Our lost Kansas City friend..

Don Harman was funny, engaging and always a joy to watch, and he was rockin an itchy beard for the No Shave November.  He will be greatly missed by all of the Kansas City family that tuned in for his weather forecasts.  Farewell to our fine, fair, weather friend.  Wishing his family and friends much peace and comfort....

Tuesday.. Back to work.. : )..

Yay for Monday.. : )..

Whew, last day of my mini-vacation.  Not that I have the entire day off and nothing to do.  Laundry, laundry, laundry, probably grocery shopping, etc.  But, yay, I have today off.  Woot!  Yay!  : )..  Here are some great house ideas to tide us over for now...

 I sooo need to do something like this.

I love patio lights, and this looks so easy, pop the light into the mini bar bottles and wrap with the tape.

EZ peazy and oooh sooo cute.  : )..

A few pics from the weekend..

Had a great weekend.  Here are some pics I enjoyed during it.  : )..

 Polly has the right idea.

 Judging from the chair, looks like somebody had too much fun sitting outside Amigoni Urban Winery.  Lol.

 Famous Seamus and the Travelbongs at Coda. : )..

 Tyler Gregory introducing Paul Coleman who moved out of the pic, and then AJ from the Fall Down Drunks on the other side, sporting his paint bucket bass guitar.  They look pretty rough, but lemme tell ya, they all sound great!  : )..

AJ actually played this one string electric Elvis Presley Chocolate tin guitar during his set.  It really sounded great! 

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend.  Now for two full days off to recover.  Awesome!

Slow movin Saturday morning..

Stayed out at the Famous Seamus and the Travelbongs show watching the other two acts that played with them.  Really enjoyed the Tyler Gregory set, ended up buying a cd from him and having him sign it, which I'm sure he really enjoyed.  : )..  And then we enjoyed one half of a group we had seen before called, "The Fall Down Drunks", or as my husband asked, since there was only one of them, if he would call himself, "The Fall Down Drunk".  AJ thought that was pretty good.  Lol.  Anyway, it was a great night of some great new age bluegrass music.  It ain't your daddy's bluegrass music anymore.  These groups can get down when it comes to bluegrass. 

We have a few more wineries to hit today, but I have a feeling that they probably won't be able to beat the two we visited yesterday. 

That being said, here's some more funny stuff to tide us over for now..

Forward my mail.. I have moooved.. : )..

Umm.  Yeah.  Sooo.  Wine Tour Part Two.  Please forward all mail for me to Ladoga Winery, Smithville, MO.  Yeah.  It was just that nice!  Suhweet, suhweet, suhweet tasting wines.  Gorgeous facility.  Cozy.  Friendly owners!  Everything you would want in a winery.  They had a couple of comfy leather chairs that just screamed, "Drink some wine here right here!"  We relented.  Lol.  There wasn't a wine that I tasted that wasn't delicious.  No oaky - licorice taste, whatsoever. 

They were also having a buy one, get one half off today.  My friend put that discount to good use!  : )..  We also know exactly where we are having our second wine tasting / pairing party.  The owners told us, they have only been open for two months and want to get into the parties.  They can host one in December, and get this, they will accommodate us on a Saturday evening at 6pm after they close.  They are offering us an exclusive, private tasting / pairing party.  SOLD!  Sign us up! 

Fence Stile was a booger to find, but lemme tell ya!  It was sooo worth the trouble.  They have a bridge out that blocks people from coming in the normal way, so we had to find and go in the back way.  Turns out, it's only one road over from where we got Auntie Em.  : )..  They were just as great as Ladoga.  My friend and I are both qualified for a free dinner for four at any winery of our choice.  Hmm.  Pairing party at Ladoga.  Dinner party at Fence Stile.  I love the Missouri Wine . Org.  They are awesome.  It's going to be a great time here in the next couple months.  Awesome. 

Such a great day.  Such great wineries.  Had a lot of fun and laughs.  Getting ready to head out to see Famous Seamus and the Travelbongs.  Should be a great night too.

Friday = Wine Tour Day.. : )..

Touring several KC wineries today, ending up down at the Kansas City Plaza to look at the lights and then a quick stop at a bar called "Coda" to watch Famous Seamus and the Travelbongs.  : )..  Should be a great day!  Here's some fun stuff until I can post pics.

