Pride and Embarrassment, Super Powers and Wishes – Friendly Fill-Ins for Friday Fun

It’s time once again for some Friday fill-in fun, the perfect way to wrap up the week and kick off the weekend!

From Ann of McGuffy’s Reader:

“The Friendly Fill-Ins are four fun and easy statements to complete. Ellen of 15andmeowing provides the first two statements and the final two are offered by myself. We try to make sure they will be fun to both answer and share. On Friday, the linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM. Please come back, link up, and share your thoughts!”

And away we go! Here are this week’s statements with my fill-ins:

Week 13: August 5, 2016

1. I am most proud of… my craftiness. I was blessed with the gene to see something and think “I can make that!” and do it. From creating custom dolls, to restoring antique composition dolls, to working with wood, hammer and nails, and yes, to winemaking. I think it’s fun to make something out of nothing based on an idea – like Princess Nagger’s Corgi head:

If I can envision it, I can make it – doing crafty stuff is actually very therapeutic for me.

2. I am embarrassed to admit… my very first batch of wine was actually wine vinegar. So, funny story – we had just moved into our 1817 farmhouse we bought in PA when we noticed an ancient grape vine was growing and loaded with tons of grapes. So the hubby and some friends picked all the grapes for me, and I commenced to make grape jelly out of the abundance of grapes.

But, after I stood for hours on end at a hot stove in my hot kitchen making jar after jar of grape jelly, I noticed I didn’t seem to be putting a dent in the plethora of grapes, so inspiration hit, and I did a quick google check on how to turn them into wine instead. Et voila! My passion for winemaking was born!

Of course for that first batch I hadn’t done the extensive research I’ve done since then, so I didn’t have the right equipment – but the most critical things I didn’t have was wine yeast (I used regular bread yeast), and I didn’t have brand new unused corks.

I know, I know.

Once I went through all the fermentation and racking steps, when I bottled that first batch, I corked them with previously used corks – I figured if I turned them upside down (since the corkscrew hole didn’t go all the way through the cork) and added wax to seal the bottles, I’d be safe.

I wasn’t.

Oxygen (the enemy for wine) was able to seep in, effectively turning it into wine vinegar. The takeaway from that is if you want to make homemade wine vinegar, all you have to do is uncork a bottle of wine and let oxygen work it’s magic for a couple of weeks. The end result is wine vinegar. So at least it was a learning experience, and every batch after that was done the ‘right’ way, and everyone who has tried my wine are in love with it – even those that either hate wine, or simply don’t drink it. They happily drink my wine.

And as a nice ‘pat on the back’, I’ve entered various varieties of my wine in the International Winemaker’s Competition several years in a row and have won gold, silver and bronze medals. It’s validation I’m doing something  right.

3. My super-power might be… sheesh! I don’t have a clue. My creative brain is failing me at this very moment! I even asked my family members, and they couldn’t come up with anything. Although Little Dude did decide that my super power is “a good cook” because I “cook good food”. Heh. 

4. I really wish I could… turn back the clock 20 years – not to change anything or repeat the last 20 years, but to have everything exactly as it is right at this moment, know what I know now, and have an additional  20 years to enjoy life as it is right in this moment. Because life is short! 

That’s a wrap! Hope you join in the fun!

 

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