Christmas Already?

Two more days till the jolly fat man slips down the chimney to bring joy and gifts for all the little kids of the world. I think that my oldest will figure this little myth out soon enough....he is too clever to let such an insane series of events go un questioned. For now, he is biting it hook line and sinker. It's good too, because I think it teaches parents that this time of year is really a good point to reflect on your own life.We have been fortunate enough to be able to provide the things our kids need to be comfortable and not worry about things that kids shouldn't be saddled with at any age. I'm not referring to material things but rather the fact that they have a safe and stable home with two parents that put the kids needs in front of their own. Most of all it makes me think about how grateful we are to have each other.

On this topic..I am grateful for my wife. She is with out question the rock in our family. She is the one that the kids run to when they are scared, the one who listens to my insane rants about nothing, the one who provides the constant support for what ever any of us need. She is the one I couldn't imagine my life without. I knew this early on but after having kids it only cemented my feelings.


-Merry Christmas

Cabinet Hardware Odyssey

Do you ever have one of those projects that seem simple but turn into an all day fiasco? I had one this weekend that started at about 9 am on Saturday and pretty much took about 12 hours of my time The bulk of the time was spent actually gathering the materials. A total of four (4) Lowe's stores were visited across two states. With that said we were able to save a bundle convincing them to honor a lower price that we got at one of the 4 stores. Installation went OK, had to custom cut some of the screws that attach the pulls and minus a few screw ups it went alright. You will really need to look to find them, but I know they are there so I may replace a cabinet door in the future.I did not like them at first but they are growing on me.

Also spent a little time outside playing in the "snow". Good fun for all.

Turkey Week Cooking and Some Other Things

Its been a while since I posted any cooking related stuff here....mostly because I really have not had the time. Traveling, Bills Wedding, Moving and many other things have taken up most of the weekends since late September. To top it off, everyone in the house has been sick for the last month. Word to the wise-once your kid starts school, you may as well invest in NyQuil stock as you and anyone in your house will be sick from August-May.

Anyhow, this past week was obviously Thanksgiving and that affords me a few extra days off. We spent the actual holiday visiting with both sides of my family. Its always good to see family and this was no exception.

Friday morning I fired up the trusty Weber cooker and it didn't get a rest until Sunday. First on the menu (no photos) was a 19lb turkey that I wanted to cook for my Grandma and Aunt. Typically my Aunt and Uncle have the meal for my Mom's side but unfortunately my Uncle suffered a heart attack on the 25th and is still recovering. They had the turkey thawed out and obviously cooking it was not on the agenda. I nabbed the bird  and cooked it so it wouldn't go to waste. We delivered it back on Friday all sliced and diced. It was my first Turkey on the smoker and other than oil, salt and pepper nothing crazy. It looked nice after it was done and was still juicy.

*Just a note-If you choose to buy a frozen turkey pay attention to what the label says if you intend to soak in a brine. Honeysuckle and Butterball's are injected with a salt solution to help them stay juicy and if you brine them they will be so damn salty you will need to consume copious amounts of liquid.

Saturday Morning I started the Pork Shoulders that I had been wanting to do for the last few months. Typical arrangement of Yellow Mustard and my Trademarked shoulder rub. Also injected the shoulders with a mixture of Worcestershire, Apple Juice, Brown Sugar and Salt. They cooked for 13 hours to a temp of 190 before they were pulled and packed in 1 lb bags and tossed in the freezer for meals throughout the next few months. Key with freezing the pork is you need to add BBQ sauce before you freeze so that it does not dry out during the re heating. If you use Vacuum sealer bags that contain no BPA you can actually just toss them in boiling water to re heat. I hear its as good as the day they came off the smoker. I just use the trusty Zip-lock's and warm in the microwave. Still pretty good.

Saturday was also Christmas light day. What a boondoggle it turned into. Glad its only once a year although I now have the process down so next year should not be that time consuming. It did turn out nice.

Sunday I decided to do something different with the 12lb bird we had in the fridge. As a fan of anything food related from the south, I found a recipe for a Cajun injected turkey with dirty rice "stuffing". Here is what went into the injection I made Saturday night:

Worcestershire sauce
Old Bay seasoning 
Apple cider
Honey
Bottle of beer
Salt
Ground allspice
Creole seasoning
Cayenne
Olive oil
Minced garlic

I used the minced garlic that you find in the glass jars and to combine all the spices and liquid I took it for a spin in the food processor while drinking the extra beer. As it turns out the garlic was still too big for the injector I have and it kept clogging the needle so I ended up straining out all the garlic bits. If I had not let it sit in the fridge overnight it would have pretty much been useless to add. Either I need a larger injector or some how I need to figure out how to liquefy the garlic like Pauly does in Goodfella's.

