Adventures in Bathroom Renovation

Because I felt a little bad about making guests use the ugly bathroom with the gold flecked sink and teeny tiny fiberglass shower…. because I know one can make a bathroom look SO much better with just a little tile and a new countertop…. and because I got plenty of nice tile at the auction for a grand total of $17.50 (as well as a cultured marble sink/countertop for another $17.50)… the downstairs bathroom renovation has begun!!

I tried really hard (okay, not that hard) to salvage the gold flecked sink… but it just refused to relinquish its hold on the cabinet…

The laminate flooring, of which I don’t have a picture, bested me with its grip on the floor. I spend a few hours pounding the scraper with the hammer only to release a few square feet. Rob was my savior with his strength and technique and defeated the evil 70s floor in less than a day, using our concrete grinder to get all the remnants.

So beautiful!

When Rob removed the shower, however, we discovered a rather large hole in the floor where, presumably, the previous owners didn’t like the placement of the drain and just left the gaping hole. So, Rob filled it. But before that could happen, the poorly joined pipe broke loose and Rob had to dig it out and replace the plumbing. First time to dig the dirt UNDER our foundation. Check.

Next came the first shaping of the shower base, the curb for the edge of the shower, and the shower pan liner. Have I mentioned my husband is extremely talented? He did all of this!

Last night, he finished putting up the concrete board for the shower walls. He even designed a shelf (based on my largest shampoo bottle) along the back wall of the shower.

Even though this project has already taken longer than expected, I think the difference will be worth it. Rob is eager, however, to get started building the kitchen cabinets! More to come!

El Salvador

Have I mentioned that my husband is so good to me? I have??You’ve heard it over and over again? Well, it’s a fact.

Last week, he swept me away to the beach in El Salvador. We arrived on Sunday and drove our rented car to the beach house. We were greeted with warm sun, sea air, and local cuisine (pupusas). A pupusa is a corn tortilla filled with something (in this case beans and cheese), then topped with carrot and cabbage slaw and salsa. Wonderful!

The house came with a caretaker, cook, and housekeeper (who all spoke only Spanish, by the way). I was thrilled to practice, but completely saddened by how much comprehension I’d lost over the years. Still able to say what I needed to say, I found myself having to listen extra hard to recognize words and was often completely lost without sufficient context clues. But of course they have plenty of non-Spanish speakers come and stay so the staff is great with communicating past language barriers.

You might think “won’t three more people there cut into your privacy a bit?” Yeah, I thought that too. But they have their own house and we really had plenty of privacy – it was like they only showed up when we needed them.

And as for a cook… well I’m completely spoiled now. It’s wonderful! After a long hard day of lounging by the beach or the pool, you are summoned with “todos son listos” to an already-set table laid with DELICIOUS food. Afterwards, they take the dishes away and wash them! I was in bliss! It’s only been a few days and I REALLY want Rosi to come get me from the living room for my beans, rice, and chicken tacos. Sigh.

This is the house where we stayed. Found it on VRBO.com. It’s mostly open air and you close it up at night, with air conditioners in each bedroom. The bedrooms are to the right through the doors.

The grounds are beautiful. And the pictures don’t do it justice.

We took a day trip down the Ruta del las Flores. If you’re planning a trip to El Salvador, I recommend this day trip for a weekend as the Thursday that we showed up, many things were closed.

On the weekends, I assume there are weavers at these looms.

In the town of Juayua, you can walk down to the waterfalls. I don’t actually know the correct way to get there because we drove our rental car down this very bumpy, narrow, and steep road until some cops at a road block told us we had to park there and walk. A ways down the path, we walked through the gate that read “private property” and something about a hydroelectric power plant to find the waterfalls. That might have been the correct way to do things, but since so few people were out and about on that fine Thursday, I had no cues. So… who knows? But the falls are pretty and worth the ten-minute walk!

The most frightening part was this path that you were to cross to get to the second waterfall. The picture makes it look harmless enough, but the drop-off to the left is really quite substantial. My heart was racing!

 

Overall, this vacation was SO relaxing! We watched the sunset every evening. I did yoga. We laid on the beach. We got massages. We drank fresh coconut water. We read our books in the hammocks. We listened to the sound of the ocean. It was just what we needed.

