More hops!

As I mentioned previously, Peter and I have been brewing beer for just about a year now. We've had some failures, but made a lot more drinkable beer than we thought we would. It's a great hobby, especially because it brings with it a great community. Overall, homebrewers tend to be pretty cool people, and very supportive of each other, expert or beginner.

To that end, let's get some support out there for a new corner of the homebrewing universe (yeah, now I create universes). Peter's way more active on Twitter than I am (if you follow him, you know what I mean) and he's been following @fermentedtees for awhile. Recently, they announced that their new  website was just about ready to go live, and would anyone like to review one of their shirts. You know I was all over that!

Although they don't have a ton of designs to choose from, it still took me a while to decide. I do like the simple announcement of the homebrewer shirt.

An easy way to warn people that if they start talking to you about beer, they're going to be stuck for awhile, and probably going home with a six-pack (please tell me my husband isn't the only one that does that to unsuspecting water testers and HVAC guys)

In the end, I settled on Add More Hops. Good advice and a "cuter" shirt, IMO. Hey, I may make beer, but I'm still a girl, cute wins me over.

Ignore the red polka dot on my middle, my shirt was a victim of Valentine's Day red velvet cupcake making

Fermented tees shirts are screen printed on 100% cotton ultra Glidan t-shirts, and they are a really nice quality. The shirts are a nice thick fabric, which I've already washed a couple of times without any shrinking or pilling. I do wish they offered "women's" shirts, because the cut tends to be more flattering than men's, but I'm just going to hem some length off this shirt so I can stop folding the bottom off my hips.

Since I received my shirt, Fermented Tees has gone live, so head over there and check out the shirts they have for your favorite homebrewer. Don't see anything you like? They accept designs and ideas for designs, so put your creative mind to work!

What do you think? Are you dying for that retro "Yes, dear" shirt? Got a great new idea to send to Brian? Haven't gotten bitten by the homebrew bug yet?


Disclaimer: I received a t-shirt from FermentedTees free for review, the opinions expressed are my own.

New Year

I know it's cliched to start out the new year with lofty goals about being a better, thinner, healthier, richer, person, but, well I'm going to do it anyway. Except for the thinner thing.

I had a conversation with my cousins last year in which it came out that apparently everyone thinks I'm a put together, organized adult or something. Which is kind of hilarious to me, because most of the time, I feel like my life is a runaway train, and I'm barely keeping my fingertips on the caboose. Or, something that makes sense.

What it comes down to is I'm going to focus some of my energy into getting my life together so I can be at least a little like this persona I apparently present to the world.
Let's call it project get my sh*t together.  

The house
    Our house is over a hundred years old, and while that means its got some awesome features, it also has a ton of problems. For an old house, we have a good amount of storage, yet I always feel like I'm searching for places to put stuff. Part of that problem is the amount of stuff we have, and I plan on tackling that, but I like my stuff, I'm not going to part with all of it. 
     On the heels of the stuff issue, is the mess issue. I have a 3 year old, I know my house isn't going to be up to Martha standards, but I also don't think I need to have a deep down fear that someone may stop by before I've had a chance to take a couple of days to clean. Right now, my cleaning schedule is haphazard and consists of looking at something grody, realizing that I can't remember the last time I scrubbed said area, getting disgusted, then cleaning said area. For my own sanity, this must change. 

The garden
    My mother had not just a green thumb, but a couple of greens hands. The house I grew up in had amazing gardens, and I never realized just how much went into making them that way. Now, I have almost an acre of land, and every spring I am so excited to get my hands in the dirt. That excitement lasts until about June, when the reality of weeds and heat set in and I get over the whole thing. I'm going to try to improve on that this year. Peter's already thinking about what vegetables we're going to grow, and we're going to try to solve our groundhog problem (hopefully without ammunition), but since it's currently 22 degrees outside, this one is heading to the back burner for a while.

Work
     Ugh. I don't think I can actually improve on the technical aspects of my job. I do the best I can every day I'm there, and I AM only one person. What I can try to improve on is my attitude about my job. I really do like pharmacy in general, and retail in particular. I do not love the company I work for and the non-pharmacy crap that they pile on us to no end. However, the burn out inducing stress is not the patient's fault. I need to remember that.

Hobbies
    Until recently, I was a prolific knitter. Hats, gloves, sweaters, I made them all. My guest room is filled with bins of yarn. I have a spinning wheel and literal sheep worth of fleece. And short of the sweaters I've made for 2 babies, I've done nothing with it for 2 years. This needs to change. 
     I've been doing better with sewing than knitting, at least as far as actually doing it. I would like to improve on my actual skills though. I've been sewing for a really long time, but I was only "taught" the basics of how to run a machine, read a pattern, etc. I can make stuff that looks good, and fits ok, but I'd really like to know how to do those things well and correctly. 

So, there you go. Some areas of focus for getting my sh*t together.