Wine #2 Oktoberfest

Last spring my husband and I visited the Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette, IA.  I really wanted to try their wines because one of their vineyards is very close to my parents home.  The first acre was planted in 1999 and has since grown to 3 acres in size.  They currently produce 4500 cases per year.  Their goal is not to be the biggest winery in Iowa, just the best. 


photo courtesy of Eagles Landing



As I was going through the wine fridge a couple nights a go, I found a bottle of Oktoberfest, which I had totally forgotten that we had.  We had brought it home after our visit there and has been in the fridge since. Oktoberfest is a white wine.  It is a special blend of fragrant & aromatic white grapes (Edelweiss, Muscat) and makes a sweet, seductive harvest wine.   It earned a Gold Medal at the 2011 Tasters Guild International. It sells for $9.95/bottle and is available in numerous Iowa stores as well as Wisconsin.  I really like the light sweet flavor of the wine.  Perfect to enjoy while cooking or during a relaxing evening.  I will have to stock up on some more Oktoberfest soon. 

photo courtesy of Eagles Landing

Thoughts on Sin

Galations 6:1
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

I felt the need to write about SIN today.  I remember the first time I learned that in God's eyes Sin is Sin.  He doesn't give a heirarchy to sins.  No one sin is worse than any other in God's eyes.  In our world of judgment and labeling, we tend to give a severity to sins....child molestation, affairs, and murder seem much more detestable than taking God's name in vain, jealousy, or greed.  But in God's eyes all sin is the same.  According to Him, we must repent for ALL sins.  He is the only one who is allowed judgment.  He is the only one who can redeem us.  He is the only one who can give us that complete forgiveness and unconditional love.  

John 8:7
"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."


None of us are without sin.  If you drove over the speed limit on your way to work today, you sinned by not following the laws of our government.  If you just said to your friend, Oh my G*d!, you sinned by taking His name in vain.  If you secretly are wishing you house was a nice as your neighbors, you are sinning by being jealous of and coveting what your neighbor has.  

Matthew 7:3
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"


Since none of us are without sin, it is not our place to judge against someone else.  It is up to them to ask for God's forgiveness and up to God to give it.  God knows what is truly in each one of our hearts.  He knows if we are being truthful and heartfelt in our request.  

When a sin occurs, remember those times where your choices may have hurt yourself or others.  Be there for each other.  Offer your love, kindness, and forgiveness.  Pray for them.  But don't judge. You can hate the sin, but still love the sinner.  Stop and take a moment or two or three to repent for your sins today.  I am.  It isn't easy to do these things, but with God at your side, you can do anything!

Romans 14:10
You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.


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Scenes From Our Week - Week 2

As part of my 40 Before 40 Challenge, I wanted to capture our life in pictures at least once a week. Here is what I captured this week.


Patrick has become attached to his skateboard lately.  We decided to take him to a skate park on Sunday and let him try it out.  A lot diferent from our driveaway!





Somehow, I took some sort of 2 part action shot with my phone.  Don't know if I could do it again, but still pretty cool.


Our After School JAMS program decorated pumpkins this week.  The pumpkins will be used to decorate the church during our annual Bazaar Dinner on Saturday.  They will also be available for sale.  We will have over 25 original and adorable pumpkins set throughout the tables.  The kids used washers, drawer pulls, screws, nails, yarn, ribbon, beads, paint and anything else they could find to decorate their pumpkins. 



What an awesome group of creative kids and their pumpkins.

 Here are our kids with their pumpkins. 

While out shopping on Saturday, Patrick and Reagan decided to try on some hats! 

Bennett spent the weekend with my sister and her husband doing all kinds of fun things like hunting turkeys, canoeing, and gator riding.

Bennett and Uncle Ken canoeing down the Volga River



Book Review: Pretty Neat by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch

PRETTY NEAT
The buttoned-up way to get organized
and let go of perfection
By: Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch
Published:  October 26, 2010

About the book:

Negative self-image. Fantasy-induced overspending. Marital tension. A new kind of airbrushed concoction is wreaking havoc on homes and psyches, and Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore have a name for it: org porn. It’s in magazines, coffee table books, advertisements, and TV shows, promoting a perfect — and entirely imaginary — world in which everything is always pristine, serene, and flawlessly organized. Pretty Neat is a handbook that embraces the chaotic reality that lies beneath org porn’s glossy veneer, offering pithy anecdotes and candid advice from experts and real women alike on tackling organizational inertia. Most importantly, Pretty Neat insists that women need to stop holding themselves to impossibly high standards, and focus instead on defining their own, realistic organizational goals.

I received an autographed copy of the book from author Sarah Welch and was tickled to find out she is also from Iowa.  I love to organize and I regularly read lots of blogs and websites all about staying organized.  But, I think this book is by far, the best I have read on the subject.  I have read this book over several months because I really wanted to soak everything in and focus on the tips in the book.  PRETTY NEAT isn't unrealistic in its expectations of women.  It expects us to not do everything suggested, it does ask us to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on organizing gadgets, and it gives us real tips from other women just like us.   I guarantee there will be a woman featured in the book that you will say, "Hey, that's me!"  I think I learned the most from their interviews with women throughout the book.  Those real-life examples of what works and what doesn't gave me some excellent ideas to put into place in my home.  For example, I now have a notebook on my counter at all times.  It is a small spiral-bound notebook, not the school notebook size.  I divide the page into two sections listing To Do Now and To Do Soon.  Then I also have a small section for my future blog topics or reviews I need to post.  As I have something that needs to be done, it gets put on the list.  Then I work from that list and as it gets done, I move to the next page and start a new list.  It has helped me stay focused on what needs to be done without clogging up my calendar pages.  I keep my calendar and notebook side by side so I can cross-reference when needed.  There were many, many more ideas that were helpful from the book as well.  You can take a tip and adapt it to work for you.  The book also focuses on being organized at your job.  Maybe your home is organized but your office is a mess.  This book will help you there too.  I literally had 20 pages marked to go back to.

