NEWSFLASH!

1. The Huenschhold is now a party of 3 (4 if you include the dog).
2. I am surrounded by boys (even the dog)
3. This blog is about to get all baby-ish (with a side of dog pictures)
4. I fully expect only my mom to read these things/ watch these videos.  The rest of you feel free to un-bookmark, unsubscribe, write this thing off. I will totally understand :)

A belated tribute to my mom

in honor of mothers day, i am eating a piece of peanut butter pie for brunch. how does that honor my mother? because she loves making things out of chocolate and peanut butter. because this pie is awesome and so is she. and because when we were little sugar cereals and pop tarts were off limits but pie? pie for breakfast was totally fair game. if you want a kick-ass breakfast yourself. try this. . .

1. Buy a chocolate cookie pre-made pie shell (or make your own if you have the time). I prefer the Oreo brand crust.

2. Put a cup of peanut butter, 8 oz of cream cheese, 1 Tbl of softened butter, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix that sucker til it's smooth.

3. Put a cup of whipping cream in a bowl and whip it good - til it's the texture of whipped cream. (i know there are a lot of stages - for this i like to whip it til its almost stiff).

4. Fold together the whipped cream and peanut butter mixture and put it in the pie shell.

5. Take it to a special dinner and let everyone tell you how amazing it is.

6. Eat it for breakfast the next day.

happy mothers day everyone.

i love my dog

i just needed to update my readers on a couple things:

1. i love my dog. i decided this last thursday. i no longer want to send him back with my parents when they come visit in two weeks (see #3) or see if my neighbors want to keep him. i want to keep him and love him forever. i even like being a dog owner. it was very much worth the two weeks of 'adjusting' besides, look at this:

2. j and i have had a LOT of school work. and regular work. it turns out that no matter how many assignments i have to turn in, people still need their lattes.

3. my parents are coming in 2 weeks!!! stl - get ready for janice and jay. it will be awesome.

and that's it for now. we've been so swamped with school and work that we're living in squalor and eating pbjs and hot dogs for an absurd number of meals. so, yeah, this often neglected blog is the least of my worries. still, there is much to be thankful for. more on those things next time.

we call him chewie (or dog man behind his back)

how could you resist this face? clearly, j and i couldn't. so we brought him home and are now officially dog owners. at least, that's what the paper work says. no, seriously - he's our dog as of about 36 hours ago. he's a one year old mutt that i found at a PetSmart adoption center. he came from a shelter a couple hours away. until tonight we had never heard him whine. we still haven't heard him bark. he has yet to use the bathroom indoors and isn't loving his food (even though its the same kind his foster mom gave him. i asked). he has been pretty laid back, but progressively coming out of his shell. he prefers people to toys and the sofa to the floor. we're trying to break him of the second one. he loves welcoming people to our home and spends most of his time sleeping on the rug. oh, and shedding? he doesn't. pretty great dog, huh? how am i liking being a dog owner?

i have mixed feelings.

having someone SO excited to see me when i get home has been fun. having a cute little animal laying on the carpet has been pretty cool. plus, he's about the EASIEST dog you could ask for. no complaining there. here's the thing (and i might be admitting a bit of psychosis): i don't like having someone else to care for 24/7. we all know that i can barely look out for myself. i had it down enough that the good Lord saw fit to give me a husband. that has been fantastic - but he won't pee on the carpet if i leave him alone too long. and now it feels like there is one more being in the world that i have to worry about. i don't know if i like it. i mean, i just want him to be really happy, ok? then again, it's only been a little more than a day - so i'll get back to you on this. maybe it just takes some getting used to. he is really really cute. need another example? here ya go.

good thing we didn't go straight to having kids, huh?

why i can't make a machine gun sound with my mouth

"Researchers wired a playground for sound. They found that all the sounds coming from girls were recognizable words. Only 69 percent of the sounds made by boys were understandable words. The remaining were either one-syllable sounds like ub or mmm or sound effects like Varoooom! Yaaaaah! Zooooooooom!"

