Don’t Worry, I Got This

IMG_1749As my wife is getting ready for work she lists of several options of things that I can do with the kids while she is at work. She also reminds me that after she gets off work that she will be going out dress shopping with her sister. She lists off another set of items that I could feed the kids for lunch. I tell her, “Don’t worry, I got this.”

My wife has recently gone back to work. Now, she has been “working”. Babysitting, cleaning, and doing some photography sessions in between. It’s work, there’s no doubt about, but she’s entering back into the other “work”. A job that requires hours and schedules and uniforms. Something that she hasn’t been a part of for a few years. All she has known is the kids. So I get it that she has this unconscious ability to list of things that could be helpful for me while I am with the kids.

abbyandalexinboxThis isn’t my first rodeo with the kids alone. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with the kids several times while mom is out of the house for longer than a day or two. This would be no different. I like to think I know what I am doing. I mean, I can change a tire on my car in 15 minutes. Diapers are easy in comparison. Don’t worry, I got this. I tell myself over and over as a personal mantra.

The house is still clean and the kids have behaved outstandingly. I haven’t shipped them off or given them away…yet. There’s no sense taking that option off the table. They have helped clean and have not complained about what I make to eat either. Bed times have been a breeze and we even got a chance to go out to a couple of stores as well as dinner at Waffle House. My wife is doing her best to help bring some extra money to our household so we can do more awesome stuff. I am proud of her for busting her tail for our family. Don’t worry, we got this.

You Ain’t Got Nothing On The #KingofSoup

I have partnered with Life of Dad and Idahoan® Foods for this campaign, but my opinions are my own.

kingofsoup-2St. Louis has a lot of steakhouses. They are some of my favorite places to eat. The food is always so good. I can’t complain when I have an awesome steakhouse meal in front of me. But to be perfectly honest with you, I haven’t been to a steakhouse in a few years. In my younger years my wife and I would go all the time, but now, well steakhouses are a luxury for us with having two kiddos. Typically my wife and I would drop $60-80 on a nice and filling dinner for just ourselves, add in two kids that’s even more. Plus the kids can be unpredictable when sitting for too long at a nice fancy restaurant. So we just don’t go. We go to kid friendly places instead. One day I tell myself one day.

Tkingofsoup-5hat one day has come. Idahoan®, you know the brand behind the potatoes, has come out with some new Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soups. These won’t keep you waiting either as it’s ready in just five minutes. I got all of the new flavors and had an idea, why not turn my own kitchen into a steakhouse? Admittedly, I got the idea itself from Idahoan® (they’re sponsoring this post), but think about it, it’s a great idea. You can seriously save a ton of money for your family by turning your kitchen into your own steakhouse. Don’t believe me? Well don’t worry I got all the steps below to get you started.

First off, you might want to go to the store or pull out some food and prepare your menu. My daughter and I figured we would make our own so she got out the paper and crayons and went to work. I helped a little but only when necessary. Turning your kitchen into a steakhouse is a family event, it cannot be done alone!

So once your menu is ready to rock and roll you need to start prepping the kitchen. You may need to assign duties in the kitchen because as you may not realize it but you will need yourself a chef. Dad, mom, or both can fill this role while the kids can set the table. If you have young ones you may want to help with the plates and stuff as they may be too heavy for those little hands.

kingofsoup-1So here in The Williams Kitchen we have our table ready for setting but first why not add a little decor to the walls. I had always thought keeping some of your cookware readily available looked sorta steakhouse fancy, so I went with it. Next up would be the table cloth and the dishes. We even pulled out our nice napkins for this steakhouse transformation. Just before you sit down to eat, be sure to dim the lights if you can. Light a candle or two, or maybe use a small lamp to create that steakhouse vibe. Just changing the lighting, setting the table, turning off the t.v., tablets, and putting on a nice shirt really make all the difference when sitting down to dinner with your family.

