Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

1. I REALLY miss our doggy door. If I have to get up one more time for a dog barking at the back door! UGH.

2. I miss my old Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker. Let me tell you MR COFFEE… Your new coffee makers suck. Why did you change everything!?! Why the hell are there springs? I had my old coffee maker for the last ten years, and there were no leaks. My coffee pot was a sad loss in the move. The glass shattered. I’m so sorry old friend. The 2010 Mr. Coffee sucks and I might shatter his glass myself.

3. I love that my deep fryer made it back to the counter top! YES! I have missed you too old friend.

4. I feel like we are on dial-up internet again. Its really slow and MUST change in the new place.

5. I really love to work, but I also really like not having to work right now. I get to do things like play 18 holes of golf on a Wednesday.

6. I hate our bathroom. Have you ever done something the exact same way your entire life, and then that something unexpectedly changes without notice? The sink spout is so short I can’t properly bend over and fit my mouth under it to get water after brushing my teeth! Now I have to do the “one handed gulp” method, and I can never get the correct amount of water. And I don’t even want to tell what happened when I tried the “two handed gulp” method, I almost drowned.

7. I like being close to my sister again. Its been so nice having her just stop by for lunch or dinner.

8. I love that it is sunny almost everyday right now. I need to get my tan back. I look like a snow bird. Actually right now I have a golfers tan. Haha whatever..

9. I love looking for houses with Katie. Usually we start looking at houses we can afford and then wander into the really nice neighborhoods. We just drive through and talk about the million dollar homes. What we like and what we would do differently to them, you know, if we ever had a million dollars to buy one…

10. I can’t wait to get my season pass to Universal and Islands of Adventure. CANT WAIT.

11. Its awesome to be back in Gator Country. Football season is going to be so much fun this year.

12. I can’t wait to see the final Space Shuttle launches this year. Did you know that they are retiring the shuttles? So sad but the next phase of the space program is exciting!… If only they had the money

13. LOVE LOVE LOVE hanging with Bean Man everyday. I know it won’t last, but its so much fun right now. I can’t wait for the little man to grow to 42″ so we can ride roller coasters together at Universal.

14. I miss my Man Cave. I miss my pool table. I miss my Ping Pong and World Domination with great friends.

15. I know that the tough times will not last forever. I know that we came here for a reason. I know that old friends will always be there, and I know that new friends are out there too. I know that even though Florida doesn’t feel like home yet, it will. I know that Kate will find a job because she’s brilliant. I know that I as long as we communicate to each other, everything will be fine.

All day on Saturday I got to play with one of the coolest toys I have ever experienced, all 265 horsepower of it.  I want to take this time to welcome and introduce the PORSCHE CAYMAN to The Man Cave, just know that you can come back anytime! Really.  Anytime.

Words can’t even describe the experience.  You know in your car (and my car for that matter) when you pull out in front of someone and you step on the pedal but it only has so much juice.  Well in this car, you could push that pedal all the way to the floor and it would say “REALLY, THAT’S IT, we can go MUCH faster than this!  COME ON!  And you know in your car when you need to slow down a little around corners…  not in this baby.  Third gear was the by far the best.  I was going 50 on the interstate in second gear, dropped it into third and stepped on it,in about 2 secs we were going 80.

WOW just thinking about it again gives me chills.  It was so much fun!!!!!!!!   Thanks Uncle Tim for buying that car.  And even more thanks for letting me drive it!  I don’t want to say it, but I looked GOOD driving this thing.

WHEW!         

I WANT ONE.

AWESOME.

One of my favorite times of the year is the fall. The air starts to cool off, the leaves start changing colors, and college football is in full swing. This also means my chili season is in full swing. Of course we can make chili anytime of the year, but there is nothing like chili in the fall. So today, in honor of us not having cool breezes and changing leaves when we make chili next year, and this years chili season coming to a close, I figured I would show how I make my chili.

I like to call it, well chili I guess.

(**Disclaimer… I’m not a professional chef. I don’t care what you think about my ingredients or the way I cook them. If you don’t like it, well then you don’t get a bowl… Please get out of my living room… You can watch the game in the basement.)

The ingredients.

2lb lean ground beef  -  2 yellow onions  -  2 green peppers  -  1 red pepper  -  2 jalapeno peppers (not shown but there in there)  -  3 cans diced tomatoes (I use zesty chili style and basil, oregano, and onion style)  -  3 cans kidney beans (1 white, 1 light red, 1 dark red because its essential to have LOTS of color)  -  1 6oz can of Tomato Paste  -  1 hot chili seasoning packet  -  1 box of original Saltines crackers

The guy that makes the magic happen.

Oh Mr. Crock, I Love You..  You are magical.

Alright, the play-by-play.  Stay with me here.

Onions First.  Dice those babies up and get them in that pan!  Salt, Pepper, a touch of olive oil, and your good.

Once the onions are ALMOST soft, take them out and dump them into the crock pot.  Then brown the meat in that same pan.  Season with some salt, pepper, Lawry’s, and some garlic.

Once the meat is good and brown, into the Crock-pot it goes.

Now things get really exciting.  Dice up those peppers baby!

Now don’t get too crazy here, this is very important so listen up.  Only put 1 red, and 1 green pepper in right now.  I will tell you why later.

Next get those diced tomatoes in there.

After that, Beans, Beans, and more Beans.  But not The Bean he won’t fit, and you can’t buy him, and that would be weird.

Also, drain these suckers.  I don’t know why, but I don’t like the bean juice.  It’s slimy and you don’t need it.

Next plop that tomato paste right on top, followed by the chili seasoning.

Next, its the jalapenos.  Now this is the only thing I am a little flexible on.  I almost always add one because it gives a nice heat, but the second one can absolutely be throw into the mix for big game days.

Now, mix all of that goodness up and let that Crock-pot do its thang.

I usually try to get at least 4 hours in the pot.  Sometimes more, sometime less.  Remember that now lonely green pepper?  You need to add that diced pepper when you have around an 1.5 left.  The other peppers are good and soggy by then and I like my peppers to still have a little crunch when its all said and done.  So adding these late in the game is essential.

Mmmm…  Now I’m hungry.  Kate and I can kill an entire Crock-pot full of chili, so its hard to say how many people this will feed.  So you can either have some amazing left overs if there are 2-4 people eating.  Or feed 8 or so at a game day party.  You might even need to do a second pot, because people are going to want seconds.  Eat up!