Excellent pickles!

It's lunchtime again and my sweet wife put a baggie of pickles in that she had made.  I really love dill pickles but sometimes they are pretty strong from the store the ones she made are just right.  I guess all she did was make the brine and drop the cucumbers in and put them in the fridge.  they have been in the fridge now for at least 2 months and they just get better and better.  they are nice and crispy with just the right flavor.  cudos to her for making them.  We had a good thanksgiving spent with most of my brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces and their kids.  the family is sure getting big!  We had a nice relaxing weekend and I smoked some ribs and garlic on saturday.  I do believe that I have really gotten my use out of the smoker.  We sure missed Tylen and Chase though.  I don't really have any profound thoughts today as I have been swamped at work.  I'm just grateful to be here and being able to share my thoughts.  have a great day I know I will!

Potato chips and chestnuts

I'm sitting here at work on my break eating potato chips.  I really like the salt and vinegar ones the best.  I go in cycles for potato chips and it is starting to come back to eating them for break again.  Kind of like the trend for clothes.  My daughter Cambrie is all about the 80's style of clothing I just hope it doesn't get out of control too much because there were some really bad styles in the 80's.  Last night I decided that I wanted to roast some chestnuts, you know you hear it all the time in christmas songs so we went and bought some and I followed the instructions in a recipe I found online.  Cameron wouldn't touch them but I really liked the flavor except they were pretty dry.  Maybe I cooked them too long but Alisha really liked them and she ended up taking them to work today to snack on.  I think tonight I will boil or steam the others and see how they turn out.  I talked to my mother today all the way to work, that is a treat that I get once in a while.  We don't really talk about much but I have to say that she is the best mom out there.  I'm pretty lucky to have her still.  My dad passed away last year and that was tough so I am doing all I can to let my mom know how much I love her.  I want to make sure that she knows that.  Ok, break is over, gotta go

Snow and all that good stuff

I left for work this morning in darkness and falling snow.  this time of year seems to bring on some melancholy feelings and no shortness of anxiety for the holiday season.  I pray the kids understand this year is extremely tight moneywise and christmas will be spare.  I look forward to the time where I can enjoy the holiday season without feeling like a failure in the gift giving arena.  Is it possible to enjoy the holiday season?  I'm sure there have been holidays that I have enjoyed before but this morning I am short on holiday memories.  Ok, I take that back.  I do have one holiday memory that I will always remember and cherish and it has nothing to do with giving of gifts.  It's a selfish memory I guess because it's a memory of getting a gift.  My sweet wife bought me a smoker for christmas and I have cooked to my hearts content.  I think that was the best gift I have ever been given.  There is nothing better in my book than hearing the kids ooohh and aaaahh over ribs I have smoked or turkeys or canadian bacon.  I love cooking for anyone that will eat my finished product.  I smoked a turkey the other day for Alisha's friend from work, that was a good day.  I hope that some day my children will come to me and tell me how grateful they are for all the holidays that Alisha and I tried our best to provide for, that will make the holidays more meaningful I think.  Not that they haven't mind you they have.  Alisha and I have been blessed with the best kids with great attitudes and always a positive attitude it's just me that feels the anxiety of providing.  Maybe I have that seasonal affective disorder I have heard about where you get depressed as the seasons change.  I don't think that I am depressed just getting ready to hibernate.  I do have one more thing to say though then I will stop.  Even though Christmas has been so commercialized and turned into a "feeding frenzy" I don't ever forget how important the Savior is for this time of year and in my life, I'm glad to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and grateful for the opportunity to raise a family.  Now let's go get some hot chocolate. 

Torn

Do you ever feel like you don't do enough or don't do the right things?  Those are my feelings this morning.  As I have explained earlier in my ramblings I have been working on the hot tub.  Seriously I think this hot tub has taken over.  What I really should do is light it on fire but I can't seem to bring myself to admit that it has kicked my butt. It has become my own little personal obsession.  In reality all I have left to do is to glue some hoses together and hook the electrical back up but if you were to ask my family it has taken over.  Like tonight for instance.  My sweet wife wanted to go to dinner and a movie but I want to work on the hot tub.  I knew I stepped in it the moment I said that but I feel a sense of urgency to finish the hot tub due to the weather and that tomorrow I have already committed to smoking a turkey for one of my wife's friends. I hope that she will understand.  Maybe now you will understand why I am feeling the way I am.  Marriage is a fickle thing really, you take two people with two different mind sets and views of how life should be and stick them together in a house and say "make it work".  My first marriage didn't work, or maybe I should say we didn't work "together" but this 2nd marriage really seems to mesh.  As Alisha would say "just do as you are told and you will be fine".  Which of course leads me back to feeling like I haven't done the right things.  At the end of the day the only things we should ask ourselves is did I learn or grow, and how did I treat others.  I believe that if I follow those two things then I have accomplished something.  Alisha thank you for being my wife and sticking with me through all the obsessive moments I have.  I think dinner and a movie would be great!   

hot pockets for lunch

I bought some hot pockets for lunch today.  I like hot pockets but I don't think they are very healthy for you.  My kids will say that I'm not very healthy oriented but you have to try when you can don't you?  This last week has been killer.  Almost literally...  Work has been stressful and fast paced.  It seems that when one problem comes up it is accompanied by brothers and sisters.  The next thing you know there is a family reunion on your desk.  And to top it all off my boss wants to talk to me after lunch.  Nothing good ever comes from talking to my boss.  he's a nice guy and I don't have any problems with him but I get so nervous about the whole thing that I can't hardly think straight til it's over.  Then afterwards I wonder why I got so nervous.  Its a cycle my crazy what the heck is wrong with me cycle. 

I have been working on our hot tub for what seems like years but has only been this summer.  I have replaced fittings and hoses a control panel, jets and Cameron sanded and stained the outside 4 times.  We got it filled a couple weeks ago and life was good....  then the concrete under it started getting wet.  Now that just drives me crazy because I have filled it and ran the jets for a week before I put chemical in it.  I even put it up on blocks to see if it was leaking before I really got serious about using it.  I had no leaks and everything looked good but while I was testing it it wasn't heated due to a bad breaker that needed a ground wire.   Long story short, I am assuming that when the tub was heated up the crack opened up even more and started leaking.  I bought some blue dye a couple days ago and ran that through the tub for a day then yesterday afternoon I had Keaton and Cameron drain it and when I got home I disconnected all the electrical and we slid it out onto the lawn and lifted it up to work on it again.  It is presently on it's side with the bottom exposed and we dug out the foam where the blue dye was showing.  The weather was good yesterday but it's supposed to get real cold this weekend so we blew all the lines out with my compressor and vaccumed everything out we could.  I don't think that it will freeze at all but we did find the leak.  I had already replaced one of the fittings on the other side of the tub but this one is not going to be easy.  I have to order parts today and hopefully we can fix it quickly. 

Another problem that I haven't mentioned is the alternator on my wife's 4 runner.  She was in the parking lot at work and her alternator gave up the ghost.  I didn't know that alternators could go so quickly.  I thought that they were like an alkaline battery you know, just kind of peter out.  Checker Auto has a new one in stock so tomorrow that's my project.