Making progress

Much activity has been happening around the house in anticipation of the baby's arrival.
Sure, that is not until December, but the time is flying and I want to see progress!
Today, I see progress.
I have been able to help with some of the work, the lighter stuff.
But today the chores are painting and new flooring. These are chores I cannot do.
So Manfriend and a helper are working in the other room while I sit on the couch and blog.
In my defense, I did clean a bathroom and put away four baskets of laundry this morning.

So... What is next for me today?
Not sure.
I think I am at a point where there is not much I can do until they finish.

The room they are working on was a bedroom that I previously had used as storage and a cat space.
That stuff is all in the garage now and we are reclaiming that room for human use.
It will be a tight fit, but that room will be an office and guest room so that what is now the office and guest room can become the nursery.

I know, why not just make that first room the nursery?

It's smaller and it is right off the garage, so I do not like it for a nursery.

Plus the bigger room is already painted the perfect color blue to go with the bedding.

Oh... speaking of the bedding... UPS lost the box with the bedding while the box with all the other little things (lamps, blankets, sheets) showed up fine.
So they put a tracer on it, but it never turned up.

The company I ordered it from assured me they have more of that bedding and will resend a set out to me. I am going to call them Tuesday to make sure.
I am so paranoid that since it has been on clearance that it will not be available.

Anyway... that is my life these days: working, working on the house and stalking my UPS box.

Oh, and watching the belly get bigger by the day.

At least dinner got cooked

After diving yesterday I was planning to go home and do some housework.

That really didn't happen.

Mostly I squandered the rest of the day.

I did get the scuba gear rinsed and set out to dry.

After that, not much.

But I did manage to cook a decent dinner.

Chicken Marsala with some simple pasta and steamed baby green beans.

Today I really do need to get to some of these chores.

It has been a while since I slept in, not even setting an alarm. And since I didn't go to bed until well after midnight, I knew I would sleep well.

I did. I woke up at 7 a.m., which is just a little earlier than the normal alarm time. But I went back to sleep.

Until 10 a.m.

And now it is almost noon. So I need to get busy.

I have a floor to mop.

My domestic side

I spent most of yesterday cleaning house and doing laundry.

It was planned.

But I also wanted to make sure to reserve enough time and energy to make a real dinner.

I felt very domestic and peaceful in my house yesterday.

I felt like I needed to cook. I was craving my kitchen.

Even though it was hot here I wanted a certain kind of dinner.

I mean, I love to grill. But I just wanted something different. Something I really had to cook.

I wanted something that required a little more skill than throwing something on the barbecue.

So I made a real dinner.

Chicken stuffed with spinach, prosciutto and Boursin cheese.

On the side, shoestring potatoes with rosemary & lemon.

I experimented with a veggie dish. It was good. But I think this dinner would be better with a simple veggie on the side. I would suggest steamed asparagus or broccoli. Something green and fresh.

If I make the veggie dish again and have success and a better pairing for it, I will post that.

Basically it was carrots and zucchini in a light tarragon cream sauce.

Like I said, it was good. But the chicken is quite rich. A simpler veggie would be a better complement.

All in all, a good day. I even got the kitchen back in order after all that cooking.

My tax dollars at work

I know it has been a while.

And it's not that I have no had anything to blog about in the past week.

I've just been a bit busy.

And sorry, but this sometimes lives at the bottom of my to-do list.

Anyhoo...

I had meant to blog about this Sunday right after it happened. But then I got home, started doing chores, getting stuff together for dinner... Then suddenly it was Monday.

I went stamping Sunday at my friend Kathy's house. It was the normal stamp-and-brunch deal.

I left there at about 1:30 and made my way home.

As I was heading back to the house I noticed a large plume of thick gray smoke coming from the east. The closer I got, the more I thought "Hmm... that looks like it is close to my neighborhood." Then "Hmm... that looks like it IS my neighborhood!"

Mind you, I do not live in a remote area so I don't have too many worries about wildfires. There is open space behind the houses across the street from me. I wonder...

