Wine & Dine Wednesday

Wow! Sorry for the lack of blogging....what can I say, life gets busy. Sports, helping kids with homework, family time, new puppy and everything else that goes along with living, well it just gets busy and something has to give... Let me just give you an update on the new puppy-it takes a "village" to raise a child you know but I have to say that goes with a new family pet as well. I mean holy cow! This is exhausting! Maybe I put more pressure on myself than most people to make sure the puppy is cared for, clean, smells good, learns to use the potty outside, etc. But everyone pitches in here to help with the puppy and I am so glad they do because there is no way I could do this by myself!

As I try to get back into a regular somewhat new routine I do plan on sharing on a regular basis once again. There are things I cannot wait to blog about but first I need to wrap them up in order to do just that.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a wine that was so great, I hoped I would never reach the bottom of the bottle....Well, this is another wine that I felt the same about!

Hello! Chocolate Shop in Chocolate Strawberry. It is, of course, a red wine combined with strawberry and chocolate. When you taste it, the chocolate flavor hits you first then the strawberry flavor hits you at the end. It is a sweet wine and small servings is how you want to serve this one.

This one was also a gift from my In-Laws. They are so great to bring me us wine when they travel.  I am sure you could probably find this online somewhere but the other day when I was at World Market they had small bottles in a basket at the cash register so if you are out and about and come across this, please pick it up and give it a try. You will be glad you did!

Wine & Dine Wednesday

This past weekend we took a trip to Asheville for the Mr.! This time the kids went along and so did our In-Laws!

After being on the road for  a while, the youngest was a little out of sorts and we had not even reached our destination! When I say "out of sorts" I mean it was like he had drank a Mt. Dew or something! Then it hit me.....Then it hit me...that morning I was measuring out the kids medication, each are on antibiotics for sinus infections and the oldest was due his last Prednisone dose and the youngest gets Zyrtec. Well guess what? Yep, both the Prednisone and Zyrtec are both clear liquids so somehow I got them mixed up and gave the last dose of Prednisone to our youngest instead of to our oldest. So of course it had an obvious effect on him! So of course the ride up was interesting.

Once in Asheville, it was lunch time! The first stop was one of our favorite restaurants for lunch! We have been several times to Asheville and each time we go, we always eat at one particular restaurant, Early Girl Eatery! It is on Wall Street, the same street as one of our favorite little shops where we purchased a favorite wine. We have eaten breakfast and lunch here and it is a must try! The last 2 times we have been I have gotten the Vegan Bean Burger, YUM! The Mr. always gets something different and each time it is delish! This time he got the Cheeseburger and I got a little bite and it was soooo good! I always try to save room for desert but that never happens!

After walking to a local shop to pick up another bottle of our favorite wine we headed to the hotel for a little down time before dinner.

The reason we up and took a spontaneous trip a while back to Asheville and the reason we took this trip was to eat at The Lobster Trap. Last time we got busy with other stuff and just skipped it but this time it was the main reason for the trip. The Mr. wanted to eat at this restaurant. We called ahead for our name to be placed on the waiting list, which is always awesome! Waiting for an hour in a crowded restaurant with 2 hungry kids is never fun! Once we were seated, we placed our order. First off, appetizers...when the waitress comes out and hands you a platter of oysters and says "The Chef wants you to taste these and if they don't taste right, he will cook you some more." that is a sign the dinner is not going to go well...
WHAT?
#1 if the chef has to say that, the plate should NEVER come to the table!
The platter went back and another one was brought to our table. The men said they were good (the women & kids don't eat oysters).
Our main dishes...mediocre at best. Very disappointing. The Mr. had to return his and get a new dish because it obviously wasn't cooked correctly & was cold. My in-laws dishes were not the best either.

It really stinks when you rave about how great a restaurant is and then you take others with you to share and it turns out not so great....

Oh well.

We still had a good time just being together and who wouldn't love a few days in Asheville?!

What is your favorite restaurant in Asheville?

This Happened......

I said  "No."

I said "No." Again.

I said  "No." Again.

I made up every excuse I could think of not to get one.

I tried putting off our boys for as long as I could. Finally, I began thinking about the long term.

Would it matter in 2 weeks if I was up during the night trying to train a puppy to go outside? Would it matter in 2 months? In 6 months? The answer..No.

Would it matter in 2 weeks if I was the one taking total responsibility for this small animal? Cleaning up after him? Feeding him? Bathing him? Or in 2 months? How about 6 months? Again, No.

However, would it matter if our little family had a sweet puppy to love? To snuggle? To play with our little guys? To teach them that caring for something other than yourself can and is a blessing? To help with responsibility? To use gentleness when caring for a puppy so small? For our little guys to have that companionship that only a dog can provide? The answer...YES! Yes, in matters..Now, 2 weeks from now, 2 months from now and 6 months from now.

That is how I gave in. Changing my perspective is why I gave in.

Say Hello to Zeus!

Our sweet Boston Terrier. Who is so smart by the way!,  And of course, he loves lots of snuggles and "talks" to you and will fall asleep in your arms in no time at all! He is very well tempered, loves the boys, they carry him around and he loves it! He loves to play and run from you! Loves to carry sticks, stuffed animals, anything he can get in his mouth and play "Keep Away!" Oh and he snores, like a person, maybe even like an old man. Ok, not sure about the old man part, but he does snore like a person, while we sleep we can hear him and I think it is so cute!  

We were debating on what kind of dog to get, what breed, a mix, boy or girl. After many months researching and looking online at different options, we choose this little guy. It was not an easy choice at first but after taking everything into consideration, like our lifestyle and what we wanted/needed in an dog, it narrowed it down and then we made a choice.

So, this and just life in general is why I have been quiet around here lately. Tired of getting up every night to take him out, I'm sure that I have not had more than a 3 hour span of sleep since we got him a month ago. I am one of those girls that needs her sleep and so this has kinda thrown me for a loop and totally disrupted my routine all around. However, he is cute and yes, this will pass so for the time being I am just dealing with it and knowing he will get bigger and he will be house trained..one day.

We  I am crate training him. Overall, he is doing well. We have had a few accidents but thank goodness they have all been in this crate. So throwing towels in the washer and adding Clorox works for me. But, I do want to get him to decrease those accidents and eventually stop altogether the older he gets. After a trip to the vet last week, the Dr. informed me that I was using the wrong crate. We have the wire crate compared to the plastic carrier he suggested I use. The more enclosed the more efficient the training I suppose. And, to not give him room to walk around in the crate. (another mistake on my part). And, that he should be crate trained in about a week. WOW! I have been doing the wrong things for a month now!

So, off I go to the pet store to purchase a plastic carrier with no room to walk, just stand up and spin around. (the thought just kills me, I would hate to be shut up like that).  I got it and got it home only to realize that the wire crate we have came with a divider! So I am going to try the divider first and hopefully that will prevent him from walking around inside his crate and he will whine and let me know when he needs to go. I pray the divider works so I can return that plastic carrier!

How did you train your pet? Was it easy?