Chilli Cookoff

My company has had some personnel changes and we have a new President. Another co-worker of mine thought it would be a good idea to welcome him to CA with a Chili Cook-off... I am so excited (I hope my chili wins)

Here's my starter recipe "Ultimate Vegetarian Chili" (that I have of course tweaked a bit - tastes so good AND when I tested it for my honey's family - they finished the pot off - perfect)

I hope everyone enjoys this event and I hope the potluck sides portion goes well too.

So excited that I'm up way to early.

Well

I've nearly killed them all a couple of times.

Left them on the porch ledge on a nice calm morning, only to have 3 of them pick up wind later in the day and crash to the ground 2 stories down.

Varying degrees of wilting, the worst on our surprise hot day earlier this week.

Basil bounces back the best, Cilantro the worst.
Chives are even hanging in fairly well.
Mint has been doing nicely and may even need a transplant here shortly.
Sage I'm having trouble keeping at the right soil moisture, the dirt its potted in lets water flow through too fast, overnight water soak helps, but I'm not sure how much is too much.

But so far so good.

How does my garden grow

I have no idea.

I got the brown mug of baby roses for Valentines day - roses died (forgot to water) but the plant still has life in it and I'm trying to be more dilligent.

The rest we bought this past weekend at Costco - 3 Basil, 2 Cilantro, 1 Chive, 1 Mint & 1 Sage... we'll see if I can keep them alive.

Not so sure though - last night when I got home one of the basils was really wilted - watered it lots and it looks ok this morning, so maybe it'll be ok. (picture taken this morning)

Apartment Approvements

Scott says we're old now, because of the things which excite us.

I'm so happy that I finally have a china hutch - you see the china and crystal has been in storage for 7 years now - it finally gets freedom.

We bought it earlier this week and I had it put together, and loaded up before going off to bed that night. The fallout was a big storage corner of boxes, plus the packaging materials all over the place. Lots of trash to be cleaned out, and many other boxes relocated

We also bought (just today) a freezer, the one we have in our fridge was just way to small to be worth much more than an ice machine.

His parents helped us today with truck and muscle to get the freezer in. They also brought us a barbecue - just a little one, but perfect for us here.


We also recently got frames for some posters - his favorite movie:


And just because it's my blog and I can - here's some of my favorite art...
this one needs a home yet: (in case you can't tell - it's Yoda, knitting, fore a sign that reads "Home Sweet It Is")


And these hang in our hallway - pictures of my parents and I when I was still an only child...

CPSIA

Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act
Heard of it?

If you haven't I highly recommend you look into it.

My bear here will lead you to just some information but here is the government website if you're interested.

What it basically says is that anyone who sells products intended for children age 12 or younger must first have those products tested for lead content. This includes everything from clothes to toys. AND the expense is on the retailer. If the product you make or sell has an even slightly remote chance to contain lead (buttons, zippers, snaps included) then it must be tested.

Another example of legislation that is well intended but poorly implemented. I encourage all of you to learn more about this new requirement and help by contacting your congresspeople and senators.

There is some good information at the following places on the topic.
Senator Jim DeMint's Blog : CPSIA Improvement Act
Cool Mom Picks : Help us Save Handmade (they are the source of the cute little bear that's been added to the corner)

2009

so the year started off a bit crummy with that stupid accident that totalled my nearly paid for car.

I now have a newish car - 2007 w/ 30k miles and a new loan to start over on. I was dissapointed that I ended up with the most boring of grey/silver colors - but now that I've realized that the "alarm" button is a pretty good "where's my car button" - and works at least as far away as I can hear the actual horn. So maybe I won't lose it :)

Couple weeks ago my honey finsihed a dialogue with himself that convinced him we should get married - YAY!! I'm so excited. So that means people, if I can get the planning in check the way I want it - things will go down like this...

Halloween - very small ceremony - just us, parents and siblings - plus an officiant of course. (until just a moment ago I thought Halloween was a Friday - but it looks like Saturday - this might effect the plans). Then we were planning to have our big public reception for everyone to attend. What do you think about attending a Halloween Carnival to celebrate with us? Details are fuzzy at just this moment, but anyway - think about saving that day - Halloween - to come and play with us. (and of course come in costume if you want)

Sigh...

Well it's time to shop for a new car.

Was in an accident this most recent Monday and the adjuster chose total my car.

Good news:
not my fault
my old loan is getting paid off
the auto settlement is for more than I think I might have gotten for trade in.

Bad news:
I had only about 3 more months of payments on old car so now I have to start all over again with payments.
I have no idea what I'd like to get.

Oh well, that's life I guess.