What a day

Work was actually fine. It was the after work events that made this day a bummer. I got home and turned on the power strip for the computer peripherals. And my wireless router did not turn on. A trip to Best Buy, and the Geek Squad tech told me that the power converter was alright but that the router itself was dead. Not a good sign. So I bought a reasonably priced replacement router. The bad part: Geek Squad installation would have doubled the price that I was paying for the new wireless router. The best part: I did the job on my own, and it was very easy to do the work. So gone is the Demon Duck wireless network. Born is the Demon Duck 2 wireless network. And with only one computer on it, I do not have to worry about setting up network sharing (unless I go ahead and get that secondary computer so that I can check up on work-related items).

I also got some more work done on cleaning up the place for company this weekend. I still have some more to get done, and there is also my Jello salad to make. My sister-in-law is making that special request, so I will promote family harmony and make it. Just as long as it is not the day that my family will make the usual trek to Monical's for dinner. There are just some places that my family has to go to, and the contingent from Wisconsin do not have Monical's up there, so they have to have the pizza and stock up on the house sauces.

Favorite Recipes (part 2)

OK, here is the second of my favorite recipes. This one came from my sister (Hi, Deb!).

Ham Hash

Ingredients:

-half a teaspoon of Garlic

-half a package of Southern Style Hash Browns (defrosted)

-half a cup of Diced Ham

-half of a green pepper, diced

-half of a onion, diced

-half tablespoon of butter

-half tablespoon of oil (olive oil is best)

Start with heating up the butter and oil in a skillet. When the butter is melted, add the green pepper and onion. Cook them on medium high for around 5 minutes to soften the pepper and brown the onion. Add the ham and heat it until it begins to crisp. Then add the garlic and heat for around 1 minute. Add the potatoes, and cook until the potatoes are hated thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I estimate this will make around 4 servings, although I usually get two dinners from each batch.

One more recipe which I recently discovered. This came from a package of Don Marcos flour tortilla shells. They called it Mexican Morning, but I refer it to:

Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:

one half cup of skim milk

dash of pepper

one 4oz. can of mushroom pieces and stems, drained

one cup of shredded cheese

one 16 oz. container of egg substitute

one tablespoon of margarine (low fat preferred)

package of tortilla shells of your choice

salsa

Combine milk, egg substitute, and pepper in a bowl and whisk until well blended. Melt the margarine in a skillet and add mushrooms. Heat for one to two minutes over medium heat. Stir in the egg mixture and heat. When egg mixture is nearly set, add cheese. After heated, remove from heat and spoon into heated tortilla shells. Top with a little bit of salsa and serve.

I also like to add either ham or green pepper to the mix, adding them with the mushroom pieces. I will heat that part for about a minute longer before adding the egg mixture.

Thanksgiving

Once again, it's been ages since I've posted here, so it's time for another update.

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  I like the holiday, but it's been hit and miss over the last couple of years.  For a couple of years I was going to Thomasboro Peace Lutheran Church for Thanksgiving dinner with the pastor there and with my family members in the area (my parents, and my brother and his wife).  Last year I spent Thanksgiving alone with a turkey dinner for one.  This year I went to my parents' house for dinner.  They had ordered a dinner from County Market, and it was very good.  Turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, cranberry orange relish, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie.  I brought with me what is becoming my signature dish, a strawberry jello salad.  I'll put the recipe up on a future blog post.

We had dinner together, with a trip for seconds, and then watched a Shirley Temple movie on Turner Movie Classics.  Afterwords, my mother went to play solitaire on her Nook, while dad went to do some early Christmas shopping on his computer.  I was content to watch a couple of episodes of a downloaded shows on my computer (before the battery went dead).  Just as I was leaving tonight, my brother arrived from their visit to my sister-in-law's parents.  I gave them the rest of the jello salad (she loves it).

Finally, to top the evening, I went over to the local Wal-Mart and participated in my first Black Friday event.  I saw that they had an office chair on sale for $39 (well, technically the sale was on Thursday, but you get the idea).  It's likely the only time I'll be a part of a Black Friday event, unless I hear of a super deal in the future.  All of the other offers for this year do not interest me one bit.

Well, time for me to get back to reality.  I need to check on my Wizard 101 game.  Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Wisconsin road trip...

OK, welcome back. I said I was going to be doing more posts here, and I aims to please.

