Papa and Gram's Room

I’m getting the itch to do some redecorating…or at least some rearranging.  I’ve said before how I usually thinking of fall and the start of school as more of New Year time of year than the actual New Year.  I think it’s also the cool temperature we've had over the past two days that are getting me motivated (in thought at least).

My target is going to be our “bonus room”.  One of the things that we like about our house when we bought is that the bonus room is actually an integrated part of the house rather than a room that was slapped up on top of the garage.  It’s a good size too and gets lots of light.  When we first moved in it was our TV room and Ted’s unofficial “man cave”.  Nine years (and two kids) later it is now our office/guest room.  Since our parents are the most frequent guests, the kids have officially dubbed it “Papa and Gram’s Room”.  When the Papas and Grams aren't staying there it becomes our office/laundry room/I don’t know where to put this so I’ll put it in there room.  Last year I decided that instead of trying to share a desk and computer time with a chronic gamer I needed my own space and bought in a small folding table to set up my laptop and scrapbooking supplies.  Since both of the kids play with the kitchen set and Katherine is not fond of having Teddy in her room, I moved it in there in hopes that it would get more play time.  See what I mean?  It’s time to get in there a change things up a bit.

This will definitely be a minor renovation primarily because I like the paint color that is in there.   That is a fancy way of saying I am not THAT motivated to get out the paint brush and all of the bedding coordinates with that paint color.  I am not interested in purchasing all new bedding right now.  SO, what’s my plan you ask?

• Move the kitchen set out.  Unfortunately that was not a good spot to entice the kids to play with it.  What is a good spot?  In our kitchen.  There are many times where I’m loathing having so many toys out everywhere but I also realize, out of sight, out of mind in terms of those toys getting played with by the kids.  So in the spirit of “you only have little kids once”, I moved the little stove, fridge and pantry down to our kitchen.  It’s already a hit.


• Rearrange the furniture.  We've had the same arrangement since we moved the guest bed in there.  While it worked at the time with addition of a second “desk”, things look kind of strange in the current arrangement.  So I’m thinking of moving the bed to the opposite wall, moving my desk in front of the front window…and then…I’m still thinking about it but we definitely need a new layout.  Of course a new furniture layout means some of the pictures will probably get rearranged as well…


• New curtains.  Time for the current ones to go.  Nuff said.


• New desks.  While the folding table is functional, it’s kind of, well, ugly.  Does not do much for the ambiance in there. And I’m using the big wicker chair which is not supportive to getting some work done.   Ted’s desk if falling apart…literally.  We know that one day the bottom is just going to cave in on itself.  This may take a while, we've actually been looking for new desks for a while and not found anything that we’re enthralled with, either because of looks or because of size.


• A headboard.  Somehow we never got around to buying a headboard or foot board or anything for that bed.  So it’s just a mattress set on a frame.  I've started scouring craigslist to see if I can find something.  A few contenders, lots of options.  But let me say this…some people sure have awful taste when it comes to furniture.  There were a few posts I opened and thought good luck with getting rid of that.  Then again, they bought it so someone else probably will too.

To get things rolling, here are some before picks.  I had already moved two of the three pieces of the kitchen set out but you can see what the place normally looks like on non guest weeks.  I’ll post pics along the way because I’m thinking this will be done incrementally rather than all at once.

The Smells of Running

We'll take a brief break here from the normal updates on our coming and goings.  Although, I should mention that I finally finished sorting all of the pictures on our computer by year and month.  Moment of silence here to honor this momentous occasion (cause it was a task, let me tell you).  OK.....thank you.  Yes there are pictures from June and now July to file and an update to write on our awesome ten year anniversary trip to the mountains but that's current times, not pictures from up to three years ago that were still hanging around in random folders.

Running...it's smelly.  I know that doesn't surprise you.  But I'm not talking about the obvious odors that arise, shall we say, from such a sweaty activity.  Actually, and I know this is TMI, you really don't get a whiff of those until you finish your run. Thank goodness. While you are running, you're smelling the wonders of the world that is all around you.  Not all smells are pleasant either.  But if you are like me a simple sniff can immediately transport me to another time and place. I'm not sure we think about smells this way but it's true.  And a long run is the perfect opportunity to do some daydreaming...or reminiscing.  So what do I smell?  And where do they take me?  (OK, for those of you with little kids, immediate reference to Frannie's Feet..."Where will my feet take me today?"  Seems appropriate.)

