Let us begin with cake today, Not just any cake, but one that goes by the name, "Crazy Cake." Searching for a recipe, I went to a cookbook Jonathan and Alissa gave me from their time visiting Alcatraz. Turns out there was a women's group there, wives of the guards, and they put together a cookbook back in the '50s.
"What's so crazy about it," you ask? For one thing there are no eggs, making it vegan long before that was part of popular culture, and the other is that you sift the dry ingredients into an un-greased cake pan, make three wells that you pour the liquids in, (that would include vinegar btw) and then stir it all up with a fork. Who knew, right? At least fifteen years ago I searched and found a recipe for vegan chocolate cake in order to make Matthew a birthday cake. That recipe became our go-to and you know what? It is pretty much the same as this one! What's old is new, right? Very tasty indeed.
Having a patterned tile is proving just the ticket to bring a color palette together. As such, I took the tile to Sherwin Williams to pick out the cabinet and wall paint. Earlier in the week we'd gone to Floor and Decor and picked out the wall tile which is pretty much an updated version of what is already there.
The direction in which the wall tile is laid is still in the discussion stages as some folks go with horizontal while others go vertical. If I look at one more perfect bathroom on the internet, I may very well go mad! Some ideas are so impractical, including this new fad called a wet room. I don't know about you, but I like the hot steam to stay around me, not out into a large space. Feel free to call me old fashioned! Ours will certainly be different.
Another tile we purchased was a larger blue that will be attached to the the face of the tub, hoping to give it a more modern look.
What do you think? The tub and the surround will be white, once painted, however that is one of the last steps in the process.
In the end, I chose what is called Champagne Bronze fixtures, not really too dissimilar to what was installed here more than 35 years ago. As you've probably already guessed, I'm going for cozy rather than glitzy. The trend these days is to use marble everywhere, and while that looks gorgeous for others, I suppose I'm just a bit of a rebel at heart. :)
Our first step, before Herbert's arrival on Friday, was to empty the cabinets,
keeping most of what we use everyday within reach. I told Bruce it is if we are camping, what with not having everything we want at our immediate disposal. We know how to do that because we've done it before.
After my shower Friday morning, I took one last photo of the mirrors which I have had a love/hate relationship with. For one thing, I loved having the lake reflected in the mirrors, however, at our age, having that many mirrors, well, you get the idea.
Oh wait, before I go further, something crazy happened regarding the order I placed with Build.com that must be documented for posterity, if nothing else, because while when it happened it gave me pause, now it is just giving me a chuckle. The fixtures were meant to arrive on Thursday afternoon. Checking my email around 5:30, my heart sunk when I saw it said it was delivered while I knew better. Yikes! Do not ask me how the credit card went through with the wrong address, but it did. Immediately I jumped in the car, drove over to our old home and knocked on the door. Chenita was expecting me. Apparently she'd texted the owner, who texted me, but I'd not seen it. Oy vey!! Not everything was there which meant a trip on Saturday, but fortunately for us our home was only a little over a mile away! Another crazy thing was that when we were driving by Lake Gem Mary, something must have been put in the water as it was a gorgeous shade of turquoise, looking exactly like a glacial lake in the Rockies. Oh wait, there are no mountains!
Okay, Herbert arrives with a helper and immediately they get to work wearing masks. Before you could practically blink, one mirror is heading out the door.
Maybe framing?
Followed by the counters which had molded sinks built in.
Must have been the same guy who did the kitchen cabinets as we found similar beer cans under the top again.
Yeah, the light boxes are coming down! I'd had a moment where I thought to keep them, painting them the wall color, but that moment passed.
And then they left, leaving Bruce to survey what was behind everything.
Before long it was time to leave for the Convention Center for our booster shot. A bunch of friends had theirs at ORMC, only two or so miles away, however, we had already made these appointments, so back we went. Our appointment time was between 1-3PM, as was a bunch of other people. Lining up behind the cars that arrived before us, we inched our way along.
It went pretty quickly on a beautiful day. The wait was made better by listening to a radio program. The hosts were interviewing some young woman who, get this, has a Youtube channel with videos of her cleaning her house. We learned that millions of people have tuned in and she is often recognized when she goes out. Additionally, she has so many fans that some began stalking her house, thus they moved. You can't make this stuff up, can you?
A new twist this time was the presence of National Guard members directing traffic.
As well, this time we had nurses instead of EMT guys.
Pretty much, smooth sailing, we were home again within the hour. As you may remember, Fallon had a rough time with her booster, making us a little nervous, but I heard from Bonnie and both she and Rick experienced nothing more than a sore arm. We went about our business.
Thus, it took me by surprise that, I too, was one of the unlucky ones to have a reaction. Mine was not as terrible as some have experienced, but let's just say, more than none. I spent pretty much all day in bed on Saturday, sleeping like a rock. Every few hours I would awaken, thinking it was safe to get up, but NO, it was not. Back to bed for me. My fever was low grade in the morning, rising late in the afternoon, a pretty common occurrence. Remember those boxes, pictured above in our bathroom? Where is the thermometer??? All's well that ends well and this was one of those times. Thermometer found, Tylenol taken, and under the covers for this gal. Bruce, too, experienced some muscle soreness and general fatigue, however, he is seemingly tougher than this gal because he mostly went about his business, aside from napping for a few hours in the afternoon.
That was Saturday, but by Sunday morning I began to return to my normal self, feeling loads better. My arm was super sore this time, but it continues to improve. We'd woken up to rain, but by noon the sun came out and Bruce and the gang played pickleball while I did a little more resting. Never have I watched all the Super Bowl hoopla but there's always a first time for everything. What a great game to be rooting for the Tampa Bay Bucs. They almost made it look easy. I wanted them to win because aside from one, all of the so called "experts" picked the Chiefs. Not the only reason, but one of them.
Herbert will not be returning until the 17th (!) but in the meantime Mr. Peck is doing his part, beginning with cleaning up the medicine cabinet so it looks brand new, as well as putting a band of wood on top of the cabinets in order to raise the top to more current height standards.
Lord have mercy, it is nice having a carpenter in the house!! While I went to the court this morning, he worked like nobodies business and when I came home, it looked like this.
This will provide a stable foundation for the new quartz top that is yet to be made. Heck, it isn't even templated yet, but they are coming Wednesday morning to do so. Knowing my husband, I asked if he wanted lunch, knowing he'd say "no, not until I'm done with this," and sure enough that is exactly what happened. He wanted to get some primer on after sanding the fronts.
Right about now you may very well be questioning our decision, however, we've done some research and think once it is painted, especially with such a dark color, it will be good. That's our hope anyway. I suspect once it is all said and done, no one will ever know. They will just notice that the counter top height is now 34" rather than 30". I remember once we moved in thinking how crazy low are these counters? Although, we've lived with them for 2 1/2 years, it was more a nuisance than anything.
We are both super excited now that it is underway! The fixtures, both lighting and plumbing are here, and I just picked up the cabinet paint. Still to come, cabinet hardware in, you guessed it, Champagne bronze finish. In the past we have always jumped on projects, however, somehow it has taken this long until a plan formulated.
Let's see how it all comes together.
Ending a post with a lovely sunrise is always a good option.
Darn we got lucky having this out the back door everyday.
As always, your friend,
Gail
Link to previous post here in case you missed it.
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