I took a trip to Wisconsin this weekend. My youngest brother is getting married later this year in Las Vegas, but due to budget constraints I will not be attending the wedding. However, he and his fiancee were both having a get-together for family and friends, so I and brother #2 and his family (he is the one who adopted a son back in 2009) made the trip up to visit them (and brother #1) in northern Wisconsin. My parents did not make the trip due to my father's recent illness (recovering from a staph infection). So, in my father's borrowed van, we made the trip up north. My only issue with the trip came up when I realized that my laptop's battery was not going to last the whole trip. We did stop at a town just south of Rockford for food and gas, which allowed me to buy a DC to AC power converter. They had other issues, but I did not want to get involved (and I do not air their issues in public, so let's keep it at that). My main form of entertainment was watching several episodes of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (this is the basis of Power Rangers Samurai that is being shown on NickTOONS).

We arrived at brother #1's home (actually it belongs to his girlfriend) around 11:30 PM, and we were all happy to get there. I got the computer room with the unfolding futon. It was not a bad place to sleep, and thankfully my nephew knows not to open doors that he should not open without permission. The one that was happiest to see us was their labradoodle, who became best friends with my nephew over the course of the weekend (brother #2 and family have a dog, so being around a dog was no bid deal for my nephew).

SATURDAY:
Brother #1's girlfriend had to put in some time at her job early in the morning, but she still had time to make a breakfast casserole. I got up a bit late, but due to sleep issues, I felt it was not long enough. Anyways, while #1's girlfriend, #2's wife, and #3's fiancee went for a ladies' day with some of friends of the fiancee, the brothers and myself watched a bit of TV, watched nephew play with the dog, and we also talked to our father over the phone for a half-hour (using my cell phone). Lazy day of seeing NCAA basketball and hanging out.

Then the ladies came back and we did some more light talk, and brother #2 and wife gave the new couple a shower gift (tool set).

Then came the guy's night out. We planned on going to an early show at a bar/comedy club in town, but the plans shifted to the late show (one of #3's friends was coming from out of town and could not make it for the early show). So we ventured out to a bar in the same strip of stores as the club (cheaper food), where we met a pair of #3's friends (including the late arrival). We got food and drink (mine was not alcoholic as I planned on being a designated driver). After eating and watching a bit of the Wisconsin game on TV, we walked to the comedy club.

***My only complaint about that club is that they really need to work on how they handle lines going into the club. Back to my story.***

The MC for the night was a rather young comedian. Not bad, but he is a work in progress. Averell Carter was the next act, and he was very good. His best bit was a shot at a couple of people he encountered in a line complaining about poor service with a line "This is so gay". His retort was that they really needed to find a better complaint line (offensive words were at one time really offensive, now they are really lame). He told it better; I recommend you go see his act.

The headliner was Michael Mack. Now his act was funny. And his work with the women in the audience was great. One person that he worked into his act was an older woman who had her family with her in the club, and they sat to his left at the foot of the stage.

***Another note: the seats that the six of us (four brothers and two friends of youngest) were very nice. Great view of the stage, but not right next to the stage so that the comedians would not be using us in the act).***

My favorite part of his act was his ending, including his props to simulate various famous rock acts. The Queen bit from Bohemian Rhapsody where that band did the 'figaro' bit had me laughing hysterically. Loved it!

After the end of the act, we all went back to the first bar. We found out that Wisconsin had won (boo). Brother #2 and I split off from the rest, and after borrowing #1's gf's van, we went back to the house to get some sleep.

SUNDAY

Late night became late morning. We did find out that brothers #1 and #3 made it back to their respective homes safely (#1 was locked out of the house for a bit because I had the keys). The group met at a local restaurant for brunch, followed by a trip to a local outlet shop for a look at the selection (its almost a tradition). After that it was trip preparations and #2 and I traveled back home. This time I listened to my NPR podcasts, and watched part of a documentary on the Crusades (my nephew liked seeing the men riding on their horses...ok, he liked the horses). The odd thing about the trip back was the weather. Up in norther Wisconsin it was only in the upper 30s to lower 40s. Back in central IL it was in the 60s when we stopped for dinner. I had to ditch some layers of clothes during the trip.

Long trip, but fun nevertheless. I'll have to think about my next trip up that way in the summer for the post-wedding reception. I may just drive myself. I liked watching my shows on the computer, but I think I may prefer to listen to XM for the trip. I also liked the drive with my nephew, but...I'll stop here. Have a good day.