Mynee's Musings

We've Got Cabinets

Woohoo!  We have cabinets.  They installed them last Monday and Tuesday.  Here are some pictures...

 
 
 
The cabinet in the first picture is not the island, it's actually the cabinet that is perpendicular to the sink (the opening next to the dishwasher) in the bottom picture.  The wine rack used to be over this cabinet but we relocated it next to the refrigerator.  This used to be the desk but we never used it as a desk so we raised it to countertop height and it is now a dry bar.  All of the wine glasses, beer glasses, decanters, etc will be stored here. 

We've only encountered one "problem" so far and actually, I'm not even sure I can call it a problem.  They put the island in the wrong place.  We specifically wanted the island in the same place as the original one.  The new one is 6 inches longer but it's the same width.  Well, they installed it much too close to the sink but it has since been repositioned so all is well.  Of course now the electrician needs to move the outlets for the pendant lights so that they are centered over the island.  Um, I told him when he put in the new outlets last week that I didn't think they were in the right position and I guess I was right.  Anyway, he's going to do this tomorrow. 

I had intended to write this blog post yesterday but we were busy putting up Christmas decorations.  Yes, in the midst of all of the clutter and mess, there are now Christmas decorations.  There are still a few that I haven't put up yet because I'm waiting until I get the dining room back in order after the kitchen is finished.  As for the outside, here's what Bill did yesterday...

 

OK, until next time...

Wizard of Oz

We saw Wizard of Oz at the Fox Theater last night.  It's not part of the Broadway Series but season ticket holders are able to purchase additional shows or trade in one show in the series for one of the non-season shows.  We decided to trade in our tickets for Jersey Boys since we saw it two years ago.  It was good but we haven't seen Wizard of Oz for quite a while and it's one of my favorites.  Come to think of it, we haven't seen it since we first saw Wicked back in December 2007.  It was interesting to see it from another point of view.  Those of you who have seen Wicked will know what I mean.  I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it though.

We ate dinner at Bottleworks before the show.  Yummy.  I had the chicken enchilladas and the Hot Liquor Porter and Bill had the beer brined chicken sandwich and the APA.  We then bought a growler of the Hot Liquor Porter to enjoy at home this weekend.  We left to drive to the Fox and since we still had about an hour and 15 minutes before the show started, Bill suggested we stopped by Six Row where he had a whale and I had another porter.  It was just a porter kind of night. 

I will have another installment in the "We've Got" series tomorrow...hee hee hee.  Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving 2010

We usually have Thanksgiving at our house but it's a little difficult to cook a turkey in a kitchen that isn't quite put back together again...hee hee hee.  My sister is having Thanksgiving at her house so we'll be eating at there this year.  My mom and dad will be there too.  I'm looking forward to it.

Here's the card I made this year for Thanksgiving...

 

Ingredients:

Card Stock - Cajun Craze & Very Vanilla by @Stampin' Up 

Ink - Cajun Craze by @Stampin' Up 

Images - by @Stampin' Up

Accessories - Prismacolor pencils 

 

Ever since I was a little kid, we've always had Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Since our oven isn't hooked up yet, I figured this would be a Year Without Cinnamon Rolls...hee hee hee.  Well, my niece, Amanda, thought that it would just be too sad for us to not have cinnamon rolls this year so she and my sister invited us over for breakfast.  Yummy! 

OK, we're heading over to my sister and brother-in-law's house now.  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.  

We've Got a Floor

Woohoo!  Yes, the tile is done and it looks great.  When we chose the tile, we only saw a sample.  Granted it was a full tile and the tiles are 20" tiles but still, it's hard to imagine the entire floor from just one tile.  Anyway, here's some of the prep work...

 
The put a cement board on the floor.  It is cemented to the floor and also nailed and then the seams are taped and cemented, kind of like drywall.  The messiest part was when they sanded the seams the next day.  Yes, there is now dust in my house...hee hee hee. 

 
This is a picture after just one day of laying tile.  The tile guy was able to get a lot of the tile layed with only a few rows and the laundry room remaining for the next day.  We couldn't walk on the tile but Greta could.  It was almost as if she knew this and she would sit in the middle of the floor and taunt us.  Yes, that is her laying on the workman's cart.  So cute.

