Okay, one more thing…

I’m getting comments and suggestions from people I don’t know and have never heard of before.  Are there people out there that just read other’s blogs?  Trust me guys, I’m not doing this for your entertainment.  I just want a place to poop out my thoughts.  I don’t remember anything from day to day and finally found a place that I could go to write that didn’t get lost or make my hands sore (I hate “writing” things down, but I’ll type all day long).

Here’s my message to those of you who feel the impulse to comment on my blog:

  • Have a blast!  I’m really not very interesting, though.
  • Don’t suggest how I should write because I’m just doing this off-the-cuff for myself and my family to stay connected to my day-to-day life.  I don’t really care, but love that you’re interested in what I’m saying.  I never thought anybody would give a crap about my jabber.
  • Don’t question my logic – I’m just stream-of-consciousness typing here.  It might not even make sense to me later, but at least I can see what I was thinking “back then.”
  • I got lots of grades (mostly bad) in school; please try not to grade my “hobby.”
  • Please don’t advertise to me.
  • Please enjoy yourself…no bad juju on my site!  🙂  Come here for fun! That’s why I’m here.

These are not the Droids You’re Looking for

Move on!  It works on a weak mind.

I dunno.  Just kept playing this over and over in my head today and it kept me plenty happy.

Maybe I should start a handyman business for real.  I just fixed my neighbor’s oven today and saved her like $400 bucks.  I took out about 20 screws and pushed a reset button.  That and I went on the manufacturer’s website, which took 5 more minutes.  The repair guy quoted a minimum of $350.  I realized at my last job that appliances – no matter how big they are – aren’t rockets and they all have toll-free numbers stamped on them so you can call the manufacturer.  Oh yeah, they also have wiring diagrams.  With that and an electrical probe, you can pretty much fix anything.  Once you get to a part that doesn’t do what the schematics say, you call Sears Parts Central and order “that.”  Oops, I just gave away the secret to appliance repair.  Shit.  Anyway, my neighbor’s son and Ben played while I fixed – beats the heck out of watching kids for a morning.

Totally different subject: Have you ever gotten one of those cracks in your skin right at the end of the edge of your nail?  Ouch!  I get one on my thumb every winter and man, does it hurt.  Walgreen’s has a paint that you put on it; I picked some up today.  Now it hurts and looks all peely…so now I have a numb finger and a stingy finger.  I feel like Sol, “I’ll need my shoes and glasses, so I have them.”

This is not the blog you’re looking for…

I’m going to watch Mythbusters reruns!

I Can’t Feel My Fingertip (still)

Saturday was a day of completing a few home projects.  Sort of like a little surge in tying up the loose ends.  It started with spray painting the radiator covers in the house.  I painted some of them this winter using latex trim paint.  The paint adhered really well, but they just didn’t have that sprayed-on look to them.  I used the Flotrol stuff and the same thing from Benjamin Moore, but there’s no real way to get that look without the spray and the oil based paint.  Sorry environment, but your inhabitants haven’t figured out how to make low VOC paints that really pop.  Anyway, I took the last 5 covers and put them out on a tarp on the patio and went to town with the Rustoleum Professional spray paint.  They look amazing, but after three cans of paint, I can no longer feel the tip of my right-hand index finger and my muscles in the inside of my forearm feel a bit iffy still.  I know, they make a trigger that fits on the cans, but by the time I went to the hardware store and back for something I’ll only used once, I’d already be done and drinkin’ a beer.  Except for the beer part, it was pretty true.  It’s done!  It was a beautiful day and they dried really fast – no drips; 2 coats.

Since it was so nice outside, I also decided to assemble a nice little slat bench that we got a few months ago to replace an old glider bench that we’ve been moving around the country for the last 8 years.  Now we have this pretty little iron and wood slat bench sitting on the lawn amongst the lovely spring flowers blooming.  Shayna took the kids to the pottery store to play so that I could get some of this stuff done.  I always like when they go to the pottery store because Ela LOVES to make bowls for me.  Just like clockwork, as soon as I get the two tasks completed, they were home.  After a refreshing lunch, we headed to Lowes to get some flowers for the front porch.  The kids had a blast getting the pots ready (dirt + tools + kids = can’t miss fun).  We got the old, dead stuff out and fluffed up the dirt, added fertilizer and transferred the plants.  After mowing the lawn, I was ready for a nice movie with the family.  I’m really happy with how the garden is turning out this year so far.  I need to get a friend who knows about flowers and stuff to identify exactly what the heck is growing in my yard.  The previous owners were great gardeners, but terrible landscapers.  The trees were overgrown, untrimmed and marginally healthy.  The grass is tired and old (overseeding this fall).  And the hedges were untamed and either over thick or just skank and leggy.  I have my work cut out for me for the next few years.  It’ll take some planning.

