Life on the High Plains

On Saturday Jillian and I ventured out to the 13th annual Holiday Gift and Food Festival.  It was the first time either of us had been to the festival and  I was expecting great things. I had the goal of buying lots of unique and wonderful gifts. Well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.  For me, it turned out to be more of a FOOD festival than a gift festival. We bought lots of chili seasoning, red pepper jam, and dip dressing mix from Chugwater Chili, a company based in Wyoming.  Yum, yum, yum...they are so smart to give out samples.  My favorite was the red pepper jam mixed with cream cheese and served with crackers.  Jillian's favorite was the dip dressing mix. You have to follow a salty snack with something sweet, right?  Next stop was Deedee Desserts and their no-bake cheesecake mixes. Delicious!  My favorite was the Grasshopper.  Jillian liked the caramel apple and of course I had to get strawberry for my sweetie. T...

A couple weeks ago one of our vendors from work invited me and a couple co-workers to Photopalooza.  This is a thank you event for customers which includes a photography contest. Each invitee could submit two photos for the contest. I intended to submit two of my best photos, but unfortunately I kept forgetting to look for photos when I was at home. The submission deadline arrived and I was forced to select two photos that I had on my computer at work which didn't leave me with a lot of options. I selected this photo that I took in Australia. The second picture that I submitted was this one of Doc and Cody.  I love this photo. Both of these photos were blown up to poster size and printed on glossy paper with a high quality color printer.  My kangaroo photo looked good, but the photo of Doc and Cody was AMAZING . There's just one problem--I didn't take the photo of Doc and Cody. You won't believe it... Doc and Cody won second place...

I left work today and decided not to go to the gym. Then I felt really guilty so I talked Irv and the dogs into going for a walk before dinner. Beautiful sunset. Happy dogs! Big, full moon and ... the worldest sweetest hubbie. An evening stroll on the Colorado prairie beats the gym any day.  (If only it were a little warmer!)

So Mary posted on Facebook yesterday that she is almost done with her Christmas shopping. What?? How is that even possible? Just last weekend I finally got a few fall decorations put up.  Yes, I know fall started in September and Halloween was last week and it is only three weeks until the Christmas decorations needs to go up, but I thought I was doing pretty good to have fall decorations up before the week of Thanksgiving.  Afterall, I am a busy person--I work full time, I'm a three-quarters time student (except that I decided not to take a class this eight weeks), and I have a multitude of shows I have to watch every week.  My favorites:  Amazing Race, The Good Wife, Biggest Loser, Gray's Anatomy, Private Practice, Modern Family, and I have to watch at least 20 hours of HGTV per week (just ask Irv). Okay, maybe I need to change my priorities.  I need to set a goal for when my Christmas shopping will be done.  How about December 24? ...

Yesterday we ventured to Falcons Stadium for the AFA vs. Army game.  We started with a tailgate lunch. Brian did an excellent job of grilling the brats.  Jillian made her pizza muffins which Brian warmed on the grill. Yum! There was a little tossing of the football. Mr. Beans was all decked out for the Falcons. Jillian actually found a pink Army hoodie. She made these really yummy cupcakes.  Who knew Jillian was so handy in the kitchen? It was a little on the chilly side...we had rain followed by sleet.  Peferct tailgate weather don't you think? Mary had to work so she was unable to be with us...we missed her, but I don't know if she would have survived this weather.  We made her a plate of tailgate food so she at least got to enjoy that. Is that ice on the propane tank? A couple Army Blackhawks flew over.  Go Army! After enjoying our lunch we loaded up with blankets, jackets, glove...

Mr. Beans has two big brothers from the Air Force Academy.  Beau and Sam are two fine young  cadets from Georgia. I have one question though, when did they start letting 14-year olds into the Academy?  (Does it mean I'm getting old when Air Force cadets look like they're 14?) I can't think of better role models for Mr. Beans.  Wouldn't it be awesome if he was an Air Force cadet in about eight years? They took him to a Halloween carnival last weekend.  (I don't think Mr. Beans knew we were spying on them from above.) This weekend we're going to meet Beau and Sam with Mr. Beans again.  It will be at the Army vs. Air Force football game at the Academy.  We're going to meet them in the cadet tailgate area.  Of course we're big fans of Air Force except when they're playing Army (or C S U ), then we have to be for Army. Do you think we'll survive going into the cadet tailgate area if we're wearing the gold and black of Army? I g...

Did you vote today? If not, why? There have been a lot of men and women who have given their lives so we could have the privilege of voting. There are also a lot of people around the world who would give anything to have a voice in their government. It's our civic duty. So if you chose to not vote today, shame on you! There's still time to get to the polls.