Monday mental health day

Our dinner party last night was a roaring success. The ceviche, black bean soup, fresh bread and Mexican hot chocolate were all delicious; the 4 (!) bottles of wine we had were also delicious, yet also troublesome in that some of the wine got on our fancy tablecloth. Internets research says to use equal parts soap and hydrogen peroxide to get the stain out; it has been soaking in cold water since last night.

One of the bottles we had was this year's beaujolais. We tried it two years ago and found it delicious; last year's vintage was rather disappointing. At the liquor store on Saturday, it was on sale so we decided to give it a shot - and, in my opinion , it was even better than two years ago. We'll have to pick up some more while it's still available. We also got some faux kahlua so I could indulge the craving for white Russians I've had for the past few weeks (I make them with vodka, kahlua and nonfat evaporated milk - you get the creamy texture in the drink without the dairy fat that hurts my tummy). I have fond childhood memories of kahlua; it's the only drink I really remember my parents drinking (other than my dad's occasional Red Tail Ale) and it was a drink that my dad made at home in the ancient Old Granddad bottle on the cherry wood stand my parents got for a wedding gift. I never really drank it until college (I never drank anything until college) but I got to have sips of kahlua after my dad's yearly batch was ready. He and my mom drank it with half and half on ice in wine glasses at Christmas time.

So this morning we had a clean house except for our very messy kitchen, and I decided that rather than having that mess hang over my head all day I would just clean it first thing. Which I did. I washed and Dan dried, and because it had been clean before dinner it wasn't too bad. After that I had the whole rest of the day to work on projects - some of which I did, others of which I couldn't because I spent hours this afternoon waiting for the UPS guy (had a package needing a signature being delivered; the note said delivery between 2 and 5; he came at 6:45). So what did I end up doing?

1. Cleaned kitchen (with Dan's help)
2. Took shower
3. Processed sugar pumpkin (cut in half, baked in pan with water until soft, pureed in food processor in many batches, let sit over cheesecloth-covered colander for about six hours, squeezed remaining water out through several layers of cheesecloth). I will use this pumpkin to make the pie for Thursday's dinner.
4. Organized in Petra's room (that's what we call our second "bedroom" which is too small to actually have a bed in most of the time, so it's really our project/art/storage room). Petra likes to hang out in there, so it is her room.
5. Spent several hours waiting for UPS guy; while waiting I got a good amount done on the wedding project that I'm doing using old calendars.
6. Also while waiting, I watched some of the DVD extras from the Fellowship of the Ring (fancy edition) that I hadn't seen since the fancy edition came out.

Despite my frustration with the UPS guy, I feel like I got a lot done. I really wish he'd come by five so I could have gone to the gym. At least I was mostly active today and didn't do too much sitting. Tomorrow I'm going to have to atone by gymming for 2 hours. That's OK; I need the exercise.

Oh, and when we went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, we had the oddest list of items ever, I think: lemon, milk, salt, drain cleaner. The last of the salt from the salt container I bought when I moved to Colorado finally ran out earlier this week. That means it took nearly 5 years for us to go through a thing of salt. I guess that means we don't use much.