Take a shower by candle light

Nate is downstairs right now, taking a shower by candle light. (I bet you thought the post title was in reference to me, huh? Nope.) As I think I've mentioned, one of our many current house projects is remodeling our downstairs hallway and basement. I've been (very slowly) redoing the wiring in the basement, which means the power is off on a couple of circuits. The whole lower west side, actually... which includes the bathroom. Nate wanted to take a shower, the upstairs shower is right next to the baby's room (and she's sleeping, of course), so he had to go downstairs. Since there's no light, he kindly asked if I would light a few candles. I made sure to pick the prettiest ones with the most calming scents, of course. Ha.

Today was a very busy day. It started with the usual Saturday morning routine (double-stop grocery shopping). Determined to make progress on the chicken coop, I then went out and spent a couple of hours trying to finish the priming. I did not succeed, but it's nearly primed. Of course, then I have to do the actual painting... I think I need another couple of hours to finish priming and probably 4-5 hours to paint. Hopefully during the week I will find time to prime, then perhaps next weekend I can begin painting. Nate has nearly finished constructing the outside run. So maybe we'll have chickens in 2-3 weeks? I hope!

Nate's parents stopped by to pick up some things. I gave away most of the empty moving boxes that I've been hoarding in the "furnace closet" in the garage -- Marie dropped them off with some friends who are moving. It was a little bit hard to see them go, but it's liberating to purge. I think I feel the need to hold on to them because of how many times we moved when we were first married; part of me is always just waiting for the day when we have to pack up and move again. But I let go of the boxes, so maybe I can just finally settle down. (Ha.)

The PILs also took away the oil tank for our old furnace. They are going to set it up at their house and use it to store diesel for their tractor. I am going to use the space in the garage to store the baby strollers. I was not sad to see the tank go because I am very happy that it is going to a new home where it will be used and loved. As we were loading it up, we gave it a name: The Pig. It has already stuck.

We continued to do yard work after lunch and during nap time. Mostly trimming and weeding, trying to get the yard in shape for the winter. It's easier to work with the plants and dirt in the slightly cooler, fall weather. I hope it holds out long enough for us to finish a few more things outside, then we can turn our attention inside for the winter... finish the basement projects and a handful of things upstairs. Next spring we'll be back out in the yard with some aggressive, ambitious gardening plans. Hopefully this time next year I will have grown enough of the right food that I can do some canning. I thought I might get to this year, but no, the garden didn't quite produce what I want, when I wanted it, in the quantities I'd hoped for. But we learned a lot and we're excited for the next growing season.


Last Sunday I made a coconut layer cake (which I originally saw on Pinterest). If you really knew me, you'd know that I am totally a "box cake" girl. I like box cakes, I think they are moist and delicious, and I often prefer them to home made cakes. Say what you will, it is what it is. So when I saw the recipe, it intimidated me a little bit. It seemed complicated. But it looked and sounded, oh, delicious! So I gave it a shot and I am quite pleased with the results. Honestly, the only "challenging" thing about it was gathering up the ingredients, and even that wasn't really hard.

Should you decide to try it out, here are my notes:
- Cream of Coconut is actually usually used for mixing alcoholic drinks, so you'll find it with other drink mixer stuff. (Oregon friends, you can find it at WinCo.)
- If you have 8" rounds, try them out. I used 9" as the recipe directs (it's all I own, anyway) and it was... well... I think I would have liked the look and size of a slightly taller and less wide cake. But it doesn't affect the flavor, just the appearance.
- The frosting is overly sweet, even if you drop the sugar down to 2 cups instead of 3. I ended up whipping some heavy cream and folding it into the frosting, which made for a lightly lighter and not sickeningly sweet frosting.
- The directions say to use one cup of frosting between the layers of cake. Use a generous "one cup" -- I was sparing with my one cup, and consequently my middle layer was too thin, and I ended up with 1/2 cup or more leftover frosting (and yes, I was very generous with the outside layer of frosting).
- Definitely toast the coconut. Beautiful and tastier.