A Year with Frog and Toad (101 Things #41)

Emily at A Year with Frog and Toad
(Please excuse the bad iPhone photo)

CSU, Chico has a program that allows local elementary school students to attend top-notch performances during the school year. Today, Emily got to see the musical A Year with Frog and Toad, and I got to go with her. We both enjoyed ourselves. She was captivated for pretty much the whole time, and I liked the music. (Don't laugh; the cast was talented!) Besides, it was great Daddy-daughter bonding time.

Books Read 2009

I was able to read more books this year than I have since I was a child. Here's the list of titles I read over the last 12 months:

1. Nothing Lasts Forever – Sidney Sheldon (February 4, 2009)
2. The Prince of Beverly Hills – Stuart Woods (February 11, 2009)
3. Blood Work – Michael Connelly (February 18, 2009)
4. Eyes of a Child – Richard North Patterson (February 27, 2009)
5. Trunk Music – Michael Connelly (March 5, 2009)
6. The Black Echo – Michael Connelly (March 12, 2009)
7. The Concrete Blonde – Michael Connelly (March 18, 2009)
8. Sinner – Ted Dekker (March 22, 2009)
9. Lost Light – Michael Connelly (March 23, 2009)
10. The Last Coyote – Michael Connelly (March 27, 2009)
11. Degree of Guilt – Richard North Patterson (March 29, 2009)
12. Saving Faith – David Baldacci (April 6, 2009)
13. Safely Home – Randy Alcorn (April 13, 2009)
14. Hour Game – David Baldacci (April 20, 2009)
15. Pleading Guilty – Scott Turow (April 24, 2009)
16. The Murder Book – Jonathan Kellerman (May 11, 2009)
17. Fatal Terrain – Dale Brown (May 28, 2009)
18. Mr. Murder – Dean Koontz (June 17, 2009)
19. Ramona and Her Father – Beverly Cleary (July 2, 2009)
20. The Lasko Tangent – Richard North Patterson (July 8, 2009)
21. Dark Rivers of the Heart – Dean Koontz (July 15, 2009)
22. The Charm School – Nelson DeMille (July 17, 2009)
23. Critical Mass – David Hagberg (July 30, 2009)
24. Whispers – Dean Koontz (August 13, 2009)
25. My Sister's Keeper – Jodi Picoult (September 1, 2009)
26. The Regime – Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (September 3, 2009)
27. Kingdom Come – Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (September 3, 2009)
28. Angels Flight – Michael Connelly (September 10, 2009)
29. The Fourth Procedure – Stanley Pottinger (September 11, 2009)
30. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer (September 14, 2009)
31. Adam – Ted Dekker (September 20, 2009)
32. The Rapture – Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (September 22, 2009)
33. Silenced – Jerry Jenkins (September 27, 2009)
34. Shadowed – Jerry Jenkins (October 1, 2009)
35. Red Summer – Bill Carter (October 8, 2009)
36. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer (October 10, 2009)
37. Utopia – Thomas More and Paul Turner, translator (October 13, 2009)
38. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer (October 21, 2009)
39. Life of Pi – Yann Martel (November 2, 2009)
40. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer (November 8, 2009)
41. Vanishing Acts – Jodi Picoult (November 27, 2009)
42. No Limits – Michael Phelps and Alan Abrahamson (December 10, 2009)
43. Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult (December, 18 2009)
44. Change of Heart – Jodi Picoult (December, 23 2009)

Photo Stream Automated (101 Things #45)

I've checked another goal off my 101 Things list: the photo stream in the left sidebar is now automated. It pulls family photos from our photography business site as they are added. I hope you enjoy this new site feature!

Chili Recipe

My Chili

Crystal posted a picture of a pot of my chili over on the Très Bébé blog, and several people have asked about the recipe. So, here it is. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
2qt bottle of tomato juice, preferably low sodium
1 can chopped mild green chiles
2 14oz cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 14oz cans small white beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
¼ c chili powder (adjust to taste)
½ tsp ground red pepper (adjust to taste)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
2. Add all the other ingredients and stir well.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for as long as you can stand to wait.
4. Serve with toppings as desired. We like shredded cheese and sour cream. And corn bread on the side.

