HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM DAN+McKINNEY, TX

THE WEEK OF DAD STUFF

While being a parent is day-to-day, forever, time off at home with the family is a good time to get clever with activities, a great time to bond with the baby, who in the blink of an eye is six months old today.  They say time flies, and that is 100% true.

I finally found my Ergobaby carrier after the move to the new house and had entirely too much fun with it.  Not only is it comfortable, and I can actually complete tasks if the baby decides to stop napping right in the middle of me loading the dishwasher, but it makes for some excellent #dadselfie time.  Yes, you read it right.  Hashtag DAD selfie time.  Instead of being all stuffy and proper, after a pretty lengthy day of being spit up on, doing husbandly and fatherly duties, and running on empty, I decided to spin it all totally positive and have a little selfie session with the baby.

These things from the "Myspace Angle" look like a parachute.

Fish and Tots and a baby.  Had enough going on to eat at the countertop that night.  It was a "won't nap" day in addition to multiple other to-do's.  Ergobaby saved the day.

The look of confusion?

Chin munch.

THE WEEK OF MOM STUFF- (DAD'S TOTALLY ON BOARD WITH THIS).
Because in our house we do NOT support Gerber or any processed jar baby food, we make it ourselves.  Over the break I supported my lovely wife's initiative to make 2 weeks worth of baby food, in our ongoing effort to provide our baby with farm fresh produce.  After discovering all the chemicals present in processed baby food, we are really making an effort to completely adopt a Ground-to-Market-to-Blender lifestyle with our baby's nutrition.

You will be seeing many more posts elaborating specifically on this initiative with much better photography, which will hopefully inspire all you parents out there.  With a Farmer's Market as good as ours here in town, Sprouts, Market Street, AND Trader Joe's, excuses are hard to come by.  If you have some pointers or ideas you'd like to share, this is a very community topic.

Labor intesive activities aside.  Nothing beats seeing wife and daughter spending quality time together amidst hectic work schedules, and busy weekends of running around.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday! Now some Miles Davis Jazz Classics on the turntable to bring the time off to a close.

SUBURBAN FARMING: Joining the Movement of Non-Processed Food and Simple Self-Reliance

As an active adolescent who surrounded myself solely with musical instruments, I never once thought I'd find myself interested in gardening or planting things. When you're living at home, still in grade school or community college, and don't have any notable bills to speak of, it's easy to get used to having a fridge full of food from Whole Foods Market or something of the like. Then got out on my own, became independent, and then one day: "Bye Whole Foods, can't afford you anymore. I have substantial grocery bill now." The whole interest in this movement and way of life started as a honey-do for my lovely wife Katie.  Digging and lifting.

We got to know all the local independent farmers at the McKinney Farmer's Market, and came across all the local people who could sustain a healthy crop right from their backyards. Whether it was completely urban, or semi-rural property; it was eye opening and inspiring, to say the least.

In our first West McKinney home we began with just one of those Home Depot raised bed kits you could put together in 5 minutes.  I think they're about 4 x 4 and you just connect the corners.

Garden from Summer 2014- old house, after we went to cinder.

8 x 4 kit garden, Spring/Summer 2013 in old house before we went to cinder.

We took it to two of these connected together by year two, and then by year three we removed all the wood and went to cinder. While we weren't too thrilled with the outcome of the tomatillo crop as we were in the previous two years, it flourished nonetheless.

Overabundance of Tomatillos- September 2012

We tried the "companion gardening" trick we saw on our social media feeds, integrating  herbs and vegetables.  We planted rosemary in between the various types of tomatoes, green and wax beans.

Our experiment with "companion gardening" Spring 2014 after going to cinder.

We recently moved across town, and half the reason we bought the house was for the pre-existing raised bed garden with dirt already in the backyard. Because we no longer have a Homeowner's Association, we could expand upon it shamelessly!  It's a good 8 x 16 and a perfect canvas for perfecting our craft of growing our own produce.  While Katie has a pretty solid understanding of growing and maintaining a vegetable garden, having grown up with them, and I'm catching on, we are by no means, "experts" or "master gardeners".   We just love the experience of working together to introduce new vegetables, working through improvements and tweaking it each year; based on the survivability during Texas' very unpredictable weather patterns. Most importantly, we're making healthy memories as a family.

