that float to the top - these are bad beans so just pick them out and throw them away.  I have no idea why they are bad, but I follow directions and throw them out.
3. Start boiling the water - a big pot full.
4. When the water is BOILING, add the beans.  If you add beans before the water is boiling they shrivel and never fill out again.
5. After you add the beans, cut up large chunks of garlic.  I put about 2-3 cloves in and cut each clove in half or so.  I really only do this because hubster hates garlic and I need to be able to see it so I can throw it away before he realizes it's in there.  If you like garlic you can mince it or whatever.
6. Cook the beans until they are nice and soft.  This usually takes 1-2 hours, depending on how many beans you decided to cook.  Keep adding water so that it remains about the same as when you started - you can usually tell because a ring of dried bean juice sticks to the pot.
7. When the beans are almost soft, add salt.  If you add the salt at the beginning it makes the beans kinda tough so wait until they are almost done.  You can add as much or as little salt as you like, but if you want real Honduran beans, you need to add a lot of salt.  I added about 1-2 tablespoons.
8. Stir the beans very softly - they are delicate and will break.
9. Continue to boil the beans.
10. Cut up some onions (maybe 1/4 or so), green peppers (I'd say about about half), and cilantro (as much as you want).  I cut the vegetables into large chunks, like juilienned, but you can cut them up however you like.
11. Now, pour all the bean water into another pot and put in some cooked beans (maybe two cups or so depending on how much water you have - I'd say put in about 1/4 of the beans that you have).  If pouring the water is too annoying, you can do what I did - I removed the beans from the water and put them in the fridge.
12. The beans that you don't use in the soup can then be eaten separately - I like to make refried beans out of them.  Sopa de fijoles is mainly the bean broth, not necessarily a tons of beans.  This is why you remove most of the beans and eat them later, you want mainly broth for the soup.
13. Continue heating up the bean water and add the onions, green peppers, and cilantro.
14. When the bean water is boiling, add "especias" or cumin, black pepper, and dried oregano.  In Honduras this is called Comino con Pimiento but it's the same thing.
15. Then beat one or two eggs and pour it into the boiling bean water.  When the egg is cooked (looks similar to the eggs in egg drop soup), crack a few eggs over the soup so that they poach in the soup.  I usually make sure that each person that is eating gets a whole egg.  Then continue to boil the soup until the eggs are cooked.
16. Eat up the soup!  Usually you put some rice on the bottom of a bowl (I made Honduran rice, but that recipe is for another day), then put some beans and veggies from the soup along with an egg, then scoop out the water and fill the bowl with the broth.



That is the poached egg - my favorite part!  The yolk is cooked all the way through.



I'm not sure how complicated that sounds, but it's not really too difficult.  It just takes a while because the beans take a while to cook.  However, after that, it goes pretty fast.  Plus, you have an entire container of yummy beans to eat at a later time.

Feel free to email me with any questions - and sorry for the poor quality photos - I am not a very good photographer!

Life as a Honduran Wife

Life in Honduras, for women, is very different from that of men.  That's just a fact - maybe it's a bit different in the major cities, but in little ol' Yusguare, there is no such thing as equal roles.  It's traditional, traditional, traditional.

In all honesty, sometimes it's relaxing.  Here in the U.S. I sometimes feel confused by what I want and what I was taught to want and what society wants - I've spent my entire life educating myself and working hard to succeed professionally.  This felt great until I realized I also wanted a family. - I can't work and stay home and take care of my (future) kids.  Now that I'm married - life has become more confusing.  The drive I have at work is competing with the drive I have to create a home for my husband.  At times all I want is to have kids and stay home with them and not think about daycare and working until 7pm and missing out on their childhood and having another person raise them more than myself.  Other days I want to learn more and work hard and touch people's lives.  Yes, living in my head is confusing!

However, in Honduras it is simple.  I know exactly what my role is in Honduras - and I'm fine with that because I only have to do it for a short period of time

So, here is what my average day was like in Honduras:

1. Wake up at around 6:30am.

2. Soak clothes in bucket with detergent.

3. Make breakfast with Heydi (Honduran sister) for family (including my husband).

Baleadas - a traditional Honduran breakfast food
(toasted flour tortilla with beans, eggs, avocado, and Honduran sour cream)
Yum-a-licous!!

 4. Clean up dishes.

5. Wash clothes by hand in pila.

This is the pila - where the water is (no running water in the house).
One side is a wash board for washing clothes (we also wash the dishes here) and the other side is the shower - the middle is a big cement basin of water.

6. Sweep and mop house.

7. Take a shower and get dressed.

8. Get started on lunch.

Pollo guisado - this is one of Ivan's favorite.  If I make it this weekend I'll be sure to take photos!

