50 Shades and still pregnant

I just got done reading that 50 Shades of Gray book.  My first time reading anything in the "erotica" or "romance" category.  My thoughts?  Not too bad, not too bad at all.  I will definitely be reading the next two in the series.  Wanna know how dirty it is?  Well, I'm not telling you.  I like to think that this blog is only rated R.  But if they ever made into a movie, it would be an excellent porno for women.  The problem with porn is the lack of depth or round characters (not "round" like that).  I want to know more about that pizza delivery guy.  What event in his life prompted him to not wear pants to the door?

I ran twice last week which is better than I've been doing lately.  Our group met up for a Monday margarita run in which I only get to participate in half of the events.  Booooo for no drinking!  Heartburn just rearing it's ugly head in the last couple of weeks which is neither alarming or unexpected.  This pregnancy is going exactly as the other two did.  This means that heartburn will progressively get worse until delivery, but mostly just at night. A tablespoon of baking soda in water has actually been working like a charm.  This time, however, I get to see how heartburn effects running.  On our margarita run all of my walk intervals were wrought with burping and that "I'm gonna hurl, actually it would be nice if I did hurl" feeling.  But only on the walk intervals.  Weird.  So while everyone else enjoyed the salty goodness of a cold margarita, I mixed myself up a baking soda cocktail.  It tastes like Alka-seltzer.

I'd better get back to cleaning my house and figuring out what we'll eat for lunch.  The goal every week is to stay my ass at home and not spend any money other than groceries.  So far I've done a damn fine job of this.  But then Brad gets back home on the weekends and we become very irresponsible, going out to eat, buying lots of beer (that's all on him), and what not.

Also, Brad is in Baltimore right now but won't go get me an Edgar Allan Poe souvenir.  Lame.  The ONLY cool thing about that ugly city is that a famous author is buried there.  Had I known that when I was there myself I might have a different opinion of it's "coolness".

-Hugh Jass

tin can slacker

My friend Shanon just asked me if my blog fell off the face of the earth.  I haven't been running except on our Saturday group runs which leaves me without inspiration for a running blog.  But don't think I've been sitting around on my big fat pregnant ass.  Well, maybe this week I have, but last week and the week before that I was hard at work getting our house just the way I want it.

I'm making a pallet sofa in my "tea room".  You could also call it a parlor or sitting room, but I really like tea.

This project is at a stand still for the moment.  Who knew foam was so damn expensive?!  I'm keeping my eyes pealed for free sofa's that I can swipe the cushions from and re-cover with the fabric you see in the photo.  I'll probably go ahead and buy a thin foam for the back which will just be kind of like an upholstered head board hanging on the wall behind the sofa.  Also, check out my sweet suitcases, passed down from my husband's grandfather, that I'm going to make tables and stuff out of

This big one has been the kitchen.  We started by painting the upper cabinets white and distressing them.

The uppers turned out so well, causing a surge of DIY confidence when picking the color for the base cabinets.  Most people would just go all white, but I don't like anything in my house to look like "most".  However, in this next pic you'll see how my overconfidence bit me in the ass.

I picked a super bright blue that screamed "Welcome to On The Border!"  I made an emergency call to my friend Karen who rushed right over with her nifty box of colors and picked out the grey that you see on the one corner door.  Now all the bottoms are grey and distressed and it looks really nice.  The red counter and backslash will be next to go.

Last week we didn't have our run group.  It was the first time since we started.  Dave and Marsha were out of town running the Austin 10/20 (ten miles, 20 bands), Ryan was out of town for work, Lindee's daughter had a really early soccer game, and Brad and I had to have Alaurie at the soccer field early for pictures.  Lindee, Brad and I were going to meet up at 8 and still do our run but we called it off because we were way more strapped for time than we thought.  However we did all end up running.  Lindee did an early morning run around her neighborhood, I ran part of the way to the soccer fields (and then hitched a ride when Brad came through with the kids).  Brad ran part of the way home from soccer, and of course Dave and Marsha rocked their 10/20!  Oh, and I rocked the pants off my snack day.  Organic animal crackers and juice. Damn straight.

Why does it seem like the longer I wait between blogs, the more boring they are.  My daily thoughts and rambling were always so brilliant (don't argue, they totally were).

-Hugh Jass

High Five Friday

1) Let's start this week with my teenage daughter.  Oh, except she's only 5!  It all started yesterday when she came in from playing and had, yet again, crapped her pants.  It's embarrassing to even say that this happens.  She is potty trained, has been for a long time.  But when she's outside playing, she just doesn't care to take the time to come inside.  The worst part is that she doesn't think it's a big deal.  So she got in trouble and wasn't allowed to play anymore.  This was pretty devastating to her, which tells me I picked a good punishment.  Later that day we were about to head across town to my friend Lindee's house to get some plants she had divided.  I mistakenly gave my daughter an inch and let her into the back yard while I was getting ready to leave.  She then took a mile and went across the street to her little friend's house.  After I got her, informed of how much more trouble she was in, and that now she wouldn't be playing the next day either she replied "You'll just forget, like you did today."  I had to choke down the rage that was bubbling through my body.  When we got to Lindee's my spirited child was forced to stay in the car verses getting out to play.  When I got back in the car she said "I liked it in here by myself."  I had to call my sister in law, Bitchy Runner Angie, and ask for advice on how to make a child miserable.  So last night my husband and I sat down with our demon, eh-hem, I mean our little angel, to explain what she did wrong.  And then we took away Isabella.  Isabella is the cabbage patch doll she got from my grandmother a few months ago that she takes everywhere.  We'll see how things improve and how long Isabella stays in the trash bag in the back of my kitchen cabinet.

2) Speaking of kitchen cabinets!  I've been painting ours all week.  They have turned out so much better than I was planning and I'm shocked at how easy it has been.

What they were before.  Completely unfinished  oak (?).  I actually don't know what kind of wood it is.

One section at a time.  This is as far as I got yesterday. Please distract yourself from the awful clutter on my island.

Close up of the distressing.

Basically, I've been Kiltzing and painting white with a brush that is too big for this kind of job, so it naturally doesn't get into the nooks and crannies of the molding.  Also, using the brush makes it a little bit streaky which looks nice and old.  After watching paint dry for four or five coats, the door is ready to hang.  My husband then goes over it with a rough sand paper and viola, new cabinets.  We haven't decided yet how we're going to seal it.  There are more options than I thought.  Also, this hasn't cost us a dime.  We already had Kiltz and white paint from when began remodeling 5 years ago.

3) We also got some pallets and I'm going to make a sofa.  I'll get some pics of that when it's further along.

4) I don't have a fourth item.

5) I don't have a fifth item either and I think you've done enough reading today. (My good friend Macy just informed me that it is in fact only Thursday.  Whoops.  You get your Friday awesomeness a day early.)

- Hugh Jass