• Asphalt, we'll start with the obvious one here.  Normally, you don't smell the asphalt but occasionally if I'm running on newly paving roads and especially if it's warm and sunny, the asphalt smell floats up.
• Fertilizer.  I've mentioned in a previous post that my grandparents were faithful Chem-lawn customers back in the day.  Therefore there was always the distinct smell of fertilizer (and driveway sealer...that too) whenever you got out of the car at there house.  That's not the only memory I have around lawn care smells.  I worked at a lawn and garden center in high school, back in the day when I thought I was going to be a botanist or horticulturalist when I grew up (No joke...freshmen biology and chemistry took care of that dream).  Lest you think I was tending to the plants, not so fast.  I worked the cash register, which placed right next to it was the fertilizer and manure.  I think it was placed there because it was an easy sell as people were wheeling through their annuals and perennials (and we sold a ton of it) but MY GOD did it stink.  Let me also say that there was NO AIR CONDITIONING and half the building was a greenhouse (What was I thinking?  Clearly my sister, who spent a summer making ice cream sundaes in a nice, air conditioned Friendly's was the smarter one here).  After a while you tuned out the smell, although every person that came in did ask..."how can you put up with that?"
• Fresh cut grass.  I'm not sure there's any specific memories here but if its spring or fall when I smell it, I always think of warm summer days.
• Mucky, swampy water.  Not pleasant but thankfully brief as I run by the dam at Bunn Lake.  However, I always think of driving to the beach.  You that point when you're almost there and you have to drive through the marsh beforehand?  This may be a Cape Cod thing but I think even in NC you can smell that just before you reach the Outer Banks.
• Hay, a barn smell.  Hands down, the Big E every time (for those of you not in the know, that's the New England state fair, which happens ever year right next to my hometown).  I spent A LOT of time there growing up, working our church's restaurant, marching in parades in high school, etc...  What trip to the fair would be complete without a tour through the animal barns pet some sheep?
• Rain evaporating from the road.  Yes this has a distinct smell.  I've run a few times after storms and this smell along with the fresh breeze is always wonderful.
• Smoke, like someone is burning leaves.  Although people do this all during the year, I always associate it with fall.  Makes me think of late October, Halloween time.  Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and all that.
• Charcoal...heaven forbid this smell happens in the second half of a long run.  Cause then it's just plain cruel.  I spend the next five minutes trying to guess what exactly they a barbecuing, or more importantly what I WOULD BBQ if that grill was mine).
• Wood...construction.  Their starting to building again in our area.  One thing I thing of here is Ted's apartment when he lived down near Fort Bragg.  It was a new complex and they were still building when moved out so the whole time he lived there the smell of fresh wood was constant.
• Moth balls.  There is the house that I run by that the owner put moth balls down around the mailbox. Instantly I am upstairs at my grandma's house.
• Pine trees.  Either Christmas trees or Cape Cod.  The place where we camped was in the woods with tons of pine trees (and skunks).
• Dryer sheets.  We don't personally use fabric softener or dryer sheets thanks to both Teddy's and my sensitive skin but I still love the smell of fresh laundry.
• Lilac.  This is by far my favorite floral smell.  Growing up there were lilac trees (or are they bushes?) in the neighborhood and there was always that one week in the spring when they would all bloom.  I don't know if it's lilac I'm smelling during spring runs but I hope it is.
• Sweet floral smell.  I'm just assuming any other floral smell that wafts past my nose this time of year is not lilac.  Could be honeysuckle.  It really doesn't matter, it smells great.
• I don't know the source of this one but...and go with me here...every time I smell it I swear it smells EXACTLY like the bathrooms in the Parish Center at church growing up. Like the cleaner they used, a GOOD bathroom smell. I know, crazy that I would make this association but seriously it does.  I am reminded of coffee and donuts after mass on Sundays. How we had to hurry up and get over there because there were only so many chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles on them.  How the parents would just let the kids loose to run around while they sat and talked.  Good times.

All of these smells are brief, just a second or two in the wind as I breeze by.  But paying attention to the smells is fun and helps my mind to wander as the miles go by.  Part of running for me is a chance to get away for some time to myself and (as crazy as this sounds) relax in a way.  This sniffing and mind wandering clears my brain.  I swear tonight I smelled someone frying potatoes.  Must have been the heat...

