Tag Archives: Mr. Gaunt

Being More Thankful

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In an effort to improve my mental health and be more like my wonderful Husband, who is always happy and always looking on the bright side, I’m going to spend some time being more thankful and appreciative.

This is something that I have struggled with for years, seeing the Good and not the Bad. I know where it comes from, I understand the situations in my life that have given me a pessimistic or un-trusting look on life, but I would like to change it. It’s hard though. I do think that I am more responsible because of “worry about the worst” kind of thoughts, but I also spend a lot of time un able to let things go. I want to be more kind, happy, proud, respectful, without feeling like I’m being “fake” or ignoring things that are important. That is where I struggle. How can you see the good without ignoring danger signs. How can you be thankful without being walked on. How can you let go of anger and judgements but stay true to your standards?

I know that hatred and self-doubt have ruined relationships, and many experiences in my life. It’s not a feeling I want to bring with me into the future, or teach to my children. I picked Mr. Gaunt as my partner because he embodies all the good in the world. He radiates joy and kindness. He sees the good in everyone, and he returns it. Yes he has weaknesses in responsibility sometimes, areas where his “It’s All Good” mindset can sometimes get him in trouble, but he is genuinely happy. I know I will always need to be a little more “on top of my game” than he is, I need to keep things running in a functioning manner, but I also need to relax. I want to take on his eternal joy and excitement in life.

Now this of course is all very hard for me. It’s not in my nature, and I respond pretty negatively to criticism from others. I’m fully aware that there are people out there who are nodding their heads in agreement, but I’m not quite ready for criticism or advice. This is going to be a slow process of identifying my feelings, my triggers, my fears, my actions and working to change them.

Today I’m going to make two lists:

1. Things that are SO NI About Others:

(this is how Mr. Gaunt and I say “So Nice”)

-My Brother living with us helped immensely in paying for our wedding!

-My sister is going to take her hair certification test on Wednesday, and rock it!

-My Best friends Mallory and I sat and talked for like 6 hours on Saturday night.

-Jenny and Justin picked us to be Cecilia’s God Parents, we will Baptize her over Thanksgiving in Colorado!

-Our friend Drew ran a marathon yesterday, this is so inspiring.

-Mr. Gaunt understands the importance of us switching banks. We will finish our switch to the Credit Union this week.

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2. Fears that are No NI that I’m Letting go of today:

(This how we say “not nice”)

-That my calves look fat in Ugg Boots (really they just look comfy)

-That my mom couldn’t go to dinner last night (she was tired and it was good for her to get some rest)

-That we have too much stuff (really we are overly blessed, and are still cleaning up from a wedding)

-That my job is boring (but I’m blogging and listening to NPR, so that’s cool)

I would also like to try to keep a positive attitude today about house work (laundry, dishes, cooking) and about my painting business! Both of which will be great as long as I get a little done every day without stress or anger or yelling.

 

Mr. Gaunt Gets a Haircut

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My sister Taylor is currently attending TONI&GUY Hair Academy. Shes kind of awesome at it. If your in Bellingham you should call up and get a good inexpensive hair (cut,color,etc) from her! We just make her come over to our living room and bride her with Oatmeal cookies.

I love nothing more than a man with a new haircut! Mr. Gaunt will never go bald…swoon.

 

Mr. Gaunt turns 30!

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Mr. Gaunt turned

THIRTYYYYYYYYYY

November 28th! Yay! Although I will say the 16 year old in me is SHOCKED Im dating a 30 year old…lol!

We had a nice dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory with some close friends and family last Saturday.

Self Portrait by Liam Heckmaster

This boy needs a camera!

He made the entire table play "pound the table"

He might be 30, but this what what he really wanted

Date Night

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In all efforts Mr. Gaunt and I try to stay in love as much as possible. Dont get me wrong, there are days when we hate each others guts, but for the most part we try to live in love. Because I’m a floozy and I move in with boyfriends very quickly, Mr. Gaunt and I really never “dated” perse. I mean we would meet for lunch, and go out drinking with friends, but there was very little courting. He didn’t pick me up at my house and take me out to dinner or movies or anything like that. Most of the time I could care less about those kinds of things, but every now and then I think how much I would like to go on dates.

