Free Chick-fil-A Breakfast x2!

If you are not on the Chick-fil-A email insider list, then you probably miss out on a lot of awesomeness.  
  
Chick-fil-A just had their free breakfast promotion and gave away free breakfast items by invitation! I received two invitations, so I went twice! (I didn't want to let them down.)

It seems like just yesterday that I got 3 free Chick-fil-A meals in one day, but that was not going to stop me. I love this place.

Free chicken, egg, and cheese bagel
with Redneck Friend

There is nothing like getting up an hour early on a weekday and having free Chick-fil-A and a little man talk with Redneck Friend before work.

This was the first chicken, egg, and cheese bagel I'd ever had. It was good, but more importantly FREE.

Free spicy chicken biscuit
with Wife

The Worst: shoe shopping for yourself on a Saturday. Lame!
The Best: starting it all off by taking Wife for some FREE Chick-fil-A breakfast and a huge sweet tea or three.

I rarely, if ever, buy breakfast out. But when your biscuit is free and your sweet tea is free (I had a coupon), buying some hash brown things as a side is a great idea.

Thanks Chick-fil-A!

Groundhog Problem Solved: An Issued Statement

Friends, family, and 88caprice readers:

The groundhog problem has been resolved.

As you know, a groundhog got into the garden. Tomatoes and beans were damaged in the attack. A whole head of red cabbage disappeared. Holes were dug under the fence. Something needed to be done.

Redneck Friend was commissioned to remedy the situation. Within 48 hours, victory was achieved. Additional details of the operation will not be released.

Redneck Friend confirmed this victory via text message, which read: "In Your face ground pig!"

Wife and I, the 88caprice blog, and the garden are grateful to Redneck Friend for freeing the vegetables from the constant threat of groundhog pests.

Together, we will regrow.

Groundhog Ate My Garden!

THAT'S IT! That groundhog has gone too far!

There's been a fat groundhog living under my shed for a long time, but he has never bothered anything...until now.

Just when Wife and I were starting to get some bounty out of our backyard garden the groundhog decided to help himself and eat my vegetables. I object!

First, the groundhog dug under my garden fence.

I filled the whole in and covered it with a block, but he dug under the fence AND the block the very next day. Lame!

Then, he decided to take a few bites out of my roma tomatoes.

He wasn't even decent enough to take them with him. He just ate half and left the rest. Waste! Even worse, he ate almost every bloom off of our green bean vines. The beans are looking pretty sad now.

AND THEN, as if that were not bad enough, he committed the ultimate crime: that groundhog ate a whole head of purple cabbage!

Look at that! He just leveled the whole thing.

I try to be patient. I really do. But don't eat my vegetables. Not cool.

Wife and I already have a city garden, which can be trying. On top of that we fight off city deer and maintain a fence to keep them out. And now I've got a groundhog digging holes and eating my bounty!

*Solution: Redneck Friend. This is a city garden, and groundhogs are country critters. I need a man with county experience to take care of this.

I called my secret weapon, Redneck Friend. He is pumped and ready to take care of this. I won't meddle in methods: that's his job. All I know is that groundhogs and my garden don't mix.

The next time my vegetables are eaten, it will be with my own teeth.

Home Gardening Makes Free Vegetables

I have no awesome gardening skills, but I do have a backyard garden.
Gardens make free vegetables.
Free vegetables make me happy.

Now if the suburban groundhogs and city deer will leave it alone, I'll be in business.

Wife and I are on our third-annual backyard garden. We don't grow anything too crazy, but we do grow vegetables we can use or store up. We started getting our first bounty a few weeks ago.

Tomatoes
This year we have three types of tomatoes: romas, better boys, and Cherokee purple heirlooms.

Romas everywhere!

 

I love the taste of a home-grown tomato, but I am not a snob when it comes to variety. The romas are producing far more than the others types, but they are also smaller. The better boys are pretty average and consistent, and the Cherokee purples are BIG and meaty.

Peppers

This year we're growing jalapeno peppers, green bell peppers, banana peppers, and poblanos.  

