Futons.
Funky downtown shops.
Micro-fridges.
Tostitos cheese dip.
T-shirts with Greek letters.
The smell of a cafeteria.
Dave Matthew Band, Blues Traveler, Jars of Clay, The Cranberries, and ska music. (Remember that?)
Tickle Me Elmo, Japanese anime, Home for the Holidays.
And this sight:
What says “college” to you?
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Monday nights are big at our house. As in, big television-watching nights. Three of my favorite shows are on Monday, plus a show that I really like and a show that I kind of like but was still giving a chance.
It’s really too much, and I’m doing good to catch three of the shows.
Last night I didn’t get to watch them, though, because life came calling at 5:00.
Our friend’s son’s birthday was yesterday, and while I was picking Annalyn up from daycare, I got a message asking if we’d like to meet at the McDonald’s P-L-A-Y-P-L-A-C-E. (Tell me you have to spell things at your house, too!)
So we swung by the grocery store, ran by the house and sped off to McD’s. The kids had too much sugar a great time, and while I can’t speak for all the grown-ups, I did, too.
I’m so glad I didn’t get to sit on my couch and watch my regular Monday shows. This kind of Monday was WAY better.
When’s the last time life interrupted your plans – for the better?
I’m linking this post to Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.
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Last month I attended a professional development and networking luncheon. It was more interesting than it sounds.
Something from that lunch has stuck with me – and I don’t mean the dozens of announcements or painfully basic tips on getting involved in social media.
To read the rest of this article, please visit (in)courage today!
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Update: From now on, I’m calling this chili “award-winning,” because I gave the recipe to my friend, Christine from I Dream of Clean – and it won first place in her church’s chili cook-off! Woo-hoo!
The first day of spring brought sleet and snow, and I took advantage of the weird weather by making chili one last time.
I’m not opposed to chili in the summer, but Mark has this thing about hot things in hot weather. He doesn’t drink coffee in the summer either. [He’s weird.]
As I was pulling all the ingredients out of the pantry, I remembered that I’ve never posted my chili recipe. [Don’t be confused – like I was. I have written about canned chili and its use as a necessary ingredient to homemade burritos. But that’s a whole other story.]
Chili is really one of my favorite things to fix, especially now that I’ve mastered it. In addition to Mark’s seasonal chili preferences, he’s also pretty picky about the level of heat, the meat to bean ratio, and the thickness of the soup (and how it’s not a soup, because he doesn’t like soup).
So figuring out the exact chili that we both like was a bit of a challenge.
I can’t promise that our chili compromise will work for you, but it definitely works for us. And it’s super easy and healthy, too! (Yes, that’s right, folks! Chili is a miracle food!)
Cold-Weather Chili
1 ½ lbs. ground beef, browned
Onion
1 large can tomato sauce
1 medium can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Ro-Tel)
1 can chili beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
½ packet hot chili seasoning
½ packet mild chili seasoning
Dump it all in the Crock Pot and cook on high for two hours (or low for four hours).
A few secrets:
Don’t substitute another can of kidney beans for the chili beans. If the store is out of chili beans, just don’t make chili. Seriously. I tried it and could not figure out why the chili was so bland. It was the lack of chili beans.
Remember my tip for chopping onions in bulk and freezing them? What about my bulk beef browning? (I know. That doesn’t sound right. But I couldn’t resist the alliteration. I’m weird.) If you do these things ahead of time, making this chili literally takes 5 minutes.
Unless you have a Pampered Chef can opener that is smarter than, well, you. And in that case, it might take 10 minutes.
And last, but not least, I don’t stop at draining the fat off my hamburger. I actually rinse it. Some people (ahem, husband and sister-in-law, ahem!) think this is weird. I think it’s smart and healthy. You decide.
So, there you have it. The medium heat, appropriately meaty and beany, not too thin, just right for the last big snow of the winter chili.
How do you make chili? And do you eat it in all seasons – or just the cold ones?? Or, if you don’t like chili at all [weird], how did you celebrate the first weekend of spring?
This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. It will also be linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom, because chili is one of my favorite things to make for a crowd! It will also be linked to Ingredient Spotlight at Eat at Home.
Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers!
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Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.Sometimes I wish I’d been an English major. Partly so I knew more about writing and partly so, when I say that I’m a big reader and people ask me if I’ve read [fill in the blank with a classic that everyone but me has read], I could say yes.
But I wasn’t. So while I love writing and reading and remember most of the English terms essential to my daily life, such as “gerund” and “participle,” I don’t know how to describe a certain type of writing.
I’ll get to that in a minute. (It will be the question I mentioned in my title, and no pressure, but I’m really counting on you all to answer it.)
Back in 1997, an unknown author published a little book called . . . [wait for it] . . . Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Remember when I mentioned not having read the books that everybody and their grandmother have read? Yeah . . . this would be one of them.
Much to my friend chelleybutton’s dismay. See, Chelley is a huge (HUGE!!) Harry Potter fan. And my lack of interest in her favorite book has been a point of slight contention between us for a while now.
She finally got me to read it, though – by giving me her copy of the book. (Don’t worry, Chelley, I know it’s just a loan!)
One night a few weeks ago, I’d finished my latest fluffy book, skimmed through my parenting magazines and didn’t feel like slogging through the serious Christian living book I’ve been nibbling on for months. So I picked up that colorful Harry Potter book and started reading.
Oh. My. Gosh. I loved it! I enjoyed fantasy books when I was younger, so this really was “my type” of book, even though I’d been protesting the exact opposite every time Chelley asked why I hadn’t read it yet. And it was so smart! And British. You know that automatically makes it better. I call it the Hugh Grant Effect.
I even found myself so absorbed in the story that one day at work, when our e-mail system temporarily crashed and I was inconvenienced trying to get a message to a co-worker in another part of the building, I actually found myself thinking, “I wish we had owls.”
Ha! I laughed so hard at myself and then, of course, told Chelley all about it. I knew she’d be thrilled that not only had I started reading her beloved book, but I was a teeny bit obsessed with it, too!
I finished it, and just in case someone else out there hasn’t read it yet either, I won’t give away anything about the ending. But I will say that I was surprised and realized I hadn’t given JK Rowling enough credit.
Chelley has loaned me copies of books 2-4 of the Harry Potter series, but I haven’t started the second book yet. I will, though. And while I’m pretty sure it won’t take me 13 years to get around to it, I told Chelley today that she may have a future fan in Annalyn. That kiddo loves picking the Harry Potter novels out of my three huge stacks of books and pretends to read them!
So here’s my question (were you wondering when I’d get around to that?): what do you call the kind of voice that Rowling uses in the book? That tone makes it clear that the story being told is a fantastical one, and it’s a little sardonic or amused. Like she knows what she’s telling us is ridiculous but it’s also wonderful, and she wants us to love it even if we’re laughing at it, too.
What is that?
One of my favorite fluffy writers, Kasey Michaels, writes a series about a female romance novelist whose main characters (a Regency heartthrob with a stuffy and semi-clueless butler-type sidekick) somehow come to life. The novelist realizes how crazy this is, but it’s happening anyway. And these silly (I know.) stories are told in the same type of tone that Harry Potter is.
So, what’s that called? Is there a technical term for it? Anyone? Bueller?
Feel free to mock me in the comments. Make fun of me for just now reading Harry Potter. Or wishing to be an English major. Or reading fluffy romance novels. Or admitting to reading fluffy romance novels.
Whatever. Just tell me if there’s a name for the type of voice or tone or SOMETHING that JK Rowling used to tell the Harry Potter story?!!
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