Showing newest posts with label comment-a-thon. Show older posts
Showing newest posts with label comment-a-thon. Show older posts

Hello, anyone there?

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

First, I would like to announce the winners of the comment-a-thon. Congratulations go out to Jenn and Mickey. Mickey, email me, I need some info from you!

Secondly, remember that boy I was excited about a few weeks ago? Well things, were moving along pretty well for a little while, emailing back and forth on a pretty good basis for a bit, then things seemed to go awry. The last email I got from him was him saying we should get together some time. I agreed and emailed back my phone number. Then two weeks passed without any contact from him. Strange, beyond strange. I expressed my confused to La Nina and she mentioned it to him.

A few days later I got an email from him making all these excuses about how he was super busy at work and doing crazy shifts and it was midterms at school, etc. etc. blah blah. I don’t know about all this. He didn’t have 5 minutes in two full weeks to pick up the phone? Then Sunday he called, I let it go to voicemail. His message mentioned he was off most of the week. Last night he texted me. (at 12:31, who expects me to still be awake that late on a work night?)

Am I wrong to be miffed about this? Now that he has all this time he is all invested. But two weeks pass when he is busy? I want a guy who isn’t going to flake out on me when things in life get a bit crazy. I want a guy who is interested enough and enamored enough with me to want to talk to me soon after I give him my number, not two weeks later.

My M.O would be to run away and forget this guy in a split second, especially with kickball starting this week and there being a new batch of potential boys. But my M.O. has gotten me to 29 and still single.

Oh, and I totally just remembered the whole flannel and tie dye situation.

End of the Comment-a-thon

Monday, March 31, 2008

Today is the very last day of the March Comment-a-thon. I will not tell you who is winning at this point. There is still plenty of time for last minute upsets and the winning is up for grabs from anyone, so comment away. Remember, the winners are going to receive a hand made, personalized fit laptop sleeve, or other glorious prize if you don't own a laptop. I'll get results to you as soon as possible, sometime over the weekend at the latest.

Remember earlier in the month when I was sitting through up to 6 hours a day of online training at work? Remember how much it sucked? Ok, I might not have told you how much it was insanely boring and how I actually started to doze off at one point. Well, since I experienced all of that training I have received the plan we will be following to roll out the project that I needed all of this training for. Guess what...I am not involved in the plan at all. I will be having absolutely nothing to do with the entire project. Great, so I wasted probably about 20 hours of life for no reason whatsoever. Oh well, shit happens. It's probably good that I know how to use the program just in case things change or someone is out of the office.

I found out on Friday that tech support will be at the office and will be teaching us how to use the software hands-on and I will still be required to participate...in all three days of 7 hour sessions!

Needless to say, I will be vastly cranky for the three days without the ability to check blogs, the news, the gossip and personal email all day. Posts will be light, probably some interesting links I've had drafted for months, enjoy the crappy posts while I enjoy the crappy training.




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What My Exs Think of Me

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Pretext, I had IMed The Virus on Tuesday asking him "How are you feeling, Peanut?"

me: that was days ago
The Virus: yeah, i'm slow
lol
me: how did you even remember that?
The Virus: was looking through who was online in AIM and remembered you called me a peanut
i look nothing like charlie brown
good grief
[nose smile]
me: no no, not like charlie brown peanut, like how fetuses look like peanuts
The Virus: i look like a fetus?!
me: no you don't look like a fetus, your vulnerable and awwww-worthy like a fetus
its my term of endearment for people in turmoil
The Virus: I'm not in turmoil
me: You were going through a period of turmoiltuious
The Virus: You mean tumultuous
I voted for Bush, what's your excuse for bad spelling
me: not tumultuous, turmoiltuious, I just made it up
The Virus: you scare me




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Location Photo Essay

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Places I've been:

Key West

Atlantis




Las Vegas

.

CHICAGO

Cozumel

Places I want to go:

Australia

texas

Galapagos

Red woods, CA

rome

stonehedge




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Big Red Balls

As you all probably know by now, I play kickball. Adult kickball. Adult competitive kickball. And it is so amazingly fun. I mean, I personally am not at all very good. I get the concepts and the strategy, but I am not really all that athletic, and tend to curl up in the fetal position when the ball comes near me when I'm playing the field, but it's all right, my team is basically there to have fun, and are pretty A-OK with being mediocre.

