Cookie & Elsie, chili cook-off

I started my crockpot of chili heating up at 6 AM on Monday (1/16).  The chili is very dense and I wanted to make sure it was heated all of the way through by the time Sweet and Savory started at 10:30.  My honey had 2 gas housers before leaving for golf, and the kids were snuggling while he ate:  

stop taking our picture all of the time!!

Paula picked me up just before 10 AM and we headed up to the Lake House with our crockpots full of chili, and with Paula driving VERY carefully. 

So…you’re going to have to save me from negative people!  The older I get, the less tolerance I have for these people who don’t want to do anything….but love to sit back and complain!  I put my stuff down on a chair in the kitchen and headed over to get ice water to drink.  As I was leaving the drink station, a woman I know not that well (and believe you me….I’m definitely not looking to know her any better in the future :~) is heading towards the drink station.  She sees what’s there and in a very sour tone says “oh…is this all we have to drink?  Water?”  So, I say “actually, I think it’s the perfect thing to drink” (since water is pretty generally my drink of choice…and good for you too!).  She gives me a sour look and says “no, it really isn’t”.  She continued to go on in a similar vein, and I just turned and walked away.  You’ve barely walked in the room…lots of new/fun people to meet and talk to….a yummy chili cook-off…but right away she’s complaining about the drinks.  This seems to be her standard posture each of the times I have run into her.  Now we all have things we could complain about…and some of them are certainly important things that may not be going right in our lives right now.  Believe me, there’s nothing I like better once in awhile than to pour a glass of wine (or a cougar-tini) with a girlfriend and solve all of the problems of the world…but truthfully?  It generally turns into 20 minutes of grousing…and 2 hours of talking about quilting  :~).  But my point is….some people seem to get into a “culture of complaining”.  Nothing is ever quite right, or up to whatever standards they carry around in their heads.  The sad thing is….does this make those people happy?  Obviously not!  Study after study has revealed that keeping a gratitude journal, or dwelling on what’s good in your life or in other words, having a grateful heart, is what gives you a sense of inner peace and happiness.  And somehow…whenever I am feeling really down about something, God has a way of slapping me upside my head and saying really???  Really???  An example would be of me feeling down about some stupid thing…and then hearing that a friend of mine…who already lost her grown son a couple of years ago, is now contending with cancer in one of her grandchildren.  Now THAT is something to get upset about….something to pray about…not some trivial problem in my own life.  OK….I’m off my soapbox now…but please…if you find yourself falling into that culture of complaining…do something about it…ok?  And the something really shouldn’t be hanging out with other people in the same culture…because you’ll just remain miserable.  Try to stick with the people who are finding joy in their lives.  Trust me...JOY is really the way to go :~).

Anyway, it was a lovely morning, the organizers put a lot of thought into how to make it work and I think it worked beautifully.  

crockpots set up clearly numbered

cornbread to go with chili

our numbered sample cups

starting it off

and OUTSTANDING dessert

first place winner

It was very hard to judge, because all of the chilis were very different, but my friend Paula took second place….YAY!!!  Pat gave me a ride home and we sat and talked for just 1/2 an hour before heading back to the Lake House for Machine Embroidery Club.  Lots of great ideas for the coming year, lots of beautiful show and tell, and a very informative demonstration on embellished buttons holes.  Penny gave me a ride home from there (notice a theme….I didn’t go home with the “one that brung me” twice!!!  So, when I finally made it home from being gone ALL DAY…my honey was home from golf…with a SCORCHING 77….WHOO HOO!  He thinks that is the lowest score he’s ever gotten….he was thrilled!!!  We were both on the computer for a bit after that and by the time Michael got out of the shower it was time to head out to pick up the pizzas.  We had dinner and watched a bit of TV, then I split off to come downstairs and finally get Ethel’s program totally done and 2 rows of quilting done.  By then it was 9 PM and I headed upstairs for a bit of TV before bed.