Yay me! My Savory Salsa won Second Place which is pretty good for a gringa competing against all those Mexican women who have been making salsa since forever. The Mango Jelly didn't win anything this year but both Macramé Bracelets won second place in their respective divisions (Jewelry and Macramé). Made a whole $22.00.

I recently went to visit some friends in The Bible Belt and was reminded of their use of relish trays at dinner and supper (lunch and dinner, respectively -- had to re-learn that one). I was inspired to do the same thing with my own meals.

I'm not a big fan of lettuce, most of the time it's out of season, takes a great deal of water to grow and doesn't hold a lot of nutritional value. Besides, I hate cutting up salads. Love the salads themselves but I hate the work. Enter the relish tray. You get a lot more variety, you just replace the things that have been used the previous meal and I think you get a lot more variety.

Some favorite ingredients include: celery sticks, baby carrots, radishes, cherry tomatoes, green onions, peppers, pickled okra, bread-and-butter pickles, dill pickles, olives (green and/or black), broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, and anything else you can think of.

I haven't been in here much and I just wanted to share that.

The Seat is currently held by freshman David Valadao (R); however, there's going to be a challenger -- Amanda Renteria (D). She's got a pretty impressive resume -- graduate of Stanford and Harvard, she worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein in California and with Rep. Debbie Stabinow in Michigan.

Here's more information:
"In addition to her high-flying résumé, Renteria is running in a district where 73% of the 712,866 residents are counted as Hispanic or Latino, according to Census Bureau records." (Renteria is Hispanic)

'Democrats also enjoy a 47%-32% voter registration advantage over Republicans in the district, which includes all of Kings and parts of Kern, Tulare and Fresno counties on the Valley's west side.'

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/09/29/3522510/congressional-hopeful-wants-to.html

This one's in play and we need some outside money to battle the BIG bucks being sent Valadao's way. When November comes around, maybe some of you could see your way to some donations. I'll be volunteering for her campaign but I'm trying to get awareness going early on this one.

LTH

The Seat is currently held by freshman David Valadao (R); however, there's going to be a challenger -- Amanda Renteria (D). She's got a pretty impressive resume -- graduate of Stanford and Harvard, she worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein in California and with Rep. Debbie Stabinow in Michigan.

Here's more information:
"In addition to her high-flying résumé, Renteria is running in a district where 73% of the 712,866 residents are counted as Hispanic or Latino, according to Census Bureau records." (Renteria is Hispanic)

'Democrats also enjoy a 47%-32% voter registration advantage over Republicans in the district, which includes all of Kings and parts of Kern, Tulare and Fresno counties on the Valley's west side.'

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/09/29/3522510/congressional-hopeful-wants-to.html

This one's in play and we need some outside money to battle the BIG bucks being sent Valadao's way. When November comes around, maybe some of you could see your way to some donations. I'll be volunteering for her campaign but I'm trying to get awareness going early on this one.

LTH

P.S. X-posting this in GD for wider audience.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll550.xml

Edited to correct link. Thanks to posters below for the correction.

that the shutdown is causing very real, very tragic consequences out here in the real world. SOME government employees will be getting back pay whenever the government starts back up; however, mortgage companies, property owners, utility companies and credit card companies are not real understanding when it comes to not being paid on time. There are also thousands of us out here, classified as "intermittent employees," who will NOT be getting back pay. Because of our status, if we don't work we don't get paid and that money can never be recouped.

So while some of the partisans here are jumping up and down with glee that the GOP is burying themselves, some even HOPING that the debt ceiling won't be raised as it will further help the downfall of the GOP, please remember those of us who are being financially devastated by these actions.

LTH

I went from like 37,000+ to 15,000. I was gone for a week or two so could have missed an announcement. Thanks.

So, last week I was visiting relatives in a particular Bible Belt state. I don't want to name the state because I hate broad-brush strokes AND I also met some VERY good, progressive people in this same state -- an important point to remember. Having said that, below are some things that made me realize I wasn't in California anymore:

-I had the wife of a relative tell me, and I quote, "The KKK should just go out and shoot Obama so we'd be rid of him once and for all."

-Same wife of relative, who, btw, goes to church EVERY Sunday, stated that it's a good thing Meals on Wheels was being stopped because those people should get out and work anyway and stop expecting free handouts. (The stupid literally, hurt.)

-I saw the Cheerios commercial where the dad is African-American, the mom is (supposed to be) white and the little girl is a mixture of both mom and dad. Commercial says Cheerios are good for the heart and little girl puts cheerios on her napping dad's heart. In the Bible Belt version, the mom is also African-American. Why was it necessary to offer up a different version for the Bible people?

-Driving down the highway there was a sign that said something like, "Parents, teach your sons to respect women." The sign had a picture of an African-American male. I just looked it up. This particular state has an African-American population of 7.4%. Not-so subliminal messaging.

Not saying we don't have racist assholes in California as we most definitely do. I just don't ever remember the racism being so, well, OUT there.

This is an area where the TeaKlanners are very well represented and I've got to say, they are some scary, scary people.