The Long Awaited Day: Beer Bottling!

Faithful blog followers, do you remember this post about brewing day four months ago?

Well today was bottling day! Huzzah!!!

So we took the carboy of beer that has been sitting in the closet fermenting since October...

 and managed to siphon it into the white bucket with a spout next to it

(after a lot of sanitizing of bottles and caps and tubes).

Then I (wo)manned the spout and filled the bottles while Clay capped them.

And here is the result:

and again in the cupboard...

It's an Imperial Stout and it measured at 8.9% ABV (alcohol by volume).  

Becky the Snail Mailer posted a really good idea for a name on my original posting: Bête Noire, the black beast.

I'm not using that name, but it is quite similar to the name I finally arrived at.

Three Dark Mules Imperial Stout

named after the three mules you see on the sidebar,

Molly, Elmer and Livee.

This is in tribute to them because I miss them a lot. This summer my parents had to sell them because of health issues with my dad.  It was a hard choice, but with another Wisconsin winter on the horizon, it would have been too much for my parents.  So they were sold, all three together to a farm an hour or so away from where my parents live.

Hopefully when I go to visit my parents next I can also visit the mules.  Their new owners use them to give trail rides, so perhaps I'll even be able to ride my sweet Livee again.

But, tonight is a night for celebration, and I'm doing that with a delicious cocktail, a Martinez (a precursor to the Martini), and a marvelous letter from a newish penpal.

Have a good night!

Early January Outgoing Mail

 I sent a children's book to my library friend to "check out". heehee

On the back I wrote:

Dana said that when she got it a postal worker had written a thank you on the back! Yay!

And this envelope I sent my cousin Aaron a letter in was actually made by Dana.

I love the combo of the monkeys and the tiger cub stamp.  Go wildlife!

a hand drawn postcard sent to one of my best friends who recently moved back to Maryland

And finally, some late Christmas gifts:

and a birthday gift for my beautiful niece (using the washi tape I got for Xmas! my first roll!):

Today's lesson plan

As some of you already know, I teach elementary french...

The lesson today was one particularly dear to my heart: 

la communication!

and look at what is in my book!!

That's right!  Emilie writes a letter!!

She even has all the necessities right there!

une feuille de papier

une enveloppe

un timbre

After this short section, the book goes on to talk to talk about internet and email, but I had a lot of fun with the letter section.  I brought my extensive stamp stockpile to show them, as well as some choice examples of mailart that has been sent to me.

I also made them envelopes.  They got to pick one from the pile:

  (I did include some that I had acquired in swaps.)

I think it was rather a hit!

(And besides I got to make envelopes and tell myself that I was doing work.)

Cheers for things you love coming together!

Outgoing Mail

 horsey themed envie

This is the longest letter I've ever written on a typewriter.  It was kind of hard to keep my focus.  I'm definitely not used to it.  I don't have eraser fluid, so I was just using the slash mark when I made mistakes too.

A valentine's day letter for a friend of a friend who is currently living in St. Vincent & the Grenadines!
I made her an origami heart to hang up somewhere. It was quite easy!

and this is rather scandalous!   This is the antivalentine's day swap that I originally made the "dark and bitter" drawing for.  Here's the envelope I sent it in!

and a closer look...

Anti-Valentine's Day Postcard- for sale soon!

So. I joined a swap to make an Anti-Valentine's Day card for your partner.  I made one. 

And then I made it into a postcard and ordered a bunch.

This is my very first business venture and it's exciting and maybe a little crazy!

So I will be selling them for 75 cents each plus shipping (meaning a 45 cent stamp unless you buy a ton)...

And here it is:

  The image is hand drawn by yours truly.  I don't think that the lines around the card will be there.

The website I used said that they should arrive on Jan. 31st.  I'm not sure it would make sense for anyone international to buy them since it would take a while to get to you before you could send it before V-day.

Would anyone like to buy one or some?

 They're perfect for friends who live far away!

Please leave a comment or email me at emiliestaubs@gmail.com if you are interested!