I got a little closer to my 'hood and noticed that the smoke had quickly gone from dark gray to lighter gray to white. I knew that was a good sign. And since it was a plume going straight up and not a large cloud covering the area, I figured it was probably a small area, probably a house.

I turned a few times, getting closer, coming up the main road.

There, on a side street two streets down from me was a cop car keeping people from turning there. I drove by. Looking down the street I saw several fire department vehicles and an ambulance.

I went ahead to my house, grabbed my camera (nosy journalist!) and walked the short distance to where the street was blocked.

Seeing that I was not the only pedestrian angling for a better look, I went ahead down that side street. A few houses in there is another street.

This is where the fire was, the first street was just a staging area.

It looked like one house, a two-level, was the source of the smoke.

Cops milled about the staging area, but there was no big sense of urgency.

Firefighters had a ladder on the house going up to a second-floor deck. But it looked like most of the activity was done.

There was a group of firefighters on the sidewalk, pointing to the house and talking.

I think the fire was out.

I decided to see what my tax dollars were good for, you know, on the unthinkable chance that I have to take advantage of it someday.

Ambulance - 1

Cop cars - 6

Fire trucks - 12 of varying sizes including two large ladder trucks

It looked like most of this stuff was not being used on this fire.

Must have been a slow day in the city and they sent the whole brigade.

As I overheard someone say, "I guess they send out everything that is available since they don't know WHAT they will deal with when they get here."

Good point.

Later, after the yellow tape was gone and the trucks had retreated, I took a drive by the house that had been the center of such a hoopla.

If I had not seen all that activity, I may not have even noticed the damage.

It looked like maybe the damage was mostly confined to the top floor and/or attic area. There was some soot evident on the side of the house. Some insulation was pulled out and piled on the upstairs deck.

I am sure for the people who live there it is devastating.

But considering that there are houses on both sides and a tightly packed neighborhood all around the house, it could have been far worse.

I think my tax dollars were well-spent that day.

And it ain't often that someone gets to say that.

Four days off

To work. To play. To sleep.
Circumstances that I do not wish to discuss have given me four days off.
Yes, I still have a job.
If I didn't I would probably be off for more than four days.

All I can say is that I plan to enjoy the time.

Tomorrow will be chore day.
Work around the house must be done.
Inside the house. Outside the house.

Saturday is for play.
It's the manfriend's birthday.
He wants to go sailing. So we shall go sailing.
I think before that we are going to the gay pride parade in Long Beach.
It's a great people watching event.
And I think people should be able to love someone, even if people are named Harold and someone is named Stewart.

Sunday will be more play.
It will be nice to have two full days of nothing but fun.
I have no solid plans for this day. That is part of the fun.

Monday is for work.
More inside the house. More outside the house.
Whatever did not get done Friday.

There is supposed to be a heat wave this weekend.

We shall see what that really means and how it affects my plans.

I could very well end up in my living room with the a/c blasting all weekend.

Oh, but I do plan to cook. I have been craving my kitchen.

Tea for two or 10

I had a nice weekend.
After fearing I had pink eye (turns out it was more likely an allergy to a new mascara - see makeup IS evil!), I was mostly OK by Saturday.
Which was good since I planned to have people over Sunday for lunch.
My friends, Eric and Heather, were in town from Wisconsin.
They moved there a few years ago and it is always nice to see them.
They brought their sons Kyle and newborn Bruce.

So I offered to host a lunch for them. It was a quasi tea party. But not too girly since there would be dudes there, too.

It ended up being about 10 people with them, some of their friends and family and my sister and nephew.

I made two kinds of sandwiches: smoked salmon with wasabi cream cheese and a turkey meatloaf.

Yes. Meatloaf tea sandwiches. They really are very tasty. And you can always call them something else if you are put off by the term meatloaf.

Savory baked turkey on wheat with Dijon mayo? Sure. That works.

For these I just used my standard turkey meatloaf recipe and made that into cute finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

I had coffee, pomegranate lemonade and four kinds of tea. It was quite nice.

I also made a walnut-pear sour cream cake and a super, super tasty (and super, super easy) tomato tart.

