Chatty People Day

Jacki pretty much summarized the whole day in her blog, so instead of trying to write it differently or better, I'm just going to link to her note.

Read it and be amazed at the people we encountered.

In other news, this is my birthday week. And it's my Golden birthday because I turn 26 on the 26th. So I'm thinking I should buy a lottery ticket or try something crazy that day. But we'll see what happens.

I do have plans for going to Universal Studios next weekend. I'm looking forward to the Marvel and Harry Potter attractions.

The trip to Orlando, coupled with my work golf game on Thursday, and my Magic pre-release event on Sunday means it should be a fun birthday week.

I'll let you know how it all went after next weekend.

Deep fried addtion

It might be a bit sad that the biggest news of last week for me comes in the form of a brand new deep fryer, but hey sometimes the small things are all your given. LOL

My first meal with my deep fryer came last night in the form of traditional Fish N Chips. Fried fish is probably my favorite form of seafood, and it turned out pretty good. My only complaint was from the fries. They needed about 5-10 more minutes of deep frying for them to be perfect. But they were still tasty which is what I strive to achieve.

Tonight though, I really got down to breaking the bad boy in. I had planned from the start to do some traditional country fried chicken, but from their the menu was a mystery.

As I was talking to my dad this morning, he mentioned sweet potatoes fries, and I was sold on the idea. I mean sweet potatoes are completely different from regular potatoes so it's not even close to the same meal. LOL Along with the sweet potatoes, I had decided to attempt to fry some mushrooms. I've had fried mushrooms before, and they are pretty tasty, so I figured it would be a good vegetable for the evening. But lo and behold while we were at the fruit stand searching for whole tomatoes I saw asparagus....

I know asparagus big whoop, but think about it being deep fried??? Any takers then, lol I generally like asparagus in any form. So I figured deep frying it would only raise it in the taste category, and I wasn't mistaken in the slightest. I think the star of the evening was definitely the asparagus. It was crispy, and still done enough to be really tasty, and I don't think it absorbed just a whole lot of the grease.

I now christen the deep fryer as being broken in and an equal member of my kitchen. LOL

I think sometime in the not so distant future, we are going to attempt some fried deserts. Oreos, Twinkies, Snickers, and ice cream. Maybe donuts. But that's another post!

Dirt cheap... or gravel really

Last weekend I built a shed. So this weekend I plan on putting the finishing touches on it and then moving crap into it. When I bought the shed I debated with myself about purchasing the additional shed floor kit for an extra 80 bucks. I looked at the display model that Lowe's had built and all the floor kit consisted of was some metal pieces that framed out a floor. It didn't come with the wood to finish the floor, and for 80 bucks that seemed like a rip off. So I decided against buying it and figured if push came to shove I could build my own floor from scratch.

As I pondered how to go about building a floor, a stray though scurried through my brain, " why put a wood floor down at all?" I mean Florida is a pretty wet state. And my yard floods on a pretty regular basis. I figured that even if I had a wood floor an inch or two off the actually ground it still wouldn't take very long for the boards to begin to warp and deteriorate in the the Florida weather.

And then another thought jumped into the forefront of my mind, "why not put gravel in in the bottom of the shed?" And just like that I could picture my shed completed and I knew that that was the route to take.

Now I had bought gravel before at Lowe's, and it wasn't very cost effective. But I figured somewhere around here there would be a place that sold dirt and gravel in bulk. Luckily in this day of instant gratification, my answer was only a few mouse clicks away.

It turns out that maybe 5 miles from my house there is a business that takes in junk concrete, asphalt, and other debris, and turns them into gravel, top soil, sand, and countless other products. I was able to buy a ton of pipe gravel for 25 dollars!!!And surprisingly my truck was able to haul a ton of it home. LOL

So if you live in Florida and need some cheap dirt, gravel, or sand I know just the place.I'm not sure my truck should haul it, since I found out after the fact that it's really only rated to haul about a 1/4 ton.... but the place delivers so although it might end up costing you a little more for delivery, it's still way cheaper then buying it by the bag at your local home improvement store.