I enjoy our movie nights (Friday and Saturday) with the family.  We eat fun stuff like Chinese food, burgers, or pizza and watch a movie…nothing serious, though.  I hate serious movies!  If I want to be depressed, I can watch CNN online…it’s free and I’m not paying to be disappointed with the world.  Since we’ve seen all of the movies in our library about 500 times and have seen every movie that the library has and everything that’s been on PPV, I like to sew while watching movies.

About a month and a half ago, I had the brilliant idea to get a sewing machine.  I had been threatening for several years, but really didn’t want to spend the money on one.  It wasn’t clear whether I would be any good at it or if I would even like it.  My mother taught me to sew as a child, but I really don’t remember much other than how to work the machine properly.  So, I had a revelation to go onto our local Freecycle group on Yahoo! and ask for one.  Within minutes, there were two viable offers.  I contacted the first offer-er and crammed the family in the car to go check it out.  Turns out that this woman got the machine from a neighbor that was going to get rid of it because she was getting old, couldn’t see well enough to sew anymore and was having trouble with her arthritis.  The lady told me that she just hated to see it thrown away, so she took it and held onto it for like 5 years.  This thing is a MONSTER (good kind of monster, not the bad kind)!  It came in a cabinet and the drawers were filled with everything I would need to get going: probably 50 spools of  thread; scissors; presserfeet; tools to repair and adjust it; spare needles.  I took photos of it (it weighs a ton – okay 60+ pounds) and showed them to a local repair guy.  He told me that I should never part with this machine.  It is nearly commercial quality and it will probably never wear out.  I took it, rewired the thing, and took off running.  I’m repair crazy!!!!  And I made Ela a skirt.  Have you ever noticed that a sewing pattern marked “beginner” still assumes that you know ALL of the nomenclature associated with sewing?  I’ll tell you, there’s lots of words…there was also the purchase of “Sewing for Dummies” shortly thereafter.  Next on the creativity docket is matching skirts and tops for Mommy and Ela.  I’m sure that they [Mommy] will wear the skirt to be polite;  Ela would wear it proudly if it looked like I took it off a mangled corpse.  She’s still at the age where she thinks I’m a God.  So am I – I mean that I think I’m a God!  Probably should start working on my own version of the bible too – what the heck!

Larry the Lion Has No Idea What He’s in for

Yes, Ela lost the tooth. It fell out during the night and she found it when she was in the shower tucked between her cheek and gum…just like chaw! I put my fairy hat on, went to Target and got a big ol’ Lego set. We had started getting Legos for Ben, but Ela totally got into them. Ben liked to play with them, but Ela would make the most insane contraptions with them. So, I got her a big Harry Potter set. She spent hours messing with it tonight.

Ela earned the privilege of having the class mascot at the house this weekend. Larry the Lion – it’s just a freaking stuffed animal, but since we have so many allergies (more than in a “middle class” neighborhood) in her class/school, there can’t be any pets in the classrooms. Seriously, when was the last time anyone’s had anaphylactic shock from a gerbil? If we keep going like this, the human race is doomed! Anyway, we have a stuffed animal with a diary for the weekend. Larry’s already seen more in the last few hours to write a dissertation for a PhD in psychology.

Good morning, Streptococcus! I woke up at 2 am with one of those Miss Clavel moments. Something was not right. So I went to Benjamin and he had a fever…SHIT! I should have followed my instinct and brought him to the doctor’s office yesterday. I threw some Advil in him and put him back to bed; it took him forever to fall back to sleep. I’m tired first thing in the morning, but still have to get Ela off to school. No problem…I have college degrees earned on lack of sleep. Got Ben an appointment and got Ela ready and out the door. Yes, he actually did have strep – fifth time this season. No, not a carrier; just a kind and generous host. I had him come home and let him sit in front of the TV all the rest of the day.

