Saying Bye to September

This month has seemed never-ending.  Hard to believe I started school only a month ago.  I feel like summer vacation never happened.  

I had forgotten how busy this time of year is at work.  It's insane.  I spend most evenings--after the boys are in bed--working.  I have to check email, read essays, and write letters.  I have more letters to write than last year, and more students are applying early as well.  It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.  This past week I hardly found time to write letters (and I'm now falling behind) because of a Tuesday-night faculty meeting and a college fair on Thursday evening.  

To top it all off, I landed a freelance project about financial aid.  It's been an interesting learning experience to say the least.  I'm rusty with my writing, and I've never written this kind of article before. Basically, I have to produce an 8-10 page booklet for college students on financial literacy.  I just submitted my second draft.  We'll see how it goes.  I don't have much more time to work on it.  It's really been stressing me out since it's sucking up every bit of free time I have right now.

I don't want to think about work anymore!  I'll talk about the past few weekends since I haven't found the time to blog about them.  

Two weekends ago we finally went to Frothingham Park, near the center of Easton.  There is a huge multi-use field with bleachers that the boys loved.

There is also a playground with a huge sandbox.  There are toys left there for people to use.  The boys looooove sandboxes!  We were the only ones there that Sunday morning, which was great.

Then the boys discovered the slide...

 They went up and down like ten times each--all by themselves!!!

Last  Monday, Adrian came home from daycare with a fever.  Someone always gets sick when I'm busiest.  I took him to the pediatrician because I thought it was probably another ear infection.  Turns out his ears looked good, which was both good and bad:  good because maybe he's actually turned a corner and managed to have a cold and not get an ear infection.  Bad because that meant he had a virus...so no daycare.  Both boys ended up missing Tuesday and Wednesday of last week (we thought it would be easier to just keep Sebastian home too).  My mom was nice enough to stay with them one day and Carlos took the other.  And luckily, the virus lasted less than 24-hours.

On a related note, this past Friday was the boys' last day of daycare.  It was bittersweet.  I will miss the teachers and the community, but it is also such a huge relief.  I am so excited to have Natalie start.

Back to our weekend fun.  Finally, last Sunday, we checked out the Sheep Pasture in Easton, right near Hilliard's on rte. 138.  It's free, and pretty nice.  Visitors can hike and look at the animals.

We also moved the desk in the basement to the guest room so that when Carlos works from home he doesn't disturb Natalie and the boys.  I managed to convince him that she needs space to do her job.  She won't have an easy time establishing her authority with the boys if we are under foot.  After the desk was removed, we put the table we got from Michelle in the playroom so the boys can use it to color and do art projects.  The space seems so much bigger now!

This past Friday morning I took Adrian to an ENT doctor at Children's Hospital in Weymouth.  We had a breakfast date first.  My little piglet ate *5* donut holes before the appointment.  It will be cheaper to just buy him a whole donut from now on, I think!

As we waited for the doctor, he sat himself down at this mini table and "read" a nutrition magazine that someone left on the table.

Turns out we don't have to be worried about his ears yet.  The tubes are still in place and three ear infections after tubes is not worrisome.  For now, the doctor said we just keep an eye on his ears.  I figured as much, but I was glad to establish a connection with Children's so I can take him there from now on if we need an ENT doctor.

This morning the boys went to their second Music Together class with Carlos and me.  It was even more horrible than the first class.  Last week, they were just super rambunctious.  This week, they were rambunctious and obnoxious.  Sebastian kept pushing a little girl, and they were tackling poor Liam, their friend from daycare.  I don't know what gets into them when they are in that class.  They are hyper active devils.  I think some of it is that it's a new experience.  Also, the room seems a little small for so many kids and parents.  We are all tripping all over each other.  Anyway, I'm in it for the long haul because I stupidly paid for a whole year of classes to get the discount.  I had no idea they would act like this.  Hopefully it will get better with time.

