Staycation?

It's school vacation week. 

My husband and I both teach.

 You may be thinking, "Wow, what a perfect week to go away somewhere warm together to relax and enjoy." 

HAHA. Here are the two reasons why we DO NOT get to do that. Number 1. If you can afford to fly during school vacation times, you clearly are NOT a teacher. Number 2. We did this last year (and drove!) and were more exhausted when we got home then when we left. These two reason in conjunction with trying to save a few pennies, helped us decide April vacation would be a little more of a "staycation" than a "vacation". We started the week with a big "to-do" list. Unfortunately so much of it was outside and this vacation's weather has been less than desirable. We managed to get one solid day of raking (for me) and clearing out our land (Matthew). We felt pretty accomplished and even feel a little better about looking out at our yard without snow. The days to follow however have been cold, rainy and a little lazy. We woke up to sunshine today--thanks MAINE, but much to our dismay, there was a chilling wind that kept us bundled up inside. I managed to get Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred in, followed by a walk...but other than that, today was just another lazy day. After an hour or so of grad school work, I decided what I was missing most of all during vacation was a good recipe. I was limited with supplies, but managed to pull of these amazingly delicious cookies. (recipe to follow later)

After taste testing a cooking and thinking about everything we should be doing, we decided to tackle something we wanted to do...brewing our next batch of home brew. 

We had just finished the last of our porter...

(...yep, there it is!)

So, we decided to pour ourselves a beer and start brewing. A few hours later, the sweet smell of barely and hops filled our kitchen. We are now waiting for fermentation and should be bottling next weekend. Then, the 3-4 week waiting period begins. The timing is perfect to kick off the sunny, warm, hopefully not disgustingly cold Maine weather. 

These bottles will soon be filled with delicious (we hope) Pale Ale. Someday this label might be famous. Just wait. Although the "to-do" list still awaits for tomorrow, our Thursday afternoon staycation turned out to be pretty successful. A home brew, burgers on the grill, and amazingly warm cookie sundaes (stay tuned)--could warm, sunny Florida really beat that?