Now, a little sidebar about the doctor’s office: We have this insurance that you have a set amount that you have to pony up each year and then the insurance kicks in. The good: you save money because there’s far less taken out of your paycheck each week and overall savings. The bad: You get to see exactly what the doctor’s office charges for services. Strep test: $36…same test kit on the internet: $99…FOR 33 KITS!!! Do I feel used! Yes, I read the manual and can totally do this on my own and the kit gives you the instructions on how to send off the sample for the extended tests (if the rapid test comes out negative). Why can’t I just bring my own test? Hell, I can make a kid gag with a q-tip for free.

Now, another thing about this insurance: They pay for all well-visits. Stop and think for a minute. Go ahead, think for a minute. You’re still reading…Okay, if you didn’t have lots of money and you were sick-ish, would you just run to the doctor or would you wait to see if you could get yourself better? Yeah, you’d wait; so you would be much more likely to discover at 2am that you were VERY sick and need an ER visit – that you can’t afford and the insurance will not cover. So, what if you have the money? Well, that “co-pay” thing or whatever amount that you use up, gets used up on the first visit that cost $2000 and the insurance company is on the hook for the rest of all of your visits for the rest of the year. Okay, now, why get a physical? Pain in the ass (serious pain in the ass at my age); burns up my day; I’m not having problems. You got the point, I have no accountability for managing my health and no real carrot on the end of the stick to do it anyway. If the doctor finds something wrong with me at the well visit, I’m going to have to pay full-price for the cure. For normal, “educated” families, this makes sense, but the majority of the country is not “that.” I may be overextending my thoughts here, but the actuaries are hoping that you don’t go to the doctor and don’t get really, really sick and when you do, you can afford to pay or have the hospital absorb the cost. I don’t know…it’s a good plan for us, but I can’t see this working on a larger scale. I cringe when I have to pay $120 for a “nurse” to spend 3 minutes with us, swab Benjamin’s throat and throw a prescription at us. That sounds like over $3000 an hour. Dang! You understand, this is not a rant. I just don’t get the math. Actuaries must have wicked confusing work because I’m sure it makes total sense on paper, but if I were dirt poor and single, I’d wait til I was “knock knock knockin on heaven’s door” before I’d go to the doctor for a sick visit.

Enough. Shut up already. Stayed with Benjamin while he watched TV and repaired “blue monkey” for Penny and repaired Ela’s coat that got ripped the other day. I’ve found that sewing is really fun. The story: I learned to sew when I was a child. I’m not sure if my mother taught me or I learned from watching – I’ve blocked a ton of my childhood. I went on the Yahoo! group: Freecycle. It’s a cool group that almost every major metropolitan area has that is a group of people who give things away instead of throwning them out. If you want something, you ask and if someone else has it, they give it to you; if you want to get rid of something, you offer it up and if anyone else in the group wants it, they come get it. I asked for a sewing machine. I got an older Westinghouse that was in cherry condition. I brought it to a repair guy and he told me to NEVER sell it because, “they just don’t make machines that good anymore.” I’ve found it to be a very wholesome activity – repairing your clothing. I HATE throwing things away that just need a patch or a new zipper. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this machine. I also bought some fabric, patterns and a copy of Sewing for Dummies. Ela got her first home-made skirt and it looks terrific. What’s really amazing, is that I disemboweled Big Bird and made a pillow for Ela that she will NOT go to bed without as well as a scrap of fabric that I sewed a letter “E” on for her that she carries around like her life depended on it. Sigh…she loves me and admires me – I’m getting a little veclempt, talk amongst yourselves for a minute. Seriously, it’s really sweet.

Going on with my day, a lady named Marilyn came over to paint vines on our dining room wall – no comment, I have no sense of style so anything I say would be silly and overly pragmatic. She did the murals on Ela’s and Ben’s rooms. She’s amazing (after we had hired her to do the kids’ rooms, we found out that she’s known to be the best here “in these here parts”). The kids’ rooms are awesome and now our dining room is “vin-ey.”

Now it’s after 10pm, the kids are asleep, Ben seems to be feeling a little better and his temp is down and I want to let this day slip away into my easily lost memory. I guess now, I can just read my blog…seriously need to look at my home improvement list and start to tie up all the loose ends on my little projects so that I can start fresh on the outdoors projects. Lots to do there.

Now I Just Have to Avoid Bread for 6 Days…

I survived the two Seders.  Woke up this morning to a kitchen that looked like ‘Nam!  Shayna was great about it and, in her very professional work clothes, started washing her grandmother’s china.  Although she said that she would do the rest after she got home, those of you who know me know that I can’t just look at something out-of-place without messing with it, I did all the rest before I took the kids to school.  After working all morning, my house is back to  “normal.”  [Keep your editorial comments to yourself!]

