Well....It Wasn't Chicken With Gnocchi Dumplings...But It Was Still Good!!!!!

I ended up roasting rainbow trout for dinner last night and serving it with couscous and cucumber salad. It was absolutely delicious. I bought the couscous and salad already made from Central Market, but it could be easily duplicated at home. I normally cook trout in a cast iron skillet, or on the grill with a cedar plank. I thought about roasting it last night for kicks and it turned out AMAZINGLY well! Below is the recipe and it's not rocket science or exact measurements, either. It's simple, easy to follow and of course, easy to modify to suit your tastes :)

Cadillac Cowgirl Oven Roasted Rainbow Trout

3 Rainbow Trout filets (they're normally all about the same size and weight...usually 6-8 inches long)
Olive Oil
Salt
Lemon Pepper seasoning (I use Obie-Que)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, spray with non stick spray and lay the filets on top. Drizzle each filet with olive oil and then sprinkle the salt and lemon pepper seasoning over each trout filet. Roast in the oven on the top rack for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes with a fork. Adjust seasonings to taste if desired.

I have the most delicious champagne tomatoes growing on one of my tomato plants, so I drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper over them as well and roasted them alongside the trout. DELICIOUS!!!



I am a lover of the couscous and Central Market had feta and chive couscous already made and ready for me to take home :) Same with the cucumber salad. However, if you wanted to make either of these sides at home, they're super easy. Buy a box of the Near East Couscous (plain, Parmesan or garlic herb), prepare it according to the directions (literally takes 5 minutes - easiest side dish ever) and add anything to it that you want - chopped tomatoes, green onions, feta or goat cheese...you get the idea. Serve it warm or cold, like a salad. Same with the cucumber salad....chop up cukes, tomatoes and a red onion. Drizzle olive oil and red wine vinegar over the top, season with salt and pepper and you're done! These are my favorite kind of dinners!!

My daughter was blowing kisses to the boys as we left school yesterday. Please pray for me and Lord Brignon.

Speaking of Lord Brignon, he left at 4 am this morning and the dogs would not stop barking. I'm exhausted. So is Paige. She was late for school. We just couldn't get it going this morning.

So.....the CASI board has four open spots for this year's elections. I haven't heard anyone announce that they're running....hhhmmm......

TOT is this weekend. We'll be there Saturday for sure. I see myself going home Saturday evening and sleeping in Sunday morning. That just sounds so good :)

Have a fantastic Tuesday. I pre-ordered the new Hank III CD last week and was able to enjoy it this morning via iTunes. I love him. He needs to hurry up and go back on tour so that I can properly stalk him!!!

Keepin it real....

Kelly

Greetings...and Conversations with Paige!

Good Morning - how was every one's weekend? Ours was busy and fun - just a girls' weekend while daddy was deep sea fishing in Florida. Gary caught a 7 lb nurse shark, lots of grouper and some smaller sharks...is it sharks or shark or even sharki?? Anyways - he had a blast and ate all sorts of delicious food while he was gone. He felt the need to send me pictures of oysters on the half shell, conch fritters, fried scallops and pineapple glazed sea bass. I ate Taco Cabana, and Dominos, and Dairy Queen this weekend....LOL! Actually, Courtney (aka Hard Cock) and I sat outside on the patio at La Calle Dolce Saturday (freezing our asses off) and sharing ceviche, shrimp quesadillas and seafood fondue. It was FANTASTIC!! I took Paige to a birthday party Saturday at the Trinity Audubon Park and had a great time. We took a little nature hike and nature reared it's ugly head in the form of allergy attacks for quite a few of us. I was hacking and sneezing Saturday afternoon. I had to dope up on Benadryl which made me loopy the rest of the evening...well...loopier than usual.

Soo....Friday night I was doing some laundry and I asked Paige to bring me some hangers. She brought a bunch of mangled, tangled hangers to the laundry room and dropped them on the floor. I said, "Hey - pick those up and hand them to me as I need them." She sighed ever so loudly and dropped to the floor to begin the difficult and strenuous task of handing hangers to her mommy. The following conversation place:

Paige: I'm having back pains tonight and helping you really hurts my back.
Me: Uuuhh...but you aren't doing anything other than handing me hangers and that has nothing to do with your back.
Paige: Well, I just don't care for this kind of work.
Me: (laughing) I'm sorry...but it's just one of those things you have to do. I don't like laundry, either. It sucks; but, if you'll help me, we'll get done faster and can get in bed and watch the Upside Down Show.
Paige: (Sighing heavily) I think I'll just dust.

