#3 (but #1 if Paul would listen to me)

Last night, our Sunday School group's monthly social was a chili cook-off. There were 13 or so people in attendance and seven types of chili, all very different and very tasty. I think a good time was had by all (at least I hope so since this whole thing was my idea). Because I don't have a tried-and-true chili recipe, Paul and I found a basic one and then spiced it up ourselves. I'm not a fan of bell peppers in my chili so we omitted that and the green chiles since Paul can't eat them. This recipe ended up quite good, although there are things I'll change about it next time we make it.

Our friends were laughing at Paul and me as we tallied the votes--because we were the organizers (and the buyers of the prizes), Paul thought we shouldn't accept our third place finish but rather award #3 to the person who actually finished #4. Being just a wee bit competitive, I wouldn't do it. We placed third fair and square. And we would have been first if Paul had voted correctly because I know his handwriting and I know he voted us #3 rather than the #1 I think he should have (because I think you should always vote for yourself). But I was trying to be not-bossy so I didn't say anything to him when he was filling in his ballot. So, because he is nicer than me, we finished third.

And in case you're in the market for a good chili recipe, here's one for the shoulda-been first place chili. The seasoning amounts can be adjusted to taste. These are the amounts we used and it was pretty spicy. Paul said he would have kicked it up a bit more but we could probably kill a mere mortal with how spicy-hot we eat stuff.

Paul & Carrie's Chili

2 lbs. "chili" ground (ground chuck)
1 medium onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
*1 or 2 cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
3 cans tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. tomato paste (about 1/2 of a 6-oz. can)
2 cups beef broth
3 Tbsp. hot chili powder
1 Tbsp. Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground red peppper
2 tsp. ground chipotle pepper seasoning
3 tsp. hot sauce (we used chipotle hot sauce)

1. Cook first 3 ingredients over medium heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain well.
2. Combine meat mixture, beans, and seasonings in Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours or until thickened. Garnish as desired.

*Technically chili shouldn't have beans but some people like beans in their chili. I don't have a preference but it does stretch the dish if you have more to feed.

I'm fairly certain some of our guests will agree with Paul

I recently found the new comforter for the guest bedroom. The color of the room--a blue-green turquoise that is darker in person than it photographs--definitely narrowed my choices. I really can't remember what the world was like before Internet shopping--all that endless time spent driving from store to store. No more. I searched various stores online and narrowed my choices to a few at Linens 'n Things. One I really liked wasn't available for full beds--darn that Nate Berkus. Another selection had a blue that I think would look bad with the wall color. So through the process of elimination, this was my final selection. Paul suggested that this one might be "a bit girly" with all the flower patterns. I can only imagine what he would have said had I brought home the coordinating sheets with the pretty pink posies embroidered on the edge (although I did purchase the pillow cases). But I like my choice--it's bright and cheery. Like me. :)

The dresser in the background was made by Paul's paternal grandfather, Ralph. Ralph was a principal at various schools in rural Kansas. During the Great Depression, he often filled vacant teaching positions himself--this dresser, complete with cedar drawers, was made while he was a woodshop teacher. It was given to us by Paul's parents shortly after we married when we were in need of furniture (apparently the French Provincial set I'd owned since I was seven was "a bit girly" for Paul). It's definitely my favorite piece of furniture that we own.

We're still not sure he actually won

On a recent quiet, otherwise uneventful, evening, Jubjub took on one of his many nemeses--the dreaded Plastic Sack.

"What? What is this? A sack? On me?"

At first, it appeared that the sack would have the upper hand...

Pausing just a moment to catch his breath in this Battle Royale.

He plots a new scheme to overcome his attacker.

Perhaps this angle will be more productive...

"Ah ha! I will use the coffee table to overpower it! It cannot outsmart me! For I am JUBJUB!"

Of course, this one was of no help whatsoever in the Battle of the Sack.


Tune in another evening when that hateful Emery Board gets it.

