You know you're a wino when...

....you see a wine bottle break on TV and in an instant you (and the hubster) yell out, "Charles Shaw!" Oh yes, the notorious "2 buck chuck" from Trader Joe's. And it wasn't on the screen for more than a few seconds. I'm sad, so sad.

Lesson of the Day

I was so proud of myself this morning. I got up, put all the ingredients together to make a crockpot lasagna, and then headed over to Mom's house. Our plan was to make a variety of meals and freeze them for my sister so they wouldn't have to think about cooking once the baby comes. And we cooked like crazy fools. We made:

• Meatloaf with Potatoes
• Chicken Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Broccoli Casserole
• Lasagna
• Salsa Chicken over Rice
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Chicken Alfredo

I knew I wouldn't want to cook when I got home, which is why I made sure I had the crockpot going before I left. Or did I?

When I called the hubs to say I was on my way home, he informs me we have a problem. I didn't plug in the crockpot.

Seriously? Who does that?

We went ahead and turned it on and attempted to eat it. It was not good. We filled up on salad tonight.

Lesson of the Day: Make sure your electronics are truly working for you.

Edit: The lasagna recipe I attempted can be found at Pachey's Treats. I do hope to try it again and plug in the crock this time!

Margarita Time!

Any thoughts? Ideas?

Tequila!!!!

I love margaritas. They like drinking water to me. We were all out of margarita mix, and salsa chicken was on the menu for dinner. Margaritas were necessary this evening. I found a bottle of Trader Joe's Sparkling Limeade and threw in a healthy portion of tequila-voila! a damn good margarita on the rocks. I will never buy pre-made margarita mix again. My only regret: I thought we had some triple sec, but alas, the bottle was empty. It would have been nice a nice contribution, but overall a lovely little cocktail. I highly recommend it.

Charles Shaw International Australian Chardonnay

Wine: Charles Shaw International Australian Chardonnay
Price: $3.29
Store: Trader Joe's

"Charles Shaw travelled to Australia and found this wine for his American friends. Trader Joe's imported this Australian Wine for you to enjoy tonight. G'day, mate." ~Back of the Bottle Now, I am not a huge of Charles Shaw. It's cheap, and while it's better than other comparably priced wines, it's certainly not favorite. I prefer pricier wines in the $4-$7 range. At any rate this wine is OK. I certainly prefer it to their "normal" chardonnay. There isn't much of a scent to this, and the taste is rather mild. There is a bit of an acidic finish, but as I drink my current glass, I am finding that the acidity decreases the longer the wine has a chance to breathe. Not my favorite, but not bad for something cheap. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Guest Bedroom Makeover

Our guest bedroom has been a long time coming. When we first moved into our house, it was the least of our concerns. Now, almost 3 1/2 years later, it has been driving me crazy. This was our guest bedroom when we first moved in. I loved the bedding, but the cat took her aggressions out on us one too many times, and we never could get the smell out. Also, the mattress had no frame...it just sat on the floor.
Notice the Hideous Ceiling Fan. We had a white one in our bedroom, so I moved that one to this room and we purchased a new one to put in our bedroom.



So I was in TJMaxx a couple weeks ago, and they had some beautiful quilts on sale in there. After much hemming and hawing, I couldn't get away from this pink and green beauty. I bought a king size for a queen bed. The bed is up on risers , so I needed something long enough to cover it up. I also found a white bedskirt at KMart in king size to cover the mess. I also found the curtain at Target.


I love my Degas Print over the bed, but the frame is temporary. I need to find a pretty white frame for it. I conned my mother into letting me use some furniture from my childhood bedroom (which also happened to be from her bedroom). I'd like something more modern, in a brighter white, but for now, it's OK. I do want to replace the hardware. The lamp is from my single apartment days and the tiles on the wall are from Empire West. They offer three free samples, and I happened to get them at a time when they were offering free shipping. They've been in my garage over a year while I tried to figure out how to use them. I also would like to figure out a better way to keep the stereo out. I use it, but it's quite large.



