Week 33 of 52

            A couple of days late...

                                    This week I finished the project I started last week..

            I decided to paint the coffee table black...I have a couple of pieces of furniture I would like to refinish with black paint...so this was good practise...


                                           DIARY OF A BEGINNING RUNNER...

            Yeah....it's not going so good...Sunday 5th August...I went out to do my W2D2 and everything was going okay...walking...jogging...walking...jogging...I got home and took my shoes off and that's when I felt the pain...

            I don't recall doing anything to my ankle on my walk/jog...but I could hardly walk...I struggled with it for a few days and finally went to the doctors...after x-rays...and poking and prodding...I was told it was not broken that it is just a sprain...that was the good news...the bad news is that here we are more then two weeks later and I am still in pain...

            Doc also said that when I feel up to it I can start to run again...mmmm...might be a while before I try that again...might stick to walking...and yoga...we will see...

Week 32 of 52

                    Only 20 more weeks to go...I am beginning to have a hard time with this...I look around and see so many things I could be doing...but time and a little bit of laziness on my part is a problem...and if I would stay off Facebook and Pinterest maybe I would get a little more done...but whats the fun in that...Facebook is the only connection I have to some people...especially my family and friends in England...

                     Speaking of Pinterest...I have been reading about a product that has been pinned on Pinterest by numerous people...it is 'Zinssers Cover Stain Primer'...supposedly you can use this on practically any surface without sanding first...

                  We have an old coffee table sitting in our unfinished family room...we acquired it when my Mom came to live with us along with some of her other furniture...it is water stained from watering plants...so with this table being in pretty bad shape I thought I would try this product on it first before I try it on a piece of furniture that I care about...

                   Even though this product said that you didn't need to sand...I choose to sand the top of the table to try to get rid of some of the damage...

                                                As you see it is still looking pretty bad...

                     Here is the table after two coats of this Zinssers primer...you can still see the water damage so I think I will try a third coat before I go to pick out a paint color for this coffee table....

                          Next week I will finish this project with a coat or two of paint...

                  

Week 31 of 52

                           This week Joe has been very busy working on the bedroom floor...it's not quite finished but he has got a good start...he left this morning on a business trip to Cancun...yeah you read that right...Cancun...I'm a little bit jealous...
      

                                                            partially finished floor...

               ...on Friday afternoon we went to the Uptown Art Fair...we haven't been for a couple of years and we found that it has changed a little...didn't seem as good but we think it could have been due the heat we were walking around in...it was just too hot to be enjoyable...so we left and went to the Valley Tap House for beers and appetizer's...

        ...here is an update on the Gladiola that I planted in the spring...they are blooming...

                                                 ...my first attempt at growing Gladiola...

         I'm still working on the Couch to 5k...today I did W2D2...but I came home with a little bit of pain in one ankle...we will have to see where this takes me...maybe these 59 year old joints are just not up to the challenge...but I am not ready to give up yet...

Week 30 of 52

                                             DIARY OF A BEGINNING RUNNER......
Wednesday 25th July 2012...
               I have been looking at a website for a few weeks now wondering if I could start their program...well today I gave it a try...I took Izzy for a walk/run...took us about 35 minutes...I didn't do this quite right for the first time out...week one day one...W1D1...is supposed to be 60 seconds jogging then 90 seconds walking after a 5 minute warm up walk...for a total of 20 minutes...I think I could do this if I did not take Izzy with me...she was in worse shape then I was by the time we got home...I think some of my running time was longer then the required 60 seconds but I know I also walked longer then the 90 seconds...Izzy wanted to flop down and not walk anymore...the website is...www.fromcouchto5k...check it out and if any of my Minnesota friends want to join me let me know...Aaron will be home this weekend and he is going to go with me Friday morning...W1D2...same timing...Aaron has already ran one half marathon...but he said he would stay with me and then go off for a real run...

Thursday 26th July...
             This morning my legs are a little sore...my calf muscles and my thighs are hurting...I think some of it is probably the yoga class last night...we were doing a lot of stretching of the leg muscles...and poses to open the hips...REMINDER to myself...do not run on a yoga class day...

Friday 27th July...
             Aaron got home last night so this morning after the false start on Wednesday I started the program over W1D1...with Aaron as my running partner...it went well...Aaron pushed me a little harder then I would have probably gone by myself...running 2 minutes sometimes instead of the required 1 minute...

Sunday 29th July...
            When I got up this morning it was pouring with rain and I thought we wouldn't be going running...how wrong I was...Aaron got up and said that he was ready when I was...so I found a light weight rain jacket and off we went...it actually felt good to run in the rain...Aaron had the watch to time me but here again he had me run longer then the program requirements...one time we ran longer then 5 minutes...he is a tough coach...Aaron left to back to North Dakota so now I am on my own with this thing called running...hope I can stay motivated and go out by myself...I know from experience with yoga that it is easier to stay with it when you are sharing the experience with a friend...but right now I can say...W1D2...done...

Week 29 of 52

                     This week I only worked two days...yeah...that's the way I like it in the summer...I was all set for us to start putting down some flooring...but it is not here yet...now our expected delivery is tomorrow...so we will see what this week brings...

                   So needless to say this week I had to find some other thing to do for my week 29 of 52...Aaron was home for the 4th and he sorted out everything he wanted from his closet...there were still a lot of stuff left in there...some good...some not so good...so I went through his closet and I now have a big bag to donate and a bigger bag of trash...sentimental old me kept some things that Aaron didn't care about...

                                                       Aaron didn't care if I kept Fievel

But I could I let Fievel go when I have this photo of Aaron at three years old having a tea party with Fievel

Week 28 of 52

            I know I am a couple of days late with this post...today I am doing the final touch up of the paint...where I took the painters tape off and pulled the paint off...

             The flooring is ordered and delivery is due today...so that will be the next step...Joe and I have never put flooring in before...at least not pergo...so we will see how this goes and if we will make our 30th anniversary next year after working so closely together on this project...

                                                     This is a sample of the flooring...

Week 27 of 52

             Do you realise that we are now into the second half of the year...six months of the year has gone already...where does the time go...this week is going to be big...I just hope we can pull this one off in a timely manner..it's probably going to take a few weeks to do but at least here is a start...
            We emptied my Mom's bedroom of all her furniture and moved ours to her room...Mom's is lighter weight to carry downstairs...once our bedroom was empty we started to take up the carpet...even got Adam to help...

            Does anyone else use the powder product to freshen your carpets...this is what happens to that product...it goes through the carpet and the padding and sits on the sub floor...I will not be using this product on anymore of my carpets...

            Once we got the carpet up we started painting the bedroom walls...at least Joe did...I was planning on starting this on my days off work this week but got sick...so it got delayed a few days...It's hard to tell from this photo but the paint is a brownish grayish color...coconut husk is the official color...

Work in progress...to be continued...