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Sunday, March 26, 2017

Life lately...

Life lately has consisted of my flooring project and everything that goes along with it.  Turns out, it is a lot of work to install about 650 square feet of flooring!  I am forever grateful to my friends who have helped me do this.  

The first step was to rip up all the old carpet and pad.  Once I get my final "after" pics I'll show you the before pics but it was in bad, bad shape.  I thought I was done with the vacuum but I learned you use it a lot when putting new flooring in.  (Notice all my furniture crammed into the dining room and kitchen area...more on this later)

Next we put down the vapor barrier and underlayment.  Took awhile but the dog learned it was ok to walk on.  It was highly entertaining when she was "trapped" in the bedroom by the plastic flooring.  Also, couldn't help but think of the show Dexter when I rolled out this stuff.  During this phase all the trim was also pulled from the wall.
After all the prep was done then the floor was finally ready to go in.  It turned out to look just like I had hoped.
The dog had no trouble walking on the flooring.
Even after the flooring is down the finishing work is a lot.  Pretty sure the prep and finishing up is what takes the longest.  I'm still working on getting the trim re-painted and ready to put back in the wall.  One thing I noticed through the whole process was just how dirty the nooks and crannies of the house get that you never really see.  I am going to be a lot more diligent now to reach those hard to get areas.  I do think carpet holds more of that stuff naturally, like dog hair.  However, I am going to be on a stricter cleaning schedule!
Back to the creative furniture layout.  So the living room furniture was in the kitchen and dining room.  Then the bedroom furniture had to be moved into the living room.  This left yet even more of my bedroom stuff going into my master bathroom and getting all kinds of creative storing my shoes throughout the house.  I do not understand how hoarders do it.  I had a hard time not falling on my face getting around everything, everywhere.
All the things.  Everywhere.  I had to constantly tell myself what the end result would be and that it is all worth it because this went against all my OCD no-clutter style.  Forget asking me where something was...I had no idea.  As I am putting stuff back I am actually really considering if I need that item or not and decluttering as I go.

So...life lately has been cluttered but productive.  I'll post more final pictures when everything is back in its place, including the trim on the wall.  It feels good to get life back in order.  April has some good things in store...more on that, some new favorites, and the floor pics to come!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

First 5K of 2017!

Sunday marked the beginning of race season with the Shamrox 5k.  We had enjoyed some warm temps there for a bit but not on race weekend.  It was a chilly one and I could barely feel my fingers at the end!   This is one of my favorite courses....although "Mount Lucky Charm" is a beast of a hill.  The rest of the course is downhill and flat and is quite deceivingly easy until you get to the hill.  Julie was glad I warned her about it ahead of time.  


This was my third year doing Shamrox and each year I have managed to shave about 2 minutes off my finishing time.  This year I came in at 30:45 and took 2nd place in my division.  I strive for sub-30 minute 5Ks but with the hill on this course I was thrilled with my finish time.  A few folks attempt to run the hill here and there but mostly all I heard was cursing.  I always walk it and don't feel a bit guilty about it.  That hill is brutal but a great challenge.  Ultramax always puts on great events and this was a fun start to the 2017 race season!

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sunday musings

It is feeling like spring!  This weekend some friends brought over a powerwasher and I was able to use it on my back patio and front sidewalk.  It was so gratifying to watch all the grime clean off.  My patio really wasn't even that dirty but it sure does look nice and new now!
I'm excited to tackle some spring cleaning/updating projects.
I am currently obsessed with Westworld on HBO.  I had to really concentrate on that first episode or two to figure out exactly what was going on.  But it didn't confuse me nearly as much as The Matrix!
If you liked the movie Erin Brockovich you'll like Goliath on Amazon Prime.  It's an original series and I was hooked on this one last weekend.  Didn't take me long to binge watch all the episodes.  

I'm excited for the signs of spring.  I have spring blooms coming up, the spring cleaning bug, and the first 5k of the season next weekend.