She picks up the duster and starts dusting the wet clothes that I'm hanging up, the countertop in the laundry room and her face. I just looked at her.

Me: Paige, I'm going to have a hard time marrying you off if you don't pick it up in the housework department.
Paige: No you're not. I've talked to Sheldon and he told me that if I married him, then he would do all of the housework and I could just be his wife. Then I won't have back problems all the time.
Me: Well, I hope your marriage to Sheldon turns out the way you two have planned it. But, in the meantime, you're going to help mommy!!!

Paige had Field Day on Friday and I thought for sure she'd be worn out and pass out when we got home. Nope - she was still full of energy. After I spent two hours cleaning my floors, I sat outside on the front porch and drank a glass of Sangria. She came outside in her t-shirt, panties and socks and asked me if she could ride her bike. I said sure, but the garage door was shut and she didn't want to go in and open it. So, she decided she would just run. And run she did...up and down the driveway in her t shirt, socks and panties. Classy.

I went shopping for my trailer yesterday with a friend who also has a trailer. We were looking for bedding and trying to get our "vision" for our trailers. It took two false positives on a quilt before I finally reconciled with my "inner girl" and ended up buy a Shabby Chic duvet cover. I can still use cowhide and old western decor to go along with the Shabby Chic bedding and my trailer vision is beginning to come together. I had settled on leaving the wood interior alone, but now I'm thinking that I might just have to sand it and paint it in a distressed wood theme. I know I'm going to replace my countertop and I'm going to put a copper bowl or apron sink in for the existing sink. Once I get going on what I want to do on the inside, I'm fine. It's just getting there that's so hard for me. I have ZERO interior design skills whatsoever. My house is a study in brown, white and black. The only color in my living room is the red on the Texas Flag that is framed and hanging on the wall. I am so color scared it's laughable. I am frightened by color. Brown makes me happy. I don't want to basically recreate my house inside my trailer, so I'm going to step outside of my comfort zone and decorate it a girly, shabby chic interior that is probably going to lead me to question who I am as a person. That sounds a little overboard and dramatic, but it's pretty close to how I feel about decorating with color, flowers and girly shizz. But hey - aren't we supposed to think outside of our box every now and then?

I bought a package of potato gnocchi and I'm going to fix it with chicken either tonight or tomorrow night. I've got kind of a creamy white wine over chicken and gnocchi dish in mind...so I'll experiment and see how it turns out. I've also got little champagne tomatoes that are ripe on the vine, so that might be a nice addition to it as well. I also remember eating a pork dish several years ago that had dumplings and cabbage - not all mixed together, of course, that would be gross. Anyways, got distracted there - it was a pork loin with gravy served over the little gnocchi dumplings and it came with a side of cabbage that had been cooked with onions and bacon. I remember how good that was...so that might be something to try also. We also have to get the toyhauler ready for TOT this weekend, Pod meeting tomorrow night, Spring Program for P's school Wednesday night and try and sleep, work, mix spices and go to Karate between all of this craziness as well! I am soooo ready for summer!

So, now I hear John Goforth is not going to seek re-election to the CASI Board. That makes four directors leaving the BOD. Wow.....any idea if anyone has decided to run this year? This is going to be a very, very interesting GPM in September. I'm so thankful I'm not going!!!!

I hope every one's Monday doesn't turn into the typical beatdown that I tend to experience. I'll be back tomorrow (I hope!!) to let ya'll know how the Chicken and Gnocchi dish turned out.

Keep it real, folks :o)

Kelly

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday

For those of you not friends with my sister, I need to let you know that she is a closed captionist. She's actually very good and has a 98% accuracy rate. I don't know how it will be affected by the caption she typed this morning: Hard Cock Cafe.

Yes, my sister captioned the words Hard Cock Cafe for millions of deaf people this morning. I cannot properly convey how proud I am of her....LOL!!! She also captioned Snooki's Poop instead of Snooki's Pouf around Halloween. Brilliant.

