Yeah, I Made It

The problem with me cooking dinner is that I'm so proud of my accomplish- ment that I have to show it off to everybody. Last night, I whipped up this tasty little number for the family: a little creation of mine called Honey Kissed Black Pepper Mesquite Chicken with a side of Corn & Pepper Orzo...made from scratch, thank you very much!

The chicken I simply marinated in a mesquite grilling sauce but then when I went to dash on a little pepper I unscrewed the cap to the pepper instead of using the sprinkle top with the holes and I ended up dumping about a half of cup worth of pepper all over the marinated chicken. I tried to scrape off the pepper but it was on there pretty good. I decided to cover up/off-set the pepper explosion by adding some honey to the recipe. In the end, it tasted good but the pepper was strong. We polished off a whole pitcher of beverage while eating it.

The Corn & Pepper Orzo I made from scratch using a recipe from Taste of Home magazine. I don't usually make things like that but the picture in the magazine looked good and there were no hard steps or unusual ingredients. Basically, I chopped up an onion and a red pepper, sauteed them up with some corn, threw in the orzo and a few spices...we were good to go! Good Eats!

Ten Movies I've Always Wanted To See

I got this idea from another blog and an e-mail that is going around...

Here's a list of ten movies that I've wanted to see for quite some time and for one reason or another I have yet to manage sitting down and watching them. With movie channels, video stores, Netflix and the internet - there's really no good reason why I haven't been able to catch some of these flicks in the past decade or so.



Citizen Kane (1941) It's considered in most circles to be the greatest American movie of all time. Although I usually prefer movies with talking animals, I really would like to catch Orson Welles' masterpiece about newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane. I guess with no talking cats or musical numbers I've never really been propelled to make the time to watch it.


High Noon (1952) I loves me a good western and this Gary Cooper classic is supposed to be one of the best. I've rented the video before and I've even TiVo'ed it off Turner Classic Movies a couple of times and yet I can't seem to watch it before the video is due back or my TiVo bumps it off in favor of a Simple Life rerun.


Godzilla (1954) The sad thing is I've seen tons of Japanese giant monster movies but I've never seen the grandaddy of all. I've seen Mothra and Ghidorah the three- headed monster. Recently, I saw one with a giant radioactive turtle that was pretty good. Hey, I even saw Godzilla 2000 in the theatre! I once bought the VHS of Godzilla, never watched it, and then gave it to someone when I moved once. Netflix doesn't have a copy but I found one at a video store that I plan on renting soon...I think the kids will like it.


Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) I really do wanna see this one. I'm a big fan of director Blake Edwards, having seen all The Pink Panther films plus he directed one of my all-time favorite movies Blind Date. Tiffany's is the big classic that really put Edwards on the map. I guess I just forget about this one and haven't made an attempt to get a copy and watch it. But I do have it on my Netflix queue...somewhere in the upper 100's, but I'll get to it one day!

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) This comedy classic has about 50 big-time movie stars all making a mad dash to find a hidden stash of stolen money. It's been copied a bunch of times - Scavenger Hunt, Million Dollar Mystery, Rat Race - and I've loved them all. I'm sure the biggest reason I've never seen ...Mad, Mad World is the running time. There are few different cuts of the film floating around out there, but for the most part the movie clocks in at over three hours long. I haven't been able to stay awake for three hours at a time since I was 15 years old. I guess I could watch it over two or three nights but I don't roll like that!

The Birds (1963) What's wrong with me that I haven't seen one of Hitchcock's most popular movies!? I love Alfred Hitchcock and have truly seen most of his films. I even been fortunate enough to have seen most of them for the first time in a theatre. But The Birds has always escaped me. I'm not proud to say that I've even seen the horrible 1994 made-for-Showtime movie The Birds II: Land's End. Alfred is rolling over in his grave.

The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964) Never heard of it? It's a Disney movie about the kids from Mary Poppins and they get a cat. Why is it on my list? My grandmother gave me a bunch of Disney videos way back in 1992. I still have all the videos she gave me, but I've never watched this one. All I have to do is reach over to my shelf of Disney videos, grab it and pop it in yet I've never done it. Some day, Thomasina. Some day.

A Hard Day's Night (1964) One of my all-time favorite movies is Spice World, which is a fictional account of a week in the life of the Spice Girls before a big concert. This Beatles movie follows a fictional day in the life of the Fab Four before a big concert. I've read many times that Hard Day's Night was the inspiration for the Spice Girls film and it's been on my radar for quite sometime but like all the others here...I just haven't gotten around to seeing it.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Actually, I haven't ALWAYS wanted to see this movie. I didn't even know Indiana Jones was "a thing" until high school when the third movie came out and everybody went crazy about it. I took my son to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this summer and we had a good time. Seeing as how my little film buff protege is obsessed with all things Indiana Jones, I'm sure it won't be long until I finally see this 27-year old modern classic.

Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) T&A comedies are one of my favorite genres. I've seen a million of them. Not because I'm a perv, but because they're all dumb and silly and that's what I'm usually in the mood for when I watch a movie. I've seen countless rip-off's of Porky's yet I've only seen actual Porky's once and I've never made it to this sequel. If I ever see it, I can replace it on my list with 1985's Porky's Revenge.

Make a list of movie's you've always wanted to see. (It doesn't have to add up to 10) Leave it in our comment box, e-mail us, or post it on your own web. Good times!

