Last week was really nice. Lisa's brother was in town for Thanksgiving and we had a great time hanging out, eating, catching up and drinking beer. As Brad says, everything's better with more beer! Thanksgiving day consisted of traditional deep fried turkey (I didn't start a fire this time around) and it turned out as it has in the past. Of course the weather was the same traditional horribly cold day that makes deep frying oh so enjoyable. But as Brad put it, everything is more tolerable with beer. Eating on thanksgiving also gave way to the traditional go hide somewhere and take a nap. Of course the nap was aided by....you guessed it....BEER!

Friday I left for work early (two hours early) so I could battle the absolutely insane people that stand in lines all night waiting for the stores to open the day after Thanksgiving. My choice as my first store stop was Menards for a $3 Barbie Doll for Katelyn. Of course she's too young to know what a Barbie doll is but she'll thank me in a few years. I then went to Home Depot where the crowd was more manageable (there were only about 30 people in the entire store). At Home Depot I picked up a screwdriver set Brad wanted and a propane fueled patio heater. The heater was on sale for $99 which is a steal. The least expensive price I have ever seen on comparable heaters was nearly $300. After the Depot, I wandered around a few more stores and then went to work about an hour earlier than usual.

Saturday, I decided to try my culinary hand at a what people around here call a hobo dinner. I used my 30 quart turkey fryer pot and put a steamer basket in the bottom of it. Then I filled it with fresh kielbasa, bratwurst, Boston butt roast, a small ham, green beans, cabbage, corn, onions, carrots, red skin potatoes and shrimp. Then I poured about....you guessed it again....a quart of beer and some water into the pot. The trick seemed to be figuring out when to add certain ingredients. The end result was both way too much food but it was all really good! I will definitely do it again. By the way the best part of cooking was hanging out on the patio under the new patio heater drinking......yes beer.....and getting all liquored up.

All the beer caused a shortage right before the hobo was put on the fire so off Brad and I went to the not so great state of Michigan (actually the western part of the state is nice but anywhere near Ann Arbor or Detroit should be avoided at all costs). We ended up with another quarter barrel of icy cold Miller Lite.

Sunday was a day of rest and watching another great Brown's game. Is it too early to jump the playoff bandwagon?

Work is starting to pick up. Starting my 11 hour days and missing hanging out......you guessed it.....drinking beer!!!!

Have a great week!

Go Browns!!

OSU-Michigan Friday
(good guys won!!)

Turkey Day

Turkey didn't want to fit

Doing what I do best cooking and drinking beer!

Minutes after dunking

Finished bird (one hour 15 minutes)

Nice leg

Uncle Brad and Katelyn


Hobo steaming

Finished Hobo

Like Father like DaughterSomeone had too much beer

I love my sister

Really the more you drink, the better we look!

Been awhile since I updated so this one may be all over the place.

Last weekend, we did our usual running errands and cleaning up around the house. I also finally got around to installing a battery back up sump pump which is the first step in the basement remodel process. The installation of the back up pump was much easier that I thought it would be and it really only took about 90 minutes....not too bad for never installing one before. Total cost for the added security and piece of mind; about $425!

The rest of the week was pretty much a blur. Started Monday with a fever and stomach ache, felt better on Tuesday, followed by what I am guessing is a migraine headache all of Wednesday and Thursday. If you don't have migraines, I hope you never develop them. It was so bad it hurt to even try to sleep. I finally took some over the counter migraine meds and all better. Nothing was working to help the headache, not Tylenol, not Ibuprofen, not aspirin or sinus medication. I was even taking double the recommended dosage and nothing was helping. Excedrin Migraine is a miracle drug!

Between the sickness and the headache Lisa and I met up with my Mom, Sister and Brother and went to an awards dinner that my Dad's last employer holds to recognize years of service to the company. At the end of the awards ceremony, they unveiled a plaque they are hanging in their call center dedicated to my Dad. They dedicated the call center as the "Tom Ruff Memorial Call Center". It was a really nice thought. Everyone Dad worked with are really nice people and are all still feel his loss. It was nice to see that Dad had such an impact on so many people that he worked with. I have posted a picture of the plaque below (sorry about the bad quality but the picture came from my cell phone with really bad lighting in the room).

This weekend brings kids pictures and who knows what. Have a great weekend!!

