The Contents of My Head

This is the book I never read, These are the words I never said, This is the path I'll never tread, These are the dreams I'll dream instead, This is the joy that's seldom spread, These are the tears, The tears we shed, This is the fear, This is the dread, These are the contents of my head. And these are the years that we have spent, And this is what they represent, And this is how I feel, Do you know how I feel? 'Cause I don't think you know how I feel. I don't think you know what I feel. I don't think you know what I feel. You don't know what I feel.

-Annie Lennox, "Why"

Game Night

Last night was Game night with our friends, Cori and her husband Steve(they are expecting (YAY YAY YAY,) so their baby was playing too,) and Cori's sister Geri and her husband Ross. We went to the fish fry and then focused in on the competition. (John is very competitive.) We played some crazy French racing card game, Cori and I came pretty close to beating Ross and Steve, then we switched to Pop Culture Trivia Pursuit. John carried me to our victory. We had lots of fun conversation like when Ross told John he couldn't beat up my dad with a trombone, and when Steve thought Java was trying to get milk from my breasts.

Strategic Trivia Pursuit move by Geri

Ross, Geri and the pillow

Don't forget the BABY!

Steve and Cori

The Mayor

Thursday night the Archdiocese of St. Louis officially stated that they are closing our church, Holy Family. They are closing around 10 churchs in south St. Louis city because there aren't enough Catholics to keep them running properly. Last night, at our church's Fish Fry, we had Channel 2 there, and also Mayor Francis Slay. He shook practically everyone's hands, and posed for a picture with me. Notice that I am taller than him. =) Also notice my glazed over star struck look that I have perfected. He didn't really talk to us much, just kept moving, and schmoozing.

St. Louis City Mayor, Francis Slay and myself

Underwater Farts That Smell Like Bananas

Even though I listen to Howard Stern in the morning, I'm not all that keen on fart jokes. There is no other way to describe what I'm talking about though. John brewed another batch of beer on Monday while I was gone, and I came home Monday evening to beer fermenting in our bedroom. =( There is a blow off hose that goes into a bowl of water. Bubble, blubble, bubble, bubble, bubble. The least he could do was move it into the closet. Then it was just a muffled bubble, bubble, bubble. I bet you don't have beer fermenting in your closet. The beer has to be at 70 degrees to get the banana aromas he's going for (which actually smell really good), so instead of heating the entire house all day, he put the space heater in the bedroom to keep the beer fermenting at the proper temperature.

How annoying to me that I have been making wine at the improper temperature, with outside tanks, and outside fermenting in 90 degree weather, and now I have to listen to these 5 gallons of beer bubble all night long.

Pleasantville

My Nut!

Funny conversation heard tonight while watching American Idol:

"Oh, no, my nut fell on the floor."
"Tabby, you can't have my nut."
"Get my nut, please get my nut."
"He's going to grab my nut and run off with it and we will never see it again."
"Please get my nut."
"He's still eyeing my nut."
"He really wants my nut."
"Tabby, you can't have baby Jesus either."

Explanation:
When we visited Marnie and Jason in Kerman over the summer, we went out to Jason's family's almond orchard, and John picked an almond off the tree, and has been carrying it around in his pocket ever since. That was like 8 months ago. Tonight it fell out of his pocket, and I gave it to Tabby to play with and John didn't like that very much.

Also, a couple weeks ago, John went to a Mardi Gras party, and they had a King Cake. John didn't get the piece of cake with the baby Jesus in it, but he picked it up, and carrys that around with him too. We don't know what to do with it. You can't just throw baby Jesus away.?.

Article

Article About the Wine Judging

It's Pretty Much My Favorite Animal

We had a meeting today at a winery near me (being petty and refusing to link this winery.) Of all the crazy things they have tigers. Four orange tigers and one white tiger. I asked the general manager if they had any Ligers. Then I said it was pretty much my favorite animal. Then I laughed. He had no idea. You won't either if you haven't seen "Napolean Dynamite."

yummm...looks like I spy lunch!

Java makes this face.

I'd yawn too if I lived in Coffman.

Known for it's skills in magic.

I Curse You American Idol

for getting "Could Have Been" stuck in my head. I played it like 10 times last night, much to John's dismay.

Brotherly Love (check out the dirt on Tony Danza's nose.)

I'm back!