Two years ago when Kickball finally came to the Hudson Valley I was a little concerned. The first time I stepped up the plate at my first pickup game I'm pretty sure I went into a slight panic attack. I hadn't participated in organized team sports since high school, and if I haven't mentioned it previously, I was awkward and miserable in high school. All I could picture was striking out and being ridiculed. I ended up doing poorly, and no one cared!

But the best part about kickball is the social aspect. Practically everyone I talk about on this blog are kickballers. After playing kickball for 45 minutes we spend the rest of the night at Mahoney's, our division sponsor bar. We drink and laugh and dance and play flip cup for the rest of the night. I am a kick ass flip cup player.

There are over 30,000 people playing adult kickball through WAKA, the World Adult Kickball Association in almost 200 divisions throughout the country. There is even a division of Marines playing in Iraq. Ladies have met their husbands playing kickball. Couples are having kickball babies. People network and find new jobs through kickball. If you are looking to get out of the house, make some new contacts, find a date, anything, you really need to be playing kickball. Hey, even Mira Sorvino plays kickball.

Our season starts in mid-April and I can not wait for Team Underpants to rally together for an amazing season. I can not wait for the new boys for potential dating. I can't wait for the gossip and news of what everyone has been up to all winter long. There will be parties and bbq's and get together of all kinds. And of course, there will be kickball.

And hopefully we can recruit this guy to be the newest addition to our kickball team.



See more funny videos at CollegeHumor




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Time Flies

Monday, March 24, 2008

Today is the last day of my four day weekend. And what did I do this weekend? No seriously, I'm asking you, because I have no idea. I'm pretty sure I did a whole lot of nothing, and I feel like a lazy piece of shit.

I spent most of the weekend chasing after the nieces and nephew. I didn't really have succinct plans for this weekend, but I was hoping to get out of the house and do something, anything. The excitement of my weekend was taking Olivia to PetSmart to pick out a new toy. Rock star, I know!

I hope your weekend was better than mine.

Oh, and an update on the comment-a-thon...

So far our winners are Mickey with commenting on the most posts and Jenn with the most comments overall. There is still plenty of time to unseat these forerunners. Keep commenting to win the hand made personal fit laptop sleeves, or other assorted magnificent prizes if you don't have a laptop!




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Newton's Law

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Reincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I". According to such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life in the physical world, but some part of the self remains constant throughout the successive lives.

Do you think more than just the spirit of a person can you reincarnated, how about human relationships, or life situations? With the world in a constant state of flux and people going in and out of relationships and jobs and statuses, do you think there are only a certain number available, and sometimes we have to wait our turn before the reincarnated "spirit" comes back our way? Do we cause the end of someone else's relationship when we start a new one of our own?

The Virus IMed me out of no-where yesterday. His fiance broke up with him, a week before the closing on the house they were buying together. This drastic change got me thinking. While it was the end of something for him, who was experiencing the beginning of a relationship? Maybe it was me, I am still emailing La Nina's friend. (Time will tell on that one.)

It seems like there have been so many changes lately. Just since the beginning of the year my circle of friends have experienced breakups and engagements, pregnancies and deaths. New houses and old apartments. And they all are going hand in hand. One person feels the pain of a loss and at the very next turn I am celebrating the joy of life with another friend. Maybe it isn't reincarnation as much as it is life remaining in balance, a social Newton's law of motion. I have always been a big believer in Karma, but maybe I've had it wrong this whole time. Maybe it isn't that we deserve something good or bad to happen to us, rather that someone else has had something end and that the spirit is ready to be reincarnated in us.



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Dog proof

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I need to formulate a plan to keep Olivia from eating the cat food. I currently have Merlot's bowl on a desk, all the way against the wall. Olivia can just barely reach it if she uses her tippy toes and catches the bowl with her claws. I've refilled the bowl three times today. I tried to move the bowl onto the kitchen counter, and showed Merlot where it was, but I'm not sure she can jump that high because she didn't eat for the two days it was there.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there some kind of dog-proof cat bowl?




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I just remembered I have a four day weekend coming up. How on earth did I forget that?



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Thanks, George

I got my letter from the government yesterday announcing that I will be getting a rebate. No shit, government, thanks for spending $42 million to tell me that. I really wish you had just not spent that money, been fully aware that everyone in the world knows they are getting this rebate, and split that $42 million among us and give us more of a rebate.

Anyway... so my $600 is on its way. (And I only know that it is $600 because I had to follow the formula in the letter, for $42 million they could have at least told me exactly how much I'm getting without making me do the math.) I'm pretty excited because this extra money will put me over the edge of saving for my new kitchen floor.

