Snoqualmie Whistlestop Red was actually the first bottle of red wine I ever bought without trying it first. It could very well be the first red I ever bought. I was at our little grocery store in town about 3 years ago and we’re talking little. They had even less wine selection then. Maybe 10 or 12 choices, but they stocked it up to look cute and like it was more. It’s been at least a year since I’ve had a glass of it so it’s a great time to do a tasting. I forgot completely how it tastes.

Swirl – for how dark the color is it is surprisingly light looking as it rolls up the glass.

Smell – strong, bold scent. Man it’s been a while since I’ve had red wine. Oh how I’ve missed it. Strong scent of black cherry and cab

Taste – It has a smoky flavor to it and I can also taste tobacco. Thankfully they are not super overpowering as I’m not a fan of tobacco flavor or the smoky barrel aging. I can taste a hint of the black cherry. It’s not a thick red wine and not gritty. Nice and smooth.

Trying new wines was a different animal when I didn’t have a clue what possible scents and flavors could be in the wines. Previously having this wine, I never tasted the tobacco. I got the smokiness but not that tobacco taste. It wasn’t written on the back of the bottle either so it wasn’t predisposed in my head. I liked the wine previously but now I can’t get past the tobacco. Sadly I won’t be purchasing the wine again. But that’s just my personal taste. It’s a great, lighter red wine and I can vouch that it goes really well with salami, cheese and crackers. I first had this wine before I found out I couldn’t eat cheese. I used to get it a lot because I didn’t know any other reds and was afraid to try others.

I bet you can’t wait until I go to the wine bloggers conference in August so I can learn a little better wine tasting. Or maybe you like my adolescent descriptions of my wine? It’s probably wrong to use the word adolescent and wine in the same sentence.  But there you have it.

There won’t be as many wine postings for a bit as I go through this big weight loss kick. I’ve got some serious goals to hit before all our camping and summer fun. Plus I want to look good for that conference in August where I meet some online friends don’t ya know?

I’ve had this blog as my personal blog since 2004. I’ve gone through in the last 3-4 years and set a lot of posts to private. Once the internet grew smaller and then definitely when social media became really big I had to change everything. This no longer could be my private blog. Not unless I wanted to pay for all the extras so things stayed unanimous and I’m too cheap for that lol

I am working on selling one site and it will take a great new direction but it will be tightened up even more if it does sell. Which to me is hilarious because I was so straight knitted on it…for my personality.

Here’s the deal. If it doesn’t sell then all gloves are off.  The sites become a distinct part of me. The only thing I have to give them is me and my personality. Would I go to them with all the PC posts? Maybe here and there? Would I go to them if they had my true personality? YUP lol Who am I writing for? People to talk to me!!!

Some of my sites will go into a transition. We’ll see which one’s. But by being so PC I shoved myself out of them. ME is all I have to sell. WTH was I thinking? Where did I get smacked and told I had to be PC and couldn’t swear? Was it my parents popping out? Cause we know how that worked. I make sailors and truckers blush.

Time to evaluate things. Time to check which sites I can put more of my personality into. If I can’t put my personality into it then is it worth keeping? Probably not because it’s not me. Guess we’ll see.

And because I pulled this from Lisa at Inspire to Thrive I had to set us up for a rumble lol We’re a pretty even match up. Although I’m going to make her share her beer. However, she can game while I watch my movies. See how friendly that would be?

Then I decided to just grab a random celebrity to see what it would fix me up with. I’d had hopes it would be someone I follow at least. Two out of the three were people I followed. I could have easily put up the info for Lady Gaga or Jay Leno, I love them. But when I hit the infographic for the third time I got…

MMM MMM MMM nuff said. G’nite

Yes, I adore country music and I have a blast listening to pop music. But, I’m a rocker by heart and nature. My BF of over 30 years and I joke that it’s a great thing we found our hubbies when we were young because we would have been groupies for sure.

Today I feel like Rob Zombie’s Feel So Numb. But I feel the definite need to send you my Buckcherry vibes in a few days. Wow, I’m behind here on so many things that are so important to me!

The above is what I’ve been wanting to attack since around 9:30am. Good thing I’m sticking to my strict diet right now or I’d probably be typing this drunk. I don’t have to drive anymore so why not? NO ONE NEEDS ME ANYMORE

There it is. If I just get it out it will pass quicker. Each time a big event in the house goes down it brings back that feeling of how I’m needed less and less. It’s absolutely a good thing…once I get used to it. The problem is as soon as I get used it (which really doesn’t take long) they’ll hit me with another.