I had a good time in California. It was so rainy, yuck, but it was like 60 degrees, which beats Missouri's 30's anyday. I visited Marnie and Jason, and Parker did not come out, stubborn little fella. Her due date is March 10th, so I told her I hope she goes full term now, since I missed him. She is so ready to have that baby, and be off bed rest. I did come home with lots of candles. Visiting the Fresno area was wierd, I was nostalgic, even though I didn't really even like it when I was there. Not sure what it was that I was missing.

Marnie and Jason were my saving grace though while I was in school there, invited me to everything, to their family gatherings, the coast, the bars, and to the mall. I would have never graduated without Marnie and Jason, I would have come home. The first night in Fresno by myself, the power went out, and I sat in my apartment with the door open because it was so hot. All I could hear was other students playing and partying out by the pool, but I couldn't go out there, I was scared to death. What a sad evening. The next day, after advice from Christy to go to the pool, I met Marnie. Once she found out I had never been to the mall, she was my instant Fresno friend. She won't let my post any pictures, she barely let me take any pictures. She's lucky I love her, because I have some really beautiful pregnant pictures I could share with all of you.

The wine judging was fun, maybe too much fun. I tasted Cab Franc, and Syrah, and some Chardonnay, and some Generic Proprietary Red, which means any red blend that isn't a Bordeaux (in CA they call it Meritage) blend. The sweepstakes winner was a Meritage blend from Trentadue, La Storia 2002 Alexander Valley. YUM! Overall, I think I tasted about 200 wines, and that for me constitutes a good weekend.

A flight of Cabernet Franc

ME!

This was taken somewhere in between Bakersfield and Tulare, which probably means nothing to you. These are almond trees. All the rain in CA produces lots of rainbows.

Out of Town

I am leaving tomorrow to go to my annual Wine Judging in California. It is officially called the New World International Wine Competition I am flying into Ontario, then renting a car, driving to Fresno, (Kerman is the small town near Fresno where Marnie lives) to visit Marnie and Jason, then driving back down to Ontario on Saturday night, and judging wine on Sunday and Monday. Marnie is prego and was supposed to have the baby before I got there. Cross your fingers that the baby comes early so I can see little Parker. =)

Stay tuned for fun California stories and pictures on Tuesday.

Wanna Play?

John and I play this Fantasy Survivor Game . You go to this website once a week and answer questions before each episode and they give you points based on your correct answers. Our team name is The Mooneys, and if you need a password, it is tabasco. I will have to admit that last season John kicked my butt. =( You need to do it today though, before 7 p.m., because that's when the new season starts. =)

Last week there was this Mizzou Alumni football thing in St. Louis, and John played with the Alumni Band.

Trixie

The Trixie Update This is my all time favorite blog.

Dooce This is also an awesome blog.

Just something for you to do in your spare time. =)

Sara Fowler is on the left, then me, then Susanne.

Make New Friends and Keep the Old, One is Silver and the Other Gold.

I had a Fresno friend in town today. Her name is Sara Fowler. She is the assistant winemaker at Franciscan Winery in Napa. Sara and I go way back, she and I went to school together in Fresno. She lived with the guy was dating, figure that one out. I highly recommend the Magnificat wine, it is a Meritage blend. Sara gave us a Magnificat to take home, which we will never forget and be loyal Franciscan customers from here until forever. She was promoting her wine, and was at a wine tasting this evening, it was a nice Valentine's outing. Also pouring wine was my friend Susanne from Simi Winery in Sonoma. She is a wine judge with me, and I barely know her, but she is sweet, and very knowledgeable. We had a bottle of Simi Alexander Valley Cab at our dinner party Friday night, and tonight the Merlot tasted very good, and I don't usually like Merlot. (here is where you stick in the part from Sideways about Merlot, "I'm not drinking any fucking Merlot, if she orders Merlot, I'm leaving.")

John and I had a bottle of 2000 Shramsberg Blanc de Noirs with dinner. It was definently a great wine evening.

For all John's friends out there, he wanted me to tell you he is thinking about growing hops at the farm this summer. He is WAY into this beer thing. Have you ever seen how hops grow? They are like ten feet tall, and they need a trellis.

Chuck modeling the big "O."