Just tilled the new 8 x 16 raised bed garden the other day.  Please ignore the ailing fence.  We are getting a new one this week.  Fall/Winter 2014- New House

What's your story, McKinney? Do you have a backyard garden or ideas you'd like to share? Stay tuned for more posts on progress!

I didn't quit blogging! I promise! Four Words: "Moving With a Baby"

So while my time is presently limited I will call this my "I promise I didn't quit blogging" blog.  I'll just fill you in on the goings-on.  A lot of McKinnians may have noticed the real estate market is hot.  In a matter of 2 total weeks we jumped at the opportunity to sell our West McKinney home and buy another one closer to all the action further east.  Most people would not take on moving house with a 4 1/2 month old baby....except us.  It was that fine line between foolish, and smart for jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of a super hot real estate market before all the Toyota folks get here from California.  We literally were probably 72 hours away from signing an apartment lease and my lovely wife did it again.  She found the perfect house, in a quiet neighborhood with just the right amount of space and features.  It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye to the old one but we are slowly but surely, as time allows, settling in to the new one unpacking a couple of boxes at a time and working our way out of survival mode.

This post is going to be a little bit different from my usual writings because it is admittedly rushed.  It is a shameless plug of local businesses combined with lessons learned, and a promise that I did not quit.

10 THINGS:
#1 Milestone Electric really do fix it in a flash- just like the jingle that gets stapled deep into your head during NBC5 commercial breaks in the morning.  We had some screwy electrical issues within the first day of moving in and problems were solved quickly.  Electrician- true expert and trustworthy individual.  Customer Service reps- Second to none.

#2 Fence companies love to talk nasty about one another when getting bids.  Dang! Be nice guys, keep it professional.

#3 Choose your movers wisely and breathe down their neck- yes they do this every day, but they still haven't learned their lesson about not grabbing washers and dryers by the knobs.

#4 Vee's Appliance Repair- Great experience.  On time, reliable, and actually fixes the problem in a timely manner.  He actually cares about his customers and put my daughter's needs ahead of his own.  Clean dry clothes for my baby and fast, adequate solutions.

#5 Albertson's is NOT your store. It is a dated, non-innovative cesspool of rotting produce, processed chemically enhanced rubbish, and the awful idea of "variety pack" combinations of meat.  Sorry I do not want moldy fruit or chicken juice in my 4 days past the sell by date ground beef.  I know I said I would not speak negatively on this blog, but I'm rebelling today.  Once you have experienced McKinney Farmers Market, Sprouts, Urban Acres or Trader Joe's....everything else sorta sucks.

#6 Trader Joe's is awesome.  Nice to have one nearby, and an Urban Acres share pickup down the street twice a month.

#7 Who would have thought that living further away from work actually makes for a quicker commute in the morning and evening.  It's achievable when you don't live 7 miles from any major highway and your nearest major highway is now one quarter of a mile away.  Toll bill goes up, but time spent in car angry about morning routine, 9 school zones, and terrible traffic ALL goes down and away. 


#9 Not having an HOA now is awesome.  It is nice not to spend $480 per year anymore to be menaced and sent nastgrams about the single weed that grew in my yard that morning while I was at work.

#10 Moving into a "project house" really makes me want to go to Lowe's and play.  Wife has the same bug.
"OMG! A gutter extension piece.  Sweetie, I need a gutter extension piece! And tacks!" 

Weathering the Occasional Life Storm: Where's Your Happy Place?