This is the same sister I was referencing Monday when I posted a comment on FB about someone wearing a Batman Comic shirt to a loan closing and paying her closing costs with a Batman check. I would like to state for the record that there are no pictures of my mom pregnant with her. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Just kidding, Child....just kidding.


I worked on homework last night with the Juicy and she's still having issues with money. I don't know how to get her over the hump when it comes to counting money and identifying how much each coin is worth. I took all of the change I had and put it on the table for her to work with and I think it helped a little...but I'm not sure. She had Cocoa Puffs for dinner and I ate left over Blue Cheese Spaghetti - which she REFUSED to eat the other night. Last night she decided to try it and raved about how good it was. I told her that I don't make bad food and if she'd eat what I'd cook, she'd like it. She just looked at me like I was crazy. I also broke down and bought her a new iPod. We bought her a Shuffle for her birthday last year and told her that she had to be responsible and keep up with it - which she did. About a month ago, she opened up the car door and it fell out. She thought it fell in the floor board, but it actually fell in the parking lot. She's been stressed out that we will never buy her another one, etc. and I explained to her that I would. She really did take care of it and this was more of an accident rather than just not keeping up with her shizz. So, I bought her a Nano and put her music back on it last night. We also downloaded such hits as Kidz Bop 19 and Ke$ha. Yeah....we were totally rockin out. I also bought her this really cool wristwatch type holder for her iPod. That shuffle was just too small and even though the Nano isn't much bigger, at least it has a decent case to keep it in and hopefully keep up with.

I have had my iPod Nano since 2006 and it finally died. I broke down and bought an iPod Touch yesterday and I feel dirty and sleazy. It's like I'm cheating on my BlackBerry. I'm weird about Steve Jobs and Apple products - I think he's trying to take over the world! I refuse to have an iPhone....but that little iPhone Touch is pretty damn cool. I'm going to be strong, and resist the lure of the dark side.

I didn't feel any random sharp pains after my last blog post, so maybe I didn't piss too many people off :) I'm still thinking of ways CASI can maximize the efforts of the Board and the membership to light a fire under our organization's ass. Here are some of the thoughts I've had the past few days:

*Employ/Outsource our advertising needs to an Advertising Agency or an off-Board position - including the Terlingua Trails. The Trails seems very time consuming and if we can take that off of the particular Director in charge of it, then it would free up time for that Director to handle other issues.

*Hire an ACTUAL website hosting firm to re-vamp the CASI website. This could even include managing a comparable software to input cook off results, membership, etc.

*Set monthly or quarterly goals for the Board member in charge of memberships. Set up a budget and allocate so many dollars towards mass mailings of CASI info cards in order to get our name out there. Utilize EMAIL!!!! FACEBOOK!! TWITTER!!! Have the membership director work with the Advertising firm to maximize CASI's exposure and let more people know who we are and what we do.

Okay, so these thoughts pose the question, "Then what do the Directors do with their free time?" This is what you do:

You divide up the country into regions and assign a director to each region. That director is responsible for inputting cook off results, managing regional/area referee assignment and issues, being the point of contact for charities and cooks in that area and working with charities, referees and pods in their region to schedule cook offs.

Have the President, ED and Sponsor Chair work together with the existing and potential sponsors rather than it being one person's sole responsibility. Have the ED remain the point of contact for the directors in the event there is a problem that can't be solved by them or the membership at the regional level. This will eliminate more than one person doing the same job. For example - our current structure involves the ED, the Upcomings Director and random cooks, pods and referees when it comes to scheduling cook offs. Streamline this process and you eliminate tons of headaches.

*Once a cook off is scheduled, entered and accepted, EMAIL the cook off packet, rather than mail it, to the contact person. I know that doesn't eliminate the issue of getting tickets to the proper person, but it will cut down on postage and waste. Mailing a set of tickets would definitely be cheaper than the whole packet until we can come up with a solution for the tickets. Allow cook off paperwork to be submitted via email or fax and cook off fees to be paid via Paypal.

*We have job descriptions and a code of conduct for the BOD, why not an actual list of JOB REQUIREMENTS as well. There's nothing wrong with requiring business experience in order to serve on the Board. Nor is there any shame in seeking people outside of the CASI family to serve on the Board if they can bring knowledge, time and energy to the table.

