And there was cooking!

Cold weather = chili time. And from the looks of the shelves at the ol' HEB last night it seems like every one had the same idea. There was not a single can of kidney beans to be found. I know, I know, putting beans in Texas chili is insane but I was making a Cooking Light recipe so pinto beans were substituted.



The recipe is beef and beer chili from the September 2007 issue of Cooking Light.






It was pretty good despite the pinto bean substitution, not having enough chili powder and using Miller Lite instead of the Budweiser called for. I'm not a beer drinker and had planned on buying a single bottle at the gas station but when I mentioned this to a coworker this morning she said she had plenty of beer at home and would bring me back some after lunch. She was also kind enough to provide me with the egg that I needed for my cornbread but had forgotten to buy at the store last night (do not shop hungry--I bought cheese, sour starbursts and Halloween oreos but forgot the eggs and probably something else more important that I'll remember tomorrow). The cornbread, not pictured, is really better left unmentioned.

Finally!

Today's weather forecast:

Showers and isolated thunderstorms in the morning...then a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Windy. Much cooler. Highs in the upper 50s. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.

Finally it will feel like fall. Yesterday is was in the high 80s.

Random Thought

Don't those roasted chicken sausages and potatoes look
just a little bit like fingers to you? Just in time for Halloween!

It's been that kind of week

Even Lulu agrees

Lars and the Real Girl

Last night the boyfriend and I went to see Lars and the Real Girl as part of the Austin Film Festival. This movie is terrific. It's funny and touching. Click on my link and you can watch the trailer. I don't know if it will get wide release but if there is an theatre in your town that shows independent films keep your eye out for it. I highly recommend it.

Laughter is the best medicine

Also, modern pharmaceuticals.....

State Fair--A Photo Essay

Kristin really likes her corn...remember last year.....

Cupcake report

Last weekend I went to Dallas to visit Kristin so we made a little trip to Sprinkles, where I got a strawberry cupcake with strawberry icing. With a pink ribbon on top in support of breast cancer research. Honestly, I've had better. The cake was dry and flavorless and the icing was overly sweet. It was all just too much.



Kristin enjoyed her cupcake though.

Get your guns up

Look at me, showing my school spirit while at the State Fair this past weekend.

Gas Update

Just because I didn't mean to leave you all hanging....

The gas man came and shut off the gas and it's staying off until I can get a plumber out to replace some brass fittings that are leaking. But as I'm in Dallas this weekend that won't be happening until Monday. It was actually not bad timing, well other than the whole unplanned financial thing, since I'll be flying home Monday morning and the plumber is coming in the afternoon.

Why it's a miracle I'm still alive

On a near daily basis, I could be a Darwin Award winner. Here is today's reason why:

This morning I woke up around 5 am smelling gas. I checked the stove, found nothing out of the ordinary (although did find it funny to be sticking my head in the oven) so thought maybe instead of the visual aura many migraine sufferers get that I was getting a smelling one. So I took a pill and went back to bed. When I got home from work and the gym just a bit ago the place still reeked. So obviously, I wasn't imagining things. I opened all the windows and doors, shuffled through my papers to find the number for the gas company and now am waiting for them to come fix things. They told me not to turn on any electrical devices that were not already on--thank goodness I left the computer on when I went to work!

Here comes the Darwin part. In order to get into my home I used the garage door opener. I have a feeling that it's the hot water heater pilot light that is out since the smell is strongest in my bedroom which is closest to the heater. So that's miracle number one...that I didn't blow up when I opened the garage door. Or when I turned on the bedroom light. And it's a miracle that my place didn't blow up when the bedroom lamp that's on a timer turned on. See, every day I narrowly miss being on News of the Weird.

In the ghetto

Something's going down in the ghetto! After I got home from work and the gym tonight I could hear a helicopter while I was in the shower. I knew it was close by because it was vibrating the place. So of course, because I am a Nosey Nelly, I had to hurry up and investigate. From what I could tell from my vantage point of my front gate, there were several police cruisers in the elementary school parking lot across the street and the 'copter was doing circles above. There didn't seem to be any sort of ruckus though because there were plenty of kids playing soccer on the field as if nothing was amiss.

Just another day in the hood.

They say it's your birthday!

It's my birthday too!

Looky what my boyfriend sent me today. Aren't they pretty?
(I know it's hard to believe but I don't tell y'all everything.)



Last night my parents and gramma came into town and we went to dinner at McCormick & Schmick's. Unlike my sister and Pinknest, I was afraid to photograph our food. But it was delicious and if I ever go there again photos will be taken. I had swordfish on goat cheese mashed potatoes. Goat cheese is my favorite so really anything with that in it catches my attention. Unfortunately, I just wasn't all that hungry so I brought most of my meal home with me so I'll be having it for dinner again tonight.

On Saturday I did make it back to the Hey Cupcake Airstream and purchased 2 cupcakes. One red velvet and one carrot cake. Now I'm wishing I had either bought more or saved one because I could really go for some cake right about now. Oh wait! There's ice cream in the freezer. Sweeeeet! Literally.