Ellie's Life

Mr. Handsome and I enjoyed reading your comments about his haircut. I think it’s looking better as it grows out a little, and a little bit of facial hair is making him look older. I do miss his old haircut, though, and I’m grateful that he considers my opinion to be of utmost importance.

On another note, I wanted to share a photo of a cake I baked this weekend. As far as appearance goes, it was a complete and utter fail, but if you’re going on taste alone, it was a smashing success.

I was in a rush because we were headed out to our friends’ house for dinner. (Please no comments telling us that we are terrible people for leaving the driveway. We do support the wearing of masks in public places, and we have gone to great lengths to protect our family, but it makes me sad to see people on both ends of the spectrum being so critical of each other.)

I used a new gluten-free mix (Almond Flour Chocolate Muffin and Cake by SimpleMills). As you can tell from all the recipes on my blog, I don’t usually use mixes. In fact, this might have been one of the first times I have baked a cake that wasn’t from scratch.

But I needed a quick dessert, and this mix checks all my boxes. The ingredients are simple: almond flour, organic coconut sugar, cocoa, arrowroot, organic coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt…that’s it. The total sugar content is lower that 99.9% of the desserts I’ve had, and it’s free of gluten, soy, corn, and dairy. What could be better? I know I’ll get at least one reader asking if this is a sponsored post for SimpleMills, so I want to add a disclaimer: This is in no way a sponsored post. I “simply” want to share one of my favorite products. See what I did there?

Now back to my saga. As I was trying to get the baked cake out of the pan, I made the mistake of not scouring the edges with a knife. Like I said, I was in a huge hurry. Unfortunately, only half the cake fell out onto the cooling rack. After a brief moment of panic, I decided to just put it all back in the pan and leave it. I had used a pie plate so it looked plenty fancy.

Due to my mistake, the cake no longer had a smooth top. My plan was to whip up some homemade buttercream frosting for the top, but I quickly decided that making enough frosting to fully cover the mistake would have added way too much fat and sugar.

I stuck toothpicks in the top of the cake so it wouldn’t stick to the plastic wrap, and we jumped in the car, disaster cake and all. To my surprise, our friends love the SimpleMills mixes, and they thought the cake was delicious. And quite honestly, they were right. So I would say my mission was a success. What do you think?

The other day, Mr. Handsome and I were talking about our annual photo book, which I had just started making. “Shouldn’t we just skip this year?” questioned Mr. Handsome. “We can pretend it never happened.” I assured him that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we still have plenty of memorable photos worth looking back at.

We recently took a vacation to the Florida panhandle. It really was the perfect “pandemic trip.” Locals consider the panhandle to be more of an extension of Alabama, and the number of COVID-19 cases did not mimic the rest of Florida. At least while we were there, the case count was very low.

We rented a tiny condo with a small kitchen and balcony. The beach was across the street, and there was plenty of space to “social distance” while enjoying the salty air. We didn’t even have to use the public bathrooms. While we were there, a hurricane was hitting a nearby state, so the dangerous riptide prevented us from being able to swim. Even though we were expecting to spend most of the time inside, the rain was not nearly as frequent as forecasted, and we even had some periods of sun.

The “beach ambassadors” were very careful to inform everyone that the double red flag meant that swimming was prohibited. Unfortunately, Little Buddy did not understand any of that, and he desperately wanted to go in the water. We let him walk to the edge, but if we had let go of his hand, he would have gone straight in. That’s just the kind of kid he is.

My niece, on the other hand, is terrified of water and starts bawling when her feet hit the sand, whether she’s at the ocean or a lake. I find it very interesting to hear about the different reactions that kids have to certain situations.

Our vacation only lasted a few days because Mr. Handsome had to return to work. We were able to go biking one day, with Little Buddy in a trailer. Thankfully, it was during his naptime, so he fell asleep. For the short time that he was awake, he was not thrilled to be strapped in.

We found one restaurant with outdoor seating that served fresh fish, and we ate there three times. And that was about all we did. A very laid, back, relaxing vacation.

I shared on Facebook a few days ago about my recent miscarriage. Mr. Handsome and I are very grateful for the encouraging comments and well wishes that many of you left, as well as for your prayers.

