Things They Should Cover in Premarital Counseling

Ryan and I did premarital counseling at the request of my brother-in-law, who married us. Since Jeff was so far away, our pastor met with us, and he did a great job of covering all the important topics. Money, conflict, household chores, sex...all the stuff they tell you will make or break a marriage.

Here's one topic we've found SHOULD have been covered in counseling...that was not.

Kitchen storage.

Let me paint a l'il picture for you, okay?

At Ryan's old house, he had an oven crafted circa...the beginning of ovens. Okay so not quite that old. But it was definitely a vintage piece. I tried to find a picture online so you could get an idea...but I failed. Anyway. The oven unit was on top - much like microwaves over ovens of today. It had a large glass door that wasn't darkened in any way.

** Update! He took a picture for me so you can see it:

Okay, back to the story. To conserve open counter space, he had a habit of storing things in the oven when not in use. Say, for example, he baked a cake. Rather than cluttering up the counter with the 9x13, he'd just put it in the oven and get it out when it was time to eat more cake.

At my house, I have an oven crafted circa...the 80's. It's a standard oven...with a black door that has no window on it at all. And while my house doesn't abound with counter space, I've always kept my cakes on the counter because...well...I like them there where I can see them.

{Or because I never thought to store them in the oven.}

So here's what happens when an oven storer and a counter storer marry without proper premarital counseling in this department:

 

Being the eager-to-please-her-hungry-husband-after-his-workout wife that I am, I scurried around the kitchen last night to make Chicken in a Garden. I multitasked...talking to my mom on the phone...catching up on DVR'd shows...putting water on to boil the chicken...rolling out the pie crust for the bottom...all while preheating the oven...

...that, of course, housed the last three cupcakes we made last week.

The good news is that once it cooled, the plastic peeled right off and the 9x13 is no worse for the wear.

The bad news is, we're down to one 9x13 with a lid. And we bake A LOT.

So now we're in self-therapy to fix this clashing of habits. I hold to my friend Joseph Jones' theory: Just because it has a door does not make it a closet.

Nevertheless, I am determined to prove that this old dog CAN learn new tricks. Therefore our oven door now bears this warning, inspired by my friend Molly, who suggested such a thing:

Oven: 2. Bekah: 0. {Oh yes. It happened once before, too.}