Skip to Content

Gifts Galore

coffee sweatpants

This is the first day of Christmas Vacation for this exhausted teacher. I’ve been fighting off whatever the students had, which is a combo of the plague, flu, and some unnamed “virus” that causes respiratory misery and coughing. Since I wasn’t running any fever and I’m pretty much used to feeling like warmed over garbage, I needed to run a little to wake up some tired muscles.

procompression remix

I love these “Ugly Sweater Remix” socks from ProCompression. Chilly December training runs are perfect times to share these with the world. The matching GIANT coffee mug is a great motivator to get the run done!

2016-12-22 08.12.46

After I got back, I noticed this little gem in the shop. Right now, we are hand-washing all the dishes because the RV does not have a dishwasher. Stephen actually does the dishes more than I do since I cook  attempt to cook meals for both of us for dinner and lunch. With just one large utility sink in the shop, hand-washing dishes and plastic lunch containers was a NIGHTMARE. Throw in below freezing temps and Stephen was done.

2016-12-22 13.00.09

He NEVER makes impulsive decisions. We had not discussed dishwashers. We’ve been figuring out colors and electrical breakers. But, today, he left a sink full of dirty water and dishes, drove to Lowe’s and came back with this beauty. He spent an hour doing some research and chose this. It is FANTASTIC! Super quiet, it actually cleans dirty dishes, and it gets our plastic lunch bowls squeaky clean.

After he installed the dishwasher, we went to see our cabinet guy and the granite guy. When Stephen first met with the granite man, he saw all the choices and was 99% sure I would like a slab of dark granite. He had no idea what “leathered” granite meant.

granite

But I sure knew what it was. I had discovered leathered granite a few months ago and quickly discounted it because of the price difference from high gloss granite. I wanted the matte textured feel because my kitchen is not a showplace. My counters need to be as low-maintenance as possible and I did not want to deal with keeping a high gloss shine on 66ft of counter tops.

When Stephen was telling me about this slab, I couldn’t believe our granite man was going to sell it to us at regular Level 1 (basic) price. That didn’t seem possible. I clearly remember wishing for it, but practically removing it from the options.

When we drove up to the granite yard, Stephen showed it to me. It is beautiful! Matte and textured. It is very similar to soapstone but with a texture. It’s perfect for our white walls/light grey cabinets. We needed 66 sq. ft. and both slabs will meet those dimensions. The price is the same as the basic line of granite. Unbelievable!

THIS is my Christmas present. He can claim the dishwasher Winking smile 

2016-12-22 11.34.22

And the last part of a great day. Saucony has a new shoe! This is the Freedom ISO and I LOVE IT! It’s neutral with some cushion. It feels great and I will have more details after I take these for a long run. Thank you Saucony!!

2016-12-22 11.47.17

Happy Thursday!