I have this lovely blank wall opposite of the bed. I know I want to get a mirror to put over there, but otherwise, I'm not sure. We'll see-I'm in no rush. The book case was originally wood tone, and I painted it white.




I'm dying to get this image from Ikea, but the nearest one is 3 hours away...We'll see...


I'd also love this mirror:

Cost Breakdown:
Quilt: $39.99
Bedskirt: $10.00
Curtain: $10.00
White Paint: Free (For bookcase)
Green Paint: $30 with supplies
Tiles: Free
Furniture: Free
Total: $89.99

Still to Purchase:
White Frame
Mirror
Possible Prints

Liberty Service Dog Wine

Wine: Liberty Service Dog Red
Price: $11.99
Store: Farm Fresh

"This dry red wine is blended from three of Virginia's finest grape varieties, Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Bursting with deep flavors and aromas of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, and plum, Liberty features a long finish with hints of toast and spice. This sumptuous wine is a worthy tribute to Liberty." ~www.dogs4acause.com

This wine fulfills just about all my desires in a wine. It tastes yummy, good with food or alone, it is a local Virginia wine, and a portion of the proceeds to non-profit service dog organizations. (I don't have any actual date on how much or to which ones, but I'm OK with that for now.) As far as taste goes, this is a dry red table wine. It is very easy to drink, though. It goes down very smoothly. The taste is a little oaky, with a very slight hint of fruit.

Rating: 4 Stars. Highly recommended for people who claim they are not "red wine drinkers."

...And baby makes three.

Not for me, but for my sister. And not quite yet-she's due August 20. I hosted a baby shower at my house this past weekend in honor of her and the baby. It was nice, but a bit crazy. We elected to do a floating shower, which must be a regional thing. The shower ran from 2-4pm, and you could float in and out whenever you wanted. No baby shower games-mom, sis, and I all hate them. Why subject ourselves to that? Our guests seemed rather appreciative of it, too, and they seemed to like the open house idea, too. Thankfully, my house has a rather open floor plan, which is very helpful for entertaining.

We sent out invitations about 2 weeks prior to the shower. In an ideal world, I would have liked to get them out a little sooner (maybe a week earlier), but I don't think that it really negatively impacted the shower. I was a loser and did not take a pic of the invitation, but it was really cute with pink feet on it. You'll have to imagine it. They were also able to be printed off the computer, making them pretty and convenient.

I was able to prep all the found the day before and just set it all out about 30 minutes before the shower actually began. The only problem was when I opened the veggie tray (yes, I bought one to put on a pretty platter) , the veggies were all rotten. Yuck! The wonderful hubs went out to get more, but my house stank to high heavens.

My favorite project for this shower was the diaper cake I made. More info to come later on that!













My friend Randy, a professional floral designer, did the flowers. He did a great job, and did the arranging free of charge. (I love having talented friends!)












Our Menu Consisted of:

• Fruit (Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew Melon, Strawberries, Grapes, and Pineapple)
• Veggie Tray (Carrots, Broccoli, Green Peppers, Celery, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber)
• Chicken Salad in Pastry Cups
• Chips with Homemade Sour Cream and Onion Dip
• Spinach Dip in Bread Bowl with Crackers
• Cheese Platter (Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Colby, and Swiss)
  
• Cake!

I also had some peanuts, butter mints, and pastel M&Ms with the cake.








It was a lovely party, and that baby will certainly be taken care of. Guests were very generous with their gifts!

A Change in Direction

So I originally began this blog with the intention of keeping track of different drinks I have tried and enjoyed...but I was bad at it. For crying out loud, it's been about 9 months since I've updated this thing. It's not that I've stopped drinking, I just stopped keeping track of the different wines that I had tried. And recently I started thinking maybe there are other things I'd like to blog about. So here I go...my blog of randomness.