 
Here is a picture of the finished floor and yes, those are Greta's eyes glowing in the distance.  We love the floor and, as Bill said, it's a shame that a portion of it will now be covered by the cabinets.  As for the color of the grout.  I honestly don't remember choosing a grout color but apparently we did because they delivered the grout with the tile.  The tile guy then brought some samples to make sure that this was the color we really wanted.  Well, it turns out it was so maybe we really did choose the grout color when we chose the tile.  Who knows.  There were so many decisions to make that our heads were spinning.  Anyway, the grout color is light so we'll make sure it is sealed to prevent it from getting dirty.

The electricians are here and are adding a few outlets and moving a few outlets.  The installer is here for the cabinets and will begin working on them when the electricians leave.  The cabinets were delivered on Friday and have been living in our garage since then.  Here's a sneak peak..

 
OK, I guess that's it for now.  Be sure to check back soon!

South Pacific

We saw South Pacific at the Fox on Saturday.  It was the second show in this year's Broadway Series.  Interesting trivia...this was the first musical I ever saw.  I think I was probably 12 or 13.  We ate at a restaurant called Marco Polo after the show.  It was the first time I had ever heard of pot stickers and no, I wouldn't try them.  I was pretty picky back then...hee hee hee.  Anyway, the show was great.  The lead characters has excellent voices and Bloody Mary was a riot. 

After the show, we ate at Triumph Grill.  We had the hot pretzels and homemade chips, sushi tuna tacos and the spinach quesadilla.  Super yummy.  After dinner, we stopped by Six Row for a brew or two.  :)

On Sunday, my bff Jenny came over to make Christmas cards.  We ate lunch at Wildwood Pub & Grill; fried pickles and fried pepperjack cheese cubes.  Yum! 

I'll have a few kitchen pictures to share either tomorrow or Thursday.  Until then...

  

We've Got No Kitchen

OK, I know that is not grammatically correct and it actually pained me to type it but I wanted to continue with the "We've Got" series...hee hee hee.  The kitchen tear-out began on Thursday and it actually wasn't as messy as I had envisioned.  Here are a few pictures...

 
 
 
 
The last picture was taken standing in the kitchen looking into the family room.  These are the cabinets that we kept and are now being stored downstairs.  I'm going to use them in my Blue Heart Studio.  I've already got it all planned out and it's going to be so cool.

Here's a few pictures that I took last night after all of the trash had been removed.  We layed a few tiles on the floor to see how they look and we love them!

 
 
Of course, Greta had to check out the tiles too.  I think she approves.

 
I'm looking forward to a great weekend.  We're going to the Fox Theater today to see South Pacific and then tomorrow, my bff Jenny is coming over to make cards.  Enjoy your weekend.

  

Sanctuaria

We ate at a new (to us) restaurant on Friday called Sanctuaria.  There are pieces of art from churches around the world including prayers painted on metal over 450 years old in the main dining room.  The food is described as "wild tapas" with a Latin American twist.  It's located on the corner of Manchester and Boyle right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

We started with the Cabrales cigars which was blue cheese and leek fondue wrapped in phyllo dough, fried, and topped with a raisin sherry sauce.  They were simply crunchy, creamy, fried goodness.  Since we both love cheese, we then decided to order the cheese plate which included a spanish blue cheese, a spanish parmesan and a wine-soaked goat cheese.  Our next small plate was the wicked good shrimp.  That was how it was listed on the menu and it definitely was wicked good.  We asked about the sauce and were told that it was butter (ok, a lot of butter), cajun spices, worcestershire and lemon.  Bill then had the vaca frita with chimichurri which was shredded pan seared angus beef atop potato puree.  I had the egglplant stuffed with pepperjack and we shared an order of the papas rellenas which were flash fried mashed potato balls with picadillo and spanish cheese.  Everything was great and after all of this, we were definitely too stuffed for dessert...hee hee hee.  

While Santuaria is known for its innovative cocktails, we opted to try a beer by a new local brewery (surprise, surprise).  The brewery is Cathedral Square and it is located on Lindell down the street from the St. Louis Cathedral, hence the name.  Plans are in the works to open a brew pub there but as of now, they only brew the beer at this location.  Their beers can be found at quite a few restaurants around the St. Louis area as well as in bottles at various local liquor and grocery stores.  We decided to try the Agave Ale and it was great.  They also brew a Belgian White Ale and a Belgian Abbey Ale.  I'm not a big fan of white or abbey ales but I'm definitely interested in their new, not yet available brew which is an IPA. 