Johnsonville Sausage Stuffing Pics..

I can't wait to taste this.  My husband (who kept kicking me off preparing the stuffing, lol) says that it turned out pretty tasty.  : )..  Here are the pics that I had to back him up to take.  Ha, our kitchen is pretty small, so we kept running over each other.  He thinks I'm crazy for taking pictures, but I remember taking a picture of every single part as he put it on the car he built.  Lol.  Trouble, not withstanding, this stuffing looks sooo delicious.  Anyway, here are the pics so far..

Brown and drain Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage (either no casings or simply ground). 

 Cube two loaves of focaccia bread.

 My little cooking helper..  Lol..  Fahrmeier Winery's Strawberry Vignole, "Spring Fling" (oooh yeah).

 Drizzle olive oil and pepper over the cubed focaccia bread.  Warm in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to brown the bread a little.

 1/2 cup olives and sun-dried tomatoes, 2 minced cloves of garlic and 5 leaves of fresh basil.  Also, one red pepper, chopped (the recipe called for green, but I am not a green pepper fan).

 Mix together with 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 2 eggs and stir.  Pour into a slightly buttered pan and cook at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Sit outside, sipping wine and enjoying 70 degree weather.  Yeah.  That's a seven there.  Awesome.

: )..  More pics to come.  Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll.

Addendum:  I think the stuffing was a hit.  : )..

It was delicious!  Click HERE for the video recipe.

A little Thanksgiving fun..

Hmm, I think this little guy got into the wine supply at this restaurant.  Lol.  Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll!  (Johnsonville Sausage Stuffing pictures to follow later!)

Dancing With The Stars.. : )..

I caught a couple shows this time, now that I'm not always working evenings, and also caught JR Martinez and Rob Kardashian on the Ellen Show.  JR's Jive was great, but Rob really picked it up in the past few weeks.  : )..  Great job to both, and congrats to JR.  However, you've gotta appreciate Rob shakin his bon-bon..  Lol.  Here is a video of both of them..

Picked my puppy up this morning.. Yay..

It was a long, long, long night last night with just a little sleep.  Emmy was worried about her little brother and I'm sure he was worried without us.  I should have dropped him off with a shirt we had worn but not washed yet, but didn't realize he would be there overnight.  : (..  Poor little Milo.  Lol.  He keeps getting knocked out and wakes up missing a body part at the vet's.  Neutered.  Claws.  He keeps disappearing a piece at a time.  Lol.  He's probably wondering what he's going to lose next.  He still can't quite put a paw on what it is he's missing, but he's sure there is something gone.  Hmm. 

Had an early, early, early day because I was there at 7am when they opened and then went to work early.  Got off early.  Only one more early in / early out 6 hour shift to go and then I have five whole days off work!  Wow.  I won't know what to do.  Lol.  Actually, I've pretty well got it all planned out.  Dinner at a friend's house with some of the yummy Johnsonville Sausage Stuffing (still haven't made it, but it looks and sounds great still).  Two days chocked full of winery tours and then..  A couple days of rest.  Yay.  Here are a couple more wineries I plan to tour..

Fence Stile, Excelsior Springs, MO:

  So, they had a harvest / lunch Sunday.  I woke up in time, let the dog out, realized how freezing cold and icky it was and went back to sleep snuggled up with Milo.  Lol.  So much for that fun, I'm betting they will have one when it's getting warmer.  I'll be there then!

Ladoga Winery, Smithville, MO:

Aha, a winery near a nice touristy lake.  My way to spend a little time, sippin wine.  : )..  Love the barrel tables.  Looks great.

Amigoni Urban Winery, Kansas City, MO:

Nestled in downtown Kansas City, we were only a couple buildings away from this one a couple weeks ago.  Sounds like an interesting winery.

All in all, there are 9-10 more wineries in this area.  We will have at least two days to visit them, so it won't be all in one afternoon.  I'm putting together a strategic map to optimize each day's wine tour so that we don't miss one and have to backtrack.  Lol.  Also, I'm skipping the dry wines.  Ick.  Last time?  I had a little oaky-licorice heartburn / acid refluxish action going on.  No more of that.  Lol.  I will pass.  Should be an interesting vacation / holiday time. 

