New Car

Finally!   Lisa can stop complaining about my endless internet surfing for a car.  I finally bit the bullet and bought a gently used, new to me 2007 Jeep Commander.  I did a few modifications since I did save a ton of cash by buying used.  I had dual headrest installed DVD players (for quiet rides with the kids) and a remote start.  The only other items I think I want is the cross members for the roof rack.  I have no idea why the cross members aren't standard.  Here's a few pictures....by the way, I always wanted a black vehicle!

Odds and Ends

I have absolutely no excuse for not blogging lately other than I'm lazy and I sometimes don't think I have blog worth tidbits to blog about.

The past couple of weeks have been busy.  I had been doing a little window shopping for cars on the net since Lisa's van was nearing lease-end and my car has been paid off for awhile and it still has some residual value.  I actually found what I though was a steal for a vehicle for me.  I stumbled upon a 2009 Jeep Commander with just less than 10,000 miles and about $12,000 less than stick of a new one.  I took it for a spin and it was pretty nice.  It didn't have all the bells and whistles that I would love to have on a vehicle but I don't typically buy a car for myself with a lot of extras.  This one however did have a non-factory DVD player installed which is a major plus with the kids.  I took the car home and Lisa didn't think she would feel comfortable driving due to it's enormous blind spots and the fact that you couldn't see out the rear window when the DVD screen was down.  Needless to say, no Jeep.

I did however turn Lisa's Grand Caravan in for another one.  The new one is loaded!  It has two DVD players that actually let both kids watch different movies at the same time (major bonus on longer drives) and also has a 40 gig hard drive to store pictures and music.  The hard drive is a blast!  The other cool feature on the new family mobile is the lighting.  The interior lighting is indescribable.  Really neat blue-hue lighting.  The remote start is an added bonus as well.  There were so many incentives for the Grand Caravan in January that we got to trade the old one in three months early and pretty much have the same payment as the last car that wasn't anywhere as nicely equipped.  The salesperson also tried to get me to buy a Jeep Liberty but after looking at it, it was just too small.  Too much like a chick SUV.

Last week brought Katelyn's third birthday.  We ended up going to Red Robin for dinner on her actual birthday and had her party on Saturday.  I think she really enjoyed this one.  Of course we need an addition to store all her toys.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday and this year's gathering was at Jill and Todd's house.  Too much food as usual....I really need to get serious about a diet again.  So tough when there's food lurking everywhere.

Finally, I think I may have blogged earlier about me being nominated to sit on the board of a local non-profit organization late last year.  My nomination has been approved and I am on my way to a three year term as a trustee on the board.  I had new board member orientation last week and I being a rookie dressed pretty nice (shirt, tie, sweater vest and dress slack), I was totally under dressed.  Looks like a trip to the suit store is in my very near future.  I haven't had to wear a suit on a regular basis for probably 12 years or so.  Needless to say, my suits are either out of date or way too small now.  I hope the board experience proves to be a good one for me.  Seems like I am the youngest of the group so I am feeling a little out of place.  I'm sure that feeling will go away with a few meetings.

Today, we are off to the accountant for the annual tax preparation.  If history repeats itself, we will get a nice return back and pay all our debts to begin the process again.  I guess that is life....

And what post would be complete without a few pictures?

Smoking and Beer

This weekend went by entirely too quickly.  Friday as a last minute brainstorm, I decided I needed to have a small party to help break in my smoker.  I was already going to smoke a brisket since Todd had been asking me to and because I wanted to see how it would turn out.  On Thursday, I picked up a brisket and make up some nice rub and massaged the brisket with it.  But Friday, I had a brain fart and decided that I also needed to smoke some pork ribs and I just couldn't stop there, I also picked up two 4-1/2 pound chickens.  There was going to be entirely too much food for two families to eat so I invited another couple and their 3 kids and couldn't stop there so I invited my brother (who actually showed up).  Friday evening was spent making more rub for the ribs and some brine for the chickens.  I just couldn't stop myself so I also made a batch of homemade BBQ sauce for those people that think you have to have sauce on barbecue. 

I woke up a bit later than I wanted to on Saturday and didn't get the brisket on until 6:30 am or so.  While I was getting the smoker up to temperature, I let the brisket's temperature come closer to room temperature and I mixed up some sop to baste the brisket and the ribs.  I put the brisket on at 6:30, the ribs on at 1pm and the chicken on at 4.  By 6 pm, were were eating like a bunch of 400 pound rodeo clowns.  I think the ribs turned out the best out of the three meats.  I think I would smoke the brisket a bit longer next time and let it rest 2 hours instead of the hour I left it alone this time.  The chicken was really good too but the ribs were the shizzle.  I do think I would try a less salty rub as well.  Not overly salty but a bit too much for my liking.  The BBQ sauce was my biggest issue.  I tried a recipe I found on the food network from The Neeley's but it was entirely too spicy after the first 1-1/2 hours of simmering it so I threw in some tomato paste and more water to tone it down a bit and after another hour or so of simmering, I had decent sauce.  Unfortunately, now I have entirely too much sauce.  Anyone need a quart or so of BBQ sauce?

