Hope everyone is having a great Halloween! Ryan and I spent the morning raking leaves…and more leaves… and more (we collected 10 bags today). Added to the seven bags that weren’t picked up from last week and aligned across the curb out front of our house and it looks like we’re creating a walled fortress out there!
This afternoon we’ve been relaxing with some football and watching the kids come by for trick-or-treating. I want to know, though, when kids stopped saying “Trick or Treat!”? We’ve probably had about 30 kids total – enough to dole out four bags of candy – which seems a little low. It’s now 5:10 pm and we haven’t had a single ghoul or ghost or princess come to our door in the last half hour. Is it over? When did trick-or-treat time become a daytime activity? Even last year, when Halloween was on a Saturday, the kids were out during the afternoon. Is this the norm now?
Well, November 1 is knocking at the door, which means Thanksgiving will soon be here (my favorite holiday) and Christmas will show up swiftly. If you haven’t heard, I’m super-excited for Christmas because that’s when I’ll get to use my 30th birthday gift – a trip to PARIS!
… a tea press from Bodum. Place loose tea leaves into the stainless steel filter, pour in hot water and allow the leaves to steep through to the glass pot. When the tea has reached the desired strength, push down the plunger to stop the brewing.
Tea press available for giveaway is packed in its original box.
I’m getting a head start on spring cleaning as Ryan and I need to organize our garage and buy some shelving, so today I went through all the items we set aside for eBay (this eBay pile has been gathering since 2005 and we have yet to set up an eBay account). Instead, we’ve decided to offer these items to our nearest and dearest – YOU! – totally gratis. Some items originally retailed for about $400 and others are probably only $20-$30.
I was going to start the trend of Freebie Friday but I truly think it’s better to just offer these items whenever we have a chance… an e-auction, if you will. So check back to this site often, because it’s first come, first serve.
The rules: Either of us will post a description and photo (or two) of the item randomly during the week. The first person to leave a comment on that post can claim the item. We’ll try to deliver it to you as soon as possible, but we might just hold on to the item until the next scheduled time to meet.
Hope you all get a kick out of this… and enjoy our goodies!
Ryan and I love fireworks and thought this year it would be fun to see what Ridgewood had to offer. Kim and Matt came over after she got off work and we went over for the entertainment. The band played some great Broadway songs and then the fireworks started! After watching last weekend’s show by Waldwick, last night’s display did not disappoint us (and put Waldwick’s performance to shame). We sat on a blanket in the middle of a field, so some of the large fireworks looked like they were right above us. They were so big and close that I felt the explosions in my chest!
As a side note, I thought I’d share a four-minute video I put together of my garden. It’s been a challenge to get outside because of all the rain in June, but my patience has paid off. The soil was pretty wet all month, and whenever there was a bit of sun, I was quick and methodical with what I planted. So the one sunny weekend in June, I finally got out into my garden to plant. I really had a good time and have been exploring new plants to include that would add color and variety to the beds. So I decided to take a video of the main gardens and share them here with you, so you can experience what I see every day!
(If you click on the video twice, it will take you to a larger screen to view.)
Happy New Year everybody! Sorry I’ve been so quiet as of late, and how about Christi beating me to the punch for the first post of 2009? She blogged while I was taking a nap on the couch, during the first quarter of the Eagles/Vikings game, after drinking a pint of my cider. This is only the third full pint I’ve had and, at this rate, that keg is going to last a long long time.
Anywho, lots to catch up on. NYE was a blast, as Christi said, having fondue with Jason, Jess, and John. Hanging with John is always a trip and a good time so it was really great having him up. He managed to help me free up some bottles, thankfully, since he took to my homebrew like a fish to water
New Years day was ultra-lazy. Christi made an awesome coffee cake for breakfast then, after watching the NHL Winter Classic, we played a bit of Rock Band 2, as seen in the picture to the right. Jess was on lead guitar, I was on bass, Jason was on drums, and John sang a few songs. I somehow managed to get through “Painkiller” by Metallica on bass/hard, which was a miracle, and a good time was had by all. Playing Rock Band by yourself is fun but it’s always way more fun with other people (*cough* *cough* hear that Christi? *cough* *cough*).
Jess is also really good at guitar: she must have had lots of practice over the last few months . She’s trying to make the jump to playing on hard, so everybody wish her luck! Next time we’ll all play is out in the Poconos in a few weeks.
