The Beginning of Bottling Season (and nearly NCAA basketball tournament time)

Well, Bob and Steve got a couple carboys of wine bottled last Saturday. They bottled Steve's Norton, which they loved (but remember they like drier wines than I do). I believe Steve commented positively about the peppery notes in his wine, etc.  LOL    Then they decided to pop open the Devil Wine.  Um, what was supposed to be Devil Wine (which is actually made from adding lots  a gajillion pounds of sugar to Norton grapes).  I was quite disappointed and won't be cracking open a bottle of it even if desperate.   Bob and Steve loved it though.

Grapes do not taste the same each season.  A lot of how grapes turn out depends on the weather that year, etc.  Bob said he added the same amount of sugar that he usually adds to make the Devil Wine but it's certainly not near as sweet or blood-like (dark, thick, etc).  I am going to covet the few bottles of Devil Wine that actually earned their name from a few years ago and cross my fingers that the 2012 season will yield the sweet wine that we have all come to know and love.  Sorry, no sharing of those few bottles!  ha ha!

While watching the bottling process I also kept a close watch on the finish of the Kansas v. Missouri game go into overtime.  Go Jayhawks!  (they barely won)   I'm so excited that my second favorite time of year is nearly here...March Madness!  Get your brackets ready!!  My goal next year is to attend one of the games during the tournament time.

The Sweetest Thing

On Facebook the only thing I really care about are updates about Yellowstone.  I get on FB daily just to see any updates about the park I might be interested in...since I am a Foundation Member now and all.  Today I found this picture which is said to be photographed by Steve Finch at Yellowstone recently.  There were a series of photos leading to the one above.  Apparently the little cub climbed onto the mom's back when she had her head down hunting for food.  She has a vole in her mouth above. 

It is incorrect that all bears hibernate all winter long.  These guys were obviously taking a break from their long winter's nap this week.

Thursday Blahs

                                            -"my thoughts exactly."


It has been calm here at this old house making it difficult to come up with topics to write about.  I thought about creating a post about how I don't really care what the persons running for president think about same-sex marriage or birth control; I'd rather they know about making our economy better and good decisions about worldly things. Sigh.

I thought about posting about the upcoming outdoor soccer season and how we will only actually end up spending the night out of town for one night, versus the many I thought it would be.  We will have to travel out of town about 6 times between mid-March and end of May which  isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I could blog about this crazy weather pattern we've had this Winter but everyone has already talked that into the ground.

Hey!  I could write about something we've ordered which makes Bob and I very excited...but I'd rather wait until I can post a picture.

Vacation plans, gas prices, increase is missing persons, are diet drinks good for you? etc. etc. etc.  It's just another boring Thursday and I'm happy to have it even though I have nothing to write about.

Good Way to Live

Love is in the Air

I prepared a(nother) Valentine's Day dinner on Tuesday night for me, Bob, Robbie and Kaylyn. Robbie hadn't seen Kaylyn for nearly a week since she was in Florida for the National High School Cheerleading Competition.  BTW, they finished in the top 10 in the nation!  Anyway, he missed her so as soon as the bus dropped the cheerleaders off at school Robbie drove up to get her and brought her back to our house. They were so cute exchanging their Valentine's with each other.  I helped him set up a special table downstairs for them to have a private meal (away from me and Bob, ha ha!)...it was all his idea and thankfully I had a vinyl Valentine's tablecloth I bought after the season last year (for $2) to make the table more festive.  He wanted cloth napkins, the whole nine yards as you can see below.

The balloon she gave him...awww.

 Flowers Bob gave me...

 Shrimp I broiled for dinner...

 The kids' table...

 Kaylyn and Robbie

I picked up alfredo sauce, breadsticks and salad from The Olive Garden to have with the shrimp and made a Jello cherry cheesecake.  Me and Bob's table upstairs was sans decorations; we were just happy to have a hot meal then sip on some cognac afterwards.  I've rather taken a liking to sipping on a bit of Port...almost as good as Devil Wine.

Hope everyone else had a happy day yesterday and was able to do something special!

(early) Valentine's Day Dinner

We had an early Valentine's Day dinner last weekend. Instead of venturing out into the cold, we decided to stay in and prepare our own meal and watch streaming Netflix. 

Our appetizer was shrimp cocktail

I sauteed some mushrooms and Bob made a peppercorn garlic wine sauce (his own recipe)

We had filets with cracked black pepper, garlic and his sauce...and I had the mushrooms and a sweet potato...

and he had a big ole baked potato stuffed with cheese and sour cream...

We ended our meal with glasses of milk and strawberry jello cake.

During our meal we watched "The Trip" through streaming Netflix, a foreign film with Steve Coogan as himself about a pair of friends who travel through Northern England to review some restaurants. It was a little odd but I don't regret watching it. The scenery was beautiful! It was just one of those movies that you say afterwards how you're glad you watched it but don't need to see it again.

