The Fruits of Cabin Fever

I'm not sure what has gotten into me. It's partially the fact that my mom is here, so I can get more done. It's partially that Chuck got a job, so I feel like we have a bit of breathing room. It's partially that we've all been cooped up inside because Minnesota Winter has set in.

I have gone crazy at the gym. My friend keeps signing up for races, and the competitive part of me really envies that. My body is worn from playing so many years of basketball and soccer, so I can't really run on pavement anymore for any decent distance. When she signed up for the Twin City Ten Mile back in October, I vowed I was going to do 10 on the elliptical too. Not the same thing as carrying your own weight on the streets of Minneapolis, I know, but it was a goal. I began working out at the gym in late August and was tired after 20 minutes on the elliptical. Five weeks later I got up to an hour and a half and reached my goal.

But back to this weekend - the same friend signed up for a 5k on Thanksgiving too so that day I wanted to push myself. I ran 6 miles. Yesterday I biked another 6 and lifted, and today I ran about 3.5 and played basketball. Extra babysitter = longer workouts = happier Jamie.

I also went ballistic on the house. I thought I just wanted to get a new toilet seat. I did that, installed it, and cleaned the bathroom. Then I washed my hands and got annoyed that the sink wasn't draining properly, so I removed the pipes under the sink and cleaned them out. (Sometimes I think I'm a plumber at heart. I actually fixed the hotel toilet on one of my college visits with my mom.)

My big plan this weekend, though, was to clean the big room in the basement and make a playroom for the boys. Eventually we'll refinish the entire basement and make it look purdy, but for now we just needed to clean it. And remove the weird, huge, Timberlodge-style bar glued to the floor down there. That thing has bugged me since we moved in.

It's gone now, thanks to Chuck. Jack helped me sort through toys - throwing broken ones away, keeping ones he wanted, and donating ones that we don't need anymore. The ratio of kept vs donated is not quite what I was hoping for, but it was a start. Jack was SO pleased to be helping. We have a lot more work to do down there but pretty soon our kids and all the neighborhood kids can be playing ping-pong or pool down there, having dance parties and watching movies. And the adults can be sitting upstairs watching football and drinking beer. My plan is coming together....