The Pool, Sprinklers and Miscellaneous Updates

...probably heavier on the miscellaneous updates part. Anyway, let's go in order...

Here's what the pool looked like when we left last Saturday for a week. I'll spare you the algae soup shot of the bottom.

We returned last night to find this, which is the plaster bond coat before the Pebble Tec goes on. I know it's not terribly exciting, but it gives just the vaguest hint at how this whole area is going to be transformed from a ratty, stained, pink-rimmed, algae-ridden antique into a great modern space. I can't tell how fancy it might look, but at a minimum it'll be simple and clean, and I'd happily take that.   

Next, we have sprinkler liftoff!!!I realized this afternoon that this meant I could actually plant a ton of blackeyed susan seeds and they would grow, because they were watered on a timer and didn't depend on me to help them turn into little plantlets. I am not very reliable with watering.

And now, miscellaneous updates. Seriously, the iPhone panorama shot knocks my socks off (or would, if it wasn't 99 degrees outside, and I was wearing socks). This is from last Sunday at the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco, where we visited my very oldest friend Laura, her husband Zack and their Yorkie Artie for a few days. They took us on a tour of the city and this was our first stop.

 Next picture stop, Sutro Baths. Hi :)

And a gorgeous, clear afternoon on Monday; this is the view from their super cute apartment. 

Tuesday morning, we packed up the Q and headed south. We took the 101 for a change of pace. Neither of us can count how many times we've done I-5, a route most noted for its incredible boringness, so the 101's more varied landscape was a welcome change of pace. Tuesday we landed in Glendora, half a second where we went to college, and caught up with some friends (one of whom we were there for meetings with, since this was actually a very productive business trip we were on). Cue quintessential California palm tree shot...

And a few housey things... I enjoyed an afternoon by myself poking through Old Town Pasadena and nearby stores and found some fun ideas to bring home. Like these lanterns, which I'm totally going to make myself. I found a tutorial on someone's blog a while back and decided it'd be a worthwhile project. Fun additions to the pool shack area.

I also found myself enchanted by this fountain. I want to make one, or buy one...HAVE one. I also wanted to sit in it, because it was a bit warm and it looks like an amazing natural bathtub. You can't quite tell in that picture, but the water spills down the sides and into the rock bed below; it's like a zero-edge swimming pool. UGH. Want.

I was also kind of taken by all the succulents everywhere. I think I'm going to do a bowl of them out by the pool, where I unceremoniously murdered a fern last year. Few plants can be so visually fascinating, with all the textural variation.

Then, we went home. By the time we'd been in the car for 8 hours, I was feeling a bit antsy and convinced Todd to stop at the Olive Pit in Corning, CA (olive country), which we'd driven past a zillion times. I enjoyed sampling a wide variety of offerings and wished they'd had a few varieties of Castelvetrano olives, which are my favorite. (BTW, how amazing is my pineappleologist hat? Amazing. Bday present from Todd.)

And lastly, no trip to California is complete without a stop at In N Out. This may have been my third stop at In N Out (I also had Chic-Fil-A twice ❤️ and it was spectacular.)

Oh, wait, one more thing. I bought a mug at Anthro to commemorate my trip, because I like having an assortment of mugs to pick from and tying them to specific memories.

Obviously, blue, white and yellow is kind of my jam, but I think what sold me is that bright coral color inside. I love that color, but I don't think I really wear it that well. Looking at it elsewhere is the next best thing.

So, LA, you weren't nearly as terrible as I remembered. Here's something I never thought I'd say: looking forward to the next trip back. (Gasp.)

Busy Bees

So, we've covered a lot of ground in the last month or so. Windows, obviously, which you can read more about in this post. But also a whole bunch of other things.

1. Drywall mud finished in stairwell and upstairs. He made the paneling disappear!

 Lovely smooth walls (and yet another round, hopefully the last, of cleanup on the upstairs landing)

 Trim needed to finish these edges.

 Now that I've spent some time applying mud, I have a lot of respect for guys who do it well. He did a really nice job.

2. Made super cool lamps out of salvaged wood

 I'm going to make shades for them. The proportions are obviously wrong with this shade, but it's functional for now.

3. Finished baseboard in guest room, just in time for my parents' arrival (no pictures of this. Baseboard just isn't that exciting, but what it lacks in interesting, it makes up for with time-consuming. So there's that.)

4. Successfully added casing around guest room window

 ...and somewhat less-successfully added casing around attic door in guest room. Nothing a tube of caulk can't fix.

Primed but haven't yet painted the attic door...

5. Cut down the camellia in front of our house because we didn't like it and didn't appreciate how much light it was blocking.

 In this one, where Todd looks kind of like the "why you" cartoon from The Oatmeal while brandishing a bow saw, you can see the front of our house right now and the place where the siding needs to be patched from the window replacement.

6. Baked a ton of stuffed heirloom tomatoes and drank a lot of wine while doing it

 OMG I love my kitchen. This is almost a year ago that we demolished the old kitchen.

