Things we made this weekend & I forgot to take pictures of.

I make myself really busy sometimes. So much so that I forget how nice it is to just be at home. Which means that, when I finally am home, I end up doing one or both of two things. Most likely, I stop and do a lot of quiet hanging out with Bill and a lot of reading. Or I cook a lot.

This weekend was a long one for Bill, and a quiet one. We ran just a few errands, had a very nice meal out, learned about a bocce ball league, had a guest over, and I read a lot. And then I cooked everything. We also played a bunch of games.

It wasn’t really intentional to cook everything. It happened because it was a really nice weekend and because we had a lot of time and because we ran errands.… Continue reading →

Giveaway Round Two: This Time, It’s My Homebrew

I enjoyed the last homebrew and homecooking giveaway so much that I not only raved about it the next day (and forgot to take pictures!), I immediately decided that, someday, I’d do it again.

Well, folks. Someday is upon us. Because, finally, I have an idea I want to share.

I’m currently brewing an amber ale with coffee in it, mostly because my friend Nancy and I wanted to do a coffee beer at about the same time. The more I thought about it, the more I realized, I also want to host a ton of brunches this summer. And a beer that we’re aiming to make akin to iced coffee? That should be fairly caffeinated? Clearly, this is FATE!

Thus, I’ve asked Nancy to hold her calendar for us.… Continue reading →

“It’s Always Something.”

A common phrase around our house. Bill is regularly shaking his head and muttering that it’s always something.

He gets it from his dad. Who also often mutters about it always being something.

I’m telling you this because it really IS always something. Today? The something is that we leave the house at “unbearably early” (that’s the official time) tomorrow morning to go visit Bill’s father. And Bill and I are out of the house all day today, and well into the evening for a friend’s birthday.

So, of course, we started laundry last night. And, of course, the washer just stopped working while we slept, thus delaying our packing.

Always something. We’ll get packed up, but today’s planned post will go up Monday or Tuesday, because instead of shooting photos for it, I’m dealing with laundry and packing before I leave for the day.… Continue reading →

Once Again, FATE OF BEER IS AT STAKE!!!

Our day yesterday was amazing, as it was last year. Next year will be even better, I’m sure of it.

HOWEVER! Until then, we have some excitement still. We have, as we did last year, a choice we need you to make. Specifically, we need you to tell us which t-shirt is so fantastic and fabulous that the wearer deserves:

1) A professional brew day with Lake Effect Brewing. Let me tell you, this is a fun and interesting brewery, with a very friendly staff and cool, small set-up. So I’m already envying the winner here.

2) Two tickets to Midwest Brewers Fest. Because not only is it fun to see how brewers do their thing on a big scale, then it’s fun to DRINK with brewers.… Continue reading →

Some Housekeeping

First and foremost, as of late night 23 April 2014, I have re-enrolled in Amazon’s affiliate/associate program. I will, over time, be changing past links to affiliate links, and calling them out as such. Except the Joy of Cooking link in this post which I did last night to test the new way of linking. In the future, other links to Amazon will also be affiliate links (and called out as such). As Bill and I explained in The Rules waaaay back in 2010, we wanted to try it. I’ve also updated the rules to explain how we we came to not be affiliates for a time, and to include the official language Amazon.com wants me to have somewhere on my site. It’s under rule number nine.… Continue reading →