Chase is in the house!

I had the honor of escorting Penni's Chase to ringside today in Atlanta, after getting my face washed for the second time.

Ain't she Grand?

Grand Champion, that is.

Scout came out of semi-retirement on August 1 to do a few warmup shows before we went to the Western Reserve. Twenty days later, she is Grand Champion Cardiridge Jean Louise Finch HT RN. Proud of my girl and ready to get her back home!

Can we please get to work?

Judge is taking a one hour lunch break between classes and BOB.

Scout BOS!

Sister Mary Scout

Putting on her game face

Well- not exactly.

One annoyed dog

Because of the "no dogs on the beach" rule.

Packing and Picking

Packing my bags and car that is - we head out to the Western Reserve show bright and early in the morning.

And, picking a winner!  Here are the entries:

1 Traci


2 Taryn

3 Surburban Prep

4 Baledwr

5 Cooper Creek

6 Holly

7 Penni

8 Dozer and Coop

9 Claire

10 Theo

11 Alta

12 Elaine

13 Jules

14 The Fam

15 Qwaynt

16 Domestic Diva

17 Lybertygirl

18 Cooper Creek

19 Cindy

20 Cooper Creek

21 Dawn

22 Lybertygirl

23 Katrina

24 Love to save

25 Meeyeehere

26 Theo

27 Cooper Creek

28 Theo

29 Lybertygirl

And the winner is:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Congratulations, LybertyGirl!  (who, BTW, needs to go buy a lottery ticket, because we know these things come in threes, and I know she won a CSN giveaway from somebody else not too long ago!)

New CSN Giveaway!

I am still in the midst of doing some re-modeling, re-utilizing, and re-thinking around the house.  Now that I have become a CSN addict, I have been shopping for a bedroom vanity, stair treads,  and a new ottoman for the party den. 

So - I really appreciate that the good folks at CSN recently contacted me and offered another chance to do a one-time-use $40 gift certificate giveaway!

So here are the rules for this one - I'm going to make it easy on you this time.  All you have to do leave a comment that you want to win!  And, you can enter once a day, from now until this Wednesday, August 11th at noon EDT.  So, if you start today, you will have up to five chances to win! Good luck!

If you think I might not have your email address, be sure to include it in your post.

Back in the Kitchen Again

I do not have an Italian bone in my body, but I love Italian food more than anything. My brother gave me this cookbook years ago - it is filled with all kinds of wonderful, simple Italian dishes.  It is kind of a old-fashioned cookbook - no photographs, some of the directions are fussy. 

One of my favorite recipes in the book is her Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter, and tonight I made a big batch using up all the ripe San Marzano and Roma tomatoes from my little tomato patch.  My San Marzanos may have been grown in Appalachian red clay instead of the volcanic soil of Mt Vesuvius, but I still think they are pretty great!

Here's a link to a version of the recipe. In the book, she also gives directions on using fresh tomatoes. This is one of the instances where I found her directions a little fussy - I took a short cut and pureed my tomatoes in the blender and I like it just fine.