Snorting Makes Marriage Better

I'd say lots of things in fact make marriage better. But right now I'm watching movie trailers and snorting with laughter into my blankets as Tommy-love is taking a power nap on his smudge of the bed. [He claims I steal the bed AND the covers but I don't know what he's talking about. How could I be THAT awesome while sleeping?) Anyway, I'd say this marriage thing is pretty stinking good : )

I realized yesterday that my parents are interested to know details about how my life is going with my 6 ft. 1 boy-man....I really should have seen that one coming since they love me a lot, etc. Then I realized other friends/family might be curious as well, so I'm giving y'all the download.


Pretty much everyday is different, and everyday is fun even if we're tired, tackling grown up responsibilities, etc. It might be possible to write out enough times how much I love our life together so that you could truly see how much it's true, but it would take you a life-time to read, and really, summaries are great inventions.
[Tommy's new desk we found at D.I.]

Tommy is majoring in Construction Management and is taking both a framing and an architecture class this semester. He also decided to pick up a drawing class to work on his sketching skills since that is both fun, and will definitely come in handy later when he's drawing up blueprints etc. He's a smart cookie that one. He's pretty busy between labs, classes, homework, and making me the happiest Carleen Marie Steinkuhler ever. (Windy and I checked, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the country according to this site we found online...we were bored this one time.)

Tommy is amazing at making our house feel like home. He likes to unpack our things, organize them around our house, put nails in the walls and ask me which pictures I want where. He built us silverware dividers out of extra cardboard from all the boxes we've accumulated made sure we raided the after-easter aisle of Albertson's for goodies to put in our new Death Star cookie jar (Thank you Windy! We love it!) and was first to test out our Kitchen Aid by making homemade bread. He made 8 loaves last week haha, he's found a new love and calls the Kitchen Aid his baby :)
(cinnamon swirl, cinnamon & chocolate chip swirl, pepperjack cheese & spice swirl, raspberry jam swirl, peanut butter & chocolate chip swirl, & regular). He's figured out how to toss the dough in the air like a pizza pie, catch and release it over and over, spinning it high above his head until it's fluffy and soft. He has to kneel down so he doesn't hit the ceiling but he really loves it :)


He concocts all sorts of dishes, sometimes cooks up Argentine recipes, revamps our vast amounts of leftover soup, invents all of his bread variations, and uses the oven and stove often, keeping them bubbling and happy. So many people I've talked to expect me to be solely in the kitchen, but I'm glad cooking for us isn't just a gender-role ascribed duty, but has become a fun experimentation open to whomever is excited to try something new that day. Tommy often beats me : ) But his excitement is catching and I often sit on a splash of counter and read homework, etc to him as he cooks.

He's put up white christmas lights all around our house and living room, drug our mattress into the living room so we can camp out and watch movies, and made sure he can hang up my fort that he made me for christmas whenever we have f.h.e. so we can sit under it and read books aloud to each other that we loved growing up. So far we've read 'The Chocolate Touch' ~ By Patrick Catling , 'First Test' ~ by Tamora Pierce, and are starting on 'Dragon Lance' ~ By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman tomorrow. It's been really fun reading books that have in many ways shaped who we are today or simply reflect pieces of who we've been.

Becca and Alisa come by fairly often for lunch every Friday and for playing games and watching movies other nights. Dueling with light sabers is not unheard of at such parties.
Tommy also found a friend to play halo with : )




[back when the bed was in our bedroom and not on our living room floor for a never-ending sleep over/movie night]


I am starting my period of servitude with the school preschool as my practicum for my major (Child Development). I spend 2-4 hours in preschool-class or the lab every week-day and the assignments, prep-work and actual preschool haven't even started yet. I must say that even though it was obvious from day-one that preschool was going to take over my semester, I love it already and am ridiculously excited for this Tuesday when the kids will come for their first day. We get a class of 3-yr-olds : ) There are about 19 of them, it's going to be crazy :) Did I mention I'm ecstatic? I am :)


Tommy and I have a DNA class together because I put off my last general-ed science class for as long as possible, and he's a young-in who does things on time :P Also I just really wanted to be able to take a class with him, and this is our last chance possibly ever. It's pretty intense for a foundations class but I survive infinitely better with him by my side laughing and telling me to calm down when I get angry at our very by-the-book teacher for occasionally using different (more exact and ugly) scientific terms than the nice ones used in our prescribed preparation homework. We got to make playdough models of the cell reproduction process of meiosis during class last week and I had to shush him a couple times he was getting so excited. He's fun :) Sometimes our class schedules allow us to meet up and walk around campus for a bit before we have to part ways to get to our separate classes again. This past week I've been pleasantly surprised by the giddy-nervous flip-flop my stomach does when he shows up unexpectedly in my recently-finished classes because his class got out early or I'm just amazingly slow at packing up. I hope I get to feel this at random moments for the rest of time. I love him.



Every day Tommy and I play. We are like two kids who never fully grew up, having tickle wars, light saber battles, wrestling wars, water fights, etc. He makes fun of the way I spit in the shower, enjoys poking and pinching me everywhere, is fascinated by the 1000 different ways my face can be squished, and the funny noises I seem to make as a result of all of these antics. I blow raspberries on his face, tickle him, have been known to stick my finger in his mouth when he yawns, you get the idea. Last weekend we put our new, gold, silk, playboy sheets on our bed (re-gifted to us by his Grandma, don't ask, we didn't), and took turns holding the top sheet in front of us like a toboggan as we ran down the hall and slid across the slippery bed as far as we could go. I skip like a rock 2-3 times until I skid to a stop sprawled out near the end of the mattress. Tommy has it down so well he slides 6 feet past the end of our queen-size bed where he collides into our front door in a laughing heap. Like I said, we play : )


The world is a bit crazy. But having a home I can create and enjoy everyday with the love of my life and God, nourishes me, and gives me hope, strength and better sight than my own to face the craziness inside and out. I don't need anyone to hang a flashing sign or arrow to tell me this is bliss. Life is best when you make it so. Best wishes and all my love to all you nakies