Nice Weekend

This weekend was just what I needed. It was very relaxing, as I had purposely not planned anything. Saturday I woke up kind of early and made some pancakes and read a bunch. Saturday night I went to Tina's and watched her baby for a while with Traci and we watched some movies while we were there. Sunday, we biked to church and then got some dounuts on the way home. It was beautiful out so I went over to the park near us with a book. There was some thing going on for state employees and they had live music. It was great. I just laid out for a few hours, got some sun and got a lot of reading in. It was a nice and relaxing weekend!

Tamale Festival

Another September means another Tamale Festival for Clean & Sober! We created the World's Largest Tamale again, this year's 2 feet longer than last years and over 1,200 pounds. This year was a little more exciting, although a lot more tiring, because I got to participate in the making of the tamale. It was fun to see how it all came together. We started with banana leaves that had to over lap over each other and the grill. Then we put down masa, which is like cornmeal, about 1 inch thick over the whole thing. Then came the meat and then more masa. Then we wrapped the whole thing up with the banana leaves and tin foil and started cooking it. It took around 4 hours to cook and then we started serving it up. Like last year, we sold out pretty quickly but this year, I managed to snag a plate. It was delicious! There ended up being a part that we couldn't sell because the health department said it didn't come up to temperature fast enough, so I ended up taking some home! Don't worry, it's completely healthy, the grills had just gone out under a small section for a little bit so the tamale cooled down a little bit before anyone noticed.

Around 4:30, we all started cleaning up the park and around 6:30, we all started leaving. I had arrived at 6:30 in the morning, so it made for quite the day but it was fun anyway. I just used the next few nights to catch up on sleep! I'll post pictures when I get them from Dana, it might be a little bit though so don't hold your breath.

The New Place!

First, I apologize (and I feel like this is a common theme) for taking so long to get these pictures up. The past few weeks have been a little trying in terms of community transitioning and I haven't been able to find the time to blog at all. We are now down to a community of 2, just Traci and myself as things didn't work out for Gwen. It has been a tricky experience but we have all learned and grown as a result. Here are some pictures of the new place. It's a little nicer in some ways than the last place and not as nice in others. The picture of the outside patio will be updated as I was recently motivated to get rid of some of the overgrown vines but the project is not yet completed so those pictures will come later.