New Beds For Everyone

This weekend was Operation: Bunkbed. We bought a set of bunkbeds from somebody at Jen's work. We hardly ever use Tanner's room and the kids were really excited about the idea of a bunkbed so we figured this might be a step in the right direction as far getting the most out of the space in our home. We need some office/grown up space in our house, so maybe soon we can eliminate Tanner's bedroom and then have a playroom and a separate office space.

Saturday we borrowed a truck from my in-laws and picked up the bed which had been taken apart. On the way back home we also had to stop and buy two new mattresses. The people we bought the bed from did a real nice job of keeping track of which piece went where and with that screws and bolts and drew us several diagrams and directions on how the bed should be put back together. Of course, without the actual instruction booklet I was a little bit on my own as far as where to start and what to do next but within two hours I had the bed together and ready for the approval of the little ones.

There was some fighting over who was going to get the top bunk, but international laws state that in a situation like that the older sibling gets first choice. So, Elias is on the top and Tanner is on the bottom bunk. Shortly after getting the beds put together, Elias and Tanner were due over at their grandparents house for an evening of Mario Kart Wii with their cousins. After a quiet, child-free diner at a new Italian place nearby, Jen and I ducked into Wal-Mart and dropped a chunk of change outfitting the new beds. The boys were very excited when they got home and found...

...a Batman bed up top for Elias...

...and a cozy Wall-E bed waiting for Tanner underneath.

I'm proud to say the kids took to the idea of bunkbeds real well and they both stayed quiet and went right to sleep. So far, (knock on wood..as it's only 9:30pm as I write this) we've had no problems!

And we should also mention, that after two years and nine months in a crib this was Tanner's first night in a big boy bed!

He's been climbing out of his crib for about a month now so it was time he moved on anyway!

Update: Both the boys slept through the night in their own bed. No problems the whole night, what-so-ever!

First Daze

Yesterday was Tanner's first day of Preschool. It did not go as smoothly as his big brother's first day of school. Tanner pouted in the car on the way to school that he didn't want to go. When we got out of the car at the school parking lot the drama began. Tanner yelled, growled, kicked and screamed...and did not want to have anything to do with school. Once inside the school, he continued the scream and carry on and would not settle down. At first, he was the only child screaming...but as mommies and daddies started to say good bye and leave more and more children started to cry. Eventually we had to just hand Tanner to one of the teachers and make a run for it. We could hear him screaming from outside the classroom. We could also hear him screaming from outside the building in the parking lot. Tanner was plastered against the window like a sad puppy begging for us to turn around and come get him. When we returned to pick him up at the end of his grueling 90 minute school day, he had calmed down. However, he's already let us know that he'll be giving a repeat performance the next day he had to go to school.

Later in the day, we went to the hospital to visit our good friends Andrew and Ping who were resting up after a busy day of welcoming their new baby boy Silas yesterday. The little guy was born Sunday afternoon at around 12:30pm, he weighed 8.5 lbs. and measured 20 inches. He's very adorable and just a teeny tiny little thing. We made sure he got his Disney education started early, and Mickey and Silas are all ready good buddies!

Congrats Andy and Ping!

He's Listening!

Elias brings home a paper from school every Friday with a list of things his class did that week and a list of things that each child should know. I was delightfully surprised when I asked Elias about these things and he was able to remember everything he learned at school this week!

Does Anyone Still Smoke a Corn Cob Pipe?

My cell phone was ablaze yesterday with text messages and phone calls from friends sharing the news of the passing of Jerry Reed. Known to my friends and I as "Snowman," Jerry Reed was a country singer who also appeared in all three Smokey and the Bandit films. If you ever hung out with my friends and I during our college years, there's a good chance you saw Smokey and the Bandit at least once! Reed played Burt Reynolds sidekick in the first two films and then took over the leading role when Reynolds bowed out of the third film. Seriously, Smokey and the Bandit is easily one of my favorite movies of all time and arguably one of the funniest movies of all time. The Snowman will be missed!

* * *

My kids have never been ones to just fall asleep any old place. If it's not nap time or bed time and they aren't in their bedroom, there's a good chance they'll keep chugging all day long. So, it was very amazing and funny when Tanner decided to konk-out on the floor right inside the front door of the house. Not only did he choose this odd spot on the hardwood floor but he was out cold for an hour and a half! He was a bit disoriented when he woke up though.

And...feast your eyes on these bad boys:


We were huge fans of the mini-burger appetizers at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Since our local CiP closed it's door a few months back, we're tried the "Sliders" craze at other restaurants but we haven't found any that really hit the spot the way Cheeseburger in Paradise's did. So I took it upon myself to create our own homemade versions of Sliders. I don't want to brag or anything, but I nailed the taste pretty good. I used frozen mini-Bubba Burgers, I think next time if I used fresh ground beef and seasoned it well before cooking they'd be even better. And I should have used a chopper for the onion instead of hand chopping it. The onion pieces should be smaller. But, in the end it was a good dinner!

What's For Lunch? 9/08

Here's a new feature I hope to repeat at WWoB, it's called What's For Lunch? Each month, the school district sends home the cafeteria menu for the next couple of weeks. Sometimes there are some strange sounding items available on the menu and sometimes I have no idea what the item even is! So here we're going to share some of the unusual, funny sounding, and mysterious food items that the kids in my neighborhood eat for lunch everyday.

• Mustang Sub
• California Blend
• Bosco Sticks w/sauce (you don't want to eat your Bosco Stick plain, do you?)
• Winter Mix

And...on September 10 you can have a Johnnie Rib Sandwich or on the 22nd you could dine on a Johnnie Rib on Roll. Either way, I'm sure it's good!