-Marlene LeFever in Learning Styles

it's like Christmas came early!!!

i thought today would be like any other day on break. . . relaxing, minimally productive, and enjoyable. but today had some surprises in store. today was going to be spectacular and i didn't even know it.first, it started by staying in bed too long. have i mentioned that this is one of my favorite things to do? especially when there is no accompanying guilt and today there was none of that. then j and i got breakfast at the Kolache Factory. Have you ever had a kolache? the first time i tried one i was in birmingham, searching for goodies in our office kitchen. i found these rolls and bit into one only to find a delicious sausage and cheese filled center wrapped inperfect yeast dough. i ran down to my office to tell everyone about this amazing discovery; they already knew. i literally could not believe no one had ever told me about the kolache. so, here they have a whole bakery dedicated to them and that is where i got to enjoy breakfast with the cutest guy on the planet.

then, after some shopping and cleaning while j and his twin (yes, he has a twin, no he is not single) played video games in the basement - we decided to hit up pappy's bbq for a late lunch.

if my kolache experience was a fantastic first date, (or second?) my relationship with bbq is nothing less that a lifetime covenantal commitment based on love and mutual respect. good bbq is one of the things i miss most about the south. slow roasted pork on buttery buns and ribs that make you work for the tender smokey pieces of meat. oh my gosh, i could go back for more right now. pappy's has been featured on the food network and cooking channel, which is what convinced me to give it a chance. it's midwestern though, which kept my expectations low. after eating there all i have to say is this: GO. get all the meats, get all the sides and double up the sweet potato fries. when i was done, my plate looked like this:

sorry, is that gross? who cares?! i need to relive this moment. so we sat there talking about how good it was and how full it was and how the guy on man v. food ate there and then we all knew what had to be done: we had to hit up the crown candy kitchen.

crown candy was also featured on the food network and is known for it's milkshakes and malts and yes, candy. it closed at four, so we had 30 minutes to get there and sit down. we made it, and ordered these:

please note, each of these fills a standard milkshake glass a whopping 3 times. 3 TIMES!!!! no, i didn't finish my silver cup of chocolate banana goodness but the part that could fit in my stomach was incredible. when i was in jr. high and high school my dad and i set out to find the best milkshake in columbia. if crown candy had been in the running it would have owned everywhere else that we went.

then i fell into a food coma. and it was worth it. merry Christmas to me.

the follow up to the 70's-tastic gingham cookbook recipe

surprise everybody! it looks like i care about blogging all of a sudden. it's probably the lack of final exams and really long papers to write.

so, i made the chicken divan, served it with some brown rice (what? we're healthy-ish) and it was pretty good. i didn't even gag when i squeezed out 1/2 cup of mayo and stirred it into the cream of chicken goo (see? that's why we're only healthy-ish). the divan was good, but not as good as the stuff my neighbor brought over when we moved in. so if you are desperately in need of a chicken divan recipe, i'll get hers.

in other news, i've moved on to massive chocolate chip cookies by martha stewart. they look like they're off of a commercial and my husband keeps asking if we have more. for the recipe, click here. oh, except i made a minor change. instead of even reading what kind of chocolate and how much i was supposed to use, i just dumped in a bunch of chocolate chips. there were so many that i couldn't stir them all in and i had to eat a bunch of plain chocolate chips after i made all of the cookies. oh - and one more change. i tried to cook them on wax paper because i was out of parchment paper AND foil. it went well until smoke started pouring out of the oven and our house began to smell like a melting wax castle. we had to open the doors to create a breeze to carry the smoke out. it worked, and the breeze was 11 degrees with a wind chill of -7.

and tonight? sugar cookies with that awesome royal icing. you know, the kind that looks all smooth and fan-say (that's the fancy way to say 'fancy'). they're in the fridge right now, waiting to be baked and iced.

and you know why i'm not a first-class food blogger? i don't have pictures of any of it. sorry!

i've been cooking a lot lately . . .

and tonight, i'm cooking out of this book:

when it comes to family heirlooms, most girls get fancy jewelry, silver, antique dressers or fur coats.* me? i get Cotton Country Cooking and my great grandmother's well seasoned iron skillet. and i. love. that.

food is quite the tradition in our family, and having this well used, written-in copy of staples in southern cooking and entertaining. tonight's recipe? chicken divan. it involves mayo and cream of chicken soup. i can't go wrong, right? i'll let you know how it goes. until then - happy dinner time!

* also food related, my grandmother did give me a set of crystal salt and pepper cellars with sterling silver mini spoons. they're beautiful, and her message with them was more beautiful "I just wanted your new home to have something that has always been a part of our meals together in my home"

So so thankful

i know, it's been a while since thanksgiving. but i have so much to be thankful for that i still had to do a post about it. (besides, beggars can't be choosers and if you actually look forward to new posts on this site, you qualify as a beggar) we were with Justin's family for the great feast, and it was, truly, a great feast. i held on tight to my purnell roots and took mostly pictures of food (seriously, its like a disorder in our family - at least my brother married a professional photographer who can do it well) and a few pictures of people with food in the background.

