Miss Julia Would Not Be Denied Her Bath

Can You Please Pee in the Cup?

Yesterday afternoon  at big boy school Mason used the potty a lot (a good thing), and complained his pee-pee hurt (a not so good thing).  After relying the symptoms to Nurse Debbie she told me it could be a urinary tract infection, and made him an appointment.  She also told me I had to bring in a urine sample.  I asked how I was going to get a 3-year old to pee in a cup, and she told me I would figure something out as she hung up the phone with a chuckle.

This morning, in addition to getting out of the house on time with both children fully clothed, I had to collect the sample.  Mason was lying in our bed watching FOX News, and I walked in to get him dressed. “Hey buddy, do you have to go potty?” I asked.  He shook his head, rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.  “I don’t have to use the potty. It’s sleepy time, not wake-up time.” he said from under the blanket.  I did not want this to turn into a tear filled morning so I left him alone.

A few minutes later he walked into the kitchen and said he needed to go potty.  I grabbed a small container used to pack salad dressing in Becky’s lunch, and followed him to the bathroom.  “Mason, can you pee in the cup for Miss Debbie?”  He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.  “Why does Sadie need my pee-pee?” Sadie is our cat, but since he did not give me an outright no, I went with it.  “Sadie needs you to pee in the cup, can you please do that for daddy?”  He shook his head.  “No, I don’t want to share my pee-pee with Sadie!” While he protested I stuck the cup under the stream and collected a small sample.  Victory! When we were called back at the doctor’s office Nurse Debbie asked if I had been successful.  I handed her the container, and told her she could keep it.

*Note: Everything checked out fine and the little man does not have a UTI.

Brewday: Operation Cream Ale

It has been over a year since I brewed a batch of beer.  This weekend I finally set up a brewday with Joe.  We talked about what we wanted to make and settled on a cream ale.  We also decided it was time to brew our first all grain batch.  On Saturday Joe picked up the 9 pounds of 6-row pale malt, a pound of flaked maize, and a vial of California Ale Yeast (WLP001) from Home Brew Den in Tallahassee.  On Sunday I grabbed a propane burner from my father-in-law and cleaned all of the equipment.  Joe arrived a little after 2 o’clock and we started brewing.

We poured the grain into two large mesh sacks and placed them in the 5 gallon cooler.  We then steeped the grains in 3 1/4 gallons of 165 degree water for 60 minutes.  At that point we added another gallon or so of 195 degree water to the cooler.  We let the grains steep for another 10 minutes before drawing off the wort and pouring it into our brew kettle.

We then sparged the grains with two additional gallons of water.  Our pre-boil volume was 6 gallons and we fired up the propane burner and boiled our wort for 60 minutes.  At the 55 minute mark we added 1 oz. of Noble Hops.  When the boil was completed we placed the brew kettle into a kiddie pool and iced it down.  When the temperature dropped to 72 we poured it into our fermenter and pitched the yeast.

According to my hydrometer the beer’s original gravity (“OG”) was 1.032.  The target OG was somewhere in the 1.042 range.  The low OG is going to limit the alcohol content of the beer.  If the yeast ferment all of the available sugars in the beer we are looking at a 4% alcohol by volume beer.

Going back over our brewday notes I think I detected the problem.  When we added the sparge water I immediately drew it off.  This did not allow for us to get the most sugars out of the malt and probably impacted the OG.  I also would like to get a larger cooler to steep our grains, a more accurate thermometer, and a more detailed recipe.

The beer is going to ferment for one week and then I will transfer it to a secondary fermenter (a large glass carboy).  The beer will sit in the secondary for two weeks to allow it to clear before we bottle.  I am very interested to see how this beer turns out!

Grocery Shopping with Two Small Co-Pilots

Before having kids nothing required planning.  You’d get up in the morning with 15 hours ahead of you, and could pretty much do anything you wanted within the boundaries of the law, and your bank account.  After kids, things change. One of the most noticeable changes is everything takes planning, and the degree of difficulty related to each activity is drastically increased.  If our lives were a gymnastic routine the Russian judge would not be docking us points.

This morning Becky had a sinus headache and I needed to go grocery shopping.  Not the grab a few things at the Winn Dixie kind of shopping, but rather the our cabinets are bare and our babies are going to starve kind.  This occurs every couple of weeks, and is something I do not look forward to.  I wanted to go early before the crowds and “traffic” descended upon Thomasville.  However, I did not get out the door until 11:30 a.m., and instead of going alone I had two small co-pilots with me.  Degree of difficulty, increased!

Grocery shopping with two little ones is hard. I put Julia in the seat and Mason in the big part of the buggy.  Since Mason is getting big and we needed a lot of stuff I grabbed a second buggy to put all the food/other items in.  Our small caravan made our way into the store and began snaking through the aisles.  I waited for a meltdown, or an argument from the little co-pilots.  It never came.  Instead, they were perfectly behaved, and at one point Julia was petting Mason’s hair and he was smiling.  Who were these children? Pleased that our kids had been replaced by little aliens who got along with one another I quickly wrapped things up before they went south.  I would give our performance a 9.5 with the Russian judge taking off a half point due to Miss Julia failing to stick the landing.

Fat Boy Meals with Stephen

A couple weeks back I was approched by Stephen from WCTV to have the content of my food blog, Sweet Tea & Bourbon, appear on their website.  I agreed and since then we’ve been going back and forth with ideas for things (Foodie Friday and a possible logo), and also about possibly meeting for lunch.  Today, with the new Five Guys Burgers & Fries opening up on Thomasville Road we decided to grab a bite.

One of the coolest things about social media is connecting with people online and then meeting them in real life.  When I meet people who read this blog it is like meeting an old friend since they know a lot of things about me from reading my post, and I likewise if they also blog.

Stepehen was a really nice guy and we chatted about all sorts of things while eating our fat boy meals.  Turns out he is a local Tallahassee guy who served our country in the U.S. Airforce.  He told me he had been to all the Stans he ever wished to visit while he was deployed as a gunner on a Spectre Gunship. (These things are badass, Google it and watch one of the videos.  You do not want to be a Taliban member with these things over head.)  After that, he headed to FSU and ended up at WCTV.  He also filled me in on a restaurant I should avoid, but after hearing how horrible it was I kind of want to check it out (blogging gold!).  Overall, it was a good lunch and I am glad I got to meet the guy who helped give my blog a lot more visibility!

Passing a Stomach Bug Around

A toddler at Julia’s Little Girl School had some sort of viral infection last week.  He was out while the other 4 little ones played under the supervision of Miss Cherrie.  This week he returned, and brought a present back to the 4 healthy kids, his illness.  Miss Cherrie called me yesterday afternoon to tell me she found Julia sitting in a pool of nastiness while she was eating her lunch.  In fact, all 4 little ones had suffered blow-outs of one kind or another, and would not be allowed back until they had been clear for 24 hours.

Becky took a sick day and spent the day at home with Miss Julia.  She said she did not appear sick and was running around the house, dancing, and “playing” (i.e. terrorizing) our pups.  She did take a 4 hour nap this afternoon and for the most part was clear of the foulness that emitted from her the day before.

When I got home both little ones were waiting at the door to greeet meet.  Mason hugged me while Miss Julia placed my leg in a death grip.  I am very happy she is feeling better, and barring any setbacks she will be going to see Miss Cherrie tomorrow morning.

Froggy Boots