If we free up our Board members from multiple day to day issues and let them focus on running CASI efficiently and marketing CASI effectively, we'll start bringing in more money for TICC, the Scholarship Fund and the advertising - which will pay for itself if done properly.

We can also consider an outside CPA to review the books each year as well....something so many of you know I've been harping on for awhile.

These are just my ideas and random thoughts and in no way am I trying to be critical of any one person or the job they do. But, I hate complaining without a solution and if I'm going to blog about my feelings, then I feel like I should make an attempt to be part of the solution rather than just running my mouth and not looking for alternate ways to do things. I wish more people would actively voice their ideas and opinions, but I understand why they don't. It really does seem like you're talking to a wall. Well, guess what - the only way things are going to change is if enough people look to better CASI through innovation, change and oh my God....RISK! It's not the end of the world if you try something and it doesn't work. Chances are, you might find an even better solution through failure.

I've got bean spices to mix. If you want a sample packet, let me know. I still need some feedback before I start selling to the masses. Good luck to everyone cooking chili this weekend. I'm going to hang out with my child tomorrow - it's Field Day at St. Joseph Caflic (as toothless Paige would say) School and get my hair did. Saturday she and I are going to go to a birthday party and Sunday I'm going to tend to my trailer and start getting her fixed up. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather we're supposed to have.

I'll let everyone know if I get any sharp pains over the weekend :)

The Cadillac Cowgirl

A Few General Questions, Food, and Other Ramblings....

Is it possible to have a normal week? Seriously - can I just have ONE WEEK in which nothing bizarre, stressful or dramatic takes place? I can't remember the last time I made it through five days without a Xanax, a bottle of wine, or a complete nervous breakdown. It's just Tuesday and I'm beginning to fear the rest of the week.

With that said, I'm only going to work through tomorrow. I'm going to take Thursday and Friday off and who knows - my kid may not even go to school either. We just may play hooky and have mommybaby days at the house. I need to get an AC cover for one of my trailers and straighten up another one. I also need to clean out the silver one so that the girls can have a redneck playhouse in the backyard. This week might not end up sucking after all.

I'm going to make a delicious King Ranch Casserole for dinner tomorrow night. It just sounds good. Below is the recipe:

Cadillac Cowgirl King Ranch Casserole

1 Rotisserie Chicken, skin removed and chicken shredded
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Medium Onion, diced
1 Medium Bell Pepper, diced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Cans Rotel, drained (use mild if you're feeding kiddos or wimps, regular for adults or people who can handle the heat...LOL!!)
3/4 Cup Chicken Broth
2 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Mild Bills Cumin
2 tsp Mild Bill's San Antonio Original Chili Powder
3 Cups Grated Cheese (I use a mixture of Cheddar and Colby)
10-12 Corn Tortillas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat, melt the butter. When melted, add the onion and bell pepper and saute until tender; add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the next 7 ingredients (Mushroom soup through Chili Powder) and stir to combine; check for seasoning and adjust to your preference. Simmer over low heat for a few minutes. In a lightly greased 13x9 casserole dish, add your first layer of corn tortillas, shredded chicken and grated cheese (which will be about 1/2 of each) and half of the soup mixture. Repeat with the tortillas, chicken and remaining soup mixture, then top the casserole with the rest of the grated cheese. Bake covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for 15 more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Goes great with refried beans and Cadillac Cowgirl Mexican Rice!

Feel free to substitute a diced jalapeno for the bell pepper and Monterrey Jack cheese for the Cheddar and/or Colby.

My Juicy of Love and Deliciousness is so ready for school to be out. I think most of her friends are ready, actually. I've had some whiny baby issues with P this past week. You can tell she's just tired, burnt out and ready for a break. I take that into account, but still. The drama that goes with just the simplest request is almost too much. I'm sure she's looking forward to summer as much as mommy is. I went to Petsmart yesterday to pick up a few items for Gilbert and they had a really cute Guinea Pig there. For a nano second I considered buying him, but I think I'll wait. He was pretty cute, though....

Speaking of pets, Eddie apparently shot blanks back in March when he hooked up with his ladyfriend. I guess we'll have to stud him out again.....he couldn't get the job done the first time. Maybe it's cause he's used to humping Waylon all the time and actual male/female action was just too much for him to handle.