During the big smoke, Todd and I managed to brew a batch of beer too.  I brewed a nice IPA that should be somewhere in the 150 I.B.U. range.  Now that is going to be a nice beer!

Next weekend is the big Darius Rucker concert.  Yes Darius Rucker is opening for Rascal Flatts.  Lisa is a big Darius Rucker fan and she's so excited I don't know if she'll make it to Sunday night.

  Ribs before smoking

Brisket before smoking (all 7 pounds of it)

BBQ Sauce

"The Smokehouse"

Winter Blahs

Katelyn has been sick the past few days so Lisa stayed home yesterday and I stayed home today.  She's just had a really nasty fever and has been really lethargic.  We did manage to get her to the doctor's office today to find out we were dealing with some kind of virus that turned into an ear infection.  It's amazing how a dose of antibiotics turns a little girl around.  I actually got some food down her and she hasn't had a fever since this morning at 6 am. 

This weekend, I'm tossing around trying to do a brisket in the smoker along with a chicken or two and have some people over.  I'm also in the need to brew another batch of beer as well but the weather tends to put a damper on both of those activities.  I'll have to decide soon because I'll need to get the brisket all rubbed up and sitting in the fridge for a day or two.  What to do....what to do? 

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!  Finally a spare moment to update the Blog.  Work was a bit more hectic than typical this year due to the uncertainty in the economy and what impact it was going to have on us at work.  Everything actually turned out better than what we had projected.  I didn't  have a single marathon night past 9pm this year which is out of the ordinary.  I'm sure that Lisa and the kids would say 8pm was too late but it could have been much worse.

Christmas was pretty typical.  Christmas Eve consisting of way too much finger food; we still have left overs. Christmas was spend overly full of food and putting together toys.  Santa was entirely too good to the crumb-snatchers and was pretty good to me as well.

Lisa and I don't typically exchange Christmas gifts since we're so damn difficult to buy for; but since my birthday is so close to Christmas I get spoiled and my birthday becomes like my Christmas.  I don't know if the previous sentence even made sense.  Since I received way too many gifts on my birthday, I decided I was going to surprise Lisa with a Sony Reader.  I fully intended to get in trouble for buying her a gift this year.  Low and behold, Lisa broke the no gift rule as well and bought me a propane fueled smoker. 

I fired up the smoker on Sunday and smoked a 5 pound chicken in about 3 hours.  The propane works so much better than the Charcoal smoker I have.  The temperature was easier to control and the wood bowl and water bowl are much easier to get to on the new smoker.  I can't wait to try a brisket and a whole salmon.  Even Lisa liked the taste of the chicken and she isn't a big fan of smoke flavored anything.

Sunday night we made a trip to the zoo to see the lights before they shut them off for another year.  It was a perfect night to see the lights.  The snow was falling and it wasn't overly cold thanks to the 3 layers of clothing I was wearing.  The only downside to the zoo visit is that nasty, grumpy, bi**chy Katelyn showed up.  I would have loved for someone to push me through the zoo in a stroller but not her.  She wanted to whine that no one would carry her through the zoo.

Tonight we're heading to a friend's  house for dinner.  New Year's Eve will be spent at our house with Jill, Todd and the Kids and possibly one other couple and their kids.  New Year's Day will be spent in front of the television (I may smoke a port roast too).  And off to Saturday for our Cleveland Christmas.

Hope everyone has a happy and prosperous New Year!  If you want to make sure you have a fun one, you need to buy one of these (Shawn got me one for Christmas).  I almost choked!  I am so out of practice!

And what post would be complete without pictures of the kids?

Happy Birthday Old Man!

Merry Christmas!

Before our Christmas Concerts (both on the same night)

HO HO HO! ( I am a ham)

Looks like Santa was here

This thing took Daddy 3 hours to assemble (buy American next time cheapskate)

Smoked Chicken

Bet your tongue won't stick to this pole

Welcome Cody

As if you thought I would travel 4 hours into Michigan and not return with a dog!  We brought Cody home on Friday afternoon and he's been great.  He's just a big giant 95 pound bundle of love.  He's so good with Shawn and Katelyn and listens well to me. 

He doesn't really like being left home by himself.  He basically lets everyone in the door but me and then proceeds to "dog cuss" me out by barking at me and only me.  Other than that, Cody has been a model doggie. 

Here's a few pictures take this past weekend:

quickie

I totally forgot to post a picture of the dog we're going to see on Friday so I did below.  I also got a surprise in the mail when I got home this evening.  Check it out....I'm so vain!

Cody