Jalapeno peppers!

 

Wife makes pickled jalapenos that rock my face off. Had I tasted her pickled jalapenos before we got married, we probably would have skipped our wedding and eloped months sooner.

 

Does this look like a poblano to you?

It doesn't look like a poblano to me, but that's what the sign called it when we bought the plant. Whatever it is, it tastes good.

Red Cabbage
We've never grown red cabbage, so I'll let you know how it works out.

If we get sick of buckets of slaw, I'll have to find other uses for these big heads of magic.

Carrots
Also a first: carrots. In cartoons, critters and people can just yank on a carrot top and pull the whole thing up out of the ground. I have learned this is a lie.

Look at this skinny thing! I dug this guy up as a test, and it was not easy. I nearly broke it. It sure was sweet, though. Mmmm.

Okra
I like a little fried okra. I LOVE a lot of fried okra.

When it comes to okra, bigger is NOT better. This one is a little small still, but I don't let them get much bigger. Eating a foot-long okra is like eating a couch cushion. Or a log.

Also...
A few beans, one strawberry plant, and a bunch of herbs round out the rest.

 Not bad for a little backyard garden!

Caprice Fixed, Money Saved!

After my '88 Chevy Caprice failed to pass inspection this year, I decided to do the repairs myself.

Mission accomplished! Repairs are done, The Beast has been reinspected (and passed), and I'm back on the road. I saved a lot of money, too.

Brake hoses
The mechanic quoted a price of $160 to replace both front brake hoses. I picked up the two hoses from the nationally-recognized auto-parts megastore for $11 each. Several friends have asked how I did it, so I'll show you in my next post.

Wipers
Installing wipers is such an easy job that the nationally-recognized auto-parts megastore will usually do it for free right there in the parking lot. I did it myself, but not at the mechanic's $28 price tag. I picked up a pair for $20.

Headlight alignment
This was easy, free, and took about 20 minutes. My Haynes Repair Manual has a guide for adjusting headlights with the turn of a screwdriver.

Rear view mirror
Take it from me: do NOT use super glue to reattach a rear view mirror to your windshield. It doesn't work. For $5 I found a little glue kit made just for rear view mirrors. Easy! Just don't glue the tab to the mirror or glue the tab on backwards. Lame.

Money I saved

	Quote	My Cost	Savings
Brakes	$160	$22	$138
Wipers	$28	$20	$8
Lights	$15	$0	$15
Mirror	$10	$5	$5
TOTAL	$213	$47	$166!

Since I'm NOT an auto mechanic, I'm hardly qualified to give advice or show how to fix a Caprice. But, I will show you what I did to fix mine.

That means my next post will be less of a "how-to" and more of a "how-did."

Hey! I think I just coined a new phrase: The How-Did Guide!

So be it...

Rejected: Failed Inspection Costs Dollars!

Oh no! My car didn't pass inspection this year and it will cost ALL THE MONEY! Well, not really. But it is still a big phooey.

Now I have some repair decisions to make, but first...


About my car
I drive a 1988 Chevy Caprice, and proud of it.

My '88 Caprice, or "The Beast," is AWESOME because:

• It's PAID FOR
• It's old enough that I can fix some things myself
• It's big and comfortable
• It's made of more metal than plastic

The Beast reminds me of stuff I like: reliability, saving money, DIY, and the freedom of not being obsessed with the latest and newest things. And no, I don't work for Chevy!

I gave my work buddy OCD a lift in The Beast. He said, "This car is SO comfortable! It's like floating down the road on a sofa!"

Thanks, OCD! I agree...


Broken!
Four things didn't pass inspection:

• Right-front brake hose cracked ($80)
• Windshield wipers ($14 x 2 = $28)
• Rear view mirror fell off ($10 to re-glue)
• Headlights out of alignment ($15 to adjust)

Total to Pass: $133

But wait! The mechanic said my other brake hose wasn't looking so hot either, but not bad enough to fail inspection. If I need one side replaced, I would rather have both sides done. After all, it's a 24-year-old rubber hose and probably could use a change.

