I got an extra day off this weekend for the Columbus Day holiday! Thanks for showing up here in 1492 Mr. Columbus! Much appreciated.
I started my bonus day off of work with a low key morning, involving coffee and pancakes. Then I finished up some laundry and oversaw Barry’s work on a project in our master bathroom (more on that in a minute). Around noon I settled in to finally watch Les Miserables, which had come in the mail via Netflix.
I would say Hank and Scout watched it with me, but they actually slept the entire movie. We took them with us on errands yesterday, and it totally wore them out. First we spent about 3 hours at a friend’s house, where we were dropping off some chicken litter for their garden. We hung out for awhile and took the dogs for a walk around their 5 acre property. That was enough to wear Hank and Scout out, but we still had two more errands to run. From our friends house, we headed over to Tractor Supply to pick up some chicken feed. Then we went to Home Depot to shop for bathroom vanities. Scout actually laid down on the floor in Home Depot and went to sleep while I shopped. Hank, on the other hand, made friends with nearly everyone in the store. He’s such a people dog.
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| Hank |
We did find a bathroom vanity (this is leading towards Barry’s project), counter top, and faucet and we loaded up the truck and headed home where Hank and Scout crashed. It will probably take them a week to recover.
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| Scout |
This morning Barry got to work replacing our master bathroom vanity. Earlier this week I received a text message with the following picture from him:
This came with the message “so I was thinking we could get you a new sink and counter for your bath.” I guess so, since the old one is gone! It was a really nice surprise, and we had been wanting to replace the master bath vanity. The reason there’s carpeting is because the vanity part is in the bedroom (partitioned from the actual master bedroom area) and the toilet and tub/shower are in an enclosed tiled bathroom area. So that’s why we went shopping for a new vanity, and Barry had a project to do this morning.
He got most of it done this morning before heading to work, and then finished the rest this evening. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I think it looks much better than the older vanity that was there. I would tell you all about the process of installing a new vanity, but that’s not really my style. And by that I mean I really didn’t have much to do with it, so I don’t know what the steps are. I do know that I never want to install a faucet again.
The before (we replaced the mirror and light fixture when we moved in):
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| Photo taken when we first toured the house. |
The after:
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| That blue tub/shower and matching toilet are next to go. |
I don’t know why the wood looks like it has spots on it, because it doesn’t. We have a few finishing touches to do, like putting the baseboards back on. I am also planning on changing the hardware on the drawers and cabinet to silver, to tie in with the faucet and hand towel racks.
Since this is a primarily running blog, I should probably also tell you about my mid-afternoon run. Since I had the day off, I used the extra time to head up to Radford for a 6 mile run. I started out in Bisset Park, but headed through a tunnel to Wildwood Park to explore some new trails.
The trail was a standard, paved trail through the woods. Unfortunately, there ended up only being about 2 miles of trails in Wildwood Park, so I finished my run at Bisset Park.
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| Headed back into Bisset Park under the train tracks. |
I did see a bunch of hiking trails that branched off of the paved trail in Wildwood Park. Those may be fun to explore in the future. I will definitely wait until the after the marathon, though. I have a hard enough time running on paved and crushed gravel trails without rolling my ankles. We don’t need to add roots, rocks, and uneven footing to the mix.
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| One of the trails that branches off. They turned into dirt trails once you got up the steep part. |
My legs felt a bit tired today, but overall pretty good. Barry had reminded me not to get discouraged if my shorter runs were tough this week and to remember that I was coming off of a 44 mile week (the most I’ve ever run in a week). I’ve got a few spots in the upper parts of my quads that are particularly bothersome, but not to the point that it hurt to run. Oh and tonight’s sunset was really pretty.
That is all. Congrats if you made it through this entire post. It probably should have been broken up into two or three posts.
Did you have the day off of work/school for Columbus Day? If so, what did you do on your extra day off?
Have you seen Les Miserables? What did you think?
