An Award and Other Stuff

Well, guess what folks? I have created a banner for the "I HELPED KRISTEN COOK" award. If you are a past winner and are interested in the code for the banner to put on your blog, just shoot me an email and I'll send you the code. The award looks like this:

I know, it's absolutely nothing special, but it's a form of recognition for all of you amazing people who have truly helped turn dinner time around at my house and I appreciate it immensely! Speaking of.....send some more recipes my way. I'm getting low and if I don't get more soon, I'll run out! I can not under any circumstances let that happen! So, here is your call for recipes. Click on the "Write to Me" link and send 'em my way! With that said, let's get to today's award.

It was a fantastic recipe that was extremely easy, extremely inexpensive, and extremely delicious. AND, it can be eaten in a variety of ways. There's not many more fantastic feelings in the world than when your husband genuinely compliments you on what you made for dinner; especially when you have a husband like mine, who is an extremely picky eater! The winner this week is:

Rachelle from:

Teacher, Mom, Mad Woman!

And here is her recipe:

Taco Soup
1 can diced tomatoes (I prefer ones with green chiles)
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 lb cooked ground beef
1 package taco seasoning

Don’t drain any cans. Just dump all in a pan, stir together, and heat until warm. Serve in a bowl with cheese on top and tortilla chips. You can also add sour cream if desired.

So, thanks Rachelle for the wonderful food!! If you want the banner on your site, just let me know!

MY FIELD TRIP TO SEE ACE!

First and foremost, let me say that it wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be. The hubster and I left (yes, my husband went with me to see Ace....is that a supportive hubby or what?!) at around 5:00 thinking we'd hit Denver around 6:30, get a good spot and just hang out for a couple of hours until the show started at 9:00. WRONG. The doors didn't even open until 9:00. Luckily, downtown Denver is a pretty fun spot to hang out in, so we just got ourselves some grub and relaxed for awhile until we headed back over to the spot where the show was. At about 8:45 we headed back and got in line. Hubby was very relieved to find that he wasn't the only male there. In fact, there were quite a few men looking begrudgingly at eachother, obviously also coerced by their better female half to accompany them. But at least he wasn't alone! As the line proceeded, we were thrilled to find out that we, as general seat holders (i.e. those who did not win VIP passes from the radio station), got to get in the shorter line and go in first. Whooppeee! Yeah. We also found out that if we wanted VIP passes even though we didn't win them, we could pay a mere $40 for the chance of a lifetime to interact with Ace behind the curtain and get a picture with him!! Ummm....sorry but $40 is a little pricey if you ask me just to get a picture of the 6th runner up of American Idol. So we settled with just hanging out in the club with the other commoners and hoping to get a good spot by the stage when Ace did finally make his appearance.....that long waited appearance did not occur until 12:30 a.m.!! Long before that I was about ready to scrap the whole thing, but we had come this far.....so we stayed. We stayed to listen to Ace sing three songs and then tell us "Thanks for coming" and that he was going to go back stage now again and hang out in the VIP area for awhile longer. Wow. Thanks, Ace, for gracing us with your presence for an entire 20 minutes. YOU RULE DUDE! However, even with the frustration of the evening, it was fun to see him up close and personal. At one point, he pointed right at me....see, I did get a good spot by the stage. Unfortunately, most of the pics I took didn't turn out so great, but here are the ones I did get.

Hubby....on the road.
A very unattractive picture of me while we were eating.
A pic of the brush I bought at a Walgreen's there because I forgot to bring one and my hair was a rat's nest after driving 65 miles with the windows open at 75 miles per hour!
A picture of the "carpet" in the club by the bathrooms. I took this to demonstrate "bad design". People, even someone who isn't taking Interior Design courses should immediately be able to recognize that this is not good design!!

And, the Ace-Man....singin' his heart out.....



So, there you have it. My BIG trip to see Ace. Huh.

I still haven't decided what to do with my hair. I'm thinkin' I'm going to keep it long awhile longer because I'm picturing seeing the hair fall to the floor and it's not makin' me happy. Maybe later.

I think I have to go take a test now! Wish me luck!!