Hot Chocolate Cake

I could make up a whole story about how this is an old family recipe dating back generations, replete with stories about how as a child, my mother would make this for us on those special days or just to cheer us up. And not that my mom doesn't rock as far as moms go (and she's reading this so I have to say that but really, she did/does rock in many ways), but I can never remember her baking just for the sake of baking. Holidays, yes. Tuesdays, not so much. She was always the mom who got us the bakery cakes for our birthday which we thought totally rocked especially since you could get a free cookie when you went in to order the cake. I can still remember going to the little bakery in Dumas--not Golden Spread but the other one that was run by a little old lady. Crap. Why can I not remember her name? Ida Belle? That sounds about right. I remember she had two names and was over near the TG&Y in a little house.

But I digress. The real story isn't glamorous or exciting or memory invoking. I clipped the recipe for Hot Chocolate Cake from the February 2005 Real Simple. I made it as a single layer cake and in ramekins. I overcooked it as a single layer cake--I think it's one that would be better a bit gooey. And I used my kitchen blow torch on the marshmallows because that was way more fun than the broiler.

I ended up not making any of the desserts I was originally considering and just went with a really simple homemade chocolate cake. And because it was just one layer, we both had two slices because we decided that would be the same as eating one piece of a layer cake. We're nothing if not rational.

We've now used our snow shovel more this year than the past five combined

Happy Valentine's Day a.k.a. Snow Day #4.

Paul roused out of bed a little before 6 o'clock this morning and took a peek outside. Seeing that it was still snowing, he suggested I check the television for the status of the school day. At 6:15, it was reported that there was a two-hour delay. Not unexpected given the conditions and I happily shuffled back upstairs, turned off the alarm and snoozed for another hour or so, when the cat decided we should be up and he should be fed. The non-stop insistent meowing and knowing we'd probably need to shovel the driveway before leaving for work, I got up to start the day. However, another check of the news showed that school had, indeed, been cancelled. These unexpected days off are always nice until it comes time to make it up. Because the three extra days taken at the end of Winter Break have already used the scheduled snow make-up days and added an extra day to the calendar, this snow day means extended school days starting some time in April. And, more immediately, there are all the school things that were scheduled for today--Student Senate carnation sales, yearbook group pictues, basketball games, and other meetings--that the other sponsors and I will have to reschedule when school resumes tomorrow.

I did have a bit of work stuff that I would be able to do today had I brought my laptop home. But not realizing that that this was even predicted (or the meteorologts were actually going to be correct ), I don't have it with me. Eh, well. It wasn't anything that couldn't wait. Paul has decided that he needs to go in to work this afternoon for a bit and stop by to get a leaky tire checked out. I don't like that because it usually means he's out longer than I think he should be. He did offer to stop by Sonic to pick up a fountain drink for me. That's love.

Paul and I had no plans for this evening--we're not typically ones to do anything for Valentine's Day (or VD as Paul loves to call it). I usually make a fancy dessert of some type as a treat for the day. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to make--it's a toss up between a chocolate-almond torte, devil's food mini-bundt cake, or hot chocolate cake. I don't have marshmallows for the hot chocolate cake (and what good is hot chocolate without marshmallows?) so it might just between the first two. Or maybe something totally different because now, I have all day to think about it.

And after this last six inches, it is official that I will never voluntarily live some place where snow is a common winter occurrence. I'm pretty much done with snow this year. I'm ready to go back to the 15 degrees above average that we had last week. 65 and sunny--that's what winter should be about. I'll consent to the occasional overcast and rainy day because those are nice to have to mix it up. But this winter stuff is for the birds.

Projects

I ordered one of these last fall with our last name (um, duh) and recently decided to get all decorator-y and hang up family pictures around it (combining what Paul says are two of my favorite things--pictures and putting holes in the walls). There are two single-matted frames, two double-matted frames and one triple-matted frame. It was hard to narrow it down to just nine photos--I'd still like pictures of us as children, ones of our nephews since we selected some with our nieces, maybe one with Paul's brother. Paul said we could always rotate these pictures out. I thought we could just add a few more frames (you know, to put a few more holes in the wall). I'm thinking two or three more on either side of the ones I now have hanging. Maybe do 5x7's or even go crazy with the 8x10's. Dunno.... Anywho, these were copied into 4x6 black and whites and framed in black with white mats. For family/those who have been to the house, I've hung these on the hallway wall just opposite the kitchen. (It's a hard place to get a decent photo because of the angle--just use your imagination).

