Bathroom Progress

 

Are you getting sick of seeing home improvement projects yet? Apologies if you are but unfortunately they're not about to end any time soon :) Lucky Bryce, we've got a few more on tap over the next couple months!

The bathroom remodel has been coming along nicely. We've taken our time so that we don't go crazy over it and we're super pleased with how it's turned out thus far.

After getting the backerboard up, I went to town on getting all the tile up in the shower and on the floor. Unlike the subway tile we did in the basement, these 12x12in mosaic pieces went much quicker. Of course there had to be a catch...the grouting process took about 4 more hours more than planned! Oh well, it looks cool and that's all that matters.

We're starting to piece everything together so adding lighting, fans, toilets, vanities, artwork, and mirrors is next on the agenda. We're hoping to get a few more things done this week and maybe be finished by the following week!

Rookie Household Mistake

 

After we finished installing the bamboo flooring on the main level of our place in 2010, we had a little more leftover than we thought. On a whim, we decided to get one more box of the same wood and put it downstairs in the workout room.

In part laziness and part naivety, we didn't put down a moisture barrier and just used construction glue on the concrete basement floor. Whomp whomp...bad choice. Less than one year later, the floor buckled in the center of the room. If I were into finger boarding, the ramps would actually be really cool. Unfortunately that is not the case. 

 For $133, several long hours and a lot of knuckle skin, I was able to tear out the old floor and lay down some nice rubber tiles.

We now have a ramp-free workout room that is easy to clean and great for stretching and core work as well!

A fun and relaxing holiday!

 

It's not very often we get to sit down for a few days and just relax but that's exactly what our trip to Vail this Christmas entailed :) We enjoyed lots of laughs, walks in the snow and of course, some delicious Bingham cooking.

One of our Christmas presents from the Binghams was a punch card to the Vail Nordic Center! Since we were up there and had our skis, we had to break the lazy streak!

We haven't skate skied since last March so it was a rude awakening. I always forget how incredibly hard that sport is...especially when you're at altitude AND out of shape. Bryce absolutely crushed me :)

After drinking some homemade apple cider in some cute Santa mugs, Bryce and I were in charge of dinner for Christmas Eve. We made a GF/DF pasta fritatta and roasted brussels sprouts with quinoa. With a lot of sous chefs to help, it was a miraculous success.

Christmas morning was also laid back with homemade GF waffles and present opening. It snowed about 6-8 inches so it was a beautiful white Christmas. The Yule Tide log television station came in quite handy as well! Get it?!?

After Bosco opened his various bones, we did our gift exchange. Along with our nordic pass, we received money to buy a new bike pump (a much needed item in our household) and a garlic press! Big thanks to the Binghams for a fun few days.

After a slow, but beautiful and snowy, drive back to Boulder, we busted out my parent's xmas gift - A KITCHEN AID MIXER!!! Every girl's dream, right? Apparently things are changing because I would have never thought in a million years I would have wanted one of these a year ago :) At any rate, it is amazing and we christened is well by making Almond Thumprint cookies and mashed potatoes for the Torrance Christmas dinner.

Right after walking in Tom's door, we indulged in the various homemade dishes brought by all of our friends. A lot of them made GF/DF foods which was super cool. Shortly after, we started our Secret Santa gift exchange. It was a total blast. Rose got me a sweet Detroit Gnome which will now be an icon in the house.

Tom had Bryce and got him some sweet socks that look like Vans shoes. Tony had to bust out his 'crocs with hairy legs' socks as well which were a total hit. The night was an absolute hoot. HUGE thanks to Catherine for purchasing a 'Star' in memory of Don Torrance. It couldn't have been a more appropriate gift for Rose and the boys!

Rose is in town!

Tom and Tony's momma arrived into Boulder on Thursday afternoon for the first since Don's passing. Since many of our friends weren't able to attend his services, the boys organized a big group dinner for Rose to see each of them. The outing to the Rio was a success and we even got a great pic which will be used later for Bryce's secret santa gift :)

Plumbing...check!

The newest update on our super slow bathroom remodel is that all of the plumbing has been completed. The shower valve has been rerouted to the far wall and is now in a perfect location to turn it on without getting wet...you're probably wondering what I'm talking about, but just wait, you'll see here in a few weeks :)

We also had the toilet plumbing redone as well as the sink faucet pipes.

Lastly, the new drain was created and the shower pan put in. We're hoping to get to the backer-board and tiling over the next week or so! Stay tuned.

I wish things were more interesting

As usual, things are crazy busy with lots of work, holiday prep and staying true to our dairy free/gluten free diets. I have to say that eating DF/GF isn't that hard, it just involves a lot of planning. Our once or twice a week frozen pizza meal definitely doesn't apply so being lazy about cooking doesn't cut it any more. I've done most of my holiday shopping online so the porch has been filled with miscellaneous boxes recently but today I opened a nice little surprise gift from my Grandparents (see above)! It couldn't have put a bigger smile on my face :)

I haven't been sharing much of our new cooking ideas recently but thought this would be an appropriate one to post because of how delicious and easy it is. We've been trying to cook large batches of food so they last for several dinners and lunches throughout the week and this one seems to hit the spot even when re-heated several days later. As you can see above, we made a mix of grassfed ground beef (about 1.5lbs), a bag of frozen peas, one red pepper and two small sweet potatoes mixed with random spices to taste in a giant cast iron skillet. I enjoy it over a bed of spinach with salsa, avocado and tortilla chips on top and Bryce likes his as mini tacos with corn tortillas, salsa and sprinkled dairy free cheddar cheese.

Cranking Stuff Out

I wish I had more exciting things to report but as I've mentioned several times before, I'm totally swamped with work these days. Although I'm still not quite back to drinking my regular cup of coffee each morning, I have been indulging in a cup of decaf every once in a while and have been eye-ing one of those automatic one cup machines. As an early Christmas present to myself (and for working my butt off), I splurged on a fancy Platnium Keurig Coffee Maker this weekend. I got a variety of decaf cups and Bryce even got a package of Hot Apple Cider cups...might be the best splurge to date :)

Bryce has also been hard at work remodeling the main floor bathroom. He got the whole thing completely gutted and replaced part of the subfloor around the toilet that had rotted from a leaky seal many years ago. Busting out the bathtub already makes the room seem sooooo much bigger! Excited to see all the pieces finally put together.

There was no way I was jumping on the DH bandwagon without my partner in crime joining me so Bryce just recently purchased a frame as well. We're both looking forward to spending the winter getting them all built up and ready to shred on the Winter Park slopes!

Christmas Decor is FINALLY Up!

This is generally the time of the year when things are crazy with work, however, this year seems to be exceptionally busy! I was supposed to travel to the east coast this Wed-Fri to implement a new accounting software for a client but because I have a tremendous workload, I had to make the unfortunate decision to cancel the trip. I've been working around the clock to stay caught up but it doesn't seem to be helping. I did find a quick 30min the other night to help put up the Christmas tree and misc decor to make the house seem more merry. Now, I just need to find some time so I can relax and enjoy the pretty lights.

Playing House

Lots of progress has been made on Tony's new house over the past couple weeks and it's really starting to come together. During his trip to Italy, he saw a really cool space that spawned his idea for a lime green, dark grey and white color combo throughout the house. After painting several samples on the walls, we all agreed on the best colors and went at it. It may look bright in the photo but it's really going to make this house look fun and modern!

Since we've been helping Tony with a lot of his house remodel, he came over this past weekend to give us a little assistance as well. Stay tuned for more pics on the updated new main floor bathroom :)