To see the recipes for those, just click on the names of them above and you will be taken to All That and She Cooks, Too.

And that is pretty much all I did all weekend.

My other accomplishments were cleaning up after the guests left Sunday and washing my car on Monday. Yep, all by myself. No car wash this time.

Of course, it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Of course.

Anyone care for a cocktail?

Yes, that is pretty much all hard liquor.

Along with some various mixers and the frou-frou stuff like Midori
and Curacao and Chambord in case anyone wants anything girly or colorful.

This was early afternoon before the party. I like to get things like
this set up well ahead of time. I know I will be rushing around with food.
I won't have time to mess with the bar.

Of course, no one drank mixed drinks.
Oh well, I do like to have it as an option for people.

I did not take a picture of the beer or wine stations. Silly me.
Typically I spread stuff out around the room.
That way people are moving around and there is not one real bottleneck area.

I put the beers in a giant galvanized metal bucket full
of ice over near the front door. I stuck my refrigerator magnet
bottle openers to the side of the bucket and people can help themselves.

The wine was on a console table up against the wall
behind where all the action was.
It is a low-traffic area during parties, so it is a
good place to set up the wine and all the glasses.

Mmmmmm... spinach and smoked gouda appetizers were a hit.

The recipe for this is from the Cocktail Food Deck. I love this thing.
It is a deck of cards with recipes for 50 appetizers.
I have made a lot of things from this deck, and they all are great.

And these are nice because they are good for the
non-meat eaters who came to the party.
The meat eaters were scarfing them down pretty good, too.

This was Roasted Asparagus with Mountain Ham
from my Tapas cookbook.

These were very easy. I rolled them the night
before and stuck them in the fridge.

I roasted them right before party time.

Here is a pre-party look at the mushroom tartlet sort of things.

The Cocktail Food Deck called for puff pastry to hold these.
I like to use mini bread cups instead. They are easy to make,
hold up well and can be made a couple days ahead of time.

Shhh.. There she is... the master at work.

I was getting ready to roast the asparagus spears here.

I think I had about 19 things going on at once here.

Don't I look totally calm? I even had time to curl my hair.

Which you cannot see since I have it pulled back here. But it looked nice.

A nice wide angle shows the fabulous array of food.

Several friends brought some great things.
Thanks Cerise and Phil for the giant bread bowl full of crab dip
and the pretty gift set of serving pieces;
Pat for the cous cous and shrimp salad (one of my favorites!)
and the lovely little herb garden;
Sissy for the chocolate fondue and fruit/cream puffs
(Sorry about the sterno incident that got the chocolate too hot.
Next time: crock pot for sure);
Joe and Joanna for the sushi;
Jim and Luong for the beers;
Sammie and Bob for the wine;
and Toni and Daphne for the foodie book
and subscription to Gourmet.

And thanks to my manfriend for schlepping the ice
and for your party-fund contribution.
Not to mention being a willing taste-tester
and for listening to me go on and on about the food.

I hope I remembered everyone.
Sorry if I missed someone, it got pretty crazy for a while.

This is one of my favorite ways to serve appetizers.
I love this three-tiered thingamabob. My regular dinner plates
fit right in there to showcase (from top) spinach
and smoked gouda spheres, chevre and mango steak bites
(huge hit with party goers) and mushroom tartlets.

Of all the things I made, I think these were the most popular.

I think this because everyone said how good they were
and there were only two left at the end of the night.

I started with 48 of them.

I give you: Asian-spiced meatballs with snow peas and hoisin sauce.

Lovely close-up of the steak bites...

And the cooked version of the asparagus spears...

Here is my trio of crostini:
tomato bruschetta, olive tapenade and chicken liver pate.

No recipes for those will be posted.

I also am not posting the recipe for balsamic shrimp.

If you REALLY, really want the recipe, let me know
and I will post it on my new recipe blog,
All That and She Cooks, Too.
I figured it would be a good way to keep all the recipes
together since I post about several topics here.

And this is what I have to look forward to today.
Actually, it is not that bad.

