It's Lori's World: December 2008

Last Christmas party

We had dinner and gifts with Dale's son and family tonight, our final Christmas gathering.

Dale, Jaden, Josie, Luke, Bret and Rachelle.

Get ready, get set....

Go!

More toys, just what they needed.

Surveying one another's loot.

Dale, relieved that the kids liked what they got.

Bret helping Jaden with his Star Wars Legos.

Rachelle and Barney watching the festivities. We gave Bret and Rachelle a digital camera.

And, finally, some Wii playing.

Barney had enough excitement and headed to the bedroom for some shut-eye. Hopefully, we'll do it all again next year.

We Wii

We are now a Wii family. And we're having a blast. I don't want to say I crushed Dale at Tiger Woods golf tonight, but let's just say he walked away before the game was over...

Here he is bowling with his grandkids today. Naturally, they also love the Wii and can't wait for us to get more games.

This, however, is no game. It's Dale shooting targets last weekend. Don't worry. The weapon is safely secured while the kiddies are in the house.

Kansas wine country

Kansas has a new winery, and it's located about 20 miles north of Wichita, near the town of Whitewater. It's called Grace Hill winery, and they actually grow grapes that don't translate into super-sweet wines.

I forget the name of the couple who owns the vineyard, but one of the Eagle's reporters, Karen Shideler, has a profile of them in Sunday's paper. She told me about the vineyard, and I visited it on Saturday....

This is the owner at the tasting counter, and these are the five wines the winery now offers. All of them except the cabernet sauvignon on the very right are made with grapes grown on site. The cabernet is made at the winery, but the grapes are imported from other vineyards.

One of the grape vines on the farm.

A snap of the grapevines.

The winery from the back. Yes, it's pretty humble-looking, but the home that the owners live in is next door, and it's VERY nice. The owners are both physicians.

The front of the winery.

I bought several bottles of the Barrel Reserve Red, which is a blend of grapes called Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon; and several bottles of the winery's label called Dodging Tornadoes (i love it), which is a blend of Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon.

A parting shot. I'm sure it's much prettier in springtime.

What did I do on my vacation, you ask?

My vacation was actually a staycation, which means I didn't go anywhere, but instead stayed home and did things both fun and not. Let's start with the not....

After two months, I got three handymen over to give estimates on fixing the shower in our main bathroom. The tile simply gave way one afternoon when I was giving the shower a good cleaning. (Guess those strength-training workouts are getting results.) Now we are set to have the tub/shower retiled in a week or so. Cost: $1,800.

I waited for the Sears delivery guys to install our new washing machine. After 20 years, the old one just gave out. Dale vetoed the idea of getting a new dryer at the same time, but I'm still working on him.

Took advantage of Ace Hardware's semiannual knife-sharpening event! Just 50 cents per knife.

Worked out every day at Genesis.

And spent quality time with Barney. Lots of walks, in other words.

Did a bit of shopping, including buying this panini maker half-price at Williams-Sonoma. Tonight I made a turkey/red onion/spinach/roasted red pepper/muenster cheese/lemon mayo panini that Dale declared was the best sandwich he's ever had.

I made dinner several nights, which is something I normally do only once or twice a week when I'm working. You can find this recipe for Sausage, roasted red pepper and spinach torta rustica here http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sausage-Roasted-Red-Pepper-and-Spinach-Torta-Rustica-350774

I got my house decorated for Christmas....

This is the Christmas table runner that my niece Ashley gave to me last Christmas. Thanks, Ash!

I had a winter pedicure.

I watched WALL-E, which I've been wanting to see for a long time. I highly recommend it. Also watched two Christmas movies, Love Actually and White Christmas.