Not Back At It…today anyway

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Here I sit on a lovely April Saturday morning, all be it, the temperature is still unseasonably cold here, even for Minnesota, but it is Saturday morning, a race morning and I am sitting out.

Thursday I rode 10 miles on the bike and did Kettlebells, I felt a little off when I was doing kettlebells and the stretch hurt a little at the end in my lower back, and I realized I hurt myself. I think I strained it and jsut tweaked something and have hobble around for 2 days, slept on a heating pack and walked yesterday. I tried to run, but it hurt.

Now I am 100% Pro activity in any form, but if you are a runner, you can totally understand that going for a walk, cannot be compared to going for a run.

TOday was supposed to be my first race this calendar year, so I am calling it the season, which usually includes a race most Saturday morning through October when I consider serious racing and training done after I run the Mankato Marathon.

SO I am really sad to be sitting out the local Fetzer 20K that is going on right now.

My back is feeling better so I am hoping to get in at least some biking today and maybe start running again on Monday.

Next week is my duathalon and all 6 of us are signed up for the color run.

Exercise Room

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Still working on organizing the house, from my New Years resolution.

This pace used to be our office, we had 2 desks on each end, after the kids went to be Jon worked on his homework and I worked on Ebay/blogging.

Jon recently bought a laptop and can work wherever he likes and I have moved my office into the unfinished, large, laundry/craft room. I just have so much inventory it was not enough space and kept spilling into the living room.

Here is a picture from our living room:

Notice the exercise area behind the futon? Well it is gone! During my Fab Five February I sold the futon and the recumbent bike!!

This living room downstairs, serves as the TV room, a playroom, you can see the dress up on the middle left side of the picture, and until recently a workout room.

This space needed less responsibility!

So we moved all exercise related items into the old office and viola! No more exercising in the living room. (living room pic still to come)

Some before and after shots of the new workout room:

Notice there are glass french doors so I can close them if I need/want to.

Before. After

Before After

Before. After

Before. After…my 7 mile run at night…hence the lighting.

I still have a few things that I would like to do in this room:

Add some audio/visual maybe take down one shelf dn add a small TV, definitely something for music.
Take out the wireless modem..move it into the office.
Add some inspirational sayings? Wall art?
Relable the Ikea bins, since those no longer house shopping bags and mittens/hats 😉

It feels so good to have a clean space to exercise inside, so I can run while the littles nap, and since spring has yet to get here, I may need this space for a while.

We do have a gym membership to a fantastic club in town, but it is nice to have this option. In about 3 years will all 4 of our kids are in school full day I will probably sell the treadmill and run at the club or outside. AS an avid runner this is still a vital piece of “home decor” for me.

New Wood Flooring Has Been Ordered

Posted by Patchwork Reality

It has taken quite a bit orf researching and information gathering as most well thought out projects do, and I am happy to say that we have chosen and ordered hardwood floors for the upstairs living space as of 2 hours ago!!

Ok so here is a before picture:

The carpet looks fine in the picture, but it does not look great up close, it is 6 years old and was very inexpensive carpet to begin with, and it no longer looks nice.

What you cannot see in this picture is that the carpet in the living room buts up to red oak hardwood flooring in the kitchen/dining room. When we built this house the orignal plan was for hardwood throughout the main floor, but I asked to have carpet in this living room area. We had just sold a house that was all hardwood flooring, which we loved, but is hard when you have littles, I wanted an area where I could plop them down with some toys that would be soft landing.

Now that everyone has graduated from toddler-hood, the carpet has done is job and is ready to retire.

Here is what we purchased:

It is an unfinished red oak “select” meaning it has no knots or imperfections, which is what is already in the house size 3 1/4 X 3/4 inch.

We purchased the flooring from Lumber Liquidators, we looked at HOme depot, they did not have it available in unfinished, we also tried to buy from a local small town restoration business but after a week of waiting for a return call, and our tax return money just sitting there in the bank;), we decided on Lumber liquidators.

We have to wait 7-10 days for the flooring to get to our store, then we need to let is “rest” in our house for 7-10 days, 2 weeks being ideal.

Then we can install, sand and clear coat.

We are really excited and I will keep you in the loop for each step! We are pretty seasoned DIY’er our last house we had to refinish the floors, but we have never actually installed them so this will be new for us.

“Room” for Improvement.

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Previously I shared Avalon’s room, you can see it here.

It seems no small task to get their rooms tidy enough to take photos to share, but I am sharing Santanna’s room because it needs to be redone read, paint, and decor.

By far it is the hardest to get her to keep her room organized, it seems like every time we “deep clean” it and I give her bins and tips, and take more out, it just ends up haphazard all over again. Cool with me if she can find things…but thats not the case.

Anway…here is her room AS IS:

Walking in we have a coat hook, I think this might have to go, it feels like a catchall and clutters the entrance?

Looking in from the hallway, can you see that we have started to patch holes in preparation for fresh paint, probably evident in every picture;)…oh and there’s Farley..he loves Santanna!