Friday was another lazy day inside the house. We took down our tree, worked on our 2009 want/goals list, and hung a picture shelf over our television. The shelf is a bit high but should look better when we get a bigger TV in a few years (Christi, feel free to ignore that previous sentence *jedi mind trick*).
Saturday was a busy tech support day. I taught Kristen and Jon how to use their shiny new MacBook Pro, and set up a wireless network at Tiff and Jeff’s house. I also tentatively scheduled a tech support session with my Mom, to teach her how to use her new notebook and iPod Touch.
Sunday we watched the Ravens destroy the Dolphins (no Miami fans, Pennington is not your savior and yes, that was the real Chad who came to play) and the Vikings lose to the Eagles. With the Vikings losing, I dropped to -4 games with only 7 games left to pick in the season. Things are looking grim but I’m not giving up yet!
Nothing big happening this week, but it’s our first full week back at work in a while so things are bound to get interesting. I’m brewing my first partial-mash brew on Saturday or Sunday, an Oatmeal Stout, along with bottling/kegging the 10g of Irish Red, assuming it’s done… but you’ll hear more about that when the weekend comes for sure.
Well, 2008 is over. I don’t know anyone who is sad to see it behind us, for the problems with the economy, the political administration, and other personal issues. I’m glad to see it finished because I feel that 2009 is going to be an exciting year with lots of changes.
But it’s not starting out as I’d hope! We had Jason, Jess, their dog Sonny and friend John up at our place to celebrate New Years Eve. It was lots of fun, lots of laughs and a great time. Our fondue dinner and chocolate fondue dessert was a success – something none of them have tried before. We celebrated the countdown over a glass of champagne – and then I crashed for a restless night’s sleep due to what I only thought was a head cold that I had since Monday.
J&J left the next night and Ryan and I had the rest of the weekend to ourselves. Saturday was the first day in a long four-day weekend that we actually had things to do. We left our house early that morning for a day of Tech Support with Ryan’s sisters. I didn’t do much – it really was all Ryan – but it left us so drained. I was still really sick (and getting worse as the days went on) so by early evening we were on our way home, both so tired and ready for early bed. But a problem at Ryan’s office left him having to go in for just over an hour and we didn’t get the early night sleep we wanted.
Today, Sunday, has been pretty restful. I was able to get to the doctor who gave me antibiotic for my sinus infection. Let’s hope after a week the medicine does what it’s supposed to do – I need to get better! We just finished watching the Baltimore Ravens destroy the Miami Dolphins (yippee!) and are now watching the Phila Eagles/Minn Vikings game. We’ll see how things go for these teams!
Last night we polished off one of the Winter Wheat growlers. Below is a picture of the final pint, along with a rare sighting of “The Christi” in her natural habitat:
In the background you can see the lights over our fireplace in action. In our NFL picks, we split this week (winning a measly four games each, eh) so Christi is still +1 going into Week 16.
Oh, by the way, High Point Brewing Company will be putting the Winter Wheat into bottles this week so you may be able to find it. For places that serve or sell their beer, take a look at their website. If you can find it I highly suggest picking up a sixer. I’ll drink it if you dont’ like it
December 17th, 2008 in
Family, House |
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Like I mentioned yesterday, this weekend Christi and I started decorating our house for Christmas. This year we were able to get a bigger tree than years past because we have more room, which is nice. We still haven’t put the tinsel on — we hope to do that tonight — but here it is all lit up:
We have other pictures up in our MobileMe gallery, click here for the starting picture. There are only seven of them so it’s a quick view. Not the best pictures in the world but they’re enough for you to get the idea.
Later this week the rest of my kegging supplies should come, so guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? My dad is picking me up a 20lb CO2 tank from one of his customers in New York and, once I have that and the fridge is cleaned out, I’ll be good to go. The cider should be ready to keg this weekend so I really hope I get it all set up without any hiccups.
I’m also in the process of ordering my next set of ingredients, from three different vendors. It’s quite a chore but lots of fun… since I’m ordering stuff that I’ve never used before. Two of my next five batches are partial-mash so it sure will be fun, but more on all of that once I actually have a brew schedule set up.
Cheers!
December 9th, 2008 in
Brewing, House |
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. She’s trying to make the jump to playing on hard, so everybody wish her luck! Next time we’ll all play is out in the Poconos in a few weeks.
