Lake miscellany

I've been working on lake house minutiae today. Boring but necessary things like figuring out what inserts will fit in my kitchen drawers... a spice holder, silverware, etc. I hope the next time we're up at the lake that we don't have another thunderstorm sweep through the area. There were no tornado sirens going off, but the wind was a whippin'. Below is a little video I took of the lake while standing in the living room looking across our back porch to the water. The other video is the next day when we still had waves with white caps.

One thing I love about this lake house is the new Speed Queen washer and dryer set I had delivered a couple days after we closed. I'm talking old school agitator, with basic knobs and none of those fancy sensors that break at the drop of a hat. It only took six loads to get all of the new towels washed, dried and put away. 

One thing that kept me busy at the lake house after the husband left was unpacking. I was able to decorate shelves in the jack and jill guest rooms with items from the old lake and river houses. I also put together six of the twelve dining room chairs, which took almost three hours and earned me a set of sore fingers afterwards. It's not that this was difficult, but rather time consuming because the pre-drilled holes aren't always straight or smooth. But I persevered and got them done before the table was delivered.

The dogs were a bit bewildered at first with this new locale. But I can vouch for them thoroughly enjoying daily strolls through the neighborhood. We walked to "the point" several times, which is one street over where local pet owners gather in the mornings/evenings with their doggos. It's also where they stage the annual fireworks display, which will give us a fabulous viewing spot from our backyard come July.

As you can see above, sweet old Pepper needed a nap after her daily strolls. Of course, part of that is because she always does her best impression of a husky trying to pull a packed sleigh through the snow when we take her walking. So much enthusiasm, y'all, but such short legs and a generally sedentary lifestyle otherwise.

It's a good thing I purchased a mop, bucket and vacuum on one of my initial trips to Walmart because the hardwoods were filthy. As in black feet at the end of the day dirty. I cleaned them at least four times. However, once was because my first mop was cotton and it left little specks of lint on the darker-than-I-like floors. Which resulted in me hightailing it down to the nearest Brookshire Bros to get a microfiber mop so I wouldn't lose my mind. Grubby floors are definitely a pet peeve, and so I ordered two pretty rugs from Pottery Barn to cover up a big expanse of the thirty foot long entryway that's a magnet for every little speck of dirt or dust tracked in the front door.

 

Marvelous milk glass

I took a little vacation from lake house plotting to visit San Diego with my sister, but now I'm home and back at it. One thing I got finished on our closing weekend was my river house inspiration piece. I decided to replicate the blue bookshelves decorated with my white milk glass collection at the new place. The blue of these new shelves is a bit more subdued, but it still provides a lovely backdrop for the pop of vintage milk glass I love.

I unpacked all of my milk glass from the river house we had stored in the barn. Then I sacrificed a toothbrush to get it all scrubbed clean of dust to place on the shelves once the bookcases were delivered. I had a bit of a panic when I realized they put the shelves together on different levels and they were all screwed tightly in place. Ever handy and seldom stymied, I popped into the garage to scratch through the husband's tools to find a Philip's screwdriver to adjust the shelves. And voila - one lovely bit of decor in place at the lake so I can spend my brainpower on the fifty other things I need to do when we're up that way again soon. 

California dreamin' & well pump updating

My sister and I are ditching this popsicle stand tomorrow, headed to San Diego for a bit of sightseeing to kick off her spring break. I'm looking forward to some pretty ocean vistas at our hotel, watching the Pacific Ocean swallow up the sun every evening from the beachside bar at the Hotel Del Coronado. I hear it's pupping season out there, so we'll definitely be driving up the coastal highway to do a bit of hiking in search of seal and sea lion moms with their babies.

This piece of equipment above is the latest addition to our five acre homesite in the Texas hill country. I noticed Tuesday afternoon that our water pressure was a trickle. First thing I did was check our storage tank to be sure it was pulling water out of the ground since we're on a well, and it was full. Then I snooped around in the well house where I discovered the booster pump wasn't running. Turns out the booster pump was fine, but the pressure tank's reading was super low. I dialed up one of our local well service companies and sure enough, the pressure tank was shot. Wonk-wonk. Instead of investing in a new one, we opted for a DAB pump. Now the husband and I are enjoying lots of excellent water pressure.

Trash can drama

I had planned to post about the lake house today, but first I need to tell y'all what happened yesterday. I have two sets of trash cans to put out at the curb every Tuesday evening for service on Wednesday. Quite often it's just one or two of the four cans that's full. However, it's been all of them since we started prepping for and bought the lake house. Last week we trailered home quite a few empty boxes and packing materials that have to slowly be broken down and hauled away. So it's times like this that I'm glad we've got four instead of just two cans.

