September 2021 - My Beautiful Mess

We are leaving San Antonio and uprooting to a new city. Today I’m sharing why we’re moving and how I’m dealing with it.

Why Are Moving?

Last Friday was the last day in our house. It was such an emotional day as we prepped our house for sale. For those of you who have been following along, we’ve been dreading this moment for more than a year. We have gone through numerous layoffs and job changes over the last few years. It has been an incredibly stressful three years, with multiple rounds of layoffs.

Last year, when the world locked down, oil tanked on the stock market and so layoffs began again. Even though it eventually rebounded we found ourselves facing a move as our employer was bought out by another. May I be really honest? I didn’t really expect to move. I somehow thought that God would make a way for us to stay. After all, my father is extremely sick and we have been helping care for him.

There is another caveat as well, I’ve spoken about this before, but I have lived with bipolar my whole life. It is extremely hard some days. Some days the depression is disabling. The idea of moving far away from all my friends and family is downright frightening to me. When I am sick, I rely on my family a lot to come to my rescue a lot.

I Struggle to Cope

I have been very spoiled over the last year and a half. In March of 2020, my husband was permitted to work from home. As a stay-at-home mom, this was such a welcomed opportunity. I had spent the better part of five years in our house with our two children. I was so lucky that I had my parents nearby. So many of those lonely days, I’d find myself over at their house for company. So having my loving husband just inches from me in the office brought such a comfort. I felt safe with him in the house.

My bipolar really causes me to struggle with basic changes. It is why I strictly adhere to a routine. Familiarity helps with my bipolar. Uprooting completely takes me out of routine and comfort. I even find myself extremely hesitant to explore. I didn’t use to feel this way. In fact, in my youth, I backpacked all around Europe and lived their for several years. I wasn’t afraid to explore in my twenties, but I feel vulnerable now in my forties. Funny how that happens.

I’m Worried About Homesickness

When I lived in Europe, I really struggled with homesickness. I was there for several years and I lived in Norther England in the moors which was absolutely breathtaking. In fact, I lived in West Yorkshire where Wuthering Heights was written. It was picturesque, but after the novelty wore off, I really missed home.

I desperately missed my family and friends and event though I wanted to live there and I had wonderful friends there, I sank into a deep depression. I haven’t even been here a week and already I am ready to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed, work in my own kitchen, sit on my own porch with tea, write in my own office. I had my favorite places and gosh, I love the area around my home like al the stores and restaurants. I am already missing all of that.

Please keep me in prayer that I learn to love it here and that I adjust quickly. I am so nervous about all of this. I do think that once we are in our new home, and I’m surrounded by familiar furnishings and items that it will feel more like home.

Friends Needed

I also hope I can make friends here. I think getting into a church will help with that. Although the church we are looking at is all the way in Spring, TX. We definitely want to attend a reformed Baptist church. This one, Founders Baptist, came highly recommended and so we are willing to make the trek there every week.

I’m also looking for homeschool groups and mom’s groups. I think once I have some friends, I will also feel more at home. My poor babies need friends as well. This is such a huge adjustment for all of us. I recently logged back onto Facebook for the sole purpose of trying to find groups to join. Wish me luck!

Our Housing Situation

My husband, graciously wanting to slowly transition me into this move, wanted to originally come work over here by himself until our new house is finished. I wasn’t sure what to think about it, but after a few weeks of prayer, I did not feel that was wise. I really considered that for the sake of our marriage and for the sake of our children, I should follow, even if it meant repeated, frequent visits back to my parents house in San Antonio.

We’ve rented a cute little townhouse. It is quaint and is in a quiet, small, gated community filled mostly with retirees. Thankfully, it is only about three miles from my husband’s office as well.

The New Home

Our new home isn’t going quite as planned. We stopped by on our way into to Houston and discovered that they failed to put in our fireplace. It’s fixed now, but on our second visit we discovered additional mistakes – big ones! In case you don’t know, I used to be a property adjuster. I use to help rebuild homes after hurricanes, floods, and fires. So I’m pretty familiar with the construction process. Also this is the second home we’ve built.

They put the gas line for our outdoor kitchen on the wrong brick column. Also, they failed to allow for a window in one of the bedrooms. Having an emergency egress is fire code in Texas. Pretty big mistake! A bedroom without windows! Then they are building our media room like a flex room. So they added windows where there shouldn’t be windows and failed to account for the electrical conduits that need to be installed. We have a meeting scheduled with them to discuss they errors they are making. All these errors mean additional delays. Additional delays mean staying in our rental house longer which of course is coming out of our pocket.

There have also been material delays due to COVID. Please keep us in continued prayer that we don’t have any more delays and the process goes smoothly from here on out. I certainly am anxious to move in. I don’t really feel like I can settled until I am in our new home.

That’s the Latest

Thanks for tagging along with our current adventure. I’ll provide updates again soon. Have you ever uprooted? I’d love to hear what helped you feel settled or helped with homesickness. Drop a comment below.

