baked beans for a crowd.... or 2

my assignment:

baked beans for about 150 people....

i called the booth [my mom]

knowing she would have the recipe for a crowd.

she did.

[sorry mom, i changed it just a bit...]

baked beans for 25
[kicked in the pants]

1 #10 can of pork and beans

1 lb of bacon (yes, a pound)

1 large yellow onion

1 large green bell pepper

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup ketchup

enough tapatio (or hot sauce of your choice)

to make you shimmy...

[i just added the heat and lessoned the sugar and grease, for my taste]

the bacon gets cut in 1 in strips and crisped up.

i drained most of the fat, 

but kept just a little to saute both the finely chopped onion and pepper...

it goes in a slow cooker or roaster oven with all the rest o the goods 

for about 3 hours on lowish.

big hit, mom.

lucky we had a little leftover to eat again today!!

gray clouds...smiling at me

a few days ago it rained through the morning.

i woke up today to gray clouds and blowing leaves...

in some odd way,

the cool air and sense of fall make me miss DC in october...

i miss the hour-long metro ride to school in my cowgirl boots...

trampling over sun-stained leaves that look painted on the brick walkways...

even sitting inside and hearing the wind whistle tugs at me...

it makes me think of the housefronts and all of the cute kids there.

it is funny that it's been 2 full years and i still miss my brief stint as an

"east coast girl"



this makes me want to get some pumpkins and liven up the place.

at very least its time for some snickers mix.

stat.

un-birth control

family reunions are great and all.
love seeing family,
love not eating all of the good food cause we decided to go on a diet the week before...

cami was going to stay home with the baby for this activity,
but i needed some ella bug time...

yep, all 18.
and now i want one.

wrap thinger, baby, and all.
dear future, get on that.

[who votes that we skip to that part of life?!]

uh oh...

maybe you didn't know your wife would like this so much...

woops.
[i know, that makes you oh so happy]

went shootin with our friends matt and kim.
perfect shooting buddies.

we will be doing this again soon...

could that be any hotter.
i submit that cannot.

snuggies vs. wedgies

a friend of mine and i have been having the same argument for years now...

— where i come from, a wedgie is what your brothers did to you by yanking on your panties* from the back and painfully lodging them between the cheeks...

— a snuggie has always been an inevitable self-inflicted position in which any sized panties will become lodged between two over-sized cheeks of butt**... happens to those of us white girls with black in the back....

he seemed to think that a wedgie counted for both situations...
no. it doesn't. and now it is blogged, which makes it truth.
i win.

apparently someone had another idea of a snuggie...

and i thought the long ugly coats i have been checkin out on the metro were bad enough... gross.

...now that i mention it, i think i HAVE seen some of these on the metro...ew.

if they only knew what i think of when i see their product...

* i apologize to those of you who [like me] have a loathing for this word. it had to be used.
** sunday is apparently a day to be graphic... again, sorry. no i'm not. it's my blog dag nabit.

in honor of veteran's day: a foto essay. arlington cemetary

there is a window of perfect leaf weather here in virginia...
and i think we made it just in time...
it was a beautiful place to be.

let me know which ones you like

the next few posts will most likely be picture heavy.
deal with it.

a foto essay: my usual route to my unusually unusual day.

the beginning...

love the leaves... wish they wouldn't dry when you try and save them...

my school...

love this...

how unfortunate...

a cute girl makes this stuff and sells it... i bought some earrings myself..
though not with obama on them...

virginia's fall foliage = awesome.
virginians + first black president = possible crazies.
duke ellington + black president = assembly, fun jewelry,
and a whole lot of emotional people.

...should be a great day today...