Wings and Church

So I was craving some boneless wings and had no desire to spend money on having them delivered. I decided to make my own. I got a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts and tossed them in the microwave to defrost them. I cut them up in to small strips then soaked them in egg and rolled them in flour. I tossed the pieces in to some hot oil until they were browned and the meat was cooked through. I made enough so I could have 3 different kinds of wings. The first kind i made was tossed in some sweet chili sauce, the second in bbq sauce, and the third in a butter and hot sauce mixture. My favorite kind was the sweet chili wings.  Lucky for my lady, I made enough for her to have a couple too.

This weekend the lady and I have a marriage prep class at the church. I’m not really looking forward to it, especially since it goes from 8 am – 6:30 pm. It’s going to be a long day but it will be nice to get it done with. Hopefully she feels better in time for it since she’s sick right now. I don’t want to have to go another town, four months from now, to do it. I’d rather do it now, especially since it will be at the church that we will be getting married.

Other wedding news, she thinks she has her wedding dress picked out. It was at the only store she’s gone to but she does have another appointment to go try on dresses next weekend at another store.

Tuesday Update While at Work

Time sure does fly. School is starting it’s third week. It’s getting a little easier now that I’ve developed a little bit of a schedule with it. I work all day then go home and work on my school work. So far I have 100% in both my classes but that isn’t saying a whole lot since there haven’t been that many assignments. I have a major assignment due for Math tomorrow and half of it is a group project but of course I’m the only one that has done anything with it. Honestly I don’t really care if the rest of my group does anything. The teacher looks at our groups posts on the message board and I’m sure he’s noticed that I’m the only one posting. Also on Wednesday I have the first assignment of chapter 2 due while also having a quiz on chapter 1. Nothing like piling a bunch of stuff on to one day. Luckily I have everything done for the major assignment and have half the homework done for the assignment that is due. Tonight I’m going to try and get the assignment finished after I do my English homework that is due today. I’ve glanced at that but I’m not sure what I have to do for it yet.

The football games were interesting this weekend. Aaron Rodgers led an assault against the Redskins of Washington. Not only did he tie the franchise record for most passing yards in a game, he also tossed 4 touchdown passes (which did wonders for my fantasy teams). Surprisingly there was even a running game.  James Starks broke the streak of consecutive games without a 100 yard rusher for the Pack that dated back to October 10, 2010. The Packers coasted to a 38-20 win. They evened their record to 1-1 on the season. On a side note, I want to mention that 4th quarter comebacks are the dumbest stat in football. Skip Bayless of ESPN thinks they are important but it’s hard to have a 4th quarter comeback when you are winning the whole game. You wouldn’t need a 4th quarter comeback if you played better the first 3 quarters.

Anyways, on to the Badgers. The Pac-12 officals should be embarassed of the debacle that happened Saturday night. How hard is it to show some urgency when time is ticking down and a team is trying to set up for a game winning field goal? How do you let a defensive player lay on the ball for 11 seconds without throwing a flag for defensive delay of game? Even when you finally do get the ball marked you still don’t let the Badgers come up to the line until there are 2 seconds left in the game. The Badgers ended up losing 32-30 because of the complete incompetence of the officating. Granted if the Badgers defense didn’t play horrible it wouldn’t have come down to that but that’s not the point. Also, Melvin Gordon is a beast. The Badgers are now 2-1 on the season heading in to Big 10 play.

The Hilltoppers once again put their foot on the gas on destroyed another opponent. A dominating 62-26 performance on the home field against last year’s conference champion Mounders. GC’s leading rusher now has 716 yards on only 36 carries and 13 touchdowns this season.  The Toppers move to 4-0 and remain the top ranked team in Division 7.

 

Wedding Update

“Marriage is a wonderful institution … but who wants to live in an institution?” ~Groucho Marx

So we have our date for the big day set, for the second time.  We originally decided on October 4, 2014 but that day ended up not working since one of my groomsmen was also in another wedding that day.  So we looked at other weekends the place we wanted our reception and decided on September 6, 2014.  After we got that day set I called the church and talked to the priest and got that day reserved for us.  We had the challenge of wanting fall weather and having to do it before harvest starts.  Late September would have been ideal but of course everything was booked up.