Today my oldest got her license.

Do I need to say anything else? This post took me over 24 hours to write because I love to live in denial. That and of course I had a HUGE proposal to write up. Needless to say, my house is clean. Clean for me atleast. You? Maybe not so much. When I’m hiding from things I clean.

Holy hell, on track, get a straight line written.

She turned 16 last July. It’s a really long story as to why she didn’t have her license yet. But honestly, if we’d wanted it to be a priority it would have been done a couple of months ago. It obviously wasn’t a priority for her or she’d have gotten it when she turned 16. lol

It did hit me hard yesterday. But I’m really good at denial so I kind of ignored it. Today it was easy to ignore also. I just haven’t gone outside when she’s leaving so it’s not happening.  Today has been much better anyway. It’s nice to send her off to get her brother from practice and then call her brother to tell them to pick something up from the grocery store.

I know we got to put it off much longer than most people do. But we’re now getting even closer to her senior year. I know things like this are going to just keep hitting me. Maybe that will be helpful. I won’t have time to deal with anything before the next thing hits. It will just all blend into a year of denial. I’ll be sure to keep you posted

Hubby and I are preparing to be empty nesters. As much as you can prepare I guess. They get busier and we make sure we have more dates. We’ve decided we’re going to like being empty nesters which of course means that one or both of these kids will never move out!

photo credit MEJones

Dear (MY) First Nation staff,

Please stop sending my mail to my Mom’s house and now my cousin that I rarely get a chance to see. Please also call me INSTEAD of my Mom when mail is returned to you because someone put the wrong address in a computer somewhere.

You have my phone number. I’ve talked to a few of you on the phone so I know my number is in the office somewhere and just about everyone on staff is a cousin for goodness sake. I’ve lived in the same house for 13 years and gotten mail up until this year just fine.

Come to think of it, when you called my mom why couldn’t you get the address & number figured out to contact me? Damn indians

Your sister,
Val

No, this isn’t what I sent, but I really want to right now. I’m working hard to stay away from sending the email because I know it won’t help anything.

SERIOUSLY, wtf? Now that I read what I wrote above I need to kick my Mom in the butt for not setting my address straight and giving them my number. I’m 39 for fuck sake. Just give them my info and tell them to contact me lmao

No wonder why I haven’t known what’s been going on for months. I just assumed they weren’t getting info out like they had been. When my Aunt would talk to me I’d be lost cause I hadn’t heard anything about it.

So weird all the way around. Ok, I feel much better now that I vented. It’s not worth getting worked up about, it’s just worth typing it out for a quick complaint and moving on. That is why this blog was created 8 years ago after all.

a) she has good taste
b) I like to tweet with her regularly, so how fun would a wine tasting be
c) She was tasting Chateau Ste Michelle rieslings and that is my current wine infatuation!
d) I had plenty of warning so I could grab a bottle as well

I was lucky enough that the evening was open or as open as can be at 5pm lol I ended up late to the party. But not only did I find some cool new people to follow on twitter, she pointed me to a great website, Thirsty Girl. I joined right away. I mean how perfect is that website for me?

There is learning area that I’ve barely started digging into yet, cool people to meet and chat with and then of course the twitter wine tastings. They also have local events but so far it doesn’t look like they are hitting the Seattle area. Maybe after I get to know more people there I can have them rectify that. Plus there is more but I’m still new to the site so I haven’t found all there is yet.

I didn’t find the bottle that they were tasting for that night but I did find it yesterday. It caught my attention at the grocery store so I obviously had to buy it. Knowing it’s sweet I went straight over and grabbed some goat cheese to pair with it. I figured it would be a good tart flavor to counteract the sweetness and I was right. Now that I can’t have dairy it’s really put a damper on how I pair my wines. I really love cheese and crackers with my wine but that had to stop 4 years ago.

I had this wine chilled to an icy cold. It was perfect as it helped keep down some of the sweetness.

Swirl – Very light in color and texture. Doesn’t stick much to the glass. You can’t see how light the color is from my picture as the glass “frosted” up really quick.

