Mynee's Musings

Thirteen years ago today, our dear sweet Maggie went to kitty heaven.  Bill & I had adopted her from the Humane Society on September 1, 1986.  She was about a year old at the time and was 17 1/2 when she died.  She had broken a bone in her leg in November 2002.  To this day, we have no idea how she did it but the vet had said it was probably brittle bones caused by age and her thyroid medication.  She never fully recovered and suffered what the vet believed was a stroke on the morning of February 22, 2003.

Maggie was a very shy kitty.  She wasn't shy around Bill and me but If anyone else came into the house, she would run and hide.  As soon as they were gone, she would reappear and look around as if to say, "Hey, where did the guests go?  I was just getting ready to come greet them."   

We adopted Greta from Open Door Animal Sanctuary in July 2003.  Maggie was a tabby as is Greta but they are as different as different can be.  I'm sure Maggie is looking down from heaven and getting a big kick out of Greta's antics.  She's probably just shaking her head and saying, "Silly kid."

We love you, Geebie!

A Day in Hermann

Since they were predicting wonderful weather for the weekend, we decided to drive to Hermann yesterday.  Hermann is in Gasconade County and t’s about 60 miles from our house.  We haven’t driven to Hermann in years so I was really glad that we went.  We talk about going almost every Spring and Fall and something always comes up.  Well, this year, everything worked out.  The weather was gorgeous the trees were beautiful…

Our first stop was Stone Hill winery.  We bought tickets for the wine tasting and were able to sample about 6 different wines and made notes as to which ones were were planning to purchase.  We then decided to eat lunch at Vintage Restaurant which is the German restaurant at Stone Hill.  Oh my goodness, did someone say spaetzle?  I don’t usually take pictures of our food (OK, sometimes I do...hee hee hee) but I just had to share this…

After lunch, we walked around downtown Hermann to check out all of the little shops before heading home.  Great weather, great wine, delicious food, cute shops, perfect day.   

Back to Blogging

I haven’t posted here in quite a while.  2015 has brought a lot of changes and I just haven’t felt like blogging.  I had worked on six or seven posts but just never got around to uploading them.  I have entered and back-dated these entries so you may wish to scroll back to February to review all of the posts that I just entered. 

Bill started a new job mid-Feburary.  He had been with his previous company for 28 years but when the right opportunity presented itself, he decided to make a change.  A new job is stressful to begin with but it’s been even more stressful as they are currently going through a system conversion.  Long hours and working at home in the evenings has been an adjustment.  Luckily, the “go live” date is just around the corner so things should settle down soon and he can actually start focusing on his regular day to day job responsibilities.  I joke that he hasn’t even really started his new role yet as the focus has all been on the conversion.

On the morning of Sunday, March 15, Bill’s mom passed away unexpectedly.  She had had heart problems years ago but had been in good health in recent years so it was quite a shock.  She and my father-in-law had just arrived back home from Florida the previous Tuesday.  For the past 10 years or so, they spent October to March in Florida, escaping the cold and snow here in St. Louis.  They have made many friends in Florida and Bill’s dad is planning to return there this fall.  It’s been a very difficult 3 months but he seems to be doing well.  Please keep him in your prayers.   

My mom went into the hospital on April 10 and is currently receiving physical therapy in a skilled nursing facility.  We’re hoping that she will be able to return home in the next few weeks.  My mom and dad are preparing to make a big change in their life, moving to a retirement community in the near future.  It’s a difficult change but one that will make their lives easier.

Yes, I still stamp although I’ve spent very little time in the Blue Heart Studio these past few months.  I have new stamps sets that have yet to see ink but I’m planning to change that hopefully starting this weekend.  Silly me, I forgot to take pictures of the mother’s and father’s day cards that I made.

So, that’s what’s been going on here.  The Muny season started last week so I’ll be posting about our first show in the next few days.  Until then…  

I Love Lucy

We saw I Love Lucy yesterday at Peabody Opera House.  I am a big Lucy fan so I was really looking forward to the show.  We had front row seats!  When I bought the tickets, I don’t remember them being in the front row so it was a nice surprise.  The only problem is that the stage isn’t eye-level but it’s cool to be so close because you can really see the actors expressions. 

