Wine Tasting in Georgia

Yes, there are wineries in Georgia. Ken and I took my mother and her husband wine tasting last Sunday. They had never been before and did not understand why I wanted to take them. "Wine is wine," they said. Wrong!!! We went to a small winery (Sharp Mountain) were the make and bottle the wine all by hand. I was impressed at how small yet diverse this winery is. We sampled seven wines. The quality was not great, but ok. They did however have one of the most unusual wines I have ever tried. Cerrara has a repulsive odor, yet taste sweet and yummy. Just don't smell it. We also enjoyed thier Etowah. My mother and her husband had such a good time that we decided to drive up the road an hour to another winery. This was the other end of the spectrum. Huge vineyard, resturant, wedding pavilion, etc. The difference showed in the quality and price of these wines. They had some delicious complex wines. We all had a great time and mother is hooked. She wants to do the "wine highway" next year. We will be taking my sister for the 1st time Thursday to a local winery. I am looking forward to exposing her to some culture. In summary, I would say the wines in New Mexico definately trump the ones in Georgia, but if you enjoy tasting and you are traveling through these are worth a stop. This was one of the funnest days I have spent with my mom in a long time. After thought: prior to wine tasting, my mother took me to a little diner called "The Fruit Jar" in Cartersville, Ga. If you are near there this is a must. Good home cookin' piled high. You will leave with you wallet still intact and your belly stuffed. YUMMY!!!!

Georgia

It has been a while since I posted. Things have been crazy. Finally left the house and anything that did not fit. Yes there were things that did not fit. I am ok with all of it. We made it to my sisters with no problems. Well, if you exclude the 5 am wake up at the rest area and Ken's getting dog bit. Nonetheless, Theodore did not vomit once. YEAH!!! My sister has 3 children of her own and With my 2 it gets a bit noisy and hectic. I have been busy trying to help her clear out her house so she has room for the stuff I brought her. We may not get to DC till April. It all depends on when my uncle has his guest room available. I am enjoying the time with my sis and feel I am truely making an impact on her and her kids. HAving Ken around all the time has been wonderful. He is helping with the school work and kids and I have stopped yelling at them. We took a run up through the state park on the bike. It was a lot of fun. We hope to get to some nearby wineries soon. My nieces birthday is Sunday and I am very excited about being here for it. It looks like we may also be here for my mom"s bday. Nothing too excitingh to report yet. Keep reading. Thank you.

Georgia

Emotions

Ok so I am having a very emotional day. Not sure why. I think I am tired of the process and ready to go. Closed on the house today. I sorta feel like I am in a holding pattern. I have done all the priliminary stuff. Now I just kind of have to wait. I am ready to load vehicles. Hehehe. My brother has been emailing alot lately and I desperately want to get to Chile with him. I need to be out of here. We have some busy exciting days this weekend and I am hoping they pass quickly. I am just so ready to get in the car and drive away. I have never been accused of being a patient person. Waiting is extremely hard for me. I have things all ready to go and need to move on to the next step even if the world is not ready. This is partially about us all changing and stepping out of our box. Waiting is definately out of my box. I am also very sore from all the moving. Pulled a muscle in my back about 4 weeks ago and it has not had a chance to heal properly. So I am emotional, tired, and sore. I see a glass of wine in my near future. Hehehe
I have been making alot of plans with my sis and mom and am very anxious to get there. I love having Ken home with me. Just feeling him near me is so calming, even if we are not speaking. He is so much fun when he is not stressed out. The kids also seem to be responding well to his teaching. It is nice to have some help in that area. I hope to be able to start blogging more often now that we are so close to leaving and starting our adventure.