After the music class we went to Autumn Fest in Bridgewater.  We met my mom and Mrs. O there, walked around, had Cape Cod Cafe pizza for lunch, and let the boys ride the train.

I'm not sure why this photo is so off center!

 This afternoon after naps, we went to Patriot Place to check out the nature trail and the Bass Pro Shop. The trail is quite nice.  It's not ideal at all for a stroller, but we managed.

The Pro Shop was awesome!  I don't like to hunt or fish, but it's like Disney World inside--very cool place to spend some time.  They have a huge shooting arcade that will be fun when the boys are older, an aquarium tank, and various animals and displays around the store.

While Carlos and Sebastian got the car (which we had left at the start of the nature trail), Adrain checked out the all-terrain vehicles outside the store.  This was his favorite.

I've missed blogging.  I hope that things will die down once I submit this freelance article, and I'm counting the days until November 15th when nearly all my letters will have been written!

Beer Brewing Step 3: Bottling

Last Monday night, Carlos and I bottled our American Pale Ale.  

 The Saturday evening before, I put 53 bottles in a big tupperware storage bin with some OxiClean Free and Clear.  I soaked them overnight.  In the morning, the labels fell right off.  So easy.  Then I cleaned them with a bottle brush and ran them through the dishwasher just in case.  Finally, as seen below, I sanitized them in StarSan.

They all were eventually submerged in the sanitizer for more than 30 seconds.  

 Next, we sanitized the bottling bucket since you have to transfer the beer out of the carboy and into a bucket so you can add the priming sugar.  Then we siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket.

Finally, we started bottling!  We purchased a bottle wand to make things easier--and thank God we did!  It was a snap with that $3 contraption.

We bottled about 12 at a time and then capped.

In between steps, I sampled the beer.  While it still tastes funny (which is normal), it didn't taste bad...I think (fingers crossed) it will actually be drinkable!  It might even be good...

I look like I've already been drinking in this picture...

Our garage is the perfect spot for all this business.  I am SO GLAD WE BOUGHT THIS HOUSE for so many reasons, but having a place to brew is just icing on the cake!

Now, we wait.  The beer has to sit and carbonate in the bottles for at least 3 weeks.  Then we can start drinking it and giving it away.  Who wants some?

**We also bought our next kit:  Holiday Ale.  Guess what you're all getting for Christmas?!

Mama Ball!

Turns out the boys love football!!!  Particularly Sebastian...

Last Sunday was the season opener, and I didn't expect the boys would watch football at all.  I can't even get them to watch cartoons.  Let me rephrase that.  I don't WANT them to watch TV, but I am curious as to when they will actually be interested in something like a movie.  I have to admit it would come in handy in the car (once they are forward facing in their car seats) or in a plane!  Anyway, they were mesmerized by football!  Sebastian called it "mama ball" because I was watching, I guess?

I watched a bit of the US Open with Adrian on Saturday, and he liked that too!  He kept yelling "ball" and pointing.  But they seemed to like football better, which is fine by me.  I think Adrian liked the nachos more than the football, though.

After we tired of football (or the boys did...) last Sunday we went to the festival at the War Memorial Park in West Bridgewater.  It was no big deal, but we saw a mariachi band play!

When we got home, we let the boys play at the water table.
 

Last week was a long, hectic week at work.  I love the students I'm working with, but I was exhausted every night when I came home and then STILL had to work at night quite late.  I can't wait until I have all my letters written!

Today we went to the playground and let the boys blow off steam/burn energy.  They were trapped inside all day yesterday at daycare because of the weather, and I think they were feeling cooped up.  They love this playground more and more every time we go.  I remember the first time we went, it was like they didn't even know what to do!

Sebastian is still a bit unsure of the swings.

Adrian, on the other hand, can't get enough!  Although for some reason he doesn't look very happy in these pictures!

Doesn't Sebastian look like such a big boy in this picture????  Today he put his spider man hat on himself, adjusted it, and then tapped the brim with his hand--as if to say "there!"  It was so cute!