The stage was the set of I Love Lucy and it was as if we were watching the filming as the live studio audience.  The two episodes that they “filmed” were “The Benefit” and “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined.”  The actors really did a great job.  Their expressions and mannerisms were so close to the original actors that you forgot you weren’t watching Lucy, Desi, Vivian and Bill.   

After the show, we ate an early dinner at The Tap Room.  Always good food and brews.

Twelve years ago today, our dear sweet Maggie went to kitty heaven.  Bill & I had adopted her from the Humane Society on September 1, 1986.  She was about a year old at the time and was 17 1/2 when she died.  She had broken a bone in her leg in November 2002.  To this day, we have no idea how she did it but the vet had said it was probably brittle bones caused by age and her thyroid medication.  She never fully recovered and suffered what the vet believed was a stroke on the morning of February 22, 2003.

Maggie was a very shy kitty.  She wasn't shy around Bill and me but If anyone else came into the house, she would run and hide.  As soon as they were gone, she would reappear and look around as if to say, "Hey, where did the guests go?  I was just getting ready to come greet them."   

We adopted Greta from Open Door Animal Sanctuary in July 2003.  Maggie was a tabby as is Greta but they are as different as different can be.  I'm sure Maggie is looking down from heaven and getting a big kick out of Greta's antics.  She's probably just shaking her head and saying, "Silly kid."

We love you, Geebie!

Old Friend, New Laptop and a Vacation

Our friend, Cathy, was visiting from out of town and we were able to get together for dinner  when she was here a few weeks ago.  Bill, Cathy and I went to school together and we all met in 6^th grade in middle school.  The name of the middle school was The Middle School.  Seriously, that was the name.  They later changed it to Truman Middle I believe.  Anyway Cathy, her husband and sons live in Virginia and her mom and sister still live here so she comes back to visit every few years.  This is the first time we’ve been able to get together in about 6 years or so.  We decided to eat at Kirkwood Station Brewery and we had a great time catching up.  Here’s a picture of Cathy and me:

I really don’t think we’ve changed much since high school if I do say so myself…hee hee hee.  Well, I guess maybe a little.  ;)

Bill and I bought new laptops on Wednesday.  My old laptop was almost 6 years old and was starting to have some issues.  The battery didn’t hold a charge for very long and it was actually the second battery I purchased and was about 2 years old.  Batteries for laptops are expensive!  This particular one was $140.  I really didn’t want to buy a new battery so I just kept it plugged in when using it.  Well, a few months ago, the laptop started randomly shutting off for no reason.  It didn’t do it every day but I just knew that it was eventually going to give up completely.  Bill has never had a laptop and has always used the desktop computer in the office room.  That computer is about 8 years old and was taking forever to boot up and scan.  Also, since it was running XP (as was my laptop)and Windows no longer supports XP, we knew that it’s days were limited.  We weren’t going to spend money to upgrade the operating system on an 8+ year old computer. 

Bill had said several years ago that when it came time to replace the desktop, he was going to get a laptop instead.  Since our oldest nephew, Josh, is a computer whiz, we asked him to go with us to pick out a laptop.  Notice, I say “a” as in “one” as in just for Bill.  Anyway, Josh went with us and told us which ones weren’t worth looking at and then showed us several that were good deals.  He told us to stay away from “gimmicks” which I guess would include the $3000 laptop with the lighted keyboard that changed colors…hee hee hee.  Anyway, I really liked the Asus Notebook and Bill agreed.  We then decided that since I would need a new laptop soon anyway, we might as well get one for me.  Yeah!  Josh helped Bill get his laptop set up, deleting and adding things we wouldn't have even known to do.  I took notes and then set mine up a few days later.  I still need to install the print driver on both and the camera software on mine plus we need to buy Microsoft Office but, other than that, they're both up and running.     

We were on vacation a few weeks ago and I’m working on my travelog outlining everything we did.  I’m hoping to have it finished by this weekend but we’ll see how it goes.  Choosing the pictures to add takes forever…hee hee hee.

