For daddy

Nate has to travel for work so this is for him.
We miss you honey.

Triathalon Wednesday ( I give up!)

SO I guess I'll never make it on Tuesday...
This week I lunged till I hurt. (didn't take long)
I also swan half the distance I will swim in the race. When I see others in the pool, I realize how much more practice I need. Luckily I have someone to give me some coaching on Friday! (am a little nervous)
Running has been going well. I have been running to the gym as my warm up and now when I run I am almost having fun (imagine that!)
I really need to ride my bike soon....
Now that spring is almost here I think my training will be much more fun.
Most Irongirl moment of the week:
swimming 4 laps without stopping!

Can you dig it?

 

To call our house a fixer-upper seems to be a bit of an understatement. It is a huge project that we have been working on since we moved in 9 months ago. The kitchen had to be gutted (thats a picture of it empty) and built again. Same for the bathroom. We bought the house knowing we needed to fix these things and Nate's done a great job of doing these projects so far. We also knew the house was too small and planned to dig out the basement and add on a third story. Right now Nate's office occupies the front half of our bedroom and I think he's getting anxious for his own space (mostly so he can be a slob without me rolling my eys at him!!) We spent a ton of time prepping for the basement dig out--cleaning it out, getting the plans drawn up, choosing a contractor to help out and enlisting a workforce. One of the things we didn't spend much time on was getting city permits. We had been warned about this part of the process, but haven't had to deal with it so far (none of the other projects were so obvious from the outside...) We were given the permit to put the dumpster out on the street to collect the dirt, but denied the permit to remove the dirt. Boo. Seems there were a few dig-outs that resulted in a few rowhomes collapsing. We are confident that our architect/structural engineer has created a plan that would not destabilize the house, but apparently the city is less confident in our plans. Some have suggested digging without the permit. I am wondering if those people will give us a place to stay when the city condems our home.
This is a hurdle, sure. But we are determined ot eek out more living space from our small city home anyway we can, so we are on to plan B (in case anyone cares, I suggesting finishing the basement without digging it out BEFORE we spent 4 digits on the project!!) And from this setback we have gleaned several bits of wisdom:
You can fight City Hall, but why would you want to?
Get any permits you might need sometime BEFORE the day you plan to begin the project.
Make the architect's pay contigent on a sucessful permit!
Don't get your heart set on a project or the powers-that-be will crush your spirit.
Cleaning out your basement is cathartic!
Anyway I am sure there will be many more headaches to come but I wouldn't leave my little rowhouse for anything!!

Triathalon Tuesday (late again!!)

 

I am really sore from yesterday's workout. No pain, no gain, right? I haven't been able to swim this week, but we did go on a family hike and with Ensley on my back that definitely test the endurance! The hike almost didn't happen though...As we were parking, a sickinglt sweet smell wafted up to me from the back seat. Ens was hysterical to get out of his seat. I knew this was not going to be pretty. Without going into all of the gory details, lets just say that even his sock was completely full of poo. Wowza! Luckily I hadn't completely unpacked my car from visiting my parents' so there was a pair of jammies that we could put him in. Ensley seem to enjoy his first hike and I got in a great workout.
My most irongirl moment: holding down a wriggling, poopy 7 month old with one hand while cleaning up the mess with the other and getting no poo on me!! (and finally passing runners--I'm not the slowest anymore!)

Triathalon Tuesday ( a day late)

An astute reader of this blog might remember that I made a new year's resolution to finish a triathalon this year.
I have been wanting to update my progress weekly to keep myself accountable. I thought it would be catchy to call it triathalon tuesday (sorry I was too tired last night!)
I have been practicing my swimming about once a week for a month or so. This last time, the lifeguard didn't seem to be ready to leap in to save me. And I didn't swallow any chlorine. But my arms and neck are still sore. And I am starting to be nervous about the big crowd of swimmers the day of the race.
I also ran about three miles and didn't collapse.
I had a personal training session that left me so sore that I couldn't climb the steps for an entire day.
There is definitely some progress (and a long way to go still).
See you next Tuesday (or Wednesday)