I dont care if I ever eat chili again, but

On Saturday, Daddy-O, Curley, XRay Girl, and I went to a local craft show. It's the kind of fancy craft show, not macaroni glued on lampshades crafts, but the really nice stuff like quilts, jewelry, original art work, homemade candles and soaps, and gourmet chocolates. It was a nice event, and packed wall to wall with people. I would love to share some pictures with you but cameras weren't allowed because it's a great place for lots of crafters to go and get ideas to replicate so photo taking has been banned. I didn't buy anything except for some of the handmade gourmet chocolates because everything was pretty expensive, but like I said, it was a good time!

The weather was beautiful and agreeable finally after all the rain we had last week. It was still a little cool outside but the sun was shining, the leaves were turning colors, the sky was blue so what else were we to do after a few hours of craft shopping other than go to the local chili for charity cookoff.

Daddy-O bailed out on us girls, since he'd been home sick for a few days, claiming that after his illness (we think I food poisoned him, by accident of course) the last thing he wanted to eat was chili. Us girls were brave and figured if nothing else, we could taste chili, drink beer, look at the people, and just have a good time.

There were about 100 different teams who signed up for the cook-off contest and they cook and get judged in the morning, then the event is opened to the public in the afternoon. For $5 people can go in and taste every single chili available. We arrived about 10 minutes before the gate opened and had to park 3 blocks away. And then wait in line. It was wonderful to see such great turn out for something where 100% of the proceeds went to charities right here in my own community.

Once inside, we were given a spoon and some tickets. If we liked a particular group's chili we could give them tickets so there would be a judging a second time, based on what the people like. AND, according to the later reports, over 2000 people went through there Saturday, so there were lots of winners- people who came out, the charities, and the chili makers!

The chili makers don't just make chili but most of them decorate their booths with a theme and dress in costume. They have a clever name, call to the public and have special extras in addition to the chili, like free ice cream, cookies, candy, corn bread, peanut butter sandwiches, veggies and dip, or Popsicles. Every chili booth had mini 4 ounce cups with about 3 spoonfuls of chili in them. We started walking around, with each of us getting a cup each at every booth. Some of it was SUPER spicy so we started getting one cup and each eating a bite then getting more if we liked it.

After about 3 visits to 3 booths, I was done. I'm not a huge fan of chili to begin with so I had enough. I got beer. I people watched. I tried to not get separated from XRay Girl and Curley since there were, what felt like a bazillion people. We laughed at the vendors and booths. We ate elephant ears. We bought kettle corn. We walked and wondered about and took pictures.

It was a super day- good times for all! I love it when I can hang with my bestest people and have fun. A perfect fall day- it reminds me why I wanted to move back to Civilization!

Maggie