After we got our date set we went and met with the priest, which was like an informal interview.  He gave us a book so we could pick our readings and vows and I think we’ve agreed to what we want.  Next adventure was finding a photographer and if you know my lady she is rather picky.  Personally I think all photographers are basically the same so I would rather go with cheap but of course that doesn’t work.  After her stressing out about finding one, we she finally decided on one.

This weekend Samantha (my lady) has an appointment to start dress shopping.  That should be adventure with how picky she is and I’m glad I don’t have to be a part of that.  I’ll just give her the check when she’s ready to buy.

Our wedding party is also set.  Her bridesmaids are: her cousins, Erika and Megan; her friend, Amanda; and my sister, Heather.  The maid of honor is her cousin, Nicole.  My groomsmen are: my cousins, Jerrad and Nate; my friend, Derrick; and her brother, Will.  My best man is my good friend, Bo.  Our ring bearer is Jerrad’s son and my godson, Noah. The flower girl is my best friend, Lillie.

I will keep giving everyone updates throughout the next year on how the process is going.  If anyone has any topics they would like me to talk about, feel free to let me know.

Football, School, and Stuff

Hello, everyone. As I’m sitting here at work I decided it would be a good idea to post. First of all, the NFL season is finally upon us. It’s about time. The Packers season is off to a rough start but considering they played the defending NFC Champions it could have been a lot worse. If it wasn’t for a horrid pass defense that gave up 8,937 412 yards through the air, the outcome could have been different.  Either way I believe the team will bounce back and contend again this year.  The Badgers moved to 2-0 this weekend beating FCS school Tennessee Tech.  While playing subpar competition the Badgers have pitched a shutout in both their games this year and have had 3 100 yard rushers in each game.  Also my high school team continued their dominate ways on Friday by thrashing a team from St. Paul 77-6. The defending Division 7 Champion Hilltoppers are now 3-0 on the season and outscoring opponents 198-13.

During the day yesterday I cooked up some chili in the crockpot so the lady and I could eat during halftime of the Packers game.  We poured the chili on cornbread waffles and it was delicous.

 

I’m a lot less stressed about school now.  I don’t know why teachers feel the need to pile on the work the first week but I survived and now I’m on to week 2.  I decided to work ahead a little bit in my math class since those assignments take a while to finish and I hate spending half my night doing math homework after working 9 hours.

Enough about me.  How are your teams doing? Make anything delicious and want to share your recipe? How’s school going for you? Work? What’s going on in your lives?

School is Stressful

Like many others, Tuesday marked the first day of school for the 2013-2014 year.  And like those many others I am already stressed from the school work.  Since this is my first semester back to school in quite a while, I was limited to 6 credits and boy is that enough for now.  Both of my classes are online so that works well for me since I work full-time, but there are definitely not enough hours during the day.  I don’t think I’ve ever worked this hard during three days of school in my life.

My English class has basically consisted of reading a bunch of articles and then using what I learned in one and apply it to a summary for another.  Which is fine and makes sense, but what I don’t like is I also have to comment on other people’s summaries of the text.  I really don’t see the point of it.

The Math class is really getting to me right now.  Our first assignment is a non-graded pre-test that we have to get 70% on.  I haven’t done anything other than simple math in the last 8 years but I’m expected to know some ridiculous stuff.  I’ve taken it three times now and my best score is a 57%.  Why are we needed to know stuff we’re going to be learning in the class before we go over it? The pre-test is due tonight but I’ve given up on it, screw the 70%.  I apologize for the mini-rant but it’s frustrating.

Anyways this is the workstation that I spend pretty much all of my time at except when I’m at work or sleeping.

Enough about me, how is everyone else’s first week of school going?

Boom! Engaged!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last week but I have been super busy.  Last Tuesday (August 24) I finally popped  the question.  After 2 years and 1 month of dating I asked my girlfriend to marry me.  Luckily for me, she said yes.

