Showing posts with label enteraining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label enteraining. Show all posts

Thursday, January 3, 2013

hi.


No post since July. I know. I’m a horrible blogger. We’ve had a very busy house the last few months. And sometimes living life is more important than documenting life.
Anywho, here’s what’s been going on.
August
Peachy turned 2. RC started first grade. And I went back to school. At 36. What was I thinking? Oh, yeah. I was thinking maybe it was time to get a degree. So, I enrolled in an online degree program. So far, so good, but it doesn’t leave much free time after working full time and trying to keep things together at home. Sparky’s been great though. He knows just when I need encouragement and support.
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I also did a little transformation on an old candle stick and table top. I decided to try my hand at making my own chalk paint. I’m not sure if I’d do it again. It’s ok, but not the exact look I was going for. Definitely good enough for now though! (And now, a few months later, I’m ready to repaint it something lighter and move it to a different spot.)
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side table

September
My SIL got married! Yay! RC was the ring bearer and Peachy was the flower girl. And I took the pictures. (Yikes! I was pretty nervous, but they turned out great.) It was a beautiful fall day and we had a wonderful time.
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We also did a little DIY in late September. The main floor half bath was driving both Sparky and I ca-ra-zy. The closet and it’s door just weren’t working. We purged, painted and hung curtains. We’ve still got some accessorizing to do, but really love the way it turned out.
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closet
October
We decided it was time for a party. So we had an adult only costume party. It was a blast. Sparky and I were The Bundys. I had a lot of fun doing some spooky decorations.  Vivienne at The V Spot was my inspiration. She’s got great Halloween decorating ideas! No pictures of the party itself…needless to say some of the guests wouldn’t appreciate their pictures posted all over the interwebs.
I spray painted some branches from our yard black, spray painted a faux pumpkin white then used $1 Store spiders, bats and webs to finish it off. The raven is from Wal-Mart, the lantern is a left over from my SIL’s wedding, and the candelabra is from TJMaxx. The skull candle holder was a prize Sparky won for best costume at a Halloween party a couple of years back. He was a great Fred Flintstone. (Oh, and the mirror is a new addition over the buffet. We bought it from a friend of my SIL’s for pretty cheap and spray painted it white.)
entry table
I’ve been updating the Irish blessing I keep by the door for each season/occasion. It’s been fun seeing what’s out there. I do a Bing search and type it up in Microsoft Word. Then,  I use the same white frame and just swap out the blessing and mat (aka scrapbook paper).
irish blessing

November
Thanksgiving really snuck up on me this year. We hosted my parents and my SIL’s family. The day before I scrounged around the house to find some fall-ish, Thanksgiving-ish decorations. (I should’ve taken a picture of the table all set! It was really pretty. Sigh.) I ended up with burlap, fake leaves, and gourds.
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Right before Thanksgiving, I broke out the craft paint and had the kids paint some pictures. I chose fall colors for them to use (green, red, yellow, orange and bronze) and let them go to town. Then, I punched a hole in them and used some twine to hang them up in the dining room. They definitely aren’t hung perfectly straight, but I like them! And RC was so proud to have them hung up.
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And now, Christmas is only a few weeks away! AAAAAAA!
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
And now it’s 2013! Yeah, I started this post a month ago and just got back to it.
Christmas was awesome. We had Sparky’s family here on Christmas Eve and then went to my sister’s on Christmas Day. Sparky’s sister from Florida was up and my brother and his fiancé came from Montana. Lots of laughs, lots of wine and lots of Farkle and cards. It was great.
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I had a 2 week break from school and also took 2 weeks off of work. I was actually at home pretty much the whole time with my kids. From December 22 until January 2. Other than maternity leave, I think that’s the most I’ve been home with them. Gosh, that sounds horrible. And a couple of those days, my seester’s kids and my SIL’s youngest was here too. 6 kids 9 and under. 1 – 9 year old, 1 - 8 year old, 2 - 6 year olds, 2- 2 year olds. Yikes! I don’t know how SAHMs do it. I honestly don’t. They had so much fun though! All of them were asking when they’d get to see the others again.
After everyone left and the kids went back to school and daycare, I had 3 whole days to myself. 3 days! 2 of them are gone. And not much but laundry and workouts have been accomplished. Where does the day go? I have one day left. And I don’t really feel like doing anything. We’ll see how it goes. 
I hope everyone has a great 2013 and I’ll try to pop in every once in a while, but can’t make any promises. Applied Statistics and World Religion are in my near future. Oh, and I guess I better get back to work too.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Wa, wa, wine club!

I hosted our first wine club of the New Year this past week. And took no pictures. Grrr. I had planned to take pictures before everyone got here, but I ran out of time. (I was channeling my inner Reluctant Entertainer and wanted to include the pictures in this post.)

Anywho, it was red wine this go round. I didn't give a specific varietal, it just had to be red.  The girls must have been itching for a night out, cause there were 11 of us this go round. And that means a $55 pot! Woo hoo!

I had a pretty cheese board (wish I had a picture to show you) with brie, sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, havarti and goat cheese. Cheese can get spendy, but you really don't need a whole lot of it. Even with 11 people, I had TONS of cheese left. I also had crackers, and a sliced baguette. Along with the cheese and bread, I had apples (great with the havarti), Ikea Lingonberry preserves (great with the brie), nuts and mini-quiche. One of the girls also brought pita chips and a great parmeson artichoke jalepeno dip. And of course, no wine club is complete without dark chocolate.

The wine selection was all over the place.



Red Truck California Red
Old Vine Red
Infinitus Cabernet Sauvignon Temperanillo
Bogle Merlot
Apothic Red
Montevina Barbera
120 Carmenere
Makulu Iswithi Pinotage
Chateau Saint Antoine Bordeaux Superior
Menage a Trois California Red  
ConfectionsChocolate Red Wine
    
Our wine club is a mix of red and white wine drinkers so it's always fun to make them drink red wine get everyone together to try new things.  With that many people, there wasn't much left of a bottle once we all got a taste.  A couple of the girls, er, ladies were appalled at the amount of wine that got dumped. It's just part of the deal. Something you have to learn to live with, or if you really feel that bad about it, I guess you have a glass of the dumped wine. Not that anyone would ever do that.  (Not me, by the way, but it did happen. Blech.)

It was a close competition, but the Apothic red ended up winning.  Remember, it was one of my go to wines?  But, the Old Vine Red,  Menage a Trois and the Makulu Iswithi Pinotage were close behind tying for second. 

The bordeaux finished in last place.  This surprised many of us, because we thought for SURE the nasty chocolate one would've gotten that honor.  (The bordeaux was mine, but I'm not bitter. Not one bit.) To be honest, the chocolate one spelled AMAZING, but didn't live up to the smell.

And, it just so happened that my order of Wine Away came a couple of days before, so I gave away a bottle to one of the second place finishers. (We drew names.) This stuff is AMAZING. Get's red wine out of anything.

We all had a great time and it was great to catch up with everyone after the holidays. We are a diverse group (well, as diverse as you can be in North Dakota), which I love!  Some with kids, some without, and a couple of grandmas, all with one thing in common...a love of wine and good company. What's better than that?

Anyone else decide to start one? I'd love to hear how it went!

So, I lied about no pictures. I do have one crappy cell phone picture.  Those bottle are all empty.  (Oh, except the Rosenblum. I decided I needed to have a glass while doing dishes. Smartie. That's me.)