Black

I accomplished a few things off of my list from last post.

I tackled the 1970's mac tack(who puts that stuff in their cupboards and why?) that was within the drawers and cupboards.





I don't quite know how I didn't recognize that is was that BAD! Ignorance is bliss? Something like that ;)

So I sanded and touched up some holes.



Put a frame on the mirror which still has to be painted out. This blogger gave me the idea for it! LOVE HER!



Painted out the inside of the cabinets white and then the outside black!




I am going to replace the counter top and put a vessel sink in as well as paint out the entire bathroom yellow :D

Here is the final view for now.

Paint makes me wanna

do more renovations!!

Talk from friends about painting their bathrooms has made me want to paint mine :D I have a mix'n'match main bathroom on the main floor and a totally NEW bathroom downstairs.

The one I want to do has new tile floor(5 years ago)and a soaker tub with a tile surround, new sink/tap set and new door.

Things I want to do and think I can get done in one weekend (trying to convince hubby of it)
~paint
~new trim
~add trim to mirror that I have seen done online
~paint out vanity
~new handles/knobs
~new towel bar
~new countertop

So if I am organized I believe I can do it and do it ALONE :D

Found me a partner...

for running my long runs!

It is something that I need to keep me accountable and motivated.

I have turned on a 1/2 mary training program and found out a friend of a friend (whom I have met a few times socially) is training for one too! She is also a beginner runner so we are meeting up on the weekends for our long runs.

I'll let you know how the first one goes on Sunday :D

I got in my run tonight, but on the treadmil as hubby started a new job and he had some phoning to do. The kids couldn't run around the house like chickens with their heads cut off while he was occupied and needing a bit of peace, so I stayed home and ran later in the night.

5 min walk/warmup
47 min run
5 min cool down/walk.

NO rhyme or reason

I don't have a theme here, is that odd?

I mean I know I'm odd, but is that strange to blog about nothing and no rythme or normalcy??

I need to just commit to getting on here and making a conscious effort to keep typing stuff out.

Soo..i'm going to and blog about anything. I have tried to make it about running but well that sucks as you can tell. I will just blog!



Today was a very busy day, I volunteer in #2's classroom on Thursdays while #3 is at preschool. I had the added task of getting #1 to the hospital to see his plastic surgeon.

I was relieved to have her tell us that he is healing normally!! YIPPEEEE Although he will not be back to his normal skin, I so happy to hear her tell us that it was fluid/water build up and not keloids :D The purple color is because of EXTRA blood flow and means it is not done healing. The texture, waxiness, is an issue but should lessen. If for some reason it doesn't lesson, there will be cortisone shots. He will be asleep for that as it is painful. This is all not going to happen for a long time, 6 months to a year from now.

In the meantime, he is getting measured ASAP for new compression stockings. He has grown taller and they are a major PITA! They dig into his scars and fall down while he sleeps or walks long distances(to school everyday). The decision to go with a boxer short type stocking is what we thought is a good plan. The itch factor is still major and the plastic surgeon says it is normal but he will get a script for some meds that wont make him drowsy, like the benadryl is doing to him.

The process to order them seems to take a long time. They do come from Pheonix, Arizona and are sooo expensive. Oh well, it has to be done. I hope they arrive sooner then they did the last ones(8 weeks).

In other news, DH has just been panelled for a big job! It was a job that he was asked to do but they still have to do all the loops/jumps/redtape stuff to get him there. It is stressfull on him and he is soo nervous. When all is said and done, he will no longer work shift work! Night shifts have been part of our lives for 15 years! NO MORE!!! WOOHOOO! He will be home for dinner EVERY night and have weekends off :D The kids are soo excited for the new life, so to speak.

Anyways (yes I say that a lot), I am committing to more entries and more often. I can't promise they will be about running, or excercise for that matter, but I will not be pictureless posting anymore ;) I do love to have visuals!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Gifts

While reading links on Caren's blog [s]I stumbled across another blog and can't remember who! So if it is you please be gentle, I'll give you credit if I can find you :D [/s] I found

with a great idea!

Valentines day...Teachers...Gifts!

I find the never ending list of gift giving occasions to be overwhelming with 3 kids in school now. YES, I still make cupcakes and take them to highschool. What teacher doesn't like a sweet :D I just don't let it be known to my oldest son! HAHA!

Anyways, while stumbling across the blog, I found the cutest and CHEAPEST gift! TOTALLY usable too.

Behold, modifyied hand sanitizer

This weekend I also found a gift for me, ok for my table in the fall, but who can turn down a fabulous deal?