Curtains need to go/change, I painted her name in one color than was going to change it to match the Circo Love and Nature bedding, which will probably stay, but never finished…add that to the l ist.

Bed side table….less stuff, or maybe one on each side, for books and alarm clock, lamp?

These shelves used to be over a bookshelf, and now just look out-of-place, I think they need to move to a more thoughtful/purposeful place.

Here is what houses almost all her books and toys, it was 2 bookshelves ( that we built) and repurposed into a cubby system. Notice those green woven bins from Target again that I used in the pantry …man I might have bought them all from our store.

I would love to see a cushion on part of this?? She likes to set up her toys and play n it, so maybe just 1/2 for a cozy reading spot.

View of her bed sitting on the cubby system with my back to the window, you can see the heavy blanket peeking out from under her bedding, it gets COLD here, layers are cozy!! She needs a headboard or bed frame of some sort.

Recap of to do list for this room

Paint
Move coat hook
Paint her letters or remove
Bedside table…add another/declutter
purposeful shelving and wall decor
Headboard/footboard, bed frame
Cushion on cubby system

Spring Break….Last Day

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Well that FLEW by!!

Not even sure that much more happened from day 4 to today, just living, breathing and eating.

I was a little bummed at the prospect of just hanging by “our dish” and not traveling for spring break, I really love an adventure, I even considered packing up the kids and the tent and driving south until it was warm enough to set up camp for the week. However, we all had a great week, there was loads of down time, games, puzzles, a few playdates, and today even warmed up to the middle 4o’s.

I went to pick up 2 kids from my mom’s house in Lake City and we went for a walk and got pizza to eat in the park…yes if you live in MN a pizza picnic in the park is totally acceptable once the thermometer passes 40.

Lake City boat docks, not sure when they will get the boats in, but I bet it won’t be long!

Papa Tronnios pizza, if you ever venture to this side of Lake Pepin, get you some of this pizza!! It is awesome! We also noticed that Rabbits Bakery does a wood fire pizza night the first Sunday of every month, which we will be enjoying in May, I will post details then.

Swinging after devouring some za!.

I just love all of our time together, it can be a lot to organize and the house gets messy, not everyone’s hair is always smooth and pretty, but man we have fun together, and that is what is important!

Hope everyone had a great 2013 spring break.

Now that the weather is nice I am going to be posting more home and wood projects, it is just to hard to get to them in the winter without proper ventilation. Can’t waist for you all to see them!

Spring Break day 4…..No joke

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Man I wished I would have pulled off some amazingly witty and creative April Fools Day pranks on some unsuspecting kids or husband that I know and love.

Truth is I didn’t.

However all 4 kids actively helped out cleaning our 3 bathrooms, and they are shiny and clean. Give a kid some water and soap and once all the excess water dries up, there is not a dirty spot in the place.

I did pull off making dinner for everyone, look who showed up:

This little kitty cat who daintily ate her meal:

A 2 horned super girl, she mostly snarled and ate:

This girl time traveled from the disco era to join us:

Then there was this guy….and he’s no joke:

Anybody pull off any great pranks???

Also Happy 3rd Birthday to Farley, wasn’t he cute? He now weight 135 pounds, one of these days I will tell you all his story, but for now…..Awwwww! Look at how cute he was!!!:

Easter…Spring Break Day 3

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Here are the eggs we worked on so hard for no more than 29 minutes on Spring Break day one…. it is amazing how fast these soak up color and how quickly little hands can work.

You can see evidence that some egg “dyers” were more gentle than others….

The Easter Bunny came and hid 6 candy filled eggs for each child around the living room, dining room and kitchen. He left some small trinket toys, and books in the girls baskets and Solomon got an all in one tool, everyone was really happy. It is so fun to see children bubbling over with excitement and zest for life!

Each holiday I try to capture all of the kids in a fairly coordinated picture, feel free to view the Christmas Card photo outtakes post from last year. The outfits today were a little more casual (sidenote: Solomon added the velvet blazer and top hat on his own…since he could dress himself he has loved blazers and being fancy) since we were having brunch at my aunt’s house, nothing fancy since she always has some painting crafts for them:

Loud and Proud:

Bunny Ears in your face:

And one with Farley:

After brunch at home Solomon, Jon and I played a game of scrabble and we all just lazed around, it was perfect, the kids played and giggled and Jon and I laid down, digested brunch and listened to our happy family.

Jon and I tucked the kids in and finished our taxes…whew!!! That is a relief to check off the list, especially owing a business, seems to take a lot more number crunching.

That big lug of a dog turns 3 tomorrow, think we should cook him something special?? Anyone have any good doggy reicpes??

Spring Break …2013…Day Two

Posted by Patchwork Reality

All three girls (yes they are feeling better, must have been a 24 hour bug, thank goodness!) have dance this morning so Jon is taking them, they are missing out on the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt in the park which they participated in last year and had a lot of fun.

However, the weather is dreary and their dance recital is in 5 weeks so I think they need the practice…I am sure they bunny will bring eggs filled with candy tomorrow so even though they are bummed, I have zero momma guilt!

