A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

blog challenge

Secret Subject Swap: The new position

The post is for the Secret Subject Swap, a monthly blog challenge. Information about the swap can be viewed at the end of this post, as well as links to all others taking part. Have a peek at some of the other bloggers and see what they had to come up with. If you are a blogger, consider joining up for future months!

My theme is “You get to bypass the job application process and start your new position with your favorite company, which is …” and it was submitted by Tamara over at https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/.

This is my first time taking part in the Secret Subject Swap. It’s an interesting concept for blogging and it really can make you think outside the box. 

Of course, my first theme is by a blogger I know, so a bit more interesting. And the theme is a bit longer than my headline … it is “You get to bypass the job application process and start your new position with your favorite company, which is …” 

Interesting, right?

This can go so many ways. Think about when you were a kid. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you want to do? 

Did you want to be a fireman or a policeman? Go to the moon? My imagination as a kid likely had me doing different things every day. I know I wanted to do all the things most kids wanted to do and I wanted to drive a school bus or a garbage truck; I wanted at one point to be a teacher or a baker; there were so many things. Heck, being a professional wrestler was high on my list, so much so that I looked into training schools for it when I was a junior and senior in high school!

But I always wanted to be a baseball player. 

Keeping score… this would be my type of job!

My skills, of course, never matched up with that one. I was average – at best – in high school and when I graduated, I didn’t want to attempt to be a bench guy on the local two-year college team because they practiced at 6 a.m. 

No thanks!

It’s almost ironic now that as I get older, I find myself up at 5 am most days to go for a walk that ranges from 1.5 to 2 miles … 

Anyway, I digress. 

When I was younger, I found my talent somewhat was in writing and photography. Maybe that’s the imagination thing again. I loved newspapers and the whole news thing. My first story, along with a photo I took, appeared in a newspaper for the first time when I was in seventh grade. 

I always dreamed of being in public relations. A sports information director at a college was the ultimate goal. Note – I never reached it. But it was one of those things I aimed for. Believe me, over the years, I applied for these positions but they never panned out. 

Now, I like where I landed. It’s in PR and there are massive amounts of benefits that go along with where I am. 

That being said, if I could skip the interview process and such … 

I’d be heading to the Philadelphia Phillies. Baseball is my sport. The Phillies are my team. And that would be the place I’d consider my favorite company. The position? Could be in public relations, or it could be some sort of in-game announcing. But I’d truly love it to be the scorekeeper. That, to me, would be where it was at. I love the nuances of scoring and have done it for years and years. 

Especially if I could skip the process and start right up. 

Alas, we know it’s a dream world. So, I’ll have to stick to my amateur scorekeeping and carry my book along with me when I go to games. The dream never dies!

Eight others have taken part in this challenge, so go check out the other posts and have some fun reading their secret subjects!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen here, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! Starting up is the Food Photo Challenge and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Announcing the Food Photo Challenge

I know, I know … just what we need. 

Another challenge. 

But this is one I’ve been thinking about for a long while. It’s one that I think could be a fun addition to the challenge circle and it will be monthly. 

The rules, much like other challenges I run, will be simple. 

Food Photo Challenge logo

There will be a theme. Snap off one photo that fits within the theme, write up a little about said photo and then come back and link up. 

This will be the only time we do an announcement sort of thing with this. From here on out, the idea will be to put the theme at the end of the linkup post (originally, I was going to do it like the Photo Blogging Challenge, but it seems like it’s better to announce the theme when we link up being only one photo is required. 

So, let’s put it out there again for the “rules:” 

  • Get the theme
  • One photo that works with that theme
  • A small write-up about the photo
  • Come back and link up here (on the 28th of each month)
  • Get the new theme and do it again (theme available in linkup post)

I enjoy food photography and really like seeing how others approach it. It doesn’t have to be anything out of this world, just have fun with it, Use any camera you want and showcase what you like or have made. 

The theme for the first month is: Breakfast. Remember to come back and link up on February 28! Hope you will join up!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

20 Days of Chill: Finale (Day 20)

Goodness did I have ideas.

The theme “finale” had me thinking about many things. Originally, it was going to be the return of Reggie.

But … bad news for Reggie. I couldn’t get into the flow.

Poor Reggie.

One thing I realized is … I have catching up to do. We’ve done 20 days of this challenge and I have barely been around to see other posts. For those who have been in my challenges before, you know there are times I get behind … but I will make it to all of them.

So my finale for this challenge won’t be for a bit, until I can get through every post!

That being said, one thing about this challenge, is I’ve seen it regress over the past couple of years. I still enjoy it – and this won’t be the finale for the challenge – but we definitely have fewer people participate. And I know that’s on me … I don’t get word out enough and I’ve visited fewer blogs than I used to.

That will need to change.

But that’s for another time.

There are too many things that are some sort of a finale. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a bad thing. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter.

