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!