Finally two random pictures:

The letter the daycare sent home to parents to announce that we stole Natalie, the toddler room teacher. ;-)  I feel really good about hiring her.  Not so much about poaching her, but such is life.

And then there's this.  It leaves me speechless.  And not necessarily for good reasons. :-)

Beer Brewing: Step Two, the Carboy

I've been so busy at work this week...I had forgotten how breakneck the pace is in the fall!  I have been neglecting the blog and writing about my own kids and family to write about my students (I have to write about 47 letters before Nov. 1/Nov 15).  At least I really love the kids I'm working with and writing for!

Anyway, Monday night Carlos and I transferred the fermenting beer from the initial fermenter into the 5 gallon carboy.  This time, the siphon worked without any problems and the whole process went off without any glitches.

We sanitized the carboy first by siphoning sanitizer into it.  Then we emptied it out and started siphoning in the beer.  It smelled delicious.  Hopefully it tastes delicious too!  I didn't have the courage to taste it yet.  Then I put a 1" piece of plastic tubing into the carboy with the other end submerged in a bucket of water and sanitizer to prevent blow off as it finishes fermenting.

I have my 53 12 oz brown bottles but still have to wash, scrape off the labels, and sanitize them.  That's a project for this weekend or next.  A week from this coming Monday, the beer should be ready to bottle.  After bottling, it needs to sit for a few more weeks so that it can carbonate.  Then, hopefully, I can start giving it away!

No matter how this turns out, I am eager to brew another batch.  Having done it this first time, I now feel much more confident in the process from the mistakes I made this first time.  So I think I'll keep trying.  I found a jalapeno beer kit online--I think that's my next brew!!

Finally Brewing Beer! Step One

Thursday was a holiday and I didn't have to go to work.  So I used the morning to start the brew process--finally.

It was all going so well...I made it through the whole recipe with no issues or problems, but then the shit hit the fan when I went to cool it down, top it off, and add the yeast.

First of all, the siphon wouldn't work.  That was just a set-up issue on our part, but we ended up just pouring the wort into the plastic bucket instead of siphoning.  I left quite a bit of liquid in the pot to avoid transferring the sludge (I know there's a real term for the stuff, but can't remember what it is!).  Then, I topped off with water I'd boiled previously, and tried to use the hydrometer to take a reading of the original gravity.  That was a joke.  The wort foamed as I mixed the water in (and you need to aerate, so that's a good thing) and then I couldn't see the damn hydrometer to read it.  I panicked...eventually, I gave up and brought it down to the garage to start fermentation.  I later found out that this is pretty normal and as long as you have added the amount of water the recipe calls for, you're probably ok.

So I went to check on the bucket to make sure the volume was ok, and I realized that somehow there were only THREE GALLONS of water/wort in the bucket when there should have been 5.  I boiled 5 gallons of water!!  Does that much water evaporate??  I can't figure out how even with poor technique I could have lost that much water.  Maybe I was wrong about the amount of water I boiled, but geez.

So in a panic, I ran out and bought 2 gallons of Poland Springs water.  But it was really cold.  So I heated the water a bit to room temp before I added it.  But then I realized, I'd washed the pot after I poured out the wort but didn't sanitize it.  So I added water that was heated--but not boiled--in an unsanitized pot.  Hopefully there won't be any issues...

Then, I started googling and was worried about blowing the airlock and having beer go all over the garage.  So I ran to Lowe's and bought some more plastic tubing.  I pulled apart the air lock and put the tubing over the bottom piece and ran the tube into a bucket with water and sanitizer.  I saw this online, so I hope it works.  So far, so good.  I can see that fermentation is taking place because I see bubbles coming out of the tube and there is condensation inside the tube as well.  My Monday or maybe Tuesday I will transfer it to the carboy and then let it sit another 2 weeks before bottling.

At this point, I'm just crossing my fingers the beer is drinkable.

After steeping to create the wort

Lots of boiling--an hour's worth!  (not including the boil time for the water I used!)

Sanitized accessories, waiting to be used

Instructions!!