Sleeping Beauty and the Beast

Just your typical crazy week coming to an end. Halloween was fun this year. Shawn and I ran around like mad men trying to hit as many houses as possible this year. I can't believe how many regular size candy bars he got this year. It was also very nice to have decent weather for the first time in what seems like forever. One of the funniest houses we went to was the home of a local college football coach that will remain nameless to protect the guilty. Shawn went walking up to his house and through coach's dining room window you could see coach sitting there looking out the window for unsuspecting kids. As the kids would walk up to the door, coach pushed a remote control to make a jack-o-lantern fart! Then coach could be seen laughing hysterically. Now this doesn't seem too funny but have you ever seen a grown man weighing in at at least 350 to 400 pounds laughing his head off over a fart machine? It was a sight to be seen. What a blast!

Lisa and I went to parent teach conferences yesterday and the review went very well. Shawn's teacher has a reputation for being a mean woman so Lisa was a bit apprehensive going into the meeting but once the teacher said Shawn was gifted about 5 times, Lisa changed her tune! The teacher was worried that Shawn was bored (which he is at times) and told us that we should enroll him in art classes because she thinks his artwork is advanced for his age. She also said he is reading well beyond his age. Overall, a great meeting!

That's really all I have to report for now. Here are a few new pictures of Halloween and the "Pirate's Booty" we found going door to door. Sorry about all the pictures but there were so many decent ones I had to post them all!

Just a quick post of Katelyn laughing......

We finally bit the bullet and took Shawn to the Allergist yesterday. His eyes have been extremely red at times over the summer to the point of not knowing if he had pink eye or if it was just his allergies. We also wanted to find out if it was just peanuts that he's allergic to or tree nuts as well. come to find out, he is still big time allergic to peanuts and only slightly allergic or sensitive to all the other nuts he was tested for (hazelnuts, cashews, almonds) and he has a major issue with Ragweed. Prescription: stay away from all nuts and Claritin (adult dosage) from August first till the first snow. He was also tested for dust mites, mold, cottonwood trees, grass, dogs and a bunch of nuts. The doctor also turned us on to a sunflower seed butter called Sunbutter. Sunbutter is actually not half bad! Here are some rather painful shots of the scratch test Shawn had yesterday:

(w) is ragweed and (4) is peanut

Just thought I would post a few pictures that I took of the Sunset shot from our patio last night. The pictures don't really compare to what it really looked like:

When Lisa's grandfather passed away a few years ago, I discovered in his basement a bottle of wine with the year 1983 on the label and what looked to be French writing. I took the bottle home and it has made the move to Grand Rapids and then back to Toledo. Of course I thought that maybe I had found some very rare and tasty vintage. Low and behold, my lazy ass decided to do a little research last night and the vintage 1983 Beaujolais Nouveau is indeed nothing more than French Mad Dog 20/20. Wikopedia says:

"Many wine critics criticize the "simple" or "immature" wines marketed as Beaujolais Nouveau, for instance Karen MacNeil has compared drinking Beaujolais Nouveau to eating cookie dough.^[1] Beaujolais Nouveau is intended for immediate drinking, and in general should not be kept for more than a year."

After closer observation of the "fine wine", I noticed that there's about an inch of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. I'm not really a wine expert but I don't think that solids are a good thing in any wine including Thunderbird or Boone's Farm!

Anyone care to join me for a glass of fine French Wine?

This weekend was pretty productive. Saturday, I finally spent a little time in the yard starting to cut down the dead plants, cutting the grass and pulling weeds. I also purchased a few auxiliary wardrobe closets for the basement in an effort to organize our closet and to clean up the basement a bit more before I attempt finishing the basement this winter. All in all, not a very exciting Saturday but I got a lot done that I've been putting off.

Sunday, we went to The Grand Rapids Apple Butter Festival. The last time I went to the festival, I swore I would never go again and know I remember why. First they charge you $7 for parking which is about a mile away from where everything is happening and then it's wall to wall people. So many people packed into the downtown area it's impossible to walk at any reasonable pace. We did end up with one purchase (see picture) and I was still able to catch the second half of the Brown's game at B-Dubs.

This week will be spent watching the Tribe kick some Bosox butt! No more repeats of Friday's game I hope!

Craft Purchase (Stocking Holder)

Love!

Go Brownies!

