THE CAVENDER DIARY

Nationally Graphic as well,

Posted by James on August 22, 2015

Posted in: Did Ya Know?, New Home. Tagged: National Geographic, National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Society, Sharbat Gula. 4 Comments

National Geographic magazine, the official magazine of the National Geographic Society, was first published in 1888. The first few issues were mostly a scientific journal, but the popularity and quality of the exotic images quickly changed it to a mostly pictorial magazine. National Geographic strives to include only the best photographs by some of the world’s most renowned photographers. The June 1985 cover, with a 13 year-old Afghan girl shot by Steve McCurry, is one of the most widely recognized magazine covers of all time.

Sharbat Gula’s piercing gaze on that cover came to symbolize the plight of refugees around the world.

National Geographic is circulated world-wide, printed in 40 languages, and has a monthly print of nearly 6.8 million magazines.

With so many copies floating around, no wonder they keep “popping up” in interiors.

(Images via Pinterest)

I’m not a fan of “decorating”, I think interiors should evolve. Nothing says “This just sort of happened”, more than a pile of old magazines in a room. (It almost takes an act of congress for me to throw out a magazine.)

And you have to admit, that shot of graphic yellow makes you smile.

Certainly makes me smile.

(and LONG LIVE MAGAZINES!)

Drain Flies are Gross

Posted by James on August 19, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Drain Fly, Drain Fly Infestation, Master Bathroom. 6 Comments

First there was one.

One tiny, furry little…..”moth-thing”.

Then I noticed a couple of them……

A week later there was a whole flocking flock of them. I counted 30 in about a minute.

What-the-What?

They’re drain flies.

Here’s one magnified.

The little buggers feed off the slime, lay eggs, hatch larvae, and become furry little flies…..all in the drains of our plumbing. In just a couple of days too.

YYYUUUCCCCKKKK,

We’d never heard of them before either.

Here’s where ours were living…….in the toilet drain.

There’s been a rag stuffed down that hole since we started the remodel. When I pulled it out……20 flies flew out with it.

YYYUUUCCCCKKKK, again.

A quick Google search suggested that I buy something…..No surprise there.

So I did, No surprise there either.

InVade Bio Drain

and InVade Hot Spot,

Since we’re pretty certain that this place is the source of our infestation, I poured a bucket of hot water down the hole. And followed that with a pretty good scrubbing with an old toilet brush. (I was planning on splurging on a fancy new one anyway)

I then sprayed both products down the toilet-hole. Gel first, then foam.

…….and stuffed a “clean” rag in. just in case there were some flies/larvae living on the old rag. YYYYYYUUUUCCCKKK,

The Invade directions said to give it a few days…..then repeat the process. I did.

The next day I saw 1 fly……

…and not a single one since.

Goodbye Side-Walk…Goodbye

Posted by James on August 16, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Backyard, Home Depot Jack Hammer, Lucy and Ethel, New Deck. 8 Comments

Remember that episode where Lucy and Ethel rent a jack hammer and go to town with it on their stupid little backyard sidewalk?

What? They didn’t make that episode. Are you sure?

That’s weird, because I’m pretty sure Jamie and I reenacted it in our backyard yesterday.

Maybe I should start at he beginning….

The back of our house looks like this: (Ignore the blurry Doberman)

Not too big, not too small.

Ok, the backyard is a decent size, but that 6’X8′ slab of concrete the builder called a “patio” is ridiculously small. Not at all meant for entertaining.

A few years ago we planted the sage bushes and spruced up the furniture a little. But the Big Plan has always been to build a deck that extends the whole length of the back of the house. And one day add double doors from the den and master bedroom. Ahhhhh……perchance to dream.

This week, our contractor* assures us that he can make it happen. The deck part of the dream at least.

*Yes, we are a couple of “Do-It-Yourself” guys, but come on…..lets be realistic here. We don’t have to do everything ourselves. Especially when we have a home improvement credit card with an open balance on it. (Yepp, completely paid off the air conditioner/heater install, new electrical panel, granite counter tops, and sprinkler system….. So let’s do this)

The biggest issue with the new deck, since it will hover over the current patio and old air conditioner slabs, is the goofy little side-walk connecting the driveway to the patio.

