It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Labor Day weekend in Reno means but one thing...RIB COOK OFF. Here I am, admiring my stack of 24 rib bones. Yes, Matilda and I managed to ingest 2 full racks of ribs over the course of 4 hours. Matilda's Daddy, however, only managed 17. (Pause here for victory laugh....Mwahahahah!) We also managed to fit in 2 slices of watermelon, some potato salad, a biscuit, an ice cream bar, and about 8 Diet Cokes. It was a real mother/daughter effort. I provided the will and the skill, and she agreed to find some dark corner of my uterus to hide out in to make more room for ribs. At least my girl has her priorities straight.

For the second year in a row we lucked out getting tickets into the "Rib Village"--the VIP section of the Rib Cook Off where you get all-you-can-eat ribs from all 24 competitors, along with all the sides, ice cream, and booze you want (in other words, Nirvana). It was a happy, happy night; I had such a good time that I was able to forget about my aching pelvis (feels like I've been kicked in the groin several times) and my damned carpal tunnel. I was also able to laugh at every shmuck in the village who piped up with the oh-so-original joke, "Now that lady has had too many ribs!" Oh yes, that's me! The fat one! Hardy har har! I guess I deserved it, though, seeing as I did lapse into an orgy of pig-belly consumption on par with a starving velociraptor. But what would you do if presented with this spread?


That's what I thought.