Garage Gift

Kept secret through Rob’s deployment was my plan to finish the garage. Putting up insulation in the sunroom made me realize how easy it was and my friend’s boyfriend is a handyman with electrical and sheetrock tools… so the garage project was born!

The cleaning out was a formidable task, considering that when we moved in, all our stuff went into the garage and it still had some of that, plus regular garage accumulation stuff. Ugh.

After the wiring and lighting

With insulation (that I did mySELF!) with the pneumatic stapler that the roofing guys let me borrow!

With some taping and mudding

And primed and painted, ready for Rob’s arrival!

There’s still insulation in the ceiling to be done, but it’s a beautiful, considerably warmer workspace! Yay me!

Catching Up

 

In case you missed it, Rob is home!!! He arrived in early November and I’ve been pretty much blissed out ever since. Rob is so dreamy, in case you didn’t know.

My amazing photographer friend came to the airport with a small group from the squadron and took some wonderful photos! Joice Ruffing Photography.

He got two weeks of R&R and we spent it mostly enjoying each other’s company. But since the weather was still pretty nice, we got out for a hike in the hills, a hockey game, a drive to the Badlands, and a visit to Mount Rushmore.

Our trip to Rushmore was quite a bit cold and it was quickly followed by the first big snow of the year – over 9 inches!

We spent Thanksgiving with another couple and our goal of having an enormous amount of food ensuring loads of leftovers was certainly exceeded. We fried a turkey and mourned the fact we hadn’t bought a turkey fryer until this year because YUM!

Oh, I also want to brag some more about my amazing husband because look what he built!

He just whipped it up! I told him I was going to get a pre-made one from Lowe’s for the downstairs bath reno and he just scoffed and made this gorgeous one instead! I love him! So rejoice potential houseguests! No longer will you have to suffer the faded linoleum, gold-flecked sink, wonky cabinet, and ugly 70s shower…. soon, very soon there will be a beautiful bathroom instead!

And one final little detail… Oh happy day! My crowbar shall longer dwell on the kitchen counter waiting to open my dishwasher! We stalked Black Friday and got a dishwasher!!!! Hooray!!! I’m completely in love. This is the first appliance to which I want to pledge devotion! It’s SO quiet! No more turning up the TV or NEVER washing when guests come over! It cleans so well and has got lots of neat settings! Plus, look how shiny!

Hope your Christmas season is wonderful! Just remember Happy Holidays… is what terrorists say. Merry Christmas from McKay and Rob!

Adventures in Crossfit

My workout journey started with squadron spouse socializing. Apparently, a bunch of the ladies go to this class on base that is amazing and fun and the best workout ever. In the words of one spouse it’s “horribly awesome.” So I tried it.

As advertised.

But I kept going for the social aspect. Then, I started going three times a week when I realized how much Rob’s workouts were getting him in shape. I imagined how fun it would be if my husband and I could workout together and this class seemed to have elements that we both could do.

I learned it was crossfit.

After a month, I was hooked. The workouts have the ability to be exhausting and fun at the same time and I adore the variety. I get a challenge and a success every time; and it’s very rewarding to see oneself progress and then to see my body get more toned and to notice heavy things are not so heavy anymore.

So I kept going.

I wanted to keep up my workouts while in College Station, so I contacted one of the crossfit gyms in town. It turns out, it is owned by a high school friend of mine. He is also an ex-Marine and looks and talks like one, which made me a little intimidated… and also made me want to make fun of the fact he was SO Marine-ish.

Anyway, one of my first workouts gave me a nice dose of humility. We were doing one of the weight-lifting moves where you take the bar all the way from the ground to above your head in one big heave.

Well, I knew from my previous crossfit experience, that I am not capable of doing this lift without grace. Years of dance, yoga, and a natural tendency to move smoothly are deeply ingrained in my muscle memory. Graceful movement is completely unnecessary for lifting heavy weight… in case you didn’t know. The trainer kept looking at me practicing with the PVC pipe saying, “more thrust” or “more jump” or “really get under it.” Finally, I started to get better and we moved over to the barbells.