St. Louis Tourists 2014

We took two vacation days last week and spent the time being  St. Louis “tourists”.  We had spent a “tourist day” back in early November 2012 (click here to read the post) and it was a lot of fun.  This time, it all started because we had tickets for the Phillip Phillips concert on 6/12 so we were going to take a vacation day the day after the concert and then I suggested we also take a vacation day the day of the concert.  Great idea!  So, here’s a glimpse into our activities:

Thursday – We started the day with a late breakfast at Sunny Street Café.  It’s a restaurant within walking distance of our house (we drove, ha).  It’s usually so crowded on the weekends so I figured that a Thursday morning would be less crowded and it was.  The weather was nice so we were able to eat outside on their patio.  I had the chorizo breakfast tacos (yum) and Bill had an omelet.  We then stopped to get an estimate on my car (door dings, details to follow in another post) before heading to the St. Louis Science Center.  We spent a few hours checking out all of the exhibits before seeing D-Day, Normandy 1944 in the Omnimax Theater in the Science Center.  Wow, it was a very good movie.  I had forgotten how large the Omnimax screen is and there were times it actually felt like I was flying.  I had to close my eyes a few times as I didn’t want to get airsick.  We then headed to Ballpark Village to eat an early dinner at Budweiser Brew House.  We had eaten there once before right after it opened and it was packed but were able to sit at the bar.  This time, since we arrived around 4:00, we were able to get a table.  We started with the loaded baked potato fries and they were soooo good.  It was enough for 4 people so, needless to say, we didn’t finish them.  I then had the bacon and blue cheese burger (and it was huge) and Bill had the chicken bacon ranch sandwich.  Since it was still early, we decided to stop by Urban Chestnut and sit in the biergarten before the concert to enjoy a brew.  It’s right down the street from The Fox where Phillip Phillips was playing so it worked out perfectly.  We had to move inside after a little while though because it started raining.  We arrived at the Fox at about 7:40 and someone was already signing.  I don’t know who it was and, from the little I heard, I wasn’t impressed.  Phillip went on stage at about 8:10.  Here’s the setlist:

1. Man on the Moon
2. Get up Get Down
3. Lead On
4. Gone 
5.  Trigger
6. Where We Came From
7. Raging Fire
8. Thicket
9. Digging in the Dirt
10. Drive Me
11. Let's Get it On
12. Home 

 Here are a few pictures...

 

 

It was a great concert!  He is one of my favorite singers.  OAR went on after Phillip but we have no idea who they are and we really weren’t interested in seeing them so we left after Phillip finished and were home by 10:15pm. 

Friday – We ate breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Chesterfield valley.  We had eaten there once before, last time we were "tourists" in fact, and I had ordered the bacon pancakes with a side of bacon…hee hee hee, you can never have too much bacon!  This time, I noticed that they have swedish pancakes with lingonberries!  I love lingonberries.  I eat swedish pancakes with lingonberries when we go to Ann Sather in Chicago.  These are just as yummy and now I don't have to go all the way to Chicago for my lingonberry fix!  Bill had the Georgia Pecan pancakes which is what he had last time so he must really like them. :)  The next stop was the Missouri Botanical Garden where we spent over 3 hours looking at all of the beautiful flowers, plants and trees.  Here are just a few of the pictures I took...

I took over 100 pictures with my camera and phone so obviously there are so many I didn't post but these were some of my favorites.  Last time we were at the Botanical Garden, apparently we didn't walk far enough because look what I found...

Here's another view...

Oh my goodness, isn't it cute?  It's the Cleveland Avenue Gatehouse.  It was built in 1895 as the residence for the groundskeeper of the mausoleum grounds and surrounding gardens.  I love it!  I bet the inside is pretty too.

When we left the Botanical Garden, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum to see the Impressionist France exhibit.  Photos weren't allowed so I have none to share from the exhibit but here is a Monet that is in the museum...

I found this at the museum gift shop and knew that it would look so cute in our yard..

After spending a few hours at the museum, we then headed to Riverbend Restaurant & Bar which is in South Souldard on Utah Street in the shadow of the Big Brewery (aka Anheuser Busch).  Bill had seen it mentioned on Twitter (I still don't understand Twitter) and when I saw that they have crab claws on the menu, I knew we had to pay a visit.  It's not big or fancy but oh my, it's eally good.  We each ordered the crab claws and I had a salad while Bill had a cup of gumbo and the dirty rice.  I ate every single bite of the crab claws and was so happy!  It's not easy to find crab claws here in St. Louis.  I first tried them back in 2010 when we were in Florida (click here to see the Florida post).  I can now visit Riverbend when I need crab claws!