kingofsoup-6The steaks didn’t take long too cook and if you remember our delicious Idahoan® Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soup takes only five minutes to prepare so in just under 40 minutes our kitchen was ready for fancy eating. Our steaks were good as were our sides, but the soup. That was the star of the show. For this particular dinner the soup of the day was the Three Cheese Chipotle. It was as delicious as it sounds. Soup isn’t something that I usually finish at a steakhouse, but when it’s this kind of slow-cooked tasting hearty soup, I definitely made it to the bottom of the bowl (and maybe most of my daughters too).

kingofsoup-11My wife and daughter also really enjoyed the soup. My wife loves all kinds of foods so it’s easy to make her tummy happy, but my daughter, to her soup is chicken noodle, but when presented with the Idahoan® Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soup she was a little hesitant at first but with a little coaxing she finally gave it a try and loved it just as much as she loved Idahoan® mashed potatoes (which is a whole other story).

I saved the best part for last. Because this isn’t necessarily a “public” restaurant… slacks are not necessarily required! So I threw on a nice shirt but left on my shorts, and my son, well, he was rocking a polo and diaper at our table. We may not know fashion, but we know a tasty steakhouse soup and Idahoan® has dropped the mic with these easy to make, delicious, Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soups.

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So am I the #KingofSoup? I totally think so. My kids think so and my wife agrees and she is always right, so I am pretty sure this isn’t some fake news! So get on out to your local market and grab some nice napkins, a couple candles, and some hearty Idahoan® Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soup!

Check out Idahoan.com for more information on the various variety of flavors and be sure to follow @IdahoanFoods on social media!

Idahoan® provided St. Louis Dad with Idahoan® Premium Steakhouse® Potato Soups as well a monetary compensation for participation in the #KingofSoup campaign. 

StLouisDad.com Instrumentals Vol. 14

StLouisDad.com Instrumentals Vol.14

It is a new year and I am back with more instrumentals! I took a little break but the instrumentals are back with another five tracks produced by yours truly. These five tracks have a variety of sound and maybe even a sample or two you might recognize.

StLouisDad.com Instrumentals – Vol.14 will be released under a Creative Commons license. Read more about the specific license attached to these instrumentals here. If you have any questions about any of the instrumentals I can do my best to answer them, just send me an email.

Please comment below or email me with a link to your project if you use one of these instrumentals. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did making them and be sure to subscribe and follow me on TwitterInstagram, and Facebook to find out when Vol. 15 will be released!

Listen to a sample of this download!

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Sticking With My jimmyCASE

Costanza-walletI have talked about phone cases in the past. I have also talked about wallets. Now, I’d consider myself to be somewhat of a fashionable guy. I have a style and I like to keep it clean and having bulky pockets ain’t clean. My every day carry items are pretty minimal. I have my wallet, keys, and phone. I also carry a backpack to work but I’m not counting that since I don’t take it everywhere (like the grocery store). But I do have my wallet, keys, and phone with me all of the time.

The slimJIMMY is the perfect wallet for me. It is small and holds everything I need. I am not big into keeping a Costanza wallet. I don’t need all of that extra stuff. Just give me something that I can easily slip into my pocket with all of the cards and stuff I would need. It’s easy, it’s flat, and it’s not leaving a noticeable bulge in my pocket.

Recently, though I did get some awesome new St. Louis Dad business cards. Now, I would like to have a few of these with me when I am out and about. I could put a couple in my slimJIMMY wallet, but to me, they needed to be somewhere else. So I started checking into an iPhone case with card holder. I knew jimmyCASE had one for the previous iterations of the iPhone, I just wasn’t sure if they had them out for the new iPhone 7. After a quick iPhone 7 wallet case search, I found exactly what I was looking for.

jimmycaseThis phone case is perfect. It is sturdy enough to handle my every day wear and tear on my phone, but also sleek and clean enough for me to keep some of my business cards handy. I have even thought about using this case as my wallet on special occasions when I may not want to have to hold onto my wallet, keys, and phone. I could totally slim down to just phone and keys if I really wanted to. For now I will keep using both as I have a nice setup for them. I love jimmyCASE‘s products and look forward to their next idea. Maybe a slim backpack? I dunno, maybe!

jimmyCASE sponsored this post in exchange for a honest review. Check out www.thejimmyCASE.com for more information!