This was $1.84! Seriously! Regular $24.99 It is arched but you can't really tell by the picture I took.


While I have a few pictures going here I am going to share what I made for my youngest sons birthday this last week! My baby is 5, I can't believe how the time has flown by...but he is a blast, adorable and well just a cutie pie.


And here is the birthday boy....in his full glory :D

Skiing

The skiing is going well...but today I can't lift my legs to much! HA!

My girl friend, who is doing the Iceman in a few weeks, dragged my sorry butt with her to do the cross country loop twice!

It was beautiful, we went at night, so there was NO ONE around! He had our headlamps on which helped soo much. We wouldn't have been able to do it without them for sure.

Dead quiet, with the exception of my squeeky right boot, and prestine snow!

15km later my thighs were screaming at me to stop. There was a few uphills, but they were long . Herringbone up those required a few muscles I have not used in a while ;)

I'm coaxing the kids into learning how, it is a tough one to teach when your on skiis too :D

2 days already

I have done 2 days on the treadmil and each time has been a drag! I get highs and lows but trudge through 40 min of it. I need to change up my songs as I skip through a lot of them to get to a more upbeat song....

I.AM.GETTING.OFF. IT!

That treadmill is so daunting but I must get it out. The weater is too cold for me to drag the kids out so this will be my alternative for the majority of the winter.

It is going to be a long winter.

Skiing

Today we decided to get a xcountry ski membership! I have not been skiing in years! Weather it be the kids were too small or we didn't have the extra cash or I didn't make time....but that is all in the past!

I get to go every night if I want! With the 2 mornings off a week(2.5 hours while the 3rd is in preschool) and then the trails being open until 9:30 and LITE UP, that enables me to get the time in.

A fairly new friend of mine said that she would love to go too. They just moved from China(worked their for 6years) and we are going to get the boys into lessons. They are excited too as another friend of theirs is a Jackrabbit as well.

My oldest son is into snowboarding but I did take him and his class two years ago for a field trip and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe I can talk him into a membership($15 for him if I buy a year for $130) and we can go at nights as well.

Here is a link if your interested in peeking in on the place.

http://www.caledonianordic.com/

Booed?

Have you ever been "Booed"? Is it a tradition in your neighborhood?

I'm starting it tomorrow morning in our neighborhood. We live on a street that is short, about 10 houses, but we have a cul-de-sac that surrounds ours. I'm going to take one to the neighbor behind me and one across from me. Both have kids, so it should be fun to see how it goes!

If you do "boo" what do you include in your package? Candy? trinkets?

From tradgey to?

Where to begin?

There has been an accident and with it horrible consequences and an even worse healing. My son was lit on fire. Life has been really bad for the last 3 weeks.

Family has been put on hold and at home and for us all.

Speaking of family, we have had wonderful help and helping hands. Many shoulders to lean on and even alot of meals made :D I will be forever grateful and hubbled by the love we have recieved.

Through it all we have held strong and my son has been pillar of strength and courage. He's endured 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree burns on 10% of his legs. He's been in numerous amounts of hydro therapy, debridling, skin grafts and dressing changes. There have been copeous amounts of narcotics and lots of healing. Through it all I have been by his side, holding his hand and being patient.

It's not been all fun and games but we have come out(so far, the road is not over by far) with our sense of humour and sense of family.

Sooo...this is where I stop taking myself for granted, my health and my family.

Where it will take me? I'm wishing for big things but I will take babysteps to get there...and always remembering my sons strength, especially when the tough gets going.

I broke it

Seriously? I eff u cee kayed up!! (stole that spelling from a blog I just read recently :D )

My camera...my poor digital camera!! It is in about 500 pieces at the bottom of the garbage can.

We 5 went kayaking yesterday at a lake about 30 west of here. DH and I were loading the double kayak onto the van and I put the camera on the edge of his truck bumper to give me a free hand.

Yah...you got it, I left it there and when I realized where I had left it we were at home unloading!

I flew back out there and found it on the road outside of the parking lot..runneth over :'(

The good news? 127 pics were still salvaged on the removable memory card, along with 3 rechargeable batteries!! phewwww...not all was lost.

I was lost today without a camera. I was out at a different lake with the kids and thought I was going to go into withdrawl shakes and cold sweats. It was beautiful and all the kids had so much fun...i wanted to capture it on film forever!

Silver lining...I get to go shopping for a new camera!