I read the ED's Blog this morning. Jenny Windsor has decided to not seek re-election to the CASI Board this year. While I completely understand her decision and absolutely do not blame her, it kind of left me wondering, "where does that leave CASI?" In no way am I insinuating that if CASI fails, it's all Jenny's fault, so let's get that out in the open now. Let's also make sure everyone understands that this is coming from a sponsor and cook who wants to see CASI succeed - not fail. Even though I've just said that and mean it, I won't be able to control the opinions of those who read my blog (even though it angers them to no end) and accuse me of being difficult, hot headed and hard to deal with. So, with that said, allow me to voice my concern about the state of CASI. Who is going to replace the experience of three Board members (Renee, Dorathy and Jenny) not seeking re-election this year? And these are just the ones we know about. And what do we do about what so many of us feel is a stagnant environment for our organization? Is it the fact that we are electing people via a popularity contest and once they are on the Board they are either incapable of making progress because of lack of business experience or unable to do so because of the way things are set up to run? Each year, we listen to candidates give us their resume and tell us what they are going to do to make CASI better....yet nothing seems to change. Our membership is still at practically a standstill for an organization that is nationwide and has chili cook offs all over the country! Why doesn't our Board, or at least the Director handling the membership, facilitate a membership drive, or actively solicit new members? Why can't we advertise CASI and what we do by sending out Trails to City Chambers, for example? Just relying on cooks and the locations hosting the cook offs to advertise enough for a whole region to learn about us is asking a lot. I've asked and asked why we don't have a budget and why we don't have dollars dedicated to promoting CASI to prospective members and charities. I have yet to get an answer that goes beyond, "that is something we'll look into." I know I'm not the only one asking - so that means I'm not the only one scratching my head in confusion, either.

I want to see CASI grow. I want to see more cooks at cook offs, more charities receiving proceeds from our hard work, but it is going to take money and effort from the Board as well. Keeping CASI alive can't be a burden for the cooks alone to shoulder. Look around people, we are an AGING population and I am not trying to offend anyone - I'm no spring chicken myself! But the indifference and laissez faire attitude that seems to have invaded some of the BOD isn't helping things. As Tally Master, I can only imagine the headaches Jenny suffered because of software updates on the 15th of each month - the deadline for the Trails. Or the cumbersome process for logging cook offs, money and sending payments to the Treasurer. There has got to be a better, more efficient way to run CASI. We have PayPal for memberships, why not utilize it for cook off payments? We ALL have access to printers, fax machines and scanners - why not send paperwork in that manner? Hell, we could send cook off packets the same way! There's a reason these electronic devices are so popular - THEY WORK! There are so many ways for us to save money so that we can spend our dollars on advertising. We can't keep focusing on TICC or the Scholarship Fund as the only areas of CASI that need attention. We've got to get people on our Board to run our "hobby" so that it can function like a business, advertise it's mission, and stay around long enough for our kids to enjoy cooking chili. I love to cook chili - and I know a lot of other people that do, too. I don't think anyone wants to see CASI wither and die. We have to be responsible as a collective group - and not as two separate factions, the BOD and the membership - in order to ensure that we continue to grow and succeed. I feel like there are several cooks who would love to be a part of a committee dedicated to making CASI bigger and better; instead of sticking members on committees that basically argue the politics of CASI instead of proactively solving problems. I guess it all boils down to I don't want to find another hobby because this one allows me to drink beer and wine before 9 am if I'm cooking chili and no one looks at me weird :)

So, here's my bottom line: We need people to run for the Board that can run CASI the way it deserves to be run - like a business! We've got to continue to grow or we are going to face the possibility of losing some of our bigger sponsors. If they don't see the benefit of their sponsorship, then they make think twice about sharing their dollars with us - especially in this economy! And no...I am not talking about Mild Bill's. I'm talking about the Bruce Foods and McCormick Distilleries of the CASI sponsorship universe. We need to be able to show them that by sponsoring us and taking an active role in our events, they are getting exposure to more and more people who will buy their products as a direct result of cooking CASI chili!

So, think about what I've said. Make a Kelly Brignon Voodoo Doll and poke it if it makes you feel better. I know that I mean well and want only the best for our hobby, our bowls of red and our cooks parties and all of the other fun things we do as chili cooks. We have to be realistic, though....if we don't take responsibility for our future, then no one else will!

