Seeing a new side

I love my husband, and I know after 30+ years his quirks and moods.  What I love is that most people do not.  To our friends and most people he does not work with, he presents as a gentle rather soft spoken soul. He is congenial and has a humor often compared to British humor.  He also enjoys what I would call humor of things like South Park and Futurama.

This is a man who brews beer for the joy of the end product, recreating tastes he remembers from England.  He does what is expected of him because he is conscientious and responsible for his family. He is a loving and gentle father, who has a daughter who wants nothing but praise from her daddy.









So imagine the surprise of our friends as we set around a table sharing dinner and tasting wines as a night fun, when the conversation began to be heated at his end of the table.
 Suddenly he was slamming the table to get the attention of those he was conversing with, to get their attention and make his point, that he wanted to be heard! Several times he was banging the table, as wine classes shook and plates jumped.  I know this man, I've seen this a few times over the years, but its rarely shared out side of the work place.  I know this man can be strong and create a sense of dread at work.  He's often sent to straighten out problems, he co-chairs a world committee  for FAA requirements. He is not a push over, although, some may think so.  I loved that he shared that side of himself to our friends.  These are friends we've had ranging from 30 to recent years.  It was amazing to see their responses.

I don't really remember the wines we had that night except that none of them really tickled my taste buds.  Perhaps it was the fact that we thought we should do wines that were under 15 dollars, so instead of going for our standard wines we've become accustomed to, such as 14 hands, cupcake, manage a trois, we all went out looking for something more exotic and the deal! You know the" I got it for under 15 but really its a more expensive wine on sale type."   I won't remember the wines of the night, but I will remember the night.  I'll rate this wine as Mr G, vintage '58, with humor, strength, gentle, loving, and surprising!  A variety worth having in your in cabinet!

a sewing feeling coming on

Ok its October, its nearing Halloween in fact.  I have not formally set up my craft/sewing room, But i do have access to my sewing machine.

I'm having that urge to sew something, fabulous and delicious.   I was browsing some patterns through Vogue and found this lovely.  I like the style of the color blocking and that it really accents the waist.  It's sleeveless which seems to be my favorite kind of dress.  It's not that I have attractive arms, its that I can wear a light sweater or jacket as needed.  I always feel constricted in tailored long sleeve garments.  ugh. but this does make me want to buy the pattern and try it out. This is Vogue V1329.  I'm craving a new coat as well but can't decide whether I want to try making one or go through the purchase process.  Because its complicated and I can't find the fabrics I would prefer, I will probably go purchase one.  My last anorak coat I bought was 20 years ago.  I didn't realize so much time passed.  I wear it a lot  in winter, and it had a lovely fleece lining, with lightweight  filling, but its definitely looking its 20 years these days.  I purchased it right after my daughter was born. I bought it a size big so I could wrap her inside of it with me, when she was in a sling.
Its now like 3 sizes to big, but in some ways that makes it uber comfortable.

So before I can take this on, I must first attack my friends footstool. It will be a pretty easy project, and needs a new cover made for it. But that's incentive to move on to something else.

Are you ready for Halloween?  I kinda am.  I want to put out my decorations tomorrow which is late for me, but hey its before the day its self right?  Also the majority of my decorations fall under the category of FALL decorations not only Halloween so they will carry me through Thanksgiving.  So this weekend, has 2 goals, hang my art which has been in boxes since moving, and seasonal decorations.

Wine, wine and more wine

OH MY!
We went over to Prosser for a crush last weekend at Airfield. There was a wine makers dinner, and we were with 2 other couples.  The food in all honesty was so so.  Seems like anytime you're in a large group its going to be that way, some of it cold, some not so good,  but hey they served wine with EVERY course.
Our friend who had a vegan meal was probably way better off. her food was always hot, and they wanted to make sure she like it. Not the case with the regular Joe meal. Next time I'm ordering vegetarian.  Of course that just got us started so we headed back to our hotel and shared a couple more bottles.
The following day, my hubs and I went swimming for a bit, while the others participated in a 5k run.
We then all went back to the winery, and had lunch, with Wine of course!  We sat with the owner of the winery for a bit and talked about his involvement in  the winery and how much work went on during the harvest season.  He told us they had 20,000 pounds of grapes for the crush to be foot stomped.  we probably did about 100 pounds, sorry we weren't in the mood for stomping as much as we were for drinking.  With more wine on board, we stomped a bit between the 6 of us, and then hosed off and headed into Prosser to shop.  Its a small town but they have some unique and well priced antique shops. I only bought a small piece of green depression glass this time.  I had my eye out for a much bigger piece like another side board, but naught was to come to my attention. Delicious dinner was had by all at Tuscany a little Italian restaurant. Followed by a trip over to Monkey business, a toy and liquor store.  Talk about a weird mix of things. We stocked up on some vodka as we were tired of wine. Went back to the hotel and partied in the common area/breakfast room.  Feeling like college students again,( Our kids are all grown and living on their own mostly- with plenty of help from the parents of course) we were able to let our hair down, kick off our shoes and party down!
Yep til the next morning, it all catches up to you. Gotta love that wine!!
Pictures are a few and will post soon.

I want to scream from the rooftops!

