House Blind?
As I’ve mentioned, my sister and her husband are coming to visit this week (hooray!) They’re not staying with us, but they’ll be at our house quite a bit, and this caused some frantic cleaning over the weekend. Sunday my husband was lounging on the couch, finishing his coffee, when I announced “It’s time for the Father’s Day cleaning party to begin!” WHAT? He wasn’t too thrilled about that, but I promised him the next few days would be filled with fun, booze, great food, and celebrations. Sunday, we had to clean. Sigh. We’re just not great about the house. We’re the type of people who can walk right past a mess and not even notice it. It’s not until someone is coming to visit that we suddenly snap to attention and see everything that’s gone wrong. Then when we do clean, we’re pretty terrible at it Obviously we had to vacuum. As we were doing this, we noticed that the vacuum had hardly any suction. Oh GREAT! Perfect time for the vacuum to break! Finally, my son suggested that maybe something was stuck in there? Sure enough- it turned out there was a sock stuck in the hose. This was after we had done a totally half-assed job of semi-vacuuming the entire house. We took six huge bags of clothes, shoes and books to Goodwill, and threw out several more huge bags of trash. My husband pressure-cleaned the patio (what a fun thing to do on Father’s Day!) and we mopped. Great, now the house is clean. But we had to deal with the fact that we had several blank walls, making the house look totally un-homey. This is something that bothers me peripherally on and off. I WANT to have things hanging on the walls, but I just don’t know what would look good. Every once in a while I’ll make an effort, but then I don’t know what to hang or how to hang it (I mean, if it’s heavy you need some sort of an anchor… right?) The first thing was obvious. We have a painting my brother-in-law (the one who’s coming to visit) actually painted! It was hanging in our bedroom for a long time, until I painted that room and then I never put it back up (that was four years ago.) We rallied ourselves and put it up in the living room. It looks GREAT! But that left the rest of that wall looking weirdly blank. I can’t even believe my family let me attempt this, but I put together a sort of “gallery wall” (that’s what it’s called, right?) Once I got started, it wasn’t even that hard (did you know you can use Command strips to hang things??? Just kidding… I’m sure everyone knows that.) Here’s the end result: The big day arrived, and their flight actually landed EARLY. My sister texted that they were on their way, and it was like the scene from Risky Business where the parents are on their way home from the airport, and the guys are rushing around frantically trying to put the house together. We re-vacuumed, dusted, threw a bunch of clutter into a box to be dealt with later (or, never seen again), lit a candle, and were ready to collapse in a heap, ER I MEAN, greet our guests! Is anyone else phenomenally bad at decorating? If the answer is no, can you come to my house and help me???
Weekly Rundown- The Other “I” Word
Well, it was kind of a frustrating week! Nothing that I would call an Injury, but I had a couple Issues. We’ll get into that, but first, thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Check them out for more inspiration and fun. Okay, here’s how the week played out… Sunday This was a great run (for the most part.) I went to the park and ran on the cross country trail, then finished off with some hill repeats! Well, those of you who live in hilly areas would probably call this a “slope,” but it feels like a hill to me! I ran up and down it four times to end my run, 4.5 miles. I really enjoyed this run, except for… cue the ominous music… a nagging pain in my right hip. This hip has been tight ever since my race. I was trying to ignore it (always a great strategy) but I finally had to admit it needed some attention. Monday I know just what to do! A strength workout on Sally McRae’s app called “Bulletproof Runner.” I like the sound of that! It was a great workout focusing on hips, glutes and hamstrings. Tuesday On my schedule for today was an easy run, but I decided to take an extra day off and repeat the Bulletproof Runner workout. It’s mostly bodyweight, except for a couple exercises with bands, so I figured why not do it two days in a row. I added in a couple other things that help me as well, like side planks. Wednesday After two days of Hip Boot Camp, I decided to try running again. My hip felt achy in the beginning of the run, but felt better as it went on. It was my scheduled “speed” day, so I threw in some one to two minute intervals of a slightly faster pace. Everything was feeling GREAT until… more ominous music… (boy, if there’s ever a soundtrack to my life it would have to include a lot of ominous music) my CALF started to hurt. WHAT THE…??? It was the same thing that happened during my race- started with a pulling sensation around my achilles, then moved up to the middle of the muscle. I was near home anyway, so I ended the run at 3.5 miles. By the way, this run was during a very short break in our torrential rain this week. It was a crazy, soaking wet week. i can’t even believe there are little patches of blue sky in this photo! I went home and did my new plank routine, which is regular plank, side planks, and reverse planks (one of the moves from the Bulletproof Runner workout.) Thursday Well… the only thing to do was the Bulletproof Runner workout AGAIN. I took out a couple moves that didn’t seem to help me, and added some other things with heavier weights, like Bulgarian split squats. It was a HARD workout- I ended with side planks and could barely hold them for 30 seconds- my legs were shaking. Friday Ooookay. I had no idea how my calf was going to hold up, so, after some thorough foam rolling, I went to the gym and got on the treadmill. I figured I would try a run and if anything hurt I could get right off and onto something else. But I started the run and it felt okay! For about 3 1/2 miles- then the same painful pulling sensation started in my calf muscle. At that point I figured- screw it. I ran for 23 miles in my race with it hurting and nothing bad happened- I can run another half mile. 4 miles for the day. Oh, and here’s a fantastic photo… It wasn’t until later in the day that I realized- “hey, my hip didn’t hurt at all!” That’s good at least- better if I only have to deal with one pain at a time. Saturday Off! Was able to sleep in a little before going to work. Sunday Sigh. I’m incredibly frustrated with the calf situation- I don’t understand what’s going on so I don’t know what to do about it. My strategy for the next week is to limit my runs to three miles (since it seems to start hurting between 3-4 miles.) I know, that kind of sucks- but three miles of running is better than zero miles! So, on tap for today- a 3 mile run. Lots of foam rolling. We’ll see how it goes! By the way, thanks for putting up with my whining. Anyone who’s been reading for a while had to hear about my left foot for almost a year… then there was the sprained ankle, now this. Hopefully my next Weekly Rundown will be whine-free! How was your week? Did it involve rain, or whining?
