Hemp, Hemp, Hurray!

So, I ordered some new products for ghia. I've found a couple of fair trade companies that provide awesome products at very affordable prices. That's a hard thing to do when avoiding unethical manufacturing processes (sweatshops, child labor, etc.).

I've been trying to expand my inventory of items appropriate for guys. While ghia carries tons of cute dresses and jewelry, we also have a some great button-down shirts for men that get lost in the girlyness.

In an effort to appeal to the guys, I stocked a really cool hemp wallet that I think has lots of earthy appeal.

I also ordered a hemp t-shirt that was on clearance. I could tell it had a design on the pocket area, but the catalog picture was so small that I couldn't tell what it was. Since it was on clearance, I thought I would take a chance and see if it turned out to be another product that would be great for guys.

So this t-shirt arrives. And it's all hemp-y and earth-y feeling. And I look at the design on the upper left corner, and it says "Santa Cruz Hemp." What on earth is that? It's not some crazy fringe group, is it? Plus, there's a little tag on the seam of the shirt with a certain leaf emblem on it. Surely this is just to show the material used in the shirt and not meant to advocate any illegal practices. 'Cause I AM DEFINITELY NOT ADVOCATING THAT.

The next week I receive some new men's western shirts that I had ordered. I gushed over these in the catalog. They are super-cool and seem to be well made. Plus, they have this cool leaf embroidery on the front to give them that Western feel. Wait, leaf design? When I looked at the shirts in the catalog I totally didn't comprehend that these awesome shirts were embroidered with a hemp leaf motif.


[sigh]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be banned from the East Nashville Crime Prevention meeting now. Maybe I should move my store into the old Marivuana Hempalot store on Shelby Street. I definitely DON'T plan to take these shirts to the event I'm doing at an elementary school this weekend.

If you know any stoners who like fair trade clothing, though, send 'em my way.

Team Player

An interesting side effect of my hockey fandom is an appreciation of team sports.

I never played sports when I was a kid unless forced into it by a mean gym teacher. My brother was quite good at several sports, and I wanted nothing to do with them after years of watching his games. The closest I ever got to a team was the girls in my grade-school dance class or my high school marching band. Maybe the fellow cast members of operas in college.

And now I find myself wishing for a team. I long for the physical exertion of a game, the striving together toward a common goal.

I know this area has community teams for adults, but my physical stamina and knowledge of rules are so lacking that I would be too embarrassed to join. I need someone to have a Soccer Workshop for Dummies, some sort of beginner seminar for adults who have never played a game in their lives.

I like the idea of the Nashville Women's Ice Hockey League, probably because hockey is so new to Tennessee that few ladies grew up knowing how to skate and shoot. I'm seriously thinking of taking some ice skating lessons so that I can perhaps crash a few of their practices and at least get some of the team feeling. Plus, Paul thinks I'd make a great goalie. :-)

Christy's Household Truths

One of my favorite blogs has posts about "Household Truths" from time to time. The posts generally provide pithy insights on the ins and outs of household management.

I've discovered my own household truth this week.

A household area in chaos will remain chaotic and accelerate into further chaos until every chaotic element is removed from said area.

I had a garage sale last weekend. Lack of time management meant that I was rather, um, focused on last minute preparations for the sale the two days preceding it. As such, my house experienced higher than usual disorder, with dishes piled in the sink and clean laundry languishing on the sofa.

The garage sale went well for the most part, but a rain storm decided to crash the party before we closed for the day. Thus, all of the sale items were hurriedly crammed into my living room and kitchen to get them out of the rain.

And there they stayed. I had several other engagements over the weekend, so I only had time to make a few small dents in the chaos of garage sale leftovers. And gradually I realized that the chaos was growing. Yes, I was adding to the chaos. Me! Structure girl!

I would walk through the kitchen and set my purse down on the table among twenty other things that also did not belong on the table. Random household items not involved in the sale started appearing amidst the chaos. It was as if a switch had flipped in my brain -- everything is not in its place, so why bother to put anything in its place?

Then my house decided to join the fun. Part of my attic collapsed. Okay, that's not nearly as dramatic as it sounds, but it was quite an annoyance. An old access panel leading to our attic fell open, showering about a cubic foot of old, dusty insulation over my hall closet. After Paul fixed the access panel, I got to take everything out of the closet so I could remove all the bits of insulation.

I'm seeing signs of hope today. Most of the garage sale leftovers are bundled up, ready to be donated. The closet contents have been reorganized and reshelved. I should be in good shape, as long as my dishwasher cooperates....

Bzz Agent Review: Chili's Smokehouse Bacon Burger

I have a logjam of blog posts in my head. I keep procrastinating writing this review, but I don't want to post anything else until I finish this. Thus, no posts for two weeks.

So, a few weeks ago I got an invitation to join the Bzz Campaign for Chili's Smokehouse Bacon Burgers. As part of the campaign, I received coupons to try the burger for free. Let me tell you, free food makes me really happy.

As far as chain restaurants go, Chili's is one of the top places on my list for a fun meal with friends. Good selection of food and just the right balance of nice/casual. I'd never had their burgers, though; I usually stick with their Tex-Mex items such as fajitas or quesadillas.

After I received the coupons, Paul and I made a Chili's stop part of a date night (the other part of the night -- ice skating!). We hit the Chili's on West End before heading to Centennial Sportsplex.

There are three options for the Smokehouse Bacon Burgers:

• Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger (brown sugar and chili-rubbed bacon, Chili's Big Mouth Burger, smoked cheddar, crispy onion strings, and mayo)
• Jalapeno Smokehouse Bacon Burger (applewood-smoked bacon, Chili's Big Mouth Burger, smoked cheddar, crunchy tortilla strips, jalapenos, and mayo)
  
• Smokehouse Bacon Triple-the-Cheese Burger (jalapeno applewood-smoked bacon, Chili's Big Mouth Burger, smoked cheddar, swiss, provolone, sauteed onions, and jalapeno-ranch dressing)
  

I ordered the Triple-the-Cheese Burger, and Paul ordered the Southern Burger.

When a waitress brought out our orders, she exclaimed, "I've never seen a girl order this burger! It's huge!"

Um, thanks?

It truly was a massive meal, though. So, first impression: very yummy. Flavorful. Second thought: wow, they really meant jalapeno, didn't they? At that point I added the jalapeño ranch dressing that came with the burger. The creaminess of the ranch toned down the jalapeño quite a bit. I enjoyed the burger for the most part, but by about halfway through I was tired of the bajillion flavors hitting my mouth simultaneously. I longed for a plain, flame-broiled cheeseburger. I left about a third of the burger on my plate. Hurray for the fries, which were a suitable palate cleanser.

Paul enjoyed his Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger and pretty much cleaned his plate. He said the taste reminded him of the Rodeo Cheeseburger occasionally available from Burger King (while the Chili's marketing people might cringe, he says that's a compliment). Paul observed, and I agree, that the bacon on the burgers isn't really bacon; it's so thick and tender that it's more like strips of ham. I kinda wish I had ordered the southern burger instead...sounded like it was more my style.

You know, after I left Chili's my impression of the Smokehouse Bacon Burgers was that they were decent, but nothing awesome. While writing this review, though, I started craving one, so I guess they were pretty good after all! A little on the pricey side at $8.85, but a lot of food -- so if you order one, plan to split it with a friend or take the leftovers home.

One more interesting note -- A packaged wipe comes with the meal. I laughed at first, but I needed it. Of course, I am a bit OCD. :-)

And speaking of OCD, the verb tenses are really bothering me in this post. Should I keep it all in present tense? Past tense? Whatcha think?