I really have nothing. So I’m kind of just blabbing, which is funny if you think about it. I mean, here we’ve gone through 20 days of blog prompts, themes, and posts.

Twenty!

For those of you who have done each day, great job! This post will be a finale well worth celebrating! That means you are part of the way toward finishing my blogging challenge for this year. Will you participate in the others and make a run at it?

Come the end of those, that will be a great finale!

As for Reggie?

I will definitely find a way for Reggie to have a finale. It might happen in August during the 10 Days of Heat. Reggie isn’t done and the mystery still needs to be solved!

That’s a finale even I’m looking forward to!

*****

This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

20 Days of Chill: Pounder (Day 19)

Years ago, many of us in our … early 20s … used to go to this one bar quite a way out of town.

By the real name, it was the Meredith Inn. But we all called it “Uncle Andy’s,” after the owner of the joint. He was a classic old bartender/bar owner. The food consisted of picked eggs, frozen pizza, or chips/pretzels.

It was a bit of a dive bar. A pool table. Some fooseball. A back room where people could pick up beer to go. A lot of space that wasn’t used as well.

The TV was smaller, but there was usually news on it, and that’s what Andy watched.

What we were there for, though, was to throw back a few cold ones and that, usually, meant pounders.

Pounders, as we affectionately called them, were 16-ounce Genessee red eyes. This was a gut-bombing beer, that’s for sure. But when cold, it went down smooth, most of the time.

At one point, we had a solid crew. So we decided to make up “Inn Crew” cards. We went to a local printer (check the photos … this is old school) and had a bunch made up.

Our tag line?

“We don’t stop poundin’ til the pounders are gone!”

The few of us who were there a bunch, had some thicker ones made. Somehow, I found mine and I still have it.

Nowadays, I am not sure I could stomach a Genny, be it 12 ounces or a pounder. But I look back at those days fondly. They were fun and it was a nice part of my younger days.

*****

This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

20 Days of Chill: What’s cookin’ (Day 18)

The finished product! Yum!

Mmmmm New England clam chowder (errr… chowdah!)

This is, by far, my favorite type of soup. I don’t like Manhattan clam chowder. But New England… that’s chowdah!

I’ve made some different types of it in the past, but I had recently been scouring pinterest in the hopes of finding another one to try.

What I stumbled across was a slow-cooker recipe and, with a few small tweaks, I think I’ve found a great recipe that is well worth keeping.

If you want to see the original recipe at Baked by Rachel, click on the above link. I cut a few things out (namely red pepper flakes), and added more clams, as well as going with a shallot instead of just onion. Below is how I did it – and my thoughts on how I might change it up a tad more next time (and, mark my words, there will be a next time)!

Ingredients:

  • 3.5 cups of potatoes (I would have gone with the 4.5 in the original recipe, but didn’t have enough …)
  • 1 tsp garlic (I used minced)
  • 1 cup onion chopped (about half of mine was shallot)
  • 1/2 cup celery chopped
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 6-8 slices of bacon (I put a bit more than the original recipe)
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tbsp bacon grease
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 1/4 cup of half and half
  • 5 6-ounce cans of clams (I used more than in the original recipe
  • 8 ounces of clam juice (basically the juice out of two of the above cans of clams

What to do

Get everything prepped. It’s the best way to do it, isn’t it? Do all of your cutting and chopping and measuring. Get the clams ready and the juice. Peel the potatoes and put them into the size pieces that you like in your chowdah! (I like them a little smaller in mine).

Prepping!

And then …

Heat the olive oil in a decent size skillet. Then drop in the veggies, cooking over a medium heat. And it will smell divine. Once those onions get translucent, add the garlic and thyme for another minute or two, or until fragrant. Once ready, put all of that in your crock pot/slow cooker.

Now drop those potatoes in the crock pot, along with the clams, the clam juice and all the seasonings. Stir it up and take a whiff (hint: it smells good) and set your timer – 5 hours on high (that’s what I did), or the original recipe noted 10 hours on low.

If it didn’t smell good enough already, well, it’s about to get better. Cook all that delicious bacon. Get it nice and crispy. Take the 1/2 tablespoon of bacon grease and add it to the slow cooker. Chop up that bacon and add that to the pot as well (though, you should keep a bit of it aside, so you can have it on top of the chowder later!), cause … everything is better with bacon! Let everything continue to cook

With about 45 minutes remaining, add the flour to the half and half and whisk it really well. Like, take the time and do it right. Once you hit 30 minutes remaining, add it to the crock pot and let it cook the rest of the time.

When done – ladle some of that chowder out, have some awesome bread and enjoy how amazing this is. I mean, it’s crazy good. It also freezes pretty well, so portion it out and pull some out any time you want this chowdah!

Enjoy!

*****

This post is part of the 2018 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! This is also part of the 2018 HooHaa Blogging Challenge. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!