Crazy, but Awesome!!
On Thursday, we replaced all of our old windows. Good bye storm windows, hello insulated glass. Of course, this meant that my home was very cold on Thursday as the work was going on, so I took the day off work and did a bunch of errands. It was super productive AND meant that I got new windows. WIN! I can already feel the difference between the old windows and the new ones. For one, I can no longer hear the air conditioners across from my window. Secondly, my office is markedly warmer ALL THE TIME. And I imagine it will be cooler in the summer. And it will be easy to open and close my windows. I can not express how happy this makes me.
So, back in October, we attended a charity event for 2020 VisionQuest. We had a fantastic time and managed to win an auction for beer brewing in Nashua with the addition of a lovely evening of good company, lasagna, and a chocolaty dessert. Our schedules being the insane thing that they are and Nashua not being very close to RI, we began the beer brewing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Well, as beer ferments for two weeks, that meant that we had our bottling session this weekend. So, I took a half day from work and we headed up to Nashua early in the afternoon to bottle Mark's beer. He had decided to use the recipe for "Forever Amber" and then added honey and cinnamon to it. Happily, he adored the outcome and named it Avalanche Ale after Cotton. See, when our neighbors first moved in, Cotton managed to get away from us and ran down their happy, friendly golden retriever. Thankfully, no blood was drawn, but once again my dog proved that she is a jerk face. From that time forward, their dog has been scared of white dogs and they have nicknamed my dog Avalanche for the way she came barreling down on Zeek. I am grateful that they were not too upset about the entire situation. I am more grateful that it has not happened again. Regardless, that is why we named Mark's beer Avalanche Ale. Both the brewing and bottling process were fascinating and a lot of fun. Did you know that brewing beer has a great similarity to making tea? All of your barley goes into a big bag which sits in boiling water for 30 minutes before you add the other stuff. It's pretty cool. Mark also adores his new beer, so that's always a good thing. Anyhow, after brewing beer, we figured that we'd go have dinner with Mark's brother who lives in Nashua. We had a great dinner and great company before we began the drive home. Luckily, half way home we had a predetermined stop for tashe 's birthday! There was great company and conversation with people that we do not see very often. And then we finished our drive home in some scenic, lightly falling snow.
Saturday morning, we got up early to head up to the Algonquin Club in Boston for a children's Christmas party with my brother's family and my sister's family. It was great to see the children so excited to meet Santa. Stuart was extremely serious as he spoke to Santa, standing straight up like he was in the military or something. It was hilarious. We got home in the early afternoon, walked the dog, changed into pseudo Victorian gear, and headed to tragic_culture and xephz 's small Christmas gathering. It was great to see them doing so well. There was great food and amazing libations. I need some of her recipes because, dude, those vegetables tasted great! Sadly, before too long, the clock was ticking and we headed home to walk the dog, change clothes, and head to minervaish 's Christmas dance party. People were having a great time and there was some enthusiastic dancing going on. It was great to see people, but we sadly started to turn into pumpkins before the night was terribly late. The good news, of course, was that we were only ten minutes from home. We were home and awake a total of 2 hours including the hour of waking up and getting going all day. It was a lot. But worth it! A million times worth it!
Sunday was, thankfully, unscheduled. So, after bumming around for part of the morning, we headed out to the Foundry Art Sale in Pawtucket and then grocery shopping since were just about out of everything in the refrigerator. After lunch, I headed to the Sci Li to work on my super secret Christmas present for my mother and managed to finish the research aspect of it just in time to get home for football. And what a game it was!! I do love snow games and the Patriots once again proved that weather is no obstacle for them. Rock On. And then there was sleeping. Sleeping FOREVER. Or at least until Cotton woke us up at 3am needing to go for a walk. But until that happened, there was only sleeping...
And now, we're looking ahead towards Christmas. There are many plans in the works, many of which I am far too involved in making happen. And there is a very busy pre-Christmas weekend. But it's all good. I'm so glad that I've been able to see so many wonderful people lately.
So, back in October, we attended a charity event for 2020 VisionQuest. We had a fantastic time and managed to win an auction for beer brewing in Nashua with the addition of a lovely evening of good company, lasagna, and a chocolaty dessert. Our schedules being the insane thing that they are and Nashua not being very close to RI, we began the beer brewing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Well, as beer ferments for two weeks, that meant that we had our bottling session this weekend. So, I took a half day from work and we headed up to Nashua early in the afternoon to bottle Mark's beer. He had decided to use the recipe for "Forever Amber" and then added honey and cinnamon to it. Happily, he adored the outcome and named it Avalanche Ale after Cotton. See, when our neighbors first moved in, Cotton managed to get away from us and ran down their happy, friendly golden retriever. Thankfully, no blood was drawn, but once again my dog proved that she is a jerk face. From that time forward, their dog has been scared of white dogs and they have nicknamed my dog Avalanche for the way she came barreling down on Zeek. I am grateful that they were not too upset about the entire situation. I am more grateful that it has not happened again. Regardless, that is why we named Mark's beer Avalanche Ale. Both the brewing and bottling process were fascinating and a lot of fun. Did you know that brewing beer has a great similarity to making tea? All of your barley goes into a big bag which sits in boiling water for 30 minutes before you add the other stuff. It's pretty cool. Mark also adores his new beer, so that's always a good thing. Anyhow, after brewing beer, we figured that we'd go have dinner with Mark's brother who lives in Nashua. We had a great dinner and great company before we began the drive home. Luckily, half way home we had a predetermined stop for tashe 's birthday! There was great company and conversation with people that we do not see very often. And then we finished our drive home in some scenic, lightly falling snow.
Saturday morning, we got up early to head up to the Algonquin Club in Boston for a children's Christmas party with my brother's family and my sister's family. It was great to see the children so excited to meet Santa. Stuart was extremely serious as he spoke to Santa, standing straight up like he was in the military or something. It was hilarious. We got home in the early afternoon, walked the dog, changed into pseudo Victorian gear, and headed to tragic_culture and xephz 's small Christmas gathering. It was great to see them doing so well. There was great food and amazing libations. I need some of her recipes because, dude, those vegetables tasted great! Sadly, before too long, the clock was ticking and we headed home to walk the dog, change clothes, and head to minervaish 's Christmas dance party. People were having a great time and there was some enthusiastic dancing going on. It was great to see people, but we sadly started to turn into pumpkins before the night was terribly late. The good news, of course, was that we were only ten minutes from home. We were home and awake a total of 2 hours including the hour of waking up and getting going all day. It was a lot. But worth it! A million times worth it!
Sunday was, thankfully, unscheduled. So, after bumming around for part of the morning, we headed out to the Foundry Art Sale in Pawtucket and then grocery shopping since were just about out of everything in the refrigerator. After lunch, I headed to the Sci Li to work on my super secret Christmas present for my mother and managed to finish the research aspect of it just in time to get home for football. And what a game it was!! I do love snow games and the Patriots once again proved that weather is no obstacle for them. Rock On. And then there was sleeping. Sleeping FOREVER. Or at least until Cotton woke us up at 3am needing to go for a walk. But until that happened, there was only sleeping...
And now, we're looking ahead towards Christmas. There are many plans in the works, many of which I am far too involved in making happen. And there is a very busy pre-Christmas weekend. But it's all good. I'm so glad that I've been able to see so many wonderful people lately.