Politics and...I won!

Now don't get all excited thinking I ran for some office and won. No, that's not my thing. I'll get to the politics part later.

Lately I have become addicted (literally) to the computer. It's a serious concern because we are having less and less clean clothes and home cooked meals around here. I have discovered I am having too much fun perusing blogs, and a lot of them are cooking blogs. See, I am not totally negligent. We are in a food slump and I have been trying desperately to find new and exciting things to cook. Well, I have found a lot of new things I would love to eat. Now comes the disconnect. I would actually have to plan, shop and cook to eat those things. Hmmm, I really just like to eat, I don't like the cooking part so much.

On to my major award. These cooking sites I have become addicted to checking in with every day have a lot of give-aways. So, I entered a few and I actually won one! It wasn't the lovely le creuset dish or the gorgeous red kitchenaid mixer but the.....Bush's beans gift pack! I know, you are all so jealous. If you want to check out my name in print along with a color picture of what I get, here's the link

http://www.shewearsmanyhats.com/2010/03/spicy-black-bean-corn-chowder/

Pretty exciting times we are having around here.

Now, the politics. Last night we went to a caucus meeting to support a neighbor who was interested in serving as a delegate. Michael had to attend because of a school assignment and we dragged David along as well. He is working on the communications merit badge and one of the requirements is to attend a public meeting. It was actually quite entertaining and cool to be able to explain what we were doing and why and how the political system works to David up close and personal. This is as grass roots as it gets.

I have been to caucus meetings before and they seemed a lot more stressful. I think because when I have attended in the past, Nelson was wanting to be voted in for some position and I am always nervous about things like that.

There were 104 people signed in last night and a lot were neighbors we know. The banter and tone in the room was light. Michael has registered to vote and was able to vote last night because he will be 18 by the next general election in November. He thought that was pretty cool and so did David. David wanted to vote, too. Sorry, 6 more years. Even though this meeting lasted almost 2 1/2 hours David's comment was something like "this is kinda interesting!" and he really did say it with enthusiasm. We had fun.

At the end of the voting they ask for volunteers to help as committee members. The boys asked what it meant to do that and Nelson reminded them of all the times he had piled the kids in the car and drove around passing things out, helping out at elections, and lo and behold, they seemed to remember those times fondly. Nelson raised his hand to volunteer as a committee member and then Michael did, too! It was so awesome! They wrote his name down on the board and cheers erupted from the crowd. They were calling out "All right, Michael", "Way to go Michael", clapping and cheering for him. It was really cool to have all of these adults who have watched him grow up support him like that. So, there was our evening, along with track practice, a piano lesson, a soccer game, an orthodontist appointment, lifeguard certification training, and then scrambled eggs and toast for dinner at 9:45. Do you see where I need help in the dinner department lately? Whew, can I have a break down now? You gotta love life.