London Calling

London has a new friend

"Grandpa" came over yesterday to hang out.  We were playing in the yard when he arrived.  It was a beautiful day.  A little cool for swimming.  Cool in the shade and almost hot in the sun.  London was challenging us to push him too high on the swing and Violet just giggled swaying in her little baby swing.  Emily had found a big stick to chew on while she watched out for her family.  The day was picture perfect.

We walked to lunch at Casa Bonita, Libertyville's newest restaurant.  London was entertained by the pictures of frogs stained into the concrete patio.  He sat next to grandpa and behaved fairly well for a three year old.  Violet just enjoyed the view and her teething cookie.

After lunch, we walked home.  Barry prepped the driveway for our project of the day:  painting the blacktop.  I ran off to Menards to buy supplies.  London entertained grandpa with trains and puzzles while Violet napped.  When I returned from shopping, grandpa was ready to head home.  I think that he was a little spent from crawling on the ground looking for puzzle pieces and learning the ropes of playing Thomas with a toddler.

Later that afternoon, when London was talking to me about all of his "work" -- putting away toys and measuring just about anything with the tape measure he found -- he told me that he had a new friend.  I thought that he was going to tell me that his friend was Dora or Quincy or some other toddler TV star.  Or maybe someone from school.  When I asked who his new friend was, he said, "grandpa" with an inflection that clearly meant, duh!  Oh, that's right.  You had a play date with grandpa today. 

DIY or bust

We've lived in our suburban paradise for just over one year.  First, we had to accomplish the important work:  replace the electric (it being a fire hazard and all), paint, unpack (still haven't finished that part), and a few other tasks that I've completely forgotten about.

Just now are we starting to work on the aesthetics of the house.  I've been a huge tightwad about things, so we're keeping all of our projects on the cheap.  (Barry's still driving the Exploder and probably will until it explodes.)  I've broken our home projects into three categories:

(1) DIY -- what can we do on our own to make our house a home.  We've called in the help of a few professionals so that we don't blow the place up. 

(2) Decor -- The main floor is a challenge.  We have limited space (about 900 square feet) for the kitchen, tv, living room and dining room.  I want to be sure that we use all of this space well.  I want it to look beautiful and inviting and be kid friendly.  All of this will require the help of a professional and new furniture.  So, that's for after Taylor graduates from college in six years -- unless we hit some big numbers in the lotto.

(3) Breaking down some walls -- This is the big one.  We need to finish the attic with the goal of adding one bedroom and a full bath attached to the master.  By this time, the kitchen will need a "refresher" so I'd like to bump out the east wall and add more space.  Big bucks.

  This summer, we've painted and replaced parts on the play set.  We've hung pictures and painted pots for our plants.  We event planted flowers!  Today we started coating the driveway -- which is really long!  We have a garage sale scheduled for August to help clear out the basement.  And somewhere along the way we're going to EPOXY SHIELD the garage and organize it.  The space is great, but right now it's a storage area for my stroller obsession. 

I'm comfortable sticking to the easy and cheap stuff right now.  Painting little things is okay.  Painting walls is a pain.  We'll get there one project at a time.

Getting ready for Rock 'n Roll

A friend talked me into signing up for the Inaugural Chicago Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.  We signed up in March and the race is August 2nd.  As of yesterday morning, my longest run was about 4.5 miles -- quite a long way from the 13.1 that I promised to run in just a few weeks.

So last night, I decided to push and see if I could run 8.  If I could do that, I could push to 10 next week and finish the race with a bunch of walk breaks.  The goal is just to finish right now.  No breaking personal records -- although my time for the half is horrible.

At 5:15 last night, I decided to head out.  That way, I could have a few beers after my run and could relax on Sunday.  London was a crankmeister and demanded to come along for a ride.  He hadn't taken a nap and I thought that he'd enjoy a nice relaxing hour (or two or three depending on how long it took me).  Still, the kid is 30 lbs and the jogging stroller is at least another 10 which made the few "hills" (aka slight inclines) miserable. 

We ran 5 miles in the sun which is always difficult for me.  Not to mention my lunch of hot dog and chips with queso wasn't the best fuel.  Still, we made it.  I dropped London off at home and finished the last 3 miles without the extra weight and finished right in front of the beer store.  (My cool down was my walk home from the beer store.  Motivation is key for success.)

I thought that I'd be a mess after my run and that today I'd barely be able to walk.  Au contrar mon frere.  Besides the goofy clicking sound from my knee joints and sore feet, I feel great.  Barry gave me a supplement called Acid Zapper before my run that is supposed to do something with the lactic acid generated when you exercise.  You take 1 pill for every 50 lbs. -- so I took 3 -- about an hour or so before you exercise.  I wish this stuff was around when I was training for marathons.  It's so nice not to have super sore muscles today. 

So, one long run down and a few more to go.  Next weekend I'm at the Car Craft Summer Nationals in Minneapolis.  Downtown Minneapolis has a great running path along the river, so I may try to get my long run in while I'm away from the kids.  I wonder how many extra calories I burned pushing a toddler?