Kay Site

So I've been thinking lately that I'd like to start imparting my knowledge of cooking and food.  I'm not sure the best way to go about it though.  I wanted to have a monthly gathering at our house to showcase a particular dish or method of cooking something, or even just answer questions about what flavors go well together or just how to cook something as simple as baked chicken/fish/<insert food item here>.

How many of my Facebook foodies would be interested in coming over and learning how to cook something or asking questions about something they've cooked, but want to make better?  I'm also toying with the idea of video taping the process and posting them online somewhere for remote foodie friends to watch.

What kind of format would be most helpful to you if you had to choose?  Live demos in my home?  Videos of cooking, step-by-step?  Simple email Q&A?  Phone "tech support" while you're in the middle or prepping/cooking a dish?

Here are just a sampling of some of our favorite recipes we've taken and tweaked over the years:

• Chicken and Broccoli
  
  
• Meatloaf
• Grilled Pork Tenderloin
• Chicken Pockets
• Homemade Pizza
• Chocolate Mint Cookie Sandwiches
• Molasses Cookies

I'd love to hear your thoughts/recipes/suggestions for how to make this more accessible to more people.

October 15, 2011

We went to the pumpkin patch just over the border in TN with my parent's.  We had a good time.  Megan took a while to warm up to the new surroundings and all the people.  But once she did she was off and running and much more willing to go down slides and play on play grounds by herself. 

After a very long year, well 10 months, of stress, worry, uncertainty, loss, depression, joy, and all the other emotions one can imagine, things are looking more stable and brighter for the moment and the foreseeable future.  Dave started his current job three weeks ago and by all reports from Dave he has been shining brightly and has been more than exceptional in the eyes of his coworkers and his boss.  Dave seems to really enjoy what he is doing and has said many times he looks forward to going to work everyday and the days seem to fly by rather drag on for ever.  He is excited about current and future projects as well as expanding his knowledge base.  He is currently study to take the Linux+ certification exam sometime in October.  He and I both feel his passing the test and getting this certification would clinch his position at Baron Services (www.baronservices.com; his current employer).

Megan has turned into a clingy, wants to be with, very involved in everything little girl.  It is by no means a bad thing, just a new phase that we have had to adjust to.  She is a mini clean freak (Mommy's proud :D) and picks up after herself and cleans up messes she makes.  She will not let something go undone without throwing a fit making getting out of the house a potential chore.  However clingy she is she is still very independent and strong willed.  She is starting to say more and more words rather than "Meganese" and has started to say "thank you", "bless you", and the occasional "please" with her voice rather than sign language.  The best part is that she will say them without a cue.  She is absorbing information like a sponge and can identify more and more objects and pictures every day.  Oh, and she has grown probably 2 inches since the beginning of September.  She is still in her protein kick so she could be continuing to grow rapidly for a little while longer.

As for me, well, I am learning to relax and not stress and worry as much.  My groups are back up and meeting since the school year started.  Megan and I go to a Mommy and Me group on Wednesdays and a Mom's group on Thursdays.  I have made some wonderful friends in these groups.  These Ladies have helped me through so much in the past year and have really been my rock.  These groups are where I can ask "stupid" questions and get several Moms that have or are going through the same things and share their remedies/suggestions.  These two groups have been a huge source of information and venting opportunity for me and I would hope for those other Ladies involved also.

Dave and I have started doing dinners with friends of ours.  One of the Ladies from both Wed. and Thurs. group wishes to learn new cooking techniques and recipes and Dave kindly said he would help in her process.  We had her and her family over for dinner last weekend and made homemade pizza...so tasty!!  She took a roll of pizza dough with her and made her own pizza the next day at home with much success.  We are going to their house in a few weeks and she will cook for us :D.  This is so nice, to share a meal and pass along knowledge and techniques is such a wonderful thing.  I am hoping to include another friend of ours whose husband is currently training in some field in a tent preparing for a one year deployment.  While she is a mother of 4 all under the age of 4, alone with no second pair of hands, a night to not have to cook or plan dinner would hopefully be a welcomed event.  We are not sure how long or the frequency of these get togethers yet, but I sure do look forward to our next one :D

Hey everyone, so I started my new job this past Monday and it's been a blast!  I've been pretty much thrown into it feet first, but I've learned a lot already and helped out quite a bit.  We spent quite a bit of time this week creating a new space for me and the other tech to sit... that involved moving a number of furniture items and shelving and metal cabinets of stuff.  I'll stick some pictures at the end of the post.

The company is named Baron Services and the provide multimedia displays of weather data to broadcast media as well as XM/Serius satellite radio, they just got into doing weather overlays for in-car GPS for luxury brands, and they also build portable and stationary radar installations (they're building the replacement weather radar for the local station that lost it's radar dome in the tornadoes in April).

ok Mom's out there...Megan is bored with her toys and is starting to get in more trouble. She is 20 months, doesn't say many "English" words but will talk your ear off, and wants to do, do, do. Any suggestions??????