Movies

I'm hoping that by the 84th Academy Awards show in a couple weeks we'll be able to have seen several of the nominees.  I've added 7 of the nominee movies to our Netflix queue although I'm sure we won't get to see all of them before Feb. 26; but we'll try.  We might be able to get 5 movies in by then.  I've chosen Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Beginners, The Tree of Life, The Descendants, The Iron Lady and Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close. We've already seen Bridesmaids and I want to see Warhorse sometime too.

Is this a sign I'm getting old?  Looking forward to a Sunday evening at home in my pajamas to watch  the red carpet and lifestyles of the rich and famous, while warding off telephone calls and definitely not being on this laptop??  Must be.

A Little Guy and a Bird

This is baby Dominic, my godchild's 4 month old son.  I met him for the first time last weekend when I spent time with my dear friends of nearly 25 years at their home.  This little guy is so precious and so easy natured.  I got to hold him lots, feed him, change two blow-out diapers with his grandma and help give him a bath (while he screamed bloody murder).  And when all that wasn't going on he was pretty much content as he is seen below.

This is the starling Glenna rescued about 5 months ago when she saw it fallen from its nest.  It is now her indoor pet having raised it from when it was very small. (Glenna is very caring about every living being; even those that are not normally supposed to live indoors in a cage, ha ha!)   It will sit perched on her shoulder or on top of her head when she opens the cage door to clean up and refill its water and food bowl.  So hilarious!

I really had a good time visiting with my friends, Glenna and Steve, and their daughter (my godchild) Samantha, her fiancee and their new baby.  I hadn't seen them for several years although we have kept up via telephone every few months and on Facebook.  We stayed up late talking and drinking Devil Wine. We cooked, baked, laughed and recalled all the good times; especially their watching me grow up and attend college, dance on some tables (ha ha!) graduate, get married twice and have Robbie.

 I've known Glenna and Steve since I was 18 years old when Glenna hired me at the JC Penney portrait studio. We worked together for a couple years before I went to work at a nursing home then not long after they had to move back to her hometown due to some financial difficulties.  I hadn't been to their home since before Bob and I got married but they did come down for a week and visited us back in 2004 I think.  Glenna had to have a double mastectomy and several other surgeries since 2005 so it was difficult for them to travel and our lives here at this old house just got too hectic. 

I'm never going to go that long without seeing my friends and have a trip planned to visit them again this summer.  They have a little home on a small lake and it will be nice to visit them in warmer weather so we can sit outdoors, do some fishing and drink a little more wine together again.

It's Not 1985

It's not 1985.  Things aren't the same now as they were back when I was a teenager...at the age of 17.  I hear this from my son on a pretty much weekly basis.  "Okay, Mom!  Quit comparing your life to mine!!"  I hear this often like when I tell him I didn't get my own car until the Spring of my junior year (no matter what my parents have told him).  I got the white phantom cruiser (aka 1969 AMC Ambassador) when I was a junior, not when I turned 16.  Believe me, I remember. 

It's not 1985.  "Why do I have to stay home during( most) weeknights when my grades are good?"  I hear this one too so I let him go out sometimes to support school events because why should he stay home and watch Real Housewives with me?

It's not 1985.  "I don't want to eat dinner when you and Bob do. You mean you're going to make me sit with you at the table even if I don't eat anything?" Dinner time was mandatory at my house( and so was drinking milk with it).

It's not 1985.  We didn't have cell phones back then.  THANK GOD! "I texted you, didn't you get it?"   Call me on my home phone and leave a message.  I'll call you when I get home.  Like we did in 1985.

It's not 1985.  Gas is no longer $0.79 per gallon like it was when I was in high school. And if one (teenager) doesn't make any money then how is one going to put gas in their future vehicle.

It's not 1985.  Most moms have to work nowadays, including me. I sometimes don't feel like planning and preparing a hot, nutritious meal every night of the week like my mom did.  Sometimes we're going to eat cereal or PB&J for supper here at this old house.  Or do like Bob and get a coffee cup filled half with peanut butter then half with maple syrup and eat it out of the cup with a butter knife.  Not kidding!  Happened just last week.  LOL

IT'S CERTAINLY NOT 1985.  Because in 1985 my parents would not have EVER considered allowing me to take a friend, much less a boyfriend, on vacation with us like this ole mom is doing (well, girlfriend in this matter).  Dad, are you finished choking after reading this one??  ha ha!  Yes, we have decided to let Robbie bring "little Missy", as I affectionately call her, on vacation with us.  Bob and I will have to take turns sleeping with one eye open.

It's not 1985.  My friends and I are now 43 and some of us are starting to feel it a little but are going to continue to fight to be young and practice a little immaturity when we get together.  Like last weekend when I told Kristi and Ellen it sucks that everyone has caller ID now because I really had an itching to make some prank phone calls.  I wished it were 1985.