Week 6 of P90X

Well, I've been working on this P90X thing for 6 weeks now, and I'm proud to say that I've only missed a few workouts. This week I did some MAD push ups, including one-armed and clap! Granted, it's not all that pretty, but I did it. I even used Brian's pull up bar a few weeks ago (with a chair for assistance, but still...). I love the way that the schedule mixes things up so the don't get boring or overwork any one area. I also dusted off the punching bag and used it for the Kenpo workout last Friday. It was AWESOME to beat the heck out of something for 60 minutes!!

While the P90X plan is going well, the plan to run the Susan G. Komen 5K in April is not going nearly so well. With P90X taking up anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes 6 days a week, I haven't made the time to stick to my run training. And when this last cold snap hit, my knee went on strike again. So I'm thinking that I need to re-define my goal. Maybe instead of saying "I will run a whole 5K" I need to focus on some broader goals. Like "I will be active every day" or "I will continually challenge myself physically." I know that in order for a goal to be realistic I have to actually believe that I can achieve it. And honestly, at the moment, I don't really believe that I can be a Runner. I can walk for hours like nobody's business, and kickbox like a madwoman. But running... not so much.

Welcome to 2011!

Another new year, and already I'm way behind on my blogging! It is a bit harder to write updates when I no longer have internet at home. The girls upstairs moved out and took their wireless with them! But here is a glimpse of what I've been up to for the last month!

For Christmas I went home to Dad's and offered to re-do the guest bath. Back in 1996-ish, our dog Dakota dug a hole in the flooring (which you can see below) and it was never fixed. For years a slippery throw mat covered over the mess. And at some point after I moved out, Mom got very creative with painting the walls. I've warmed up to pink over the years, but not to the point where these walls would ever be soothing! So our deal was that I would replace the flooring if he let me paint the walls, too.


I guess I didn't really know what I was in for with removing the old floor. It took about 3 hours of non-stop pulling, ripping, scraping, and picking to get all of it up.

Not including time waiting for primer and paint to dry, the whole project only took about 12 hours and cost just under $200! Once I figured out what I was doing, it was actually kinda fun and sorta made me wish I had my own place where I could do these kinds of projects. And I am so very happy with the new finished product.


I can't remember exactly when I took this picture, but I found it on my camera and figured I'd throw it in for good measure. I think it may have been the Harvest Moon, with either Jupiter or Venus glowing brightly below it.

I was super lucky for New Year's Eve and Day, as I had both Brian and Dad with me! They even joined me for my annual "start the year by walking on the beach" adventure. This year was very foggy, but much warmer than last year.

Unfortunately, coming back from Dad's brought me home to an apartment with several stinky issues. First, cats had gotten into the air ducts and used them as a bathroom. I had to get a vent cleaning company to come and vacuum and sanitize them so my house would stop smelling like a litter box.

However, once the litter box smell was cleaned up, another odor took over. At first it seemed like maybe the cats were still going to the bathroom under the house, but the smell quickly turned to that of something dead. Lovely. I took pictures under the house, trying to find the offending source, but to no end.

After much back and forth, the dead rat was found and removed from the upstairs porch siding. That was the good news. The bad news was that all the goo from inside the dead rat had leaked into the wall of my bedroom. Thus I have been sleeping on the futon in the living room for two weeks. The odor is just now getting to the point where I can walk into the bedroom and not gag, but the room is still basically unusable. Good thing I have such a big apartment!

On a separate, but somewhat related note, my musings of having a house to be able to do projects is coming to fruition: Brian and I have started looking at houses! I'll admit, the gypsy in me is still a little wary of the idea of "home ownership." But having run the numbers and realized that we could afford a pretty nice sized place in a good area, I've really warmed up to the idea. We spent one weekend just driving around looking at neighborhoods and types of homes, and last weekend we actually walked through the first house (it was a good bargain, but not exactly what we were hoping for).

I'm a wee bit nervous about making such a big decision, but also really REALLY excited about the thought of having a home. Not just a place to keep my stuff, or a place to have people over. But a real home.

We celebrated the start of the process with some delicious fro-yo from Lovin' Spoons.