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Growing up there was Chef Boyardee pizza on those rare occasions we had extra money. It was fantastic! Back in the 1980’s we didn’t have pizza joint on every corner nor did we have extra money so the homemade pizza was something we lived for!
It was family time in one sense as we got to help our mom “make” the pizza. This usually consisted of us begging for a pepperoni or two, some cheese or pretty much anything we could get our hands on. On those extremely rare occasions that we had money for extra toppings or mozzarella cheese, it was a true treat indeed! I still remember waiting the how-ever many hours it seemed to have the pizza topped and baked when it was really only twenty minutes or so from start to finish.As a grown up, I don’t eat Chef Boyardee often, only every now and again for nostalgia purposes; however, homemade pizza is still a favorite. On the off chance you don’t know how to make one, I’ll share an easy peasy version using a premade crust. The secret is to get one that is ready to roll-out and then add spices to the crust to make it your own. I used a Kroger crust this time and it had a nice crisp texture on the top layer and side crust when placed on a cooking stone. It was a little sweeter than I normally like and the bottom was not overly crisp due to placing on the baking stone. In hindsight, I should have taken it off the baking stone 10-12 minutes in and it would have crisped it more.
Ingredients
- 1 Kroger roll-out pizza crust
- 16 ounces of mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 package of Hormel pepperoni
- 1/2 jar Mezzetta pizza sauce
- spice blend of garlic powder, oregano, rosemary and thyme
- baking stone
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Stretch rectangle crust into a circle to fit baking stone. This will make your crust thin and crispy.
- Add your spice blend. I like to do mine in layers beginning with garlic powder so that I can see each area having a good amount of spice.
- Pre-bake crust in oven for four minutes and then bring back out. Crust should be slightly firm but not baked and the spices will begin to smell heavenly at this point.
- Add your sauce, making sure not to cover the edges but right to them.
- Add pepperoni to taste. I like a lot so I tend to have the whole pizza covered with pepperonis touching each other.
- Spread the cheese. Again, make sure the side crust is not covered.
- Bake for 14-17 more minutes until the crust is a darkish brown color and cheese is well melted.
- Cut, serve and enjoy!
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For the last two-three weeks, I have been getting up at 5:00 a.m. which is earlier than I need to for anything going on in my life. Lately, I’ve been looking for something on television, which is often harder than it should be. One advantage I have found is MeTV has a morning lineup called WatchME that begins at 5:30 with ALF, followed by Facts of Life and Different Strokes. Growing up I loved these shows and still do today! Hopefully one day I will be able to sleep longer, but until then, bring on the early 80’s!
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You know what’s really funny? Not funny, haha, but funny as in different, not normal, etc…. having family from your own side not just your in-laws that take notice of you, care about you and even want to know about you. After more than ten years of not having this in my life, it has been different getting used to the new responsibilities that this entails. Responsibilities you say? You know, those phones calls letting people know how you are doing, letters to those who don’t use email or even text messages. It’s those little things that I have had to get used to over the last few years.
You see, in finding my family, I really did find my family. They love me for who I am and care about my well-being. It’s a different feeling.
Aunt Betty tells me often that Turners are loving people and that her Dad, my Great Grandfather was one that cared and loved more than anyone she knew. I’ve found pictures, been given pictures and have heard stories. This man did so much that it would take a book to tell of his long life, who knows, maybe that will be next. Until then, I’ll have to keep doing my best to reconcile having family again. Hopefully, each day will continue being easier than the last.It’s good being a Turner!
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It’s amazing! As a polar vortex takes over 75% of the United States, we have been preparing for extreme cold temperatures, down below zero degree when taking into account the windchill. Schools everywhere have been closing for sickness the previous week and are now closing for extreme cold.
How bad is it? Colleges across the country, including the ones I work for, are closing to ensure students remain safe during these tumultuous times.Of course, not everyone believes we should be closed. In fact, the Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevins believes that we are going “soft” in these school closures. Not everyone agrees with the governor, in fact, many do not. Al Roker was one of these people and he went as far as to call Gov. Bevins a “nitwit”. I’m not one for calling names and in some isntances understand both sides. Growing up, we didn’t cancel school often and temperatures and snow was often worse than now. I walked to school, stood at bus stops, etc. and have lived to tell the tale. Was it right or wrong all of those years ago? I don’t know. The old saying, “I don’t have a dog in that fight” suits me well right now. I don’t have kids, wouldn’t have been at school anyway because of sickness, nor really care one way or the other… However, name calling is a bit childish either way.
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Whenever you are in the education field the question continually comes up as to whether or not you are going to finish your doctorate. It’s a valid question, it really is. I mean, in any field you should want to get to the top of you field and in education, that’s a doctorate. It’s just not as easy as it may seem though. First, finding a program that is in your field. Second, finding that program geographically close is generally a good thing. Lastly, trying to find any
program that is affordable at the same time with enough rigar to ensure the degree is worth obtaining can be almost impossible. Now take all of those issues and combine them and you’ll know what I’ve went through.I originally started a program at a popular state college that was not really what I wanted but it was A. geographically close and B. economical (free for me). What I found out was that even though A + B was there, it wasn’t the program I wanted and thus it became more tedious than it was really worth for me. In years past, doctorates in IT of any kind were few and far between. Now they are becoming a lot more common, but at the same time they are not necessarily affordable even if they are online with some rigor and in my program.