This one:

We plan on adding huge pavers surrounded by pea gravel as a walkway….so that sidewalk has to go.

It’s about 12 foot long…shouldn’t be that hard to remove. It’s just 45 year-old concrete? Right?

After a failed attempt to lift the pieces with a shovel and a few swings with a pick ax and a baby sledge-hammer, it became apparent that it might be a little more solid than we thought.

“I’m going to Home Depot”, and I assumed that Jamie would come back with a larger sledgehammer.

Nope, he pulled out the big guns. A Makita jack hammer, all ours for 4 hours.

No instructions, just a power cord and an “ON” button built into the handle.

I guess that’s self-explanatory.

Aim it at the thing you wish to destroy, and hold the trigger. Texans understand this all too well.

I changed out of my flip-flops (Safety first) and gave it a try……

How hard could it be? I see meat-heads doing this in commercials all the time.

It’s a little more strenuous than it looks. The darn thing weighs about 80 pounds….and you have to lean all your weight on it. The vibrations are killer too….it’s not really as sexy as Hollywood makes it look in the movies.

We both jiggled like high-speed lava lamps.

But it worked fast. Real fast. Taking turns, it took the 2 of us about 30 minutes to break up the whole sidewalk.

The August Texas heat didn’t help matters, but we managed to haul all the concrete debris downhill to the alley behind our fence.

Jamie counts that as burning about 400 calories each.

Lord knows that Lucy and Ethel, and possibly these boys too, could stand to burn 400 calories each.

Now bring on that new deck…..

Den & Delve, Camp and Scout Bags

Posted by James on August 9, 2015

Posted in: Did Ya Know?, New Home. Tagged: Boy Scout Bags, Den & Delve. 6 Comments

That’s the “Scoutmaster 83” large zippered pouch.

Den & Delve created this amazing bag from a piece of an old canvas duffel bag and a slice of leather from a vintage jacket. It’s lined in the greatest red serape too.

Isn’t it just the coolest?

OOOhhh, and how about those patches? They’re vintage Boy Scout camporee patches and pins from the 60’s and 70’s.

Y’all can find this bag, and a handful of other one of a kind handmade bags, for purchase in the Den & Delve Shop.

Be sure to check out the Den & Delve Blog for more of the story behind these limited-edition (When they’re gone, they’re gone) bags inspired by nostalgic childhood summers. Can’t you just smell the campfire, pine needles and “Deep Woods Off”? I know that I can.

(On a side note here; Yes, everyone of y’all knows that I could make my own version of these….So stay tuned. Because it just might happen)

Taco Night in a Box

Posted by James on August 4, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Homemade Gucamole, Housewarming Gift, Taco Night Gift Box, Taco Tuesday. 21 Comments

The day after we got our keys to the Cavender house we had a handful of friends over to ~~judge~~, I mean view, our new home.

Since our friends are all well-mannered – that’s why they’re our friends, after all – they all brought us a little something as a housewarming.

Champagne (Hell to the Yeah), candles, Mexican pastries (from a bakery in the neighborhood) and even a few good luck charms: like an old horse shoe, a glass evil eye (for repelling bad spirits), and a bundle of sweet-smelling sage. All perfect house-warming gifts. Thanks again everyone.

But our friends the Fletchers brought the cleverest gift of all: a rubber bucket filled with hand soap, a scented candle, paper towels, T. P.(duhhh), Windex, and a roll of trash bags…..

….all things they knew we would need that first week in a new home. Clever, clever, clever.

When we heard that Vinnie and Tana were moving into a cute little house just a few streets away from us, we knew that wanted to do something practical for them too. (But maybe not quite as “bathroom related“)

They’re a fun young couple with 2 adorable little toddlers to juggle. I’m sure they’re pretty overwhelmed. Especially when it comes to feeding everyone.

How about a “Taco Night in a Box” as a housewarming?

Pretty simple really,

We already had the Pepsi crate in the hoard……we just filled it with all the things that make for a most excelent taco night.

