A post not about running, training, P90X, cross-training or any other super searchable words

So let me tell you how things work in my house.

My wife told me the tank on our toilet seemed to be sloping backwards.  I took a quick look at it and tell her it's because it's an old style toilet with only two bolts.  These things sit up straight because the rubber seal between the tank and the bowl has four little feet on them and after awhile they get squishy and it slopes forward or back.  "I just need to replace it," I say, "Only take fifteen minutes."

"We'll stop by Lowe's after church," she said while brushing her teeth.

We get into Lowe's and walk around to the plumbing supply area and I can't find the part I want.  I start describing it to the guy (there's always 'the guy' at Lowe's) and he says, "Yeah, that's an old toilet. We'd need to order that."

Debbie pipes up and says, "Let's just get a new toilet."

Fine.

So we cruise around two aisles and pick out a new one.  On sale!

"Hey," Debbie says, "We've talked about remodeling the bathroom anyways.  I hate that shower unit."

The Old Shower

"Sure," I chime in.  "We can tile the walls, get a nice tub and new fixtures. Let's see if we can find a tub that will match the toilet."

So we walk around the corner and immediately find a great one on sale because it's a display model and they were discontinuing the model.  There were only two left and we grabbed the left hand drain one and put it on one of those big ol' trolleys, leaving the toilet on it's own little one.  Fortunately, the designs of the two looked remarkably similar so we were really pleased with our luck.

From there we hit the flooring department to look for tile, and went to the piles of them they had on clearance.  There were several different kinds and I had figured we only needed about 60 tiles.  We narrowed it down based on color wanting to keep it fairly neutral in case we decide to sell or rent the place in the future.  The tiles we settled on were only 58 cents a piece which is just ridiculously cheap, so we decided we'd bump up the design a little bit with some sort of accents.

Normally in showers where I'm doing 12 x 12 tiles I'll go about 5 feet (tiles) then rotate the tiles at 45 degrees.  Makes a nice look.  In this case we also picked up some cool glass accents that I'll use to create a 3" divide between the first 5 tiles and the angled ones at the top.  It's going to be really nice.

So we haul everything home after miraculously getting it into the Equinox I'm driving right now.  Then from there I got it all upstairs.

We decided to just set it all in the guest room because it was going to take me a bit to get all this work done since I was only going to be able to work at nights and on weekends.

Notice how that one box of tiles is opened?  Bottom right of the picture there.  Well Debbie pulled some out and carried them downstairs.  I get down there and she's laying them out on the foyer floor.

"I really hate this old slate in here."

"Only because it's hideous," I reply, "So what are you thinking?"

"How much would it cost to tile the downstairs?"

"I figure we've got just under 790 square feet down here, so not even $500!  I'll call Lowe's and see if they've got enough of those tiles left."

They did and delivered them two days later.  41 boxes of 'em.

While waiting for the tiles to get there I made some attempts to get the slate up.  No dice.  They were installed into a bed of wet cement as opposed to be glued down to a slab.  The kitchen has tile that would pop right up, but then I'd have to level that floor with the foyer.  Same was true about the ugly laminate we have in the dining and living room areas. The laminate was glued down, so it wasn't going anywhere and was a nice flat surface. I checked the bottoms of doors and measured the dishwasher and decided I could just go right over the top of everything.  Not the best way to go about things, but sometimes the most cost-effective.

From there we talked about the layout and snapped some lines to follow to ensure the pattern matched up perfectly from the foyer and around the hall and kitchen.  Then I started removing doors and hauling stuff out of the kitchen, like the big hutch full of dishes, cookbooks and glassware.

Now our house looks like Oscar Madison's place.

 

Dishes on every flat surface

 

Tools on the table and floor

 

 

 

Everything shoved out of the way for the layout work

 

Doors and tile all over

 

Well, since I didn't have any of my tile saws up here I decided to get started doing all I could without cutting anything or putting myself in a tough spot to get a tile under a door jamb when I go to put those pieces in.  I've done that before and it's a big mess and pain in the butt because those pieces have to slide under the cuts I make in the jambs so I've got to leave room to slide the tiles.  And this way I could get that critical layout work done as well as get the dishwasher out of the way.

