Around the house

What started out looking like a nice day of sunshine, took a nosedive in a hurry this morning. We are once again shrouded in a cold, damp fog, that makes me want to just stay in today in front of a warm fire. Unfortunately, we have run out of groceries, so at least a trip to the store for food is necessary. We were actually out of groceries yesterday, but we cheated and Scooter took me out for the one meal we usually have on Sundays. Not sure what that's about, but somehow by the time we get up and moving about, half the day is gone and it's too late for lunch, but too early for dinner. So we compromise, and have one big meal that lasts us until we go to bed that night. We also made plans to go to the fairgrounds where we live, for a big Home and Landscape Expo. We wanted to see what was available as far as flooring, and kitchen remodels go. We are finally going to do it!!! We made appointments for a floor company to come out and let us see samples to choose from, and will have our hardwood floors put in by professionals. I've had some not so pleasant results from an amateur in the past who thought he knew how to install them, and they ended up buckling in some areas, and gaping in others. So, I say if you can afford to have it done by the experts, then you're better off going that way, especially for the warranty to be valid! We will also be choosing our stone (or marble, haven't decided that yet) tiles for our sunroom. I'm so excited!! I'm on a roll...now I want to paint the front bath too! As for the kitchen remodel, we're still wavering back and forth with that one. Do we paint our existing cabinets, refinish them, or have them refaced?

We also stopped by the vendors who built our sunroom to talk to them about some electrical work they did that Scooter isn't happy with. While he has his degree in electrical engineering, this is work that was done when we bought out home, so they said they would come out and take a look at it and make it right. Nothing major, just some wires left dangling on the outside that shouldn't have been done like that. All in all, we came away pretty excited with seeing all of the up-to-date products on the market.

Afterwards, Scooter took me to a restaurant we had never tried before. We rate them by what we call the repeat factor. He said he would go to this restaurant again, and I said I probably wouldn't. First of all, I don't like sitting in a booth that is only separated by a very short thin wall, so it feels like you're having your dining experience with complete strangers practically right next to you. Then, there's the cuisine offered. Not my cup of tea. When we asked our waitress, who knew it was our first time there, what her favorite dish was, she began reciting the menu and telling us what each one had in it. Ummm, that wasn't the question, m'dear. Everything on the menu looked good, but I swear, there wasn't a plate on there that wasn't under a bazillion calories! I brought this up to the waitress and she showed us the "lighter side" of the menu. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a joke or not. Ahi tuna at 1000 calories? We settled for a burger since we hadn't had red meat in a month or so, simply because the fish and chicken dishes were mainly all "lightly breaded". Needless to say, we skipped the creme brulee at 1100 calories, and opted for a healthier non fat frozen yogurt at home, at a mere 90 calories per serving!

Around Christmastime, I added the game of Mexican Train Dominoes to our game closet collection, and we just hadn't had time to sit and play it. Up until last night. Scooter had never played before, and while I hadn't played in a few years, it all came back to me and we had a blast!! Naturally, I won, but I will be on the lookout for payback now. We ended our evening by sitting in front of the fire and just talking and playing with Maggie....

speaking of Maggie.....that little stinker has finally gotten her way. For the longest time, she wasn't allowed to have Mr. Snicks' favorite toy. We turned away for one second, and she snatched it up. She now wanders around the house with it trying to find just the perfect burial spot for it. Yes, that would be her in the pic at the top of this post. For shame! lol

Quite a bit of knitting has actually gotten done. I don't have pictures of the progress on my vest, but I've begun decreasing for the armholes, working my way up to the neck shaping. I had to give it a rest though. I went back and picked up my pretty 2010 Through the Loop mystery socks, being knit in Malabrigo "oh so soft red". I am in love with the way these socks feel and it's so nice to be working on something else for a change. I didn't take any pictures of them yet either, but I will in the next few days or so.

May your week be off to a great start! Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to mention that my youngest daughter has been doing a brilliant job of teaching herself to sew!!! Her and her family came by on Saturday, and she was carrying an adorable purse/tote she had made herself! It was so exciting and unbelievable. I am so proud of her for using only books to teach herself....no patterns!  I might have a budding designer in my family soon! I meant to take some pictures to show you, but I got so involved playing with my grandchildren, I forgot. Maybe next time...