Tortillas (Made fresh daily down the street)
Shredded Chicken
Homemade Guacamole
Queso Fresco (Soft, mild Mexican Cheese)
Bundle of Cilantro
Salsa (Could have made it, but El Fenix is so good)
Tortilla Chips
6-Pack of Corona (I mentioned the 2 toddlers, Right?)
Plenty of Limes
Maria of Guadalupe Candle (just for the good Juju)

For the shredded chicken, we use a fork to shred 2 precooked chicken breasts. Then tossed in a teaspoon of taco seasoning mix. (Just a teaspoon, no one needs that much salt)

Don’t ever buy premade guacamole. Most of it doesn’t even contain avocados. I know, W.T.Fudge?

It takes about 2 minutes to make your own with ripe avocados.

“How can you tell if they’re ripe?”

Good question,

Avocados should be soft to the squeeze, but not too soft. Pop the stem off the end, the fruit underneath it should be bright, chartreuse green. If it’s black – put it back.

Use a fork to mash 5 – 6 avocados. Don’t ever blend it in a blender or food processor, you want guacamole to be a little chunky.

To the mashed avocado, simply add:

The juice of a Lime
A pinch of Salt
Some Cracked Pepper
A Crushed Garlic Clove
Maybe, some Diced Onion (I hate raw onions)
Some finely chopped Cilantro.

That’s it. Let the fresh flavor of the fruit shine through.

If you are one of those people who adds mayonnaise or Worcestershire to your guacamole………we can’t be friends.

One more excellent suggestion; Throw an avocado pit back into your finished guac. The pits excrete an enzyme that prevents the fruit from browning in the exposed air.

Taco Night in a Box

I know, how simple…and delicious.

Kinda wishing that someone would bring us one……

Anyhoo,

Welcome to our neighborhood guys! and Happy Taco Night!

The Weird Bathroom Ledge

Posted by James on August 2, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Master Bathroom, Master Bathroom Remodel, medicine cabinet, Mirrored medicine cabinet. 8 Comments

“So…what’s the deal with that fireplace-shaped build-out on the sink wall?” you might be thinking…..

There’s a reason for the madness, I assure you.

It’s a small room, with absolutely no storage. And…we….kind of have…..a lot of “product”. Jamie likes his fragrances. I need pomade (like y’all thought my hair naturally dried like that) and quarts of mustache wax………and all that stuff has to go somewhere.

Somewhere, like this Ikea “Godmorgon” Mirrored medicine cabinet. Seen here with a handsome man reflected in it. (Notice his perfectly sculpted hair)

We’re actually looking forward to this because we’ve never shared a medicine cabinet before. Relationship baby steps.

Yeah!

The Godmorgon cabinet is wicked-huge. We went with the medium size, 27″ X 37″, should hide tons of cologne and wax and other beautifying stuff.

Problem is…..it’s 5 inches deep.

5 INCHES

That means it would hover over the faucet……which seems kinda weird……and there’s no way to recess it in the wall because the drain vent is in that wall.

Our solution: simply build out the sink wall a few inches. And Bonus: we also create a little ledge to rest even more stuff on. (I imagine an orchid and candles…… Jamie – cologne)

Here’s the wall, directly in front of the door where our sink will rest.

I just framed it out with 2 X 4’s

Our first thought was to extend the ledge across the entire wall into the shower. Perfect place for soap and shampoo. But the shower is sadly small to begin with. Believe it or not, we just couldn’t give up 4 inches of shower space……

We covered the 2X4 square in Hardi Board and left a little panel for the plumber to access the pipes.

That’s why it looks like a little fireplace.

Then, of course, Jamie used thin-set mortar on the seams and painted on a layer of pink water-proofer.

But wait……Something didn’t seem right

I checked the size with our tile sample on top of the ledge,

Crap!

I know better than that. (2 X 4’s are technically 1.5 X 3.5)

Even with the 1/4 inch layer of Hardie Board, we’re still a little shy of 4 inches on top.

…and we plan on cutting as few tiles as humanly possible.

So on with yet another layer of Hardie Board.

….and more thin-set mortar.

Much better now.

(Exhale slowly………)

Now it’s slightly over 3 3/4 inches. That quarter inch of turquoise tile that we will plaster on the front should make it just right.

Way, More, Much Better

and it will all make more sense when we’re finished.

On to the shower pan portion of our bathroom.

