My First Full Triathlon

I did it! I finished the YMCA member incentive triathlon. A month long triathlon and I signed up for full distances (popularly known as an ironman distance). 

And to top that off, I made the top ten list!

As I walked in the gym today it was right there on the desk for EVERYONE to see. After my workout I snapped a picture and when I was posting it to my Instagram I noticed another familiar name! (He did Olympic distance).

We are awersome.. And just so yall know, I think it IS in a particular order.

BTW

GoodLooking and I have been working on going to bed by 10 pm and waking up at 6. Why? Because an apostle of the lord says we should. So far it's been almost 2 weeks and we are getting close. I got in bed on time and woke up at 6:02 this morning. We read scriptures prayed and I read my scriptures. I was planning to run after all that but all that took too long so I got the kids up and cuddled them for 15 minutes before taking jack to work and going to the gym for spin class. 

I am seeing small benefits from heeding the words but more on that later as we fine tune the heeding.

Last Week

WOW last week was crazy! I think this will be a good time to review what a normal week is and include last weeks craziness. 

MONDAY normally get up, take jack to work about 8 am. Come home, breakfast, change clothes, gym. I normally do "piloxing" at 10 but I needed some bike miles for the member incentive which was a triathlon (I chose to do the full distance and needed some catchup) So I did RPM (spinning) at 8:30. Then home and kids play, lunch, naps. Play, get dad, dinner, kids FHE, adult FHE. Bed. 

TUESDAY I don't have a car so we chill at home all day. Last week we had a friend come over in the morning and that is great because it gives the kids people to play with other than me... I just can't play ALL day. GoodLooking comes home at 6 and we eat then he goes to play basketball. I put kids to bed between 7 and 7:30. 

WEDNESDAY normally take GoodLooking to work then eat, change, gym for cardio power which is an awesome class with the step and weights. Then home lunch naps. Last week I had a doctors appointment at 9:15 but I stressed it and accidentally showed up at 8:15. Luckily they took me in at 8:45. Then we changed and went to the gym. As part of the triathlon (GoodLooking says it "the Y tri") I am doing the rowing machine (because I have a tube in my ear I choose not to swim) and it is awesome, if you want a full body workout, just row for 10 minutes. After naps, play, clean, get dad, dinner, play, bed. 

THURSDAY oh Thursday was fun. Normally dad to work around 8. Home, eat, change, gym, play, lunch, naps. I had an appointment at 7:30 for the allergist (because I'm allergic and have been to the clinic, ENT, and regular doctor for sinus pressure and infection and upper respiratory infection and general fatigue and not feeling good). I got the initial test done. It feels like a stiff bristled brush getting pushed into your skin. Uncomfortable. 

The pricks look like this

Two things with 10 groups of needles. 

(No food allergies)

Those ones closer to the camera are local trees and grass (spring, summer, fall, winter on the left as he explained it... On the right is grass and more trees. The test was 15 minutes) then..

That one closer to my wrist that swelled is cats.

She measured and took a picture.

It was obviously determined that I'm very allergic to the area and we talked options like avoidance which would be staying inside year round in a house with NO cats... EVER. Medication which I'm already doing (3 medications: Zyrtec, decongestant, and dymista which is a nasal spray that makes me want to throw up)). These are expensive, around $50 a MONTH. So we talked immunotherapy. This is like a flu shot in that they inject me with what I'm allergic to and my body builds " immunity" to it. Shots are once a week for about 2 years. I knew I was interested so the lady comes in with 70 more pricks. 

Those ones on the upper inner arm were more than uncomfortable.

This last one is later in the day once it had swelled into one large itchy warm red mess.

A few hours later we went to the gym, lunch, then naps. Then we got to pick up dad early.

FRIDAY was an off day for GoodLooking so we all went to the gym, home to change, then we went to Costco for stuff and lunch. Home for naps and play. 

Basically everyday we take GoodLooking to work, home for breakfast and change then we go to the gym. Home for lunch, play, and naps. Then play and get dad. 

P.s. My arms still itch occasionally but are no longer red and only slightly swollen. 

Oh and we did this Wednesday evening before getting dad.

My Hutch

A few years ago and while we were living in Lufkin, my parents brought me a China hutch. It belonged to my dads parents and I'm sure he grew up with it and has fond memories with it. It had long been used as school room storage and had many bumps and other marks of family use and age. We had it in our dining room in Lufkin as dish, tablecloth, card game and random papers storage. 

When we bought our current home we knew exactly where to put it. 

We don't have a dining room like we did in Lufkin which is just fine since that square footage is put to better use in this house. We put the hutch in that open walkway as you enter the house. I knew I wanted my Fiestaware to go in it but I needed it to be more exciting and fresh.

So we painted it! 

Only the parts that sanding is obviously done, it hadn't been touched. You can see how best up and in need of love it was. 

Once all the sanding was done, I wanted to keep some natural wood so we stained the main flat part very dark... Black. 

I though coral would be a good color at first so the Fiestaware would stand out but it was too light and too pink. We're going for a statement piece here so we took an orange fiesta plate to Home Depot and color matched it. 

In the beginning we were discussing what to do about hardware and ideas like new hardware, spray painting the original gold, and sanding down the original till it was shiny brass came up but it was never finalized. When it came down to it, the original without doing anything to it was best. 

My parents just left yesterday after being here for a week and I think they liked it... As much as a person could like something that they love be finished in a way they don't love by someone they do love. 

I think the thing that matters is that I love it. It's in my house and I'm using it and I love it. It's beautiful and I put a lot of work into it. 

In other news, Little Brother is close to walking... But not walking.

Honey jumped in the pool without holding anyone's hand.

GoodLooking has a beard.

I have a tube in my ear and am doing allergy testing on Thursday. 

Honey's Room

We finally finished Honeys room and the quilt I made finally came to me. 

Here is the semi-before photo. The wall has a coat of white on it in this photo. 

How I figured out the tape

It was fun to do and makes me happy when I walk in there.

And finished. It took a week to paint casually as I had time and happy kids. 

I made the quilt and it took six months.

The animal had is paper mâché from hobby lobby spray painted.

Frames from goodwill spray painted the same color as the head.

Rug from ikea. 

Our House

We signed and closed on our house on April 30th. That night we slept on air mattresses in the house. It was actually great. The next morning all our stuff came! 

That's not even all of it. After they unloaded these crates they had to drive 2 hours, pick up 2 more crates, drive the 2 hours again and spend another hour unloading them. 

Then my new washer and dryer were coming so we worked and worked into the night to turn this

Into this

It's such a pretty room and my new machines are so awesome! My old machines we SMALL. They worked great for 2 people but with 4 people not so great. I was doing like 10 loads a week and the dryer took at least an hour to dry. These machines enable me to only do 3 or 4 loads a week and the dryer only takes about 35 minutes. 

I LOVE them!