Story about being a dad

Sorry I haven't been posting, I will remedy that soon.  Here is some filler I wrote tonight while you wait for the regular blog to resume (You can also find it on G+)


Want a story about me?  Shut up, I am telling it anyway.

When I was 17 I owned a tan '89 Ford Ranger.  Some of you may remember it, I loved it.

I worked at Target and spent my money on the truck.  I paid my own insurance and bought my gas.  No help what-so-ever from my parents went into that vehicle.

My parents did however pay for my everything else.  Food, clothing, schooling (public school is not as free as you think), not to mention that I lived in their house.

Why the hell am I bringing this up?  Shut up, I'm typing and I will get to it.

I was not a great teenager, I would leave the house and be gone all night.  Ok, I was a normal teenager with his own car.

My parents hated this, I was always in trouble from being gone too long or late.  One day I awoke to find that my keys were missing.  I had planned on going to a friend's house and possibly to the beach but my truck and house keys were nowhere to be found.

After some detective work and a call to my mom, she told me to call my dad.  He told me the following

"Until you can obey the rules and come home when we tell you to, I have your truck!"

I didn't take too kindly to this.  My dad is an amazing man, my friends may remember that he seemed very strict, and was to a point, but he was fair.  I was a shit and deserved all the strictness I got, but...

Remember that I said he was fair?  I called AAA and they came out and made a new set of keys for my truck.  Cost me $150.

When my parents got home, I was not there.  I rolled in around 10 and my dad was awake in chair, pissed.

He didn't have to say anything, and honestly I don't remember what he did say, but I countered with

"Dad, you guys buy me everything that is my room, and furnish that room.  You can kick me out, you can take everything in their away from me, but that truck is mine.  I paid for it, I pay the insurance and the gas.  If you want me to get home at a decent hour, then we need to discuss what that is, but you are not getting my truck keys again!"

I was shaking, literally terrified that my life was about to end.  My dad looked madder than a bobcat caught in a piss fire.

He calmly said to me
"You're right, I want your tv and the phone from your room, your grounded until i say otherwise.  Now what do you think is a decent time?"

My curfew from then was 10pm on school nights and 1 on weekends.  I gave my dad my phone and in the morning he told me to keep the tv and that he loved me.

He even mentioned that he was proud that I stood my ground, but it was dumb to spend the money on triple A.  I love my father very much, and even though it may sound that I was terrified of him, it wasn't like that.  I knew I was a shit, still am, but I also know that he loves me and I hope to be that kind of father to my son, setting rules and limits and being firm on them, but loving and caring enough to listen when I may be wrong.

"Bratwurst and Sillyness" or "Cleanup, Clean up everybody, everywhere"

This week Robin's schedule has her getting off work at 4, an entire hour before me.  That means that dinner will once again fall to her (mostly).  That is not going to stop me from updating this blog though!  

If you have followed my past ramblings on previous blogs or social media (Google+) then you may have read a few of things that I will post in the coming days.  If you have, I'm sorry, but there will be new stuff as well.

Tonight, Robin made Bratwurst and Potatoes with peas and carrots.  One of my all time favorites.

She did something different this time too!  With the left over beer in the pan, she made gravy!  I can't make gravy to save my life and I never would have thought of using the beer.

It rocked, like SUPER rocked!

Logan ate about as much as he had been with me, don't know why he doesn't eat much at dinner, he eats it later in the evening though, just slowly.

 He prefers to be extra silly as you can see from the above and below pictures

I brought home a jar today, and we started putting our change in it.  We will get to Disney one day, and whatever is in this when we do, will be our blow-it-on-something-unneeded-for-the-whole-family-while-your-there fund.

She was SUPER proud of the gravy she made.  

 Prep - None (Robin made it)
Cleanup - A mess unlike the world has ever  known (See below story)
Dad's Decision - 4.5, Brats are one of my all time favorite meals
Robin's Rating - 4
Logan's Liking - 3 (Would have been more if he was Hungry)

I posted this ages ago on Google+.  You can tell that I spent more time caring that I was writing to entertain, rather than to inform, which is what I normally do on this blog (posting every day means I can't spend as much time on it as I prefer)

I am working on some new things, and in the meantime I can retell a few things I have told before., so with out further ado, the reason my clean up is so bad tonight -

STORY TIME!!!!

