Baby It's Cold Everywhere!

19 degrees outside, 64 degrees inside. Can't turn the heat on because the heat pump is snowed under and I don't want it to burn out. Wouldn't do much good anyway, what kind of heat can a heat pump get out of 19 degree weather? Can't make a fire in the stove because we're out of wood in the holding bin outside and I haven't shoveled a walkway to the wood pile yet. Did I mention it was 19 degrees out there?

So, what's a guy to do?

Make bacon and eat apple cake of course! Oh, and a steaming mug of hot Tang helps too. Good, good times. And when Wifey adds a couple fried eggs to the mix the world is a very good place.

What's apple cake you ask? Even if you didn't, I'ma tell you anyway. It's cake people! That you can, and should, be encouraged to eat for breakfast! In all its apple-cinnamony-sugary goodness!

Witness-

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It usually comes out a bit more firm than these pics let on, but who cares, a crumbly pile of apple cake is way better than anything else you can eat in the morning! And, if you're so inclined (read - this is for P if she wants to try it out):

Apple Cake - courtesy of my mom-

• Cut 4 apples into small chunks. Mix with 2 tbsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar. Set aside.
• Mix the following together until nice and thick - make sure there are no clumps of flour left, they don't taste good if you don't mix them in well:
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Fold apples into the batter (it will be thick).
• Pour into a greased circle tube pan - don't use the fancy bundt pan, the cake will stick too much.
• Bake 75 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Enjoy your cakey goodness.
  

Oh, and for a brief public service announcement - Oscar Mayer bacon is the guvment cheese of the bacon world. This stuff is horrible. Almost no meat on this at all. What's that you ask? Of course I'm going to eat it, what kind of dumb question was that? Oh, you didn't ask that? Good, 'cause that would have been a really dumb question.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Wow! Now that was a storm! Being a NY transplant to a state much further south, I've been wishing for this for years. We got a good one back in December and, except for the delayed visit from my beautiful K, we were so thankful for the winter wonderland we were able to go out and enjoy. Kids need to be able to go out and play in this type of weather. Some of the only childhood memories I haven't repressed are from great times outside in huge snowstorms back home. :)

With the storm finally over we bundled up the three amigos and took a short walk (in distance only, short legs in deep snow makes for a lengthy stroll) around the neighborhood to see what Mother Nature had done to our community. With pictures rolling in to Facebook from friends all over we had to bring our camera with us to document the event. The little legs of two members of our party were very tired by the time we got back home, and the legs of the two biggest ones were pretty sore as well from having to bushwhack our way through the 2+ feet of untouched snow coming back to our house. I carried Red through, put her down on the other side and went back for Pudge so Wifey could concentrate on not slipping and breaking an ankle. By the time we got home I was ready to crawl into a hot tub... wish we had one of those.

Enjoy the pics-

- Pudge, ready for battle.

- The snowbank on our back patio is taller than JAM. Pudge doesn't even stand a chance.

- Mondo icicles hanging from our roof. And yes, our Christmas lights are still up. Don't judge me.

- Snow up to Wifey's thighs.

- It's about to swallow Red!

- Pudge to the rescue.

- My angel making an angel.

- My van's in there... somewhere.

I love snowy trees. My favorite photo of all time is Ansel Adams' Oak Tree, Snow Storm. I know. poofta.

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- Our driveway, absolutely untouched. I don't think I'll be at work on Monday.

- Do we finally throw in the towel when we see the monster tow truck stuck in the snow?

Um... would someone tell these people to get the hell out of the road?

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- Resting in a snow bank on the side of the road. Stay classy Greenbelt.

| - Dunno, just liked it.

- All was quiet on our abandoned roads.

We walked down to the soccer/baseball field down the street to see how it looked. The snow was way too deep to do much but we played for a minute.

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- Cars just absolutely buried.

- Quiet road at sunset.

Our new playground. Wonder why no one was around?
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Check out this zoomed pic. Don't think I've ever seen something like this - the snow stacked up on the kiddy swings. This will be fun to think about during those hot summer days playing at the playground.


- Poor Pudge, with his little legs, was not at all happy about walking back up the hill. Especially as the snow plow hadn't been by yet and we were having to walk in tire ruts.

- Untouched snow - it was really pretty out. And so quiet.

- If ever a sign was not needed, this was it.

- Looking back down the hill at the buried cars. They're not going anywhere anytime soon.

- Guess who's had enough?

- The wind was playing cool tricks with the snow in between the houses near us.

- Us. Wifey commented that we hadn't taken any pics, just us, in a long time. Well, consider that oversight rectified.

Proud

Earlier tonight was just awesome. My big guy, who we spend wayyyy too much time trying to keep on the straight and narrow, absolutely wowed us twice in one night. First, the spelling bee.

