40 Nights Red Wine

This is a red wine from Eastern Washington. The bottle does not indicate what grapes were used, but the website indicates a blend. This is a nice table wine. It was part of the Simply Wine Club, but I'm not sure when.

I'm starting back into the club next month, which means MORE WINE POSTS!

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Champagne, Not Just For Special Occasions

Zibibbo: Sweet, bubbly, Moscato. Excellent.

This is actually Angove Zibibbo Sparkling Pink Moscato from Australia.  I picked up this bottle at Sam's Club for $11.95.  I thought I recognized it from a post by Reverse Wine Snob (and I did).  I've always wanted to try pink champagne, probably since seeing "A Love Affair".  It really is a great wine -- fruity, with a great berry flavor.  Definitely adding this to the purchase again list.

 

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Return to Wine

I have not had a wine post in much too long.  But in all honesty, I've mostly been drinking Barefoot and Middle Sister, both great affordable wines, but not much to write home about.  Though I did pick up a Barefoot Bubbly that was wonderful and deserves it's own post!

The other night, however, I thought deserved something that's been sitting in my wine cellar for awhile.  I'm not even sure when I got this in the Wine Club.  This is a Cabernet Sauvignon.  You probably don't remember, but I'm not a big fan of this grape, at least not in young wines.  I think this grape needs time to develop in the bottle.  So I waffled on opening the 2009 bottle from Bogle Vineyards.  This was a very nice Cab, and surprised me.  It wasn't overly dry (which is typically my complaint).  It has a nice blend of flavors and odors to make this a bottle to enjoy, even on a Thursday evening.

I wanted to jump start blogging about wine again and as this is one I want to purchase again (and maybe a couple, get one or two to save to see what another 5 years does), I think this was a good one to start with.

Salut!

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500 Gifts

I hit 500 gifts on my list yesterday; a great way to end 2012.  I do plan to continue the list, with a goal to get to 1,500 gifts by the end of 2013.

451. The church Christmas program – Maggie singing her heart out!
452. A glass of Red Velvet, “White Christmas” and pizza
453. Jessie waking up Maggie, a gentle whisper “Wake up, Sissy.”
454. Ice skating with Girl Scouts
455. Maggie reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
456. The quiet of the office after everyone else has left.
457. Laying in my bed, looking at the stars, marveling at Jupiter
458. Barenaked Ladies Christmas music
459. True White elephant party at work – lots of laughter & food
460. Office closing early
461. Wendy’s hamburgers for supper
462. The whole family pitching in to clean – even Jessie!
463. Maggie cleaning her room without prompting
464. Cooking for the week
465. Maggie eagerly awaiting Grandma Alana’s arrival
466. Both girls’ excitement when grandma finally got here
467. Jessie calling for Grammy
468. Zoo Lights – the girls’ excitement at the “peddy lights”
469. Picture with Santa and a pony
470. All the presents that Grammy brought – the tree looks like it exploded!
471. Awaking to a small dusting of snow
472. A lazy Sunday
473. Decorating cookies
474. Watching Christmas movies
475. Christmas Eve candle light service – those wonderful old hymns and beautiful renditions of them. Listening to Maggie sing “Silent Night”
476. Maggie praying for snow – and it snowing on Christmas Eve!
477. Gift opening lasting all day
478. Maggie’s joyful face when she opened her American Girl doll, Josephina, from Grammy. Her first reaction was to run over to give Grammy a hug!
479. Maggie and Jessie playing with Maggie’s new Barbie dolls
480. Ornaments made in school and daycare
481. The mess of all the wrappings
482. Gifts for the whole family
483. Our own picture board from Grammy
484. Playing outside in the single digit weather with Rusty
485. A lazy Christmas day
486. A girls’ day with Maggie & Grammy, lunch, shopping and a movie “Wreck-It-Ralph”
487. Maggie picking out 2 board games with her gift cards
488. Playing Mouse Trap with Maggie
489. Jessie playing in the bathtub
490. A night out with Mark & Kristi
491. Seeing the right thing to read at the right time; God’s intentional timing
492. Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy & peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
493. Old pictures of my girls, Maggie’s round face, chubby cheeks, seeing the little girl Jessie will become in her tiny baby photos
494. Jessie napping on my lap
495. Snuggling with Rocky, watching “The Avengers” again
496. Hand-me-down clothes
497. Jessie hiding Grammy’s bookmark in her diaper
498. Following the Vikings’ game on Twitter
499. A quiet New Year’s Eve day at home watching movies
500. A quiet New Year’s Eve dinner with friends, chili & wine

2012 in Review

1. What did you do in 2012 that you've never done before? Went ice skating (and didn’t fall down)
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I did not keep my new year’s resolutions. I haven’t decided if I’m making any this year, though my prayer group is going to start doing a devotional together. In August, I did start my 1000 Thanks list and have been good at keeping up with that.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No
4. Did anyone close to you die? Grandma Alberta passed away in July. We had a great celebration of her life. Wiconi passed away in September.
5. What places did you visit? We stuck pretty close to home this year. We did drive back to South Dakota for Grandma’s funeral. Otherwise, we went to the Zoo, the water park, the fair.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012? I’d really like us to take a family trip to Glacier National Park. We may not live in Montana forever and I’d hate to miss that.
7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory and why? Going on the Walk to Emmaus.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Starting, and continuing, my 1000 gifts list
9. What was your biggest failure? Not ready to talk about this yet10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? Poor Maggie spent so much time in the hospital suffering through UTIs and ended up having her appendix out the day before her 7^th birthday!
11. What was the best thing you bought? Rocky’s light saber – he said it was his best birthday ever!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Maggie & Jessie; Rocky finished his Ed.D!!!!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Not ready to talk about this yet14. Where did most of your money go? Debt, the house, daycare/afterschool care
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Turning 40. Going to a champagne tasting on New Year’s Eve. Rocky's graduation
16. What song will remind you of 2012? Not Home Yet, by Steve Curtis Chapman
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a. happier or sadder? About the same.
b. thinner or fatter? About the same
c. richer or poorer? Definitely richer. Rocky is now employed full time and recently got a promotion. We are concentrating on getting out of debt!
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Read my devotional book that Rocky got me for my birthday
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Spend money
20. How did you spend Christmas in 2012? As we always do, in our home. Grammy Alana came to spend the holiday with us again.
21. Did you fall in love in 2012? Not with anyone new
22. What was your favorite TV program? Old favorites keep coming up: Big Bang Theory, Modern Family
23. What did you do for your birthday? We had a Cupcake Wine party at our house – had to do something “big” for the big 4-0
24. What was the best book you read? One Thousand Gifts
25. What did you want and get? A family photo
26. What did you want and not get? A family vacation
27. What was your favorite film? The Avengers was a great fun film!
28. Did you make some new friends? Our church group family expanded and, after the Walk to Emmaus, both Rocky and I are now part of mostly weekly prayer groups.
29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If Rocky had found his job earlier in the year, though the timing did work out pretty well.
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Hand-me-down. Some co-workers gave me clothes they were planning to donate, so my wardrobe has expanded!
31. What kept you sane? Wine
32. What celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
33. What political issue stirred you the most? The presidential election!
34. Who do you miss? No one
35. What valuable life lesson did you learn? God’s grace is sufficient

Christmas Present

Pictures from our wonderful, blessed Christmas. My #1000gifts in photos!
Leaving food for the reindeer

 
Christmas Eve candle light service:

Santa left an after church surprise in our stockings:

Ready for bed (kind of):
 
SANTA CAME!