Friday Coffee Date
Greetings from soaking wet South Florida! After no rain at all for three months, we got the whole three months’s worth this week. Of all the times to have a flood watch, this was perfect, because it was the one week of the summer where my daughter had to be driven to and from camp every day. The camp is 40 minutes away, but add in traffic and rain, and it took a solid hour. Moving right along! If we were having coffee/tea together on this wet and gloomy Friday morning, I would say a big THANK YOU for all the responses to Tuesday’s post, where I asked for indoor activity suggestions for my sister’s visit. I appreciate all the ideas, and I’m also flattered that you guys think we’re such an adventurous family. Ideas ranged from rock climbing to axe throwing. My sister reads this blog, and before I even had a chance to read all the comments, she was texting me in alarm, assuring me that a nice visit to an art museum would be JUST FINE. I think the way she put it was something like, she envisioned them barricaded in their hotel room, while I pounded on the door, insisting that it was time for rock climbing. Now I feel kind of lame, but my two favorite ideas were going to a cat cafe or an indie bookstore (thanks, Stephany!!) But when I googled it, it turns out there are none in our area- we would have to drive down to Miami. We’ll see! Maybe I’ll surprise everyone with some kind of epic adventure… OR, maybe not. Speaking of bookstores, on Wednesday (my day off) after the rainy drive to camp, I went to Barnes and Noble. I’ve mentioned that my house is feeling crowded these days, and it was lovely to have a mini-getaway like this. There’s nothing cozier than a bookstore on a rainy day. I browsed for a long time and then sat in the cafe sipping tea. I also browsed the cards, and found this one. The hours at Barnes and Noble were my oxygen (thanks, Elisabeth!) and afterwards I was ready to deal with the rain, the driving, and all the other challenges of life and parenthood. What would you tell me over coffee? What was your oxygen this week?
Reading and Eating
This was a fun week of reading! I had a reread: I started reading Agatha Christies in seventh grade, and by the time I was in my early 20s I had read them all. Sometimes I can reread one and still be surprised at the ending… sadly, that was not the case this time. About halfway through I remembered who the murderer was- it was a little tiny detail that jogged my memory and then it all started coming back to me. I still finished it, because it was kind of fun to get a “behind the scenes” look at how it was put together. The misdirection! So cleverly done. Just like in my teens, I stayed up way too late to finish this book. Next up is another scifi/mystery mashup: I read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, another weird book, and enjoyed it. This book has a completely different premise. The world has been destroyed by a black fog that swept the planet, killing everyone except for the inhabitants of an island village. Scientists have managed to erect a security system around the island to keep the fog at bay. For the most part, the villagers live in peace… but there are mysterious things going on beneath the surface. There’s also “Abi,” a collective consciousness that can speak to everyone and read their thoughts. Then there’s a murder that must be solved, or the protective fog barrier will fail and what remains of earth’s population will be wiped out. Oh, and Abi doesn’t always tell the truth… she has her reasons, which are not clear yet. As a matter of fact, many things are not clear yet but I’m sure they will be eventually. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the book and enjoying it so far- update to come when I finish it. Eating-wise, I managed to rally and cook a couple decent dinners. The first was Vegetable Biryani from Nora Cooks.. Tragically, I forgot to add the green peas. I did add tofu, but the peas would have been nice too as a color contrast. It was good, but we all agreed it needed a squeeze of lime to pep up the flavors. Next, I made one of my old favorites, Gochujang Bowls. The recipe calls for chicken but I make it with tofu. The great thing about this meal is, EVERYONE in my family likes it, including my daughter. That’s a major victory. Next week I’ll be upping my game- my sister is coming to visit, and my son and I are cooking two big meals. One will be a “build your own” burrito night, with various fillings and toppings, and the other will be a “gourmet” pizza night. Photos to come! What are you reading now? Favorite gourmet pizza toppings? – We’ll make several pizzas and are still coming up with ideas. Top photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash