Life of a Single Married Lady

The Tushaushold has experienced a lot of excitement recently! Between all of the excitement, Wil is loving his job and traveling all over the country without me (sad for me!), and I've taken up crochet like a madwoman. This is great for my Christmas present stash, but not so much for my partly finished cross-stitch projects... We'll be happy to introduce a furry new addition to the family after Thanksgiving (!!!), so we installed a fence! Despite the fact that it makes our house look even more pink, it's a pretty great fence. It'll keep Future Dog Tushaus in the yard and give us a bit of backyard privacy. Of course we celebrated Halloween in style! I was particularly excited this year because we had trick-or-treaters for the first time (and of course all our friends came up to visit). One kid even tried to sneak into the party! So festive!       I was Boggart Professor Snape, and Wil was a crazy mad scientist! As the gales of November began to kick in

Well, our house definitely resembles a train wreck more than it did in the last post. However, we're all moved in! I think we'll even have everything in its place (for now) by the end of the weekend, and I'm reeeeeeally looking forward to that. Shoutout to the lovely Olivia, who got me a gorgeous housewarming gift (way pretty than the Spice Stack I got her, but I stand by that decision! Buy a Spice Stack, seriously.). Look at these books! The stamped leather is soft, and the books have that unmistakable smell of fresh paper and ink and love and adventure. I cannot wait to (gently and with kid gloves) read them. *sigh of contentment* Now to the food! I've been on a cast iron kick, mostly because cast iron is amazing and I adore it, and partly because I don't have to clean it as well as my shiny pots and pans. The other day I found a recipe for one-pot Greek chicken pasta (from the Host the Toast blog), which is highly appealing due to the fact that I am

As many of you know, Wil and I bought a house! We closed on a cute little starter home on 31 July 2015. You saw the listing pictures in a previous post , but here are some updates! In addition, for all of you thinking about becoming homeowners, I wanted to send out a warning: there is so much to think about . Oh my goodness, it's been overwhelming. Insurance, gutters, landscaping, lawn tools, tree trimming, neighbors, kids on Halloween, basement flooding, shop-vacs, fences, structural integrity, garage siding, shoveling snow, wasp nests, furnace filters, water softeners, garbage day, street sweeping, leaf and brush removal, chimney safety, wiring, storage space, floors, water bills, mortgage, bus routes, inspections, subletters...but you know what? It's going to be fantastic . Come visit! Front view of the house View from corner of backyard - it's a great yard! We've got a great climbing tree in the front of the house. The front room looks about the

Wil and I took a week off to meet up with family and friends for a camping extravaganza! I somehow managed to take 0 (zero) pictures of my own while camping, but I'll try to update this post later (or make a new one) with camping pictures. We went to Fayette Historic State Park, located in the Upper Peninsula of MI on the north end of Lake Michigan. The camping is fantastic, but maybe even cooler was the ghost town half a mile away. The town of Fayette was a manufacturing town for only 24 years - talk about your boom and bust! Many original buildings remain from the late 1800s, and others have been reconstructed. While we were there, we also toured Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for the first time in many years, and kayaked Big Bay de Noc. When I become independently wealthy someday (ha!) I think I'll spend my whole life just camping! Historic Fayette looking out to the bay.  Wil and I toured the New Glarus Brewery in New Glarus, WI, after our return to civilization. I

As most of you know, Wil and I are buying a house!! It turns out "house" is actually a synonym for "never-ending To Do list" - I think I've called more people for quotes in the past two weeks than I have in my entire life. However, it's going to be worth it. No more rent payments we'll never get back, no more twinges of guilt when we hang something large on a wall, no more "no pets" clauses. Huzzah! This is probably one of the cutest dwellings ever. One of the best parts about this house is how little it really needs  to have done. The garage is a bit of a mess (sagging roof, broken windows, terrible siding), but the house only needs a couple edits to bring it up to code. Our dream stove (and the rest of the kitchen, of course) But what fun is that, right? I love talking about food and my process of learning how to make it, but this is destined to become a DIY blog. We've got big plans for the new place and we'd like to try

Last week I got to go home to Michigan! I visited the University of Michigan to talk research and give an informal seminar (my first!). I think it went pretty well - I got a lot of great feedback and suggestions for future research, and I got to see my friends! I even got to stay with my parents during the trip. It was so great to be home for Mother's Day. Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and aunts! Even more fortunately, I was home for my cousin's First Communion from the same church I went to as a kid. Sophie looked so happy, and we all teared up when the kids sang a blessing to their families. Sophie and Nate, being super adorable. Keri finished up her fourth year of college with all A's, because she's amazing, and came to celebrate with us in Madison! I guided her through her first train/bus trip, and she'll do it again all on her own (like she's an adult or something) tonight when she goes to visit John

Yay beer! Long time, no blog! Things are going well around here - Wil has a job interview tomorrow so wish him luck! Other than that, spring came to visit, remembered it left its socks at home, and brought winter back to babysit. It looks like spring is coming back for good this week, and I can't wait for the warmth again. In the meantime I've been cooking up some cold-weather foods! Before I give you some recipes, I did mention a boot in the title...it's a beer boot! We ate dinner with a friend at Essen Haus, a German restaurant downtown, and Wil made sure to get the full beerxperience. On to the food! The first is my stroganoff recipe, which I love and have made a lot  this winter. It's a crock-pot recipe, but you could probably make it in a big pot or Dutch oven on the stove. I think this recipe is the perfect thing for when you want creamy, beefy, mushroomy sauce over noodles, but not have to lie to yourself (too much, anyway) about the calorie count! No

I love my family, every single oddball one of them, and now that I'm married I have double the number of people to love! Wil's dad Dave and uncle Leo came to visit this weekend and it was just a blast. Madison supports a fantastic bike infrastructure, and this past weekend they held a bike expo to show off all the neat biking gear from shops all around town. The ICE Adventure trike, Wil's favorite Wil, Dave, and Leo spent about an hour just on the recumbent trikes! They were pretty amazing - zippy, nice handling, comfortable, and sleek. If you ever get a chance to rent one (we did that overseas to explore around town) or test drive one, you totally should! Two wheels in back (...delta? I think?) is okay, but two wheels in front (tadpole) make for a smaller wheel base and better handling overall. I also bought a bike! My bike from home is just a bit too small for me, and I've been wanting a bigger one. I'll be able to ride to church, around town, and maybe e

Yesterday was an incredibly balmy 45 degrees!! In celebration, I went on a walk through the U-W Arboretum, a 1200-acre park full of forest, prairie, savannah, and wetlands. It was wonderful! I can't wait for spring so I can use the currently snow-covered trails and smell all the new growth. Looking out over Wingra Lake towards the AOS building, where I work (way far off in the distance, with all the hardware on top); from the UW Arboretum. Weekends around here are devoted to cooking and preparing meals (mostly soups) for the week ahead. Since I was lazy and ate eggs this Friday, I decided to cook up some fish today instead. I found a great recipe for Creole Red Snapper, which I figured would be just as good with some of my tasty frozen tilapia. It totally was. Creole Tilapia Ingredients - 4 fish fillets (typically about 4-6 oz per fillet) - 1 tbsp olive oil - 1/4 c. chopped onion - 1/4 c. chopped green pepper - 1 clove garlic, minced - 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoe