Home Improvement

My husband and I have been busy recently working on projects in our back yard and helping some friends do a surprise update on their daughter's bedroom.  I love to see the immediate results of this type of hard work.  When I start one project my mind starts jumping ahead to the other projects I might like to do...swimming pool, hot tub, fire pit, pizza oven, etc.  As a homeowner and a Realtor I always consider the return on investment of these projects.  It is great to be able to maximize your financial investment when choosing to make changes to your property.  But that isn't the only consideration.  Your quality of life, the enjoyment you get from your home, are important too. 

The notion of a pool keeps coming back to me.  When I start thinking I'm going to push ahead I get into a cycle of analysis paralysis.  In ground or above ground?  How much should I spend?  How much would we actually use it? How much do they cost to maintain?  How will this impact my homeowner's insurance?  What safety features do I need to implement?  Where would I put it?  Can we do the work ourselves or would we need to hire someone? 

I felt this was a good article to help prioritize some of the pool issues:

http://www.zillow.com/blog/above-ground-swimming-pool-guide-155527/

Now I'm going to go look for fire pit plans.  And maybe some info about apple trees.  Did someone say "horseshoes"?!

www.sparksrenohomesearch.com

It has "easiest" right in the name!

Some time ago I posted a recipe for my favorite carrot cake with a heavenly buttermilk caramel glaze and cream cheese frosting.  It is so delicious that is totally worth the time and effort to make it.  But I don't always have that time!  So I was very excited to see a recipe posted on FaceBook called "Easiest Pineapple Cake".  I am not kidding...this is EASY!  And really delicious with a texture that makes you think it was much more labor intensive than it is!

EASIEST PINEAPPLE CAKE

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple in it's own juice - not syrup (DO NOT DRAIN)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1/2 cup butter
1 8-ounce cram cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
coconut for garnish - optional

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all of the cake ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour into a greased 9X13 inch pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, until top is golden brown.

Frosting:  Beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla together until creamy.  Gradually mix in powdered sugar.

Frost cake with cream cheese frosting while still warm.  Sprinkle with coconut if desired.

I don't like to mess with a recipe the first time I make it, but I did make a few modifications since I was making this as a birthday cake for my mother-in-law:

 - I added about a half cup of chopped walnuts to the cake mix.
 - I used two round pans instead of a 9X13".  In the picture the cake was frosted and served from the pan.  I let the cake cool and frosted it as a layer cake.
 - Because I wanted them out of the pans in good condition in addition to spraying the pan with Pam, I lined them with parchment paper cut to size.
 - I doubled the frosting recipe so that I* had plenty for decorating
 - I* sprinkled the top with more chopped walnuts

* By "I" I mean "my adorable husband Todd".  :-)

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Give where you live!

On May 8th the wonderful Keller Williams agents that I work with rallied together for Red Day to do some landscaping and painting at the Eddy House in Reno.  This annual tradition of giving where you live is a company-wide birthday gift to one of the founders, Mo Anderson.  I'll admit that there have been times in my life when I thought I was too busy to volunteer.  What I've learned is that I get so much out of these volunteer opportunities that I'd be foolish not to invest that time!

The Eddy House and Z Pie are wonderful organizations that are doing good in our community.  If you're in Reno you should drop by Z Pie for a delicious pot pie (the salads are delicious too) and support the Eddy House in the process.  All the proceeds from the non-profit Z Pie supports the Eddy House, a home for young men who have aged out of the foster care system and gives them the tools to transition to independence.

 



If you're interested in a career in real estate and think this culture of giving suits you, give me a call!  I'd love to share what Keller Williams has to offer!

 www.sparksrenohomesearch.com

Time flies!

It seems like just yesterday that I was getting back on the ol' bloggin' horse and was committing to writing regularly.  And then I promptly fell off said horse!  I've got a million excuses (and a few good reasons) for not writing.  Rather than going into that I will just climb back into the saddle:

Home:  I recently closed on a lovely new construction home for my clients Craig and Kathy.  They are very pleased with the build process, the construction quality, and the end result.  My favorite part:  I made some really lovely friends!