I used paper plates and such, so really I just have a lot
of platters and bowls to clean. Not too bad.

Oh yeah, and a bunch of wine glasses that cannot go in the dishwasher.

Those will be the biggest pain, but I cannot stand
seeing guests drink good wine from plastic glasses.

Great weather for a party

Well, it was sunny earlier.

Not so much anymore.

I am hoping this dies down a bit before party time.

I can't be too stressed if I am taking time to blog, right?

I still have about five hours.
The house is in order and I have started the setup.
I will do the last of the food prep starting at 5 p.m.

Now, I am off to relax for a bit before
heading out to get a few last-minute things.

It's party day!

I am up early. It is before 8 a.m.
If you know me, you know that is early.

I probably do not have 9 hours worth of stuff left to do. But I will spend 9 hours fussing around and worrying.

I want to get some non-skid strips on my front steps. It's been rainy here and the genius who built the steps tiled then in slick ceramic tile.

Even dry the stuff is slippery. When it is wet... Well let's just say I do not want to test the limits of my homeowners' insurance.

Today is a little bit of cleaning and putting all the food together.

Last night I did a little prep on the food. I rolled the asparagus spears in prosciutto. I will roast those right before the party.

This two oven thing will come in handy.

I also made a sort of aioli sauce for the asparagus with mayo, tarragon, garlic, lemon juice and sugar. It is tangy and a tad sweet. It should go nicely with the salty prosciutto.

I promise that once it is all pulled together I will take more pictures than you can stand.

For now, I am going to have some tea and ease into my day.

Tuesday is my Monday

Man, the weekend went so fast.

Sunday was pretty much done before it started for me.
It was fun, but jam-packed.

I had the stamping group over for our monthly gathering. We made it a tea.

Everything was so yummy.

All I had to provide was the tea. And I made a pomegranate-lemonade that was a big hit.

For food we had little sandwiches and a frittata and pasta salad and scones and fruit and cake.

I love a good tea. Having a good tea lets me connect with my girly-girl side.

Plus I got to use all my favorite teapots and fancy dishes and all the cute mismatched cups and saucers.

So we stamped and we ate and we talked. It gets surprisingly rowdy sometimes.

After the tea, I had to run up to my favorite local bakery and pick up a cake for my grandmother's birthday.

She wanted carrot cake and this place makes a good one.

Then I came home to wash teacups and dishes.

But I only had about 45 minutes before I was off again to my aunt's house for grandma's birthday party. My grandma is now 89.

We had a feast of fresh crab (Grandma got a nice lobster, as was her wish).

My uncle cooks them all outside in one of those giant turkey fryer things. Instead of oil, he fills it with water.

Then we round out the meal with some rice and salad.

Sorry, no crabby pictures. My hands were too messy from cracking crab legs to operate the camera.

Maybe next time I will do a before and after shot. The after is a huge pile of crab shells and dirty napkins. Nice.

I was home by about 8, but really exhausted from all the running around. Plus my tea caffeine buzz had worn off hours before.

On Monday, I was determined to get shopping done for the party this weekend.

So I hit Costco, Trader Joe's and Ralphs.

I got mostly everything. There are a few things I want to get the day of the party so they are fresh or because I will not have room in my freezer.

Like the ice. I figure on getting at least 30 pounds. I need ice to ice the beers and I need clean ice for drinks.

My car was loaded by the time I got home.

I unpacked it all and put away most of it.

Then I made the spinach-gouda bites and stuck them in the freezer. That way on Sunday I just have to thaw and bake them.

I did some chopping of other things and made a pate and the olive tapenade for my crostini trio.
I also got the hoisin sauce ready for the meatballs that I had already made and stuck in the freezer.

Then I decided to take a break. Of course, it was already dark by then and I hate to do chores after dark.

My plan for the rest of the week:

today - do some more cleaning around the house, fold laundry and run a couple errands before work. (Luckily I work late today.)

Wednesday - start marinating the flank steak for the chevre-mango steak bites.

Thursday - grill the steak.

Friday - make the bread cups for the mushroom tarts, make bruschetta for the crostini.