O

At the wine conference, we attended a seminar about wine glasses. There is a company that makes the best glasses for drinking wine, as well as many other alcoholic beverages. That company is Riedel. They make specific glasses for specific wines, they have a Chardonnay glass, Merlot, Champagne, anything you can think of, beer, cognac, etc. They have a new casual glass called the Riedel "O." They are stemless, so you don't have to worry about breaking the stem. They are also very dishwasher safe. It's a little odd at first, because as long as I can remember I was taught not to hold the glass by the bowl, and now all there is hang on to is the bowl. They are really fun, and do, surprisingly make the wine taste better. Everyone went home with a set of glasses, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Here's the link, check them out for yourself.

http://www.riedel.com/website/english/frameset/frameset.html

Those Who Find Themselves Ridiculous, Sit Down Next to Me

John and I hosted our very first dinner party last night. I think I have been dreaming of that night forever. The original goal when we bought a house, was to buy a dining room table and have people over for dinner. We finally did it. John is hysterical though, because when I got home at 5:30, he was already drunk. He was really funny though, for example, I was setting the table with two different forks, and I told him I thought I was turning into my mom, and he said, "oh, no, you're much taller than your mom." Later, he came out of the bathroom, and I was talking about the mushrooms, and he said, " That's great, but my underwear are stuck in the zipper of my pants." I seriously haven't laughed that hard in a very long time.

We invited over Sara and Chuck, and Becky and Brain. Brian had made a homebrew, so it was fun to taste Brian's beer against John's beer. I think Sara and Becky helped me make the meal more than John, because he was incapacitated, but he was entertaining, and sometimes that makes or breaks the night. The salad was not very "salady", but the rest turned out ok I guess. The beer and the wine was good, and Sara made a fun Cranberry mousse, and Becky made the famous artichoke spinach dip for an appetizer. =) We took lots of fun pictures, some of them are fake laughing pictures, which are so funny looking. We looked up a video on the computer that Sara was in, an Offspring song called "Want You Bad." Click on this link to see her. She is in a pink tank top, and she is right before the guy gets slapped for the first time, and a couple times after the guy licks the girls' ear.

Click on the Want You Bad video.

http://www.offspring.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Offspring.woa/wa/video

I'm lucky to have such fun friends and such a silly husband.

"Work It, Own It"

Now You See Her

Alien Sara

B&B

Fake Laugh #2

Fake Laugh #1

Conversation I Should Have Avoided

While at the wine conference this weekend I was talking to a guy that I have seen around, but don't really know where he works, or what his name is. We started chatting, and I found out he works at one of the other Missouri wineries. www.missouriwine.org He talked a little about the grapes they were growing, and how he was interested in planting a German vinifera variety named Lemberger. I then said that I thought Lemberger was a terrible name for a grape, and I thought they should give it a new name. He told me he wanted to grow it, because Lemberger was his last name. =(

I would like to now point out that this was very late in the evening, after hours of drinking. Can't that be my excuse for inserting my foot into my mouth?

Why I Blog

It's possible I blog because I miss my mom. I never imagined four years ago that there would be some days that are still so painful. I told my mom everything. I used to say, "I told my mom and dad everything," which is true, but my dad is no conversationalist. Today I tell him stories about my life, and he has no comments whatsoever. I show up in the morning, try to chat, and then go about my day.

One thing that really trips me out is when people come up to me and say something about my mom. I feel like the fact that my mom passed away defines part of me, and it's so weird when people who know me, don't know that my mom is dead. At the conference this weekend I had a guy call Lesa my mom. I know that I met this guy after my mom passed away, so it's not his fault, I'm just amazed, because I feel like I carry my mom around with me everywhere I go, and to him she is invisible.

Yesterday Lesa was here cleaning out the storage room. I get so anxious about people moving around my mom's stuff. I asked Dad what she was doing up there, and he said he had no idea. How can he remove himself from all that stuff? He brought down a box filled with some sewing stuff, and some glitter, and a half finished Valentine's Day project my mom must have been working on. He asked me if I wanted any of the stuff. I sat there and contimplated how to use the glitter. I thought to myself, well, if this is all she is throwing out, I can feel a little better. On my way out the door to leave, I saw a box on the porch full of my mom's stuff, Christmas ornaments she made, this Christmas card holder she made out of felt. Dad said I could look through the stuff before he got rid of it. I couldn't believe I was trying to save glitter, and he and Lesa were trying to throw out homemade ornaments.

I have this book called Motherless Daughters. I don't really read it, it's kind of security blanket. I could read it, if I ever felt really bad. Last night I looked in the table of contents for "What to do When Your Future StepMom Starts Throwing Out All Your Mom's Old Stuff." That chapter didn't exist.

Country Puppy Visits the City

Sherman came and stayed with us a few days while my dad was out of town. He was an unpleasant guest. He had no idea what to do with the cats, he thought they were playmates, and they thought he was a punching bag. He tried to play with John and I, but that just consisted of biting our shoes, or the chair we were sitting in. He successfully unplugged the new freezer, pooped and peed in every room, and took a hunk out of my jeans. I was happy to return him this morning.