Smell – It’s very fruity. Unlike other rieslings I can really smell the apricot in this one. Again, I’m not a pro so I tell it like I smell it. I don’t like to have that heavy alcohol smell. This wine is perfect with no alcohol scent as I sip.

Taste – It is definitely sweet and lives up to it’s name.  Some rieslings will have a slight bite to them as the acidity hits, but not the case with this one. The sweetness is not just an overpowering sugar as I expected to be hit with. The peach and apricots are apparent and truly yummy.

I really liked this wine. I bought it on sale for $9, however I know since I’m local I do get better prices than the rest of the country might. But it’s still going to be affordable. Probably around $12.

One thing I learned from the twitter party is that Washington grows the most riesling grapes of any other area in the US. SWEET! (pun intended) I’m glad I like it since we can grow it so well. We know how I like to support the local economy and this will help. I’m looking forward to hubby being able to try it. This is the flavor and sweetness he prefers. Or I should say preferred. Now that he’s started drinking more wines and red wine, he could have changed his palate.

We’re remodeling and it’s my fault. I take full responsibility for the disaster my house is right now after 5 days. UGHHHH. This started because we had a leaky skylight two years ago. Hubby fixed the skylight but the ceiling damage was too much and it was only getting worse by the month. I have a lot of allergies and mold is at the top. So instead of going on vacation with JUST MY HUBBY…I said, let’s do a staycation and fix it. Both our kids were out of town for spring break for the same 4 days. It was fate right?

Now I grew up in a house that is now over 130 years old. I know, or should know, well that a house project is never what it seems and will never be as easy as you imagine. Beside the fact I watch HGTV all day long so I know it’s not just a few houses here and there that have a can of worms open.

My first can of worms was going into a full blown asthma attach just a few hours after he demo’d the ceiling. I haven’t had a bad attack in years. I’d actually talked myself into thinking that I’d outgrown my asthma. Literally, I’d thought that to myself just 3 days before. Needless to say I should have gotten a mask & I probably should have left the house while he was doing the demo and asked a friend to help him. But, I haven’t had an attack, let alone a serious one in ages. Now I get to post about my fun times.

So of course it’s taking much longer than planned. It’s going to look amazing when it’s done. My hubby is truly amazing and has done so much of the work. Now my kids are home and my son is helping him a lot. It’s cool and takes the guilt off of me because I honestly just want to lay in bed all day/night and stare at the ceiling. That’s how allergy hell works. Too miserable to sleep but too worn out to be productive.

I have been productive though. I’m excited to post some finished pics of my son’s room. I have hand drawn the Monster logo on his wall and painted two of his walls a gloriously obnoxious green. It’s Sounders green around these parts. But the Seahawks also wear it lol The pic’s are going to look cool.

Since project’s lead into another, here’s the list of what is going on during day 5.

• Full remodel of main(kids) bath.
• Full remodel of laundry room since they are attached by a door
• Full remodel of master bath just because we have the tiles for floor and can’t stand it
• Extra bedroom work as hubby had to fix some things in the wall connecting it to the main bathroom.
• Painting youngest’s room.

These are just the projects going on right now. Oh man, I hope they are finished by the end of the weekend. We still have some other projects to finish so we can list the house. Yes, that is the point of all this. We’re putting it up on the market OR we’ll be much happier staying here lol

I’ll post more because I’m on a total rampage about my doc visit. You’ll either want to hear it or ignore it for the amount of swearing that will go on with my next post about my asthma attack.

If you remember, last October I did a wine review and went with full disclosure that I am not a wine expert and I have no idea how to critique wine. But I’m still going to, because I want to. Because I really like wine and because the more I talk about it the more I will learn.

I do have a plan to help you be able to better be able to read my wine posts. I’m going to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference and there will be some great seminars there. My goal is to come out of the conference a certified wine snob. You can thank me now for getting the knowledge for you.

Hey, back on track, what’s the verdict of this wine?

Swirl test - It’s a brighter yellow than I’m use to. Very thin and light in texture.  Barely sticks to the glass as you swirl.

Smell - There is a definite alcohol smell to it. Quite an overpowering scent. I can also smell the citrus.

Taste - With how strong the alcohol smell was I had my nose already crinkled when I took the first sip. NO NEED, there was absolutely no strong alcohol taste.  I can definitely taste the citrus, I think it’s a lemony taste. I swear every time I drink a white wine I taste green apple. It’s the power of suggestion I’m sure.  It’s very light in flavor.