My friend also wants to check out the Plaza Lights, thankfully not the Plaza Lighting Ceremony.  We can watch that on live tv from inside a warm house, instead of cram-packed like a can of expensive, hoity-toity sardines stuck in a freezer.  Lol.  A whole bunch of people crammed together in freezing weather to watch them ooooh flick a switch and lights to come on.  Woooo.  Yay.  That's how exciting it is.  Lol.  I'll stay home.  : )..

Milo's keeping Dr. Swoope in business..

I'm thinkin we are going to have to ask for a frequent flier program through Dr. Swoope's office.  He's going to be able to afford a brand new car by the time we stop seeing him.  : (..  Soo, Dr. Swoope's our vet.  He's great.  Saved our cat from a bad bout of fatty liver disease.  Spayed Emmy, neutered Milo.  Fixed Milo's first toenail.  Fixed Milo's second toenail.  Now?  Today?  Is going to have to fix yet ANOTHER toenail.  Aye Carumba!  There has to be a limit of times that it's safe for them to knock him out to fix one. 

But!  Aha!  Now I know why he's broken the last two off at the quick.  We have five steps off our back patio.  Milo only uses two and then flings himself off them to run across the grass to bark at kitties, squirrels, birds or other dogs that are all outside of our fenced yard.  He loves to play hard.  I'm hoping that another rail going down the outside of the steps will curtail his jumping frenzy.  Hopefully he will realize that he needs to actually go to the bottom before he tears across the yard.  Hopefully.  Maybe.  Keeping my fingers crossed. 

He's only going to have seven toenails left after this, but I don't think it's safe to have him knocked out each time.  : (..  Emmy never had this problem, but she doesn't play with total abandon like Milo does.  He's still puppy crazy, even though he's starting to show signs of slowing down a little.  Just a little.  Dr. Swoope was teasing me last time and asked what I was doing to break his toenails.  Lol.  I'm almost embarrassed to be taking him back in again.  He knows that Milo's never been abused, lol, Milo is a happy, well-adjusted pup that still runs and plays happily in their office, despite being in pain from his toenails.  I'm hopin this will be the last one.  Aye carumba.

Brrr.. A quiet Sunday watchin Nascar..

Watching my Columbia, MO native Carl Edwards try to stave off Tony Stewart to win the Nascar Championship.  It's been a good one, going back and forth between the two.  Here's a little clip from last year's huge Missouri snowfall.  The story was, a local weather person was doing a live shot when Carl showed up telling them his truck was stuck in the snow.  Someone said the reporter told him they were busy and that they were getting ready to do the live shot until someone let them know just who had actually shown up.  Lol.  I'm guessing the weather person was not a Nascar fan?  : )..  Here's the link:

Go Carl!  : )..

One more winery..

After hitting five last weekend, I needed food so I missed hitting Albonee.  Finally made it today.  It was a little further out than I thought it was, but I got to see where our Truman Road goes after the point that I usually turn off.  : )..  Here are some pics of the winery and my growing winery stash..

 Sorry, had to take this shot from the side, there were some people enjoying the fire pit and I didnt want them to think I was trying to take their pictures.  Lol.

 I have a corkscrew, apron, neoprene carrier, and four yummy wines (I kinda cheated and added a Pirtle bottle we have had for a bit).  Now I just need to figure out what foods go with which wine.  : )..

 Really loved the Jowler Creek Nort.  Yummy stuff!  Caramel and vanilla undertones with a raisin aftertaste.  Deeelish!

Yay for Saturday! : )..

It is sooo nice outside, going to play with the pups for a while and enjoy it between laundry and other fun and exciting chores today.  : )..  Yay!

Ohh Yeah, I know what's for Thanksgiving dinner!

Umm, yeah! Sign me up for some of this Johnsonville Sausage Stuffing. Aunt Mildred might be a little miffed when her dried out stuffing gets pushed to the corner, but she's going to be running people off of this dish so she can have it alllll to herself. Ooooh yeah. Now that's some good sounding and looking stuffing! I might just hafta do a few test runs..... Hmmmm.. Whatcha say? You in? : )..

Click HERE for the video...

(does anyone have a monitor wipe? i just licked my screen again)

Two Shaggy Puppies.. One Great Groomer.. Voila!

Emmy's string cheese incident.. 

Milo's weedin.. 

 A trip to our new groomer, Aunt Chelsea..  : )..  And now?  Pretty little puppies!

What a little hound dog..  : )..