Top 50%

I figure since 50% of the weekends out there are below average, it's worth mentioning that I had an above average weekend. Nothing overly great, but not too shabby either. Friday night was sorta sucky, had to run a bunch of errands and didn't make it to a party to see an out of town friend. I was shutting down fast too.... it was a long week last week and even on good weeks I am ready for bed around 9pm on Fridays. Jenn had other plans so I managed to get home and squeeze in a movie that I know she didn't want to watch, "Casino Royale." It too was above average.

Saturday, had our last long training run before the Pig, www.flyingpigmarathon.com, but it wasn't really that long. 8 miles. Can't believe I can say that now.... "oh, we're just running 8 miles." That is nuts!!! Anyway, after the run, several of us drove the entire course so we would know what to expect. Very helpful as there were parts that I didn't run during the training. I am very happy that we concentrated our training on the hardest parts, the Gilbert Ave Hill, and hilly Hyde Park. Not intimidating at all now. I'm extremely stoked and can't wait for Sunday now. Never thought I would be saying that either. I figured I would be dreading it at this point. Now, I've actually had thoughts of "Which marathon am I going to run next?" We'll see how I feel after Sunday. :-).

Saturday afternoon ended up waiting outside a cabinet supplier's showroom to firm up our cabinet quote for about an hour which sucked because they never showed. Still not sure what is up with that. However, did make it to our second supplier and talked through some of our updates. Plus, I think we changed our preference on style slightly during the course of sititng in the parking lot waiting so that was progress. Now if only the quote will come down 20% magically.

Then, Saturday night hit one of the funner things in Cincinnati. The Wainscott Crawfish Boil. Jenn works with Chrissy and it's become a yearly event. If you haven't been to one before here's the short version... They have 150 pounds of live crawfish shipped from Louisiana, they throw a bunch of cajun spice, potatoes, sausage, mushrooms, citrus fruit, in a HUGE boiling kettle and then dump the crawfish in. When they're cooked, they dump them on a table and everyone digs in. You basically break off the tail and then pick the meat out. Sounds gross, but pretty yummy and very fun.

Sunday, more kitchen stuff.... framing is officially done and plumbing has started. I'm just trying to lay it out now and will hopefully have a pro come over and check my design. Also got rid of our old range which is awesome. It was taking up so much space and it was impossible to walk through the kitchen/dining room. Unfortunately, we'll probably be getting the new appliances within a month and they will be sitting all over the house. Once I get the plumbing done though I think I'll start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything after that is something I have done or at least have some experience with... flooring, sink installation. Plus, it gets more fun once you get the "guts" done. Routing a stack vent blows compared to installing cool wall tile or a pendant light.

I guess we all sell out eventually.

Had one of the best weekends I have had in awhile which is surprsing considering the atrocious weather. Went to LaRosa's on Friday night to carb load on some spaghetti. Ran in a somewhat official 20 mile training run on Saturday morning in the cold and rain. Most of the organized teams got together to sponsor the run. Went pretty well despite the weather and thankfully that is as far as we go until the marathon in 3 weeks. Then, my fam - minus Evan, came to town. After a short visit at our house we headed to the Newport Aquarium. I haven't been there in awhile and although it was really crowded, it was great. They've crammed quite a good display there and the shark rays are pretty cool.

Then, the highlight of the weekend was going to Maggiano's in Kenwood. Most people know that I tend to avoid chain restaurants. Not because I hate them but more because there are plenty of great non-chain options in this town. However, I love the family style at Maggiano's and with the babies I thought they would be a little more accomodating than a smaller non-chain place.

They exceeded my expectations. It might have possibly been because all I ate on Saturday was a banana, a half bagel, and a couple of taquitos, (don't forget, 20 mile run) but WOW!!! they have just amazing food and with the family style they just keep it coming.... $25/person for a 5 course meal of varied selections. My mom actually said "I think it might have been the best meal I have ever had." I tend to agree with her but I think the enjoyment of a meal is more related to the friends/family you have around you than the food itself.

This will be a boring one

I don't feel like working yet today so I'm just going to blog first and then get my day rolling. As you guessed, even though it was Easter weekend, my weekend consisted of running, and working on the kitchen/bath. Many minor frustrations rippled through the work which was mainly putting up the wall framing. The most frustating part was a couple of supply lines I had to cap off in order to fit one of the walls in place. I was denying the need to do it as I will be completely replacing those lines in a couple weeks but unfortunately we couldn't move forward until they were below floor level.... Although a seemingly easy task (I have soldered copper pipe many times) it required significant ceiling demo in the garage (needed regardless for future work) and for whatever reason one line would just not quit dripping. I actually thought I was done, came back the next morning, it was still dripping, After about 14 tries, no exageration, I just quit and put a bucket under it. BTW, Jenn if you are reading this, go down to the garage and empty the white trash can that is sitting on the ladder. It is probably about half full by now.

Another somewhat significant frustration came to me last night when I decided to mark the floor drain for the bathtub, yup, right in the middle of the steel joist. In fact, it's not quite in the middle, it is just off of center but the wrong way so I'll have to move the even more wall. I knew this was a possibility but it basically landed in the exact worst location. The good news, the bathroom will be a little bigger, the bad news, I have to move the wall out and the dining room will be a little smaller.

Luckily these minor frustrations do not affect the overall timeline but the next couple months are riddled with known delays, marathon, family visits, vacation. Plus, one significant issue is my plumbing buddy may not be available to help me the weekend I want to start which would not only set me back one week, but the following weekend is the marathon so I can't really start then, so I just lost two weeks. suck.

Sorry to whine. I'll be better next time. Time to work.