Trying to be a Little Less Redneck

Our son is happiest in just his diaper. We pretty much just let him live in this state, even outdoors, whenever possible. Our neighborhood is just eclectic enough for this to be totally acceptable, although when we carry him two doors down to talk to the man building his pricey dream home in our old neighborhood of modest homes built 70+ years ago, he might be wondering what he's gotten himself into.

(Random note: When they were tearing down the small falling down home that previously occupied the land that this man is building on, they found part of a train car as an integral part of the structure. The lady that lived there prior to her passing about 1.5 years ago frequently told me the story of how her husband literally carried some of the lumber for the house in on his back when he built it nearly 80 years ago when our neighborhood was not much more than a corn field besides her house and ours, but she failed to mention that the aforementioned lumber was framing an abandoned train car that was used as the majority of her living space. Fantastic!)

We also have a bug problem, our neighbor (with the mullet) still has a toilet on his back porch, and the currency of gratitude on our block, when someone does you a favor, is a 6 pack of Coors Light. We're probably just one couch on the porch short of a son named "Ricky Bobby" -- who wears only a diaper all summer long.

So to stave off our impending induction to the Redneck Club, I made Chard and crispy chick peas for dinner. Uncertain about how these two would pair together, I served them separately but they definitely tasted good together. The chard was kind of hard to get right, but still tasty. Pat wasn't 100% sold on the crispy chick peas, but Conrad and I are pretty certain we could've eaten those all night long. We didn't have the ancho chili powder the recipe called for, but regular chili powder sufficed. (Ella and her friend that was here for dinner agreed that one was enough for them. Thankfully I'd made ravioli with pesto too.) I think I'll add just the crispy chick peas to my mental list of quick dinners to make when Conrad and I are dining alone (while his sister continues to subsist on nuts, dairy, and fruit). A bowl of those and a beer (or cup of milk for the under aged one) would make for a great light dinner or late night snack.

Our neighbor must've sensed that I was trying to add a bit more class to the joint tonight because as a Thank You Gift for loaning out our garage for his big party over the weekend/early birthday gift -- he brought over a 6 pack of specialty beer instead of the standard domestics that we barter with in these parts. I'm movin' on up.

Note: I make jabs at the hillbilly nature of our neighborhood, yet we are currently fielding calls from multiple contractors and banks trying to work out the logistics to add on a second story to this house so we can take the 'For Sale' sign out of the front yard and settle in for at least another 5 years. I kid because I care. We love living here in this little neighborhood, so much so that we'd rather let them tear holes in our roof and mortgage us up to our eyeballs just so we don't have to live somewhere other than here.