Total Cost: $213

Yikes! Time to think about fixing the car myself.

Brake hose: Just unscrew a hose and screw on a new one?
Wipers: Like putting on pants. Got it.
Mirror: $10 glue? Really?
Headlights: We are talking about twisting a few screws here. No biggie.

Alright, I'm going to tackle this.
It's you and me, Caprice. Let's do this thing...

P.S.  A big thanks to The Yankee for the photos and camera use.

Free Chick-fil-A Food x3!

Wife and I love Chick-fil-A and free stuff, so we dressed up like cows for Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day! Free meals!

Don't know about Cow Appreciation Day?
Don't have a Chick-fil-A?
Don't want to dress up like a cow in public?
STINKS to be you, my friend. Stinks to be you.

Wife and I jumped at the chance this year, as usual.
For starters, it aligns with two of my life principles:

• If it's free, take it*
• If it's free food, eat it

When an awesome restaurant offers you free food for taping cow spots on your clothes, I suggest you do it.

And if you have three locations within a reasonable driving distance, I suggest you hit all three of them up in one day...

...like I did.

Free Meal #1: Breakfast
Sidekicks: Wife, Redneck Friend
The Haul: Chicken biscuit, hash browns, sweet tea

All this was free just for wearing a few cow spots, cow ears, and an "Eat Mor Chikin" sign. What a way to start the day!

Free Meal #2: Lunch
Sidekicks: Redneck Friend, Peeps from work
The Haul: Chicken sandwich w/ cheese and bacon, waffle fries, Coke with lemon

We ate in for lunch, and the place was buzzing. There were a few unimpressed-looking people who acted too cool to participate in the tomfoolery, but I just clutched my free food and mooed at them.

Free Meal #3: Dinner
Sidekicks: Solo mission
The Haul: Grilled chicken club sandwich w/ honey roasted BBQ sauce, carrot and raisin salad, sweet tea

Wife left me for another state, so I worked a little late and hit the drive-thru on the way home. This was my first time going alone, so the drive-thru really came in handy.

Now tell me: how could all this free food not make your day? No need to let embarrassment stop you: I have all kinds of tricks to make the whole thing a manly, respectable experience.

Maybe I'll share those ideas sometime...


*Please use discretion. Don't get crazy.

The New Kitchen in Pictures

It's our completed kitchen remodel, brought to you by 88caprice.blogspot.com, Wife, and a borrowed camera from Father and Ma!

Please enjoy this crazy long string of "before and after" shots:

Hood! Blinds! Joy!

Old fridge, new location.

A place to put the microwave!

Look at all that counter space!

All new lighting.

Less clutter.

Lost eating space, but gained cooking space.

Feels so much better.

I probably just broke the interwebz with all those pics!
Thanks to all who contributed to this project. Wife and I appreciate it!

This closes the kitchen renovation! On to the next thing...

Kitchen Done, Camera Broken!

Good News:

• Kitchen is done!
• It works!
• We moved back in!
• Wife and I are cooking meals all over the place!

Bad News:

• Camera broke!

Yep, our little point-and-shoot camera of five years is no more.
Other than eating through batteries like a piranha, it was a pretty good camera; but it took a fall and did not survive.

Stuff I Can't Show You:

• Awesome kitchen
• Window treatments we picked out
• The way the colors all compliment each other
• New gas stove
• Our sexy mood lighting

Stuff I Can Show You:

• This crazy (and pretty funny) fried doughnut and ice cream recipe I found.

Don't worry: I won't let camera FAIL get me down.
Let the new camera fund raising begin...

Shoe Molding, Amnesia, and The Logger

With the flooring down I finally managed to paint the baseboards and trim. Wife painted the doors because she is cool like that.

Time for molding!

I used oak molding that I stained myself. It's not true quarter round, but it's close. Father calls it shoe molding, but the nationally-recognized home-improvement megastore didn't really call it anything. The sign just said, "Give me all your dollars! AAARG!"