I started this project over a year ago by pulling up the linoleum in the hallway. After about 10 minutes of work I realized there was no possible way I was going to be able to remove the linoleum glue-of-death by myself. The stuff is only about five years old, stuck on there for all of eternity. Hence, a year of living with a hole in my floor. Good times.

But all that is going to change with the addition of my new black and white checkerboard floor which will be ordered the day my check comes in!

What do you plan on doing with your rebate?



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Friday, March 14, 2008

First of all, I told you that Foreign Artsy Films were not to be trusted, here is proof:




I am stealing this fun idea from the tons of bloggers in my google reader who have done this lately.
  1. Go to http://photobucket.com.
  2. Type in your answer to each question in the search box.
  3. Use only the first page.
  4. Copy the html and paste for the answer.
1. What is you relationship status

Photobucket

2. Who is your celebrity crush

mike rowe

3. Who is your favorite band

Counting Crows

4. What is your favorite movie

The Princess Bride

5. What kind of pets do you have

Dog and Cat

6. Where do you live

The Poughkeepsie Tapes

7. Where do you work

cubicle

8. What do you look like

german

9. What do you drive

ford escape

10. What is your favorite show

Lost

11. Describe yourself
Finnigan's Festival of Funky Fresh Fun

12. What is your name

Dutchess

13. What is your favorite candy

Swedish Fish


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Not to be trusted:

Thursday, March 13, 2008

  • Anyone who keeps stuffed animals in the rear window of their car
  • Men who wear gold necklaces
  • Any character played by Willem Dafoe as well as anyone who looks, sounds, smells or seems even remotely similar to Willem Dafoe
  • The Amish
  • Women with breasts larger than their skull (well, men too I suppose)
  • People who do not find Chelsea Handler funny.
  • Men who drive yellow or teal colored cars
  • Anyone over the age of 16 who doesn't realized that women do not pee out of their vaginas
  • Zombies or anything that could be classified as undead
  • Myspace strippers
  • Any combination of words that places "M" and "N" next to each other such as in "room number," my mouth can't produce those sounds.
  • People who get their dogs high.
Sorry I have to interrupt this list to tell everyone that Olivia and Merlot are sharing the couch and not eating each other, this is big news!

  • 98% of my ex-boyfriends
  • Management
  • Foreign artsy films
  • People who call it "pop" instead of soda
  • Show dog handlers
  • Knitters under the age of 45
  • People who do not know all the words to "American Pie"
  • Houndstooth fabric
  • Jimmy Buffet
  • The smell of lavender (watch out it's shifty)
  • Ben from LOST
  • Rachel Ray
  • The people who order the coffee for my office and only get French vanilla in the stupid decaffeinated variety.
What are some things you don't trust?



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Hazy Shade of Winter

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I am officially done with winter. That's it. I am over this whole being cold all the time thing. I am tired of wearing at least three shirts just to still freeze. I am sick of not being able to walk Olivia without putting boots on and worse yet, bring cute shoes to change into when I get to work because I have to trudge from the parking lot to the office in my boots.

I hate looking at dirty snow. And it gets dirty three seconds after it falls, which it has been doing constantly since November.

I can feel the inside of my nose about to crack open and bleed from being so dry.

I'm ready for sun to warm my skin.

I am tired of wearing winter clothes. I want short sleeves.

I don't want to pay for home heating oil anymore.

My body is craving crickets and warm breezes and late sun sets and beers and cigarettes on the back porch and fireflies and the constant hum of a window fan and the smell of spring rain. I want mud instead of frost. I'd rather mow the lawn than shovel the walk. I want to go hiking and play kickball again.

Ultimately I am just done with winter. It has gone on long enough now, we get the point, Mother Nature has awesome powers and can do all sorts of different precipitation and temperatures, but it can stop now.




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Taking Bets

Monday, March 10, 2008

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer Apologizes After Prostitution Link

I am officially taking bets on how long it will take for this story to be developed into a "ripped from the headlines" Law and Order episode.

The winner closest to the length of time before this episode airs will win the prize du jour of a custom sized handmade laptop sleeve, (or other fabulous prize if you do not own a laptop.)

And for the bonus, is this going to be a regular Law and Order, SVU or CI?









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Prizes

The prizes for the Comment-a-thon will be custom sized laptop sleeves, handmade with love by yours truly. And if you don't have a laptop, I'll come up with something equally fantastical.