I was going to have a dear friend proof this blog posting to make sure I didn't offend anyone, but I'm just going to go with it and hope that all of you wonderful people that read my blog know where I'm coming from. This isn't some venomous, mean spirited post meant to humiliate and embarrass board members that I think are incompetent. Quite the opposite, in fact. I want to highlight the people who do take the time out of their lives to run CASI and encourage those with strong convictions, a loud voice and business experience to run for the Board and help CASI become bigger and better than ever. We're losing some key people this year and we're going to need strong personalities to get in the mix and make a difference in the years to come. Wouldn't you agree?

I guess that's all for now. I like blow through like a tornado sometimes :)

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

Kelly

Just Another Xanax Monday.....

First of all, I had a fantastic weekend with the girls. We stayed in a cabin on the Guadalupe and had the best time. We ate dinner at Adobe Verde in Gruene and shopped at The Grapevine Friday night. I must recommend Los Pinos Ranch Meritage. It was FANTASTIC!! I've also got a bottle of Llano Estacado Tempernillo (I may have misspelled that) and I bought another bottle of Flat Creek Super Texan Sangiovese. And I stocked up on my beloved Dry Comal Creek wine, too. Saturday, we drank our coffee outside on the back patio and just relaxed! By 11:30 we were ready to get on the river, so we headed to Rockin R in Gruene, got our toobs and put our happy asses in the river for an alleged three hour float. FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LATER.....we got off the river. It was low, slow and the wind was blowing us backwards. We all had river wrist and I've got toob rash. Still....I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I needed that trip. I was so happy to get into that smelly Guadalupe river. It's my happy place. There were tons of turtles; a family of three were hanging out on a rock. Just a few snakes, but we took care to avoid them!

I did what I set out to do: I drank lots of wine, I spent an obscene amount of money on random items, I ate good food and laughed and had a great time with my girlfriends. It was a much needed weekend away from the day to day stress!

Thank you to my guinea pigs who tried the soon to be released Mild Bills Pinto Bean Seasoning. I appreciate you taking one for the team!

I was so proud of myself. I actually walked out of the Gucci store without making a purchase. I was kind of offended at what they wanted me to pay for a small messenger bag. I felt like that was a little excessive. I did find a few scarves I liked; anniversary and birthday presents perhaps? Paige was not happy when she found out where I had been. I know I told her that's where I was going, but she feigned ignorance. Her daddy had his hands full with her yesterday morning. One minute she's playing quietly. The next minute she starts asking him what's going on:

He's so screwed....hahahahahaha!!! She's already turning Ken and Barbie into Secret Lovahs.

I'm going to peruse the internet for a pizza stone. I've decided that I want to learn how to make my own dough and pizza. I think I could come up with some pretty yummy ideas for pizzas...so I think I'm going to give it a whirl. I've also been craving mussels lately, so that's definitely going to be on my menu this week.

Oh My God!!!! While driving to our cabin, I happened upon the coolest thing - a place where Airstreams go to heaven!!! Yes! Airstreams - everywhere! I've seen this guy on the internet and remembered that he was in Central Texas, so I figured it had to be him. I Googled it this morning and I was correct! He must have had twenty different models of Airstreams at his shop. I took pics:



I came home last night to a delicious feast courtesy of my hubby. Ribeyes, grilled shrimp, fried corn and warm potato salad. It was friggin awesome! I brought green onion biscuits from The Czech Stop to go along with dinner and they were so good, too. I enjoyed my weekend away, but I was happy to be home and see my little family :)

Upon my return to Ellis County, I was driving down Ennis Ave and saw this. I had to take a picture. File under: "You can't make this shit up":


This is going to be a short week per my own executive decision. I'm going to take off Thursday and Friday and work on my trailers. On Saturday, I'm taking Paige to a birthday party and I think we'll just chill the rest of the weekend. Gary did extensive yard work this weekend and it looks great. I still need to plant all of my bulbs. Hopefully I can get to that this week.

I better scoot on out of here. Today we close our loan on the house my sister is buying from us. This is going to be a semi-decent day!!!

Keepin it real, folks.......

Kelly

OMG It's Wednesday!!!