 9. Clean up lunch.

The kitchen gets dirty really quickly and in about 5 seconds everything is covered in ants.
Not pleasant.

10. Visit with friends.

Every afternoon I headed off to visit old friends - this is Dinora, one of the health center nurses I worked with when I lived there.

11. Relax for a bit.

My favorite place to relax is the hammock.  Trust me - after all that work, a short cat-nap in a hammock does a lot to revive you!

12. Start cooking dinner.

Usually dinner is a small meal with less preparation than lunch, but this particular night I was teaching everyone how to make lasagna - lots of effort and we had to turn the stove on which made it extra hot (it's already like 95* without the oven), hence my shorts and tank top.

 13. Clean up after dinner and spruce up house.

14. Take another shower.

15. Go to church (if there is a church event that night).

Heydi is Baptist and they have a lot more nightly activities than the Catholic church.  On this particular night it was a Youth Service where the youth competed in activities (like being able to recite as many Bible versus before a match goes out).  You always put on your Sunday best for church - I had to borrow Heydi's as I didn't bring any of my "best" clothes.

16. Come home and go to bed (after watching numerous novelas).

17. Repeat the following day.


And although that probably sounds so horrible to many of you, I actually loved it.

I loved knowing what my role was and fulfilling it.
I loved the simple routine of it all.
I loved cooking and cleaning with my Honduran family.
I loved taking care of my husband and making him proud.
I loved the feeling of completely belonging in an adopted country.
I loved actually being a Honduran wife.

However, keep in mind I was only there for TEN DAYS. 

This is what hubby did all day...

 ...tooled around on his motorcycle all day and visited friends.

I think I would have gotten really annoyed on day 11 or 12.  But luckily we didn't stay that long so I was completely content!

So, I guess that gives you an idea of what my days were like on my "vacation"!

I would just like to say...

I can't give you any juicy details because I kinda promised my hubster that I wouldn't tell the entire world really embarrassing things about him.  And although he doesn't know enough English to understand this blog, I am still a girl of my word - so no absolutely humiliating stories.

First I would like to say, before hubster arrived last year I had never really lived with a guy.  Sure, I lived with my Dad and he's a guy but that's not really the same.  And yes, I live with my brother-in-law but that's not really the same either because he is usually on his decent behavior.

So, in all my many years of life I was never exposed to men in all their glory.

Enter my little husband.

My only comment is this:

Men/boys fart and burp way more than necessary.  I mean, way more.  And I don't think it's a cultural thing - I could be wrong but I think men all across the world fart and burp way more than necessary.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Our First Christmas Together

I definitely took a long break from the blog world but I'm back with loads of photos.  In a word, Christmas was GREAT.  I know hubs was missing his family and friends and all of his Navidad traditions, but it was great spending our first Christmas together.  From now on we'll be making our own Christmas traditions - whether that's a long drive up to Vermont every year or lots of Yahtzee and Sorry, it will be something that is just ours.  I love spending the holidays at my parents' house and hope we can continue that tradition, but know that it's also important for me to be flexible and open to new ideas and traditions as they present themselves (I sound so grown-up!).

In a nutshell, our week in Vermont consisted of lots of togetherness, building fires, long chats, snow shoeing, sledding, bowling, movies, Yahtzee, Sorry, Sequence, LOTS OF FOOD, snow, dog kisses, and much more.  It was such a great week and so wonderful to spend so much quality time with my family and hubs.  Here are some photos to give you an idea of what our week was like:



All our stockings ready for Santa



The tree after Santa visited



An intense game of Sorry



The promised photo of hub's Christmas dinner of turkey and roasted potatoes with ketchup with the added food item - deviled eggs!



Let's build a fire!

 

Getting more firewood


 

Prepared for a round of sledding with my mom




Ivan's first sledding experience

 

Our favorite place - in front of the fire


 

Some snow shoeing malfunctions



Relaxing in front of the TV



Yahtzee!

  

Quality time with the dogs


As you can tell, our first Christmas together was a hit.  I loved showing him what Christmas is like in the U.S. and introducing him to loads of new activities - some fun, some not so fun.  It was great finally being together and not having to truck a tiny Christmas tree all the way to Honduras in my suitcase and putting it up in our hotel for a quick weekend get-together (which is what I did two Christmases ago).

Who knows what Christmas will be like next year and what 2011 will bring, but we had quite a year this year: Ivan's arrival to the U.S., getting married, honeymood at Hershey, my 30th birthday, getting Ivan's green card, 4th of July in Vermont, Ivan getting his first paycheck, buying tickets to visit Honduras, the birth of my niece, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and many other events I can't think of.  I am excited to see what the new year has in store for us - starting with a trip to Honduras the end of the month!