I had several quotes from the book that were helpful to me as well.

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

"Never tell people how to do things.  Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."   George S Patton

"Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes to quickly and not saying no soon enough."  Josh Billings

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.  It was extremely helpful for me and is something I will keep handy and refer to often.  If you want to learn more about Alicia and Sarah, check out their website http://www.getbuttonedup.com/.  There they regularly post tips for staying organized as well as sell products to keep you organized.


I received a copy of the book for review but was not compensated in any other way.  This review is my honest opinion.  I wouldn't review anything that wouldn't benefit myself or my family.  Thanks to Sarah for sending me an autographed copy of this book.

Things I Love - Breast Cancer Awareness, a Movie and a Song

Things I Love....................


This is my feature where I get to share something that I just love. Since you are my friends, I like sharing things I love with others. It could be anything from a new product, food, recipe, song, image, to a person and everything in between. This will be something I am completely doing on my own, without pressure or compensation from a company, author, PR/Marketing firm, friend, business owner, etc. This will just be something that makes me happy and I want to share it with you. Enjoy some love!

Today's love is............................Breast Cancer Awareness, A Movie and a Song

I have always been interested in breast cancer awareness and efforts to fund research to combat this disease.  I have had family members and friend battle this disease and win and for that I have hope that this disease will be conquered some day. 

This week I watched a movie on the Lifetime TV network, called FIVE.  This is what Lifetime TV says about the movie:

The groundbreaking original movie “Five” is an anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives. “Five” highlights the shared experience each short film’s title character endures from the moment of diagnosis, through an interconnected story arc that uses humor and drama to focus on the effect breast cancer and its different stages of diagnosis have on relationships and the way women perceive themselves while searching for strength, comfort, medical breakthroughs and, ultimately, a cure.
Directed by Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, Demi Moore, Independent Spirit Award winner Patty Jenkins (“Monster”) and Penelope Spheeris (“Wayne’s World”).

Each one of these short films touched me in a different way....as a mom, a daughter, a friend, and a sister.  I was deeply moved by each one and was brought to tears many, many times.  These really must be watched and I encourage you to tune in this weekend to watch them.  Lifetime will be replaying the movie this weekend on Saturday at 7PM Central and 11PM Central and  on Sunday at 3PM Central.  If these times don't work for you, check out their website for other showings or you can actually watch it online at any time.  Go HERE to watch online or get more information about the film.



Along with Breast Cancer Awareness I wanted to share a song with you.  One of my favorite artists is Martina McBride and her new CD, ELEVEN came out on Tuesday.  Pat surprised me by bringing it home for me yesterday.  One of my favorites from this CD is "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" and is about a woman being diagnosed with breast cancer.  The first time I heard this song, I remember I was in my bathroom getting ready for the day and our local radio station played this "new song" from Martina.  I had to redo my makeup because I messed it up by crying during this song. 
 
Martina's video encorporates survivors as well as celebrity survivors sharing how people loved them through it.  I dare you not to cry while watching this video. 
 

 
Unfortunately, it is very likely we will be affected by breast cancer through someone we know or love.  The more we can give of our money or our time to those who are suffering from this disease, the more chance we have of stopping it before it gets to our children and our children's children. 

10 Day Give - Day 10

Yesterday I started the day subbing.  I wasn't scheduled but ended up subbing for my friend who was wishing she wasn't scheduled to sub that morning and since I didn't have anything going on, it did it.

That afternoon I spent time catching up on and finishing my Bible Study.  I really enjoyed the quiet house and the gorgeous breeze blowing through.

Last night I attended our planning meeting for starting up a choir in our church parish.  It looks like I will be giving of my vocal talents in the near future!

Nothing over these last 10 days was life-changing. I don't always think that giving is all about the extraordinary or the jaw-dropping thing that you do.  It is more about how you live your life, carry yourself, speak to others, and show you care.  There was nothing extraordinary in my giving these last 10 Days.  It was just regular everyday stuff that maybe took me a few extra minutes or took some extra effort on my part.  Isn't that really what giving is....giving just a little bit extra.  Giving that extra smile, that hug, to let someone know you care. 

We get so focused on the next task, the next practice, the next meal, the next meeting, the next load of laundry that we forget to stop and take the time to notice our neighbor sitting on his porch or the woman sitting alone at church or the child who is especially quiet.  We are so focused on running to the next errand that we forget to smile at the check out clerk or hold the door for someone.  My hope is that this 10-Day Give has inspired you to stop give that little bit extra - your time, your gifts, your talents, your money, your smile, or your kind words. 

Wine #1 of 40 Before 40 Challenge

While shopping on my birthday with my husband at Target, I noticed this bottle in the wine section.


Beviamo Sparkling Moscato

I LOVE Moscato wines and thought it would be fun to try this out too.  This wine differs from the moscato d'asti because it is more like a champagne.  It is very sweet and has notes of ripe stone fruit, tangerine, and honey.  I could definately taste the fruitiness while drinking it but wasn't sure which fruit until reading about it.  The grapes are hand harvested from their vineyard in Northern Italy.   I purchased it for $12.99 at our local Target.  This is a less expensive champagne wine for that special occasion and perfect for those who like the more fruity sweetness in wines.  I wouldn't hesitate to try their other wine offerings.  Check out http://www.beviamowines.com/ for more information.