So here’s the description from the bottle, “Our off-dry Riesling offers enticing aromas and flavors of nectarines and peaches with a crips, clean finish.”

Of course when I buy the bottle I have read the back. Which I try to forget when I’m doing the tasting so I don’t have the flavors already stuck in my head. The good thing is that I generally have looked at quite a few descriptions so the descriptive flavors have run together. Definitely the case for this one. I had forgotten the description and mine didn’t have a lot to do with what the company said.

Here’s the true verdict of this wine. March is Washington Wine Month and I live for this month! It means big discounts on stuff I already buy. We have so many incredible Washington wines that this is what I strive to always buy. But in March almost every grocery store offers our local wines at 30% off!

This wine surprised me. I was expecting a cheap wine. Even though I’ve had other wines by Covey Run so I should know well that their price doesn’t reflect their high quality. I guess once in a while you need that smack in the face. Here it is, I’m listening to it!

I picked up this bottle of wine for only $4.98! Are you kidding me?!!! Sure that was 30% off, but even at “full” price of 7something it’s very affordable. This Riesling was the perfect combination of sweet and dry for me. Then add in the low price and you have a loyal follower. They already make my Mom’s favorite Gewurztraminer.

I knew it was going to happen eventually. We talk wine with a few friends and he’s showed a lot more interest and definitely more knowledge. He’s been listening to what I say as I’m learning. I’ll give him that.

But it’s gone over the top now. He’s now enjoying red’s and white’s. Which means I have TO SHARE! I don’t want to share. I liken this to 19 years ago when he suddenly found out he wasn’t allergic to chocolate anymore. My Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk kept going empty. I thought I was losing my mind. We lived alone. We were broke so that ice cream would last me weeks. I’d take a couple of spoonfuls here and there. I didn’t have to worry about it, it was only mine because he was allergic. One day I finally figured it out (yes, score one for the brain surgeon) and told him to take his shirt off so I could check for rashes. NONE, well where the hell was my ice cream going then? That’s when he started snickering and came clean that he found out his allergy was gone. Sharing my chocolate has gone downhill ever since as two years later I got pregnant and more chocolate sharing had to go down.

While obviously I won’t have to share my wine with the kids for quite some time I am going to whine about sharing with hubby.
I mean SERIOUSLY, I already had to learn to share my whiskey because he decided not to be a rum drinker anymore. Nothing is sacred anymore. Ok, now to focus on the positives of this situation.

1# Wine tastings have become more of a priority. He wants to try different varieties and wineries. In fact we’ll be hitting some wineries during spring break. Both kids have plans so we’re taking our first of many camping trips alone. It’s easy to tour the wineries here in Washington. The difficult thing is figuring out which one’s to hit first on any tour because they start to run together by the third stop

2# He buys wine more often. Previously I would need to ask him to pick up a bottle if he was going to the grocery store just because he wouldn’t think of it. Now I find bottles in the fridge chilling that I didn’t even know we had. See, I told you I was going to come up with the positives!

3# We are both still cheap asses on the price of our wine. However, I’ve come along way in the last few years. Have to stimulate the economy you know. I never used to spend over $5 for a bottle of wine, I’d shop whatever was on the sale on the bottom shelf. Now I still buy from there because not all wines have a high price tag. But, there are a ton of great wine choices from Washington for $10 or under.

Hubby is never afraid to grab bottles that are more towards the $10-$15 range. In fact one time we were cruising around the wine section at our grocery store and the wine steward was there. Hubby started asking questions and we learned a lot of cool stuff from the guy. He showed us an incredible bottle of wine that you can no longer get, yes he did warn us we’d love it and be unable to get more because the winery closed. It was a killer deal 1/2 off and only $25 a bottle. We were having a date night at home and hubby bought 2 bottles. I never would have grabbed them myself. See, the positives just keep racking up. The wine was really good by the way.

4# Glasses of wine show up while I’m working or just watching tv. It’s the craziest thing. I’ll be sitting here and all the sudden this hot, bald man will come out of the kitchen with two glasses of wine. This is the best perk of all.

I started this post thinking, “be careful what you wish for”. However, ignore that and just ignore the whining above. Now that I’ve typed out all the positives, this sharing of the wine isn’t going to be such a bad thing. I’m kind of starting to think I can get a wine fridge out of this deal now! lol