Fall is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with warm, scratch pumpkin spice muffins.

This post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase through one of the link I provide I may receive a small percentage at no cost to you.

So today, I’m going to share one of my favorite things. Pumpkin spice muffins. They are delicious and they are very easy to make. Years ago, I was very intimidated by baking from scratch. These days, I rarely used boxed baking goods. Today I thought I would share a funny story before we get cooking. If you’d rather head strait for the recipe, I’ll put a jump link below.

Once Upon a Time in England

Right after I graduated high school I went to England where I studied art. I was only 18 years old and so many things in England were different. First of all they use the metric system there. So trying to figure out how to make things with grams, etc took a lot of practice. Also, their temperatures on the oven aren’t just in celsius, but they actually have gradients called “gas mark.” I was stunned when I looked on the oven and it read “gas mark 1, 2, 3, etc.”

Anyway, I hadn’t been there long and I want to bake a birthday cake for someone. I went into our small co-op grocery store and searched the aisles for cake mix. Finally, after I couldn’t find it, I asked someone who worked there. “Where are the cake mixes,” I asked. The poor guy stood there confused. He had no clue what I was talking about. “Cake mix? What is that, love?” I was equally confused. How could someone not understand what a cake mix was. I began to explain. He stopped me mid-sentence and said, “we have flour and chocolate powder.” After a few more times back and forth I realized there was no such thing there. It was the first time, I realized just how spoiled Americans really are. We have so many conveniences here and we still complain about doing things. Well, that was back in 1998. I’m sure it may be different now.

That experience though, was the first time I had to bake a cake from scratch. Now, I bake nearly everything from scratch, but initially, I was terrified by it.

Making Scratch Pumpkin Muffins

I know that not everyone is a fan of pumpkin spice. I personally don’t really care for pumpkin spice flavoring when it is artificial. However, I love pumpkin spice when it is fresh. That’s why I love my Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte which uses fresh pumpkin! You don’t need any special equipment to make this recipe. Just a standard muffin tin. You can totally hand mix this recipe as well. No need for a beater or stand mixer.

Full disclaimer, I’ve never tried making this recipe with fresh pumpkin. I’ve always used canned pureed pumpkin. The most important technique with this recipe is that the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients will need to be mixed separately first. I have found that this helps reduce lumps. If you don’t do this, you will have to do a lot of mixing to get the lumps out. This results in tougher muffins. If you are new to making breads, let me explain. The more you mix or knead a bread, the stronger and tougher it becomes. Muffins should be fluffy, moist and soft. That means you don’t want to over mix. Mix just enough to fully combine ingredients.

This recipe calls for vegetable oil but I have found you can use melted coconut oil just fine. This recipe also calls for baking soda in lieu of baking powder similar to many banana bread recipes. Don’t worry. I promise it will come out perfectly.

Tip: Use an ice cream scoop to add your batter to your muffin tin

Scratch Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Mary Lentz

No need to run out to a bakery to get some pumpkin spice muffins. This easy scratch recipe is simple to make and will satisfy any pumpkin spice lover.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 27

Course Breads, Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 12 muffins

Equipment

muffin tin
2 mixing bowls
ice cream scoop
Spatula

Ingredients

1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 ¾ Cups All purpose flour
2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Soda
½ Tsp Salt
¼ Tsp Ground cloves
2 Large Eggs
¼ Tsp Ground Nutmeg
15 oz Pureed pumpkin (1 can)
½ Cup Vegetable oil
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375°
Line your standard sized muffin tin with cupcake liners or grease with cooking spray
You will need to mix your wet and dry ingredients separately so prevent lumps and to keep the bread soft. In a large bowl, combine your flour, sugar, spices, salt and baking soda together. Set aside.
In a small bowl, add your, pumpkin, oil and vanilla and whisk well until egg is well combined.
Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and using a spatula, lightly mix until they are combined and flour pockets are gone. Do not over mix.
Using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, scoop batter into prepared muffin wells. They should be filled up about ¾ full.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool for ten minutes before serving.

Keyword bakery style, breakfast muffins, comfort food, fall, fall desserts, fall muffins, fruit muffin, pumpkin, pumpkin spice

Variations

If you want you can also do some variations.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip

Turn your regular muffins into chocolate chip ones by adding a half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

Brown Sugar Glaze

1 tbsp butter
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp milk
¼ cup chopped pecans

To make the glaze, add all your ingredients to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes before

Cream Cheese Icing

½ cup butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add your softened cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla into a stand mixer and and mix on medium with a paddle attachment. Lower speed and slowly add your powdered sugar one cup at a time until fully combined.

Other variations

You can also create different varieties by adding a half cup to one cup of any mix in such as chocolate chips, cranberries, or nuts. I’d start with a half cup and add more if desired. Some times add ins can be overwhelming so I suggest starting with a half cup first.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. This makes for a yummy fall breakfast or even afternoon snack for the kiddos. Be sure also to take a look at my Fall Bucket List before you leave.

Month: September 2021

We’re Moving and How I’m Dealing With It