One More Week

We pull out of Lubbock one week from tomorrow. I am bursting with excitment, exhausted and sore from moving, and anxious it will not all get done or fit. We started moving into the storage unit this weekend. Since my thoughtful mother-in-law offered to store my piano in here house, we decided we only needed a 10x10 unit. Hehehehehe, what were we thinking. No, just kidding. It may all actually fit. The cooking ahead has worked out great. Our washer, dryer, and stove are all gone. I unplugged and unloaded the fridge today. Have to clean it for pick up tomorrow. We get our next set of shots tomorrow. I have managed to clear and clean 2 entire rooms. I will be getting to a third today and 2 more Thursday. This will only leave the kitchen, livingroom, and baths. We have family coming into town and a completely full weekend. I am kind of glad for the business. I work better under pressure and it will make the time go by faster. My brother is traveling in Chile and sending frequent reports. It sounds fascinating and I can not wait to get there. Things like sitting outside in the evening by the lake looking at the volcanoes nearby. He has scheduled a trip to climb one of the volcanoes in March and went penquin sighting the other day. The Spaninsh is coming slowly. Virginia has decided to start talking to the dogs in spanish. I guess they do not criticize her pronounciation. I need to write in spanish. I am a kinetic learner and do not think I will ever get it just listening to it. My brother says the spanish on Chiloe is different than other parts of Chile.
Boxed the kids toys this weekend, they seem to be fine with it. They have found the empty playroom/schoolroom to be a great place to experiment with echos and race cars. They drew and entire highway and town on the sidewalks out front over the weekend. It is amazing how inventive they can be when they have to be. I see the transformation beginning. At first they were stumped, what to do we have no toys??? Now they are creating fun in impressive fashion. We will be getting heavy into our DC study this week inpreparation for our visit. Virginia is also practicing hard for her storytelling competition this Sat.
I still feel no lose with out all the stuff. The empty house is freeing. I feel lighter. I even learned to flip an egg with a spoon the other day, (had packed the spatualas.)
There are no obstacles, only opportunity for creativity. I am not sure who wrote it, but it is true and exillerating. I feel the drudgery of daily life leaving with every new day and challenge and it is WONDERFUL!!!!!!

The great cook off

So in light of the fact that I will not have a stove or large refrigerator the last week we are here, I decided to stock the freezer. I am also sure I will be incredibly busy and not have time to cook. We have a small chest freezer, which will be going to family in GA. Yesterday I made breakfast quiche and cornbread. I figure I can do beans in a crockpot. The day before I cooked and froze meatballs. Spag is easy to heat in a microwave. The weekend will be tetrazini, goulash, baked ziti, and what ever else I think of. I have also frozen some leftovers, like brisket. I have a gingerbread done also. I am trying to push off the need for buying out as long as possible.

Our oldest moved out this weekend. I did not agree with it and still think he should have waited a few weeks and saved more money. That being said, it is helpful to have one less body. Less laundry and dishes is nice also. His leaving means I can go ahead and clear and clean that room and shut the door! It is working out to be the best thing for us. I just do not think it was the best thing for him, but he is happy and that is what matters.

My brother is in Chile and confirming alot of what we had read. This is extremely helpful. You can research and research, but never be sure till you get there. I am sure we will still be in for a few surprises when we arrive. I am actually looking forward to it.

Lesson Learned

FYI.... If you consider doing something like this be sure to keep everyone VERY informed. Also, remember that no matter how much information you offer, it is human nature to have preconcieved ideas and we rarely relinquish them swiftly. It will be your responsibility to gather and convey information about your travels and locations. When you think you have taken care of this, remember, you can never give too much information to the people who love and worry about you. Therfore, give them more than you feel nescessary, they will need it. And remember no matter how much information you give and how logical it all sounds there will always be those who either think your crazy, feel left behind, or are hurt or angry. This is human, acceopt and forgive. Pray, be kind and keep in mind, not everyone will be as excited for you as you are.

On another topic, my brother flies to Chile today and I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. I can not wait to have eyes on the ground. We plan to test our Skype this week as this will be our primary form of communication with everyone. Managed to get through curriculum this weekend. I was surprised by how willing I was to down size it. I really thought I would struggle with it. Hubby pointed out how much they will be learning about history, culture and science just by traveling. So it was easier to keep just the basics. We staged a box of books for someone to send us a few at a time. If virginia did not have plenty of reading material she would go crazy, but there was no way we could carry enough to keep her happy. We hope to get down there and find some used english books. Found a great spanish website, but it is still coming slow.