First there is the best chocolate bundt cake in the world. i would HIGHLY recommend it. super easy and pretty impressive. oh, and so good that i could probably eat it for every meal.

Marie, justin's grandmother, made almost everything. we ran around drinking wine, taking pictures and stealing bites. she's a great grandmother though because she didn't care that i ate almost a whole can of olives before we even sat down.

Me and my Dr. Quinn bangs. they look better now. oh - and becca (the other twin's wife) and dori (the mother-in-law, who i am so so thankful for).

and dori and all of her boys.

besides all this there was turkey and stuffing and SNOW!! best of all there were people who are thankful for each other. and besides the chocolate cake and olives, that's what thanksgiving is all about, right?

from where i was to where i am. . .

step 1: move to st. Louis, mo.

step 2: become a full time grad student

step 3: get artsy barista job at locally owned coffee shop

step 4: get bangs.

(i apologize for the grainy picture and the expression on my face. i just left it because, well, that's the expression usually on my face these days)

and there you have it - from where I was when i last posted to where I am now.

this will be a fun game:

can you guess what this picture is inspiring in me right now?

ps - this is the girl from 'a fine frenzy' in case you were wondering.

oh! oh! real quick . . .

i would be ENTIRELY remiss if i didn't say a big ol'

happy birthday!!

to the amazing kelley kirker. here's how things would be going if we were celebrating together. . .

there are no words to sum up how i love that girl. so i'll just leave it at that.

the view from here

i know i haven't written much - i've been busy. there has been city to expolore, people to meet, and lots of reading to be read. at last, though, right now, this evening - there is pie crust to be made, an andrew peterson cd to be absorbed, whiskey to be drank (or is it drunk?) and a post to be blogged. honestly - life feels almost as good as i know it is.

the past two weeks have been a blur. school is much more consuming than i expected for both justin and myself. we both spend a lot of time reading. any spare time i've had has been spent looking for a job and attempting to make this apartment my own.

for those of you who know me well, i seriously doubted this school thing at first. now, i can't imagine why. every day i get to go to class and talk about things that matter. my primary responsiblity right now is to come home and read works by these great men of God about the One who truly matters most. already i've had to read the likes of os guinness, sinclair ferguson and lesslie newbigin - i'm talking whole books, people. not to mention articles by guys you won't know but probably should. it's almost not like school (until i hit 11 pm and i've been reading since 3 with only minor breaks - then it's exactly like school). my favorite thing for now has been ferguson's book on the Holy Spirit. it's hundreds of pages on the person of the Holy Spirit and it's so intriguing and genuinely life changing. i challenge you to read about the person of the Holy Spirit and it not rock your world at least a little bit.

besides that there's the job search. after only one week i've gotten to the point of desperation. what does that mean? it means i've started thinking that manual labor jobs don't sound so bad after all. it means that youth ministry doesn't look that good on an application for a high-end cookware store. it means that i've gotten really good at writing down my last three employers and their contact info. it means that i have to rest in God's provision in a way that i only had to talk about before moving here. i'm really thankful for the whole thing.

for now, i'll leave you with this:

" The Spirit's role in Jesus' ministry is now evident, He serves as the heavenly cartographer and divine stratagist who maps out the battle terrain and directs the Warrior-King to the strategic point of conflict. he is Christ's adjutant-general in the holy war which is waged throughout the incarnation." - s.f., The Holy Spirit

just a few minor adjustments

that's right, city of a thousand sights. you know what that means? it's magic code for sprawling metropolis with more interstates than my gps can handle. it means the sheer amount to explore is exhilarating and overwhelming. it also means that it can take up to 45 minutes to get somewhere in the same town. for me - it's an adjustment.

so that's where we are - here in st. louis. so far, i like it. it's not alabama, it's not south carolina, it's not home yet. but, i love our apartment (pics to come soon) and everyone has been almost over the top friendly - even the babies, and there are millions of those here in seminary housing. (by the way, i'm not drinking the water. literally, i'll only drink it if it's been through the brita filter. my scientific brain know it's biologically impossible for this kid thing to be 'in the water' and yet, there are SO many babies). i've already found a running route, two trader joe's and a dozen frozen custard places. there are also a few familiar faces here, even a couple who have known me since before i was a mrs. and that has made this whole thing much easier.