In other words, for me, my doctorate represents a three-headed monster that seems impossible to find. At some point, it won’t be feasible as I won’t have the willpower to complete it.
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As part of my regular duties, I have various students that come in to the college with previous military experience and/or industry certifications that want to convert these experiences as college credit. Most of the time, we have a set guide for what counts as what, but some of the time it must be evaluated and recommendations given. I’ve been that person in my department that does the initial evaluation and then pass it along to my department chair who agrees most of the time with me. We then forward it to the registrar who will either sign off on and post the credit or seek more information. In a lot of these situations, the American Council on Education (ACE) has already given their guidance on military transcripts, certifications, etc. which just needs verified.
It was through these transcripts that I was interested in how these credits were originally given recommendations by ACE. The more I looked at it, the more I liked what I saw. A general overview of how it works is as follows: An organization will contact ACE seeking a review of curriculum for credit. Depending on the situation, ACE will either fly a team to review or conduct a virtual review. A review team will spend three days looking at materials with first and second reviewers determining the what, how much and what type of credit is to be given, if any. The findings are then given back to the organization which can then decide what changes to implement if necessary and what to do with their recommendations.
I immediately saw that this was something I would enjoy doing and when I saw how to become part of these teams, applied and was accepted as a subject matter expert in several areas of Information Technology. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a couple of these reviews so far and can say I am impressed with the process we go through to complete the job.
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Plumbing still sucks. I don’t care who you are but if you like plumbing, you must be making money off other people’s woes. I mean, sure, I love indoor plumbing and all of that, but when something goes wrong, good luck. Thankfully, we have friends and family that do care about us and try to help. Father-n-law plumbing came and tried to do what he could. While he was here, we found a Dairy Queen cup left in the wall by that company that promises, “to make it like it never happened.” I was livid but, that’s another story. They also had left about three feet of copper which caused the issue to begin with. Complete laziness on their part, replace all of the copper, no issue.
Unfortunately, what Joe was trying to do wasn’t going to hold the leak. So, instead I sent a text to Dave. He said he’d be right over and indeed he was… on a Saturday no less. A couple of fittings, some PEX pipe, and all was well. Crisis averted. Next up in the remodel will be removing the paneling, drywalling and changing out Jac’s bathroom. One more step to finishing this remodel.
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Since purchasing our house almost eight years ago, we have been in the “process” of remodeling. For anyone that has done this before, you already understand what we have been through… if you haven’t and plan on it, may God protect your soul! We have had plumbing, electrical, and flooring issues. We’ve added walls, removed walls, split rooms and combined rooms. We have added a large deck, enclosed a garage, added walkouts, poured concrete driveways and sidewalks. We have added a roof, added siding, adding stone, and even redone landscaping lights. We have added dirt, moved dirt and landscaped. In other words, we have done it all. Do you know what I hate more than anything? Plumbing.
If anyone tells you that plumbing is easy, do not believe them. They are lying to you in order to make you part of their club.
The old adage that copper is best and will last forever, is false. What you see here is a tiny, tiny pinhole leak that only leaks when the water is pushing through. It happens to be on a toilet so every time it flushes it has a little bit of what come out. Over time, it has made little mess that needs fixed, but all in all this gets to be replaced. Want to guess what is to the let of this? PEX. We had an agency come and “Make it like it never happened” and this is where they stopped. They left three foot of copper. Needless to say, if you want it done right, do it yourself. This part is soon to be replaced with PEX, leaving us with maybe ten percent new copper in the entire house.If you have ever doubted whether or not to use PEX, heed my advice, use it. Copper leaks. Perhaps it didn’t before the chemicals began to be added to our water supply, but it definitely does now.
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Have I mentioned I hate being sick? I don’t like anything about it and generally just want left alone.
When I am coughing and have a sore throat, one thing I have come to love since being married to my wife Jacque is her granny’s famous tea — Granny Bailey Tea. It’s not hard to make:- Steep several bags of Lipton’s Tea
- Add a lot of sugar
- Pour in a cup
- Add milk to turn the color
As you drink the tea, it coats your throat soothing the rawness from coughing. I’m thankful for Granny Bailey Tea today and am looking forward to no more coughing.
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Let me start off by saying that I hate being sick… I truly do. I don’t like coughing, sneezing, snotting, runny nose, sore throat, fevers, bathroom issues, or anything else that might come along with any kind of sickness. More than anything though, I hate to throw up. There are people out there that are always claiming they are sick. I think some even might enjoy it. I don’t understand those people at all. I hate being sick. I don’t want the attention it brings. I don’t want to stay at home in bed. I have things I need to do. I hate being sick.
Right now, I am sick, probably a sinus infection, but the fear of what if it’s the flu always tries to sneak in. Earlier today, the local school system closed for two days (Thursday and Friday) so that it could be sanitized due to record low attendance across several schools in the system due to Flu. I hate that thought. I feel lucky so far that I don’t have to worry about throwing up. Instead, I’ll continue to cough and hack, blow my nose and just be a bit miserable.
I am still thankful tho. I’m thankful it’s only an infection. I’m thankful I was able to get the doctor to call in antibiotics. I’m even thankful that I work for a place that I can stay home. I’ll still have to grade papers, respond to emails, etc. but I won’t have to drive the three and a half-hours to sit at a desk and be miserable. Did I mention I hate being sick? I really do. I am also thankful that I know that this sickness will run its course and leave me sooner than later. It will only be a memory, albeit a bad one, but one that will go away.
Did I mention I hate being sick?
