Game Day

The day that many of us have anxiously awaited is finally here... It's Game Day, y'all! I'm not even kidding. I drove by a store in June that had a countdown in the window saying "57 days til Football Time in Tennessee!" We get excited about our Vols. Not to mention that we have a new coach, and everyone is excited to see what he will do with our team this year. We've been through some rough patches with our coaches in the past 5-6 years, so I think most of the fan base is in wait-and-see mode. But it's a new day, a new season, and we have faith again!

So what does that mean? It means I'm wearing orange and making chili!

In case you can't tell, I make my chili with a lot of stuff in it. Vegetables, meat, beans... It's a hearty meal. Here's the recipe.

Game Day Chili

Serves 6 to 8 people

Ingredients: 

1 C chopped onion

1½ C chopped bell peppers; any color or a combination

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes (I use no salt added)

1 C mild salsa

1½ C chicken or beef broth

1½ T chili powder

1 T brown mustard

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 t liquid smoke

2 t cumin

¼ t black pepper

1 15oz can dark red kidney beans

1 15oz can red bean

Directions:

Spray a large saucepan with nonstick spray. Add the onions, peppers, and garlic. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the beans. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the beans and cook another 5 minutes.

Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

I know, it is quite a few ingredients, but it is worth it! I made mine early, then transferred to a preheated* slow cooker to keep warm until I'm ready to eat. Which will probably be around kickoff.:-)


*Many moon ago I read that you shouldn't put hot food in a cold/room temp slow cooker because it can cause cracking in the insert. That makes total sense to me! They suggested putting 2" of water in the slow cooker before turning it on to help it heat evenly. 

Radio silence

I want to apologize for the lack of consistent content lately. I'm trying to do better, but most times when I sit down to blog, everything I want to say is something I'm too smart to put in print. :-)

I'm working on a schedule to make my posts more regular. Bear with me, k?

Fun with Shrinky Dinks

I told you I was going to get craft-tastic for Amy's birthday! This one involved an old school with some Shrinky Dinks. I had this idea about 30 hours before I was supposed to meet her for her birthday dinner... What is it about last minute inspiration? Oh well.

First a back story. Amy's stepson once said that she and I were Mental Twins. I'm not entire positive what he meant by that, but we decided it was true. More often than not we will be thinking the same thing or similar things, even if we're not in the same place and haven't spoken in a few days. For example: Several weeks ago I was shopping with Greg and saw this:

Discovered at JCP

Since Amy has a little mini-obsession going with octopuses lately, I took a pic meaning to text it to her. For some reason I didn't, but I saw it in my phone the other morning and decided to send it to her... at the same time that she was hanging up a giant poster she painted of an octopus. Mental twin powers activate!

Which is what led to this project.

This was a total Pin-spired project. I got the original idea from something I pinned a few months ago. I found the background here and played around with it in Paint until I liked the color combo. Then the font was found here (I used Badaboom). I messed around in PowerPoint until I got that looking right. Then it was time to print...

A) You need to print it kind of faded so it will look right after it bakes. B) I made the colors inverted because I was going to make one for her and one for me, but then I couldn't decide which to give her and which to keep, so I just to put both on each of them. If I can't make a decision, I don't. :-)

Next I trimmed them and put the hole at the top. FYI, a single hole-punch is the perfect size for a jump ring. Then I baked them in my pre-heated toaster (yes, I felt like I was using an Easy Bake Oven). When they were done I let them cool and painted them with diamond glaze to protect it. I had read that the colors can bleed if they get wet, plus it added a little extra shine. Once the glaze was dry to the touch I added the jump ring.

It was fun. Other people may see something similar for Chrismas. :-)

Let your light shine

I don't know if y'all realize exactly how much I love birthdays. While I like to have fun on my own birthday, I love celebrating my friends and family even more. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned how much I love the feeling of finding a gift that screams someone's name at me. Sometimes it's a ready made gift on the shelf; sometimes it's just a piece of a gift and I have to figure out where to go with it. That's what happened with Amy's gift this year.

I was at Hobby Lobby looking at something she had pointed out when we were there before, but I couldn't decide what to do with it. I was staring off into space, trying to figure out what to do with the transfers when I saw this:

Black? Silver? Chandelier? Amy written all over it!  And within 30 seconds I decided what to do with it. Enter gray damask scrapbook paper and black glitter tape from Hobby Lobby, a silver picture frame from Dollar Tree, and the computer/printer.

The hardest part was deciding which Bible verse to use. I found a font on Pinterest. Can I just take minute to say how much I love browsing fonts on there? So many options! I found the font in this post, and I chose Grand Hotel. Making that choice made the whole thing have a vintage luxury hotel feel with the wallpaper and chandelier... maybe it's just me. Anyway! I set the paper margins to 5" x 7" and put my text towards the bottom of the page. I printed it and cut it to fit in the frame (it was an 8.5" x 11" sheet of scrapbook paper), then I glued on the chandelier. While it dried, I covered the matte board (originally an off-white) with the black glitter tape. Then I put it all together. Ta-da!

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let you light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16, NIV

I'm really impressed with the way it turned out! I think the black glitter really helps set it off. The frame I found is more like a shadow box; there is a good 1/4-inch of space between the glass and the paper. That isn't why I got it (I got it because it was the only frame I saw at Dollar Tree that wasn't some shade of brown), but it is an added bonus since the chandelier is not totally flat.

It's classy! And totally Amy. 

The Bravest

First and foremost, I need to wish a slightly belated birthday to my Best Friend, Mental Twin, Partner in Crime, and all around Long-Lost Sister, Amy!