we're adjusting: adjusting to being away from the only home we've know as a married couple, adjusting to not having cable (i watched the wendy williams show today)or a spare bathroom, adjusting to washing all dishes by hand, adjusting to being full time students and not in full time youth ministry. it all just feels really different, a little foreign and like it will be normal soon enough.

fun things - like picture of my vintage oven - coming soon. until then, i'll just be here adjusting.

strong nor'easters

today, i would like to move to maine. or maybe massachusetts. really anywhere that i could live in a cute little new england house with painted shingles. once there we (because you all would come with me) would eat lemon basil pasta with crab that we caught ourselves and sit on the porch drinking wine and wearing light jackets - because in the northeast there isn't a heat index of 105 degrees like there is here. wouldn't that be so lovely?

things found while packing, nights 1 and 2:

yes, we're spending our evenings drinking beer and packing. i hate packing (thus, the beer) but i love finding things that i either a) lost or b) forgot that i lost. Here are my favorites from last night:

-boating license

-marriage license

-electronic bugs

-pictures of me as an awkward jr. higher

Tonight got even more fun:

- multiple wedding gifts still in boxes

-box of 'justin things' (yes, as if i were a cheesy teenager). it included concert tickets, valentines cards, 1st anniversary cards, a corsage, and some other sentimental little tidbits. i laughed at myself. but it's kind of sweet, right?

-mothers day present intended for 2007

-and this shirt from my trip to maine with my family

ahem, i have an announcement

well, this will be old news to some of you - but in less than three weeks the husband and i will be leaving birmingham for the gateway to the west: st. louis. then we will be staying there. honestly, it's that second part - the part where we stay there - that is a little hard for me to take. don't get me wrong, i'm excited, we have big plans for the lou. i'm sure it will love us (justin has a past with the city, so we've got that going for us) and maybe, maybe, i will one day love it. but not like i love birmingham, not like i love the south with its sweltering heat, one snow per winter, and football obsessions. i can't talk about it right now. instead, i'll just leave you with this: the view from the nosebleeds of busch stadium. readers, meet my soon to be home.

someone help me

i need new music in a major way. something upbeat, a little indie, and that invites me to sing along while sitting or driving alone. if it were a little southern it wouldn't hurt.

give me your suggestions, otherwise i'll continue listening to this little gem on repeat (which, sadly, has been my default). what is wrong with me?

a snapshot of my actual summer

well, we got home this past friday from a senior high trip to south carolina, which left me with several bruises and pictures of me on facebook looking like this*:

i'm not sure which is more painful. in an hour we're hitting the road again, this time with a bus full of jr. high kids. where are we going? it's a mystery! no seriously, that's the premise of the trip. they have no idea where we're going. and, in the off chance that one of those 13 year olds takes a break from facebook to look elsewhere on the world wide web for yours truly, i can't tell you where i'm going. here's a huge hint though: tonight i get to hang out with the every extraordinary kelley. i'm about to wet my pants. here's to hoping that this trip leaves me with better souvenirs than my last one!

*most of you know me in real life, which means the utter awkwardness of this picture will not shock or surprise you at all. why did i put this here, on my blog? no idea. i guess i feel the need to prove to you all that i'm so secure that i can take it. either that, or it's just the sad truth that this is my life and i want to share it with you as honestly as possible.

summer list

well, here i am again - weeks and weeks after my last post. it's almost as if life doesn't sit around and wait for me to blog before going on and on. then, like with an old friend, it gets awkward that we (me and my readers) haven't visited in a while. so when one of us does call it just seems like too big of a time commitment to answer the phone and catch up. but. that's why me and many of my friends have this deal: when i call, i don't HAVE to hear about the last 4 unknown months of your life, just the funny story that happened today will suffice. and it's ok if our first conversation in tens of weeks is only 15 minutes long. so here is my 15 minutes.

it is full force summer, and by orangette's inspiration, i would like to actually write down my summer list.

iced coffee from o'henrys.

days by the pool with chatty teenagers and the catagories game

doodles

peaches

the lake

youth trips

going to sleep to crickets and cicadas

heat lightening

grills

smell of sunscreen

sundresses

my grandmama's house

the beach

sweet tea

getting used to sweating

yes, these are the things that i expect from summer. so far, she's checked a lot off. there are probably more - so i'm giving myself permission to update the list as i see fit.

also - i'm considering making this my header: thoughts?