She has mastered puzzled, wooden blocks, legos, and coloring to name a few.  Once she masters something she gets bored and moves on.  TRU and BRU and everywhere else is seriously lacking in educational toys for 18-36 month kids that doesn't require batteries.  The other thing is that we prefer non plastic toys, batteries required is a no-no (for the most part), and she still puts things in her mouth to chew on them so no small parts, sand, dirt, soap, etc.  I spent 1.5 hours at TRU today with my Mom (Cherie 'Whitten' Byrne) and found very little that was appropriate for Megan that didn't require batteries.  Very frustrating!!

We did get a few things for her at TRU.  One of them was a set of fruit and vegetables that had velcro so one could cut them apart with a plastic knife.  After Dave showed her how it worked she was all over it and an expert in about 4 minutes flat...no joke, I timed it.  I was hoping this would take a little bit of time to grasp, but yet again, she proved me wrong. 

She absorbs everything we tell her like a sponge.  She will correctly point to various stuffed animals when asked "where is (fill in the blank)?".  I have a hard time teaching shapes, colors, numbers, and letters to a child who doesn't sit still for more than 2 nano seconds, yet she proves to me that she is learning, she just can't speak back yet.

Megan is also close to potty training, but again, I have a hard time teaching a toddler to potty train when she doesn't speak yet.  Don't get me wrong, she does have some sign language she uses so we are not totally lost.  And she does know the sign for bathroom she just says it after the fact.

Ok, thanks for reading.  I think I am done venting for now. 

We had an amazing time in Maine a few weeks ago.  It was a much needed change of scenery and the cooler temps and nice ocean breeze was a nice bonus.  The beach house my MIL rented was right on the beach.  There was a set of stairs that went down to the water.  It was a rocky beach and not a sand beach but it was just as nice to go down while the tide was going out to see the sea life and check out the rocks.  Megan held her first snail and got her first sniff of seaweed and ocean spray.

We also found a nice secluded inlet sand beach while we were up north.  Megan had a blast!  She played in the sand and the tiny waves that came in as boats went by.  The water was icy cold so I didn't go in but Bethany was brave and sat in the water and let Megan play around her. 

It was a very nice relaxing few days for Dave and I.  It has been a stressful time this past year for us so the new location, the presence of family, and some much needed sleeping in and down time was such a blessing.  We were also able to get some shoes for Megan from StrideRite during their BOGO 50% off sale at the outlets so we got two pair of shoes for the price of one here in town.

The picture uploading part of this blog is not functioning as it should right now, but, once it is back up and running I will load some pictures of our trip.

So there have been some parenting moments that I have looked back on and said to myself, "stupid", or "makes sense now", or "how did I miss that?". But last jght was the first night I looked back on and said "bonehead, it was so clear why didn't you see it?!". So here is the story... Megan was all stuffy and cranky for most of the day so her nap was short and bed time came early. At bed time we took her upstairs, bathed her and went to get her in her jamis. Dave brought some fleece ones with feet and I said that would be to hot. So he came back with a short sleeved onesy. I got her dressed and read to her and then tucked her in for the night. An hour later she was screaming her head off. I was tired, so I brought her into my room and she calmed down in our bed. After about 2 hours she was still not settling and going to sleep but moving all over the place and kicking me. So Dave put her back in her bed and she fell asleep. After about an hour she was up again. This pattern followed until 6am this morning. At which point Dave went in and saw her sitting up in her bed shivering. Dave asked her if she was cold and she said yes. Once we figured that out and got her calmed down and warmed up in our bed things went a little better. Once we figured it out it was like a slap to the face. All the signs were there we just didn't see them. Bonehead bonehead bonehead!!!

So I found out on Monday that I will be laid off next Friday, August 12.  Apparently the money that was paying for my position/contract at corporate ran out and they can’t find any somewhere else.  Because the plant is laying off people as well they can’t afford to hire me on fulltime.  So… I’m back to looking for a job again.  I’ve notified the contacts I have with the various staffing agencies I’ve worked with before and hopefully I’ll find something quickly.

I’ve started looking more intently at getting some certifications… I’ve been told that Security+ and Linux+ are two that are in high demand right now and fortunately they are both certifications I’ve been looking at getting anyways.  Now I have greater motivation to apply myself and study so I can pass the exams the first time.

If you know of a company or position that I should look at or apply for please pass them along: computerdave at yahoo dot com.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/us/politics/29marriage.html?_r=1

There’s a lot of debate going on in the US right now about granting gay marriage the same privileges as same-sex couples.  My question is: why is it even an issue?  When was marriage defined so that it excluded gay couples from the benefits enjoyed by same-sex couples?  Just because their marriages weren’t necessarily recognized by a church?

The argument that gay marriage erodes marriage for everyone else is just absurd.  If two people love each other then who’s to stand in their way if they wish to get married?  Who cares if they are both men or both women?  I don’t see how two people loving each other in New York can have any affect on the ability of two other people in California, or anywhere else, to love each other.  If this country was founded on equality for all then why do we have so many restrictions on who we can be with?