I made pork chops and rice last night for dinner. It came out pretty good and was relatively painless to make. Below is the recipe:

Cadillac Cowgirl Pork Chops and Rice

2 Cups Long Grain Rice (uncooked)
2 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Beef Broth
1 Package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 Family Size Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Large Yellow Onion, sliced
4 Thick Cut Pork Chops or 6 Thin Cut Pork Chops
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper
Salt, Pepper and Vegetable Oil for browning chops

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 13x9 casserole dish with non stick spray; set aside. Combine the 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, Lipton Onion Soup mix and cream of mushroom soup in a large bowl and warm it up in the microwave for a few minutes. In a large skillet, heat enough oil to brown pork chops on both sides. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side of the pork chops, brown and set aside to drain. Pour the two cups of rice in the casserole dish and cover with the 2 1/2 cups of water and beef broth. Lay the sliced onion and pork chops over the rice and pour the soup mixture over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Check the rice to make sure it's not sticking and continue baking at 375 degrees until the rice is done and the pork chops are cooked through and tender. Check the rice periodically and add water if needed to keep the rice from sticking. Serve with veggies and rolls and viola! Dinner is served!!!

Like I threatened yesterday, tonight is very likely tuna casserole night. I will do my best to post the recipe tomorrow. I may have posted it before, but it deserves an encore :) Don't quite know what I'll fix for dinner tomorrow night - I haven't gotten that far in my mind just yet. I can see Marsala's pizza in our near future!!

I am taking a much needed, well deserved trip to Gruene this weekend. It may be too cold to float, but I can still sit on a patio overlooking the Guadalupe and drink copious amounts of wine regardless of the water temperature. I'll be sure to hit the Grapevine and stock up on Dry Comal Creek wine. I'll make sure that I go to Lone Star Eclectic and spend too much money on frivolous, random items. I'm going to shop, drink and sleep to my heart's desire. And I'm not going to feel guilty about any of it, either :)

Paige has mastered the art of text messaging via my CrackBerry. She sent a text message to her daddy last night before Karate. She thought that was the coolest thing ever and told me that this should make me realize how ready she is for a phone. Right!!! This morning, she told me that a hairbrush is a weapon for tangles. Kid cracks me up. She's so sweet and precious. She told me last night that she likes to help me clean house. When I told her the house was clean and she could clean her room instead, she quickly told me that she didn't like that as much. I asked her what the difference was and she told me that cleaning her room wasn't fun. I told her that if she can have fun making a mess, she can have fun cleaning it up. She wasn't real friendly towards me after that!!!

We went to the Hall last night to have a few cocktails and catch up with Mark and Vicki. After a long day, that was just what I needed. I may not have gotten to bed at a decent time, but laughing for a few hours past my bedtime was worth it!

Have a great day, everyone. I'll be back tomorrow to spread some kindness and joy.

Kelly

Is It Friday Yet?!?!?!?!?!?

Whoa...what a week so far! Yesterday was crappy - even by Monday's standards. That cold rain was just completely uncalled for! I'm so happy the sun came out and the wind died down today. I know how much this wind has driven everyone crazy, but we're all going to be wishing for it in July when it's 110 degrees outside and nary a breeze in sight!

I forgot to mention my daughter's completely awkward behavior last Tuesday at our neighbor's house. I guess what is normal to me is probably a little "off" to others. I'm betting the neighbors (their names have been left off to protect them!!) didn't hear what she said, but still...it was cringeworthy. I was trying to get her out of their house and she was fascinated by their cat. Well, the cat was being playful and let Paige pet her when she rolled over on her back and exposed her belly. Paige, being Paige and coming from our cracked out house, declared, "Mommy, she's showing her muff." I couldn't get her up and get her out of the house fast enough. She didn't do anything bad....I just didn't want the neighbors to think we were complete weirdos. I don't think they heard her, but it was funny nonetheless. She asked me when we were driving down the road to the house if she had said something bad and I told her no. I just explained to her that that word can mean different things to different people and even though we're talking mainly about Waylon's belly when he rolls over on his back, not everyone will know that so we have to watch when we say it. She seemed somewhat satisfied with my answer.

