Monday Repeat, Spaghetti, The Pasta Boat and Testes.....

Good Morning! What is today? My calendar says Tuesday but I could swear it was a Monday. My Expedition wouldn't start after I took Paige into school this morning. I need a new battery. I also believe that I was out of gas. I don't remember being low on gas, though. I guess my low fuel warning came on and I just didn't pay attention to it. How mortifying is that? Now my husband is only focusing on the fact that I ran out of gas and not that I had a legitimate car crisis. Men.

Anyhow, I didn't have any coffee while I was waiting on Gary to come to my aid. I dozed off and now I can't wake up. I've had coffee and nothing is helping. I don't like energy drinks so I think that I should just go home and go back to bed. Wyatt is doing amazingly well and has returned to General Population. Every time I look out there, Molly and/or Tucker are servicing him and loving him in an effort to show that he was missed....sort of :) They tried to go on a hunger strike the other day to show their displeasure, but I think it was a farce. They love their grumpy, finicky baby brother and lover...especially Molly...the porn star of all basset hounds!

I don't know if all this alleged sexual crap with Brett Favre is true, but let me say this: If I was his wife and had endured his drug/alcohol addiction, my own breast cancer, his flip flopping over retirement and that big ego of his, I'd string him up and he wouldn't have to worry about giving me half - I'd be the only one left to get anything. :) And no, that is not a direct threat towards Brett Favre....but it IS a warning to my husband....LOL!!!!!

I bought The Pasta Boat at Wal Mart last week and oh my God...it works!!! I used it for my spaghetti last night and the only small problem I had was getting the lid back to stay on securely when I drained the water. I was quite impressed! I made spaghetti with sauce for Paige and Spaghetti Pomodoro for me and Gary. I'll share the recipe, too. It was really good!!

Paige made it through her "testes" yesterday. She was telling my mom that they send the grades all the way to Austin. There was awe in her voice when she was telling her. We got to school this morning and she wouldn't stop long enough for me to button up her shirt. That child sees her buddies and she's off!! I guess that's a good thing. She could be one of those kids (my sister) who got physically ill at the thought of going to school. Paige loves it and I love that she enjoys school so much. She told me she'd just like to stay away from public school.....

Paige informed me last night that Dancing With The Stars is her favorite show. In fact, she performed a dance for us last night titled "Funder and Lightening". I hope to record an encore performance of "Funder and Lightening" this evening so that I can share it with the masses. For those of you who have never seen Paige dance, it is an experience you don't want to miss! For those of you who have....you know what's in store :)

Okay, last weekend we had five cook offs in a fairly close proximity to one another. HandleyFest didn't make fifteen; Tommy Alverson/Joe Pool Lake barely made fifteen. Tawakoni had 17, Ponder had 20 and Whitney had 31. See where I'm headed with this??? What is the point in having so many cook offs on the same weekend so close together? One of them had two cooks at 10 am. The other one barely made it. Can someone please tell me what the advantage is to having cook offs on top of cook offs for the sake of having them? No one really wins, if you ask me. Here's an example of the financial breakdown for a cook off with only 15 cooks:

15 cooks x $20 per cook - $300.00
15 cooks x $3 per cook to CASI - ($45.00)
$25 to CASI for Registration - ($25.00)
Proceeds to Charity - $230.00

If there wasn't any type of raffle or auction, $230.00 is as good as it gets. If the promoter chooses to deduct their expenses from the proceeds, then it's even less to the charity. I know every little bit counts and every dollar is appreciated. Still, I run a business and you have to look at what it's costing you to make money. It just doesn't make sense to me to hold a cook off, incur all of the potential expenses, and then not really give a lot of money to the charity. Now, I know that you could be the only cook off on any given weekend and still only have 15 cooks. But to put yourself up against multiple cook offs nearby and lower your chances at a healthy turn out just continue to baffle me. Oh well...as long as we don't have a real system in place, and anyone and everyone can schedule a cook off...and yada yada yada....my usual bitch session....then I guess nothing is going to change, right?? And as long as we have people who KNOWINGLY schedule cook offs against other established cook offs (that should know better), then I'm just pissing in the wind, right?

That leads me to this weekend. Here's the lineup:

Stop Drop and Roll - Grapevine
Cleburne Elks Lodge - Cleburne
Mansfield Music Fest - Mansfield
Kerens Fall Festival - Kerens
Quinlan VFD - Quinlan

Let's talk about this....remember my definitions? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I aim to please.....

Cleburne Elks is always the 3rd weekend in October; so is Kerens. They are also a good 75 miles from one another. Stop, Drop and Roll tends to flip flop it's dates, Mansfield is a first time cook off, and what can I say, Quinlan was added at the last minute. Again, what good is it going to do to have a cook off in Mansfield when an established one is at the Cleburne Elks Lodge 30 miles away? And why would you schedule a cook off in Quinlan when you have a cook off in Kerens that's been going on for at least five years? I know the answer to that, but I'll keep my mouth shut. Stop, Drop and Roll is a great cook off and it is going to be a big success. Kerens always draws a crowd; and so does Cleburne. I just wish people would think shit through before they just start scheduling cook offs. Okay, I'm done...for now.

Let's talk about FOOD!!! My poor pancreas cannot handle all of the meat, butter, cheese and eggs on the South Beach Diet. If I plan and make sure I always have lean food available, I do okay. But when I'm running around like a headless chicken and I don't have "healfy" food with me, I end up eating shit and then feel like shit. I don't really eat shit, but you know what I mean. Unfortunately, carbs, soups and soft foods are my pancreas' best friend. Jeezz...I sound like a gomer when I say that. But it's true! I guess I could exercise and then it wouldn't really matter what food approach I take to weight loss. It's just a never ending battle with me because the rest of my digestive system doesn't care for carbs, and I just get pissed and frustrated and end up eating a plate of enchiladas, drinking excessively and not giving a rat's ass until I'm doubled over in the throes of a pancreatic meltdown. Whew!

That wasn't the kind of food talk I intended to have. I wanted to talk about the spaghetti I made for dinner last night. I sauteed shallots and garlic in olive oil and then tossed that mixture with fresh parsley, Roma tomatoes, shaved parm and spaghetti. This week is all about quick and "healfy" meals for me and this was super easy to prepare. I served it with some really delish Focaccia bread and a bottle of Rockpile Ridge Jack's Cabin Zinfandel. Try it!

Cadillac Cowgirl Spaghetti Pomodoro

12 oz Spaghetti, cooked to al dente (Hey!! Use the Pasta Boat and cook it in the microwave!!)
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Large Shallots, chopped
2 Tablespoons Garlic, chopped (use the jarred stuff!!)
4 Roma Tomatoes, Chopped
Juice of One Lemon
Handful of Parsley, Chopped
Salt, Pepper, and LOTS of Shaved Parmesan Cheese

Cook your spaghetti; drain and set aside in a large bowl. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and cook the shallots and garlic over medium low heat until tender. Be careful not to burn it! Once the shallots and garlic are cooked through, pour the olive oil mixture over the spaghetti. Add the lemon juice, chopped tomatoes and the parsley. Toss it all together, add salt and pepper to taste and then top it off with as much Parmesan as you like! Serve it with hot bread and a salad and you've got a meal in 20 minutes!!! If you don't want to go meatless, but want to keep it light, add some cooked shrimp to it. Yum!!! And always, always, always, have a glass of wine with dinner. It just makes the day so much better!

Spreading my own special brand of kindness and joy...........

Kelly