YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAA!!!!


I won a blue ribbon! I've been collecting ribbons that my kids have won for so long that I had forgotten to even try to win one of my own!

This past week was National Nurses Week and National Health Care Week. The hospitals that I work at each had a few events to mark the occasions. One of them was a "Taste" like event...one of those things where you buy tickets and exchange them for small portions of food that people make and bring in. In Chicago, you could buy the tickets and taste a bit of food from different restaurants in Chicago. The hospital "Taste" was Tuesday.

I made the lasagna Monday but my oven is still out (I'm buying a new one before the month is out...I promise!) so I figured that I could ask my neighbor if I could use his oven for about 45 minutes. He was very sweet about it, but his oven doesn't work either. He's a bachelor so he doesn't even care that his oven is out. To him, it's just another kitchen cabinet. He stores things in it.

When I knocked on his carport door (in the middle of the day), no one answered right away. I knocked again and decided to go home and as I was turning to ast, I heard him from around front so I walked toward his front porch. As I did, I noticed that he was slightly freaking out. He said, "I didn't know what that sound was...I thought someone was sneaking around my house." Then...I noticed that the man had a gun in his hand. I'm absolutely serious about that. I started to run home and he said, "Don't worry...I'm putting it back in the house." Then, he did just that. I should have skipped to the lou back home toot sweet but I didn't. I spoke to him briefly...just long enough to learn about his cabinet/oven thingie.

Anyway, that event was on Tuesday. I worked Monday night and I had to work Tuesday night as well so I didn't know what to do about all that lasagna. I ended up calling the chick at work who was handling the whole thing and asking her what to do. She said to bring the lasagna in and she would figure something out. I was so pleased to hear that...I had already spent $50 and a few hours on lasagna so I just wanted to let someone else take over so that I could go home and go to bed. So, I dropped 15 pounds of lasagna off at the hospital (Still in uniform. I went home, called the chick about the oven, grabbed the pasta and ran back to work). I missed the actual event as I slept and then I never heard another thing about it.

Last night I took the elevator downstairs and when I stepped off of it, I ran into the lady that had taken care of the entire "Taste" thing. She did a great job. Anyway, when I saw her, I asked her if everything was OK with the lasagna after I left. She said..."You won!"

I was stunned. There were a few other girls from this chick's unit getting on the elavator as well and they had all helped her with the event...I knew because they each told me what part they played in the preparation of my lasagna.

Anyway...I won a gift certificate to HONEYBAKED HAMS, a copy of the cookbook that they'll make from all the recipes that were entered into the "Taste". It's going to sell for $15...all for charity, by the way. But...of all the stuff that I won, my absolute favorite thing is my blue ribbon. It's a great blue ribbon...I really, really like it.

I'm gonna see if I can take a picture of it for you. OH! That reminds me...I have to go get a web cam this weekend...tell me guys...I'm just a silly little female and I can't figure out such manly tasks. (Naturally, I would take an answer from a chick as well.)

OK...I'm gonna hook up the camera and takes some pictures.