I pulled blackberry vines from my flowerbeds Friday morning and bled like a son of a bitch. Those vines have thorns and on top of that, they're long and they hurt if you get tangled up in them. I pulled all I could and then said to hell with it. The flowerbeds look a lot better, but there are still some weeds that need to be pulled. I've left them for Gary...they're really, really stuck in there. As soon as it warms up for good, I will buy some lantana and plant a few more in the backyard. Some of them died during the winter, and I'll need to replace them. I also have bulbs I need to get in the ground pretty damn quick. My veggies are doing great - especially my lettuces, collard and mustard greens. I should have sprinkled some MiracleGro on them Sunday evening so that they could have gotten a nice snack with all of the rain! I've even got garlic and shallots coming up. Yay!!

So....I woke up at 3 am yesterday morning and found out about bin Laden. That was unexpected to say the least. I've really been intrigued by all of the different reactions to his death, and the subsequent reactions to others' reactions. I'm a different animal politically. For every liberal left opinion I have, I also have a conservative right view as well. Like, I am pro death penalty, but I'm also anti abortion. Still, I believe in the right to choose. I believe in global warming and I think that the environment should be a priority. Yet, I hate spending $100 to fill up my tank and if we can drill for our own oil, then by God we need to! I'm anti-war, but I support our troops and what they sacrifice for all of us. I don't know if killing bin Laden is going to put an end to the terrorism and fighting in this world, but I also believe that if someone comes to our country and stages a mass killing, then we shouldn't have any problem obliterating them from the face of the Earth. Yet, I'm a mom and it really bothers me to see the innocent victims in all of this. So, yeah...I'm kind of a mixed bag when it comes to hunting and killing someone so awful. Do we as a country deserve justice? Absolutely. Should we be rejoicing in the killing of someone and quite possibly martyring him for his followers? Maybe not. I'm interested to see how this plays out within the terrorist community and how it will affect our lives going forward. I believe the world is a better place now that he's gone. I can only hope that the rest of the world feels the same way. I guess we'll see. That's my political rant for the year.

I was sad to hear about the snafu with the Myrtle Beach cook off. I guess the promotor didn't really understand the need to promote the cook off. I certainly can't fault the Directors for canceling their trip considering they were taking off from their paying jobs to support the non profit, volunteer organization that they help run. With that said....why not establish a board position/liason who can work with some of these newer promotors or cook offs to give them a boost from the CASI side? I know that there was some talk awhile back about a mentoring program for Pods...did that ever come to fruition? Why not something similar for new cook offs? Just a suggestion.....from a cook, and a sponsor, who only benefits from CASI prospering :) I don't think people realize that when I'm blogging about my CASI opinions. I think most people look at it as me being critical, hot headed and hard to deal with. Really? Suggesting ideas to help make our organization bigger and better makes me a difficult person. Fascinating.....

Speaking of sponsors....Mild Bills is working on a Bean Seasoning that will soon be available on our website. I'm going to be handing out samples for people to use when cooking beans at cook offs or at home. I'm really excited to introduce this product and I'm going to be eager to hear all of the feedback necessary to make this product popular!

I've got pork chops and rice on the menu for dinner tonight. I'll be sure and post the recipe tomorrow. Tomorrow night's meal will probably be tuna casserole. Don't gag - it's delicious and my kids eat it! I love it....it's total comfort food :) I made chili last night - and I used Mild Bill's Gunpowder Foods Chili Mix. It's easy to make, quick to make, and even kids will enjoy it. This is more of a homestyle chili and it's great over hot dogs, fritos, or even crackers. It hit the spot last night!

Oh - winners from the 23rd Annnual Larry Joe Taylor Music Festival and Chili Cook off:

68 Chilis

1. Dee Palmer
2. Melinda Sawey
3. Steph Brockman
4. Gary Brignon
5. Jason Clark
6. Jimmy Moon
7. Jamie Palmer
8. Kelly Brignon
9. Vicki Sanders
10. Patty Spears

Her name escapes me, but the lady from Comanche who has won beans every year won beans again this year!!! I believe her name is Kathy and she's such a nice lady!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped run the cook off - Steph Brockman, Gary Napier, Kris Stewart and of course the Ellis Co. crew of Mark and Vicki Sanders and Lord Brignon. If I forgot anyone, I apologize....but I did drink this weekend...so give me a small break!

Have a great afternoon....I hope to be back tomorrow!!

Spreading my own special brand of kindness, joy and political offerings....

Kelly