Notes

• You could also do this with dried beans instead of canned. It would probably be even better, but we use cans because I don't typically have the time to soak and pre-cook beans.
• This recipe is a modified version of the chili that I ate at home growing up. So, my Mom gets quite a bit of credit for this.

Herb Gardening (101 Things #34)

Thyme, Oregano, and Petunias

I kill plants.

It's not malicious, mind you. I just tend to get really busy and forget to water them. Or I'll get busy and forget to bring them in from the cold. Or I'll get busy and let the weeds totally choke them out. Or, worst of all, I'll actually keep them alive and then get too busy to harvest the crop at the end of the season.

Click here to read more...

Our 8th Wedding Anniversary

Crystal and I have been married for 8 years. It's hard to believe, isn't it. We've been through a lot of ups and downs over the past few years, but we're still together, and we love each other more now than we ever have.

Rather than spend a lot of money on gifts this year, we both invested time and thought into what we did for one another.

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My Nerdiness

I admit it: I'm a nerd, and I have been for a very long time.

There are three "codes" floating around the web that allow people to classify their nerdiness: the Geek Code, OmniCode, and the Hacker Key. So, without further ado, here are my nerd classifications.

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Turtle Bay Day Trip (101 Things #14)

Watching the Fish Go By

We escaped our house yesterday for a day trip to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding. The park consists of a botanical garden and a museum with several fixed and a couple of changing exhibits, and it is adjacent to the Sundial Bridge.

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25 Random Things About Me

I just posted this over on Facebook, and I wanted to share it here as well. Here are 25 random things about me:

1. I've played the piano since I was 6. I don't have nearly as much time to play as I used to, but it's still a great stress-reliever for me.
2. I love science. I watched my dentist remove my wisdom teeth by looking at the reflection in his glasses. I've gotten into technical conversations with my wife's doctor before, which she did not find terribly amusing.
3. Due to family rules, I didn't see a movie at the theater until I was in college.
4. My idea of a perfect vacation is a camping trip, the longer the better. My parents have pictures of me camping with them when I was so young I could barely walk.
5. I played basketball for my high school. I was terrible, but I had a lot of fun.
6. My worst job ever was the summer between high school and college. I was a construction worker for a boss who was a slave driver. If I hadn't been planning to go to college, that job would have convinced me that I wanted to.
7. My brother introduced me to the woman who has since become my wife.
8. I have a birth certificate proving that I gave birth to my oldest daughter when I was 15 and Crystal was 11. Oh, and we somehow had this child in Mexico.
9. I created my first website when I was in college, before the internet became really popular. It was terrible.
10. I spent ridiculous amounts of time at the library as a child, and then my first job was working at the same library. I still read a lot on vacation and when I can get a few minutes away from my packed schedule.
11. I spend so much time working with computers that I probably have an image of a computer screen permanently burned into my retinas.
12. I can be funny. If you want to confirm that this is true, ask Ariana, not Crystal.
13. I've buried two babies. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
14. I'm extremely afraid of heights.
15. Even though I have a day job right now, I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I have enough ideas to keep me busy for the rest of my life.
16. I had surgery on my eyes twice before I made it to high school.
17. I sold my car, and now I ride my bike to school almost every day. This includes rides in the winter rains and the summer heat. I much prefer the winter rains.
18. My college major is in Computer Information Systems. My minor is in Church Music. People always look at my funny when I tell them that.
19. I have a thing for epic journeys. Someday, I'd like to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. I'd also like to ride my bike all the way across the United States.
20. I'm an introvert. I don't make friends easily, and I don't trust easily. But once I love you, I'll never stop.
21. Being a husband and father are the great joys of my life.
22. I've lived in four states: North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, and California.
23. Someday, I really want to learn to play the saxaphone.
24. I'm a major control freak.
25. This is probably the only one of this type of list that I'll ever post. Email forwards drive me crazy, and I don't want to bug anyone with anything that looks like one. If you want to know more about me, shoot me an email. :-)