I took Ela to school a bit early today because she had earned a bonus in her classroom.  Her teacher gives out rewards called, “Big Ones.” [again, keep your comments to yourself] You earn these like money for doing well on tests, volunteering and not being a jackwagon.  You also can lose them for exactly the former.  You can spend them in all sorts of fun ways.  One of the ways is that you can really save (took Ela until this week – and she’s a really good student) your big ones and buy breakfast with the teacher and can also invite a friend to join you.  A couple of weeks ago, Lily, one of Ela’s best friends, invited her to have breakfast with Ms. Fanselow – her teacher.  This week was Ela’s turn to reciprocate.  Ela had pancakes, eggs and bacon and Lily had pancakes and bacon – all from McDonald’s!  What a treat!  Ela was very proud and had a great time. She was also honored to be asked by her friend to join her the first time.  Ela has a good friend!

Now it’s back to housework and going to the gym!  I’ve got dirty laundry piled to the doorknobs in the hampers and the washer, albeit as close to a commercial washer as you can get without a pocket full of quarters, can only do so much at a time.  Man, I can see my evenings for the next couple of days: DVR; Mythbusters; piles of folded laundry; going to bed at midnight.  I was going to go to the gym today, but I woke with the worst headache I’ve had in years.  For that matter, I haven’t really had a headache for at least a year anyway.  Usually when I feel like crap, I just go and it works itself out, but today…felt like death warmed-over.  After de-assing the kitchen and dining room, I took Penny (our puppy-dog), 3 Advil, shoved the dog in the crotch of my arm and went to sleep.  Pain went from a 9 to a 3 within an hour.  I think it was the dog; not the Advil.  Then I got up again and upgraded all of the family’s Apple products, cleaned the basement and vacuumed the entire house.  BTW, there’s one thing I hate about HEPA vacuums: they clean so well that they make you feel like a total pig.  The damn thing fills up with this fine dirt and hair.  Eew, I’m living with this stuff???

Oh crap!  Ela just told me her tooth is really loose!  I have to put on my tooth fairy hat now.  Later!

I Got a Very Exciting Toy Today!

When we moved to the Chicago area, the movers were nice enough to bend the table on my table saw. Yeah, that’s right, the bent a solid cast iron table. How the f**k do you do that? This was a professional table saw, not the Wal-Mart special. I had the moving company’s insurance adjuster come and verify that it was toasted; they gave me a fair amount to replace it. It was a good thing. I have a much smaller shop here then I did in Houston, so it was nearly impossible for me to use my existing table saw where it was in the basement. The adjuster gave me a fair amount and took the bent saw for parts. I’ve been shopping for the right replacement since then. I found the one I wanted and got it shipped for free through Amazon. It’s a Bosch contractor’s table saw with a gravity-lift portable base. It folds flat(ish) and has pneumatic (air-filled rubber) wheels that will go just about anywhere. I can move it to the driveway when I need it and it does everything that the shop models will do – including take zero clearance inserts and dado blades. Now I can use the table saw.

I have several pressing household repairs to start on in the next few weeks. I have a critter eating the soffit on my 3rd floor; the 3rd floor porch is totally rotting; and the fake porch over my front door is rotted as well. Fortunately, I got a lathe for my birthday 2 years ago because there are finials on the fake porch that will be impossible to source, but I can make them from scratch on the lathe and no one will be the wiser.

Next big purchase is a 28′ ladder. Need something that will get me to the eaves at the top of the house. I need to make sure I get a fiberglass ladder because I have power lines all over the place. I’d like to not fry my ass because I was too cheap to go with fiberglass. BZZZZZZZZZZT! Hey, what’s that smell – ayeeeee!

Not Quite Overwhelmed, Just Whelmed.

Passover today; getting ready to go to our friends/neighbor’s house for tonight’s seder.  No bread or pasta for a week…the hardest part is not missing it, but is being aware enough to not just eat stuff that you’re not supposed to eat without thinking about it.  Generally, failure occurs on the 3rd day as you start going about your normal life and you cram a zone bar in your face after a workout – BOOM! You’re going to hell – oh yeah, no hell – we have the privilege of suffering here. Preparation has been a little stressful, but not too bad. Just lots to do without dropping important things like laundry and cleaning the house.  The second seder is at our house, so the big push comes tomorrow.

