Posts Tagged ‘House’

This weekend, Jared and I started to tackle the retaining wall.  It is a five-foot by 16 foot wall in our back yard which has failed due to (1) a tree growing right next to it and (2) initial installation was not done properly.

 

 

Saturday we spent the day taking apart the wall, block for block.  We got about mid-way when we noticed a huge tree root.  We paused for about an hour to go to Lowe’s to get the following supplies to help us out…

 

We also had the following to help with the job: wheelbarrow, shovel, and lots of sweat.  Jared picked at the root until it was split.  That didn’t necessarily mean it was going to come out, but the “root” was about 50 pounds. 

The root itself was half the battle.  Once we got that out, we had to get the stump out.  My “little axe” did a good job of clearing the rocks out.  Oh the rocks!  There are so many rocks.  Not retaining wall rocks either, just rocks!

By mid-day two, after clearing all of the earth (Jared kept making fund of me because I was calling it earth instead of dirt) we were able to start uncovering the remaining 15% of wall stone (different from actual stone) but not without a fight.  There is earth dirt everywhere!  After shoveling wheelbarrow loads full of earth, we were finally back down to the ground and attempting to move the final stones.  Or so we thought…  The one thing the former builder did right was make a sub-base where you lay the first stones a few inches under the freeze point for stability.  Unfortunately for us that meant more digging….

 

You can sort of see in this picture the wall stones are nicely stacked, but the random rocks are thrown into a big pile near the right hand of the shed,  Oh, this isn’t all the stone, either.  This is only half.  The other half can be found under the deck (which is where I took the picture).

Sunday was a good day to get everything organized.  We had pulled tons of stone out and we regrouped.  Next is digging the trench.  In fact, we are thinking of throwing a retaining wall party to recruit some help . 

 

Suffice to say our pale skin is sunburnt.  In fact, we are burnt, sore (those rocks are heavy), but feeling accomplished.  This is a pretty ambitious undertaking, but it is going pretty well.  In fact, we have sweat equity to show for it…

(1) Tree Removal: $45 (two axes) vs. $Hundreds of Dollars

(2)  Tearing down wall:  $0 (time) vs. $Cost of Backhoe

We will also get a “nearly free” patio out of this project as we were both thinking how to use all of those pesky rocks.  We are thinking of making it into a patio and building a fire pit!  One thing at a time, though!

Last week was a bad week..  You can tell by my half-hearted attempts at blogging.  Furthermore, the politics of my job got a little crazy.  That’s all I am going to say.  It was rough, mentally, last week.  That being known, I still managed some good runs.

I think my new mantra is “make it yours”.  It seems to make sense for my life on a few levels…

Anyways..

This week, I was hoping for “peace and serenity”.  Little did I know that if I wanted a beverage out of the fridge, I would only have to walk to the dining room to get it.  I have been living off of microwaved burritos and cheese cubes all week.  Don’t get me wrong, they are perfect “late night meeting” dinners, but I have an entire bag of broccoli I want to roast!!

 

 

That being known, no work was done on the floor Monday night.  I had a Council meeting so I didn’t get home until 9:00 PM.  Tuesday night Jared and I started on the grouting of the kitchen floor.  Grout smells like raw fish.  So naturally, I helped a bit, got grossed out (and frustrated) and Jared finished the floor alone.  I feel bad, but I think its allowing him to be very proud of his work.

 

We still technically aren’t allowed on the floor.  The grout needs to set for 48 hours.  We then need to put some sort of “top coat” on the grout to ensure it is water tight.  There is still a “film” of grout on the tiles that picks up our sneaky footprints.  Oops!

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Learning to take your blessings (runs) as they come

I am one of those people that wears their heart on their sleeve.  I do everything with conviction and dedication.  I am one of those people that think your job should be connected to who you are.  I am one of those crazy people.  Short of making this ultra fabulous blog my full time job, I could not imagine my life without running (crazy) and working in a community like I do.  When I was in grad school, I interned in my “home town” (which, for people outside of the Burgh, all of these little municipalities have much identity).  With my current job, though I don’t live there, I feel deeply connected to it, its people, the culture, and the future it can hold.

I’ll stop myself before the rant begins.

I just have had some really good, hard runs lately.  Running at 5:30 am is truly a blessing in disguise.  While there are times I want more balance (good runs at 7:00 am instead of speedy runs at 5:30 am), I realize the past few months of this crazy work schedule have really paid off.  I have been able to strike my balance successfully. 

I am excited to plan groundbreakings in the Borough, work on planning around development, all of those good things.  I am excited to get faster running, and now spring fever is hitting me, I can’t wait to plan my next half marathon.

As always, I do the exercises in parts.  I do one set of each exercise in the “Part” and then repeat three times.

Enjoy!

 

Part 1: Rows and Extensions

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When you come bring your arm to the position shown, squeeze.  I used a 20 pound dumbbell and did 15 reps

 

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I didn’t use the stability ball for my back extensions, instead I used the back extension machine.  Simply put, do back extensions, but when you rise up, do a fly (pictured) with two 5lb dumbbells.  You will feel it!