"It's a really good system" -Ray Liotta

Back on topic...The bird went on the grill with a little walnut smoke and cooked for a few hours. If you are looking for something a little different for a turkey, I recommend this. Next time I will try to more evenly distribute the injection in the turkey and possibly use a little less of the mixture. Meanwhile we cheated and used a boxed dirty rice mix but "Jazzed" it up with 1/2 Andouille sausage and ground beef. Also instead of water we used unsalted chicken stock. IT WAS AWESOME.

Thanksgiving Post....Sort of

Any week that you only work three days is good in my book. This year we are staying home for Thanksgiving and I must say its just fine with me. Traveling with two kids is hard enough let alone the biggest travel week of the year it becomes a bit stupid. One of the biggest issues with air travel this week is that  it's insanely expensive. So with that said,  we had thanksgiving early this year in Houston with Ali's parents. All in all it was a good trip highlighted with Max taking his first steps while we were there. Now, of course we are full steam ahead and its a little creepy seeing him so quietly sneak around corner at night. Very stealthy.

The house is starting to feel more like home thankfully. This weekend I put up a ceiling fan in the living room and installed some dimmers for the can lights. We also put up the Christmas tree and can finally hang our stockings over a fireplace just like Norman Rockwell intended. This weekend I plan on tackling the Christmas lights. The plan is to wrap the columns as we did at our old house but this time it appears that my work is cut out for me having 14 columns. This may be a one and done kind of thing...wait and see.

Over the last week or so we also had our fence installed and now can let Gibby out without a leash...and it couldn't have come at a better time with the weather now turning below freezing. The fence looks fantastic and the construction and attention to detail is very good. If you are in the market for a very well built wooden fence in St. Charles call Brad Reed @ Dragonfly Studio.

End of the Season

All good things must come to an end. This weekend marked the end of the 2013 camping season and the RV is tucked away waiting for spring. This year while we didn't get out as much as I would have liked, but did have some fun trips and hit a few new favorites. 

We had a number of issues this season...everything from a awing taking flight and nearly putting a hole in the roof to a hub fire from a wheel bearing that let loose. A new axle and 4 new tires were also needed for a defect in the original axle. It was an expensive season for sure. Even with over $1500 in repair bills, fuel and camping fees I still think it is an asset for our family. Being able to spend time with my kids un-obstructed from the leashes of cell phones, videos and endless TV shows is worth a lot more to me than money. Standing at the edge of a lake with morning fog blanketing the area with a little boy skipping rocks across the smooth surface is a good thing. Talking a walk at night and looking up and realizing that the sky is really peppered with stars you didn't know existed is a good thing.  Sitting by a fire so hot you think that your shins have caught on fire is a good thing. The more you learn and plan, the more you find out that by traveling with an RV you really can have your own lakefront property for a few days for what others pay thousands or even millions for...being able to share this with your family is a good thing. 

Big things planned for next year. Started the process of planning our longest trip to date to Table Rock Lake. It sounds funny, but the next few months you should start planning trips for the spring especially if you want to go during weekends...By the end of December most of our season will already be in stone. In terms of improvements, I am seriously considering dropping the bulky husky hitch that is a pain in the ass for something that preforms a bit better and is easier to use. 

Weekend at the Lake

Finally. It seems like a while since we were able to get away from civilization since out last attempt ended before it got started with a wheel bearing fire. This trip went off without a hitch (no pun intended).

Ali and I took advantage of my parents good nature and dumped the kids/dog off with them for the weekend and headed south to check out for a few nights. I say this every time we get back from a weekend...it sure is nice to get away from things for a few days. This is the place that started the RV'ing spark a few years ago even though the rental we had then was less than fantastic...the experience as a whole led us to purchasing a unit of our own and has so far made some good memories (and a few bad ones). This trip was similar to the last October trip in that the cardinals were in the World Series and it was a perfect night to sit by the fire and listen to the game. This time we did have a TV and ironically the only channel we could pick up was Fox so we were able to watch and listen to the game. I'm old school and chose to remain out doors until I got tired and decided to go to bed.....only to wake up and catch the wild close to the game in the 9th.