Wow! Finally the only people that I know that don't have cable television finally broke down and made the giant leap to the early 80's. Bev and Ted have not only taken the leap but they now have 130 channels to choose from including Ted's favorites (the speed channel and the History channel). Now we start working on that 70's paneling in the family room or maybe we'll get them an Atari 2600 for Christmas!

This weekend was busy as usual. On Friday, Lisa's family came over for a cook out and we watch the Indian's kick some Yankee rear-end which is always a fun time. Saturday, I cut the grass and did some weeding during the day and then we went out for Jill's birthday. We ended up having dinner at a new Japanese steakhouse called Sakura. Sakura is one of those hibachi style Japanese restaurants and it's food was not only very good but the presentation was entertaining. The place was pretty packed which surprised me because it was also a bit on the pricey side. Toledo doesn't seem to support restaurants that are above average on the price scale very well. I ended up with a Sushi sampler which was 6 or 7 pieces which was very good. I would like to go there next time and sit at the sushi bar and feast; if I could only find someone in my household that would sit there with me! For dinner, I had the Tuna and Lisa had the Hibachi Chicken. The meal comes with Miso, salad with a pretty good ginger dressing, a shrimp appetizer, the meat, rice or noodles and vegetables. Over all, I would say the meal was very good and we will more than likely return.

After our Sakura experience, we stopped by a local watering hole to watch some of the OSU game and then headed out to the bowling alley to go glow bowling. Glow bowling consisted of a bunch of 15-17 year old kids bowling in the semi-dark with music videos and music blaring. It was an experience to be had once but I'm not too sure I would do it again. Thankfully bowling alleys have bars with reasonably priced beer! I bowled pretty well though for not bowling for probably 7 years or so. I had a 237,203 and then the beer got to me and I had 143. Not too bad for bowling with an alley ball.

Sunday, we ended up heading to a local greasy spoon for breakfast and then out to the new mall (The Shops at Fallen Timbers). The new mall is one of the new outdoor style malls and I was pretty impressed. I think once the other half of the stores that are still under construction open as well as a few more restaurants, the place will be happening.

I ended Sunday watching the Indians lose to the Yankees but tonight is another game! I hope the Indians can finish them off tonight.

Here are some Sakura pictures from Saturday night:

"Volcano Onion"

Jill trying to catch a Vegetable from the Hibachi chef

Trying to catch up on my updates hasn't been easy lately. It seems that work is getting busy earlier than usual in anticipation for the holiday season and the weekends are always so jammed with activities. Last week I was at the annual trade show that I exhibit at which was a bust. It seems less and less people attend the show and we end up spending more money to exhibit. The only real perk about going to the show is that we are entertained on the company's dime. Our group ate at Devon's Seafood Grill which was very good. I had the Tuna Tar tare to start and ended up having the San Francisco Cioppino for dinner; both were very good. On Saturday we ate at Scoozi! and had the Salmon Grigia which was also good and ended up ordering some nasty Italian liquor called Grappa which was terrible. Grappa was on the dessert menu so I though it would be a smooth alcohol or a port-like wine but when I asked about it, the waiter explained it was made with the skin of grapes so I gave it a try. When the drink arrived, the waiter told me that the bartender explained it as "Italian Tequila"; the stuff was the absolutely most disgusting alcohol that I have ever tasted. I could only tell the waiter when he asked how I liked it was to tell the bartender that it didn't come close to tasting like tequila...it tasted more like butt! We ended that evening at Howl at the Moon which is always a fun time.

The last evening we went to Fogo De Chao; a Brazilian steakhouse that we went to last year as well and it is one of my favorite restaurants of all time! Other than that, Chicago was pretty much uneventful and I was very happy to come home.

Other than my Chicago trip, we have been to the pumpkin farm, a retirement party where I tended bar (may have missed my calling!), had a weekend trip to Cleveland to visit my Mom and really have just been very busy with activities.

Shawn has turned nasty and quite argumentative; not sure if it's his age or the fact that Katelyn is taking some of the attention from Mom and Dad but he is inching closer to a good ole fashion butt whoopin. Katelyn is well.......definitely a girl.

Saturday night Lisa and I have a birthday celebration for a friend of ours (Jill). I think we're going to a new Japanese steak house and then glow bowling. I can't wait to get some sushi from the steakhouse but not sure about the glow bowling. I afraid that glow bowling will be nothing more than a bunch of teenagers running around and will be a drag but we will see.

