No, that isn’t a typo in the title.
I think I have milked the wine bag dry. When I first got the bright idea for Wine on Wednesdays I thought I had hit the mother lode. “I love wine! I’ll never run out of topics to blog about!” As is my fashion, I completely underestimated the difficulty of the task. “How hard can ripping up the carpet in the living room be? I’ll wait until my husband leaves town and find out!” Big mistake.
Turns out, I know jack shit about wine other than what I like and don’t like to drink. I would love to learn more, but until the Earth slows its rotation a bit and gives us a few more hours in the day, that ain’t happening.
Plus, I found a blog about wine that is humorous and informative and says everything I would like to say if I had the slightest clue about anything wine related. I stole ideas from that blog. Not my proudest moment, but I was desperate. So, if you want to read about wine, go to Dr. Vino’s Wine Blog. It is awesome. And yes, he really is a doctor.
Another reason why I shouldn’t be blogging about wine on a regular basis is that I’m actually trying to cut down on my wine consumption. (Gasp!) Yes, I’m afraid so. No more wine during the week for me and only one bottle on the weekends (not counting parties and special occasions). Why? Well, I feel really crappy when my husband comes home from an AA meeting and I’m on the couch, half way to sloshed with red teeth. (I’ve neglected to mention that my husband is a recovering alcoholic because up until two months ago he wasn’t “recovering.” Remember all those posts about serious crap going on in my life? Yeah, that’s one of them.) Luckily, when my husband sees wine he doesn’t think “alcohol, drunky fun time!” He thinks, ”foul, evil beverage that makes my brain melt!” So, I’ve been able to keep my wine cooler and enjoy wine whenever I wish without it bothering my husband. But, I know it isn’t fair that I get to indulge, so I’ve cut down.
Bottom line: I’m not feeling it anymore. And, if I’m not feeling it, then I’m not going to write about it. I had a good run – eleven wine posts. Okay, that’s kinda lame, but at least I quit before I started churning out crap. Right?
One last little wine related item . . .
Does anyone know how I can get red wine into an empty (unused) blood bag?
You know, for Halloween!
Well you know you can turn this around to being “Whine on Wednesdays” and have it your day to gripe about something?
And you’re not a quitter, you’ve just been wise enough to see it is time to quit whilst you are ahead.
Good luck to you both xx
I gripe about things every day! And yes, I can see it as quitting while I was ahead and before I made a complete fool out of myself.
Thanks!
Should keep hubby’s affiliation with that group anonymous. Insiders and outsiders to respect anonymity. There is nothing shameful about being in recovery. To the contrary. We are blessed because the Higher Power has embraced us. No activity of others re this breed of beverage influences me in any way. Example: Carl belongs to and attends regularly ” a” 12-Step program that deals with alcohol abuse and recovery and Carl is so thankful he was drawn into the rooms. Carl now has 8 1/2 years of freedom. (that’s after at minimum a fifth of vodka a day plus other products for 35 years). Carl can still enjoy a good drunk joke or cartoon and laugh at his own foolishness. And wine column is funny and can appreciate that too! I just don’t inhabit that territory any more. It doesn’t mean others cannot enjoy because of my particular inabllty. And if Carl can save one life(have 6 sponsees), he doesn’t give a rat’s butt because everyone in town and three abutting counties knew and even at college 40 years later as a legend, everyone knows it was me. Ha! My original joke; What kind of champagne do penguins drink on New Year’s Eve? COLD DUCK, of course. Another: We didn’t let Uncle Stan go to the linen sale at Penny’s because he’d come back three sheets in the wind. See. Still have fun. OK, so I’m corny, bit happy corny.
Everyone who knows my husband in “real life” already knows everything and he is definately not ashamed of his recovery. I am very proud of him. I am proud of you too. Eight years and 6 sponsees is an awesome acomplishment. It’s good that you can joke and have such a positive attitude about it all.
Thanks Carl, I love meeting other friends from around the country. I’d love to keep in touch with you and share some recovery. By the way, we are having the 57′th annual convention here in Athens at the end of the month and I am so excited. I’ve been helping out with a motorcycle poker run and it has been a great experience. I have made new friends and have thoroughly enjoyed giving back. It is going to be an awesome 4 day event and I can’t wait.
If you could put the bag into a container that you could depressurize and then run the tube out of it into the wine container, that might do it. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what kind of container would work for that. I’m sure there are medical lab containers that would do this, but I’m not sure where to get them. The only other way I could think of is to use syringes (without needles) and fill them up one at a time and then inject them into the tube. You might be able to do this with one of those marination injectors.
I have a marination injector and was thinking about that very thing! It just might work. Yeah, I am sure that there is some kind of medical equpment I could use, but I think that if I walk into a hospital with an empty blood bag and a bottle of wine security might be called.
low- powered pump, maybe? You might be able to rent one from your local tool rental place or from the big orange box. And if it fails spectacularly, you’ll have something for your next w(h)ine on wednesday post…
That sounds kinda dangerous. And knowing my track record, it would fail spectacularly! I think I’ll try to stick with non-powered options for now.
