Happy Birthday part II

Finally, Shawn's birthday parties are over!  He celebrated at school on Friday since they have their week-long intersession off.  Shawn did his part to drive his teacher crazy by providing all his classmates a sugar fix in the form of a giant cookie cake.  Lisa and I took the day off to prepare for Shawn's second birthday party.  We also had the builder that built Lisa's parent's house to take a look at the basement for ideas and to see what it would cost for framing.

On Saturday, the family party took place and it was one of the more easy parties to prepare food for.  We ended up doing hot ham sandwiches and I tried my hand at an Italian hot sub.  Typically I'm stress beyond belief getting food together and try to make sure it's all ready by the designated time.  Everything was pretty much made up ahead of time for the exception of the Italian Subs.  What a relaxing party!  Shawn was happy about all his presents this year.  He received all his favorites including Harry Potter "props", Lego sets, model rocket kit, Wii games and an I-tunes gift card to go along with his favorite gift of all....an I-pod touch.  What gives?  Shawn has a much nicer MP3 player than either one of his parents has currently.  The touch is a pretty cool gadget.

Sunday was spent emptying the almost 5 year old fridge and transferring the food to our spare fridge in the garage.  Thankfully we have two fridges or everything would have been lost and there was a lot.  I scheduled a service call for Monday and ended up paying nearly $350 for a circuit board that controls the defrosting of the damn thing.  After waiting 24 hours to let the fridge defrost, we were back in business.  I was taking the day off anyway since the framing was to begin on the basement Monday morning. 

Tuesday was Shawn's actually birthday.  Lisa and I took the day off again to spend time with Shawn; he really was more interested in spending time alone messing with his new gifts and watching movies.  We did end up going out to eat to celebrate.  Of all places....KFC.  Shawn's very favorite food is Fried chicken it seems and KFC was his choice.  Not that I needed the extra calories.  I am pushing maximum density once again. 

Tonight, I'm going to head out and purchase much of the electrical supplies I need for the basement project.  Of course, not that the project is started, I want it to be done!  Here's a boat load of pictures from the past week:

They look like they get along (looks can be very misleading)

Beelzebub in the flesh 

Basement Pictures

Prior to framing (TV wall)

Bar area (looking into the bar)

Looking into the bar area (counter top to the left)

Bathroom before framing

Bathroom after framing (bar to the left)

Storage area before framing

Storage area after framing

Shawn's Brithday weekend number one-2010

This weekend marked the beginning of Shawn's two week long celebration of his 9th birthday.  Friday was pretty much uneventful but I did manage to swing by the home brew store and pick up  ingredients for a couple batches of delicious beer.  So since I had the ingredients and since Brad is visiting soon I brewed a beer on Friday night.  The beer is a bit outside the box as far as it's different than anything I've brewed before.  I call it Starbucks Stout.  Yes it's a stout with coffee added into it. 

Saturday morning, Lisa's Mom and Dad picked up Katelyn for an "adventure" (code for staying with Nana and Papa), Lisa went shopping and I brewed another batch of beer.  Brad and I should have ample beer now...can't run out during his visit. 

Saturday night was the big friend birthday party.  Lisa, Shawn and I picked up three of Shawn's friends and headed to BW3 for dinner and then headed down to the arena for a Walleye's hockey game.  The hockey game was an absolute blast and it was probably the best game I've ever attended.  The game was high scoring, had several fights and ended with 6 seconds in overtime.  The game was a hit with the boys as well.

Sunday it was to church and grocery shopping.  Unfortunately, Katelyn wasn't feeling well and the rest of the day was trying to make her comfortable.  This morning she's feeling much better.

Here's some pictures of the big party:

 Logan, Luke, Shawn and Michael (AKA Shawn's Posse)

All sugared up

At the game

View from our Seats (5th row)

Parma....

Here's a pretty funny video if you live or have ever lived in Parma, OH. Thankfully I lived in Parma Heights. The area isn't really that bad, at least when I lived there over 20 years ago. I actually miss Parma from time to time.

March 2nd

Not too much new happening around here lately.  I'll be so glad when spring arrives and the weather starts to become a bit less gloomy.  I've been busy making preparations for a trade show I'm attending in May that I'm piggy backing a 4 day weekend in celebration of Lisa's 40th birthday and our 15th wedding anniversary.  The trade show is in Dallas and then I'm meeting Lisa and some friends in San Antonio for a little vacation.  I have visited San Antonio for business for a day and a half a few years ago but didn't see much other than the River walk.  River walk was a pretty happening entertainment district a few years ago but it looks like it got even larger recently.  I am really looking forward to hanging out in Texas for a few days and not have anything major planned other than wandering around and exploring. 

This weekend is Shawn's birthday party with his friends.  Shawn chose to take three of his friends to  dinner and then to see our minor league hockey team play in the new arena.  I'm not sure what it is about hockey but it holds Shawn's attention unlike any other sport.  His family party will be the following weekend and then another celebration on his actual birthday on the 16th.  The kid always seems to have 3 birthday parties.

Our wonderful dog Cody is a major shedding freak of nature.  In an attempt to combat the hairball generator, we purchased "The Furminator".  It's a brush that is supposed to remove the loose undercoat of a dog to help minimize the shedding.  It seems to work at removing a ton of loose hair (nearly a pound the first time we used it) but we still seem to be losing the battle of the hair ball.  Below are some pictures of the furminator in action.  Don't mind the nice batman pj's.  

 

 

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"