Anyhoo, one service always comes earlier than the other. So by the time I left the house at 9:30 am yesterday morning to run some errands in town, two of my cans were already emptied and placed right inside our open gate. The other two were still sitting there, waiting their turn. I don't usually have the gate open that early, but I had buzzed in the guys delivering the pretty 10x14' rug I bought for the lake house family room. Since I generously tipped our hardworking garbage service guys at Christmas, the man who rides on the back of the truck pushes our emptied cans right to the gate, or inside if it happens to be open.

When I pulled back up to the house around 12:30 pm, I thought to myself that I needed to walk back to the gate and wheel the trash bins back to the house before I closed my overhead garage door. And then it dawned on me... where were my other two trash cans? At my age, I knew better than to panic. Did I even put them at the curb the night before? Were they knocked over and camouflaged in the ditch grass? After checking all of the usual places, those two trash cans were nowhere in sight. 

At that point, the only logical conclusion I could reach was that someone had taken those two trash cans that were left outside our gate. I got in touch with the husband, who checked our gate camera. We were able to rule out the Fed Ex driver, which was comforting. Whoever took the cans, they were smart enough not to trigger the gate's camera while carrying out their trash can heist. Seriously, y'all, what kinda weirdo steals those big rolling trash bins, especially when they're full of someone's trash?!

After a call to the trash company and sheriff's office, it seems trash can stealing is more common than I realized. I can't imagine being so hard up for money that I'd take someone else's cans and put them out at the street to try and get free service. But it seems others are willing to give it a go. Even when there's a camera's red light blinking on the gate that may be recording you. The silver lining to this odd little story is that new cans were delivered today, bright, shiny and sweet smelling. Now I just need to spread the word to our neighbors to be on the lookout so their cans won't get lifted, too. 

Celebrating the bride-to-be

I've still got stories to tell from my eight days at the new lake house, but I'll save that for later so I can jump to this lovely celebration. My good friend M's daughter S will be a June bride, and so I co-hosted a bridal luncheon for her over the weekend. I've known this beautiful young woman since she was a toddler, and so it has been wonderful to watch her grow to become the confident and successful lady her mother raised her to be. We were blessed with beautiful weather for this gathering of family and friends who attended to shower her with love. The husband and I are sad we had already booked our Alaskan cruise tour when the wedding date was set because it falls smack dab in the middle of it. And so I was glad to be able to celebrate this amazing bride-to-be as she gets ready to marry the love of her life.

We surfed over to Hawaiian Bros

I have now made a total of five trips to Walmart and/or Target in order to stock up on all of those pesky little essentials you need when you're setting up a new house. Things like cookie sheets, pillows and bathroom trash cans. The list was about as long as my arm, but I persevered and have just about gotten everything purchased and placed where it belongs.

The silver lining to all this back-and-forthing is that Walmart and Target are located right across the street from each other, which was terribly handy. Adjacent to them was an obvious fast food place I'd never seen before, but decided we should try. The name is Hawaiian Bros Island Grill. We ordered two different types of island-inspired plate lunches, with the requisite macaroni salad. Lo and behold, they even had Dole whips on the menu, which we had to sample. It was a nice change of pace from the usual burger drive-thru, which is our default when we're looking too grubby for a sit down meal. On our next trip to the lake house, we'll have to try the Spam musubi because that just sounds interesting.

Let there be new lights!

Ka-ching, y'all! Our savings account took a hit on Friday when we became lake house owners again, but I couldn't be happier. My tail has been dragging due to all of the exercise associated with hauling furniture and decor to begin setting up another home. Moving isn't as much fun in my 50s as it was in my 20s and 30s, ha-ha. The husband returned to the hill country today, but the doggos and I are staying behind until Friday to check some items off my reallllllly long to-do list. Below is a pic of my shotgun rider on the drive to the lake. 

I was on duty today for almost seven hours while the electricians worked to switch out ceiling fans and light fixtures. Even though our lake house is only a couple years old, the elderly lady who made all the selects opted for a more formal and dated design. Or at least that's how I perceive it. Honestly, the ceiling fans were the height of style probably fifteen years ago. It's not a terrible look, but just not anything I would have chosen. And so today I started making a few changes to give it a more fun and relaxed feel. 

As you can see above, the sweet little old lady went off script with these super contemporary clear plastic entryway fixtures in an otherwise very traditional home. They were the first to go on the chopping block when we decided to buy the place. Additionally, the five blade ceiling fans have been donated to a good home, replaced by three blade fans without those annoying lights that tend to catch dead bugs which are visible from below.

In the dining room she chose a gold chandelier. It was lovely, but just not the right color or style for a cohesive look. And so I replaced it with a forged iron linear chandelier that was a bitter fit for this rather long and narrow space that will seat twelve. The only issue was that I underestimated the ceiling height by a few feet. And so I had to order black chain to extend the fixture down to a height that will hold the table in place. Now that I've been back in the space for a couple days, I'm getting a better feel for how our lake getaway will come together over the course of the next couple months.