In an unbelievable, remarkable, unpredictable, shocking, unforeseeable, blindsiding twist...
MY CHILI WON FIRST PLACE!

I made a double-batch of The Chubby Vegetarian's Vegan Peanut Chili with Charred Corn and Avocado Salsa (minus the salsa). I was hesitant to add the peanuts (wha?) and strong coffee (WHA?), but Dad told me to go big or go home. ( ( Read more... )

The ol' workplace is once again hosting a chili cook-off, and I have been roped into cooking rather than making Darth Vader trophies. (I feel the lack of trophy-making is a mistake. Chili cook-off participants should stick to their strengths!) But it's a fundraiser for United Way, so I agreed to bring a pot without once considering that I 1) am ( Read more... )

This Halloween, I made treat bags for everyone in the office! The bags included pumpkin cookies with cinnamon chips and a batch of Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow. (Mom threw in some candy that I didn't know we had. When questioned, she claimed it was for trick or treaters. Right. Like any kid has ever rang our creepy, end-of-the-street doorbell.)


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Sunday night. The end of the weekend... and what a weekend it's been, people ( Read more... )

Friday night was an all out paper-slicing, ribbon-cutting, hole-punching crafting extravaganza the likes of which my floor (i.e. that magical place where scraps always land) hasn't seen in ages. (I had to crawl on said floor afterwards and pick up a Wal-Mart bag's worth of ribbon and paper bits. Behold the curse of my artistic genius.) Plus, to get ( Read more... )

The Troll and I spent yesterday in our usual fashion: hanging out together whilst getting things done. (Yes, we run errands like they are going out of style. Best Buy! Office Depot! Winn-Dixie! But to be fair, standing in line at the grocery checkout at 7:00 at night is 143% more fun when you have your favorite person with you ( Read more... )

Yesterday the Lump spent all day cleaning Grandma's carpet. (We decided to do it ourselves after calling a professional company for a quote. $670.00? Are their cleaning machines made of gold?) We rented a machine from Lowe's, which did a fairly good job considering the price and the immense task that lay before it ( Read more... )

I made two excellent meals today: tuna casserole (homemade recipe, so yes, it takes some time... don't give me that look!) and an eggplant curry that had more ingredients than I have fingers and toes. Just as I was taking the second pan out of the oven, the Troll texted and asked if I'd like to take another car adventure with him. Is the moon made ( Read more... )

Yesterday, the Troll and I ventured far and wide in a rare, ten-hour adventure. You read that right: ten hours. And it was, to use my favorite phrase, totally awesome ( Read more... )

This is what Mom found in the chicken coup:


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