Saturday - slice the steak and prep the other ingredients for the steak bites, roll the asparagus spears in the ham so they can be roasted quickly on Sunday. I also will do any last bits of housecleaning.
Sunday - pull it all together. This is where my double ovens will go into overdrive.

I am really looking forward to this party. The last time I did a good, nighttime party was my birthday in 2006.

Now I am off to my chores. I have a good two hours of time to get some stuff done.

I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight

An update on the table: It was delivered during my weekend and I got it all set up.

Turns out the chairs were already assembled. That was so nice.

All I had to do was put the table together and flip it upright and put the chairs around it.

Assembly meant attaching the legs, which had two bolts each, with a couple washers and the nuts. The set even came with the appropriate little wrench.

Now, I got it all together and should have waited for manfriend to get here to help me flip it over, but I have no patience.

I really wanted to see how it looks in my house.

So I used brute force and lifted the whole thing up and over.

Yes, I know it was not the smartest thing. No, I did not hurt myself.

It looks sooooooooooooooo nice in there! I dressed it up with a crystal bowl full of lemons from my tree.

Even manfriend, when he came over for dinner, said how well it fit in with the rest of my stuff.

Of course he also said I now need a couch upgrade. But that will have to wait.

The cats have mostly ignored it so far. I hope this trend continues. George did have to check out the underside of the table to make sure I did a good job with assembly. And later Aspen was playing musical chairs. But I think it will be OK and they will not do too much damage.

The table is set up at full extension right now, which is 83". I am leaving it that way until after the party. I also have stamping at my house this weekend and with nine of us, we will need the space.

Without the leaf it will be about 60" and seat six easily.

I decided I needed to make a nice dinner to properly christen the new dining set.

So I made a mixed green salad with creamy dill and caper dressing served in a parmesan basket.

Basically this meant a bag of nice mixed baby lettuces and using the leftover crab cake dressing as salad dressing. Hey, it was good. Why waste it?

I made the little parmesan baskets by sprinkling shredded parmesan into a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Once the cheese was golden on the bottom and started to firm up, I flipped it, cooked side up, onto the bottom of a drinking glass and formed the basket.

I put the tossed salad into the basket and added some tomato chunks.

For the dinner, I was going to make chicken piccata. I like the lemon and caper sauce of a piccata. But I have made that several times and decided to try something a bit different.

So I went with chicken pomodoro.

Here is what I did:

2 chicken breast steaks (4 breast steaks would work with this, too. But I only needed the two.)

salt and pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup vodka

1 cup vegetable broth (chicken will work, I just happened to have veggie)

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup chopped tomatoes (I used romanitas and cut them into about 1/2 inch chunks)

4 tbsp. cream

1/3 cup chopped chives

Heat oil in a large sautee pan.

Pound chicken down a bit to flatten it.

(I did not make this cutlet-flat. I just wanted an even depth to the pieces for even cooking.)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Cook chicken on medium-high heat until browned, then flip it and brown other side.

I let the chicken cook covered on low heat until it was done. Sorry, I forgot to time this part.

Remove the chicken and set aside.

Combine vodka, broth and lemon juice.

Away from heat, add the liquid to the pan and deglaze it.

Put the pan back over a high heat and let it reduce by about a third. The alcohol will cook away.

Gently stir in tomatoes and cream.

Add chicken back into the sauce and give it a couple minutes to reheat.

Add chives.

I served the chicken and sauce over some spaghetti rigate, which is a spaghetti with some grooves in it so the sauce has something to cling to.

This was a fairly thin sauce, which I like sometimes. It was pretty light even with the cream. Overall, I think the amount of cream was pretty small for the amount of sauce. Plus I made extra sauce and pasta to have for leftover.

I served simple steamed green beans on the side.

This was a very nice presentation and would be another great dinner party dish.

It is even pretty easy for every day.

Hey, whatever works

Before heading out for errands and lunch yesterday, I had my manfriend help me drag my old dining table and three remaining (rickety) chairs out into the driveway.

It was a bit on the low-class side, I know.

We were gone for about three hours.