Been a few days off the blog here…It snowed this morning.  REALLY??? WTF?Okay, in the grand scheme of things, I’d much rather get more snow than be in Houston and sweating my mother-loving ass off for 9 months out of the year.  It was sort of pretty and so what, it’s a little cold.  I have a theory about cold vs hot:  When it’s cold, you can always add another layer or hat or something and that’s okay; with hot weather, you can only take so much off before you get arrested for indecent exposure and depending on what you look like, indecent exposure can have varying degrees.  Some people make me a little woozy fully dressed God forbid if they had to take it down to the Froot of the Looms!

Yesterday was soccer day for the kids.  Ela’s game (thank you!) was cancelled because the fields were way too muddy.  Ben’s game was moved to his same location but the other side of the property.  It was still pretty muddy, but not nearly as bad as last week.  Last week was the pits (pit in more than one way).  My car still smells of a combination of [me], dirty dog, and wet stank feet!  This week we just got a tiny bit muddy and it wasn’t as hot, so the smell wasn’t as pervasive.  We also knew to bring our boots so that we didn’t ruin our shoes.  I spent hours on the patio spraying shoes with the water hose last time and the water coming out of the hose was REALLY cold!  My fingers are still numb.  Benjamin’s loving his soccer games – albeit they aren’t really games.  The coaches get the kids together and do a few “exercises.”  They run around the field and try to dribble the ball or stay away from the coaches just to get them thinking about technique, then the kids are divided into teams of 3 or 4 and they go play an informal game.  Ben scored an uncontested goal on his own goal, but nobody said anything because it was an awesome goal!  Man, he drove up the field and fired that ball like he was made out of C4 explosives!!!  These kids’ games are WAY more fun than pro sports.  I never laugh so hard at pro games.  They are happy, spirited and funny as all hell!

Ela’s games are more structured, but they still don’t really keep score or use a dedicated goalie.  Ela is much more competitive than Ben is.  Her first season, she had the habit of stiff-arming other players – oops, wrong type of football.  She also has no fear; she will headlong into another kid before she backs down from the ball.  Ela is the entire package of “jump in with both feet.”  Maybe it’s “damn the torpedos.”  I dunno.

Back from the Seder. It was really nice. The food was great and the company was fabulous. Tomorrow’s my turn to run the show. Shayna’s home tomorrow, so it’ll be easier. She’ll be able to hold everything in her head so I’m not going nuts. She’s really good at juggling lots of balls in the air

Where is the knitting needle!?

Ela is having a sleepover with her friend Lily Kelly – sweet kid. Benjamin, on the other hand, is totally pumped up because he absolutely LOVES Lily. So, for sleeping arrangements tonight we have the giggly girls who go between laughing, needing water, whispering, getting scared of every little noise and emerging from the room with another excuse to not sleep, and Benjamin who is totally exhausted, clingy, jealous, trying to act grown-up and ending up acting half his age. So why do I need a knitting needle? I have a theory: if I take a nice long knitting needle and put in one ear and guide through to the other ear, I will give myself a rudimentary lobotomy – which should give me some peace. Yeah, it might be a bit messy, but I probably won’t even notice. Yeah, I know it’s not the right place on your head, but I bet it’s a hell of a thing!

We had some killer pizza tonight. Lou Malnati’s Pizza here in Highland Park is awesome. www.loumalnatis.com There are several locations throughout the Chicago area. If you get a chance, try it and you won’t be disappointed. They got this thing here called deep dish pizza, which I thought to be the Sicilian pizza that we got in NY. It’s not that. It is cooked in a deep dish, but the crust is relatively thin. They pile the stuff on the pizza and the high crust on the sides hold all the junk inside. It’s pretty good stuff. This place’s crust is made with olive oil and it’s crispy and has that lovely extra virgin (extra virgin – a topic for another blog – I got lots to say on that phrase) olive oil taste.

Okay, Bones (Benjamin) is finally asleep. I layed (lied, lain, lay – which one is it?) next to him in his bed and he passed out within 2 minutes. Man, was he tired! Ela is still awake. She’s convinced that the little light from cars passing the house that shines on her ceiling is/are ghosts. Boy was she pissed at me when I told her that it was just cars, “You don’t believe me!!!” No, I don’t…I’ve seen too many movies and ghosts do not show up like that. They aren’t that sneaky and show up as full body apparitions. Lately, they’ve been showing up in HD and 3D. Yeah, they’re hip too! Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you have to be all gothic and old-fashioned.