This has been a difficult time for us, and especially for me, but it has been incredibly comforting to hear, based on words shared by other moms who have been through miscarriage, that my grief has been very normal.

The first week was the hardest because the postpartum hormones were raging. When I wasn’t crying, I was actively holding back tears. It helped to have our rambunctious toddler as a distraction and a reminder of the blessings that God has given us. And Mr. Handsome was so compassionate and attentive. His sorrow was great, but not as great as mine because I was the one who carried the baby and had that special connection.

The second week has been significantly easier, but the feeling of loss is still very present. Through this whole experience, though, I have felt such an overwhelming peace. Even in the three days when I began having miscarriage symptoms but still did not know whether the miscarriage would occur (what a difficult time that was!), I felt peace knowing that God was with me.

We believe that life begins at conception and that every tiny human conceived is created by God and has an eternal soul. Unborn babies and young children who die do not have the mental ability to accept or deny God’s gift of salvation through His son Jesus Christ. For that reason, we believe that all little ones go to heaven when they leave this earth.

This wasn’t something I had spent much time thinking about before our miscarriage, but when we lost the baby, the thought immediately popped into my head that he or she is safe in God’s arms, and with that came great peace.

As I searched Scripture, I was able to find verses on the subject, and I also found sermons from two pastors that Mr. Handsome and I have great respect for that go into depth on the topic, with Scriptural evidence. A friend sent me two books that I am looking forward to reading. Knowing that I will spend eternity in heaven with God and other believers has always been an incredible promise, and that promise is even sweeter knowing that I have a precious child up there who is waiting to meet me.

Three years ago, I posted about our date at the Nashville Shores Treetop Adventure Park. Since that time, I have wanted to go back again, but it hasn’t worked out. So when I saw that they had reopened after COVID-19 (with new policies and fewer spots per time slot) and were offering a 50% discount, I purchased two tickets. It was sort of a “pre-anniversary” celebration.

High ropes courses are something that I really enjoy. They are adventurous and provide great exercise but are still very safe (at least the ones I have been to are). My family went to a really great one several times while I was growing up, and although the one in Nashville doesn’t quite measure up, it’s still a blast.

Mr. Handsome was happy to go with me, but he isn’t a huge fan of treetop obstacle courses. He says he doesn’t understand the appeal.

“There’s no point to it,” he explained to me. “It’s like, we create this course just to mimic real terrain and then climb around with no purpose. It would be one thing if you had to climb a tree to cut it down or cross a waterfall while being chased by a bear.” I’m usually the practical one, but his view on this subject is certainly more practical than mine. He still had fun though.

Since we moved into our house, I have wanted to redo our main bathroom. The other bathroom was recently updated, but this one was about 30 years old and in desperate need of a facelift. It’s not technically a master, but it’s the one we use, so I was reminded daily how bad it was.

When quarantine started and Mr. Handsome became temporarily unemployed, he informed me that he was going to make my dream become a reality. It took a few weeks, but he got it done, and I’m so proud of him! I have included before and after photos. What do you think?

This year, my birthday fell during quarantine, so our celebration looked a bit different. I usually enjoy doing an activity, such as visiting Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, which is what we did in 2016, and eating a nice meal at the restaurant of my choice. Despite the COVID-19 closures, Mr. Handsome was still able to plan a wonderful day.

In the late morning, we went mushroom hunting at a friends’ farm. Mr. Handsome grew up hunting for morel mushrooms every spring, but as hard as he searched, he never found more than a couple every year. To say he was excited by the “loot” that we acquired on my birthday mushroom hunting trip is an understatement. He was utterly elated, and he was even more elated to share the experience with Little Buddy and me.

I, on the other hand, don’t believe I had ever tasted a morel, but I had heard about how tasty they were. Mr. Handsome sauteed them in a skillet, and they made a wonderful addition to the steak that he grilled for dinner. My birthday was lovely. Spending time outside with my two favorite men and then having a quiet evening at home was the perfect way to celebrate.

We won’t mention Little Buddy’s tantrums at the farm. Let’s just say he doesn’t yet understand that you can’t walk through tall grass because of the risk of ticks. But Mommy did let him play in a puddle, so that was a highlight.