I was a bit disappointed. Honestly, I got a bit bored during it. Oh, well…
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Turkey Runner 
Those trails are so pretty! The off-road one looks fun, too. That is my favorite type of running! LOVE your new vanity! Yay for a handy hubby who can do that stuff for you. Love the pics of the dogs as always! :)Haven’t seen Les Mes but maybe I will…maybe not…LOL
I’m looking forward to exploring those dirt trails in the future!
Your entire post cracks me up, starting with the introduction line and ending with “That is all.” What a nice guy Barry is to decide to go ahead and get you a new vanity. I’m slightly confused about why/how it disappeared, though I imagine he has something to do with it :)Your new running trails look great! I am all about exploring new parks and trails but usually it is a daunting task. What if they are not acceptable to my (very high?) standards and then I went out of my way to go there and I wasted a day. Sidenote: I was hiking yesterday and nearly tripped and squished my left little toe. Almost kissed my marathon dreams this weekend good-bye (not at all dramatic). But I survived after shaking it off in two steps.
I’m glad it cracked you up! It was meant to 🙂 Oh, the old vanity disappeared because Barry took it upon himself to take it out while I was at work and then send me a picture of the empty space that was left! Quite the surprise message to receive while at work, haha. But it was a happy one, like I said. Reply to your sidenote: I’m glad you were able to shake off your squished toe and your marathon dream is still alive! I was walking in the backyard yesterday and thought I was stepping on solid ground, but my foot actually went down close to ten inches into a hole one of the dogs had dug. It was concealed by the grass. It rolled my ankle a bit and jarred me, and scared the heck out of me. But I was fine, nothing even hurt after. I hope there are no more incidents like that between now and race day for either of us!
Had the day off but didn’t do too much. Went for a walk around Burke Lake (4 mile mixed use and mixed surface). Nice landscape but it had a few muddy spots.Les Miz? Nope. No plans to either. It’s a guy thing.Nice job on the vanity. It looks good in there.As for Hank and Scout, puppies always make me jealous. That is the sleep of innocence. Not a care in the world. I imagine if I could sleep like that I would only need a few hours a night.LUD.
I miss going to Burke Lake, although I don’t think Hank does. Remember that day we walked him all the way around and he acted like he was going to pass out? I wish I could sleep the way the dogs do. They sleep so soundly!
No Columbus Day in Singapore, but Tuesday was a holiday here. Although the trade-off for a really flexible, do-it-yourself schedule is…no actual “off” days. But KMN worked from home, and I took some extra gym classes, so it was sort of special anyway!The best part of the improvement is the faucet. I really do not like those pseudo-cut-crystal things, at all. Congrats. And Barry rocks – both for the vanity replacement, AND for reminding you that this week may be a tough one. Sounds like he’s a pretty good coach. Has he done this before? 🙂
Glad you Tuesday holiday turned out sort of special, despite the fact that you work from home! I’m glad you like the faucet 🙂 I couldn’t stand the old one. I was excited to find a new faucet that would match the hand towel hooks we already had on the walls (that were given to us as a wedding gift, oddly enough). Barry has been amazing throughout my training, always level headed when I freak out about something. He hasn’t coached before, as far as I know, but he has been through two marathons personally. So he knows exactly what I’m going through and when to caution and/or warn me.
The vanity looks fantastic. We have a sink in our bedroom also… but there is one in the bathroom, too. We haven’t figured it out :)What a beautiful trail… I’m so glad Barry’s reminding you that recovering isn’t always easy. Awesome job on that 44 mile week.
Thanks! I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Ha that’s an interesting set up for your bedroom. I wonder why they built it that way?
The sheet or comforter that Scout is laying on on the sofa is the same as I had Joseph’s room decorated with when he was in high school! I think he took it off to school with him. Too funny!I love your new vanity, and I love that Hank and Scout went into Home Depot shopping with you!
Too funny that it’s the same sheet! It’s Barry’s from his bachelor days. We still use the matching comforter on our bed (it’s our “light” comforter for the warmer months of the year) but we don’t really use the sheets except to protect our couch. It was so fun taking Hank and Scout to Home Depot. I’m going to start taking them on more errands when I’m going to dog-friendly places.