Mr. Gaunt is on an endless path to show me how much our relationship means to me (yes ladies be jealous…lol!) For real I often feel like he works 10x harder than I do, but I know that isn’t really true. We each have our own unique way of showing we care and putting effort in the relationship. For me its making good food and taking pictures of our family and all the little creative inspiration that keeps us entertained. I feel good about what I put into it too.

Anyway last Friday Mr. Gaunt decided we were going to go a date! Yipee! Originally he had planned for us to take Tango dancing lessons, but I sort of vetoed, Id rather do ballroom or salsa, tango seems too Adams Family. So instead we decided to do dinner and a walk through the park in Denver. We went to Pete’s Greek Restaurant, because I LOVE Greek food and Mr. Gaunt and I had never really been to real Greek food together. It was amazing, of course:

After that we went to City Park and watched the sun set and the fountains light up. We had wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens, but they were hosting some event that evening. The cutest part of the evening though was when we got to watch this guy propose to his girlfriend. I made a video, but I dont know how to upload it (MR. GAUNT HELP!) it was so stinking cute I cried…lol! Best date night EVER!

He was waiting forever for her to arrive.

SHE SAID YES!

Using The Beets!

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Beet and Potato Roesti

I got Beets in my Door to Door Organics box last week. We have never cooked Beets, nor had I eaten many Beets as a kid. Both Mr. Gaunt and I weren’t sure if we even liked Beets all that much. I searched around Food Gawker for a Beet Recipe, and this one stood out “The Only Way I Can Get My Husband To Eat Beets” Well if it works for her husband, it should work for my boyfriend!

The recipe was pretty easy to follow and pretty quick too. Even the “flipping” of the Beets wasnt to scary (and I usually HATE flipping things). The only thing that I would mention was that her recipe say to use 4-6 Beets that make 1/2 a cup of shredded Beet, but I used 4 (maybe kinda big?) Beets and it made about 2.5 cups. I didn’t want to waste the rest of the shredded Beets so I threw them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I’ve never frozen any starch product like that, so who knows if it will keep.

Pink Beet Hands!

I used low-fat butter and Fat Free Sour Cream to reduce the calories.I also used Whole Wheat Flour, because that’s all we even have anymore. My feeling is if I can’t make it with Whole Wheat Flour, why bother.  I still thought they had a definite Beet taste (which isn’t bad, just unique) but Mr. Gaunt freaking LOVED these, he ate almost the whole thing! He thought they tasted like a big potato pancake. I was thrilled to see him gobbling up Beets, and I’ll definitely make this again. It says its more of a “side dish” but we just had two slices with a big salad and we were full.

This recipe could also easily be made vegan, just use vegan Butter and vegan Sour Cream!

The recipe is as followed (taken from Dinosaur Dishes: Delicious easy, healthy meals on a shoestring budget):

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Beet and Potato Roesti

serves 4-6 as a side

Ingredients

4-6 medium beets, About a 1/2C when grated
2 small potatoes, scrubbed
salt and pepper
4 scallions, chopped
½ cup flour
2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Trim and scrub the beets then peel them. Grate them into a medium bowl. Start preheating a large (12″) skillet over medium heat. Working fast, so they don’t discolour, grate the potatoes into the same bowl as well. Add the salt, pepper, and scallions and combine well. Then add the flour a few tablespoons at a time until well combined.

Melt the butter into the skillet until it foams. Put the mixture into the middle of the pan and flatten out with a spatula. It should be a centimeter or thinner. Cook for 8-10 minutes until nice and crispy.

You will need to flip it over. To do this place a large plate over top and flip the frying pan over then slide the roesti back into the pan. Cook until the other side is crispy about another 8 -10 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature with green onions on top.  We also like to dollop some sour cream or plain yogurt on each slice.

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Shredding Beets. Be careful because it's so red you can't tell if you cut yourself.

In the pan.

Like a Beet Pizza!