Doing the dishes. Now, in the normal course of things I do the dishes in our house.  The thing is, if you're a red blooded, single, American male, what you do when you get your own place is go to the nearest fast food establishment, buy a meal, feast on its greasy innards while slumped on the sofa in front of the TV.

Clean out the plastic carton it came in, then use this carton for all your subsequent meals until you get married. Honestly there's a beauty of economy to it. Therefore, when I cook a meal for the three of us, the aftermath left in the sink as I carry the gently steaming plates to the table is a single pan and, if I've pulled out the all stops to dazzle visiting royalty, maybe a spoon.

Robin cannot make cheese toast without using every single pan, wok, tureen and colander in the house. Post-Robin-meal, I walk into the kitchen to discover a sink teetering with utensils holding off gravity only by the sly use of a spatula.
“How the hell did you use all these to make that?”

No Good Deed...

Tonight I have no dinner to tell you about, the wife got home early, picked up the boy and is going to dinner with her family.  I declined the dinner invitation so that I could prepare for my monthly geek out night (a.k.a. gaming night with friends)

I do have a story to tell you though.  I stopped at Kroger's to pick up some sodas and chips for my gaming night. Upon leaving a rather odd looking guy stopped me and asked for money to feed himself and his wife.  I told him that I don't carry cash (which is not a lie at all) and he went on his way.  My "kill you with a look" stare may have had something to do with his leaving.

Skip ahead to when I was driving out of the parking lot and I see the same guy talking to a woman.  A woman who was obviously telling him no.  I noticed that he kept talking and the woman was nervously putting her groceries away.

I stopped the car, rolled down my window and said

"Hey, Aunt Donna!  Are you and Uncle Ted still coming to dinner tomorrow night?"

They both looked at me and the woman said, "Wouldn't miss it"

The man then turned and started walking away and the lady mouthed a thank you to me.  I don't think the guy would have done her any harm, but she was getting harassed and I hate to see that.  Also if my actualy Aunt Donna and Uncle Ted read this blog, you guys are hereby invited to dinner, any night any time.


One more quick story and then you can get to your own business.  A couple of weeks ago, I ordered 2 shirts from my favorite t-shirt site, Riptapparel.com.  Their claim to fame is that they offer 1 shirt a day, that's it, you get that 1 chance to buy the shirt.  No more, no less.  Most sizes are $10.

The package arrived and it had my name and address on the outside, but not my shirts (I ordered 1 for me and 1 for my wife).  The package had someone else's shirt and their and and address on the packing list.  The web site gave me a full refund on my shirts and shipping, but couldn't reprint the shirts, that's simply not what they do.  I emailed the guy whose shirt I got, and he was more than happy to swap because he had gotten mine!  A quick trip to the post office and bingo our shirts arrive another week later!

Thanks to that guy for being so nice and not keeping 2 shirts in place of his 1 (Ript also gave him a refund)

Hunger Games/Star Wars

We have had 1 entry in the "closing line" contest so far, submitted by a loved one (who doesn't need to win the contest to come over for dinner anytime {hint, hint})  You are all welcome to participate and you can enter as many times as you want!

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well" - Virginia Woolfe

A real DAD kinda day

I had a rough day at work today, so I wanted to do something fun tonight.  I chose to grill a few burgers for dinner while I watched Logan play on one of his many toys that exist in our back yard.

Just some pre-made patties, I added a little Tropical seasoning for a kick but otherwise let the burger speak for itself. 

Prep and Cleanup - 

No time and No dishes except a spatula and cups (thank you Lord for paper plates and plastic knives.)

Logan sweeping

 The first activity that Logan wanted to do was jump on his trampoline, normally his mom would get in with him and sweep up the tree leavings that fell in it overnight.  I am not comfortable in the trampoline since I am such a big guy, I don't want to break it, no worries though because my little man knew just what to do!

Sandbox

 It didn't take long for him to decide to switch up activities.  The trampoline and the sandbox are by far his favorite outside toys.  They replaced the slide and swing you see in the background of this picture.

Logan's Liking - 3

 Logan's burger was just that a hamburger, no cheese and only a light smathering of Mayo.  He has only had a burger once before (at TGI Friday's) which is very strange because they are by far my favorite food.  He ate a little bit of the burger, again, he eats right before I pick him up, so he is never very hungry when dinner times comes.