 

I got a long way prior to going to Manteo for the weekend and coming back with a saw which I needed to use to get things finished under the dishwasher.  Once that was wrapped up and put back together I got to get all the dirty dishes out of the sink and cleaned up at last.

 

So here's where I am right now:

 

Kitchen Floor

 

Foyer Floor

 

Connecting the two in the Dining Area

 



And here's where the toilet is that started it all:

 

... sigh.

 

"It'll take about fifteen minutes."



The Best Running Plan Ever

I always have a hard time coming up for a title for each post I do.  I noticed that I used the same one, or close to the same one a few times.  Must be that my brain just gravitates to the easy stuff.  Sort of scary because it makes me wonder if I write the same stuff over and over again.  I could go back and read them, but that would take time and energy that I just can't work up.  Like Vasco da Gama said a while back, "you can't go forward if you're looking back.  Unless you have someone holding your hand, and then it is cheating."  He said that and I agree, so I will not go back and read what I wrote in the past.  So maybe I will keep using the same titles.  Who really knows?  I named this one The Best Running Plan Ever because I wanted to draw people in.  To make them want to read it.  But I really don't have much of a plan right now.  I'm not sure anymore, but I think I ran a marathon not long ago.  If I did, I am still suffering some after effects.  Sore legs, puffed up knee.  There is no bounce in my stride.  The knee is the thing that has bothered me the most, so now I have initiated a two step therapy program which is as follows.  Step One -  stop whining and bitching.  Step Two -  beat the hell out of my legs and work my knee until the pain goes away.  You know the saying, "spare the rod, spoil the child"?  Well, since it is too late to beat my kids, I am taking the rod to my body.  I have always found that my body responds to intense stuff.  I get a feel for what works and what doesn't work and I crush the hell out of what works.  Sore knees can be a result of weak quads and thighs, among other things.  Therefore, in addition to running, I am doing leg curls, leg extensions, kettlebell goblet squats and a lunge which includes clubbells.  It feels great.  Proper form for everything is the key.  Proper form for everything is the key!!!  I am also concentrating on how I walk.  I am trying to keep a steady and controlled stride when I walk, just as I do when I run.  A weakness in one area leads to a problem in another.  It often amazes me that I feel better when I run than when I walk.  I limp around a lot when I walk, but when I run things are different.  Once I warm up, things fall into place.  I am like a young, newborn horse.  All wobbly and unsure legged.  Not covered with afterbirth, though.  That is gone.  So, maybe I am like a young, two day old horse.  All wobbly and unsure legged until I run about a half mile, then like a thoroughbred, I am.  Not a thoroughbred that races at the Kentucky Derby, but maybe one people take their kids to see and feed a carrot.  At any rate, I feel better when I am running, so I feel that if I really concentrate on how I walk it can only help.  The leg exercises are hard.  I do at least a hundred reps of all of them per day.  My legs are sore, but the knee feels better.  This will effect my running for a little while because my legs are pretty sore, but in the past when I have done this sort of thing, I have found that at some point I just feel incredible.  I don't recommend this for everyone.  I am fairly anti-doctor, so this self therapy and self-diagnosis works for me, but some may be uncomfortable with it or hurt themselves worse.  I have totally come to the conclusion that I will never be totally pain free and if I wait for the time I may be pain free, I will be dead.  I prefer running while I am alive.  Things seems to just be more vibrant and enjoyable when I am alive.  So, I will take the pain and the ability to do what I can do, the best that I can do it.  I know there are many others that feel this way, and I have seen it work.  Be smart, listen to our bodies...but not too much.  I am looking to pull this together by the Turkey Trot 5k the Saturday after Thanksgiving where I hope to get a pr.  Like Vasco da Gama said, "proper form is the key to everything."