As we turned into my neighborhood, I asked "How much you wanna bet that table is gone?"

He said something to the effect of "It's not like someone can just put that in the car. It might not be gone yet."

We had speculated earlier in the day that maybe part of it would be gone. Like maybe the table would be gone, but the chairs would still be there or vice versa.

When we got home...

Gone. All of it.

Which is pretty good considering I live on a very quiet street in a very quiet neighborhood.

Now I have this old desk in my garage. Maybe if I drag that out into my driveway next weekend...

Manfriend said there is going to be someone driving by my house every Sunday looking to see what I have left in the driveway.

So how would you go about getting rid of stuff like that? I put the desk on craigslist and got no hits. I put the desk and the table on a company classifieds listing and got no hits.

The driveway really seems to work.

Turning the tables

So the manfriend and I went all over town Sunday looking at furniture. Turns out he really likes to look at furniture. Yay!

I have been wanting to get a new dining table and chairs for a while now. Years, really.

There was nothing wrong with the old table except I do not like it anymore. It really does not go with the house. It was purchased almost 15 years ago based on the fact that it was dirt cheap.

And with that dirt cheap price tag came rickety chairs.

The wobble, they creak and they have, on at least one occasion, fallen apart while a dinner guest was sitting on one.

So, time for a new set.

Now I don't usually want to spend a ton on furniture. I have cats. Nothing stays pristine for very long.

I looked at the usual places and found nothing.

Then I found a table I liked, but the chairs were no good for me. Plus it was about 6 inches wider than the existing table. I worried that even though it was only 6 inches, it would make the space feel crowded.

It is one large room for living room (including TV and fireplace) and dining area. And the kitchen right there separated by the bar area. So it is a room full of focal points. I did not want to get a table that is too big.

So I ended up doing some more looking Monday. And then I found it.

I went to Crate and Barrel. I was sure they would only have stuff that was way more than I wanted to spend. And they did.

But they also had a simple, pretty table and chairs that will fit nicely in the space. They are a more modern style and the right size. And on the rare occasion I need more table, it extends to seat 8.

So I ordered the table and 6 chairs. It will be flat-pack shipped to my house.

Which means I get to assemble it all. No problem. I've done that stuff in the past and it did help keep the cost down.

It will be delivered next week. Which gives me plenty of time to have it assembled before my party on Jan. 27.

With luck it will even be done by Jan. 20 stamping. Maybe.

Excuses, excuses...

I have been blog slacking, I know.
Mostly it is because I have been going in to work earlier. Usually I would blog in the morning.
Lately I have been trying to get more chores done in the morning before work and blogging does not always make that list.
By the time I get home from work it is at least 9 p.m. and the last thing I want to do after sitting at a computer all days is sit at a computer.
So I need to work out some blogging time in the morning.
Anyway...

It's rainy here. I like it. I think I need to make cookies this weekend. Or a cake. Something. I love how the house feels all warm and cozy from the baking.

So, what have I done this week?
I got my chimney swept Wednesday. They also replaced the seal and chimney cap. He said the the old cap was too small for the chimney. I hope the new cap means that I can have fire without the house smelling like a campfire.

I did some minor household chores and errands. Other than that I pretty much just worked.

Boring. Yeah, I am boring.

I have begun planning my kitchen-warming party. That means I need to get on the ball and hem (or have hemmed) the curtains for the kitchen. I also need to paint the door. I have been saying that for weeks and never seem to do it.
It might be too damp this weekend. But if the rain continues, I won't have a choice. I need to have that done my Jan. 20 at the latest.

The party is Jan. 27.

Time to start planning that menu. Yay!

Well, I am going now. I hope to have more interesting and insightful posts in the coming days.

In the meantime, stay dry and stay warm.

