Our Own Ratatouille

With this past Monday being Martin Luther King Day, Brandon had the day off of work, but fortunately for us, Lucy's daycare was still in session so we got a day to ourselves to get some things done. So our search for doorknobs continued. We went to Restoration Hardware to be disappointed that they didn't even have doorknobs. But they were having a clearance on lamp shades ($5!!!) and I really wanted to buy some, but alas, we don't really own any lamps. But seeing the clearance made me want to buy some just so we could get some lamp shades but I resisted.

Since Pottery Barn was right across the street, I went to check out if they still had the $9.97 full sheet set there but they were already gone two days later. So the morning was a bit of a waste because it's a little pointless to shop for home decor and furniture when you don't have any money to spend on it because you've been spending all your money on fixing up your house so you can put your crappy furniture back inside. [:sigh:] We are very thankful though, that we have the opportunity to fix up our house and are excited we are so close to moving back in.

All that walking around looking at stuff left us pretty famished so we decided to eat at Cafe SuperNatural mostly because the eating establishments in Trolley Square are a little sparse. And I have to admit, I had pretty low expectations because it is one of those vegan, gluten-free restaurants and I assumed that we would be eating tasteless, cardboard-y food. But I was pleasantly surprised! I ordered the Machu Picchu which is steamed quinoa served with seasonal vegetables and a roasted chili cashew cream sauce and I wish I took a picture of it because it was really pretty and tasted as good as it looked. The cashew cream sauce was especially good and even though I'm not really into spicy, it was just spicy enough to leave a pleasant buzz in my mouth. And although it didn't satisfy me in a way that meat would, it was nice to feel satiated but not gross that usually comes with overindulging in richer food. Brandon kinda liked his although he was a little wary of the tempeh. Small menu and half of it is raw but I think I would eat there again even though it is a little more expensive than your average fast-casual restaurant. 

Anyway, doorknobs. I gave up trying to find something in the stores and turned to the internet. I think that this is what we are getting:

We didn't want to just get builder-grade boringness but try to find a contemporary look that can kinda match a Craftsman style (although our house isn't really Craftsman, we are kinda going for that look). These are the new doors we have, so whaddya think? Does it match?

We also have some really pretty door trim that got installed so I'm excited to take pictures of the finished product to post on the blog. It is all getting painted this week so should be done soon.

Since MLK Day wasn't quite as productive as I hoped it would be in terms of shopping, I tried to make up for it at dinnertime in making something a little more ambitious - stuffed shells. It's mostly because the filling takes forever to make so while Brandon entertained Lucy, I slaved away in the kitchen forever. As I was chopping and mixing and cooking, I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye and was shocked to see a little mouse in the entryway of the house. And even though I'm a thousand time bigger than it, it still kinda freaked me out. But when I ran to get Brandon to help me to get it, it had already run away. But post dinner, I saw it again and this time, Damian was right next to me. But I just happened to have my hands full and Damian was holding Lucy and she was terrified and clinging to him and so the mouse ran away under the oven in the kitchen. The boys put their heads together to set up a little system to catch the mouse since we didn't want to kill it in front of Lucy (we recently watched Ratatouille and she really loves it). So here is the set-up:

The boys put boxes all around the kitchen and then pulled out the oven, hoping that the mouse would just run (or be swept) into one of the boxes so we could bring it outside. I was a little skeptical but amazingly, it worked!

We put that poor little mouse back outside. We are pretty sure that he must have snuck in that morning through the door when we were loading the car because it had been snowing and the poor guy definitely didn't know his way around the house because we kept seeing him out in the open and we never saw any signs of him (mouse poop, food trails, etc.) previously. Lucy was a little sad to see our own Ratatouille go (even though she was also petrified of him) but when we explained that he needed to go back to his parents outside, she wasn't so sad to let him go. The girl understands that even a little mouse misses its parents. But it was pretty exciting to have our own Ratatouille for just one night.