The Snuggle Bug and the Spool (a tale of warmth)

When your dating someone, you notice things. Some things you don't like, some things you really do....these things get quirky nicknames or secret phrases that only the two of you know.

Reference here would be the well known trick of saying 'olive juice' silently from across a crowded room towards your loved one. It's suppose to look like you're saying 'I Love you'...personally never tried it, because hey if I'm going to say that then whoever is around can hear my admission of passion for my husband.

Why hide a term of endearment?

Some of my readers have long heard our terms of endearment for each other....neither of these have any embarrassing connotation to them. They just speak of early moments in our love for each other.

Rich is 'Bug' to me.

In fact, he's listed as 'A Bug' in my cellphone making him the first contact number for me, even though he's on speed dial as number 2. Is it weird that it annoys me that my Sprint phone won't let me list him as number 1? My voicemail has to be first, sometimes on a BAD day voicemail should not be my number one option. In fact, some days selecting the number one option results in an immediate dialing of number 2 because *insert family member* has pushed a different kind of button....

(I got off track, small consumerism and familial dynamic driven rant. )

Rich likes to snuggle.

Rich also radiates heat and is my personal space heater on cold winter nights...think Jacob Black to Bella in the tent on that fateful eve. Atlanta can be cold to a Texas girl in the winter, really cold. We call it 'Cold Footy Weather' because my extremities turn to little icicles that can send Rich six inches off the sheets if touched to his calf.

In those early relationship months, he was determined, getting me all snug and warm.....then was coined the endeared nickname 'Snuggle Bug'. Shortly after that I would get emails and cards signed 'S. Bug' and now 9 years later it's just 'Bug'. I'm told that my referenced name choice is a barometer for emotional stability at any given time.

Me. I'm the 'Spool'.

Ironically, my endearment also has to do with needing warmth. You see, at night when I'm cold, I turn and turn and turn in the covers. Imagine a spider turning it's prey into a cocoon of web.

That's a little gory, but hey you get the point.

Rich said I 'taco'd' myself, which I wasn't too happy with the term. Although now we refer to wrapping the kids after bath as 'baby taco'...Nora uses the term as a verb asking to 'taco me!' Kids can be tacos but adult woman probably don't want to be referred to as a greasy, fat filled, crunchy outside form of cheap food.

Who's with me on that?

So he went into his vocabulary and found another term 'spooling'. Is that even a verb? I'm too lazy to look it up. Many a morning I'm told that I spooled the sheets the night before.

Thus, I became the 'Spool'. Stealer of the sheets. Winder of the quilt. Spooler of warmness on cold nights.

There is the physical warmth that comes from the actions behind our endearments. Truth is, the endearment adds an emotional warmth to our relationship.

Foodie Fridays!

I'm really starting to get into experimenting, especially with my crockpot! There is just something about autumn that makes you want to fill the house with the smell of comfort food.

Apple cider is one of my favorite fall comforts and I splurged this week and bought some in a jug. Sometime on Wednesday morning, my brain thought 'hmmmm you can roast things in apple cider right'.

Then came the canvas search of several food websites.

Let the experiment begin. Mad cooker in the kitchen! I seriously, think I was giddy as the ingredients were thrown in my pyrex measuring cup. Ingredients were slowly taken from several different recipes to make the one below.

The fun part, this recipe helps me get rid of a lot of odds and ends ingredients in the cabinets. Like the last of the molasses from Xmas cookies, ground ginger that I never use, and dried fruit that Nora decided she didn't like.

This was just fabulous! (Even the picky husband approved)

Applecider Pork Roast - Slowcooker

3-4lb pork tenderloin or roast
1 onion chopped
1 c. apple cider
1/4c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4c. brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2c. dried cranberries or cherries
1 tsp thyme
1/2 c. molasses

I served this with some roasted potatoes and broccoli....

Another secret to this....afterwards the leftover pork got chopped up and mixed with some bbq sauce for fantastic fall pulled pork sandwiches.

Take My Breathe Away

I found out something sad yesterday.

The news just stopped my world every time I thought about it.

My mind can't wrap around it.

I hurt for this friend, more than I every thought I could.

Though I know she is fighting through it with strength and faith.

It still takes my breathe away to think of her.

To think of her leaving this world way too soon.

I don't need to type her name, it is etch in my heart.

My heart is forever changed and my eyes a little more open to the preciousness of life.