Things to do

Just a quick update on the Comment-a-thon. We are more than a week into the month long contest and so far Jenn is the front runner for winning both the most comments and most posts commented on. As prizes are the same, it would be silly for her to win both so...coming in with the second most posts so far is Mickey and SurvivingMyself.


Things to do in the next week:
  • Cut pattern for homemade gauchos
  • Celebrate St. Patrick's Day/ La Nina's Birthday
  • Sit through almost 6 more hours of training in one day at work
  • Update my readers on the status of the Comment-a-thon

Thing to do in the next month:
Thing to do in the next year:




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Ultimate Blog Party

Friday, March 07, 2008

Ultimate Blog Party 2008

Hello, come in, can I take your coat? Don't mind the dog, she has no manners. Olivia, get down, get down. Hold on, let me get her a treat so she'll leave you alone.

Come in, come in. Can I get you a drink? A glass of wine? Perhaps some sangria?


Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 liters red table wine(I used Lambrusco)
  • 1 cup grenadine
  • 2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
  • 1 1/4 cups sweet vermouth

sugar water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • strawberries, cut into thirds
  • oranges, slice thin,then quartered
  • crushed ice

Directions

1. This makes a gallon.
2. Mix all the ingredients, except for ice.
3. Let sit in refrigerator at least 4-5 hours, if not overnight.
4. Pour sangria into serving glass over ice, fruit and all


Please enjoy an appetizer of Bake Brie and Caramelized Onion.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
  • 8 cups sliced onions (about 4 large)
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

  • 1 8-inch-diameter 32- to 36-ounce
  • French Brie, packed in wooden box (reserve box)
  • 2 French bread baguettes, sliced

Melt butter in heavy very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté until just tender, about 6 minutes. Add minced thyme, reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are golden, stirring often, about 25 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup wine; stir until almost all liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over onions and sauté until soft and brown, about 10 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup wine; stir just until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool. (Can be prepare 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Unwrap Brie, reserving bottom of wooden box. Cut away only top rind of cheese, leaving rind on sides and bottom intact. Return Brie to box, rind side down. Place box on baking sheet. Top Brie evenly with onion mixture. Bake until cheese just melts, about 30 minutes. Transfer Brie in box in platter. Surround with baguette slices.

Men, you can come to the table now. (Because you know the women have been chatting in the kitchen anyway.) For those meat-eaters at this party, I apologize, but your hostess is a vegetarian and doesn't even cook the stuff. So dinner tonight will be Fake Chicken Parmesan.

Ingredients:

  • Quorn Garlic'N Herb Chik'n Cutlet (your call on how many you need for home many people, I'd say 2 each, but your friends might not eat a lot etc.)
  • Meatless red sauce
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese
OK, this is the super easiest dinner recipe ever. Microwave the fake chicken cutlets according to the directions on the box. But don't make them super hot. Cover the bottom of a pyrex dish with sauce and place the cutlets on top, don't over lap. Add more sauce on top and then cover with a good layer of mozzarella. Bake until sauce is hot and cheese is completely melted. Individual servings can be done completely in the microwave.

I hope you are enjoying my little dinner party. How about some dessert, some Berry Crostata.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups (plus 1 tablespoon) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cups (plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cups (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup raspberries
  • 1 cup fresh blackberries
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1. Make the dough: Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in center of the dry ingredients and place the butter and 1 egg in the well. Using your hands, mix the ingredients into a soft, pliable dough. Form it into a 4-inch disk and place it on lightly floured parchment paper. Lightly dust the dough with flour and roll it into a 10-inch circle. Place dough with parchment on a baking sheet, cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Make the crostata: In a small bowl, mix remaining flour and sugar and set aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and evenly spread the flour and sugar mixture on the dough, leaving a 1-inch-wide border around the edge. Place berries on top of the mixture and sprinkle with lemon juice. Fold the 1-inch border over top of the berries to form a 9-inch crostata.
3. Bake the crostata: Lightly brush the top of the crostata dough with remaining beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake on the middle rack of the oven -- about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and slide crostata with the parchment paper onto a wire rack. Cool for 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thank you so much for coming. This was fun, we should do it more often.

And if I were to win a prize for my party (because they do give out prizes for that sort of thing)
I would like...