She passes me a barbell with tires on the ends of it… TIRES. Umm, yes, I am intimidated. I begin my lifts. This weight seems really heavy. I mention that this might be on the upper end of what I typically lift. The tiny little trainer who brought the weight over with one hand replies, “it’s 35.” Which, by the way, is the lightest weight they have…. AND yes, in fact, it is the MOST WEIGHT I HAVE EVER LIFTED. Oh. My. The lightest bar is the most I’ve ever lifted. Humility, anyone? Yes, I’ve got some right here…

The last workout I did there was on their outdoor obstacle course, which is done in the military style. You run and jump over logs, roll under some, climb over many, climb a rope, run over tires and across the finish line. The first guy who did it (an Army guy) made it look SO easy. He was amazing. I found out just how amazing when I attempted it next.

Jumping over logs – oo, kinda fun. Rolling under, climbing over – also fun. Running up the tire – like a playground. Climbing the rope – ….. climbing the rope – ….  Umm, yea. I haven’t attempted climbing a rope since middle school PE and even then, I was not at all successful. The trainers gave me some good techniques, but even with those, I could not manage more than one pull up. So… I had to do burpees instead of climb the rope. Poo.

Moving on. The next series of logs was the biggest challenge. You had to go over and touch down from each of five logs, the highest at 7 feet. I was simply thrilled to find that I was capable of doing it!! Of course, my method was a little unconventional. Lacking the upper arm strength to launch my body onto the highest log, I stretched my leg over from the next highest log, almost doing the splits until I could grip the next log with my leg. Effective, but the trainers said they hadn’t seen it done that way before. I’ll just take that as a compliment…

Then, running across the tires to the finish line. Yay!! I did it!! Some perspective: the Army guy did it in 57 seconds. I did it in 2 min, 17 seconds. Yea, I’m that awesome.

The chunk of the workout had us going through the course taking the first obstacle, then running back to the beginning; first and second, beginning; first second third, beginning, and so on.

It was long. And hard. sts. But I completed it!

And that kind of sums up why I like crossfit. Whether you’re fit or not, each workout is challenging (that Army guy was still challenged). And since each person is in a different place – maybe you’re lifting different weights, maybe you started at different times, the competition is indirect – just enough to make you want to push a little harder and friendly enough that everyone is rooting for you to beat your personal best. I really like it.

If you’re thinking of starting crossfit, be prepared to be intimidated. The weights look heavy and everyone looks like they’re working really hard (as opposed to holding fabulous yoga poses with looks of tranquility in super cute outfits).

But if you look closer, you’ll probably also notice that everyone is really friendly, helpful, and encouraging. If you’re lost, ask for directions. If you notice someone is especially good at that warm-up footwork, ask them for some tips. And you won’t have to ask before people are dishing out the encouragement. Sometimes rather loudly…

So have fun and remember to stretch… and do yoga… ‘cause it’s the best.

Finding the Best Chocolate Cake in Houston

I came to Texas for my brother’s wedding (last weekend – Congratulations!) and while I was here, my other brother and his wife Ashley planned a cake sampling of the great cakes of Houston. Can you say YUM?

They used the chocolate cake from Cheddar’s as a constant – because let’s face it, Cheddar’s chocolate cake is Goood.

Also sampled was the Chocolate Bar, the Palm, and Taste of Texas.

Ashley make scoring sheets and everything. As this was a worthy quest (finding the best chocolate cake in Houston is no trivial matter), we decided to take it seriously. She cut slices of each piece and we scored them on overall taste, depth of chocolate, texture, icing consistency, icing flavor, and icing to cake ratio. Yes, we are super awesome.

There was some debate about whether or not to serve said cake slices cold or at room temperature. I prefer room temperature as I like my icing soft and gooey. Someone else preferred cold, but that person is just wrong. ;-)

We’ll start with Cheddar’s: taste – 4, depth of chocolate – 3 (light but good, more like duncan hines, comfortable and happy), texture – 5 (seriously, this is one good cake and so cheap too!), icing consistency – 4, icing flavor – 5, icing to cake ratio – 5. Final score: 26.

