A Glimpse of the Future

My good buddy Dan came over today bearing gifts. First, a 'new' snowblower. I realize we haven't had any snow yet, but the old snowblower was in rough shape, no traction, questionable gear box... It was time.

In addition to the snow blower, he pulled three very large trash bags out of his truck and brought them into the house. Toys toys and more toys. Toys his 2 1/2 year old son Ben either grew out of or just doesn't use anymore. He suggested I go through them and throw things away that I didn't want. So I emptied the bags in the family room.... all of the sudden I had a vision of what a 2 year old could do to our house with access to all these toys. Take a look:
I really appreciate Dan bringing these over. Now we just need to find a place to store them for a year. This is just one more thing that makes having a child seem a little more real.

My Beautiful Wife at 19 weeks with our Son

Photo by Dave

Boy what a day!

Today was a big day for me (my wife too, but this is my blog). Today my wife and I went to the 'big ultrasound', accompanied by my Mom. This was was the appointment we were suppose to find out if the child we are expecting was a boy or a girl. Turns out, its a boy. A BOY! WOOHOO!! Obviously, I would be just as happy if it was a girl. Healthy is all I really cared about, but its not a girl. Its a boy. A BOY! How exciting.

Being a new Dad is scary. I'm sure it scares everyone. Dad. How weird is that? Most of the time time I still feel like a kid, so it is tough for me to imagine raising one. At least we know the newest member of the family will always have a playmate.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Just a simple picture of me and the Snowman, I mean my Dad... sitting by a lake. I try to imagine what it is like to be a parent, and I realize there are not so glamours parts, diapers, them getting hurt/sick, crying ect. Its moments like this picture that I look forward to most with my son. Being with him as he grows and learns the world around him. Being there when he throws pebbles into a lake, making sure he doesn't tumble down the boat ramp. Moments like this make me very excited for fatherhood!

Avoid this Snowman

Don't let the smile fool you. Or even the happy little hat he is wearing. This is one angry Snowman.

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Tonight I was going through boxes and boxes of old pictures, and I struck picture gold. "GOLD JERRY!" (for you sis). I knew this picture existed, but didn't know where. There have been two times in my 31 years that I have seen this man's middle finger isolated in this manner, and the second time it was done for the camera. Ever since this picture was taken, I haven't been able to look at it with a straight face. Copies are available upon request.

It doesn't get any better than Delivery!

Some of the best things in this world are delivered. Good news. Babies. First pitches. Punch lines. And the best of all, Food. Today, for the first time in 4 1/2 years of living in our quaint little house, we had food delivered. Not just any food, but a ginormous pizza from Pizza Quest in Pinardville. For $12.95 + tip we were delivered a pizza the likes I don't think I've ever seen before. Just look at the size of that baby. Although its size was breathtaking, it will also feed us for 2+ more days and it was pretty good tasting. Good times. For a little less interesting take on the plus-sized-pizza, click HERE.

Winter Wonderland

Winters in NH can be a beautiful thing. Today we had an ice storm. Nothing too epic, just enough to coat the cars in a good layer of ice, and make the driving a little harrowing.

Nothing was spared from the ice. Even the individual blades of grass were coated. This was a good storm. Not much clean up, wife got to and from work safely, and it made things shiny. And it finally made it feel like winter. I'm ready for about 6" on snow. No more though, just enough to cover the ground.

One last meal... not as good

I made a mistake. I was 'inspired' by a web post to make a chicken and stuffing casserole. It was to involve 4 basic ingredients... chicken... stuffing... cheese... and cream of something. Sounds like heaven if you ask me. So while I was in the grocery I picked up a box of stuffing, Stove Top, and saw a recipe on the back. It sounded easy, and may be something a little more appealing to my better half. The first picture is the recipe.

The recipe.

1. The ingredients. Not shown: Cream of Chicken soup and light Sour Cream.

2. They want a 1/2 cup of stuffing on the bottom of a 9"X13" pan?? What the heck good is that going to do.

3. So here I placed the chicken on the bottom, and then spread the sour cream/soup/veggies mix on top.

4. Here is when we start to have a problem. Where's the stuffing? All I see is corn and peas. Shouldn't they be covered in thick slab of yummy stuffing? Turns out there just wasn't enough stuffing to make a decent layer across a large dish like this.

6. It looks good, smells ok, but the lack of stuffing coverage is disturbing.

7. Overall this dish was ok, and Erika seemed to enjoy it. However, if you are looking for a stuffing fix, I would seek it elsewhere.

That wrap's up my day of cooking /kitchen cleaning. I have one more dish up my sleeve, but I don't really have instructions on how to make it... just my memory. Scary.

Saturday's Exciting Lunch

I don't cook. I wish I did. I just don't. I do make a mean stuffing though... that Erika doesn't like (more for me). Occasionally I get inspired by something I see something on TV or read on the internet and give cooking a shot.

On today's menu was a Chicken and Brocolli Ranch pizza.

Ingredients:

• Chicken ( about 1 cup cooked chicken. It was one good sized breast)
• Brocolli ( about 1 1/2 cups)
• Fat Free Ranch
• Whole Wheat Boboli pizza crust
• a little pepper and a little oregano
• Lots o' mozzeralla cheese. Low fat or fat free if you are a good doobie.

Step1: Cut up the chicken into pretty small pizza sized bits. Prepare to steam your brocolli. I used some EVOO to cook the chicken with.



Step 2: While the chicken and brocolli cooks (brocolli will cook very fast), heat the oven, grab the boboli and spread a layer of ranch out. Put a shmidge of pepper and oregeno just for an additional flavor.



Step 3: Pile on the brocolli and the chicken. Spread evenly. Yum!




Step 4: CHEESE!! Don't be shy.



Step 5: Cook for 11 min or so, and then accept all the praise that comes with making something this beautiful. It was pretty good to eat too.

It took 50 min from beginning to end to make it. It wasn't a very zippy meal to make. I think the cutting up of the chicken slowed me down. I'll make better time next go around.

Dixie between sets

She's big into fitness.

16 Weeks and Homeless

Don't chya ....