Ali was able to read a book and we spent a ton of time outside just really doing nothing and it was fantastic and it was the perfect trip to wind down the not so busy camping season. By the time next weekend is over, we will have spent 15 nights in the Camper and while not as many as I would have liked, over two weeks total over the course of a season is pretty respectable.

No trip to Lake Ozark is complete without picking up some Blue Bell Ice cream

Also loaded up on some firewood for the next few Nice Outdoor Fires at Home

Now on to planning at least one larger trip next year....trying some place new for a longer duration is pretty exciting and a little scary at the same time. Details to follow.

Busy Fall Weekend

It was a very busy weekend at the old homested.  We got a lot of things accomplished after having taken a few days off from the continuing moving process. Friday was the very first grass cutting and it looks awesome! The mower was able to get it all on one charge and really had no issues. I think its time for a new blade or at minimum a sharpening of the old one. I did find out that I need a new blower....the batteries on the old one just are not cutting it anymore. They have been cycled too many times.

We also made a trip to my parents to get the final round of stuff...as it turns out it was more than I bargained for and it took two trucks to get the job done. Just a few more things at my brothers and we officially should have all our stuff back.

 

Continuing with the home owner theme...Saturday night I built a workbench for the garage. I will be honest I never have liked any kind of wood working. I just don't have the knack for it. However, for my first attempt it turned out pretty solid. Still need to add the Peg Board and get some hooks but all- in-all it looks nice. I can already tell that keeping it clean will be a challenge.

Big Garage plans for this winter....I would like to run a service panel to accommodate some future tasks such as a larger welder, 30A RV Receptacle, separate circuit's for various things. I also need to get my grandpa's truck inside to start what for me will be decades long process of a street rod.

 

Tis that time of year when the weather changes and the leaves begin to fall. This is also the time for the Annual Redneck Tradition of the BUSCH CAMO Can. While not my favorite beer, I usually purchase a case of this flavor just because of this damn can.



 

 

The house is really coming together....fence should be going in soon. It feels like everything is getting settled but there still is a ton of things to do. Its a process but I can see the next few years being very busy with house projects on the weekends. We took a walk last night and I again reminded myself why we chose to move back to New Town. A mid October Sunday night stroll by the lake to get a scoop of Ice cream....even the dog had a taste. 

 

 





Illinois State Parks

Yesterday I had some time to kill while traveling for work through Central Illinois and stopped to take a look at Sam Parr State Park in Jasper County. Its about an hour South East of Effingham Illinois. I have not given much thought to any Illinois State Park only because they are not advertised very well and their website compared to the Missouri State Parks honestly sucks.

Upon entering the campground there was only one person there and it was the Host...all other sites were vacant. Not too Surprising considering it was a Tuesday. Took a few pictures but nothing really stood out to me. The Playground was ropped off for some reason and there did not appear to be showers. With that said, it was a very nice spot with spaces spread out and pads of varying lengths. There were a good amount of water connections and plentiful electrical hookups but no sewer that I could see. 

After taking a few minutes this morning and looking at the IL park system as a whole....there are a TON of state parks but navigating and finding details stinks.

Who is ready for a vacation? I am. Even though we just moved in to the house a few weeks ago I already want to get out! Not because I don't like it but because the last few weeks have been fairly stressful. There has been too much happening too fast. The kids have come down with a cold of some sorts, and like clockwork for the past three nights a series of screams can be heard from Max's room at around 11pm because he is all stuffed up. Poor guy. Also last weekend Sam decided to get into a fight with the counter top and lost. Here is the result:

Our dog Gibson is finally getting settled after what was a very weird few days for him after we moved in. I am sure its strange going to a new home but he didn't handle it very well. He was so out of sorts we had to get him some tranquilizers. I will admit it was a little funny seeing him all doped up. 

Over the last week I managed to install a garage door opener and clean out some more space in the garage. Most of what needed to go into the house is there and now its just a matter of starting to get things organized. To my amazement my truck actually fits! Our last house there was no chance of this as the garage was really just an over-sized shed. 

Lots and lots of recycling right now....sick of seeing cardboard. 

My brother gets married this weekend and I am the best man. Apparently I am to give a speech....I have no idea what I am going to say. Any ideas? 

Halloween is getting closer and I am pushing for the kids to go as Forest Gump and Lt. Dan. For some reason this makes me laugh...might be inappropriate but so is shitting your pants and Max has no embarrassment about doing that.