JAM brought home this monster spelling list that was something of a culminating list for 1st and 2nd quarters. 150ish words were on this thing. Some of them I don't think I'd be able to spell without writing them down (I am a man who LOVES SPELL CHECK!!!) It was a daunting list to say the least, especially for a kid who has to work as hard as he does to sit and concentrate on anything not Lego or Star Wars. But he and Wifey studied. And practiced. Hard. For many days. Practiced until words like thoroughbred and ninety nine and handkerchief came out flawlessly without fail.

Then, today was the big day. Actually, it was supposed to be yesterday but they got a one day reprieve from their teacher. For most kids I think that would be a blessing but for our little man it was just another day for the anxiety to build up. He admitted to feeling "real nervous" this morning as he thought about the upcoming event. Did he back down though? Nope. He threw his hat into that purely optional ring (yeah, he could have sat it out if he had wanted, like about half the class decided to do) and he aced that sucka. You heard me - he's one of three finalists from his class now. Got all 13 words he was asked correct. Didn't even pass on a single word. And I'm bragging. And I'm happy to do it.

The finals are tomorrow. The 3 finalists from each 4th grade class. As he said - "8 losers, 1 winner. I better be one of the winners." I didn't say he was the sharpest knife in the drawer, he just spells reel gud. Just like his old man.

So as I sat here tonight watching him absolutely engrossed in his book (with toes on both feet tapping and his left hand playing with his lips, nose, and cheeks - always moving) I was just in awe of this amazing kid. He shows his beautiful head on occasion, like when Wifey posted on FB about yesterday morning when this neverseenbefore kid got up early, all on his own with no grumbling or arguing (a small miracle unto itself), made his bed, came downstairs and made his own lunch.

Then, tonight, was proud moment of the day #2. We all loaded into the van to go see the big science fair backboard viewing thing at his school. They line up all the backboards and present the awards in the gym. It isn't anything formal, just a few hours when parents can walk through and check out all the different projects. In the middle of all the projects on rusting pennies and soda explosions and melting ice there was JAM's, sitting proud with his award taped on, and the smile on his face was priceless. He gave a little fist pump and I gave him a high five and that was it. No running around, no jumping up and down, no hysterics. Another piece of evidence that he's growing more mature every day. Of course I didn't think of taking a picture though. *smacking head* I take pictures of EVERYTHING and I miss that? I'll take one when it comes home for sure but in the moment would have been so much better.

Yup, tonight was a proud night.

Two strikes against me

Being white, and very white at that, and being from upstate New York, did nothing to encourage a love for, or even an understanding of, jazz. I am sad to say that I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, I've listed to some jazz (or what other people called jazz anyway - who am I to put a label on something I don't understand?) that I've totally gotten into. Usually the jazz I like involves horns and a sweet voice to go along with it so this video just makes me wonder. Apparently these guys are masters. The comments to this video talk about a "conversation" between the three musicians and how they never miss an opportunity to hit the right entrance or come back to a line. I'm sorry.... what?

I need to get out more I think. Maybe find a club in DC that wouldn't mind a tall goofy white guy (with obvious confusion on his face) and his lady sitting in the back trying to fit in.

Check them out - you might enjoy them at least...

Go out of your way for this one

Wifey was kind enough to let me go on a little sojourn down into the gift shop while on our date to Franklin's the other night. In an effort to do some research (it was purely research, no personal enjoyment was intended at all!) for the impending beer tasting event I picked up a couple craft and micro brews that you can't really get anywhere else. No mass-produced or local stuff here - Franklin's really does a great job getting some out of the way stuff. It's NOT cheap in there, all their beers are imported by them, not distributors, so I could only get a few to sample. Had my first taste tonight, and it was heaven.

It's my pleasure to introduce -

Red Rocket from Bear Republic Brewery in Healdsburg, California.

One word.... awesome. Probably can't afford to keep it coming but it was a good choice, well worth the money. I do take donations though, or just in case you're thinking about birthday presents.

Just wow

Other than you MUST see this, I have no words...

Like I needed this?

Driving to work today I got behind another car while they decided to clean their windshield. This kind of thing is usually annoying but no big deal right? You just turn your wipers on, squirt a little cleaner and presto - you've got a clean windshield too.

Did this work for me? Take a wild flippin' guess.

My wipers decided that my life was way too boring and they wanted to add a little excitement so instead of turning off in the normal down and stored position they would turn off by staying up on the windshield. Fantastic. Oh, and you know what made this even sweeter? I was getting on the Beltway when this happened.

I did find a site where some kind soul had a similar problem (of all the sites that I found with solutions to this problem they were ALL about GM cars for some reason) who posted pictures and video about how he fixed it himself. Doesn't seem too difficult but now I'm looking at a few hours of working outside on my car in 20 degree temps this weekend.

For some reason this isn't doing anything to lighten my recently rotten mood.

Sorry Pepe but I'm never buying another GM.