OK, twelve hours from now, the workmen are schedule to arrive to begin tearing out cabinets and flooring.  All of the cabinets are packed, the things in the fridge have been moved to the fridge in the basement and the laundry is just about finished.  Until the next post, I thought I'd leave you with a cute picture of Greta.  She was "helping" me pack the other day and then decided to make herself at home in one of the empty cabinets...

 

Silly kitty!  :)

 

We've Got Slabs

Hee hee hee...this the third in the "We've Got" series following We've Got Knobs and We've Got a Date.  Saturday we went to Global Granite & Marble to pick out our granite slabs.  Well actually we approved them more than picked them out considering we need two slabs and they only had 2 slabs of our pattern.  They were both beautiful though and we learned that they came out of the ground one right after the other so they are as close to being the same as you can get.  Also, our particular pattern does not have a lot of variation so the slabs don't vary much.  Anyway, I previously posted a picture of a small piece of the granite but here's a larger view...

 

Here's a close-up...

 

It's so pretty.  Seeing the actual slabs of granite that will become our countertop was very cool.  Anyway, I'm continuing to pack up the kitchen and it has definitely reinforced my belief that we should never move.  We have way too much stuff...hee hee hee.

Bill and I did spend some time outside this weekend cleaning up the yard, dumping flower pots, cutting back bushes, etc.  It was such beautiful weather.  I was even able to wash and wax my car.  Anyway, while working in the yard, I decided to cut back the rose bushes and was surprised to find two roses blooming.  It's been so warm that they must think it's spring.  I cut them and put them in a vase...

 

OK, off to finish packing up the kitchen.  Check back tomorrow for a restaurant review.    

 

Eleven Eleven Mississippi

We ate at a new (to us) restaurant last Friday called Eleven Eleven Mississippi.  It has been on our "to try" list for quite some time and, after eating there, I'm sorry we waited so long.  It was great.  We started with the stuffed artichoke bottoms and then Bill had the ribeye and I had the butternut squash and pear cavatelli.  Super yummy.  We're definitely going to go back again soon.

After dinner, we walked to Square One to try their newest brew, the black-eyed PA.  It's a dark pale ale and it was great, so great that we bought a growler to enjoy over the weekend.

We're going to another new restaurant tonight.  It's a tapas restaurant and I'm sure you know how much I love tapas.  I'll post info here some time this weekend.

I took a vacation day today and spent much of the day packing up the kitchen.  I haven't even packed up the dishes, glasses, pots and pans, crockpot, french press, etc and I have already filled 16 boxes.  It confirms the fact that we should never move...hee hee hee.

Halloween Cards

Oh my goodness, it's been like forever since I've posted a card, August 19 to be exact.  Yes, I do still stamp, quite a few hours each week actually.  I was going to post this last night but I was watching the World Series.  Ugh, it didn't turn out the way I had hoped.  I mean sure, the National League team won and I'm a National League fan (American League isn't real baseball) but I was rooting for the Rangers for several reasons.  One, I love George W, Laura, George H.W. and Barbara Bush.  Being as they are Rangers fans, that's good enough for me.  Two, my cousin pitched for one the the Rangers minor league teams.  Three, I like Rangers catcher, Benji Molina, older brother of Cardinal catcher Yadier.     

OK, so, back to stamping.  Here are the Halloween cards I made this year:

 
 

Ingredients:

Card Stock - Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Concord Crush and Whisper White by @Stampin' Up   Ink - Basic Black by @Stampin' Up  Images - @Stampin' Up and Hero Arts  Accessories - Spiderweb punch by Martha Stewart, Dazzling Diamonds by @Stampin' Up, rhinestones by Mark Richards

 
 

Ingredients:

Card Stock - Tangerine Tango, Bashful Blue and Whisper White by @Stampin' Up   

 Accessories - Scary Fence punch and glitter by Martha Stewart, Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds by @Stampin' Up, Ghost die by Sizzix. rhinestones by Mark Richards

  

 Ingredients:         

Card Stock - Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron by @Stampin' Up   Ink - Chocolate Chip by @Stampin' Up  Images - by @Stampin' UpAccessories - Owl punch, ribbon and buttons by @Stampin' Up 

 
 

Ingredients:

Card Stock - Concord Crush, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi and Basic Black by @Stampin' Up Ink - Basic Black by @Stampin' Up Images - by @Stampin' Up Accessories - Bat Punch by @Stampin' Up , Drippy Goo Punch by Martha Stewart, Crystal Stickles by Ranger, Liquid Applique    

 I hope you all had a great Halloween.