My wife made him a snack before she left this morning, and put it the fridge, they are his favorite, Spinach Nuggets!   They are healthy and he loves them so he had a few of those on his snack attack rather than fig newtons.

Robin's Rating - 4Dad's Liking - 4

Like I said, I had a rough day at work, and don't worry I only had one, and didn't let it affect my parenting or cooking (unlike the Crock Pot Debacle)

My Dog Captain

 Today was another fairly uneventful day, the dog joined us outside and we had a blast fetch the log with him (I was forced to play too).

I am working a few more stories to tell you and  I will begin posting them next week, I want to give myself a little time to prepare them properly.

A good buddy of mine offered to give me a recipe for use with my lid-less Crock Pot and my wife pointed out that one of our pan lids fits it good enough to use!


Last thing, I want to run a contest, the prize is nothing big.  I am looking for a clever closing line to my blog. I was thinking a play on words with something to do with cooking.  Anyone who comes up with one that I like, not only will I use it, but I will invite you and 2 of your friends to eat dinner with us (on me of course) and if your age appropriate we can have a drink as well!  (Hey, I'm fun to hang out with...No really...really...o.k. my wife and son are)

Good Luck, and Until Next Time!

Crock Pot debacle

Tonight, I am not going to talk about our dinner as much as I usually do, I have something special to share with you!

I made another easy dinner, this one is by the far the easiest I have done but also possibly the tastiest!

If you have not tried on of these Homestyle Bakes from Banquet, then you are doing yourself and your family a dis-service.  They are inexpensive, easy to make and VERY good.  This Creamy Chicken and Biscuits is my favorite, but I also like the Chicken and Potatoes!

Pour out the can, mix the biscuit package with water, spoon on top and place in the oven for half an hour, done and done!

Finished Meal

 Logan drank 2 cups of juice tonight, and a cup of kool-aid (watered down so it wasn't too sugary)

 He ate a rather large piece of watermelon and a couple fig newtons, making his appetite go down even more.  He had also eaten at daycare before I picked him up, so again I am not bothered by his not eating the dinner much, he is getting the nutrition that he needs and still managed to eat some of what I made.

 Robin and I the entire rest of this dish, she missed lunch today and I had an early and small lunch, we loved it!

Dad's Decision - 4
Reheated Rating - 4
Logan's Liking - 3
Prep Time and Clean-Up - 5 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking and Super Easy Clean-Up

 Alright, I said I had something special to share with you and I do!  You may be wondering why there is a picture of a crock pot here, when I obviously didn't use it on the meal.

This is a crock pot without a lid and it was given to us by a friend who took pity on me.  I know, what the hell am I talking about, right?  You see when my wife and I got married, we registered for a crock pot and received three!

Our friends and family are all great and we had so many great things, but who needs three crock pots?  The wife returned one, and we discussed giving one to her mom.  A few months go by and we had an unused crock pot, I thought it was tucked away in our kitchen somewhere and I stumbled upon a new one still in the box sitting in our garage.

A friend of mine was having a drink with me when we noticed this and I gave it to him.  Remember I said I was drinking!  I had forgotten that we gave one to my mother in law, I honestly thought this was an extra one, and that I was being an awesome friend by giving him this appliance.

Skip ahead a few days and the wife asks about the crock pot.

"It's where ever you put it honey." I say, honestly thinking that I am helping, to which she replies
"No, it's not in the garage, did you move it?"
"Why would I do that, oh..."  Sweat starts to bead up on my forehead already.
"What?"  She asks, already having a good idea as to what happened.
"Honey, I am really sorry, but I gave away the one in the garage, I thought it was the extra one!"
"No, you dolt!  We gave it to my mom and that one was ours!"

Well, at this point I feel pretty dumb, and I am not about to ask for it back so we have no crock pot.  Another friend of ours gets wind of my monumental stupidity and brings to us the pot you see in the picture.

When she brought it, it did have a lid.  In another dazzling display of drunken acrobatics, I dropped it shattering the lid into more pieces than Lindsay Lohan's career.

So thanks to me and my dumbness (possibly the rum) we have a crock pot with no lid, after getting rid of three brand new other pots. I learned my lesson though, I don't give anything away without first getting a signed, notarized and mailed confirmation from my wife that it is, in fact, okay to do so.






