How to Hard Boil an Egg

My son gets in these grooves where he will only eat one thing for breakfast for weeks on end.  In the past its been blueberry waffles, Honey Nut Chex, a bagel, and most recently pancakes. Who knows why he does this, but it does take take the guess work out of what to put in front of him first thing in the morning.

The one thing that is annoying though, is that you never know when he is going to change his mind and pick something else.  I have about four boxes of Eggo waffles sitting in my freezer just waiting for the call.  It got me to thinking, maybe I should head him off at the pass, and try to dictate what his next breakfast choice will be.

This is why I made hard boiled eggs.

If you search for how to make them there are a billion different ways to go about it.  The only constant is that you need to boil water.  That I am sure we can all do, at least most of us anyway.  So how DO you boil an egg?  Just follow these simple steps:

First and foremost you need to have some eggs.  Without this process you, are just going to be boiling water.  I guess you could use it to make pasta, and while we all know that the kids will eat that, mine is not eating pasta for yet another meal.

The second step is crucial.  You need to remove the eggs from the carton and place them in a pot.

Then you need to fill the pot with the coldest water that you can find.  Mine seems to work best when you flip the handle to the right and turn it on.  Cold water will then fill your pot.

Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat on.  Since I have a gas stove I can tell the heat is on by noticing the little blue flame.  If you have an electric one, I assume sparks will start flying and you smell  the burning remnants of last nights dinner.

Timing is the most crucial aspect of this process.  Once your water starts to boil, remove the eggs from  the heat, cover the pot and set your timer for 20 minutes.

Now what you do in this 20 minutes is completely up to you.  You could play with your child, read them a book, or you could do what I do and read up on all of my gossip magazines.  I find it simply amazing that Paula Deen could get us all fat with her recipes, and now try and make us skinny with new recipes.  She is basically stealing money from all of us.

After 20 minutes is up, immediately cool your eggs off with cold water.  Simply repeat the process you did before.

So now we have the moment of truth.  What will the egg be like on the inside?  Will it be all rubbery from cooking too long?  Will it still have a somewhat undone yolk?  Will the yolk be green?

Ladies and gentlemen, a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg that my son will not eat because he is currently on an oatmeal kick.  I have to say that I make the worlds worst oatmeal, so if anyone has any tips for me on that I would greatly appreciate it.

One last important thing, make sure you label your newly hard boiled eggs.  It could get messy if you choose the wrong carton.

How do you hard boil an egg?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Learning to Skate

I've decided to get into some more video projects on the blog.  After all that is what I was doing with my life before I became a stay at home dad.  I am currently trying out different editing software to find just the right one.  I love making the little lego movies, and while those won't go away any time soon, I thought it would be nice to give you more of a glimpse into my life through the power of video.  Some stories I find can be captured way better visually than they can be through the written word.

Such is the case with ice skating.

I decided this year to enroll the boys in skating lessons at the local rink after years of putting it off.  I don't know what I was waiting for as they really have taken a liking to it.  As for myself, I am still trying to figure out if skating is the best thing for me.

So what do you think?  Is this something that you would like to see around here?  Or is video not your thing? Please drop me a line, and if you want, subscribe to my Youtube channel to get even more great stuff.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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How to Be a Dad

Over the summer you might recall I started a Lego Blogger Series.  Well I kind of ran out of time as summer flew by and I didn't quite get to everyone that I wanted.  Like a of things the blog takes a backseat to life. Now that the winter doldrums are upon us, and my house is somewhat clean, it's time to revisit some of the people that kick butt in the blogging world.

Nobody does it better than the boys at How to Be a Dad.  I don't think they really know how to be a dad, but then again does anyone?  I will say that having read their blog, they have the same struggles as I do, but sometimes they make it look so easy.

Don't forget to check out their amazing blog.  Howtobeadad.com is the gold standard in the "daddy blogger" world.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Cold Weather... Starring Legos

I have to say we have been pretty lucky weather wise these past two winters.  Aside form one snowstorm a week after Sandy hit, we haven't had any meaningful snow since LAST Halloween.  Normally I wouldn't complain as I am the one that goes outside and shovels, but the kids want snow.  It's not like we live in an area that doesn't get any snow, two years ago we got record snowfall.  It was almost TOO much to play in and certainly way too much to go sledding.  I know that we are now in the heart of winter but I can't help but think spring is right around the corner.  All I ask is for a little snow, for the kids sake.

I don't think that is too much to ask for.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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What's in Store?

I don't fully know what is going to happen in 2013.

If I had the answer I probably wouldn't be writing my blog sitting on a giant exercise ball in my basement.  Something tells me I might not even have a blog at all.  One thing I do know is that it's going to be time to start looking to get back into the work force.

My final day full time with James Ford and Jon Fine

Before I was a stay at home dad, I was an Emmy nominated News Photographer for a TV station in New York City.  It was a pretty good job with a lot of cool perks.  I got to see a lot of stuff that the average person never gets to see.  Unfortunately there was a lot of stuff that the average person WOULDN'T want to see either.  For every cool new roller coaster or hot air ballon I got to ride, I also saw my fair share of death.

I can remember one of my first days working in TV news at a station in Elmira, New York.  I was sent to a drowning in a rural town nearby with my (not at the time) wife.  A kid had jumped in the river behind his house with his friends and never resurfaced.  When the firefighters discovered him and pulled him out, it was the first time that I had ever seen a dead body.  You wanted to look away, but it was something you couldn't take your eyes off of.

While it certainly isn't normal to see a lifeless person everyday at work, it seemed all to common.

I can remember walking up to a murder scene in South Carolina once and asking the cops where it happened.  They sent me out in the back of the mans house in some ungodly remote part of the state where surprisingly "nothing like this ever happens." After surveying the scene and getting all the crucial b-roll, I looked down and realized that the dead man was no farther than two feet from where I was standing the whole time. You would think that I would jump, but sadly when you work in TV something like that just seems normal.

I won't get into the time I saw a completely burned body at a fire scene in Newark, NJ.  I think you get the idea by now that there is a lot of crap that you just don't want to see in your life, and unfortunately I saw way too much of it.

So I am not so sure I want to completely get back into what I was doing before.  It's not the same business that I first started out in.  Don't get me wrong there is an excitement level that can't be beat about working in TV News, but there is also way too much crap to deal with.  Chasing ambulances, chasing storms, and chasing those never ending leads... it's always a hurry up and wait.

So, what's in store for 2013? I don't know.  I would think there are better jobs than being a news photographer, but sometimes you get sucked back in.

More to come...

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Wipe Your Own Asses!

I'm throwing in the toilet paper.

Eight long years I have been at it, but today I am resigning my post as the official ass wiper of my kids. Oh there won't be any parades or awards banquets involved, although a ceremonial last flush should be in order I suppose.

I don't know how my kids are going to react to this, I am sure they will probably put up a stink, but it's time.  Sure it's been less and less with Tyler in the past couple of years, but there are those times... well we won't paint the picture completely.  Carter on the other hand has me thinking that he has NEVER wiped his own butt.  He has never made a mess of himself completely, but there will be a day.  A day that most likely I will not be there to see, nor care to.

So all I can do now is sit back and supply them with ample amount of toilet paper and hope that they get the job done. I hope that my eight years of training have suited them well for what nature throws at them, or throws out of them.  Good luck boys... and make sure that you flush the toilet.

Make sure you shoot straight as well

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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