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The Iris That Changed Colors

When I lived in my first apartment over 10 years ago, I had taken up gardening in the few plots that were scattered about the complex.

In one of the plots I was fairly certain that I had recognized an iris that was growing but not blooming. I divided them and then cut some of the tubers off to grow in some of the other plots around the complex.

It wasn't long before this showed up. A beautiful (what I thought was) peach bearded Iris.



Fast forward 10 years. I gave my dear friend a cutting of this plant and she got this.



It's really amazing. It's got me thinking that this must have been the true color all along. What caused such a dramatic color shift? Soil conditions? Climate? Magic?

Yes, it's Magic..

An easy way to give

You know you see the commercials. Abused puppies. Abandoned kittens. Or maybe you get the fliers in the mail, asking you to donate 20, 40 or even 100 bucks.

One of these days you're gonna do it. Really. You are.

No you're not.

Try this:

Set up your favorite charity in your online banking bill pay section. Give them five bucks a week (maybe the five you spend in one day on star bucks). The 20 dollar minimums from the fliers are requested, but not required. Every little bit helps. Plus it's far easier than going through the motions of actually sending them money (you know you'll never do it anyway).


Some helpful links:
A.S.P.C.A. Online Donation Form

Humane Society Online Donation Form

House hunting nightmare

This was one of the dismal choices we faced when purchasing our new home. Fixer Upper was an understatement. It was a cleaner-upper. I gather from seeing this and other foreclosures that people don't take so kindly to having their homes taken away. Needless to say, we passed. Other than the fact that it was a shithole, it was too small and in a crappy location.

Chili By Renee'

Chili

There are many ways of making chili. This is just one of them. I adapted it from other recipes. With key ingredients like the chili powder, cumin and stock (like beef broth), you can put whatever you want in there. It's why no two person's chili is ever alike. I make this for people and they go nuts. I hope you like it as much as everyone else.

You'll need

1 stick of butter (optional). You can use olive oil if you want to go healthy.
3 Lbs Meat (any kind of meat, we use lean ground beef or ground chuck, morans brand @ altbertsons)
1 small bag of onions or one whole onion chopped (more or less according to your taste).
1 fine diced bell pepper (optional). Feel free to add any kind of peppers you want. Just remember.. Hot peppers make hot chili.
2 or 3 minced cloves of garlic (I use the stuff thats already minced, in the deli section) more or less according to taste.

(dry ingredients) Mix these together and set them aside.

6-7 TABLESPOONS of chili powder (don't get the expensive stuff in the spice aisle, get the cheap stuff in the mexican food section, it's exactly the same)
7- 8 TABLESPOONS of Flour (for thickening). You can substitute starch but only use about 3/4 tablespoons.
1 TABLESPOON oregano (again available cheap in the mexican food aisle)Don't overdo it, oregeno is a STRONG herb and very little is needed.
4 or 5 Bay Leaves (optional, get these there also)
1 TEASPOON of ground cumin. (you can get this really cheap at the dollar store). This and the chili powder are the two most important ingredients. More so than oregano, cumin is deadly strong and only a hint is needed/required. It's essential to get the chili to actually taste like chili.
Fresh Ground Pepper (to taste)

Note: do not be tempted to add salt to the dry ingredients, you'll screw it up good. So many broths have different salt levels, so figure out how salty it is and proceed salt it to taste when its almost finished.

2-3 cans of 14 oz broth (any kind of broth, but match the broth to the meat, fish=fish, chicken=chicken, beef=beef.
1 or 2 29oz cans of heat and serve pinto beans. (once again, the trusty Mexican food aisle has these already ready for ya). I'm not talking raw beans either. Also you can drop the beans but you'll need to kick down how much broth you use.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. >> Chili Powder, Flour, Oregano, bay leaves, pepper, and cumin. Set it aside.

In a (BIG) pot, melt the butter and sauté' the onions with the peppers for about five minutes or so. Add the meat. Don't over cook it. It's going to be cooking for a few hours. Drain some of the grease, but leave a little in for good measure.

Add the garlic after the meat is browned. Cook it another five minutes or so. Then add the dry ingredients to form a thick meat paste, stir for about a minute.

TURN THE HEAT DOWN to low

Slowly start to add the first can of broth, always stirring. Then slowly add the other. This is where you'll need to make a judgment call.
As it cooks it will start to thicken, keep adding the broth 'till it gets about the proper consistency of chili. Let it cook for about 45 minutes with a lid half way covering it, then add the beans. You might have to go to the third can of broth now, but just a little. Keep it on the side to add in as its cooking. Let it simmer with the lid halfway covering it for about 2-3 hours. Don't forget to sample it as it's cooking and salt it accordingly when it's finished.

When its done, I let it cool a bit (but not completely) serve it with cheese, sour cream and corn bread. The rest can be frozen in gladware and heated back up.

Enjoy :)

Adam's Quilt

This quilt is comprised of the pinwheel pattern. It has over 2000 individual pieces of fabric in it. It's the only one I've ever made and will probably ever make that has some semblance of a pattern.



I've made this quilt
just for you.
If you don't love it
pretend like you do.
It's imperfect and flawed,
more function than form.
But strait lines don't matter,
when you're trying to stay warm.
-R.L.



Here it is in it's early stages. Each one of these squares was a 19 step sewing process.



The lattice (dark blue borders) were used as fillers when I realized I didn't have enough fabric to make it an actual usable size. And I was growing weary of sewing so many squares. I should have started with a larger foundation square. These were 4 inches. What was I thinking? I didn't frame them all because I like the scrappy, jumbled together look and wanted to incorporate it somehow.

Note the iron on patch. I put it there, 1: to mask a flaw and 2: to personalize it for the person getting it, sort of like a where's waldo thing. I read somewhere they used to do that in the "old days".



And it only took about nine months to finish.

Some things I've learned in life:

Fear is always worse in thought, than it is in reality.

The less you say, the more likely you are to be heard.

Oblivion is better than unattained desire.

Even though you hold on tight, things often slip away.

There's always two sides to every story.

Never betray your instincts.

Everyone who is young wants to be old, everyone who is old wants to be young.

People aren't always what they seem to be on the surface.

Flowers grow in dark places.




People are cruel to each other.

You can't convince crazy people that they are in fact crazy.

Luck is for people with no talent.

It's better to change the rules instead of breaking them.

Time is it's own biggest enemy.

Shopping is not a purpose.

With action, there is reason, that reason should be known.

Embrace your differences.

The best thing you can have to show for your money is the money itself.

Romance does not last forever.

Profit is incentive.

The closer you get to your dreams, the more distant from them you become.

Change sucks, but shit happens and sometimes you gotta just roll with it.

There's a fine line between devotion and obsession.

You don't need children when you have cats