Because we hadn't already done enough (wink), we drove to Civil Life Brewing after dinner.  They've been open for a few years but this was our first visit.  We've tried a lot of their brews at various restaurants but it was nice to actually visit the brewery.  We both had a glass of the hoppy wheat and we bought a growler of the Rye Pale Ale to bring home.  

Saturday - Not a tourist day but I didn't want to skip from Friday to Sunday...hee hee hee.  My mom and dad came over for dinner for Father's Day (see previous post).  I made potstickers and stir fy and mom made berry crumble for dessert.  We had a great time and Greta seemed to enjoy it too.  :)

Sunday - We went to the Cardinals/Nationals game for our last day as tourists.  Actually, we had tickets for the game before the vacation days were even planned.  It was Jack Buck Bobblehead day so we each got a bobblehead and one will go live at my mom and dad's house in my mom's bobblehead collection...hee hee hee.  

You can text your name and where you're from and the Cardinals may show it on the video board.  We've done this several times and this is the second time they've posted it (click on the photo for a closer view)...

We were from Maui both times!  I wish.  Anyway, the Cards beat the Nationals 5 to 2, sweeping the series!  It was a great end to fun long weekend.

Paint Nite St. Louis

As I mentioned in Thursdays post, my sister and I painted on Thursday night.  It’s called Paint Nite St. Louis and there are various sites across the area where the events are held.  We chose Morgan Street Brewery because a) liked the painting and b) they have beer….hee hee hee.  We arrived early so that we could eat dinner before we began painting.  The weather was perfect so were able to eat outside. 

Here’s my work in progress

 

Here's more progress...

 

 

Here’s the finished piece

It was really fun and not as difficult as I thought it would be.  We’re planning to attend another Paint Nite soon. :)

Sweet Maggie

Eleven years ago today, our dear sweet Maggie went to kitty heaven.  Bill & I had adopted her from the Humane Society on September 1, 1986.  She was about a year old at the time and was 17 1/2 when she died.  She had broken a bone in her leg in November 2002.  To this day, we have no idea how she did it but the vet had said it was probably brittle bones caused by age and her thyroid medication.  She never fully recovered and suffered what the vet believed was a stroke on the morning of February 22, 2003.

Maggie was a very shy kitty.  She wasn't shy around Bill and me but If anyone else came into the house, she would run and hide.  As soon as they were gone, she would reappear and look around as if to say, "Hey, where did the guests go?  I was just getting ready to come greet them."   

We adopted Greta from Open Door Animal Sanctuary in July 2003.  Maggie was a tabby as is Greta but they are as different as different can be.  I'm sure Maggie is looking down from heaven and getting a big kick out of Greta's antics.  She's probably just shaking her head and saying, "Silly kid."

We love you, Geebie!

Bathroom Remodel - Day 10

So today, the tile work around the tub was completed...

He also finished the tile in the shower on the wall next to the tub and the tile on the end of the wall. 

The granite people came out to measure and said that we are on the schedule for installation on the 19th.  What, seriously, that's over 2 weeks from now.  Yikes.  Since the shower door installers can't measure until the granite is installed, it looks like it may be after Christmas before the bathroom is completely finished.  

In other news, I got in my car to go to work this morning and my battery was dead.  Bill was already working out at the gym so I texted him and then called AAA and they sent someone to change the battery.  The guy was a talker.  I learned more about him in 20 minutes than you can even imagine.  For example, he used to do construction work, he had a girlfriend whom he charged $500 a week to finish her basement but then they broke up and he didn't finish her basement and didn't feel bad because there was no written contract so he wasn't under anyh obligation to finish it, he only gets a 2% raise per year, AAA cut his pay and he now makes what he did 5 years ago, Missouri was in the southern AAA region until Hurricane Katrina and then California adopted Missouri (um, ok), California AAA has different forms that they are required to use and no one likes them, he lives in Jefferson County and he used to help install pools.  Phew, I think I may have even left out a few things but you get the idea.  Oh, and he tried to tell me that my car isn't a Miata.  Goofball.

OK, so I think the plan tomorrow for the bathroom is to finish the tile work and the baseboards which are also tile.  Hopefully he will be able to grout everything on Friday and finish the cabinet hardware, tub faucet and toilet installation.  Check back tomorrow for an update...