a tale of six pumpkins

 Just as we were headed out the door to carve pumpkins at my parents' house on Friday, Blaine walked over to the cabinet above our refrigerator, opened the door, reached inside and pulled out the pumpkin carving tools and templates we bought two years ago (I told you, he doesn't waste a thing). I had forgotten all about them, particularly since I haven't seen them in two years, and because the kitchen in our house is Blaine's domain; it's off-limits to me, except to make an Ego Waffle in the morning.  Anyway, I found it somewhat entertaining/concerning/intriguing that Blaine knew exactly where to look for something we haven't used in two years, yet, not too long ago we couldn't find the spatula for a couple of weeks, and we used it pretty regularly (eventually we found the spatula outside beside the grill).

 Anyway, since Blaine and I hadn't already picked out our pumpkins, we had to stop and get them on the way to my parents' house.  Blaine was so proud of his pumpkin, he felt it was necessary to strap it in with a seatbelt; whereas, I just dumped mine in the floorboard. However, despite my failure to seatbelt my pumpkin, it came through relatively unscathed and was in mint condition when we arrived at my parents' house. 

  

*****

Rather than bore you with the mundane details of  the events leading up to carving, I'll go from here:

We started out with six participants: Jeff and Michelle (my older brother and his wife), Tyler and Bekah (my younger brother and his girlfriend), Blaine, and myself; but with only five pumpkins.

 Well, actually, we had six pumpkins...but Michelle finished before the rest of us (really, she finished before we even got to my parents' house)...which is why she was sitting next to the fire, enjoying a glass of wine and watching the rest of us figure out how we would share one set of pumpkin carving tools (did I mention that Blaine and I were the only ones who knew these tools existed?).

Don't let her fool you though...rather than carve her pumpkin, Michelle decided to revert back to the 80s and opted to create a creepy looking Mr. Potato Pumpkin Head. 

Blaine chose the second easiest design; and therefore, he was finished early enough to help everyone else scrape out their pumpkins.

After spending an hour online looking for the perfect template (I guess the two year old books were too "two seasons ago" for them), Tyler and Bekah finally got started on the actual carving (which really worked well considering we were all using the same set of tools...well, except for Jeff, who insisted on using a giant serving spoon to clean out his pumpkin).

Despite doing things the hard way when it came to cleaning his pumpkin, Jeff implemented a very methodical approach to carving it.

Tyler and Bekah found time to stop and pose for a picture, even after getting off to a slow start.

  

Finally......we thought everyone was finished, so everyone started looking at the finished products; but one pumpkin in particular left my parents perplexed and my dad scratching his head, literally.

During the clean-up, Bekah realized part of her template had been overlooked, she didn't cut out one of the "arms" to her design, which made a huge difference in trying to decipher what she had carved into her pumpkin.  After Bekah carved the arm out of her pumpkin we had six great pumpkins in time for Halloween, pictured below:



Left to right:  Joker (Tyler), Mr. Pumpkin Head (Michelle), Ghost Busters (Bekah)



Left to right:  Mr. Happy (Blaine), Stayin' Alive (Jeff), Haunted House (Alyssa)

 

cheap wine critique

I've been meaning to post this since that night...

About two weeks ago my friend Neely sent me a text message asking if I wanted to go grab some dinner with her that night.  Instead of going out to eat, I suggested that she and her husband Eric come to mine and Blaine's house.  I also wanted Nelly (remember, I call her Nelly) to see our house since she had never been there (even Eric had been there before).  I also wanted her to see that the dish they gave us for our wedding (pictured below on our coffee table) went so well with our decor like I told her it did. (I digress...and yes, our coffee table looks kind of bare, and no, I did not put the dish out just because Nelly was coming over).

We agreed on a time for Neely to come over (Eric couldn't make it) and she said she would bring some wine.  On my way home from work I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a prescription.  While I was waiting I stopped to check out the wine selection (mistake #1).  I thought, "maybe I should pick up a bottle just incase"(mistake #2). The shelves were stocked with wines ranging in price from $2.99 to somewhere around $12.  As I searched for a bottle of cabernet I remembered hearing various friends rave about wine they have picked up from Trader Joe's for less than $5.  When I saw the $2.99 (it might have been $3.99, the point is it was really cheap)I thought maybe I had stumbled upon a little secret treasure like that at Trader Joes (mistake #3...looking back on it I should have remembered I was in a drug store, not a grocery store like Trader Joes).  So, I decided to take my chances and get a bottle of the cheapest cabernet, hoping that I had discovered something good (pictured below).

When Nelly arrived I told her of my purchase and we decided to open my bottle first incase I had stumbled upon something special (mistake #4).  I poured a glass for Nelly and one for myself, then put my nose to my glass like a seasoned wine expert and swished the wine around (if there are technical names for these practices I am unfamiliar, but feel free to fill me in on what they are, mistake #5).  Ordinarily this might be a good thing to do with wine, but not in this case. I think I may have released additional aromas and additional flavors, which as I said, in this case, was not a good idea.  The wine smelled terrible, but I proceeded to take a sip.  It tasted equally as bad, but with an added chemical aftertaste.  I told Nelly I couldn't drink it, but being a gracious guest, said she'd drink hers.  I couldn't allow her to drink it though (Blaine, who doesn't like to waste a thing, told us to pour it back in the bottle and that he would drink it later....which he did...and he doesn't even like wine). I apologized to Nelly for serving her this putrid wine and we popped open a different bottle. 

The purpose of this story is this: a public apology to Nelly for subjecting her to Walgreens wine.  The morals to this story are these:  1) don't buy wine at the drug store unless it's absolutely necessary, 2) if you must buy wine at the drug store, don't opt for the cheapest bottle, 3) don't buy the cheapest wine anywhere (unless you're at Trader Joes), 4) don't serve the cheapest wine to your dear friend without trying it first, and 5) always have a back-up for your back-up on hand incase your back-up bottle is filled with Southern Point.

Oh, and I have to give credit where credit is due... Blaine made dinner (as he does 95% of the time) on the grill outside while Nelly and I sat inside on the sofa, sipping wine from the good bottle.  Such a sweet husband!