#54 - Liza from Liza’s Eyeview would like to donate a $60 gift certificate to Mikarose.com. Mikarose is an on-line store of elegant modest dresses at affordable pricing.
#103 - LEGO will give away 7 Pink Brick Box play sets, in honor of the 7 day long Ultimate Blog Party! LEGO® Creative Building sets offer open-ended creativity and endless play possibilities for children of all ages. With the new Pink Brick Box moms and their daughters (and sons!) can build together with classic iconic LEGO bricks in a new color splash! Little builders can practice being creative with this new tub featuring a multi-colored assortment of bricks, perfect for building a cute ice cream parlor, animals, flowers, people, cars and more. Set includes building instructions for 3 models and photo inspiration for 15 more. New storage case allows for quick and fun clean-up. Ages 4+.
#59 - Lori from A Cowboy’s Wife is giving away $25 via pay pal.

I would also be honored to enjoy number 38, 46, 59




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In the car, I just can't wait...

Thursday, March 06, 2008

I had a date yesterday. Well, maybe it was a date. Maybe it was an initial-first-meeting-three-people-get-to-know-you-dutch-situation/ date. La Nina finally organized a lunch gathering for me to meet her single friend and I have to tell you, I'm a bit aflutter.

I'm not going to give him a nickname yet, we will have to wait and see if he is deserving of one, but so far, I'm not turned off, but I don't know him well enough to decide if I "like" him yet. He is good on paper, attractive, good job, eats politely, taller than I am, going back to school, is into music and camping. So far so good. Of course he does have some points against him, he lives above a funeral home, works with Wyoming (and when I say work with I don't just mean the same employer, I mean the SAME TEAM, yeah, small world) and he wore tie dye under flannel to lunch. But the positives are out weighing the negative so far.

Anyway...I'm aflutter. I'm excited! I'm thrilled for the whole getting to know you portion of a relationship. I usually hate this phase. I typically beg the universe to let me skip over the getting to know you and go straight to the comfortable stage. But things seem different this time. I'm ready to hear his stories, and learn about his intricacies. I want to be able to tell him about my problems, and kickball! Oh I can't wait to tell him about kickball.

Perhaps I could be feeling this way because he didn't even question my vegetarianism. I'm not used to that from a boy, I usually at least get a face. So far, no face!

Wish me luck!




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A letter to a castmate of ANTM

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Dear Fatima of America's Next Top Model,

When you felt the need to discuss your female circumcision on the very first day of meeting your fellow cast members and the need for "shock value" or "attention" or any other purpose you discussed this, you lost all right to bitch and moan about the pain of getting a weave on episode 3.

Seriously, I hate you,
The Dutchess of Kickball

Cheap Red Wine: Issue 1

This is the first post in a new series here at Average20Something. I know very little about wine. Basically, I know what I like, although why I like it is a veritable mystery. I invite you to join me through my education into wine:

3 Blind Moose Merlot - 2005. $10.99


I have to admit, I generally choose the wine I drink based on the "coolness" of the label and the price, anything under $9.99 the better, unless the label is super cool then I'll go tops of fifteen bucks. This particular gem seemed pretty neat to me so I went for it.

The first thing I noticed about the wine itself when I poured was the distinct purple shade, similar to a nice ripe plum. And the fruitiness continued with the first sip. My uneducated palate grabbed a hint of cherries and something fresh...maybe cucumber? The Merlot is also significantly grapey. Yeah it's wine, or course, grapes, but not necessarily, I've had a ton of red wine that could have been fermented from dirt for all I knew. Speaking of witch, the 3 Blind Moose is reminding me of the smell of a deep forest, maybe that's just me.

One thing I noticed immediately about the 3 Blind Moose Merlot is that it is a smooth, easy to drink wine. It doesn't make you make that face when a wine is a tad too rough. Is that because of the tannins? Hold please, I'll google it. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Go.

Woo hoo, how smart am I? According to Wikipedia "Tannins in wine have been described, particularly by novice drinkers, as having the effect of making wine difficult to drink compared to a wine with a lower level of tannins. Tannins can be described as leaving a dry and puckered feeling with a "furriness" in the mouth that can be compared to a stewed tea, which is also very tannic. This effect is particularly profound when drinking tannic wines without the benefit of food." This novice concludes that this Merlot is low in tannins, and I like it.

Overall, the 3 Blind Moose Merlot is tasty and nice. It sort of reminds me of a summer evening. I can easily picture myself sitting outside under the trees on the front lawn sipping a glass of this fruity wine. Maybe I'm just sick of this winter weather. All in all, in the rating system I am making up as I'm typing this, I give this wine an "above average." The 3 Blind Moose Merlot is better at being wine than I am at being a 20something.

Do you have any "cheap red wine" that you'd recommend, or would like for me to review?




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