Killing His Lovin'

This buck was not at all happy with me.

November is mating season, and this boy was chasing some tail on my street. Since Bella was in the car with me.. I pulled up right alongside him & let her whine at him. He was less than amused.. especially since the tail he was chasing made it across the street and he was left with a whining dog & giant vehicle parked in between them.

Wednesday's Wine

Bonterra Merlot, 2004. Mendocino County. Shown with my new frequent shopper card, courtesy of my husband who has just begun to understand the quantity of wine purchased in this household.

85% merlot, 15% syrah, petite sirah & cab sauvignon. 100% organically grown grapes on the 378-acre farm. You'll taste blackberry and cherry - and with the other grapes, it stands up more than a typical merlot.

Outnumbered

I wanted to do a giant daisy or puppy on my pumpkin, but it didn't really go with the barfing pumpkin the boys made... so I went with this.

I guess it's scary because Bella wouldn't get any closer.

The Vegetable Garden Pause-ith

My gorgie husband shoveled a full cubic yard of organic dirt into my new vegetable garden. Bella immediately dug a giant hole in the middle. Until we can get it finished and start planting, we figured we'd solve this issue by tying string around the garden.. because, oddly enough, Bella is afraid of string.

What we didn't factor into the plan... is CLEARLY - Sam is not at all afraid of string. In fact, I'm pretty sure she didn't even know there was string there.

Sam & Bella 1; us - goose egg.

ps- don't mind my giant finger in the photo.. it was early.

Scaaary Yard - or not.

Our Halloween front yard cemetery was pretty scary, until the cold front blew in... now it's just sad.

Wooden stakes with flapping duct tape aren't nearly as scary as the tombstones that used to be attached to it.

I'd Rather Be Anywhere But Here

I had the oddest experience this morning. I haven't been doing coffee for a couple months, but I do love a Starbucks Chai Tea. So I popped- in this morning, ordered my drink & waited. As I stood there, I realized 95% of the people there were either texting or typing away on their computer.

Seriously, I was one of 3 people actually not holding something that needs to be plugged in (the other 2 were talking). So what did I do? I started texting a friend - because I felt weird... Wheels!

And, yes, I've taken high-maintenance to a whole new level while ordering my drink.. Venti Non-fat, No-water, Vanilla Chai Tea heated precisely to 180*.

A Rat, Cheese & Space Helmet

My friend Suz & I used to work for a complete idiot. He'd come up with these weak "ideas" that we'd have to implement... Suz would then come up with all the things she'd rather do than his idea - such as "stick pins in my eye."

While out Halloween shopping this weekend, I found this hat. It reminded me of the time Suz came back from the corner office & said, I'd rather take a giant hungry rat, stuff it in a space helmet, slather cheese on my head.. then put that space helmet on my head.

Why Can't We Come In??

How is that even a question??

Wednesday's Wine

2006 Muscadet Sevre et Maine - Loire White Wine

The boys could eat chicken every night. However, I won't eat chicken any night.

So tonight we're having fish.. and I found a lovely Loire Valley white wine to enjoy with dinner.

Between now & then, I have to get to the gym, do the school pick-up, the homework, the reading, the football practice & the making of dinner before I get my wine... but I'll get there!

"I Can't Kiss You...

....with that fresh-baked cookie smell 2ft away," says my husband.

Me: Seriously?

Him: Yes. And where are the rest of the cookies?

Me: I ate them.. before they could get into the oven.

The Goodness

On the menu: Smokey Jalapeno-Honeyed Garlic Chicken...

Jalapeno - my brother's organic garden

Garlic - my brother's organic garden

Honey - my brother's bee hive

Chicken - some steroid-induced bird my husband grabbed from the on sale table

The rest of the honey garlic jalapeno goodness will go on my tofu!

YUM.

The Vegetable Garden Cometh

It's taken me months of rolling it around in my head, and exactly 1 day of me telling my man - I really want this - to make it happen.

It's a wee teeny tiny little bit more work than we expected, (mostly because he has to do all the work!) but I suspect we'll be planting within 2 weeks... and yes, the yard is that dramatically sloped.

I Gotta Make Some Changes

I was trying to find a t-shirt that I could throw on after a sweaty tennis match to take the kid to his Christian-team football practice and these were my choices... um yeah no.

Wednesday's Wine

Clos de los Siete, 2006.

50% Malbec, 30% Merlot, 10% Cab & 10% Syrah.

I'm looking forward to opening this one.. sadly I'm working today, so it'll have to wait until later this week - when I'll be reading my new book, The Billionaire's Vinegar (thanks Trav!).

This full-bodies and rich wine is bordeaux influenced, with dark plums and sweet vanilla.

The Upside of Being a Step-parent

..I get to eat kids cereal.

I Shoot Things

I hadn't shot things before this weekend... and let's be honest, I didn't shoot many things this weekend, but I sure had a big time.

Wonders & Worries, an Austin-based charity, had a Skeet Shooting fundraiser. I was invited to be a part of a really light-hearted team.. which was good - because I pretty much single-handedly dragged them into last place. On the upside, we got a case of wine!

Even better, that shoot (clearly sponsored by Beretta) raised $194,000.

Wednesday's Wine - on Friday...

That title makes my head hurt...

Cloudy Bay used to make my head hurt... but I think it relates more the amount we drank of this particular when I was off playing with the girls.

My fondest CB memory is when Tish & I brought a picnic to Torrey Pines Park - hiked along the trail & found a spot to sit & drink wine while watching dolphins swim & jump about. Being from Ireland, this was Tish's first time seeing dolphins outside of a park. It was as much fun watching them as watching her reaction... at least until the park ranger found us drinking & had no sense of humor, and frankly, no sense of a good wine.

Tonight, my husband & I were being far more civilized while drinking Cloudy Bay... as long as you exclude the spirited language & pillows being thrown at the tv during the veep debate!

Baggu Responds to Outrage....

Well, that was quick! Less than 12 hours after my outrage hit the web, Baggu responds. I thought it was only fair to put their answer on the front page - rather than make you look for it under comments. Read on....

Hi There. This is Emily, from BAGGU. I am very sorry you were upset that your Baggu order came packaged in a poly bag. Let me explain why we use these instead of cardboard boxes or paper envelopes. Paper envelopes tear, we tried using these in the beginning but a lot of our orders were arriving damaged. Cardboard boxes are very heavy, so they have a big carbon footprint in transportation, they also use allot of resources, and require extra materials to fill the empty space in the box. Poly mailers are strong, lightweight and durable, they get Baggus to people's homes in good condition. I researched them a bit more after I saw your blog post and found some poly envelopes with an even higher recycled content - and we will switch those going forward. Thanks for you concern, and keeping an eye on us. And please let me know if you haven an even more eco solution that I may have missed. Please don't hesitate to get in touch emily@baggubag.com!

Wednesday's Wine Delayed due to Outrage

I know I'm supposed to be blogging about wine today, but it's just going to have to wait until tomorrow - I'm too busy being outraged.

I bought some Baggu bags to use instead of plastic grocery bags - and this is what they sent...

OUTRAGE!!

Recyclable bags to cut down on plastic.. yet the company mails them in NON RECYCLABLE PLASTIC MAILING BAGS!!

Bad Baggu!!

Finally!!

I am SOOO EXCITED!! The city finally delivered our new recycling receptacles.

The sorry little ones on the left are what we used to use - everything had to be sorted into separate crates and only Plastics 1 & 2.

The giant ones mix everything & take ALL plastics!

New goal: make sure the recyler is fuller than the trash can. Such a happy day :)