Tomorrow is soccer day for Ela and Lily. Dawg, I hope they cancel the game. It’s raining pretty steadily, it’s cold, and the field is going to be a swamp again. I had to wash Ela’s uniform twice this week to get the mud out and practically had to take an oxy acetylene torch to it. I don’t know about up here, but from growing up in the south, all I could think about was ringworm and fungus in that mud. I threw her in the bathtub as soon as she got home. Maybe all that stuff dies off in the cold winter, but not down there. Ben’s field on Sunday was worse. My car still smells like a malange of wet dog and feet. I know I drive the “ghetto flyer,” but I really don’t need it to smell authentic.

Benjamin and I had a great time after I picked him up from school today, we went to a place called Baker Boys – a bakery run by two brothers. It’s a little place right by the Ravinia Metra stop. Bones and I stopped there to get dessert for tonight and tomorrow night (Movie nights at our house). While we were there, we got a half-dozen for desserts and Bones and I got a little cupcake each for right away. We sat and watched it rain from the bar stools they have in front of the shop windows. I like to watch Ben eat. He just takes is easy and slow. He savours every bite. I generally inhale everything I eat. It makes it hard to do portion control when you create a vacuum that just sucks everything within a half-mile into your head. Okay, I’m tired now and I think everyone is asleep. I haven’t heard a sound for at least 10 minutes – it’s quiet…too quiet. Maybe there is a ghost…wooooooooooooohhhh!

Bourbon Chicken Recipe:

BBQ version:  you will need a grill
Meat: 1 pound or more, Chicken Thighs – Boneless, Skinless are best

Marinade:
1/2 cup(s) , Soy Sauce 
1/2 teaspoon(s) , Garlic Powder 
1 teaspoon(s) , Ground Ginger 
2 tablespoon(s) , Dried Onion Powder or Granulated Onion
1/2 cup(s) , Bourbon Whiskey 
2 tablespoon(s) , White Wine

Sauce:
1/2 cup(s) , Soy Sauce 
1/2 cup(s) , Brown Sugar 
1/2 teaspoon(s) , Garlic Powder 
1 teaspoon(s) , Ground Ginger 
2 tablespoon(s) , Dried Minced Onion 
1/2 cup(s) , Bourbon Whiskey 
2 tablespoon(s) , White Wine
2 tablespoons, Olive Oil

In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, onion powder and bourbon and stir until ingredients are combined. Add chicken and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. 

In a saucepan, combine sauce ingredients and cook on low heat until the sauce thickens.

Remove chicken from marinade and pour remaining marinade liquid into the cooking sauce – REMEMBER THAT THE MARINADE REMNANTS MUST BE BOILED WITH THE SAUCE!

Grill the chicken on direct heat – high and DO NOT overcook the meat. Immediately cut the chicken into small pieces and put in a large bowl. Add about 1/2 of the sauce to e chicken and mix.  Serve over rice or on a toothpick like they do in the mall. Use the extra sauce to top off the dish if desired.

Tennis, pudding and skirt steak

Are they related?  To me they are today. Shayna’s been out of town for the last two days and she’s coming home for dinner tonight.  I decided to prepa a special dinner for her: BBQ’d skirt steak, asparagus and home-made mushroom risotto.  I started the marinade last night with soy sauce, white wine,lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and cumin.  I made a 
Nice mushroom risotto this afternoon and will be garnishing it with burned-up Parmesan cheese. I’ve been soaking the hickory chips since this morning so that they will really smoke and add tons of flavor to the meat.  Sounds good, huh?

Now, the kids are both in their tennis lessons.  It’s cool because they both really like them. Ela actually is really good so far.  There are lots of girls in the class and teacher says that they tend to talk a lot, but they’re learning anyway.  They’ve both discovered the after sports snack. It was inevitable, but I’m trying to keep it at least a tiny bit healthy.  I’ve been getting them the sugar free Jello pudding cups.  Milk, chemicals and no fat – not so bad.

There’s the relationship. 

My head feels like someone painted it with dope. I was outside yesterday for several hours doing yard work and now I have a sunburn that’s making my nick itch and my bald head tight. At least it’s overcast today. 

Tomorrow, Benjamin’s school is having a “Parent’s appreciation breakfast” that I really should be at. My tendency is to not get out there and be social, but I know that it’s the wrong thing to do. I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it, though.  I always enjoy social events even though I fight tooth and nail to not go.

Okay, I’m home now and the steak was freaking amazing! I made little Parmesan bowls for the risotto and dribbled home-made BBQ sauce on it.