Tony Danza was none too happy either.

Java putting the Smack Down on Sherman

Star Struck

I was at the Lake of the Ozarks all weekend for our annual Midwest Grape and Wine Conference. I have lots of stories to tell, including this one about meeting local famous people like the Kelly Twins. http://www.ktrs.com/programming/kellytwins.html I introduced myself, chatted, drank wine, and even shared fun stories with them. They are really beautiful women, and I was mezmerized. When I introduced myself to Bridget (the angel), she said she had bought some of my wine before. I thought she was just being polite, when she then asked me if we sell it at Sappington Farmers Market, which we do! I was so excited. =)

I also exchanged cards with my local senator, Pat Doughtery, he lives maybe four blocks away from me. I also chatted with Bob Holden. He told me Ste. Genevieve was beautiful, and would be visiting our area soon. It's the craziest thing ever, but I'm beginning to think politicians in small doses might actually not be so bad.

I took this picture yesterday morning on my way to work. This is actually the sun. It was cloudy and foggy, but kind of pretty. Did you think it was the moon?

Why I blog

I think I blog because there is no one I work with that is like me. For example, try explaining "Meet the Fockers" to my dad. I did, it was a sad conversation. The only thing I remember is making sure I enunciated "Fockers" very slowly and clearly and loudly.

Today, while bottling Cherry wine with one of our very helpful employees, we conversed about how HIV came from 5 black guys in Africa, and their "contact" with monkeys. I said I had heard that before, but didn't think it really happened like that, and he rebutted, with something about these certain 5 people that the research pointed to. He then told me that gonorrhea came from sheep, he said, "I guess the shepards got lonely." And then he said that leprosy came from the "oppossum on the half shell, armadillo." Well, how can you refute that? Sounds very logical to me. Later in the day he asked me how I braided my own hair, he couldn't imagine figuring it out behind his own head.

Lucky for both of us, his hair isn't that long.

I can talk about John's beer, and gardening and keep their attention, I'm going to have to figure out how to drag out those conversations more, so I can avoid some of these other ones.

MY KEYS!

He just left with my keys. =( He had an amateur brewers meeting, and I had a hair appointment. He needed keys while we were outside, to get into the garage, and I ran inside and gave him my keys, which he then put in his pocket, and forgot about. Well, I didn't forget, I need to drive somewhere! I need to get my hair done! I keep thinking he'll realize it, and come back, but I think it's too late for that. Blah. Anyone want to go shopping for a cell phone for him right now? Of course, you have to come pick me up. =(

Batch #2 fermenting as we speak. This is a different method, trying to test new method to old.

Love Is:

when you start a diet with your husband, and you get on the scale in front of one another. I have never ever ever told anyone what I weight, I lie a lot on my driver's license. If I got pulled over, the cop would say it's not my license because it says I weigh so much less than what I actually weigh. John swore he wouldn't tell anyone what I weigh. He's sweet.

My definition of "Cute."

My handy man hard at it.

Conversation I'm Trying To Avoid

In August, John and I are planning to go to Germany, to visit our friend Susanne, and attend her wedding. We started an improvised self monitored Weight Watchers program on Friday. I keep envisioning what Susanne will say when we get off the plane. "Vell, Elaine, you are much heavier since the last time I saw you. Helga, meet my friend Elaine." Helga then says, "I guess it is true what they say about Americans being fat, there is a Mc Donald's in the next village, maybe we should go there, you are hungry, no?"

Not-Slimy

I met Russ Carnahan on Sunday. He is our federal senator, meaning he represents MO in Washington D.C. I was not looking forward to the visit. I think all politicians are slimy. I think they are all the exact same gross person, just in a different suit, and representing a different area. There are a few exceptions, including local politicians, they seem more down to earth, and my friend Bart who ran for state rep a few years ago, Harry Kennedy and now Russ Carnahan. I was pleasantly surprised. He came to Ste. Genevieve for a book signing at the Museum, and he asked to visit the winery, so I met him there. We drank wine, chatted, he seemed very personable, and genuine, and interested in what I was saying. He gave me his card, and said to contact him if I ever needed. I know I won't need to, but I thought it was a very nice gesture. I think I will send him a thank you letter on winery letterhead, to thank him for being so nice, and to remind him who I am. I did not expect to be impressed.