Holiday Spirit
Well, as you know, I am all done with Christmas shopping. The cats are having a blast trying to tear up the tree and presents. They already got to one present so much so that I can’t give it now! Ugh! But it was kind of an extra anyway so I don’t need to get another. If you noticed in my last picture of our tree, the ornaments were blue. Well, I hated it. And during a trip to Ace Hardware, all their decorations were 50% off so I got some silver and red and redecorated. So much better! Otto also posed for his first Christmas photo. I have yet to nail down Cupcake for hers. The best I got was a blurry kitty walking toward me.
Chicken News
You guys haven’t heard about the chickens in a long time! They are doing well. We did lose a couple to a fox. And then our hunting buddy got a fox in our back yard. Ha! We also have to watch out for Hawks. They have no problems eating chicken too. Anyway, our younger chicks, the ones we incubated ourselves, are much more adventurous than our older girls. We have been letting them out of the pen to forage and look what I wake up to on my back porch every morning! We have bird feeders there and they pick at what the birds dropped. I’m a little bummed though because now the shyest breeds of birds don’t come around.
Projects
So I guess you guys have figured out that we are always up something. I mentioned a while back that Rob is baking bread and decided to try to catch wild yeast and he succeeded! It was so easy. Look at how well his bowl is growing!
Our other project was learning to make fudge. We had my Aunt’s annual Christmas party yesterday and Rob wanted to try making a batch. The first batch he didn’t heat high enough because his candy thermometer is confusing to read. The second batch came out great but he mixed it too long and it didn’t pour into the pan. Oops! It tastes great though! He also boiled over in the first pot and had to switch pots midway through (this is while making the second batch). LoL.
Our other project is a little different. Rob and I love to enjoy a nice glass of wine but we don’t like to pay a lot and we really don’t know any technical terms or anything. We really should take a class together. Our description is usually “it was good” or some variation thereof. Well, we were talking to the friendly guys at Passion Vines, a local wine shop and he picked out some wines for us to start trying (case discount!). They are mostly single grape varieties so that we can learn our grapes. This should be interesting. Any tips on wine tasting here??
The first wine we tried, the guy at the store said tasted like the color purple to him. Haha, I don’t know about that. He said it had a floral taste and when I thought about it, I could definitely see that but I don’t know if I could pick it out on my own. I got an app for my phone to keep track of all the little details for us!
Fitness and Nutrition
Again, it was a rest day yesterday. I am going to try to run around lunch today when its warmer. I was thinking last night though, I really don’t feel like running. I might swap out some of my runs for more fun things like Zumba, workout DVDs, maybe try Rob’s Insanity. I know that to run a marathon, you should run, but I want to do more of other things because its been boring to workout lately. I can’t skip long runs though
And my food!
As you can see, it was pretty healthy! Some ice cream in the upper right hand corner there. At the Christmas party, since I sort of forgot to eat lunch, I actually just went for the savory items so not much sugar at the party. But the savory items weren’t exactly low on calories. I didn’t eat a lot but enough to make me not hungry. Success at a party! Woohoo! And my Starbucks there was just plain green tea. I wasn’t in a sweets mood yesterday. And the best news is that the ice cream was finished last night and there is no more in the house!
Friends of ours are big in to wine…it seems like they are at a winery almost every weekend! They are really getting to know a lot…in fact, they told me the other day that NJ vineyards are starting to catch up to those in Napa as far as award winning! I know you are busy with school most of the year now, but when you have time off, start visiting them…there are a bunch not too far from you (midway between you and me!) They even stomped wine and bottled it at one of them! They are having a blast with it…
Yes! There are a few right near me actually but we never seem to have the time to go. Do you have any you recommend?? I heard there is this awesome wine tasting restaurant in Hammonton too. Perfect for a girls night out!
~Ang
There is one that I’ve been to for a girl’s night out – in the summer they do it every month…there is food and tasting…a band, always some type of “pampering” – I got my nails done once…it’s Sherrod’s or something like that…I’d have to look. I will ask my friends for a list of their favorites!
Ok, today is the first day since I started reading your blog that you talked about chickens. Love, love, love your Turkens! We.had some but lost them.during our move this.summer. have really enjoyed reading hour bloc and seeing hour determination. Very encouraging.