How much tape?

ds#2 and ds#3 couldn't wait to play on the wall ;)


I took ds#3's room and have gutted it.

installed closet organizer
patched a millions holes
sanded a million patches
painted ceiling
ripped up carpet
torn off trim
painted 3 coats of white paint
painted chalkboard "road"
yellow line down center of said road
taped off top ten 24x24" squares
painted said squares
taped off 10 bottoms square
painted those too ;)

Still to do...lay flooring, cut trim for doors and floor, install trim, set nails, fill holes, sand and paint trim, paint bed and move all furniture back into room.

oh wait, install curtain rod and make duvet cover...Does it ever end?

New approach

I have been caught up in numbers and stats with regards to running, in the past. I believe I get stuck for that reason. I just can't wrap my brain around some of it and use it as an excuse.

I therefor am going to use time alone to manage my running.

I am working my way up to one hour and then taking it from there.

I have always just done a 5km and left it at that..never much more. Maybe a 6km thrown in there ever once in a while but not much :p

Yesterday I did 36min on the dreadmill...I think I embarassed #1 a bit. HA He and his buddy entered the house while I was running and singin my heart out in between breathes. ROFLMAO! Just what you want at 13. Having your friends see your mom jiggle on the treadmil while singing Miley Syrus at the top of her lungs.

Oh well, they got a good laugh and something to talk about for 10 minutes :D

I ♥ organizing!

Well, not the entire process, but the end results are worth it!

Take for example...Getting rid of DS#3's dresser and toybox

The toys are still in my living room in bins



and his room is still not painted fully...but I feel so much better with the clothes organized on the new system.

I also made a new system for my ribbons :P Not very fancy like
Jenns but it holds the same purpose and clears up some space.



Now onto some chalkboard painting :D

OH.MY.GOSH

That sucked!

Painting and pushups

I will be covering a few rooms with paint over the next few weeks as well as laying flooring, installing closet organizers, new doors, trim...blah blah blah!

What else is new??? We always seem to be renovating. Oh well, keeps me outta trouble!

I also ran into a link for
100 pushups program and thought to myself "I need all the help I can get in the chest area, the arms are a bit *COUGHCOUGHFLABBYCOUGHCOUGH* unfirm, what can I loose?"

The intial test ensued and I'm raring to go with my first workout tonight!

I hope I can lift my arms by next weekend ;)

Bigger boys, bigger toys!

Over the last few hours I have been in bin heaven and found that the youngest sons room is about 1/2 way done.

Big trucks? Not a clue. I have put them into three big Rubbermaid containers but alas, they are still overflowing :-/

So far I have bins for
Ninja turtles and accessories
Transformers
Bionicles
CARS (the movie) stuff
plastic food
toy pots'n'pans
mini cars and tracks
Spider man Lego
Pirates of the Caribbean Lego
army men
hand tools (plastic)
plastic animals (how did we get so many???)
Big bin for Duplos sets

I have picked old fashion Lego pieces out of every drawer, corner of the room and crevasse you can imagine.

These all found homes yesterday:
Play dough
felts
pencil crayons
crayons
glue, scissor, rulers, erasers (school supplies)
learning books
coloring books
Pokemon cards

I have cleaned out (a.k.a. garbaged) most of the papers from school last year (2 kiddos worth)

ALL this and I'm still not done even one childs room! No wonder I was feeling like it was a mess here.

We have always kept the books in track/order and the puzzles/games have had their own spots together. So there is hope they can stay organized.

I have sat down with the two youngest and explained (told) them that they can take a bin to play with the contents but I would like the contents put back in said bin(with labels to show what goes in there) before playing with others toys.

Here's to a more productive weekend! Oh and to Walmart carrying enough bins to get it all done :p

3,2,1,2

LOL..that is about the way the amount of jobs seem to be here. I was working at 3 places at once a few months back. 2 were overlaping full time positions and now I just hold 2...BUT

I have an interview coming up for a government job. I'm not sure if I want to stay casual at the hospital and take a shift every few weeks on the weekend or just drop it all together. I'm getting ahead of myself but those are the things that run through my head. The $$ is good..really good..so it would be a rainy day fund ...lol..I have a lot of that kind of stuff rumbling around.

I am on a mission to sort this house out by the end of the month. Toys, books, closets, clothing, games, sporting equipment of all kinds, gardening stuff....you get the idea.

I want to know what you do to keep your kids toys organized. Where do you keep them? In their bedrooms or in a playroom? living room?family room?

Do you rotate toys?

Lets hear your ideas or see them!

Freebie Friday...

Too late? I'm not sure but I love her site!

Check this out and enter to win. Tell her I sent yah and we both can win :D
Monogram Chick