Ellerbusch.Net

Enjoyed the weekend, even with all the rain.  We enjoyed a great dinner at Crescent Pie & Sausage Company with Jack & Mary. If you haven’t checked it out yet, check their website for location info and also a peek at the menu.  The neighborhood isn’t too conducive to late night dining but we had no issues.  I highly suggest the Redneck Sandwich and Sausage ‘link’.  Managed  to get the lawn cut on Saturday between the showers of rain we had, but boy it sure was hot and it was nice to kick back with a couple of Corona’s afterward.  I’m also glad I installed the misters in my overhang in the backyard.  If you have problems with the summer heat, I highly suggest looking into a mister hose solution from Lowe’s or Home Depot.  As long as you keep the water pressure somewhat low,  you can make it nice and bearable.  Don’t try too much pressure because it can almost make it like a real ‘shower’ and too wet to be around.

I’ve also come to the conclusion the only time to ‘make groceries‘ is never.  It never fails whatever time I make it to the grocery there is something going on that just makes the trip miserable.  Last time it was the fact only two registers were open (on a Sunday) and this time it was someone trying to pay with a check w/o a driver’s license.  But that was just the typical end to people with their baskets in the middle of the aisle as they read the ingredients on a bag of sugar forcing you to have a fender bender with their shopping cart to get them out of the way.  I think I might let Leslie do the rest of the grocery shopping from here on out…

Capped off Sunday with some BBQ Chicken Wings on the grill using my Evan Williams BBQ Sauce my parents brought me from their trip to Kentucky.  They turned out really good, along with some corn on the cob from the pit as well.  Although there was a casualty as one of the burners is now out on my five year old grill, time to hit up their website to find replacements I guess.  Was fun to sit out and grill while Leslie and Camryn played hopscotch as Morgan watched intently from her bouncer.  I was found quoting the words of my aunt Janie, “This does not suck!”

Hope everyone had a good weekend and don’t worry… only five more days till the next one!

This makes me want to visit Germany, or build a train set!!  Visit this page to see some images and short descriptions of this amazing miniature layout.

lies within the Saints

So label me an extreme geek, trust me it’s long overdue.  I mean, I am a huge video game freak, sci-fi movie fanatic & my wife can probably throw in many other true examples of my geekdom (my nerf gun comes to mind).  The evidence is overwhelming, but I really don’t mind the label since most of today’s world is run by geeks.  Last night was a true geek moment for me though when I attended Star Wars in Concert at the New Orleans Arena.  It dawned on me that when I saw the people in costume and was able to identify the 501st, I had reached Star Wars Nerdom’s most highest honor of True Star Wars Geek.

Duel of the Fates

The show started with a huge managerie of music from all six films and also had me wondering how they would top the opening number since it encompassed all of the great songs from the movies.  Then Anthony Daniels comes out (picture courtesy of a good friend who got some free tix /slap Adam), and then began to tell the story of Star Wars and ‘video jockeyed’ the show with C3P0′ish monikers and mannerisms.  He even got to a point where he rambled off the statistics of surviving an asteroid field (scene from Empire in the Falcon) and held his arms up in true 3p0 fashion, all the while exposing his golden vest which was previously hidden by a buttoned coat. 

All in all the show was a great success to me and makes me want to watch all of the DVD’s from start to finish.  They took the time to go over most of the characters from the Star Wars movies but left out important people like Han Solo & Chewbacca for one.  I had a feeling they were going to leave out Boba Fett, so I was not really let down when there was only the scene from Clone Wars where he was chasing Obi Wan with his father in Slave.

Duel of the Fates was phenominal and I’m really glad they chose to put this number in the routine.  The Star Wars Chorus was awesome, and it really stays my all time favorite piece from all of John Williams’s works.  Battle of the Heroes was probably second on my list of good songs of the night.

If the show is coming to your town, jump on the opportunity to go!  We had the mid level seats, but I’m sure there is no difference if you move a level up.  Upgrading would have been good, but only if you were towards the stage and not near the back.

Hope you get a chance to enjoy this as much as I did!  Huge thanks to my wife Leslie for taking me and dealing with all my nonsense over the years of being married to a geek.

So here’s the recipe that came out pretty good last night for some baked chicken.  You didn’t know about me cooking chicken?? Follow my twitter for crying out loud!!  I update that 10x more than the blog… (hehe)

3 Boneless Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon cold butter, cut in small pieces

Combine everything & dip chicken in melted butter then coat with the mixture.  Place in a baking dish with a bit of butter on top of each piece. Bake at 350° for about 1 hour, until chicken is tender.

Thanks Google!

Where have I been you might ask?  Well the Holidays really made it hard for me to find the time and energy to post anything.  I love the Christmas season, but every year about two to three days after New Years I take a sigh of relief that it is all over.  Now before everyone wants to tie me to the post and burn me in effigy, I’m not saying that I hate the holidays.  It’s just that between all of the parties, shopping and whatever else, it becomes the season of exhaustion. 

Camryn racked up this year, and she’ll never remember all the lovely presents that she received.  Thanks to all of you that thought of our little girl this Christmas.

Also thanks to everyone that sent Christmas Cards this season, each year Leslie & I come up with an elaborate system for displaying them.  This year we were overwhelmed, which in turn overwhelmed our ideas as our refrigerator became the last stop for the announcements.  Maybe next year…

We also managed to clean up our house, which was in desparate need of an ‘de-nicknacking’.  Yah, so I’m inventing my own words now.

Main Entry: de·nick·nack
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): de·nick·nack·ed
Etymology: Middle New Orleanian Date: 2008
: to remove pointless objects from
— denicknacked <the house was denicknacked and now it looks less cluttered>

About twelve garbage bags later we were done, and we still have tons of stuff left over.  We’ll be having a garage sale on January 17 or 18th, so feel free to stop by and take some crap off our hands!

That’s about it in a nutshell, hope you had a good end of the year!

to everyone and their friends and family.  I hope you get everything you desire & remember those less fortunate than ourselves.

I received this email from my Aunt today and must share it with you all…

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: ‘I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.’

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: ‘He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 – he’s trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?

Thanks again Jane for making me laugh!

here are some cliches you might love to hate.

So I finally broke down and got an iPhone.  Well, I do not currently ‘possess’ the device, but somewhere it is awaiting my anxious hands as it is boxed up to be delivered.  I decided on changing my mind when I realized most of whom I converse with exist outside my current provider.  Outside of business calls, I have a lot of people I speak to on the AT&T network, as well as a lot of text messaging.  So I am hoping that using the minimal plan that AT&T provides, coupled with roll over minutes I will not get into too much trouble. 

Waiting till next Monday!