Turquoise Bathrooms…To Persuade You

Posted by James on July 25, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Master Bathroom Remodel, Turquoise Bathrooms, Turquoise Tile. 19 Comments

Not that we need any convincing,

We know that we’ll love it.

and besides, the tile has been purchased and there’s no going back now.

But here’s a few inspirational pics of floor to ceiling turquoise tile.

(All photos via Pinterest)

Aren’t they just ………….refreshing?

This last one is probably our favorite. It’s a nice little “punch” of color.

But still not exactly what we’re going to do.

Y’all will just have to wait and see…….

Bathroom Color Inspiration

Posted by James on July 21, 2015

Posted in: New Home. Tagged: Daltile, Master Bathroom, Master Bathroom Remodel, Master Bathroom Tile, Turquoise Tile. 37 Comments

I’m sick of hearing about “Resale Value”.

Who honestly cares what the next people who live in your house will think?

We live in this house now, God willing for the next 30 – 40 years, and we’re going to make this OUR house.

The way that we want it, and for the way that we live in it.

That being said…….we want a master bathroom with colored tile. (cue gasp)

A color like turquoise.

Specifically, this turquoise.

The color of my vintage Fiestaware sugar bowl.

Stunning, ain’t it?

Turquoise reminds us of the water in Hawaii, jewelry shopping in Santa Fe, and vintage Fiestaware sugar bowls for some reason…..

It looks like this in un-glazed 2 inch ceramic tile form…….

“Ocean Blue” it’s called, from Daltile.

Took a bit of work to get 144 square feet of it.

You can only look at tile in the Daltile showroom, can’t purchase there, and can’t purchase on their website either. (In fact, even the showroom person didn’t know of any tile dealers that we could purchase it from) When we finally did find a dealer, Daltile had so little in stock that we had to wait 3 months for them to make it for us. All from one dye-lot, mind you. Guess where you pick the tile up from? Daltile….sort of. Not the showroom, we were told after waiting in line there for 20 minutes, but their warehouse a few short miles away from the showroom. Naturally, the Daltile warehouse attendants couldn’t find our tile in their warehouse. And for some reason our tile dealer hadn’t paid for it yet (3 months after we paid them……..they also charged us about 70% more than Daltile charged them. Just for placing the order) and we had to wait for the warehouse Einsteins to sort it all out.

Once everything was solved…..an hour later……they asked us if we wanted them to leave it on the pallet.

Pallet?

Just how much did we buy? 350 pounds, apparently.

That’s just 6 boxes. (Accounting for 20% more than I think we need)

Anyhoo……it’s sitting in a stack in the garage. Waiting for us to install it…..

Which should be soon.

Ohhh, God I hope it’s soon,

July 17, 1955

Posted by James on July 17, 2015

Posted in: Did Ya Know?, New Home. Tagged: Disneyland, Disneyland Opening Day, July 17 1955, Walt Disney. 7 Comments

60 years ago today was the first day of Disneyland.

After so many requests for tours from fans flooded the Disney Studios, Walt wanted to build something for Disney tourists to visit. After considering a few acres close to the studio…..briefly, Walt settled on 160 beautiful acres of orange and walnut groves in Anaheim California.

It’s hard to believe, but Disney had trouble raising the money to build his theme park. But I suppose that 17 million was quite a fortune in 1954. He joined forces with the fledgling television network ABC, who agreed to help fund the park if Disney would broadcast a show in the network. Which, of course he did. Ever heard of the Mickey Mouse Club? For the first five years of operations, Disneyland was owned by the joint venture of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney himself, Western Publishing, and ABC. With the popularity of the park, and of course Disney Studios, in 1960 Disney was able to buy the others out of their shares.

Construction on the park, originally called Disneylandia?, began in July of 1954 and was completed exactly one year and one day later.

Disneyland was dedicated at an “International Press Preview” event held on Sunday, July 17, 1955, which was only open to invited guests and the media.

28,000 people attended the event, but only about half of those were actual invitees, the rest having purchased counterfeit tickets….. which Disney knowingly honored.

