Sad Alert: Demolition is This Week :(

Thanks to THIS happening,

these kitchens are gonna be gone next week after 66 years.

Look how cute they are!

You do appreciate what you can no longer have.

To the relief of many, though, LOL, we will have basically brand-new kitchens AND all new floors. It's a duplex, so times two on all of it. New cabinets. New floors. New cabinet hardware. New counters (insurance did not want to cover, but come on, these old formica ones will break, and they are one thing I won't miss so much ;). New sinks. New faucets. New backsplash. A few new or refinished exterior and interior doors. Lots of decisions. Times two! (The duplexes are sisters, not twins.)

Bad things, man, bad things

When you pull up to your weekender/investment property, and see water coming out from under the front door, that's not a good sign.

After we had been busily trying to spruce up the 1950s place for 10 months, it was under at least an inch of water -- an entire side of the duplex, save maybe a few-foot corner of the bedroom. A quick 7 hours of running two shop-vacs and mopping, and most of the water (except what was squishing up near the baseboards when you walked over them) could no longer be seen.

Life-hack discovery break: Hershey's Kiss "Starbucks" Peppermint Mocha

What to do when you are away from your fancy coffee machine and want an indulgent, seasonal, latte eye-opener? (And what to do with those leftover holiday Hershey's kisses?!) If you are stuck 25 minutes away from the nearest Starbucks (definitely not complaining, though!) but growing tired of black coffee, and have those post-Christmas Hershey kisses, then you're in luck. (For a peppermint drink, the Hershey candy cane kisses taste closest to anything else out there anyway for that craving.) I made this from what I already had on-hand during the holidays, and without an espresso machine.

Since it's so simple, I'll not make you have to read a novel just to get to the instructions!:

You really only need 3 ingredients (INCLUDING the coffee):
1. 3 Hershey's candy cane kisses (the white ones with the red stripe around them)
2. Black coffee (I used our Keurig)
3. 1 or 2 regular, milk chocolate, Hershey's kisses (or higher-end chocolate sauce)
(Optional: half and half, whipped cream)

1. Brew your coffee. Gather your ingredients while your coffee is brewing (start unwrapping!).

2. Stir in the 3 candy cane kisses and 2 milk chocolate kisses OR the chocolate sauce (something like Ghirardelli's or Sanders, but the chocolate kind. The kind I had out at the lake where I created this out of necessity was good - Sanders). Yes, they will melt all the way! (as long as the coffee hasn't been sitting around).
- OR - Use the chocolate sauce in place of milk chocolate kisses. I used under 1 tbsp., and it made it nice and creamy, too. No extra sugar or sweeteners needed for either method!

3. You're kind of done! Taste it; you may want to add half and half/creamer (I do when making it with the milk choc. kisses, but find it's super creamy just using the choc. sauce method). And you may want to spray on a flourish of whipped cream!

Notes: I LOVE Starbucks peppermint mochas and find this to taste VERY similar. All the other coffee shop copycats I've paid $5 for over the years that were meticulously made don't even taste this similar.

You can use any kind of coffee...I found it a good chance to use up some of the coffees that aren't my favorite. I love dark coffees, so I would use my medium roasts, since they lend themselves to the mildness of a Starbucks mocha.

Through Rose-colored Bathrooms

We knew as soon as we saw this property we were going to try to buy it, and were kind of shocked there were still intact identical (duplex) pink original bathrooms. Our flippant 'yeah, but we can tear out the fixtures (at least eventually),' was quickly replaced by other people in our ears, including our realtor from the start, saying, no, you've got to leave those. In fact WE had sort of an appreciation and respect for how long they'd lasted (They really don't make 'em like they used to), not to mention the beautiful (I think) pink variegated tiled floors,

in pretty good shape. And the pink tile showers are in EXCELLENT shape. And heck, I've never lived in a house with an actual tiled shower! So in a sense, this was NICE to me. However, we wanted to give the duplex bathrooms a little more personality, and suit to taste, but keeping a mid-century flair in some of the decor.

BEFORE

AFTER - UNIT 1, "The Flamingo"

AFTER - UNIT 2, "The Jimi"

Well, a Lot's Happened (in the last 10 years). AKA Introducing Pearson Pointe (with the pink bathrooms)

It's been 10 years since my last post, Father. Forgive me.

And while I'm appropriating my wildly unpopular blog solely as a venue to talk about our fun new project/investment, I can't not mention the most important thing that's happened in the last 10 years: our daughter Evie! Just to recap: our kid count is 2: Brody, 10, and Evie, 8. Pets currently: Sadie, 27 (in dog years).

This whole adventure started when son Brody got (and asked for, often) a bow and arrow. We realized the irony of them not having a place to shoot it given the amount of rural country land I come from; even archery-learning places don't let you use your own! So then we were like, hey, we wanted to buy future build land, and make that investment in the Austin area as it's growing so quickly anyway. We started looking, then Covid hit and that was our only hobby. We wanted a great view and a few acres but then realized the kids HATED our "land-looking" and didn't exactly appreciate our amazing views - over something to actually DO - once we got there.

So, once this old duplex cottage in some pretty elevations ON a lake AND seeming like a steal for all we got (even a place to stay...and we had planned to buy an RV on other land, and have to install septic, electric, etc, etc) we jumped on it...kids getting carsick every time we drove out there be damned!

Well, the challenge, or awesome bonus - to some, maybe - is that it's almost all-original 1955. The pink tile is still in the (identical) bathrooms (yes, that thar' is a pink toilet); the knotty pine and geometric green formica is still in the (identical) kitchens. And the prison/school aesthetic is strong, with the concrete block construction, unencumbered by any additional, warm, wall treatments.

I'm coming to learn that this whole pink bathroom thing is a rare find, and worth keeping, to some. And, for me at least, it's taken a lot of my time and fascination to research how to make them look, well, more inviting to those who see them as 'old,' and to those who had them growing up and would want any bathroom color BESIDES that. Anyway, here is where I'm going to post pictures of the minor updates we are doing to our 1955 cottage duplex on the lake, which we had to name Pearson Pointe (since previous owners had named and signaged it Reily Pointe). On Paleface Point. On the Pedernales (River). With pink powder-rooms. Pretty perfectly imperfect, pinch me. I plan to do more blog posts detailing certain projects, in future, such as:

Original pink bathrooms, updated, and formica/pine kitchens

Minor work to update/make it our own

Some fun purchases to complement the place

Slowly changing the decor over (but leaving it "Texan")...minor painting to come

Lake rookie purchases "We bought a dock."

Exterior and view

*Pardon some of the low quality photos...I didn't get all the 'before' shots and had to use some realty website pics. I know, we are ALL doing a collective SMH right now.

A new side to "Grandma"

Was talking to my mom tonight, and she said "Oh hell, no!" in regards to something. Obviously she felt strongly about this, or I've rubbed off on her. Either way, I'm proud!

After & Before - Daddy dressing me (on our cruise)

Mom goes to yoga ONE day...

It's a jumper outfit, so wouldn't the shirt obviously go under? And not backwards?

Anyway, thanks to this and other fun, we had a great cruise (baby's first vacation-y vacation) sailing out of Galveston to Progreso y Cozumel Mexico Jan. 22-27!