Time to get motivated again

So I was doing pretty good with the whole idea of getting stuff accomplished at home without stressing myself out about it.
I did grocery shopping on the day before Christmas Eve to get me through the better part of my time off.
I made a yummy smoked salmon pasta with vodka cream sauce that night for dinner.
I have been whittling down the giant pile of dirty laundry in my garage.
I roasted a chicken for dinner Christmas Eve and made mashed potatoes and roasted squash medley.
I made a big pot of chicken and rice soup the other night for dinner (using the leftover chicken) and put a bunch of single portions in the freezer for later.
I have cleaned all the rooms but the office / spare bedroom.
I made food for the various Christmas gatherings.
I am slowly working on reclaiming my garage.
I painted outlet covers so I can put those in the kitchen.
I went to IKEA and got some curtains for the kitchen (not to mention some other impulse buys. Damn you, IKEA!)
I paid some bills.
I mowed the grass in the back yard.
I did various other chores, errands and tasks.

Then yesterday afternoon upon returning home from IKEA and my other errands, I just could not get motivated to do anything.
I figured it was just one afternoon and it IS my vacation. I am entitled to goof off for an afternoon.
Of course then I stayed up too late last night and slept until 10:45 this morning.
I do blame part of that on the electric blanket.
It keeps me so warm I do not want to get out of bed.

So now it is almost 11:30 and I have done pretty much nothing more than feed the cat. And that was just so he would pipe down so I could enjoy my tea in peace.

OK.
I need to get up off my rear and get moving. If I get started by noon, I can get the last of the painting done in the kitchen and get the outlet covers in place.

Which means I should go now. I have only 30 more minutes to slack.

I should go look at the mess that is my garage. Maybe that will get me motivated. I really want to be parking in there again by Jan. 1.

Routine maintenance

Things have been quite busy at work and, of course, the chores never stop at home.
I had my house cleaned this past Monday and it was great. But there is still the daily maintenance to keep it looking so nice.
I am the type to come in the door, set my bag on the first horizontal surface, kick off my shoes and change into pajamas.
Which means there is usually stuff that must be put back where it belongs.
I also have the cats, which means a lot of sweeping and cat-hair hunting.
So far I am doing an OK job with the upkeep.
I want this to last at least until February. And at the rate days have been passing lately, the end of February will be here next week.

Fresh grout looks a lot like pancake batter

When I got home from work Thursday, the manfriend had grouted all the tile behind the cooktop and half the tile under the glass-door cabinets.

Nice.

I thought it looked pretty freaking awesome before, but with the grout it really is beautiful.




The first shot here is the dramatic night shot with the hood lights making it all pretty.

The second shot is the part of the wall that is half done.

So you can see the difference in how it looks good and how it looks great.


Then when I got home from work Friday, he had pretty much completed putting up the tile above the hood. He had left only five small pieces that required tricky cuts, but it got too dark to be outside with the tile saw.

This morning he finished those five pieces.

The photo at left shows the bottom with grout, the top without grout.

My task was to mix up another batch of grout and start putting it on the wall behind the sink.

I used a grouting bag, which just looks like a giant pastry bag like you use to decorate cakes. It seemed liked this might be a better way than using a grout float since it would put the grout just in the grout line and minimize the amount that got on the tile.

It was pretty easy except for having to hunch over under the cabinets to see what I was doing.

After the grout had a few minutes to set up a bit, MF started to smooth it out and work it a little.
Then he cleaned the tiles up with some water and a sponge.

He was working on that when I left for work today.

I think the part I will have left to finish over my weekend will be the other half of the wall under the glass-door cabinets and the part above the hood.

He said he might seal that tile today so it would be all ready to go.

Then I have to go over everything again to give the grout a good seal.

There also are some tricky areas around the window frame that I need to ponder.

It seems like this project will not end.

I am still waiting for the workers to come back and fix one last thing with the faucet.

There was a bad part, the diverter part that stops the water from coming out the faucet when I press the button for the sprayer hose.

I just have to keep nagging I guess.

The other reason I want them to finish is so they can take the lockbox off my door.

I have had a couple neighbors ask me if I am selling my house and the real estate agent with the listing across the street asked how much I was listing it for and when I was doing showings.

Um, no. Not for sale.

But it is good to know there is such interest and that my neighbors are paying attention and keeping such a close eye on things.