Wrightsville Beach 2013

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since our annual family beach trip.  This year's trip was great, I think the kids enjoyed the beach much more this time around...at least they seemed to play in the sand longer without the immediate "let's go to the pool".  Teddy took a few diggers in the waves but that's to be expected, right?  In fact, on our second morning Katherine asked if we could stay an extra day.  Unfortunately we had to head home right after breakfast to get ready to get back into the grind.  Ted and I are contemplating a day trip, we're lucky that Wrightsville is only a couple of hours from home.

So what did we do?  Besides digging in the sand we took the kids to explore the Battleship North Carolina, a World War II era battleship. I was a bit nervous about this with Teddy because of all of the climbing.  He thought it was great and happily declared "I do it myself!" at each ladder, which led to one parent hovering in front of him and one hovering behind as he climbed up or down.  Katherine didn't care for the tour around the lower decks but she loved seeing how high up we could go.  All I gotta say is that I could never serve on a Navy ship, those are some tight quarters!  I can't imagine the amount of space has gotten any better in the last 70 years.

I think the highlight of the trip for the kids was the pirate tour. Yup! After a quick boat ride over to Masonboro Island, Captain Don Juan Cortez took the kids on a treasure hunt.  If you have young kids and are planning a trip to the Wilmington, NC area, I HIGHLY recommend this.  Wrightsville Beach Scenic Tours offers it.

Full album of pictures are up on the photo site (link on the sidebar).  This one may have to be on this year's Christmas Card:

I even got in a great run early Monday morning along the beach while everyone else was still tucked up in bed.  The bunny pictures you see on the album are from that run...a beach bunny!

The kids have started their summer travels, their up at Papa and Gram Coberly's for a long weekend.  After that it will be up to Massachusetts at the end of next week.  Ted and I are basking in some kid free time!

Playing in the rain

The kids had a ball last Thursday playing the rain and jumping in puddles.



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Gold Medal Day

I'm a week behind in posting this but better late than never. Katherine attended Gold Medal Day last week at gymnastics. It was a chance for the kids to show off the skills they had learned over the year. Initially I wasn't going to sign her up for it (horrible mom that I am) because Katherine seemed to be lukewarm about gymnastics, this was an extra session that you had to pay for (of course) and it was mid morning on a Saturday and I knew that meant she wouldn't want to leave the neighborhood kids to go. She caught wind of it during her last class and wasn't going to miss out on a chance to get a medal. I gave her the ultimatum that by signing her up she was going no matter what, to which she eagerly agreed, and filled out the registration form.

True to form on Saturday morning she shyly said that she didn't want to go. I told her that wasn't an option. I wanted to reinforce the point that when you say you're going to do something, you do it. It's been that way off and on all year. Plus once she's there she has a good time, which was definitely true this time.

They divided the kids up into teams and they rotated around each of the events, similar to a real gymnastics meet. Check out her floor routine:

And vault, the best one I've ever seen her do:

At the end they let the each of the kids stand on the podium for their medal:



Then they cut them loose to do what they want so that the parents could get close up pictures. I got her to do a quick pose on the bar:



Before she headed straight for her favorite thing, the rope and the pit. Check this out:

Will she continue in the fall? I don't know. She wants to attend some of the open gyms this summer and has mentioned that she'd like an earlier class time in the fall. But who knows what her answer will be in August when it's fall registration time. I'm trying not to be pushy.

North Carolina Beach Songs

All of a sudden, it seems like summer is ready to arrive.  This is the first year in a while that the cooler weather lingered a bit longer and we had an actual Spring.  Honestly, it felt wonderful even with the two weeks of constant gray skies that happened last month.  It has made us all look forward to the hot summer weather, which is not here yet but definitely on it's way.  We haven't even put the pool up yet, as only in the last week has it been anywhere near swimming weather.  Off and on rain prevented it this weekend and temps may only be in the upper 70s next weekend.  It's going up next weekend either way because it's about time and I'm concerned that if I don't get it up it will be 90 the very next weekend and I'll be drenched in sweat trying to put it together.

I'm already looking forward to our travels this summer.  We're taking the kids to the beach again for a long weekend in June.  I think this beach weekend is become a family tradition.  I've posted before about "Cape Cod Songs" from annual family camping trips "on the Cape" growing up.  I've managed to download the ones that I can remember.  I'm thinking of putting together a playlist of songs from our annual North Carolina beach trips.  Last year it was Gotye and Carly Rae Jepsen that played constantly on the radio (oh yes, we go old school and listen to the radio).  I have fond memories of Katherine belting out "Somebody that I used to know" at the top of her lungs in the car. We'll see what it is this year.

She made it to the top!

Taken at gymnastics last night.



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