 

Part 2: Fixed Pull

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I then did three sets of 15 underhand fixed pulls.  This was similar to my last back routine, only I didn’t alternate hands and held at a reverse grip.  If you go to a gym, your gym should have this specific machine.  I believe the weight was set at 40.  I can’t remember

 

Part 3: Vertical Row

 

The third (and for the most part, final) set was the vertical row.  This is the same exercise I did last time, and it is still very challenging.  I had it set on 70 pounds and thought my arms were going to explode.  I finished it out but it was the first time I really connected my breathing with my lifting.  Usually I don’t have to think about breathing (it adjusts itself when I run), but wow—purposeful breaths make a world of difference!

Part 4: Seated Cable Crossover

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Finally, and this set is entirely optional, I did a seated cable cross-over with the weight set to “ultraleight” aka 10lbs and did as many crossovers as I could handle.  Probably around 25-30.  The picture above is of the same machine, only the attachment Mr. Muscle has is a V-Bar.  I didn’t use a V-Bar.

 

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The kitchen still isn’t done.  In fact, we just grouted last night.  Well, I helped only a little bit .  Now, we can’t enter the kitchen until Thursday!

 

I will be so happy when it’s all complete!!

Hi everyone…

First off, sorry I have been MIA lately.  Though, I promise I am following along with your blogs!

 

Friday night was spent tearing up our existing linoleum kitchen floor.  We were going to be installing tile with the help of Jared’s father.  Little did I know that we’d spend Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and probably Tuesday and Wednesday with the house in complete turmoil.  All Jared kept saying was “DIY Network lies”.  I’d have to agree.  Though uncomplicated, laying tile is very tedious.

 

This is what we keep looking at.  The ‘fridge and stove are now in the dining room.  The stove can’t be used and having the fridge in the dining room is awkward.

The kitchen is an absolute war zone.  The tile hadn’t been laid as of Saturday night which started to concern me, and the countertops were cluttered with dishes and tools.  We had to eat, but there was no where to put the dishes!

 

See?  No stove.

 

All day Sunday was spent mixing mud, laying tile, cutting tile, but I must say, the efforts paid off.  Though, I admit, I only helped 50% of the time.  I took a “break” to run to the Laundromat because our dryer is on the fritz, again.

 

Here’s the bad news:  the floor isn’t done.  We still have to grout and then cure the grout.  Here’s more bad news: I have to work late tonight (Monday) so I won’t be home to help with the grout.  So our goal is to finish this by Wednesday, to have the kitchen back together by Wednesday.  I am thinking more like Friday… or Saturday!

Jared and I needed a nice Couples Day this Valentines Day.  We spent the day doing things a little differently than normal…

We started off by exercising together…  We headed to my gym where they let him with my guest pass.  He belongs to Gold’s Gym downtown, but froze his membership due to his schedule.  It was fun to lift weights with him and we did a total body circuit. 

We then did a running interval on the treadmill:

• 1 minute at 7.5 mph
• 1 minute at 5.8 mph / incline 5%
• 1 minute at 6.0 mph

 

Afterwards, we headed to Janoski’s for breakfast per his request.  No pictures, but it was delicious!

Then we got into the third part of couples day: homemade art work.

Semi-inspired by Joe and Betsy, I thought it would be fun to create a piece of artwork together.  The house desperately needs some art work so what better way to add some color than to do it ourselves?  I wasn’t sure what Jared’s reaction would be but he was totally into it!

 

 

We set off on a mission.  Since we are certainly no artists, abstract was the way to go .  As cheated a bit and traced the design onto the canvases.  The design basically split between the two and we were both responsible for one side.

 

We both got really into it. Each shape had a particular color assigned to it.  Jared picked the colors and I picked the shape they were assigned to.  I was very particular about my edges, making sure each shape was sharply defined.

Our end result is neat.  We used primary colors with a dark background.  For not being artists, I’d say we did really well. 

 

Our final activity of the day was to eat dinner together.  Not that this doesn’t happen often, but you know what I mean.

I made salad with spinach, tomato, and pepperocinis.  I also made angel hair pasta with shrimp, broccoli, and asparagus spears.  

The pasta was super-easy.  I used Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta (high fiber but still “white” for Jared) , fresh asparagus, broccoli florets, and shrimp.  I lightly sauteed the veggie and shrimp in garlic and garlic olive oil from Market District.

 

Dinner was really good.  I love shrimp with fresh veggies. 

 

And no V-Day would be complete without dessert of some kind…

 

Brownies!  These were seriously so easy to make.  Butter, sugar, cocoa, loads of walnuts.  I didn’t add extra chocolate to the mix because I didn’t have any any I wanted to try them in their true form.  My only complaint?  I prefer whole walnuts instead of broken-up pieces…  That was still my error though!

 

Hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day!