One more thing, the picture below is of my dad.  If there is anything good in me and the way I try to raise my boy, it is because of him and all the love and support he has always shown to me.  Today is his birthday and I want to make sure he knows that we all love him very much and wish we could visit him (he lives 11 hours away).  Logan says "Happy day day papaw!"  (His way of saying Happy Birthday)

My dad!

Until next time!

"Goulash" or "She was so good she never missed a stitch"

Welcome back!

Today's dinner was another quick and easy one, but I did try to make something I knew my son would enjoy more.

Today I made Goulash!  My mom used to make a version of this, and I DID NOT get her recipe down.  Lesson learned, next time call mom.  Actually, I should call my mom more often anyway.

Great now I am going to write this post while thinking about calling my mom.  Let's get to it then so I can catch her before her bed time.

Ingredients and Instructions - 

I started with 1lb of ground beef, browned.  I cooked the pasta from a box of Mac and Cheese and then added the two together in a skillet.  Next I added a can of Tomato Sauce, a can of water, 3/4 of a can of corn and then seasoned to taste.  Add shredded cheese on top and heat a can of veggies on the side.  Easy, very easy!

You would think that since this dinner doesn't take long and is super easy to make that I could get it done before Logan starting having, what I now refer to as his "Snack Attack"

Well, you would be wrong, he had to have 2 Cereal Bars (Actually Fig Newtons, he just doesn't know I'm cheating him) and wanted a popsicle, to which I met him in the middle and offered the Jello you see below.

 Now, because I am smart, I took off his clothes to let hi meat the Jello.  For those of you without kids, remember this trick.  My wife does the laundry, but no sense in making it extra hard and believe me, this kid can make one hell of a mess.

Now on to the scores!

Logan's Liking - 3 

As you can see, he ate more of this dinner than the previous nights, he especially liked the noodles.  I am thinking that since he leaves daycare later than he used to, they eat a small dinner around 4, so when I get him at 5:30 he is not as hungry as he would normally have been.

 Prep Time and Clean Up - 5 Minutes - Super Easy!

The dishes tonight were nothing I couldn't handle in a matter of minutes, I am getting good at cleaning things as I go and this is only day 2!

Reheated Rating - 3.5

Robin did not reheat it, it was still mostly warm when she got home, and she did enjoy it enough to give it this in between rating (which she wouldn't change even though I mentioned that the rating system didn't have decimal points, guess it does now)

Dad's Decision - 3.5 (Can't beat 'em, join 'em)

I enjoyed this dinner, but it was missing a little something, some sort of spice I think, I will have to experiment with this one and try a few different things, let me know some ideas!

While Logan and I ate dinner we watched some NickJr (which is his favorite channel, damn you Dora, damn you!)  I pretty much knew this already, but I do not like Wow Wow Wubbzy.  If I was high, maybe, but since I am not this show is terrible!  No educational value, it's not funny or clever.  The only thing it has going for it is that it is colorful which makes Logan watch it, but I would rather put Dora on from the DVR instead of let him watch this.

Tomorrow, I am going to get Logan outside on the trampoline and sand box while I cook on the grill, that should make for a much more interesting meal and blog.  Weather permitting we may even eat outside!)

Before we go, I want to explain the title.  I always liked plays with 2 titles and (music starts) "When I was a Young Warthog!!..  Eh Hem, excuse me.  When I was in intermediate school I was in a play where I played to villain who was out to get the pretty seamstress to marry him in any nefarious way that he could.

I don't remember the first title of that but the second was "She Was So Good, She Never Missed A Stitch." Somehow this has stuck with me for over 20 years and if I ever find pictures or video from it, I will probably post it.  Not much can embarrass me anymore.

Hey that's another reason to call my mom, she may have those pictures!  See you next time faithful readers!

Slow Beginnings

Well you have to start somewhere right?

My first Dinner By Dad technically went off well, but I am not pleased.
The reason for that is two fold.

1.) Logan did not eat anything but a few pieces of chicken and 1 piece of broccoli.
2.) Nothing overly interesting happened which will make for a rather dull blog post.

Never fear though, fearless reader (see what I did there) I will still try to make this as interesting and painless as possible.

First thing is first, what did I cook?

Finished Meal On Stove
(Lemon Pepper Chicken, Rice, Stir Fry Veggies)

Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz as you can plainly see.