Run:  Today is Day 190 of the running streak!  When Todd and I started back in mid-November the plan was to run at least a mile every day until our New Year's Eve Resolution Run.  We did that.  Then the question of how to stop a streak reared its ugly head.  We still haven't been able to answer that question so we lace up every day and head out.  Some days (dare I say weeks!) are miserable!  But so many more of the days are fun, or challenging, or triumphant, or pleasant, or fast, or comfortable that we just keep going!

In addition to the streak we are motivated to get out and run by an upcoming race.  We will be participating in the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey One at the end of the month.  It is the smaller sibling (54 miles for teams of 6 or fewer runners) of the RTO (178 miles for teams of 12 or fewer runners).  If you've ever been to Reno and have seen the 178 decals on car windows and wondered what it stood for...now you know.  We have a four-person team, each person running 3 legs.  We start at 5 a.m. on Saturday in Carson City and, if all goes as planned, will finish at Idlewild park in Reno sometime in the early afternoon. 

Beyond that we have the Dash for Dads 5K coming up in June, a color run in August, and the Catherine Creek Classic half marathon in Oregon, also in August.

Recipes:  I've tried several recipes in recent months but will get things rolling again by sharing one that was floating around Facebook that I decided to try.  It is a Betty Crocker recipe for Fabulous Fruit Bars.  I liked the recipe because it looked simple and similar to a cookie bar I pay almost $3 for at my coffee shop.  These are actually less crumbly!  I have, of course, tried it with seedless blackberry preserves instead of cherry pie filling and oatmeal cookie dough instead of sugar cookie.  All delicious results.

Baseball:  If this is your first visit to my blog I should explain how baseball plays into my title.  I'm a Keller Williams real estate agent in Sparks, NV and wanted to start a blog about homes and sales info in my area.  I am also an avid runner and I wanted to share the joys and experiences I've had running with my wonderful friends and family.  I love love love to cook, especially bake, so I wanted to share my favorites and my successes/failures with new recipes.  I think everyone should run, and cook, and I KNOW everyone's gotta live somewhere so the blog kind of named itself.  When I shared my blog with my darling husband he was a bit disappointed that "Home Run" didn't have anything to do with baseball.  We really love baseball in this house so I added a baseball category.  When you check back you never know what you're going to get!

We're off to a good start with baseball so far this season.  The Reno Aces are winning more games than not, we've gotten to see them as many times this year as we did all last season, and the ballpark has added a craft brews station to its vendor lineup.  If our work schedule allows we'll be playing in a softball tournament early this summer.  And our friends have some darling young baseball players in their home so we'll be getting out for the best kind of baseball:  Little League!

www.sparksrenohomesearch.com

When life hands you lemons...

...make dessert!

My broker had a birthday this past week. He's mentioned in the past that he loves lemon meringue pie.  He's a really great broker so it only makes sense that I'd make a pie.  But there are quite a few people in my office who are willing to show up to celebrate Dave.  I knew one pie wouldn't be enough.  So I made two.  And I know not everyone one likes lemon meringue but I wanted to stick to the lemon theme so I made a lemon cake.  But I didn't care for the looks of  the frosting recipe that came with the cake recipe so I made a lemon cream cheese frosting to go with the lemon cake.  I also think a cake looks better when it is layered.  I wanted layers but I felt a sheet cake would be easier to cut and serve. So I doubled recipes and stacked cakes.  Yes.  That is a lot of recipes and a lot of math for a late Tuesday night.  The lemon meringue turned out fine.  The lemon cake was A-Maze-Ing!  Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Lemon Cake

1 (18.25 oz) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package instant lemon pudding mix
1 3/4 cups water
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray 9x13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together cake and pudding mixes.  Pour in water and egg whites.  Beat on low speed for one minute.  Scrape down sides.  Mix on high for an additional 4 minutes.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted I the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla until smooth and fluffy.  Add 2 cups confectioners' sugar, scrape down sides, add two cups of confectioners' sugar, mix thoroughly.  Add remaining cup of confectioners' sugar in small increments until frosting reaches appropriate consistency for easy spreading.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups of frosting.