Chocolate Bar: taste – 3, depth of chocolate – 4, texture – 2 (very very dense, too much so), icing consistency – 2 (again too dense), icing flavor – 4 (very chocolatey), icing to cake ratio – 4 (needs more icing). Final score: 19

We were all quite surprised at how poorly the Chocolate Bar cake showed against the others. It was a dry, dense, and although it was very chocolatey, Ashley summed it up best, “I was left wanting more from the cake… not more bites of cake.”

The Palm: taste – 4, depth of chocolate – 4 (very cocoa-heavy in a good way), texture – 3, icing consistency – 4, icing flavor – 4 (deeeep chocolate), icing to cake ratio – 2 (as the cake is very very tall, it is impossible to get a good icing to cake ratio unless taking some icing from the top with each bite and I just want a little more from my cake than that…). Final score: 21

Taste of Texas: taste – 4, depth of chocolate – 5 (I needed fewer bites there was so much chocolate flavor!), texture – 5, icing consistency – 4 (smoooooth!), icing flavor – 5, icing to cake ratio – 5. Seriously, I had a hard time finding anything about this cake to count off for! Quite simply, it is amazing. Final score: 28

The two standouts were definitely the Palm and Taste of Texas. If you love cocoa and more cake than icing, I would refer you to the Palm. But, if you love the perfect balance of cocoa, cake, icing, comfort, and sweet, then you definitely must try the Taste of Texas the next time you’re in Houston.

I highly suggest chocolate cake testing for your next dessert. We ate a small yet substantial meal beforehand just so our blood sugar wouldn’t jump off the charts; and even with no whole pieces of cake, we all felt a little woozy from chocolate overload. Okay, a lot woozy. But so worth it.

Season Change

Background: I’m from Texas.

So, I’m FINALLY understanding four seasons! You know in elementary school where the four seasons are displayed on the school calendar in class. Well, I guess I never thought they actually looked like that. I figured it was in some era or place far gone and we were keeping history or fantasy alive by displaying fall with brilliant leaves, winter with snow and ice, spring with melting snow uncovering flowers, and summer… well, I understood that one pretty well.

But, there are four real seasons in Rapid City. And they actually fall close to the calendar season changes! How novel. September, October, November is fall here. It’s been (Texas friends don’t read this part! Or at least don’t be jealous) in the 60s and 70s and sunny. Personally, 60s is a little chilly for me, but other people seem to think it’s an ideal range of temperatures. I haven’t turned the air conditioner on since mid-August. I know!! Who does that??

Winter is not that bad here – I’m (kinda) looking forward to the times when a new blanket of snow covers the brown slushiness of previous snows melted. I also love the sun shining brightly on fresh snow when everything feels very still and quiet.

Spring leaves a little to be desired. From day to day it changes – there’s a sunny comparatively warm 50 degree day, then an overcast rainy not-quite freezing, just wicked-cold day. Snow melts, flowers bloom, rain pours, and sun shines. When it came around to May I had a growing concern that I would NEVER be able to wear any of my Texas warm weather clothes as it was still a little too chilly for flip flops. By this month in Texas, I’ve broken out the tank tops and shorts and joined my fellow Texans, boating in the sweltering heat over Memorial Day weekend.

But, then FINALLY June came! And I felt like my muscles and bones could finally relax. When I’m finally warm, it feels wonderful! Like a cozy blanket, or a warm fire, or a sauna except happily it’s all around me! I can’t NOT be warm! I LOVE IT! I joyously broke out the warm weather clothes and found myself enjoying an entirely different wardrobe. NOW I get it! I would sometimes hear of people in far off worlds who put their clothes away each season and when they brought them out it felt like all new clothes. For those of you who don’t know: in Texas one does not put away any clothes any season because you can pretty much guarantee that you will need that tank top at some point in the winter and that sweater at some point in the summer (if only for the freezing air conditioning at the office).

Summer, obviously, is my favorite season in South Dakota. It is beautiful! The weather is the kind of weather that makes you want to be outside. We have a few of those days in Texas, but not with enough consistency to spur the state on toward all the outdoor activities that Rapid City does. Really, the majority of summer events is scheduled to take place outdoors. So, in case Mount Rushmore hasn’t made the case enough for a visit to this underrated state, perhaps escaping the summer heat in Texas will draw you here.

Then, you’ll finally understand the answer to the question I asked January through April – why do people continue to live here?? Now I know.