I was pretty sure that I had an 8-foot piece of molding leftover from another project a few years ago. I went out to the shed to get it and "SNAP!" Look at all this I had!

How in the world did I have three, 8-foot pieces and a bunch of little guys left over without remembering?

Were my measurements off by THAT much?
Did I buy too much by accident?
Do I have amnesia?
Did I buy too much by accident?

Oh, I said that...

Before I began, I measured everything carefully. My goal was to use ALL of the old molding without having to buy any more. According to the measurements, I could make that happen with 3 inches to spare!

NOTE: Sweet tea enhances cognitive powers.

Good news: my friend The Logger had a good saw that would cut sharp, exact angles! The Logger owns EVERYTHING that cuts wood.

I met The Logger and his stretch limo diesel truck in a parking lot. He passed the saw to me like a shady deal. I'm telling you: that truck of his could have six doors if it wanted to.

The saw worked great! I carefully planned all the cuts to minimize waste and save money.

Dry fitting each piece is a great idea. I just placed the pieces where they needed to go, slid them tightly into the corners, and checked the length.

I used a nail gun and some brads to attach the molding. Those little leftover pieces came in handy for the shorter runs.

Done! It really didn't take as long as I thought it would! A big "thanks" goes out to my amnesia (which saved me money), The Logger (for the hook-up), and to my amnesia (which saved me money).

Is it just me, or this kitchen pretty much done?

Backsplash Tile and Grout, No Kidding!

I kept thinking how good a tiled backsplash would look right under the range vent hood. Having tile just behind the stove would also help protect the wall from cooking splatters.

And now, a confession...

OK, OK! I misjudged the height of the cabinet and the range hood back when I did the wall repair, so there were some small, visible holes in the wall between stove and hood. I guess I was trying to save money and time by NOT repairing walls that would be hidden behind cabinets. Oops, I missed a spot. Besides, I ran out of patch anyway.

OK, FINE! I also didn't quite paint the wall high enough, then I ran out of paint. Really though, judging paint quantity within two square feet isn't so bad, right?

OK, let's skip the patching and the painting and the sanding and go with a tiled backsplash.

And guess who has done a little tile work and was just dying to add a backsplash to his portfolio?

Redneck Friend!

After taking exact measurements we started by adding a little shim that would act as a stop or a guide to build up from.

Then we taped the area off with painter's tape and scored the wall so the adhesive would hold better.

Then, Redneck Friend used a special tile trowel to spread the adhesive around.

We had a blast doing this, and the jokes were getting out of hand!

"Looking good, Redneck Friend! Oh, and so is the adhesive! Oooooh!"

Redneck Friend almost got a sunburn from the halogens on my vent hood, but we managed to finish up the adhesive without any sunscreen.

The tile that Wife and I liked the most happened to also be the cheapest tile they had at the nationally-recognized home-improvement megastore. We got 2-inch tiles that were stuck together in 12-inch sheets with little squirts of silicone, or something. Two and a half sheets fit across just fine with no tile cutting!

I'm not going to lie: watching Redneck Friend do the tile was super easy! Everything was really coming together.

Redneck Friend: "Man, that's as awesome as... uh..."
Me: "Your mom? Oooooh!"

We didn't have any real tile spacers, so we improvised with little pieces of cardboard.

After the adhesive dried (a day or two), we started with the grout. For a job this small, I went ahead and bought the pre-mixed tile grout. It's a little more expensive, but it comes in small quantities and it already mixed to perfection.

This cool grout sponge wiped away the excess. The sponge looked a little like a big piece of cornbread.

Mmmm. Cornbread. Maybe when this kitchen is done I should blog about food. Mmmmm.

Oh yeah, tile.

As you can see from this photo, Redneck Friend is both awesome and taken.
Sorry ladies.

I finished the job with a carefully shaped bead of grout caulk where the painter's tape was. It was like gritty silicone and it helped blend in the edge of the tile with the wall.

After a job well done I fed Redneck Friend all my food and sent him home to the country.

"I'm gonna stick a fork in you, backsplash! Cuz you're done! Ooooh!"
Nevermind.