Blurry and off-center because we were shaking from
freezing at the UT/KY game last year

I have now officially wished her a happy trip around the sun on Facebook (twice!), Twitter, text, and now via blog. That should be enough for now. She was lucky enough to spend her actual birthday with her mom in Destin, FL. I'm only slightly jealous... Mostly I'm happy she got to take a (much needed) vacation! We're going to celebrate her birthday at her happy place, Lakeside Tavern, on Sunday, which gives me a few more days to get her gift put together. Yes, I know, it's already belated. What's my problem? Shh. But seriously, I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turning out. I just need to finish up. Hopefully I'll have time to do that tomorrow.

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This past weekend was pretty great. Greg's friend Moose was given 4 tickets to the Braves (or Bravest according to my auto-correct) game for Friday Night, and he asked Greg and I to join him. Moose and I had recently been talking about the fact that I had never been to a Braves game, so when he asked I jumped at the chance. I don't know if I was more excited about the game or taking a 1/2-day off from work, but I was pumped!

I knew it was going to be a good trip when I found this at a gas station in Georgia:

Amy and I have a long running joke about these being the "holy grail of cola beverages" because we can never find it individually sold in a 20oz bottle around here. I saw it and knew I was in for a good time!

We got to Turner Field about an hour and a half before the game started. Moose and his dad decided to go autograph hunting, so Greg and I meandered around the lower level of the stadium for a while.

There was a huge mural with all of the team name changes and moves over the years (apparently the Atlanta Braves started as the Boston Redstockings), and this one cracked me up. I mean I know Boston is famous for their beans, but still... Oh well.

I also made G take a pic with me in front of the bullpen. Really, I was looking to update my fb profile pic and I don't like taking selfies alone... Is is still a selfie if someone else is in the picture?

Finally we made it up to our seats. And our seats were in the Coca-Cola Suite!

Free Coke products? Suite!

Not a bad view, either!

Moose said he didn't know if it was fair that I got to sit in a suite at my first Braves game. I told him it might be the only one I ever went to, so I might as well go big!

I made G take another one so I could choose. :-)

 We had a great time chatting with our neighboring suites and watching the game. And it ended wonderfully:

Should be 2-3, but the winner is correct. 

 We got "free baseball" (Moose's term for extra innings) and the Braves won! I might have been sad if they lost at my first game... After that there was a post-game performance by Montell Jordan.

Apparently he is now a Pastor at an Atlanta church and sang a few praise and worship songs while they were setting up for the fireworks. It was great and I loved the bonus worship time I got that day. After the game and fireworks we came back home to Knoxville. I finally crawled into bed at a little after 4am. It was totally worth it.

On Saturday, Greg and I had a nice day looking for adhesive for his prosthetic ears running errands. He decided to by William Shakespeare's Star Wars while we were at Target, and he ended up reading some of it to me once we got back to his house.

I love a strange man...

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but I would be interested in seeing this performed.

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Anyway, I think this post in bordering epic status, so I will rest my weary hands. I hope you're having a good week! Be blessed!

So much information

Wow. All I can say is that the WCA Global Leadership Summit was amazing. My head is still swimming from all of the things that I learned (and some I knew but re-learned). I need to go back over my notes and type up a summary. But for now, I'm going to go to bed and let all of this glorious information settle into the nooks and crannies of my mind. Good night!

Random truth about myself

I discovered something quite interesting about myself today. It's probably something that Amy or Greg could have told you months years ago, but I just realized it today. You want to know what it is? Ok, here goes. I have serious trouble buying stuff for myself, especially more costly items that I actually need. Additionally, I will spend my last dollar buying a gift for you before I get something for myself. I know that sounds silly, but you should know by now that I am silly. Tada!

You're probably wondering how I figured out this little tidbit today. Well, I'll tell you. I was in need of 2 things when today started. Firstly, I needed a new backpack. The bag I was using to schlep my books and what have you to work or church was falling apart. It was the back pack I took to NYC in 2010, and while I love the memories we have together it is starting to fall apart. I also needed a new sports bra. I have a rather large chest and I am on a mission to find a sports bra that is secure, supportive, and doesn't require me to layer them.

I went to Walmart for the backpack first. I had already seen one like I wanted, I just need to go back and make sure it would fit my needs. As I walked through the doors of Walmart, this is the first thing I see:

It screams G

I mean it was practically begging to go live with Greg. I saw it and decided he needed it to take stuff to Dragon*Con at the end of the month. I don't know what he will put in it, but that's not really my problem because it OBVIOUSLY needs to go home to G! Plus it was on sale for only $9. How could I resist? So I picked it up and went off in search of the bag I actually went to buy. I finally found it, not in a logical place to my mind, but I was in Walmart.... I digress. I find the bag I want in a color I like and it looks like it will serve my needs, but it plus Greg's bag are more than I intended to spend. So which did I debate not getting? My bag of course! In ended up getting both of them, but I had to talk myself into it the whole way up to the register. 

I met up with Greg for dinner and gave him his gifts (I may or may not have also picked up a few of his favorite drinks and put them in the bag), then he and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods so I could look at sports bras. My first mistake was starting there. Somehow I always forget how expensive it is. I couldn't find anything to serve my purposes for less than $50, and Greg could not convince me to spend that kind of money on myself. Even though it really was not a bad price for the garment, and I really do need one. But nope, didn't get one. 

I love to invest in others, but I don't spend a lot of time or money on myself if I don't have to. Which is why I usually end up buying more for Greg, Mom, and Tony than I do for myself on tax free weekends. I have a problem.