So for the last week we have been trying to figure out a date and place for the big day. Thankfully it didn’t take us long since there aren’t a whole lot of places around here and a few that we knew for sure we didn’t want to have the reception at. We went and checked out a location on Friday after I got done with work and another on Sunday afternoon (since I couldn’t on Saturday since I had a fantasy football draft). We really liked the place we looked at Friday and went in to Sunday knowing that place had to knock our socks off.  We were pretty disappointed on Sunday since it was super expensive, wasn’t much room, and didn’t include a whole lot.  So we have decided on the place we looked at Friday, which is a banquet room and a bar in town here.

Next thing we need to do is confirm the date with the church, which will hopefully happen tomorrow.  Once that is done and we have a date we have to call the reception place and get that contract signed and the deposit payed.  We had a tentative date before today but that got tossed out since one of my groomsmen has another wedding he’s in that weekend.  I’m not looking forward to all the money we’re going to be spending but it’s all worth it.

Twitter Handle

Hello everyone! I’ve created a new twitter handle for my blog so feel free to follow and tweet me.  @brewed_cheese

Back to School

After 7 or so years of no school I have decided it was time to return and get a degree.  I don’t know what I will choose for my major but I’m excited for my future.  Since I am returning to school and doing it all online, through the University of Wisconsin Colleges, my course load for the first semester is limited to six credits.  I’m glad they are doing that so I’m not completely overwhelmed by working full-time and going to school.  Since I am only allowed six credits the two classes I’ve decided to take are English 102 – Critical Writing, Reading, and Research; and Math 110 – College Algebra.  Today is the first day that the courses have been made available to me so at least I get a chance to get use to the D2L website and go through the syllabuses and class calendars and such.  I plan on spending as much time as possible during the next week getting myself ready for this huge step in my life.  My classes start September 3.  Good luck to all students returning to school.

Homemade Pizza and Breadsticks

I’m not going to lie, I make a pretty good pizza. I use to make the dough in a big mixer but now I just throw the ingredients in the bread machine and put it on the dough setting. If you would like to make it for yourself here is the recipe. You may need to alter the amounts used a little bit since I don’t really measure anything out, I just pour it in the bread machine. I had to add a bit of extra flour in it since it is so hot and humid. And thank you to my girlfriend Samantha for making the breadsticks for me since I was at work.

Pizza Crust
4.5 cups flour
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs garlic powder
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbs italian seasoning
2.25 tsp yeast
1.5 cups warm water
After it’s done mixing, I usually let it rise for a couple of hours then I either use a 16in pizza pan or a cookie sheet to put the dough on. After the dough is spread I put the dough in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 min before I put any sauce or toppings on.

Pizza Sauce
In a sauce pan, add 1 can of Tomato Sauce and 1 can of Tomato Paste. Then add Italian Seasoning, Garlic Powder, and Cayenne Pepper. How much you add is up to you depending on how you want it to taste. I cook it on medium heat until it starts bubbling then put it on low. I usually spread a little over half of it on the pizza crust then save the rest for the breadsticks. Add toppings of your choice to the pizza. Tonight I have made two pizzas, one pepperoni and the other hawaiian.

Breadsticks – makes a dozen or so
1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
1.25 tsp yeast
3-3.5 cups flour
1.75 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Breadstick Topping
Take a stick of butter and rub over the tops of the breadsticks and sprinkle with garlic salt. I also make the dough for the breadsticks in the bread machine on the dough setting. After it is mixed I let it rise until double in size then seperate into 12 equal pieces and make each piece into a rope. I put them on a pan and in to the preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. After removing from the oven I add the breadstick topping.

Hot Hot Hot!

Wow summer has come back in full force.  We go from comfortable upper 70s-low 80s to 90s.  The weather has been so weird bat shit crazy this year.  Winter lasted for ever as we got a foot of snow on May 2nd followed by a month and a half of rain.  Then we go to no fairly mild summer with zero rain to super hot.  Mother nature really needs to make up it’s mind.

This is just the next 4 days, it’s suppose to be like this for atleast the next week and a half.