little woman

Paul had to work all weekend because of our long weekend at the coast. I took advantage of this to have some much needed self time and get some stuff done. It has been a very productive weekend! I:

• cleaned the house
• stuffed and mailed wedding invitations (w/ Paul) (while finishing The Wire) (!)
• weeded the yard
• planted TWELVE tomato plants
• did laundry
• watched the 3-part BBC adaptation of the Tenant of Wildfell Hall
• got the beer supplies for the rest of the wedding beer
• had mini-Xenathons in between all of these things
• checked on Marley for Ryan & Sarah (w/ Paul)

I love weekends with nothing on the books…

Paul and I just exchanged gifts after bottling some beer and making some homemade rootbeer.

I got…

a burl wood basket (pine cones not included)

and this beautiful figurine!

Paul got…

a homebrewer’s gardening book with some hops seeds

and this nifty copper cooling coil for making beer!

We leave tomorrow morning at 7am for a string of Christmas events that can’t be beat.

YUM!! The Bavarian Hefeweizen is really tasty. The Shiner will be ready in a few weeks.

Other updates… I went to North Texas and celebrated Father’s Day at a Ranger’s game with Paul, Dad and… um… Kellye. Kellye is my dad’s… um…. girl friend and we have never all hung out before. It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it was going to be. Dad seems happy. And she was… um… nice.

Also, I finished a little winter hat for Will… if he wants it. It was a really quick project and my first hat! I think it came out well.

And, YAY!, Mom’s Singer is finally here in Austown!! I took it to the Singer hospital and got a tune up. All is well.

Mom is coming to town this weekend and I am hoping we can squeeze in some fabric shopping. I would like to start making the sheer panels for the windows so we can hang them as soon as we move in. Wish me luck! I am hopelessly inexperienced…

Not sure what spurned it on, but I woke up Saturday and make a Sourdough Starter. My previous attempt did not work. HOWEVER, this time has been much more successful. I just let it sit out this weekend and stirred it a couple of times. This morning I put it in the refrigerator. I hope to make a loaf next weekend! Yippee!

Paul got to move his beer from bucket to carboy. After a week in the bucket, it smelled like beer and looked like ick. There was a 1/2 inch of muck at the bottom of the bucket.

On Sunday we went to Austin Homebrew Supply for some supplies (bottles and caps, etc). While we were there I just HAD to get a mozzarella making kit. IS there a better summer meal than tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella in any form whatsoever???

I tried my hand before Sunday movie and it worked… kinda. The final result tastes very good… just like mozzarella. But the consistency is more like ricotta. No matter… I am making a pizza tonight with it The instructions said that if this was the case, use another brand of milk. This time I used 2% (more than we normally get) Central Market Organics. I might try Whole milk next time but I doubt the fat content had anything to do with it. Maybe I will get Horizon… or the Church milk.

Anyway, in all of these projects there was crazy science happening… which is awesome! We also had fun pool time and Syzygy time and lots o good movie time (Clash of the Titans, The King and I, part of Arsenic and Old Lace and Into the Wild). Fun weekend!

TOTALLY UNRELATED! My boss had a bunch of her Ren Faire costumes up at work… she had an awesome chain mail shirt. It was sooooo heavy!

Today we blew off the world and had fun together! We went to Strait Music for a new violin shoulder rest and a chord that will connect my keyboard to my computer… no, not that kind of keyboard… the musical kind! They were, of course, closed. So we came home and made beer with Paul’s handy dandy beer making kit!

In 5 weeks time, we will be the proud parents of 50 Bavarian Hefeweizen!

They have cheese making kits and wine kits too! I can’t wait to make some mozzarella!!

I was also able to finish up a knitting project that has been hanging over my head… I just didnt want to mess with french knots again!

This is going to replace the first attempt at a knit stuffed animal that I gave to Andy and Christina at one of their showers. My stitches are tighter which is better for baby.

I also started a knit head scarf which is a fun, quick, summer-friendly project. I will post a picture when it is finished.

AND I found a nifty website with Celtic knotwork drawing tutorials and tried my hand!

It was a fun and productive Sunday together!!