Oh I do love my offspring, but I want to scream from the rooftops.......Get over yourself and get a job!!!!!
why can't  she understand when we said YOU have to help yourself this year That we really meant it?
Her new digs are more expensive and she is still settling old bills from the previous house.  I know she applied for jobs, but she doesn't understand the concept of follow up.  That a week or a few days after you should stop by and say "Hi, I'm really interested in that position, and hope I can interview"  Argh I love my child, but wish upon wishes that she would take that step of actually realizing that its time for her to help her self.  She will soon be 21 and besides dancing has only held 1 summer job.
By her age, I had supported myself for three years, gotten into college, and did what I could with absolutely no parental support.  In fact it was pretty much, oh you graduated from high school- your out of here, 2 weeks after I graduated. My husbands family was more generous, but they still expected him to hold a job either for them or someone else. He worked from a young age, so what the hell?  Yes I'm ranting. and I will stop now. The unfortunate part is that she won't read this and has no idea how disappointing it is to see her lack of interest in supporting herself at all. In her mind its ok that her parents work more, to make her life be the dream.

It's those little things

So It's all those little things that start to make a difference.  Now that the big stuff is mostly unpacked, you start thinking about those little things, the nik naks, the photos, the things that make your home look like you. Those are the boxes that are still kind of in limbo unpacked with the I'm not sure where you should go notes.
They are also the things I long for the most.

I finally found a shelf with coat hooks to put by the front door.  It's black, and I want to paint it white or aqua and antique it.  But my husband hung it for me and I didn't even ask and THAT was pretty exciting. I want to put a small bench under it to sit and put on your shoes - because we are typically a shoes off house.  Also
I'm still searching for a piece to put on the opposite wall to collect things like keys, and mail, and store a few items in.

I'm really needing to use my sewing/craft room but its a box factory.  no room to walk.....also my biggest project for sure as part of moving in.  It's so much easier to pick something else than go in there and try to figure out what to do.  I have half the space of my old room. But I don't have half the stuff -ha ha. Jokes on me, even though I weeded through a lot of it before moving.  Hmm those ideas I have for making things and selling them?  I better start doing something about it, so I can clean out some it.

Well that's a little on what is happening at the new house. Pictures are do soon, maybe in the next post.

Finally In!

Here it is a little over two weeks in our new house.  Its starting to feel like home, despite the boxes, and papers all over the place.

Regardless  of our moving boxes and dishevel we had a little evening of Tapas and Wine out at the fire pit this weekend.  It was lovely having the fire going, and sitting around in the evening just enjoying each other's company.   I love serving Tapas. It's easy and you can do a lot of simple variety or get very extravagant. I saw a recipe for for a steak salad that had a chimichurri sauce I wanted to try making.  So I made the sauce, using a lemon flavored oil, lime juice & zest, jalapenos, cilantro, parsley and some salt and pepper.  Then I took some left over flank steak from dinner a few nights before, chopped it up fine, and put it in a some salad mix greens.  I took some pizza crust and through it on the barbecue, with the chimichurri sauce on it, some goat cheese with kalamata olives, a little red onion on top. When the dough was cooked, I took it off, placed the steak salad also mixed with the chimichurri sauce on top of the crust, and served warm.  It was delicious!  & Made it into a finger food.  I forgot  to take a picture but will next time.

 My daughter showed up later with a couple friends so we through out a few more chairs so they enjoy the fire too. They brought S'more fixings and we had a lot of burnt marshmallows going around.  It's interesting to watch the science of marshmallow cooking.  The patient ones, go for the perfect golden toasted mallow, while the impatient char the mallows to a blackened state.  Regardless much fun was had  by all, whether you were a cooking or watching.  I usually find s'mores to sweet, so I'm more of a watcher.

With both the music and wine flowing, it was a pleasant evening with perfect weather.

6 days

Only 6 days left until we close.  I'm so excited to finally be in my own home.  I love my friends, and Thankful they've been so generous.  But I miss my own things, my own way of setting up a kitchen, and I know its going to be a horrific mess for a few weeks.  But I'm looking forward to it.  The unpacking and deciding if there's a place for it in our new home.  We got rid of so much its absolutely amazing, but whether it was a sufficient amount or not is another matter.  And this home is a bit different in style and feel. so although there may be space, it may not be the right feel.
All I can keep thinking is 6 days, 6 days, 6 days, 5 days, 4 countdown.......

I know I need a few  new pieces of furniture.  I no longer have a china cabinet of any type. So I've been on the lookout. A few side tables, and some outdoor furniture including a new gas grill. We gave our old grill a sad farewell when we moved.  It was pretty beat and would cost more to replace the grills and burners than just by a new one at end of summer sale.  Speaking of - when did summer clearance start in July?  Our local stores have almost completely rid themselves of summer furniture.  I don't get it, and back to school is in full swing.  For Seattle summer doesn't even come into reality until after July 5th. And our Sea fair fest is in August, the first two weeks, so you would think we could have a bit of summer outdoor items still available.

Did I say 6 days? oh yeah !! I'm already doing the countdown, and trying to get things done- notifying utilities, getting the storage delivered, HIRING help to unpack them, also have 2 storage units that need to be loaded and unpacked at the same time the pods come.  Notice I said HIRE- we learned our lesson the hard way, its important to hire help to get you through this.  We tried to do to much on our own, ended up calling some friends, and still were suffering.  I have a sprained collar bone.- no LIE, don't even know what happened to cause it, other, than the excruciating ordeal of packing and moving things. I  just can't ask for more help from my friends or family, and would rather pay to have others  do it. It's worth every penny to have someone pack and move you. Our problem was the storage time in between, or I would most definitely have gone with a moving company.