A Good Day at Work

John and I went back to work Tuesday after our health issues. John found out that while he was working from the hospital, he won a contest. His prize was a 32" LCD TV! The same day I found out that the city budget I submitted for review to a national organization several months ago had won the Distinguished Budget Award. My prize is a plaque and national honors. My boss was very excited and bragged on me to the mayor and city council. He also keeps lamenting the fact that I'm leaving.

I realized that very soon my accolades will change from certificates and plaques to refrigerator art and wildflowers (or flowering weeds). Instead of sexual harassment training, I will have unlimited hugs and kisses. Instead of family pictures on my desk, I will have the real things to play with.

Can you tell I'm excited?

John

John was back in the hospital again. He had been having problems with his transplanted kidney which had failed over 3 years ago. They thought it was an infection at first and released him from the local hospital on Halloween with antibiotics. Unfortunately, the antibiotics did not work and he was sent up to the University hospital to have the failed transplant removed. This doesn't change anything with his dialysis, they just took out a failed organ.

As you can see, he kept on working from his phone in the hospital bed.

Halloween

So here it is finally and barely before Thanksgiving. We all had fun dressing up. There was Commando Guy (Jonny), Black Spiderman (Chris), Flash (Adam), Ladybug (Micaela) and Elizabeth the Pirate (Mom). There were many Black Spidermen, I could only find Chris by checking his shoes. Micaela enjoyed Halloween a lot more this year. She was pretty and she knew it!

We had lots of fun walking around the neighborhood, visiting with friends and panhandling for sugar. Don't tell on me, but I re-gifted most of the kids' candy later that night.

Chili Cookoff

Our ward does a chili cookoff instead of a Halloween party each year. It is a fun and popular event. This year I found a Weight Watchers chili recipe and decided to enter the contest. I am not comfortable cooking, but I can follow a recipe. I ended up coming in second place. One of the other entrants teased that after honing his recipe over decades, he came in third behind two women that had never made chili before. I've included the recipe here for anyone interested.

Three Bean and Pork Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion(s), chopped
• 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
• 1 cup carrot(s), chopped
• 1 Tbsp chili powder, medium-hot
• 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
• 1 small jalapeno pepper(s), seeded, chopped (don't touch seeds with bare hands) or 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 pound lean pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 15 oz canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup canned tomato puree
• 29 oz canned diced tomatoes, with green pepper, celery and onion, undrained
• 6 oz canned tomato paste

Instructions

• Combine onion, garlic, carrots, chili powder, oregano, jalapeno, salt and pepper in a 5-quart (or larger) slow cooker; stir. Add remaining ingredients; stir again.
  
  
• Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 6 to 8 hours. Yields about 1 cup per serving.