A "classic"--Paul and Jeff ham it up after Alan and Julie's wedding. This picture is totally staged--neither of them sing or play a musical instrument.
From our trip to CA last March. This is one of my favorite pictures of Paul because he's really smiling which is hard to get him to do when there is a camera around.
I like this picture from Abigail's first birthday because it's the women in my family--from left it's Grandmother, cousin Emily, me, Mom, Gran, Donna, and Amy. The birthday girl (who's 4th birthday was Wednesday) is on the table, sticking her foot in the cake. Yum.
In Lubbock on the Texas Tech campus--in front of the statue of Will Rogers and Soapsuds on a football game day. (For those non-Techsans, the statue is always wrapped in red crepe paper before every home football game. And the rear-end of the statue supposedly angles toward Texas A&M. Because we hate the Aggies.)
Of course I had to include a picture of this guy.
A favorite picture of an 8-month-old Abigail--it always makes me laugh.
My parents at the 2000 Balloon Fiesta--the hat over my Dad's shoulder belongs to Paul. (I think I'm going to trade this picture out for one take more recently--the one of you and Dad on the cruise, Mom.)
Paul's grandmother and our niece Sarah at the 70th wedding anniversary celebration last June (we could also call this one "what Sarah will look like in 87 years").
Paul's parents in Austria with the church choir a few years ago. Paul asked them to bring him back a boomerang--I think they thought he was seriously confusing Australia and Austria.

My other project (well, one of many but the one started today) is taking down the doors on the cabinets above the stove/microwave to create a bookshelf for my cookbooks. We'll have to get Paul's dad over to help us, though. The center bar was both screwed in and glued in. We don't want to damage it in case we need/want to put it all back together some day. So, it's FIL to the rescue.

Next up, finally put on the knobs and pulls we bought for the cabinets, oh, two years ago. We definitely cannot be accused of getting in a hurry about projects. Also in the queue, I had enough fabric leftover from the dining room chair project so I'm going to sew a cushion for the bench by the front door. And maybe, finally, do the window covering project I've been mulling over for a while. I'm also on the lookout for new bedding for the guest room, which I've been updating a bit because that repainting project I did when Paul was out of town? Yeah, it didn't work. It was a cheap, cheap, cheap side table I was painting so it's not a real loss. Last weekend, I bought a new side table, which lead to some new accessories, which eventually result in new bedding.

After my recent guest room shopping spree (which really wasn't a "spree"--more like a "sp"), Paul asked if I'm OK--I think he's worried that this recent burst of activity is because I'm feeling blue again. I'm not. Although the recent worry/stress in life has caused interesting dreams, I'm actually feeling good. I'm happy. Some days are better than others for Paul and me but I think that's typical for any marriage (heck, any relationship). But I'm not needing to keep busy because I've got the overwhelmed feelings of last fall. It's just a burst of energy to get some stuff done around the house. I could probably sit on the couch for a few minutes and it would completely pass. But, darn it, I finally want to get those knobs on my cabinet doors.

More dream wackiness

In addition to the stress and worry I've been feeling as a result of things surrounding Paul's company, I've been a bit under the weather the past few days. Yesterday was nothing but craptastic (felt crummy, was annoyed by several coworkers before 8:00, started the day off with a long (2 hours) staff meeting/inservice) and by 11:00, it was pretty much confirmed that I just needed to go home and start the day over.

All of this was projected into wacky sleeping behavior and odd dreams last night. The strangest thing last night was that when I roused up around 11:30, I decided I should be wearing a sports bra. Not something I normally do when sleeping but last night, I managed to not only find one but I also put it on correctly. While still asleep. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with my asleep self--I can't always get a sports bra on correctly when I'm awake.