Not to sound like an enabler, but you are always welcome to wine and whine at my house! Seriously though, I can completely understand your decision and I’m sure that show of support means a lot to Tom. Love you guys and looking forward to seeing you both the shindig. Send me any info (like when,where, and time) when you know.
Thank you, April! Shindig is still in embryonic stages at this point, but I will keep you posted.
Maybe pour the wine into a bucket or pan and use the tube to submerge the tube vertically with the opening going upward. Then fill the tube up as much as possible, then pull it out of the bucket and let it drain it into the bag. repeat and maybe you’ll get it full by Halloween next year.
~Martha Stewart
Yeah, I think I would start drinking it straight out of the bucket after a while.
Hey, you gotta doctor in the family and a nurse as best friend, surely (stop calling you Shirley) they can help. Check out the Red Cross, they do this all the time.
The idea rocks, I get the image; what ever you do, do it over a large bowl so you can at least slurp the failures.
Tom rocks too!!!!
I’ve already hit up Carrie for some knowledge, but I’m not so sure that Tom’s sister will “get behind” the project. I will make it happen. And yes. Tom does rock!
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I’ve enjoyed your Wine on Wednesdays because your point of view is entertaining, not unattainable knowledge. It’s something applicable that I enjoy reading! I enjoy reading your other posts too so I’m not going anywhere. I wish I had some advice as far as filling those bags! But alas I have nothing. No advice from me. Just words of encouragement for you both during your husbands journey. Recovering takes strength from both and he’s fortunate to have your support during this!
If you are reading my blog for knowledge, you are in the wrong place!
I figure I need to at least be entertaining in regards to things I know an iota about.
Thank you for your words of encouragement. They are truely appreciated.
Wine in a blood bag…genius.
This guy in college used to put margarita mix in some army IV backpark or something.
Margaritas to go! That is genius.
Thank you everyone for your support. Carl, it is good to know another friend of Bill reads Amy’s blog beside me. My wife is awesome, and very supportive. I’d hate she is restricting an activity that she enjoys because of me. I say keep it up, a bottle a night would be fine with me, soon enough we could both be friends of Bill honey. Wouldn’t that be awesome! I love you honey.
I enjoy spending time with you much, much more than I enjoy wine. (Barf, right?)
And, sweetie, you know my genes, it would take a lot more than one bottle a night to turn me into a friend of Bill.
Love you too, sweetheart!
Tom, I wish you all the best in your recovery. I’ve been down that road a few times myself (and gotten off it a few times, too.) Currently, I’ve been an active friend of Bill’s for almost two years. I’ve had a lot of white-knuckle days, but he and I are still chums.
Amy, I think it’s great that you’re supporting your husband like this. Despite the fact that I’m on the wagon, I’ve enjoyed the series a lot. One of these days, I’ll get back to writing my own blog (life has been calling a lot lately.)
Wow, Jim, I had no idea. Congrats on your almost two years. That really is something to be proud of.
You do have a lot on your plate right now with the new baby and all, so I’ll cut you some slack as far as your blog goes.
I can’t tell you how many times I though I hit the mother lode only to come back after three posts to find the well was dry. Sorry if that was a mixed metaphor but I suck at mining.
I’m not sure but I know that it will work like a charm with a morphine drip. That would be even better!
Everything kinda works like a charm with a morphine drip, doesn’t it?
I totally understand. I start themes all the time. Never make them go any further than about 2 weeks, so I say 11 wks was one helluva run. And I’m with the Whine on Wednesdays theme too. It’s cute and we would all love it.
As for giving up the booze, just think, not only will you be supporting your husband you’ve got the added bonus of lowering your caloric intake during the work week. Win-Win!
And hey, I don’t know your husband, but I’m really proud of him. That’s a mighty big step and no doubt it will only make him stronger.
Whine on Wednesdays may get out of control and leak into every other day of the week, too.
My husband doesn’t know you either, but he appreciates the support. I am very proud of him and giving up a few bottles of wine is nothing.
You’ve never been a whiner to speak of, however, I’m sure you could get into it. Just keep it up, I’ll give you something to whine about (Ha Ha, mother joke).
Oh, I already got plenty to whine about, but I just never see the point. Who wants to hear that crap? I’m more of a doer thank a whiner.
No apologizing! This is your blog and you can do whatever you want to. So there! Plus, everything you do is splendid! So glad things are going well for you two at home. So, so hard, but so, so doable with support. x iz
I know, I know. It is MY blog and I can do whatever I wish, but now that I actually have people reading it, I feel that I need to justify myself. I’ll get over it.
Things are going great for us, thank you so much!!
Haven’t had a chance to read thoroughly all of the suggestions, but large syringe perhaps? That would be a slow tedious process, but worth it I would assume.
I have thought about using a large meat marinade injector syringe type thing that I have. The barrel is pretty large, so I would be able to get a fair amount of wine into the bag with each pump.
It will definitely be worth it!