7. Enjoyed another idyllic happy hour at Dunbar

8. Took in Crater Lake (again, fourth time I think) with my parents and stayed at the lodge for the first time. This is the view from the valley side.

 Mirror Pond at Crater Lake. I think this is called "arriving."

 I know Todd's eyes are closed but I look cute with my new haircut. #sorryimnotsorry.

 Made friends with this tame little guy.

9. Considered buying a labradoodle puppy who, at three months, was the best-behaved dog I've ever met

10. Ate a LOT of Buttercloud. With Kristan and Brian, with my parents, with my parents again, with Todd, with my mom... yum.

 11. Got the attic cabinet door in the bathroom painted. But not caulked, and it will need probably another tube of caulk.

 12. Acquired this great ikat shower curtain from Target. I'll be giving it the blue marker treatment. The pattern is perfect but I've never been a fan of muddy gray-blue. I was planning on putting it upstairs, but it might go in our bathroom if I really love it.

Kitchen Remodel Unofficially Started!!!

I am so excited to announce that I made the second unofficial step toward kitchen demo this evening. Behold, the dining room wall. Looking good. I know.

Allow me to explain. After badmouthing the grasscloth wallpaper in the dining room on video nearly five years ago, it has since really grown on me. I love it and wish it were in better condition. All things considered, it's not that bad, but there are some spots that would look better if they were patched.

Since we're taking out half that wall pictured above, between the kitchen and the dining room, this was the perfect opportunity to salvage some grasscloth to patch in. So that's what I did. Luckily, I didn't need very much. Removing wallpaper is not a task for the faint of heart. Removing more than half a sheet of wallpaper nonviolently is something probably only yogis could do. For the record, I am not a yogi. I got about half a sheet and called it good.

Next, I found a pedestal sink for the powder room we're putting in. I don't think I've ever written a sentence like this in my life, but ... it was the cheapest one Home Depot had. That probably just shifted your understanding of the universe, so I'll give you a moment to recover before telling you that it is a mere $54 for the sink and the base. It's the one on the right.

On a non-kitchen-related note, this brass beauty was purchased by the side of the road in Lapine, Oregon for $10 last summer. I'm in the process of painting the brass black, which is turning out to be a more tedious process than I'd anticipated. It'll look great in the upstairs landing though, which is where it will be living eventually.

Lastly, two seasonally appropriate items: pumpkin ale (the stuff from Kennebunkport, ME via Trader Joe's is better than this Blue Moon, but whatever)...

And this spectacular cinnamon roll with walnuts and two americanos made with locally roasted coffee from Great Harvest last rainy Saturday morning, following a trip to the farmers market in a downpour to get heirloom tomatoes. I'm fairly sure you can't get more Oregonian than that.

Demo on the kitchen starts Friday afternoon. Our contractor, Bruce, is bringing a trailer for us to fill. I'm simultaneously beside myself with joy that the day is almost finally here for that horrible, horrible kitchen to disappear, and terrified that my sanity won't be intact by the time it's over for me to enjoy it.

It's time, though. Our faucet has developed a dual-flow function, by which I mean, when you turn it on the water not only comes out of the spout but also conveniently comes out from around one handle. It also drips/runs constantly, regardless of whether we've turned the water off at the valve. On the note of sanity, I might blow up the kitchen myself if I have to listen to it dripping into one more bowl left in the sink.

Three more days!!

It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

Mostly, Christmas to me is about food (and also the sacred nature of singing Christmas carols at church, which should never be tampered with, but we won't talk about that here). We've been celebrating with food even I wouldn't consider eating regularly during most of the year: caramel turtles, cheeseballs, hot buttered rum, a 3-pound summer sausage...

For our neighbors, I wanted to do something cute but easy, and I think these little baskets came together nicely:
Hot chocolate with smashed candy canes at the top, and marshmallows dipped in a simple syrup (sugar and hot water) mixed with a little peppermint extract then rolled in more smashed candy canes. Smashing the candy canes was fun. I used a paper bag after making a big mess on round 1.

For a number of other friends and family, I made turtles. I've always loved turtles, but they're a bit on the pricey side, so I used limit myself. NO MORE shall I suffer under the tyranny of expensive turtles! Using a recipe I found, I composed my shopping list, purchased obscene quantities of sugar, butter and chocolate, and went to work. My test batch was approved, though I opted to make some milk chocolate rather than all semi-sweet.
Test batch not included, I made 152 of the little reptilian confections. There were turtles EVERYWHERE, on the counters, cooling racks, fridge, freezer, nearly all flat surfaces in the kitchen.
It was a fun project, but boy were my hands ever sore after carmel-ing. They sort of cramped together like claws for a few days after.
And here's the finished product: packaged and ready (almost) for shipping!

For another of our little get-togethers, I improvised a cheese ball. We had a lot of cheddar lying around and some smashed pecans left over from turtles, so I added cream cheese and dry minced onion and some other stuff and presto!It made a yummy companion for the sausage.

Lastly, here's a nice shot of the tree, pre-Christmas morning destruction: