Thankful Thursday

Thursday is coming to a close and I almost forgot to post thankful Thursday.  I'm obviously not so great at starting traditions.
But here ya go- post number 2 for today.  Lucky you guys.

I am thankful for:

• My husbands new job.
• Living close to my sister and getting to be an aunt to the 3 J's.
• and last but not least- I'm thankful for the tiny amount of rain we got today.  Any amount is better than none.

I hope everyone is has something to be thankful for today.

Halloween Party

So I decided that I'm going to throw a halloween bash this year.  I'm super excited because I love halloween and I also love to entertain so I get the best of both worlds!  I've already started looking through websites like Better Homes and Gardens , Party City, and even just good old google images for ideas.
I know I'm definately getting my sister on board to help with some of my ideas.  She's so crafty I can't go wrong. 
I'm also planning on making some scary foods.  I'll be stealing ideas from here,  Lil' Luna and here Garden and Spice & Everything nice and maaaaybe here, Divine dinner party , but their ideas are pretty gross.

The tables will be decorated, pumpkins will be intracately carved, and the bar will be open for creepy service!  I found a special drink to tie in with my previous post-  infused vodka.    Candy corn vodka is just the thing to make the party unique!

I am heading to Party City and Hobby Lobby tonight to get started on the decorations.  I tend to go a little overboard but I think the better the planning, the better the night goes.

Stay at home husband no longer-

Hip Hip Hooray!  My husband, C, has found a job!  And it's a good job!  I'll share more details as time progresses.
So background- C quit his job back in January, after 14 years with the same company.  Which is amazing in itself considering his young age.
Although we could (and can) afford to not have him work, this placed a lot of stress on him and on our family.  We were just married October 16th, 2011.
In the beginning his not working was definately was a source of contention between the two of us.  But as time progressed we found our own routine.  And while it took him some time to find and accept his role in the home, it took me a while to accept my role as the "provider".  But, now I actually enjoy having a "stay at home husband".  I get breakfast cooked for me every morning, (it's plated as I'm getting ready for work and I get a "Breakfast is ready!!") the house is clean, the laundry is done, the dog is walked and played with, and best of all- I'm not doing it.  We even discussed, that if he did not find a job in the market, he may play the role as the stay at home dad, if and when we expand our family. 
But that's all in the past now.  Presently, we'll have to decide how to re-split up the chores, cooking and responsibilites.  We will need to revamp our lives and readjust to having us both work.  I know he is happy because, well, most men don't want to stay at home and do the house work.  I am happy because he is happy.

Infused vodka

I often get an itch to be "creative".   My "itch" led me to infusing vodka.  It was surprisingly simple and things turned out remarkably well. 

First you need to decide what flavor of vodka you want.  If you hate lemons, don't make a lemon vodka.  If you like lemons, make a lemon vodka.  It's really that easy.  I decided to try a few different flavors and see what would be good enough to repeat.  My goal in the end was to be able to give the "homemade" vodka as gifts to people.  In my extensive Internet research I found there is really no exact science to the process, and there's no limits to what you can attempt to infuse.  I found more than one blog where they infused bacon into vodka.  Why you would want to do that, I have no idea, but they did.  And apparently they liked it.

That being said, I did not choose bacon.  I chose more traditional flavors:  lemon, apple cinnamon, green apple, and jalapeno.  The jalapeno was the weirdest but my husband likes bloody Mary's and I figured you'd get spice without having to add much Tabasco.  I also opted to make a lemoncello.  I've never had lemoncello before but I thought, what the heck. 

The end results? 
Green apple was not good.  Although I filled the entire mason jar with apple, there wasn't enough flavor to even identify after 2 weeks.  I let it sit longer (4 weeks total) and the apples started fermenting/rotting.  I threw that batch away.
The lemon was very lemony.   If you like super sour it was ok.  I found that most people would drink it if I mixed in a few tablespoons of sugar to the sprite mixer.  This defeated the sprite zero/ zero calorie angle most people were going for. 
The jalapeno was HOT and you could definitely tell it was flavored like a jalapeno. Initially I had cut up and filled the entire jar with peppers but my husband talked me out of it.  In the end only about  1/2 the jar was full of peppers and that was probably more than plenty.  It was good and it left that jalapeno burn in your mouth. 
The lemoncello.  This one took 90 days and was more complex than the others.  You let the lemon only vodka sit for 45 days then add a homemade simple sugar and let it sit for another 45 days.  It is sweet.  Very sweet.  I serve it straight from the freezer but it's just too sweet for me.  I let a co-worker try it and she loved it.  I will be giving the rest to her soon.
The winner-  The apple cinnamon.  This was the favorite  of all the flavors but only because of the cinnamon.  The apples contributed no flavor.  The cinnamon colored the vodka a beautiful red color and we mixed it with apple juice so it tasted like spiced apple cider.  We liked it so much I made another entire bottle of just cinnamon to give away. 

I found and purchased bottles on http://www.amazon.com/ and I will be making my own labels so I can give the cinnamon vodka away.  I'll post an update with the finished project at a later time.

from left to right- green apple, lemon, apple cinnamon, lemoncello, jalapeno

Thankful Thursday

On a website's board I visit they have a post on Thursdays called "Thankful Thursday".  Members post what they're thankful for- whether it be that minute, day, week, etc.  I think this is good practice.

I think more people should spend time reflecting on what they're thankful for rather than bitching and moaning about what's wrong or who wronged them.

So here's my thankful Thursday post.

• I am thankful for:  The cooler weather and the forcasted rain.  Texas and much of the nation has been under so much duress lately with the lack of rain and blistering heat, it's a much needed break. 
• I am thankful for my husband.  He does basically anything for me and he's always there when I need him. 
• I am thankful for my job.  The people I work with are all good people and typically everyone gets along.  Considering that it's all women except for one lone man, that's a feat.
• I am thankful that it's Thursday.  The week is almost over and I get the weekend off. 

What are you thankful for today?

Finally

I saw the most beautiful thing this morning. ----------->

Yep.  That's the weather forcast.  All that rain dancing finally paid off.
Thank goodness.

But it's Tuesday-

Today has been an awful day at work- already.  It's just halfway over and I'm pooped.  I'd expect this from a Monday, but Tuesday?- Tuesday you back stabber you!  You're supposed to be a better day. It's gotta be the full moon.  I have noticed though that craziness seems more rampant on Tuesdays.
  I wonder why.                                  This is me today  ---->

Anyways- this morning, we've had over 10 walk in patients on top of our previously scheduled patients, and we're supposed to be incorporating a new EMR (electronic medical records) system?  HA!  And my husband wants to know what I'm tired when I get home. 

 Well for starters, I listen to people complain for a living- no one WANTS to come in to the doctor's office.  They're sick or they're not sick and we're "making them" come in.  I can't win.  It's fatiguing. I love my job but it wears on you.
At least at lunch I used to be able to "play" on the Internet.  I was able to browse some sites I was interested in and participate on "the boards" there.  I also checked my "facebook" to see what random crap people posted (there's nothing important on facebook- ever).  Now work has blocked them and blocked my lunch joy.  I get no "nice" recharger.

On a typical day I use up my "nice" during work hours and I'm a tired, likely bitchy, slug when I get home.  But today my niceness has been used up by noon.  Sorry folks.  And sorry dear husband-  you won't like me tonight.  Well, unless I get a glass of wine when I walk in the door.  That seems to be a good way to start to re-charge the nice.
Enough complaining- back to the grind stone.

I can be creative too

So my sister is sickeningly (is that a word?) creative.  And talented to boot.  She can pretty much do anything- sew, draw, paint, web design, pumpkin carving- whatever.  If you need proof- here's a link to her blog.  linky
It's hard "making" stuff around her.  My stuff is always uglier and basically all around crappier than her stuff. This is why she was left in charge of doing most of my wedding stuff-I just ruined it if I tried to do anything.  She really does need to go into business.  But enough about her.

I wanted to make something to spice up my back yard.  My husband and I don't spend much time back there not just because Texas has been a raging inferno for the past 6 months, but because, well it's boring.  So random google searches led me to this-  recycled-bottle-torch.  I loved it.  Some of the pieces were hard to find but wandering around Lowe's I did manage to find the needed parts- not in copper but a little spray paint can do wonders.  Here's one of mine in the daytime.  It's a cell phone picture so not the best quality.

I chose to use wine bottles with meaning.  This wine was from the Peju Winery in Napa Valley.  My husband and I went there for the first time in June.  We loved it.
I've already finished 2 more torches. I ended up spray painting the metal hangers copper which matches the fence pretty well.  I also used a clear coat to seal the labels so the labels won't get ruined.
To celebrate my craftiness we had a lovely dinner outside last night with our new romatic lighting.