Photo Credit SNUG ON THE SQUARE - Coffee House and Good Eats Cafe McKinney, TX

 I like to think of myself as a positive person, at least a realistic 85% of the time.  I can only count on one hand the people that see me when I'm not having the best of days, when I'm truly in a horrid mood, things are not working in my favor, and I'm not thinking rationally.  God Bless the people I work with who see my 15%, and in addition to being my business associates, end up being part psychologist, part some sort of counselor or life coach.  What can I say? That's how it goes in business sometimes, and I guess you could say I'm one of the "wound up like an 8 day clock" types who has that passion for my industry and success; and it probably translates to others as some really boisterous B+ off Broadway Musical or theatrical spectacle. The good days are excellent and bad days are just every kind of not awesome imaginable and I'd be lying if I said I was totally tolerable during those lulls. Sometimes I bring it home on my shoulders and my lovely wife takes the brunt of  this occasional storm cloud, and God Bless her the most.

I would also be lying if I told you that I'm capable of always having 100% positive subject matter.  But here is the good news, I'm going to find some way to turn it back around and make it that way.

For those of you who are fans of FRIENDS, prime time past or like myself, king of the re-runs, I can only think of Alec Baldwin's guest appearance as Phoebe's boyfriend, Parker, who is physically and mentally incapable of being negative or unhappy.  It's unnatural, comical, and towards the end of it, a little annoying.  After a while all I could think was 'Shut up dude! There is nothing interesting about tail lights or cab rides in traffic!'

If I've lost you, watch the clip.
FRIENDS "The One In Massapequa" S08E18 © Warner Bros. Television 1994-2004

If you couldn't tell by now, it's not my favorite week, but I'm writing this, and it's making me feel better.  That's got to count for something, right?  It's my happy place. Stack it with a late morning or an hour before closing, 'zone out on the couch time' at Snug on the Square. Quite frankly, I need to do this more often because it's therapeutic.  At work, I also walk a lap or two around the office complex pond.  That works exceptionally well when I face the temptation of regrettable actions or words. I get fresh air, inspiration, and clarity.  If your office complex has one of these, grab a bottled water from your office fridge and take a lap.  It may do you some good, as I've recently found that it's beneficial for me.

The office pond.  If your workplace has one, spend time there.

This brings me to my point and question.  You don't have to be a Parker.  Most people are not Parker.  We will all inevitably have many crappy days and we will experience negative. 

So I ask you this. Where is your happy place?  That one place where you can decompress, escape the negative, take your mind off a stressful, wretched day, and get clarity and perspective?

I want to hear from you!

-DAN+McKINNEYTX-

Yours Truly, Dan+McKinneyTX @ Elm Fork Shooting Sports

Family: It's a Team

Before my next feature I just wanted to take a quick recess, and reflect on one of my themes.  Family.

Around town, I see all sorts of teamwork going on.  There are youth sports teams, high school drill teams, charity teams, street teams for bands, debate teams at school.  You see a lot of teambuilding exercises at work.  I even see some great teamwork going on between the vendors at the McKinney market.  But there is one team that sits at the top for me.  Family.  I don't often see family be compared as a team; a unit of people working together to function and accomplish all sorts of goals. 

I ponder a lot of ideas, and get a lot of my inspiration for blog topics from my own adventures and life events, usually while holding my baby daughter.  Yesterday I had to remind myself while she was in need of consolation, this is a team effort. As the man of my house, I have to be there through the best and worst of times and keep my head in the game.  I have to be there for my team. 

With teambuilding at work, where you're sorting out routine processes, people may be learning how to work together, putting a Band-Aid on some sort of procedural glitch, and create a professional harmony.

With a sports team, like baseball or basketball, it's a group of people working together, each bringing their strong point (position) and the end result is baskets and runs.

At the market, it's a "hey can you make me some change for this 20?" scenario....

But the family team is lifelong.  It's not a seasonal thing like a sport, and it's not a 9-5 thing like work. It's loved ones working together to function, or achieve many goals ranging from very simple to very complex and challenging.  Obviously this evolves over time as we all get older and our roles change in our loved ones' lives.  Children become adults, adults become parents, and parents become grandparents, etc.  But even as things evolve over time, family still requires teamwork.

I've found as a new dad, this is something I occasionally have to remind myself when I get off track.

I welcome your input.

-DAN+McKinneyTX-