T'was Brilliant

  

Recently I made two brilliant discoveries that I can’t wait to share with you. But before I begin, I want you to know that “brilliant” is not a word I often associate with myself. Yes, there was that time I single-handedly maneuvered Miss Puff into running away. And then there was that time I thought I was dying of some mysterious abdominal disease and I wasn't. Well, in the last few days I have really outdone myself.

Brilliant Discovery #1:

After Labor Day, with Miss Puff  back in school (hallelujah!), I had a chance to do the weekly shopping ALONE! You all know how much I loathe doing the grocery thing – unless, of course, it involves purchasing large amounts of wine – but shopping with your kid sucks; the constant needling to purchase more junk goes way beyond annoying. So anyway, as I was steering my cart through the store, I decided to check out the shoe department and I’m so glad I did. I not only found the exact type of shoe I’d been looking for, but, as it turns out, that same shoe also came in handy when it was time to perform my domestic duties. More specifically, vacuuming.

With the grody carpet that we have, I realize vacuuming is a perfectly good waste of time, but I just can’t help myself. It's an itch I have to scratch until the skin breaks and I see blood!!

For those of you who have dogs, you know about the constant battle between shedding and vacuuming. At our house it is especially bad this time of year and I pretty much follow Miss Scarlet around the house with the vacuum hose in my hand. However, last week I was so disgusted by the filmy layer of dog hair embedded in the actual fibers that I got down on my hands and knees and started clawing at it. Sure, it worked but I also gave myself a singeing rug burn and realized that there had to be another way. As I stood back up I glanced down at my new shoes and, viola! Dog hair removal, here we come. All I had to do was kick at the floor, thus using the hard rubber on the soles of my new and now favorite shoes to peel away the layer of hair from the carpet! 

AND, not only was this super effective in allowing me to roll up huge tufts of hair, it also provided me with my daily exercise. The moment I comprehended the sheer genius in this, I started to change things up a bit and used a side kicking and backward kicking motion to work my inner and outer thighs. Jane Fonda, eat your heart out! I just invented the latest exercise craze. And, it doesn't involve leg-warmers.

Brilliant Discovery #2:

I know that discovery #1 is going to be hard to beat, but since #2 has to do with wine, stay with me.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I started working again. Unfortunately, I barely make as much as I did on unemployment so my wine budget has had to take a cut. I’m sure it would pay to eliminate that part of my budget altogether, but then you’d be left reading a blog about a day in the life of VinoMama. So, in an effort to continue providing you with some useful and often lifesaving information, I’m going to continuing buying wine and cut corners someplace else, like going from two-ply to one-ply (which really makes no sense because you just end up using more).

Now more than ever, I’ve been searching for value and ways to get more than what I pay for…like good box wine. This is not an oxymoron and I have proof: the 2009 Le Domaine Clos des Lumières Côtes-du-Rhône,1.5 L (Community Food Co-op), in the, according to Mr. B, “cute little box.” 

 For $15 I discovered this taste sensation, thus, insuring that after a hard day at work, I won’t be forced to drink one of the Godfathers of box wine: Almaden or Franzia.

Clos des Lumières is a Grenache-Syrah blend with baked cherry aromas and belly warming flavors of spice, sweet pipe tobacco, and tangy fruit crisp. With the exception of the spigot acting like a hard-to-reach hemorrhoid, (it requires nimble, little fingers so just ask your kid for help, with the spigot, not the rhoid), this wine is bloody brilliant!

I know I sound like a hysterical boob on the cusp of dog hair obsession, but let me assure you that I’m not. Due to the fact that I make such savvy use of my brilliant wine discoveries, one or two glasses of wine, and the golden strands from our beloved pet all but disappear….ahhhhh. 

Now, where'd I leave my new shoes?

 

Xoxox,

VinoMama