2nd Grade Blues, Pod Meeting and More Rambling - Cadillac Cowgirl Style

My Juicy is a 2nd Grader today! Wow - where does time go? What's worse? Tyler is a Senior and Zoe is in 7th Grade already....God I feel so friggin old!!! Paige got a haircut yesterday and the girl who cuts her hair normally cuts a stacked bob that swings down in the front. Well...the swing is a little short this time, so Paige thinks she looks like a boy. Totally not helping the situation (remember, this is the kid who thought she was fat) was my mom and her comments in front of Paige about how short it was. So now my child has a serious hair complex and is convinced she looks ugly. GREAT!! We got home last night and I made her special steak dinner before she got in the bath. Once we washed and dried her hair, it looked cute and fluffy, so I think she's going to be okay. I do, however, anticipate a reluctance on her part to get her hair cut again in the near future. Or not. Maybe she'll just become a little paranoid and be like her mommy who freaks out anytime Jeff takes more than a 1/2 inch off of her hair! She was so excited to go back to school and she got up early for her waffle and scrambled eggs with cheese breakfast. As soon as she spotted her BFF's, she took off and went in without me. I probably could have dropped her off at the door and went on about my merry way. It's so weird how independent they become way before you're ready for them to. I did manage to get a good picture, though :)




Last night we had our NOW Pod meeting. I love our Pod. We're small, but we've got a great group of people and the best part is the no B.S. rule that we've had in place for the past few years. I was hoping to have a list of rule changes and director nominees in time for our meeting, but we had a productive one nonetheless. Gary is going as the GP Delegate for the TT Lake Whitney Pod and Ron Baker, our Pepper Popper, is going in my place for NOW Pod. The Pod had some really great discussions regarding the people running for director as well as questions for CASI as a whole. Something that we discussed touched on (and please don't get pissed, it's just the truth) the aging chili cook population. How much longer can CASI go before they really start an aggressive membership drive and campaign to bring in new blood - and not just on the BOD, but the membership as well. I think that in this economy, people are very, very picky about how they spend their disposable income and for a lot of people, hanging out at a smoky Elks Lodge or in its' parking lot might not appeal to 20 and 30 somethings who probably have kids. While I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that, it's the reality of where society is at this time. People are looking for inexpensive ways to spend their money and get the most value out of it while also spending time with their families if they have them. When I first started cooking chili, the Elks Lodge cook offs were the best cook offs around. They were usually held over a weekend, there were tons of cooks, and the fellowship made it so enjoyable. Fast forward 8 years to a completely different economy. Not everyone, including long time cooks, can afford a weekend of chili cooking at a lodge where you are encouraged to spend money in their bar. Figure in the price of fuel, food and supplies for two people for two days worth of chili cook offs can get pricey. Figure in kids and you've basically taken cooking chili out of the equation for a lot of people. So my question is: how do we get back to being affordable and attractive while not regressing? Some of the cook offs I've noticed becoming more popular are the ones at either someone's compound where you camp for free (Harvey and Carol West's 4th of July CCO, for example), RV parks that either offer free or reduced rate hook ups, and places that offer more than just a chili cook off - activities to keep the kids entertained and also allows the adults to relax, have a potluck and kind of control their spending if they need to. Again, these ramblings are just my opinion, but I still feel that I raise a few good questions. What will CASI do when all they are left with is the younger cooks looking to stretch their dollars further? On top of that, many cooks are retired and on a fixed income - cooking chili can cut into their money. Do we go back to 25 cook minimums and cut out a lot of these 15 cook cook offs in an effort to bring some of the more popular cook offs back to life so that they're more of a weekend event? Do we lower entry fees? How do we continue to make CASI appealing for the cooks we have and the cooks we need while not reducing what we give to our charities? Hopefully one of the individuals running for the Board can answer these questions in a rational, well thought out manner. In a perfect world, all of them would be able to!!

I resisted the urge to buy premixed red beans and rice and gumbo packages yesterday at the store. I'm going to make them from SCRATCH!! Paige and I stopped at Brookshires yesterday and really wish we had one in Ennis. There's one in Kaufman (we stopped in Red Oak) and it is a FABULOUS store. Hell, I'd be happy with one off the highway in Palmer. That would be so awesome. I'm making my old standby this evening - spaghetti and meatballs - and I've got a slow cooker roast for tomorrow. Friday night is usually pizza and Sam's Pizza is now open in Ennis, so we've been going there. There's a Sam's in Red Oak and Cedar Hill and they have they best sausage, mushroom and onion pizza. It is sooooo good!!!!

Okay, Champ is here. We've got to catch up - we've been out of touch for a few weeks!

Keep it real, folks!!

Kelly