found some for cheaper

There is someone selling 10 cans of Skyline on ebay for $32 + 8.95 shipping which equals about $4.10 per can....better than the prices on the cincinnati favorites website...  

they took away my chili!

I am so upset! Tonight we were going to have 3-ways for dinner. For those of you who don't know what a 3 way is: spaghetti topped with cincinnati chili topped with finely shredded cheese. In years past I have been able to buy Skyline chili in a can at a few grocery stores around the Seattle area. Fred Meyer and QFC (both owned by Kroger) used to carry Skyline. I can't tell you how wonderful it was my first year in Seattle when I found Skyline canned on the shelf at the grocery. It was a little bit of home.

For those of you who don't know, Skyline chili (www.skylinechili.com) is a Cincinnati cult classic. Other people have tried to imitate, but don't come close (Sorry all, but Gold Star doesn't compete in my book).

I sent David to pick up a few cans of it at the store on his way home from work. He called and tells me he is at the second store and neither of them have it!!! ARGHHHH. Seriously! I defrosted my hot dogs and bought buns for coneys and everything. I was ready, even craving Skyline.

So I go online to see if I can buy it online. Apparently you can, for about 5 bucks a can (plus shipping! That seems exorbitant. I know it doesn't cost that much in the store (does it?). If any of my cincinnati friends want to do me a favor and go pick up some cans and ship them to me, I will pay all costs associated. I'm sure it will still be cheaper than these online dealers, even if I pitch in $.20 a mile or something ;-)

Now what will we eat for dinner?

one step closer

We did some painting last weekend which puts us one step closer to having some 'finished' rooms. We still don't have any pictures on the walls, but David has big plans for pictures in each of the rooms, and I'll take pictures once we get some framed on the wall.


Above are two views of our dining room wall which we painted red (for the time being). We are considering changing the color to a nice blue we also picked out for the wall. When we painted the red, we knew it was a trial period to see if we liked the red.


Here is the color in the guest bedroom. While we were originally calling the color "deer hide", we came up with another name for it which is much more positive: hot cocoa powder.


And this is the final yellow color of our bedroom. It is very nice and sunny. You can also see the baseboards in many of the pictures. I think we are completely done with the baseboards, so that is exciting! oh poo, I just remembered that we haven't painted or put baseboards in our closets (which we need to do). So, that is a task for another weekend.

progress next door

Yesterday we came home from work and wa-la - the house next door had its second floor framing up. I took a few pictures this morning so I could post and show you how it looks. We have very little light coming into our bathroom window now.

cookies from a bag

Monday night I made some chocolate chip cookies (from a bag mix) and I brought them into work today--it is not even noon yet and they are almost gone. However, I think I will go back to my old way of making cookies (from scratch). I've actually been thinking about trying to not buy any more mixes like that. The more I read those Nutrition Action Updates that Dad and Suzanne subscribed us to, the more I want to only eat foods that are in their original form before I cook them. I know I don't have the energy to start making my own tomato sauce etc, but at the very least, I think I am going to stop buying cake mixes and cookie mixes, and things like rice-a-roni and pasta sides. The added benefit of not using these boxed foods is I'll be removing quite a bit of partially hydrogenated oils from our diet (and making less waste for the landfill/recycling center).

thanksgiving cartoon- pacific northwest theme

courtesy of David Horsey

our thanksgiving dinner

Our thanksgiving meal ready to be consumed.

King crab legs- yummmm.
Two "colossal" scallops a piece. They were cooked just the right amount of time, but I should have spiced them a bit more than I did. Beaujolais Nouveau in the wine glasses. Butter wasn't clarified (something else I should have done but didn't feel like it--it was still good).
twice baked potatoes....more than just your regular potato.

happy turkey day!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

David and I did some relaxing this morning- watched the Macy's Parade, and then each of us got to work- David went outside to rake leaves, mow the grass and trim the bushes. I kept the AKC best in show program on TV and watched that in-between prepping our guest room to be painted. Now Miracle on 34th (?) street just finished. I've put our potatoes in the oven for twice baked potatoes, and got out some snacks.

Thank you to everyone for being yourselves. You have enriched my life in ways you may not know.

I'm ready to leave

This weekend David and I rented a good documentary called 'Sicko'. Many of you may have already seen it, but if you haven't I highly suggest it. It is one of Michael Moore's documentaries about the health insurance industry in the US. One of the most eye-opening things is the comparison of the US health insurance and health care industry with that of Canada, Great Britain, and France (look on DVD special features for info about Norway). That alone made me want to move to a country with universal health care.

I know I'm naive and hopeful when I shouldn't be- but I think that if the social movement was large enough and we had a president who had her/his head on straight we might actually be able to change health care in this country. The more I think about it- going to a hospital really should be a social service just like having the fire department come to your house when there is a fire, or receiving your mail everyday. If you don't have the means to afford the fire department they don't tell you that for $5000 they can save your garage but it will cost you $15000 to save the house. You shouldn't have to choose what you have to lose. Why is our health any less important than our houses and belongings?

I know that the health care industry is a major multi-million/billion dollar industry and would fight tooth and nail to make sure that universal health care never comes about. Our leaders and we as citizens should be more concerned about the health of our neighbors than with the profit margins of corporations. But that is just me. Crazy talk- I know.

Watching the movie really was enough for me to consider moving to another country. I'd like to know if anyone else felt that way after seeing Sicko.

next door

Can you believe how far the house next door is? They still have another floor to add on, and then the roof. They haven't even started framing the second house on the lot. All kinds of water has collected in the basements of these houses. They better pump that water out and dry out the wood once they get the roof on or they will have some serious mold problems.

As you can see, we have pretty much lost all of our privacy in our backyard. That window is their kitchen window. We plan to plant some Arborvitae along the side to block us from their view a little bit. Hopefully it will help us feel a bit more like our backyard is actually our backyard.

In memory of my grandfather

On Thursday November 1, 2007, my grandfather Charlie Ferguson passed away. On Wednesday October 31, the doctors told us that he had only 24 hours to 3 days to live. He was in the hospital because he had a bad fall and was getting checked out. It was unexpected, but we are all happy that he did not suffer long from the pain he was in. I am so saddened by this loss and am trying to find ways to deal with my sorrow. I am not writing about this to elicit sympathy. I am writing because that is one of the ways I cope. Papa (as we called him) was a gentle, sweet, kind man who is now at peace. The funeral is supposed to be sometime at the end of this week, although a date has not yet been set. David and I will be attending the funeral. If you find my blog to be unusually inactive, please understand.