Finally here are a few pictures of the kids that have been taken over the past few weeks during various excursions:Eating after a long day at school

Katelyn taking a sink bath after gettting sick

Pumpkin Patch

Katelyn Loves the Swings

Mouth meets Foot!


Go Tribe!!!!

Packed a ton of stuff in this weekend. Took the day off work on Friday and headed down to Columbus for the weekend. Friday we started out stopping by the field of giant corn in Dublin. We stumbled on this oddity a few years ago during a winter trip to the Columbus area and decided that we had to visit during this trip. I would say the giant corn is right up there with road stops such as the world's largest ball of yarn and the world's largest frying pan.

After the 5 minutes at the corn field, we went on a shopping expedition. We went to both Tuttle Crossing Mall and Polaris Mall in the never ending quest for pants for me. I guess I'm a bit picky about my pants. I have to have cuffs, they have to be pleated with at minimum two pleats and I don't want to spend more than $25 on each pair. I finally found my pants at J.C. Penny. Unfortunately, I had to hit two different stores to find my size. After our mall trips, we headed to the hotel and checked in. We stayed a a Doubletree near 23 and 270. The hotel was comfortable but nothing special.

Giant Corn

Lisa and the Giant Ear

We then headed out to Inniswood Gardens. The Gardens were once owned by a couple of sisters that loved to garden. They eventually donated their land to the Metro parks. The draw of this particular park, keeping on the theme of larger than life objects, was the giant bug art on display throughout the gardens. The park was really nice; beautiful (no, I haven't turned gay!). The bug art was pretty cool too. I would definitely go back with or without the bug art!Inniswood Garden

Giant Assassin BugDragonfly

Bee (actual size)

We then headed out to Marc's in Westerville and then more shopping at Kohls. Finally we ended up heading to German Village and eating at Schmidt's. Unfortunately, it was too late to do much site seeing in German Village and the food at Schmidt's was just fair but the beer was outstanding! What else would you expect me to say about the beer?

Bad Picture of me but Great Beer Shot!

Saturday morning, we headed out to the world renown Hineygate festivities. Where else can you find a couple thousand people drunk as skunks at 9am on a Saturday morning? Lisa and I had a couple of beers and then headed toward the Shoe to watch the band and the cheerleaders as they filed into the stadium. Since we didn't have tickets to the game, we headed toward High Street to find a place to watch the game; we didn't have any luck. The new BW3 was packed and there was a line around the corner with people waiting to get in. We did get into Panini's but the crowd was a bit young and we felt like a couple of senior citizens. We ended up heading back toward our hotel and watched the second half at BW3. The best part of hanging out in Columbus watching the game wasn't the fact that OSU stomped on Youngstown State but it was watching Michigan get their butts whipped by another division 1AA team!

Brutus and a couple of Nuts

After the game and a change of clothes, we headed to a new concept store for Kroger called Kroger marketplace. I wasn't all that impressed with what may be a new concept for Kroger but not a new concept at all. The store was similar to a Meijer or a super Walmart without clothes or the electronics. We then headed down to an area of Columbus called the Short North. The Short North is just North of the Arena District and seemed to be a pretty happening area of town. We first stopped at a bar call Adobe Gilas for a bathroom break but I had to have a couple of beers because it was happy hour ($1 domestics)!

The Short North had a bunch of activities going on this Saturday. First there was a Greek Festival at a church and the Gallery Hop was taking place. No one told me that The Short North was actually code for large population of men who love other men. Needless to say, we walked the mile on both side of the street, browsed several artsy stores and got out of boy's town without incident. Lisa and I were getting hungry at this point but couldn't agree on where to eat. We ended up at Donato's pizza in honor of Lisa's brother Brad's craving for their very thin crust pizza. Pizza isn't really on my diet but nothing over the weekend really was. The pizza was good Brad!

Short North Activities

Art?

Sunday morning had us looking for someplace to eat breakfast. We stumbled on this neat little restaurant in Worthington called, very appropriately, The Worthington Inn. We ate outside on the front porch and the food was very good. I think it will be an annual stop for us during our OSU weekend. My favorites were the smoked salmon, cheese risotto and the turkey thingy (not sure what it was but it was good). We then headed to Easton and spend an hour or so walking around before we headed home.

Today, Shawn and met up with his Nana and Papa at the Mudhen's game. It was so hot that we ended up watching most of the game from the Club lounge area. Came home and cut the grass and caught up on some of my yard work. All in all, a pretty busy weekend.