March 1, 2012

Home improvements

I expected to be really sore this morning from my race last night, but I actually felt pretty decent. Which was good, because I told Jessica I'd meet her at 8:05 at the the State Park for a 6-mile run.

I told her we'd have to go nice and easy, because I had raced just 13 hours prior. It was kind of misty out--not raining, but I still felt like I was getting wet, if that makes sense. And the path was flooded in a few spots, so we had to run through the muddy grass.

We were going pretty slow, but my legs felt tired and I don't think I could have gone much faster if I tried. It was a nice run though, and I am glad to have it done. Tomorrow I have 3 miles, and then I get Saturday and Sunday off. I love my rest days! ;)
After our run, I went home and showered, then Jerry and I went shopping for our carpet and refrigerator. We finally got our tax return, and while I would love to put it toward our debt, we are in desperate need of new carpet and a refrigerator.

I already wrote about our carpet--it's nine years old and has been through hell with our kids and pets over the years. We needed new carpet about five years ago, but we've been dealing with it.

Our refrigerator has been leaking for about a year. We had it fixed once, but it's been leaking again, and it's driving us crazy. We keep finding pools of water on the floor and on the bottom of the refrigerator. So it is time for a new one.

We went to Lowe's first, and we got the rest of the blinds for our house, and we looked at carpet. The carpet is going to be more expensive than I thought, so we won't be able to do the bedrooms yet. We need 650 square feet, and the cheapest carpet is $2/sq. foot. Of course the stuff I liked was more like $5/sq. foot! I was starving for lunch by this point, and I am really bitchy when I'm hungry, so I just said forget it and we left.

We never go out to eat, but we decided to go to lunch at a Coney Island. My stomach was aching--I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my life! I ordered a patty melt, Jerry ordered a coney dog, and we shared an order of chili cheese fries. Greasy food, but much tastier than fast food like McDonald's or something. I ate way too fast, but I couldn't help it.

After that, I was easier to shop with ;)  We went to Home Depot and looked at refrigerators. We found one that we both liked, and we ended up ordering it in white (rather than the stainless steel). They are actually coming out to deliver it tomorrow morning. I wish I could be excited, but I hate spending money on boring stuff like a refrigerator!

We also made an appointment with Lowe's for someone to come out and measure, so they are coming tomorrow afternoon. It looks like I'll be home all day tomorrow between the refrigerator delivery and the carpet people coming to measure.



We're watching my brother's dog Bailey again over night. Estelle was so funny when she walked out into the living room and saw Bailey:
I've never actually seen her puff up like that before. She was completely frozen in place--I kept calling her name, but she looked like a puffy statue. Even when I picked her up, she was as stiff as a board.



I got my official race results from last night:
Chip time: 35:15  (8:49/mi pace)
Overall place:  149/394
Age group: 8/33

Eh, not too bad!





19 comments:

  1. Awesome job on that race!! Also...love that you got out again today and ran far after you raced. That takes a lot of motivation!

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  2. Not too bad? I think it's pretty damn good! Go you!

    I don't like spending money on necessities, either. I would much rather spend money on running clothes or good books or a new outfit or going out to eat with friends than on appliances. I am spending most of my income tax return getting my house painted (outside, so it's not even like it's super fun colors on the inside). But the house is 10 years old and the woman who lived there before me didn't really take care of it, so the outside desperately needs to be painted. So boring paint, here I come!

    Rest days are awesome. I look forward to them every week, but not gonna lie, I find myself kind of wishing I could be running on a rest day. I think it's kind of that 'always want what we don't have' syndrome!

    Amanda

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  3. Last time we bought new carpet were able to buy some that had been installed through Lowes into another house. For whatever reason the people had them take it back out days later. Lowes sold it to us for cheap (it was nice stainmaster carpet) and we only had to pay 39 to have them install it. It was enough for four bedrooms. Maybe you can see if they have had any returns?

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  4. Great job on your race! That's such an impressive pace!!

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  5. Wow! Estelles's huge- Bailey must be shaking in his boots! ;)

    We'll be taking our tax return and replacing a car, and it's usually whatever we can afford, so not always our first (or second or third) choice when it comes to "style" or "design." Dream car? A Chrysler 300. It'll be a classic car by the time we can afford one.

    Congratulations on your race results! You beat 75% of the women in your age bracket!!!!

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  6. I'm in the process of replacing the blinds in our bedrooms and kitchen too. There are just so many choices. We also need new carpet for our living room, but I think it will have to wait a little bit longer. We usually shop for remanant pieces of carpet as they are so much cheaper. The only problem is sometimes you have to shop around awhile to find a remanant the size needed. I actually do like picking out and buying new appliances. Our refrigerator did the same thing (leaking on the floor), and we bought a new one about 3 years ago or so. I really like our new one.

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  7. Four years is a long time to wait for new carpet! Wait any longer and you'll be walking on boards!

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  8. I'm excited to see your new carpeting. I bet it will feel really nice once you have it all installed and everything! You did so great at your race!!

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  9. I really want hard wood..I wonder how crazy expensive that is ;)

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    1. Very expensive but you can get laminate (that looks like hardwood) for much cheaper (my husband works part-time at Home Depot hence this (useless) knowledge)!

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  10. Um, try that's flippin' awesome! I almost choked on my water when I saw the cat pic. That's hilarious!!

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  11. Hey, thanks sooooo much for the "walk a half marathon" website!! I'm already hiking at a fast pace for 60 min, six days a week so I think the Emperor's Challenge is totally doable by August... thanks so much for the encouragement!

    Shelley

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  12. Wow, Congrats on your 8th place. That's amazing! Yeah, it's not fun to spend money on necessities. I think our tax refund will be going to pay doctors and dentists. SIGH! Enjoy your new carpet and fridge!

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  13. I feel the same way about spending money on "not fun things". Hate it! Back when I had a car, I hated getting gas or an oil change, haha! I'd rather be buying clothes! But it's great you are getting all that stuff taken care of. I get super attitudey when I'm hungry too. Sometimes a girl's just gotta eat!! And looks like you did great at the race! I am running one called Run for Hops in Kona Hawaii on the 10th. I just switched from the 5k to the 10k last night. Eek! Hope I can keep up!!

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  14. Good job on your race Katie!!!!!! I hope you enjoy your new refrigerator and carpet!!!:-)

    ~Laura

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  15. Love Estelle! My cat does that all the time. My fiance "taught" her to do it as a game when she was just a kitten, so she does it when we play with her.

    Enjoy the new fridge and carpet!

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  16. Awesome job on the race!
    I totally hear you on spending money on not fun things. Blah. We still haven't decided on how we're going to spend our tax return-would love to put most of it in the bank, but we have debt, too, so it will most likely go toward that. That's no fun to me either (though I totally want to be rid of the debt!) It's a vicious cycle. ;)
    I am also no fun to shop with when I am hungry...and would be no fun to shop with at Lowe's or the like at any time! Hate places like that. But I agree with you on the greasy food thing-if you're going to eat it once in awhile, make sure it's "good" (enjoyable) rather than fast food crap!

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  17. Me and the hubby always have something come up that we need to spend our tax money on. This year it's strictly for paying debt. However we always do allow ourselves to buy 1 thing each that we have been eyeing with the refund. Nothing expensive, but just something to keep us from going insane for receiving that amount of money and having to give the lump sum right away..

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