April 2006 - Posts
This weekend is the last of me being home from work (at least, as far as we planned). Grandma Denny (my mom) is coming tomorrow to help Jodi with things for the next week, and then it will be Jodi on her own with all three of the little scamps. I am a little bummed, as I have really enjoyed being home with the boys and doing little projects with Joshua. We did a little plumbing, we did some yardwork, we put together my new grill, and we built a 6'x7' sandbox for the boys (pictures later). Hopefully he and Caleb enjoyed the time as much as I did -- they certainly have seemed to.
This morning we have Joshua's second soccer 'practice' which is about 20 minutes of sorta instruction (you can't teach a ton of stuff to 3-year-olds in groups with soccer balls going everywhere), and about 20 minutes of scrimmage. It was pretty entertaining last time, I'm looking forward to some more...
After that, hopefully the weather will hold and we can let the boys play in the sandbox. If we do get nice weather, I am hoping to do a combination grilling -- ribs (which I was going to cook yesterday, but ran out of time for a variety of reasons) on the kettle charcoal grill, and redskins, asparagus, broccoli and pineapple on the gas grill. Mmmm. I'm hungry just thinking about it. If you're hungry and thinking of road-tripping, blow up my cell ;) (I'm not sure what possessed me to type that, but I am giggling just looking at it -- I know, I am a dork). I tried to twist Michelle and John's arms into coming down yesterday -- I called and recited my planned weekend menu, then said "I need help eating it." I could hear John's tummy rumble when he heard ribs and tenderloin. Unfortunately for me, they had prior plans for John's family to visit them, so I couldn't get them to come down for a visit. It probably is for the better since I'm not sure Jodi is up to it yet, but I was kinda hoping to end the 'vacation' with a little fun.
I better get ready, the pitch awaits...
The last few days have been pretty nice.
First -- the results of the first weekend of grilling...
Friday night, I made grilled lobster, aparagus, and steamed mussels provencal. Not exactly a fast, but hey, it wasn't meat!
Saturday, I finally made the tenderloin, which turned out great, and I made up a Michigan/Christopher sauce (brown sauce with wild mushrooms and dried tart cherries). I also used the Bobby Flay method of preparing redskin potatoes (preboil, halve, olive oil/salt/pepper, grill directly). I also made up a batch of John bread (baguette slathered with minced garlic and oregano that has been soaking in olive oil for a few hours, topped with grated parmesan and baked to melt the cheese and cook the garlic). I did everything on the grill (except the early reduction on the brown sauce).
Sunday night, I made cheeseburgers -- I would get in trouble with the boys if I skipped that...
I am loving the grill. Literally, the food tastes better, since I can get a nice sear and control the temperature very finely. When you open the top, you don't lose all of the heat from the pre-heat. The side-burner is a little too powerful for a gentle simmer, but it is great for bringing water up to a boil, for flash cooking lobster, for instance. It is a keeper. We still have to see how it holds up, but from the performance side, I am all about it.
On another note, yesterday, I drove the boys down to Comerica to see the Tigers get spanked by the Indians. We got to our seats just in time to see Chris Shelton crank one out of the park, so the boys were immediately interested. As with the previous times I took Joshua, he would not leave until the game was over. He was getting really antsy and a little crabby so I asked if he wanted to go, and he looked at me incredulously and said "but they're still playing the game -- we can't go now!" Unfortunately, at that point the score was 9-2, and it really was over. The boys really liked eating peanuts from the shells and yelling at the players. We had much fun, although the Tigers looked kinda crummy.
Today, I think we are all going to lay around and be lazy. :) Daddy didn't realize how much work dragging a 2-year-old and a 3.5-year-old around a major-league ballpark would be.
Yesterday, Joshua and I drove to Heat'N Sweep in Canton to get my new grill. I bought the Vermont Castings Signature VCS4006. After shopping around a lot, looking online, and checking out lots of grills in person, I came back to these. Overall, it is still not quite what I wanted, but $3500 for a Viking just seems like too much. It seems to be fairly solid, gets good reviews, and has the features I want.
The good stuff:
- 4 heavy duty stainless burners, side burner, and rotisserie burner
- Included rotisserie motor and spit
- heavy duty cast-iron grill grates
- double-wall lid with cast-iron end-caps for heat retention
The bad stuff:
- 400 stainless (will rust if not maintained meticulously)
- burners are not cast brass
- kinda expensive for my cheapness
- warranty is basically only 5 years
I looked at the Jenn-Air models at Lowes made by Nexgrill, and although they have the cast brass burners with lifetime warranty on them, the rest of the grill is basically a hunk of shiny shit. The construction is terrible, the lids are crap, the stand is wobbly, the drawers are flimsy -- just junk! I was terribly disappointed in that, since I really liked the burners.
Anyway, the box wouldn't fit in the HHR, even with all of the seats folded down, since it was just barely too wide (on its side, that is), so the guys from Heat'N Sweep are delivering it today (for a small fee, since it is quite a distance away -- I don't mind). I am pretty excited. This week is like Christmas for me...
Dave was nice enough to post the photo I took with my phone at the hospital here. Hopefully I'll get some more photos posted soon...
If you missed the edits to my previous post, Emmaretta Louise Overbeek was born Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 6:30 PM. 7 pounds, 6 ounces, 19 inches long. Both Jodi and Emma are healthy and doing well.
Jodi had another appointment with the midwives and she's dilated 3, and the baby is ready to rock and roll. Now we just need her to dilate to 10! The midwife did something called "stripping the membranes" (I know, sounds painful) that is supposed to help induce labor. Jodi said she is having a few contractions, and is feeling some significant cramping, so maybe the ball will be rolling. Pray, hope, chant, dance -- do whatever you do -- that things move along. The midwife offered to break Jodi's water this weekend if things don't move along, but both Jodi and would prefer to have things occur without too much intervention. We may have to reconsider if things don't get rocking and rolling...
On an unrelated note, this made me laugh. A lot.
UPDATE (morning 4/7): No baby yet. After a couple of hours, Jodi's contractions stopped again. Drat. We're still hoping that things may pick up,but we're back to the waiting...
UPDATE (noon 4/7):Jodi is now having contractions again and she's dilating again, and this time things are moving consistently forward. Looks like 4/7/2006 might be BabyOv3.0's birthday. More to come later...
UPDATE (4 pm 4/7):Not so much again. Hrm. We're going for a walk...
UPDATE (9 pm 4/7):It looks like it won't be today. Everything screeched to a halt again. If things don't get going, I think Jodi is going to have the midwife break her water tomorrow, so something will happen tomorrow...
UPDATE (9 pm 4/8):We decided to have the midwife break Jodi's water today, and it worked like a charm. Emmaretta Louise Overbeek was born at 6:30 PM, 7 lbs 6 ounces. 19" long. Yay Jodi! Another beautiful baby!
When I get a little bit down, or maybe just a tad cranky (it hardly ever happens) and I just need a little me time, it is nice to have some handy thrash death metal at your fingertips. That's why I love XM Radio Online channel 42 -- XM Liquid Metal -- Industrial Strngth Metal. I have no idea what these people are saying, but it sounds angry. That's just what I need before interacting with my co workers (MWAHHAHAHAHAHAH!)
(note: there is a touch of sarcasm in this post. If you didn't catch it, re-read with that in mind. The MWAHHAHAHAHAH should be read as a maniacal laugh, if that wasn't apparent)