journey of life

For Matt’s birthday this year, I accidentally stumbled upon Leinenkugel’s Explorer Variety pack (containing Sunset Wheat, Honey Weiss, Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy) at our local grocery store.  While it’s not that unusual to find Leinenkugel’s where we live (especially now that Miller Brewing Company is their distributor), we haven’t been able to find the Berry Weiss since we moved from Wisconsin.  We’ve made several trips to the grocery store since then, hoping to get lucky and find more in stock, but apparently, I had snagged the last one, and they weren’t expecting to get more.  

So, I found the local distributor for Leinenkugel’s and they suggested I call the closest Total Wine, where lo and behold, they not only had the Explorer pack, but they had CASES of the Berry Weiss in stock as well.  Aside from a few sips here and there from Matt’s bottle, I am staying away from the beer, but am really looking forward to enjoying one or two or twelve post-pregnancy.  And, to think that they might actually have the Apple Spice and the Big Butt in the fall and winter makes my heart skip a beat.

Yesterday we started our spring cleaning mission.  Matt mowed the lawn for the first time this year, while I puttered around and picked up dried bean pods for the umpteenth time.  In our neighborhood the city is coming by today and picking up various household crap people have left on the curb.  Not wanting to disappoint the poor souls that have to muck around and load people’s crap over the weekend, we’ve made a hefty donation.  And, we were pretty harsh.  After a phone conversation earlier this week with my very own personal de-cluttering mentor, I’m on a mission.  So, today I am bidding farewell to a couple of coolers we really don’t have the space for, a large “portable” propane grill we bought for the U.S. Grand Prix camping trips, a sewing table that (again) we don’t have the space for, a cabinet we removed from our laundry room, some yard waste and, last but not least, the 1970s puke green Ethan Allen club chairs that I have so desperately wanted to reupholster for ten. long. years.  I think it is time to go our separate ways.  I’m moving on. 

$100

I know. A Benjamin Franklin seems like a lot to pay for a set of blocks, but I’ve been drooling over these Alexander Girard Alphabet Blocks for months now. I just don’t know if I can wait until our niece turns four to buy some. Maybe I should put them on my wish list.

Today, I gave the dogs a bath, using Good Earth Soap’s Doggie Shampoo Bar. I love shampoo bars for my hair…they lather up nicely, and allow you to get the shampoo behind your ears and at the base of your neck, two places that liquid shampoo seems to skip when applying. Not to mention great to take on plane trips. So, Matt’s mom thought I might dig the idea of a dog shampoo bar as well, and she was right. I was able to lather up the dogs without any problem, something that is difficult with long hair dogs with thick winter coats. And, because it is in a solid form, there wasn’t any waste. The smell is lovely, not chemically like I have found most dog shampoos to be. Also, I imagine with the shampoo bar it will be easy to spot wash a hiney. A dog’s hiney, that is. Then, there’s the added benefit that it won’t leak in the dog’s travel bag, a huge plus in my book since we are often on the go. At under $6 a bar, I think it is worth a try. Oh, and in case you are wondering, they make shampoo bars for us humans as well. I am going to put their Rosemary Mint shampoo bar on my wish list.

Note: Their website doesn’t include the ingredient list for the bar, but on my packaging it says the bar contains: Water, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Jojoba Oil, Glycerin, Essential Oils of Lemongrass & Lavender. If I could, I’d put a scratch and sniff for you to smell.

And, I’m not minding it one dang bit.  Bring on the record highs in the middle of winter.  But, if you are dreaming of snow and hot chocolate, you can make your own snowflake while you wait for winter weather to return.

ANYONE?  I’m in need of a great cheese fondue recipe.  I’ve just been grabbing them off recipe sites, and the most recent one I tried, FLOPPED.  Any foolproof cheese fondue recipes would be greatly appreciated.

…and checking it twice…

I have a list for everything. My life is organized by lists and more lists. Currently, I have the following lists:

Ongoing Shopping (Groceries) List
Wish List
Christmas Shopping List
To Do/Make/Bake List (pre-Christmas)
To Do/Make/Bake List (post-Christmas)
Packing List, No. 1
Packing List, No. 2
Freezer Food List

So, you can imagine with all those lists, it feels damn good to scratch off items. Today, I marked off the following:

- Take package to ship.
- Bake date nut bread.
- Figure out how to get iChat video to work (thanks to Matt).
- Vacuum carpet and stairs.
- Hide extension cords from holiday lighting.
- Shovel sidewalk.
- Get the car’s oil changed.
- Pick up dry cleaning.
- Make vegetable beef soup.
- Print off directions.
- Order parchment paper.
- Order replacement fireplace glass and install.  (Okay, Matt gets credit for the installation part tonight, I just ordered it.)

…in the sun. I’ve created a gallery showing the dogs in their favorite sunny napping spots. Our oldest dog loves to hang out by the back door to keep an eye on the squirrels that love to terrorize her. When she tires of watching the squirrels, she snoozes in the sunlight. Our youngest, a couch potato, moves the pillows as she follows the sunlight coming in from our side window. Smart girls.

And, apparently, our oldest dog isn’t as deaf as she may appear. The click of a camera shutter startles her awake.

October 31, 2007, 4:00 pm
38 - pre-made treat bags filled with candy, and stickers. And lots of extra candy, just in case.

October 31, 2007, 9:00 pm
17 - number of trick-or-treaters that came to our door

November 1, 2007, 9:00 am
40 - Kit Kat bars leftover
24 - Snickers bars leftover
20 - Reece’s cups leftover
21 - empty treat bags leftover

Because we move so often, predicting the number of trick-or-treaters is a crap shoot. However, I always buy too much candy. This year I had convinced myself we would get hoards of kids. After all, we live in a neighborhood ripe for ghosts and goblins to appear on Halloween night. Maybe the goblins need a couple more years to fully mature? Anyway, the result is a ton of candy to put in the freezer for later use.