Good Friends and Good Food...Does It Get Any Better?

I love being back. Every day there is some little thing that is like yet another "welcome home" moment. And it feels good.

My friends here were all talking about a book that they had been passing around. Have you seen this?

All the girls were talking about it, quoting it, or in a supper club based on the book. So, one of the girls let me borrow their copy and I read it and got caught up in their excitement.  A book about community and food and opening your home and heart to both.

At one Monday night get together, I mentioned it might be fun to do a cooking class. After all, there are 11 of us.... and there were things some of us knew how to do that others didn't. We could teach each other....and eat. LOL.

At that time I did not realize some of the ladies were already in a supper club based on the book. When I found out I dropped it. After all, we are all very busy moms. We already had family and the time we carve out for each other.

But others didn't let me drop it.  And in the blink of an eye one of our talented organizers was gathering information to get this thing started.

So we had our first cooking class this month. It wasn't the plan. We were aiming for starting after the school year started.

But darned if a very important thing didn't happen early August.

See, I also had ulterior motives. It was about to be Hatch Green Chili time! So I had already conned one of my friends into letting me use their kitchen and freezer space if we weren't in a home when it was time.

It came early but I volunteered to teach how to roast green chili to use or freeze for later use.  Plus cook a bunch of my favorites to share.

Since cooking class was a go, I also put together everyone a binder to put their recipes/instructions in. Also I wanted a place for all the recipes we were always wanting from each other after trips and get togethers. That stack was already growing and this gives it all a place I can find them all easily.

So a bunch of us got together for green chili night. One person volunteered their kitchen -- which I promptly made a huge mess of (and she cleaned!!). So there was green chili dip, breakfast cups, enchiladas, green chili deviled eggs, etc.

And then there was the class. Someone remembered to snap a few photos. First they wanted a shot of the chilis.

Wait...wouldn't it be better against something white?????

Yes someone actually said that. So I complied. But after laughing about it I was more red than white.  But someone pointed out that it was okay because green, white and red are the Mexican flag colors. Its all good.

Roasted, steamed and ready to peel.

And everyone got their binder. With their personalized cover and quote. They are so hot I found a 50's pin-up girl to represent each one....


 
 
 
It was lots of fun. And everyone took home a bag of chili ready to use. I really look forward to enjoying more time and bread and wine with these ladies.

So glad to be home.

She Can See!

A year ago I found out Songbird probably needed glasses. This was at her 8 year check-up at the pediatricians office.

Being jobless we had to ignore that fact for the time. (We were told it was a mild problem).

Getting established in our new community and gearing up for school brought that overdue eye appointment. Well that and the insurance. No insurance. No glasses. That is just the way it was.

But now all of that is rectified and my baby has picked out her new glasses. And since it is back to school time we took advantage of the buy one get one specials.



Her first pair is a black and pink pair with flowers.


But my favorite is the zebra pair.

She thinks they make her look very smart. I agreed of course.

Now I have a hard time keeping her out of them. She only really needs them for the blackboard and maybe tv watching.

And yes, she broke all records by losing a pair in less than 30 minutes. Luckily we had not traveled far and were able to return to the store she set them down in and retrieve them from lost and found. I do believe I have put the fear into her over losing them again.

We will see. Hah. Pun intended!

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Gun Shy

I know I haven't been keeping up with the updates.  At this point I'm afraid to hope that this house will actually go through. I'm a little gun-shy about being hopeful. Sad but true.

The house did pass its inspections.  You guys, the INSPECTORS were high-fiving each other. LOL!! These guys were so awesome -- we used the same guys for each house so they were feeling real sorry for us.

Of course there are a few things here and there to take care of over time. The house was built in 1977 so of course there are little things. And septic does need to be pumped but we have the sellers paying closing costs so we will do that out of our pockets. That was the deal. I'm okay with that.

Closing is supposed to be the 28th of this month. I'm waiting for that phone call telling me they need longer. You just never know when dealing with the VA. But so far so good.

I did have a time with finding house insurance. Sticker shock. Turns out Texas is now the highest price state to insure a house in. You not only have hurricanes on the coast, tornadoes, hail and winds-- but now they have the wild fires from two years ago. We have actually passed Florida even. Unbelievable.

And then there is the doberman. We couldn't even use one of those places that will search lots of insurances at once. When you admit to having a dobie it drops down to one company that will even consider and that's for an extra thousand a year.  Honestly happened to me.  But I was able to find a few that don't discriminate on breed -- only bite history. And its now all worked out.

And USAA is losing 100% of our business.

So that is all I have on the house for right now.  Once this becomes real I will tell you more about it. Everyone keeps asking me if I love this one.  I really like it...but I had hoped for a bigger kitchen. And my quilt studio is not on central air. That's really the only don't likes.  So, I am not unhappy at all. Also it is not in Waco and is a bit of a drive -- but only as far as we used to live so that doesn't really count either...AND it has a grocery store whereas China Spring did not. So again, that's good.

Hoping to do a nice "look at my house!" post in a couple weeks.

Stay tuned.