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Streaking with my husband

I thought I was going to jump right into the new year with excellent blogging habits.  Then I realized that I have started, and not finished, three separate posts.  Not so excellent.

I can say, in my defense, or just to brag because this is something that IS excellent:  My husband and I are on day 71 of a running streak!

We'd read an article in Runner's World and thought it might be fun.  We also thought it would help to keep us on track through the holidays.  So on November 11th we decided we'd run a minimum of a mile every day until New Year's. 

We ran a Turkey Trot in Fernley, NV the weekend before Thanksgiving.  We ran the Scheel's Turkey Trot in Sparks on a cooollldd Thanksgiving morning with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, niece, sister, brother-in-law and nephew.  Then we went home and cooked dinner for 36 people!

We ran every day...sometimes on the treadmill because of whether, sometimes slowly due to a chest cold I battled, with Coco, and for a week Shermy joined us.  We hosted 32 friends for a taco feed on New Year's Eve then went across the street for a cocktail party.  We left early to change into some warm running gear and, at the stroke of midnight, took off for our 6th annual self-imposed Resolution Run.  We've done it with friends and family over the years and this year it was Todd and I, Coco and Shermy, our dear friends Glen and Carol in Cove, OR, and my amazing niece Morgan (the same niece that ran the Turkey Trot with us) and her friend Amber.  As we headed out we were met with loud cheers from the group of friends we'd been partying with earlier.  Pretty motivating!

We did our New Year's Eve run early in the afternoon.  We ran at midnight and counted that as our run for January 1.  We sat around all day on the first looking at each other.  It felt like an entire day off!  Shouldn't we be heading out to run?  Oh wait!  We don't have to run! 

When the second rolled around we felt like we should be heading out for a run.  So we did.  And have continued to do so!  We even went to the Marina for a six mile "long" run Sunday!  We will build gradually for the 5K, 10K, half marathons and full marathon we have planned for the year.

What are your goals for 2014?  I'd love to hear from you!

www.sparksrenohomesearch.com

Follow You Down

Whenever I am hunting with my husband, and often when we are running together, I get that song "Follow You Down" by the Gin Blossoms stuck in my head.  Especially when I am scrambling  over fallen trees or running at midnight in 13 degrees on New Year's Eve.  I often go places I would never go on my own, but never regret going.  I'd follow him anywhere.

I like to think I'm not a follower.  That I am my own person and do my own thing.  And that is largely true.  But I'm also smart (or lazy) enough to know that following in the footsteps of great people just makes great sense.  So I follow Todd into great adventure.  I follow my sister on a path of love and kindness toward others that she makes look effortless.  I follow my mother on a path of life learning and believing that obstacles can be overcome.  I follow my brothers anywhere...figuratively and literally.  They all put family first and are good to their mom.  Who wouldn't want to follow that example?!  They are funny.  They are gentlemen.  They don't judge (a personal trait I need to work on).  They run, ride, hike, hunt, and play hard. I've always followed them because they go cool places and do good things.

When I was little I followed my brothers up a steep mountain behind my aunt's house.  All was good until it was time to come back down.  When I turned around and saw how high we'd climbed I froze.  Even sweet, patient Marvin couldn't convince me to come down.  So he went back to the house and got my uncle.  And sweet, patient Uncle Butch climbed the mountain and carried me down to safety.  (Notice the common thread of "sweet & patient" in the men in my family?  I do too.)

I recently went back to California and saw that mountain.  It wasn't the Alps, but it also wasn't the gentle slope I feared it may have been in reality and only grown large in retrospect.  It was a big, steep wall of earth and trees.  I visited my Uncle and reminded him of the story, which he didn't recall but thought was funny.  I guess when you're genuinely kind you do things for others without thinking about it.

That is a lot of rambling.  But what I take from it, and the advice I'd give based on it, is this:  Don't be afraid to follow greatness.  Keep climbing and don't look down.  And surround yourself with wonderful people who love you.

www.sparksrenohomesearch.com