Sorry Dr. Suess attack, it is Lemon Pepper Chicken, White Rice and Stir Fry.

Now before you go thinking that I pulled out all the stops you should know that except the rice, everything here was from a bag.  It had all been frozen in the freezer before I thawed it, and cooked it.

Don't let that fool you though, i still made this meal my bitch.

I have never before today made rice that was not "minute" or "easy" rice and even though i didn't make very much of it (didn't want to ruin it all) it turned out great!  Every grain was fully cooked and had soaked up the water exactly the way you expect rice to behave.

The Chicken was also very good, although I added nothing to it, it was in the package just like I cooked it.

The Stir Fry, here's where i really spiced things up.  I added a dollup of honey and some light soy sauce while cooking it, and let me tell you , it was superb!

O.K., the final score on this meal is as follows.

Logan's Plate before presenting it

Logan's Liking = 2

Logan's Plate after dinner

The little stink bucket has no idea what he was missing, he only ate  ate a few pieces of chicken and 1 piece of broccoli.  He also asked for Ketchup to dip the chicken in.  Lesson learned.

Prep Time and Clean-up = 20 Minutes and easy

During Cook Time

 The chicken required nothing but some foil and the oven to be on, the stir fry was easily and quickly completed on the stove and the rice took the longest but was still super easy.  I see this being one of the easier meals for me to make, stopped only by Logan's apparent lack of interest.

Finished Meal on Stove

 The dishes that you see here, represent not only the nights cooking dishes but the previous evening worth of cups and randomness that always occurs, so clean up was easier than a fat kid choosing cake over green beans.

Clean Dishes

Reheated Rating = ?

Normally I would say how it was when Robin ate it later, but she got home from her first day as i was cooking and got to eat with us, she did enjoy it and would have given it a 4!

Dad's Decision = 4

I would eat this again, and I will probably try to get Logan to try it again, because I know he has eaten all of these things and enjoyed them, it was probably because he ate a daycare today and wasn't very hungry.

Here, Logan is watching Oomy Zoomy waiting patiently for dinner, he somehow got one sandal off but not the other.

One Shoe On

Now, if your still with me, than I applaud you and I promise that this will not be as boring as this post was.  Give me a week or so to find my groove and the posts will get better and better as well as the dinner.  I do not intend for this to be just a place to talk about the meal, I want to use this as a forum for you to get to know me and my family through my eyes.  

Please leave your comments on my meal, my blog, my cooking, anything you want.  I also welcome recipes and suggestions for meals!

Until next time...

Welcome to my new Blog!

I make no promises to how often I will get to update this blog, but I will certainly strive for weekdays, or a minimum of once a week.

Now on to what the blog is about!

My wife just started a new job, and because of that job she will get home later in the evening than usual.  She (up to this point) has done most of the dinner cooking because she is home earlier and picks up our son around 4 in the afternoon.

Now that she has this new job, she won't get home until after 6 meaning that when I get off work at 5, i will have to pick our son from daycare and fix dinner for him.

I don't mind this of course, I relish the chance to spend the time with my son, however, I am not a cook.  Now even a little.  I enjoy cooking, and I have fun doing it even but I am not very skilled or knowledgeable in this art.

So, without further ado, I give you this blog!

Here is how it is going to go, I am going to start each blog with a picture of my nights cooking in the making and a list of ingredients and cooking instructions.

I will then take a picture of the plate of food that I set out for my son to eat and when we both finish dinner I will take another picture of his plate, this time to show how much he liked it or not.

I will then rate the meal in the following categories.

1.) Logan's Liking (1 - 5) 1 means he didn't eat anything and asked for something else
2 means that he ate a few bites and wanted something else
3 means he ate part of it but didn't complain
4 means he ate it all and seemed to enjoy it
5 means he asked for more after finishing his plate


2.) Prep time and Clean Up
A simple measurement of time and how bad the dishes are to wash afterwards


3.) Dad's Decision (1 - 5)
Just a 1 - 5 scale on how much I enjoyed the meal.


4.) Reheated Rating (1 - 5)
A 1 - 5 scale on how much Robin enjoyed it once she finally got . home (provided there was enough left) 








So there you have it.  It may sound boring, but as always I will try to put my spin and fun into everything, not to mention that my son (who is 2) is hilarious and I will be sure to tell all the stories of his escapades during our evenings together.