As for the actual dream part--well, even I can determine the meaning behind it. I'm the yearbook advisor and yesterday morning, I was visited by the yearbook rep. He had a payment plan for me to sign. It seems that we hadn't paid our bill for last year's yearbook (to the sum of about $8000). For whatever reason, our bookkeeper is always late in paying the bill. The 2005 book wasn't paid until August 2006. Frustrating but there isn't much I can do but keep handing her the bills and giving her the deposits. The principal was in the library when the rep. was there. I introduced them and gave the principal a quick overview of the situation. I was then called away by my student aide who needed help. Later in the morning, the principal came over with the bill showing the 2005 and 2006 amounts (about $14,000) and informed me that there is only about $1100 in the account. Knowing that I have sold about 300 yearbooks at $30 each for the past two years (last year, we sold out of yearbooks ordered--about 450 which includes the 150 or so preordered ones), I think there should be MUCH more money in the yearbook account. Definitely enough to cover the bills for the past two years. I don't know what kind of shady accounting has been taking place, and I'm not accusing the bookkeeper of doing anything, but it seems that she might have been moving money around and out of my account. I've been informed that I am to give any yearbook deposits and any more bills that come in directly to the principal. Completely bypass the bookkeeper and give them to her. (It was easy to see that the principal was both perplexed and irritated by the whole situation.) Last night's dream involved me walking outside, seeing a bunch of people staring at a huge black cloud. Lightning was coming out of the cloud and was starting small fires that then started burning out of control.

Yep. A little stressed.

I hate to admit that she might have been right...

Apparently, my older sister was on to something so many years ago. Who knew the dangers of 60 watt bulbs? But since my Christmas wishes where thwarted once again, I don't need to worry about this particular safety recall.

At least I didn't wake him up screaming**

I think I've hit the winter doldrums. I've tried writing several times only to end up staring at the keyboard and then the screen and then the keyboard again. It's like life is just one a big ho-hum right now.

Paul made it home Wednesday evening. After picking him up at the airport and having dinner, he realized he'd forgotten a suitcase at the airport. Apparently, my amazing packing skills are no match for his. I could fit two weeks of clothes into the suitcase to send him out to CA but he couldn't figure out how to make it fit back in it to head home. Luckily, we had put in an extra bag for a just in case. He's been going non-stop since he got home with a variety of work-related stuff. Can't go in to details here but it's going to be a hairy few months relating to the business of the business. He keeps saying everything will end up being better when it's all said and done and I'm really trying to believe him. It's just so disheartening to see this man I adore under so much stress and pressure and know that there's nothing I can do to help him.

Except make cookies. And keep a steady supply of chocolate in the house. I am nothing but helpful in the sweets department.

I think his stress is rubbing off on me a bit. I've taken to conversing/randomly doing things in my sleep. Wednesday night, shortly after Paul came to bed, I decided the ceiling fan needed to be turned on. Our light switches are wired one for lights and one for the fan. For the six years we've lived in this house, Paul almost always turns on the light first and then the fan because he can't remember which switch is which. So, Wednesday night, I'm trying to turn on the ceiling fan but hit the light switch first. And even in my sleep, I managed to get a little jab in and made fun of the fact that he always does the same thing. Of course, I didn't remember turning on the ceiling fan until Paul told me about how the events transpired on Thursday morning.

Last night, I heard Paul up--he was getting a drink in the bathroom. I decided that since he was up, I should be too. I put on my glasses and walked into the bathroom, ready to start the day. Wouldn't have been so bad except that it was only 1:30 a.m. And I was still asleep. I dutifully went back to bed when he told me to do so, continuing to sleep until the alarm went off some five hours later.

**A few years ago, Paul had been gone on a week-long business trip. His first night back, while sound asleep, I rolled over and felt him in the bed beside me. It scared me and I sat upright in the bed and started screaming. He jumped out of bed, fist drawn, ready to slug an intruder. Still asleep, I looked over, saw him, and laid back down. I hadn't fully woken up so I was back to sleep in no time. Paul, however, spent the next hour or so trying to calm his racing heart and get back to sleep. The next morning, I told Paul about my "crazy dream" in which I was screaming. It was then that he informed me that it had most definitely had not been a dream and that he really didn't appreciate being woken up that way. But it is something we can laugh about now.