Ghosts, scones, and cabinets

Last night started with a jolt.  I turned off the light to go to sleep and then noticed that there was a light above me.  I looked around, wondering if it were coming through the windows.  Nope.  It was shining down around the attic door.  Huh.. I haven't been in the attic in months.  And I definitely didn't see the light the night before.  I woke JD and asked him if he'd been in the attic.  He said no and immediately fell asleep again.

My adrenaline stepped everything up a notch.

Given that it's a really old house, lights turning on and off immediately takes me in the ghost direction.  Or, hell, in the raccoon direction.  It's not like there have never been animals in the attic.  For that matter I need to get up there and remove all the mouse poop that has accumulated in the last five years.

Anyway, I had more than an average amount of difficulty falling asleep.  In the morning I asked JD to go up and turn the light back off.  He found that the switch needs to be replaced - it no longer solidly moves to the on or off position.  One more thing for the to do list.  While he's at it he'll replace the iffy one in the guest bedroom as well.

The first thing on our agenda today, however, was tea.  JD had bought a groupon for afternoon tea at Moulin de Paris.  It was delightful.  They had dozens of teas on the menu.  The little restaurant was very cute, and it was fun to sit there with my tea (and champagne) and have a date with my husband.  He did note that he was nearly the only male in the room - afternoon tea is apparently a girly thing.

My tea had flowers!

I am pretty sure I have never had a serving of shrimp come in a unit of "two" before.

The adorable tea tray full of yumminess - all the defaults, there were only ordering options on the beverages.  There were various sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, chocolate dipped strawberries, and more.

Champagne is appropriate at any time of the day

My beloved, who is secure enough in his masculinity to go out for afternoon tea.  Thanks, sweetheart.

After that, JD suggested that we stop by Ikea to see if they had furniture which would suit our storage desires.  We took notes on a bunch of items then came home to see if they would fit into the spaces we had available.

This Hemnes glass door cabinet is exactly the right height for our towel cabinet, but is one inch too wide.

The Edlund chest is exactly the right height, width, and depth for a larger entryway chest.  However it has been discontinued.  They kept the floor model only to taunt us.

This Hemnes three drawer chest is a couple of inches too deep,  and would leave the space from the entryway to the hall just a little too narrow to comfortably walk through with a laundry basket.

This eensy (24" high) Rast chest is completely inadequate to store everything.  It's what is in the front hall now.

The Hemnes six drawer chest would be AWESOME but is also 2" too deep, same issue with the laundry basket.

The Hemnes shoe chest is *perfect* for the other side of the entryway, but it doesn't have back legs.  We don't wish to bolt things to the wall.

This Hemnes glass door cabinet with drawers would fit the entryway nicely, but would have to be bolted to the wall as well.  And there is a good chance that we would shatter the glass by opening the front door too enthusiastically.

It appears that we are going to have to bolt things to the wall.  It's that, or not have enough room to walk.  Or not store things.  One of those.

That's a might fine can you got there, ma'am.

Do I feel domestic or what?  I've been shopping for a trash can.  For days.  I didn't think I had it in me to think about trash cans for that long.  But I know what I want, and I'm not stopping until I find it.

We have pretty specific trash can needs at our house.  Because of the dog and one or more cats (I have my suspicions), we need a trash can that is tall, heavy, and hard to topple.  For JD's cooking needs, it needs to be open so he can throw things in with no fuss.  For my cleaning needs, it needs to have a lid that acts as a backstop to catch anything that's flying high.

I don't think this is it, yet, but this is pretty close to what we want:

It's a little deeper front to back than what we have now, and I'm concerned it will stick out into the room too much.  But otherwise it's almost perfect.

This one is pretty nice too.  Not as tall, but also with a smaller footprint, which I like.

Now I just have to convince myself to spend over $100 on a trash can.  I've had my current $13 trash can for quite a long time, but it's hard to keep clean, and despite the lengths we've gone to (raising it off the floor, putting bricks in to make it heavier, wedging it between the cabinets and a table) the dog still occasionally gets into it.  Which, yes, is annoying.  But more importantly it could be health threatening.  Between the dog's inflammatory bowel condition and the possibility of poisonous-to-dogs substances in the trash, I kind of freak out whenever I come home to find the trash can overturned.

This is definitely a first world problem.

Not a real post (but it has giant construction condoms)

So tired.  I went out this evening to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Some things are hard to buy online.  I expected massive crowding, and didn't find it.  But I don't find shopping to be particularly fun or energizing.  JD informs me that some people are energized by shopping.  I find this hard to believe.

I can't say what it is, but I could not believe how hard it was to find one item.  I thought it would be really common but it is not.

I came across a camoflage necklace in one store.  What's the point?

Okay, bed now.  I have to go recuperate from shopping.  But first, two pretty much random photos.

Notice the two elephant sized condoms taped to the building, just to the right of the "Do Not Enter" sign.

The moon last night while Pluto was being a dink.

I am the proud new owner of a Mountain Horse (jacket)

I had hoped to ride today but there was still snow in the arena, and ice, snow, and icy puddles on the road.  Instead I held Pluto for the farrier while he got his bi-monthly mani-pedi.

Would sir care for the apricot scrub?

You can't really see it in the picture but Pluto is in fact standing on ice and slush.

After completely failing to ride because of my fear of Pluto slipping and falling and losing his grip on reality, I decided today was a good day to go to Dover.  Dover is a saddlery.  Saddleries sell all sorts of horse and riding related items.  I got Pluto  an exercise rug, purchased in lilac to cover his delicate heinie and my chilly thunderthighs.  I stopped in the helmet department and picked up a velvet helmet cover and a waterproof helmet cover, both intended to try to keep my noggin warmer in the winter.

I also found my winter coat!  It has pockets.  Oh so many pockets.  Hold on a sec while I count.

Eleven.  It has eleven pockets.  It has pit zips.  It has snaps in the back to loosen up the bottom so it fits when you get in a saddle.  It has reflective strips that you can reveal on the arms, should you so choose.  It has corduroy just on the inside of the neck, for coziness.  It has a flap with a label under it where you can write all your information, so should your broken body be found somewhere, the authorities can call home and let somebody know to put in a claim for the life insurance money.  There are little zippers at the wrist so you can easily put gloves on and then tighten the coat down over them.  It is made of super durable cordura, and it is so warm that I had to change the air temperature in the car from warm to cool.

And last but not least, it was $100 off.  Woo!

This may be the most useful, most me-like coat I've ever purchased.  I hope it survives.

I stopped for groceries after that.  By this point it was nearly 3 pm and I was starving, having missed lunch so Pluto could get his nails did.  I picked up some quinoa.  "Quinoa?"  I know you are saying.  WTF is quinoa and what kind of yuppie is she to buy it?  I'm glad you asked.  It's a pretty tasty grain-like seed.  You cook it like rice (pretty much exactly) and it kind of looks like couscous.  (If you don't know what couscous is, I can't help you.)  I'm eating it because it's tasty.  Also, fairly high in protein.  Tonight I ate it with leftover chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce and it was DELISH. 

However, there was one minor technical problem.  You have to rinse it before cooking.  I only had a one cup strainer of the correct mesh width.  So I figured I'd rinse one cup, add it to the broth I cooked it in, then rinse the other cup.  But the broth wasn't boiling yet.

It got a little 'splodey.

Also this afternoon I determined that Dory likes hummus.

I don't know if it's all hummus, or just the spinach and artichoke flavor that she likes.

Beauty is concerned by this development.  What if the cats want to eat HER hummus?