Speaking of dreary weather, I am scheduled for an 11 mile training run today, how crazy does that sound, 11 miles of practice! It was warmed up here and I was realllllly hoping to take it outside, but windy rain does not sound like awesome running weather , just for practice.

Change in plans, I did an hour kettlebell work out instead, since Jon keeps telling me how much nicer tomorrow is going to be, and to be honest I have been training so hard, it is nice to have a break when we are all home together.

Jon and the kids went outside to clear the downspout for the sump pump after lunch, all of a sudden I hear ” oh my gosh!!!” “ewwwwww” “no way that just came out of there” so of course I grabbed my camera and here is what came out…..

Warning it is a little icky.

We think this is the vole that was running a muck through our garden last year, not sure how he lost his head….poor guy, but of course the kids were fascinated. Ahhh nature, never a dull moment.

On a lighter note, we ventured out early in the evening with my Aunt and saw the movie “The Croods”,:

I have to say I was hesitant, after watching a trailer for this movie. Jon and I do not go on movie dates, at home or to the theater so most of my recently watched movies ARE kid movies and The Croods was better than I expected, we all enjoyed it, this movie gives a clear and important message to live life and not hide in fear. Instead of fearing the unknown explore life, travel, try new things and LIVE….what better message is there than that. And on a side note, lets say I was a young animated girl, this “Guy” would be my heart-throb:

I know that is not weird at all…thank you. And tonight I am considering movie popcorn and the fresh strawberries I smuggled in (yes, I am that mom….shhhh please don’t tell, they sell nothing that comes from nature at the theater) a well-rounded dinner.

Everyone went to bed REALLY excited to see what the bunny has for them in the morning!

Spring Break….Day one

Posted by Patchwork Reality

5:43 AM….I hear a whimpering, Jon goes in to check on Santanna, she has thrown up all over 😦

6:03 Jon left for work Tanna is tucked in and has a “bowl”

6:40 I hear someone crying, I go into Avalon’s room…she is also throwing up.

Ahhh yeah, Spring break, Bring. It. On.!!!

The older kids had a blast the rest of the morning setting up a sick hospital upstairs, complete with patient cards with their diagnosis. I just love seeing them care for each other when they are not feeling well.

We still managed to dye eggs, most of us anyway.

Yes at our house we use our hands 🙂

Both hands.

And sometimes skewers?!

The 2 big kids and I went to the gym and the played while I ran 3 miles and bikes 10. Still going strong on my training plans for my 1/2 Marathon in May and my Dualathon in April.

Then we went to the Public Library and stocked up for the rest of vacation. We listen to LOTS of books on cassette tape, I mean to the point that is Jim Dale came and ate supper at our house, the kids might not even notice, his voice is just like the paint on the walls.

This is just a small sample of the 36 library books/stories we checked out. The rest are already being poured over in other spaces.

We has spaghetti for supper that was lip smacking delish!!

Every Friday night we have a “Friday night movie” Original name I know. Jon and I are not strict about many things but screen time, or audio-visual time as we call it, is one thing that we really limit. They get one hour a day and most days it just doesn’t fit into the schedule. So each Friday night we kick off the weekend with a big bowl of hot buttery popcorn and a movie of one persons choosing. We rotate through all 4 kids, we get a lot of repeat Pocahontas, Homeward Bound and Disney’s Hercules.

Tonight was Solomon’s choice and he chose Goonies….Love this choice!!!!

I did forget that there are some “scary” moments, dead guy in the freezer with ice cream??!! and a few bleep words, mostly the S— word but overall what a fun adventure movie for kids to watch!

HEEEEYYY YOU GUUUUUUUUYYYS!! Have a Happy Spring Break everyone!!

Happy Spring???

Posted by Patchwork Reality

Dear Spring-

I know we had fun when we were together, I am sorry I left you behind for summer, but she was fun. She made my skin glow; she didn’t mind if I only wore a swim suit all day under shorts and a tank, she warmed me up when your showers ended.

Summer, she left on a whimsy, then it got cold, winter came he was dark and cold, had that bad boy feel, I am known to like, I chased that bad boy down some hills, but he is still dark and stormy, and refuses to leave.

Please can we give it another chance? Winter doesn’t bring me flowers like you do, doesn’t make me feel hopeful.

I need that spring.

Please come back.

I am buried in snow with more in sight?!?!?

All my love

Sarah

Avalon get the news that preschool is cancelled AGAIN:

All out angst at the idea of not going to activities again…get it all out girl!

Mind you this time last year it was in the 80’s….!!

Patchwork Reality

Making it through life one piece at a time

Author: Patchwork Reality

Not Back At It…today anyway

Exercise Room

New Wood Flooring Has Been Ordered

“Room” for Improvement.

Spring Break….Last Day

Spring Break day 4…..No joke

Easter…Spring Break Day 3

Spring Break …2013…Day Two

Spring Break….Day one

Happy Spring???