ABC broadcast the opening day festivities, hosted by a few of Mr. Disney’s Hollywood friends; Bob Cummings, Art Linkletter, and Ronald Reagan. Because it was a live event, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong….and on camera no less. The hosts were caught fumbling back and forth with each other. Disney himself, started a dedication and was interrupted by something off camera. Route 101 had been expanded by 2 extra lanes in anticipation of the traffic the park was sure to bring, but cars were still backed up on the 2-lane Harbour Boulevard. The temperature that day was an unbelievable-for-southern-California 101 degrees. Park guests were constantly tripping over the camera cables and sticking to the asphalt that has just been poured the day before. A plumbers strike forced Disney to choose between working toilets of water fountains. He chose the wiser of the two forcing many park guests to question if the un-working water fountains were just a ploy to get them to purchase drinks. Lines for rides were so long that eager parents actually threw their children over the crowds. Finally, a gas leak closed down several sections of the park for the afternoon.

In later years, Disney would refer to that Sunday as “Black Sunday”.

Admission to the park, by the way, was a dollar for adults and 50 cents for kids.

SNAKE BITE LAKE SIGN

Posted by James on July 13, 2015

Posted in: New Home, Projects. Tagged: Hobby Lobby Mache Letters, Liquid Nails for Small Projects, SNAKE BITE LAKE. 16 Comments

This one’s a little “crafty”……sorry.

We don’t go to Hobby Lobby very often,

Practically never.

I don’t agree with their politics……they don’t approve of , well, just about everything in our lives.

But it’s the place that all the “Lady-Bloggers” have been going on about. Row upon row of plastic Christmas balls (in July, mind you), ceramic hippos next to pipe cleaners, and almost everything has scripture printed on it. What could be more wholesome?

I’ve been watching these 8″ paper mache letters on the website for weeks.

They’re 3 bucks each. Which isn’t bad….but I knew there’d be a 50 off promotion if I could wait long enough.

The other morning I checked the site….Half off. Short road trip later, we returned with 3 complete words.

NO, I’m not going to spray paint them silver and spell out E.A.T. to hang in the kitchen…….If I ever do, shoot me.

I have a much better plan. But first I have to make them look like…….ummmm, not cardboard.

I used craft paint, in “Light Ivory”, to paint the fronts of each letter.

The sides I painted “Drizzle Grey”, just for a contrast really.

I didn’t like the option for an I, it looked too much like a Roman numeral, so I made my own with a H.

(Used a Dremel to cut the side off, traced the open side onto a grocery bag, cut the piece out of the bag and glued it on with Elmer’s)

Pretty perfect I, if I do have to say so myself.

Now, for something to mount them on. I imagined an arrow. You know, pointing to the lake.

I started with primed cedar from Home Depot. It’s about 1 1/2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. OOOOhhh, and about 10 foot long.

I cut them down to 7 feet with a 45 degree angle at the ends.

Then I cut 2 8″ angled pieces to form the arrow head.

Like so.

Shot it all together with a brad nailer…and added a few small pieces for support in the middle.

Painted it with the light ivory craft paint too.

To roughen-up and “age” my arrow, I sanded as much of it as I could with 60 grit sandpaper.

I used 120 grit sandpaper on the cardboard letters.

Just that little bit makes them look nicely aged and patinaed.

See?

I attached my letters to the arrow with Liquid Nails for Small Projects. Love that stuff.

OK, Now to make my sign look just like it was hanging on the side of the road for a few years…..

I mixed, yet one more color of craft paint, Trail Tan, with about a cup of warm water in a spray bottle. With my sign standing up right, I spritzed the entire top to simulate rain, or dust…or something like that.

Pretty simple,

So why “SNAKE BITE LAKE”?

CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE was my first thought.

And then BIG SNAKE LAKE, from the Simpsons. (Hint, Camp Krusty is located there)

SNAKE BITE LAKE just had a nice sound to it…..

Happy crafting.

THE CAVENDER DIARY

2 GROWN MEN vs a 40 YEAR OLD HOUSE

Nationally Graphic as well,

Drain Flies are Gross

Goodbye Side-Walk…Goodbye

Den & Delve, Camp and Scout Bags

Taco Night in a Box

The Weird Bathroom Ledge

Turquoise Bathrooms…To Persuade You

Bathroom Color Inspiration

July 17, 1955

SNAKE BITE LAKE SIGN

The Cavender Boys

Buy My Book

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