Tile ain't so tough

With help Sunday from the manfriend, I got the tile up behind the stove and on the wall where the new glass-door cabinets are.

It went pretty fast with two of use working, but since we didn't start until almost 1 p.m., there was not time to do the wall behind the sink.

The tiles are 3x6 inch hand-glazed ceramics from Sonoma Tile in a color called Damask.

I ordered it at Classic Tile in Hermosa Beach and it took exactly a month to arrive. The people at Classic Tile were very friendly and knowledgeable and they had an amazing selection.

I felt like what I was ordering was so mundane compared with some of the displays they had.

But the tile looks great on the walls.

There is some fine crackling in the glaze and some color variations. I like that.

I think it gives the tile more dimension than if it was all perfectly the same color.

The only thing was that there also were slight variations in size. So the grout lines, as best we tried to keep them perfectly straight, will not be.

Oh well.

I am fine with that.

I sealed the stove and cabinet walls yesterday and then set about doing the sink wall.

Yep. All by myself.

I no longer fear the wet saw.

Of course it was still a bit daunting. I have never done this by myself before and at $17 a square foot, I really didn't want to mess it up.

It's not like I could run out to the Home Depot and buy more tile if I ran out because I miscut a bunch.

I do have a fair amount of tile left. The manfriend thinks I should go ahead and tile all the way up behind the hood.

It would be much more dramatic that way. But those diagonal cuts at the top of the hood might be tough.

First I would need to measure very carefully to make sure I even have enough tile to do that space. It was not factored into my order, but I gave myself a large cushion for mistakes that didn't happen.

Then I would need to be so, so, so careful not to miscut anything because I wouldn't have a lot of leftover tile to play with there.

Anyway, it took me about the same amount of time to do the one wall by myself as it took the two of us to do the two walls. Seems logical.

So I didn't get any grouting done.

But it will get done. Maybe by next Monday.

I think it looks awesome. It will look even better once the bright white grout is in and I paint the trim moldings and back door a bright white.

Overall, I am pretty darn pleased with my tile and with myself.

Click here to see what the kitchen used to look like and a picture of the inspiration kitchen.

I think it stacks up pretty nicely compared to the inspiration kitchen. What do you think?

Tile. Yay!

Woo hoo! I got my tile today. It looks quite nice.

Now I have no excuse for not painting the kitchen.

So I will do that Monday.

I hope to have the tile up and grouted and sealed a week after that.

That is the last thing. Then the kitchen is done.

Oh wait. I still need a threshold for the back door. But that is in the works.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Kitchen
I got the call yesterday from the tile place. My order is in.
I may try to get by there this morning before work, but it is in totally the opposite direction of where I need to go.
If I don't make it today, tomorrow or Monday will have to do.
I guess this means I cannot put off painting the kitchen any longer. That will happen Monday for sure.
Then the following weekend I hope to get the tile up behind the stove, sink and in the area under the glass cabinets.

Work
We got the information about our new workflow yesterday. It will not change my hours substantially. Which is great. And it won't change my days off. Of course, had it changed them to Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday, I would have been fine with that.
But as long as I get to keep my Sunday and Monday, I can deal with it.
And it won't change my work too much. There were the usual skeptics, but I think it will be fine once we all settle into it.
Other than that, work is work.

Life
I've got a couple things in the works for Sunday with friends. My monthly card group is going to skip our normal get together and head out to the stamp convention in Carson. I haven't been to one of these things, but i have a feeling I should leave my credit cards at home and only bring what I can afford to spend in cash.

I made a card for the swap, but forgot my camera at work last night, so a photo will have to wait.

Then Sunday night, the manfriend and I will be having dinner with some friends at this place.

I have never been there, but I am already checking out the online menu trying to figure out what I want to eat. Wait, I want to eat ALL of it. It sounds great. And my friend tells me they make a killer martini.

It is in Stanton. Which is some vague place in O.C. But that is what Google Maps is for.

Well, I must be off now if I have a prayer of getting from Torrance to the tile place in Hermosa Beach and then to work before noon.

Yeah, I know. Noon. I sound like a slacker. It's just my crazy hours.