Catching Up....

Good Morning!!! How was everyone's weekend? How many of you managed to steal some points cooking chili Saturday and Sunday? I have lots to talk about, including results from Cleburne this weekend. I'll start with that!

Cleburne Elks Lodge Saturday CCO
16 Chilis

1. Kay Lefler
2. Babs Johnson
3. Delores Sanders
4. Frances Sullivan
5. David Lefler
6. David Manske
7. Kelly Brignon
8. Jim Trietsch
9. Chris Sneeringer
10. Clint Wallace

Cleburne Elks Lodge Sunday CCO
28 Chilis

1. Sam Roberts
2. Ron Barnes
3. Glenda Vrba
4. Nancy Hewlett
5. Clint Porter
6. Dee Palmer
7. Bill Lester
8. Bob Pulliam
9. Kay Lefler
10. Susan Spencer

We had a GREAT cook off both days. Our cook count was down on Saturday, obviously, due to all of the cook offs in the area. We bounced back on Sunday and had a great turn out. The Cleburne Elks Lodge always puts on a fantastic cook off (and always the same weekend in October, EVERY YEAR) and they love CASI cooks. It was unfortunate that the attendance was down on Saturday, but we all had a great time and everyone pitched in. The Elks always have a dinner Friday night and breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings. Their next cook off will be May 14th and I'm looking forward to it!

Gary went to Kerens Saturday and ran their cook off. They had 26 cooks and he won 1st....LMAO!! He said he was embarrassed and he couldn't get out of there fast enough! Kerens always puts on a great cook off (and ALWAYS the same weekend, EVERY YEAR) and the entire community comes out for it. The Kerens cook off benefits the Kerens Public Library and they have a festival downtown with vendors, food, children's activities and a band. He and Zoe had a great time and he had lots of help as well.

Do ya'll like my passive aggressive way of mentioning when these cook offs occur every year??? Kerens obviously wasn't affected by another one nearby; and Cleburne had enough for a sanctioned cook off even with the Mansfield cook off so close. It would be nice if Stop, Drop and Roll would settle on a date and stop flip flopping because I feel that was what affected Cleburne the most. But, telling the Cleburne Elks that THEY need to move THEIR cook off, when they've kept the same date for the past several years, is really unnecessary. Those Elks are going to do whatever they can to make sure they have the best cook off that they can. What they didn't like was someone they didn't know coming in and telling them how they needed to do things. After talking to them and making sure they weren't too upset, we agreed to watch the calendar for the Stop, Drop and Roll cook off date next year. If it's a conflict, then we want to do what's best for the Elks Lodge cook off. But to have someone make a knee-jerk statement based on cook offs that may or may not even take place next year, that really isn't the best way to approach a situation, especially when it's made by someone they don't even know. When you start moving your cook off to avoid another one, you inevitably come in conflict with something else - thankfully they realize that and I was able to smooth everything over with the ones who were a little put off by the whole thing. But, they were definitely worked up a little...especially those Lady Elks....they took a little longer to calm down!!! But they're so fun and so good to all of us CASI cooks - I definitely made sure there were no hard feelings when I left Sunday afternoon. They knew that their cook off wouldn't be as large on Saturday because of Stop, Drop and Roll....and, no pun intended, they rolled with it and are already looking forward to next year!

Other than that, Paige and I had the most wonderful time on our MommyBaby Private Time Camping Trip. We watched Nightmare Before Christmas, P drank hot chocolate and we slept like babies Saturday night! I dressed up my trailer for Show on Saturday and won 1st Place!!! Paige was so funny...she held Babs' ticket on Saturday and wouldn't tell Babs if her number had been called or not! I told her that messing with a chili cook's number is a good way to get in trouble and that I may not be able to save her :) She had so much fun and was such a good girl. She was excited to see Sam on Sunday and terrorized him for awhile. He walked over to our trailer with his iPod playing Charlie Robison and Paige told him that she loved Charlie. She then said this to me:

Paige: Mommy, I love Charlie.
Me: Yes, I do too.
Paige: I want to marry him.
Me: (laughing) okay....
Paige: Do you think he likes little girls?
Me: God, I hope not!!!
Paige: Mommy!!! What's wrong with him liking little girls???

I just changed the subject :) LOL!!!

I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks. I've got most of the Halloween party stuff bought. I need to buy food and beverages for the party, as well as start getting my menu together for TICC. It'll be here before we know it. The weather looks to be perfect while we're there.....highs in the 80's and lows in the 40's at night. I'm also excited because the weekend after TICC is one of my FAVORITE cook offs - The Denton Elks Lodge Foxey Ladies CCO!!! I get to take my trailer to that one, too!!! I love that cook off because I get to terrorize Delora for an entire weekend!!! Yay!!! That is another great Elks Lodge that goes out of their way for the CASI cooks. It's always a fun cook off.

Gary and I also need to take P to pick out Halloween pumpkins. Hopefully we can do that this week or weekend. Wyatt is also doing wonderful....we're very thankful that he's recovered so quickly. He's happy to be back in GP with his peeps. He's still on antibiotics, but he's moving around really well and all of the swelling is gone. Yay Wyatt!!

Now that my trailer is finished (complete with serial killer writing on the outside), I'm ready to start on my Scotty. This one has panelling on the inside, so I'm going to need to sand it and rough it up a little in order to paint it. The outside is in fabulous shape, with only the white paint needing to be re-done. The turquoise looks great. I'm going to pull out the kitchen and put a dinette in. I can put a sink in my closet along with a porta potty and I'll be good to go. I'm looking forward to starting on this one!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Spreading Joy and Kindness in ALL that I do and say :o)

Kelly