Blustery Day

It's a bit blustery out there today. I'm sitting in the sun room, watching the snow fly across the fields, and the branches fall out of the trees. I can't tell if it's actually snowing or if the snow is just blowing around.

It's been a pretty good day. Red Fox and I decided that the sewing room walls didn't need a third coat, so I peeled the tape off and started moving in. Here's the before photo:

 

I don't know who chose that green, but man was it uuuuggglllllyyy. Not only was it ugly, it was a mess. Whoever painted didn't tape anything off, so there are green smudges on the curtain rod brackets, the trim along the ceiling, AND the baseboards are also painted green.

 

Here are a few after photos.

 

 

I love love love the purple. I like the yellow, too, but not as much as the purple. I have a few things to hang on the walls, and I still need to get my computer from the office in NS, but it's almost finished! I need a bookcase (I'm sure there's one kicking around this old house that I can use) and curtains.

 

The sewing room will be finished when we get the rest of our things from NS. We have to touch up the white in both rooms too.

 

I also put away a few things in Little Fox's room today. I moved a tall bookshelf into his room so he has somewhere to put his toys, games and books since there isn't a closet in his room. I'm a little anxious about the shelf, and I won't be ok with Little Fox using it until Red Fox attaches it to the wall somehow. It's quite tall and leans forward a bit.

 

Tomorrow is race day! Should be interesting with all the snow we are getting today. Hopefully the wind dies down.

 

I think I found a running group! I've been googling like mad trying to find someone to run with in this area. There's a group of ladies who run in Ktown, so I'm getting some info now! Yay!



One More

We left home this morning at about 10:30-ish and went into Charlottetown. Got a few things at Home Depot, visited some friends, and then picked up my race kit at the Running Room. I love the jacket I got... it fits really well. We got home at about 4 and after a quick supper I went upstairs to paint some more.

I finished the second coat of the yellow paint in my sewing room. I was hoping that's all it would need, but it will need a 3rd. I want to be rid of any trace of that ugly green! I hurt my back when I caught my balance after almost falling off of the little step stool thing... Obviously, I take after my father. No, wait... if I did take after dad, I would have hurt my back by actually falling.

Pictures

Dad's pancakes.

Little Fox and Molly in the fort.

Little Fox and his snowman.

(My first question when seeing it was "are his eyes made of dog poop?" Apparently, they are rocks.)

And then there were 3

My family left today at lunch time, so now it's just me, Red Fox and Little Fox. And Molly of course, who is currently destroying a tennis ball.

We had a great visit. Little Fox was so happy to have his grandparents here. Everyone stayed for 2 nights because of a snowstorm. Little Fox, Nan, Grampy Scott and GrandDad all went out to play in the snow this morning and made a snowman on the porch. Photos to come... when I get around to getting them off the camera. GrandDad made his famous pancakes (which are so delicious because they are basically deep fried).

It was really nice to have my parents talking nicely, laughing about when they were kids and when Dad played hockey.

Over the last 2 days, Little Fox was entertained enough to allow me and Red Fox to paint the room that will become by home office and sewing/craft room. I'm really excited, it looks great so far! I can't wait to get it all finished.

We're supposed to be getting another snowstorm the day before the Res. Run. I might have to run in my boots!

No Pain!

I went for a short run this morning. Shorter than I'd hoped cause I had to pee. (I stopped to pee at the gas station before starting my run, but their toilet looked clogged and I didn't want to chance it). And it was freaking cold. A few positive things though...
1. No pain in my foot! I ran in my old junky sneakers... for 2 reasons. First because I wanted to see if my foot would bother me, and second because I thought I left my new sneaks in NS. So, I think I'll do the Resolution Run in my old sneaks.
2. There are km postings on the Trail.
3. I downloaded a radio app on my phone so I have some unfamiliar tunes to listen to.
4. My new ear buds are perfect and don't hurt my ears like my old ones did.
5. The ponytail hat that Blaine gave me was cozy, but it's a little big. I think I'll be able to take it in a bit to make it fit better.

Anyone out there know how to turn up the volume of the "alarm" for the Running Room app run-walk intervals?

After my run, I unpacked a box and found my fleece running pants (and my new sneaks). Pretty happy that I'll have warm pants to wear for the RR cause I was chilly this morning!

My dad is visiting today, and I think Little Fox has him worn out. Little Fox didn't stop all day, and I can't believe Dad was keeping up. They played Connect 4 Launchers, built a fort with the fort kit, played lego, played with the etch-a-sketch, and we went grocery shopping... I bet Dad will need a pain pill for his back tonight!

Merry Christmas!

Remember when I said that Christmas Eve is my favorite day? This year was the exception. I didn't sleep well the night before because I kept dreaming that I was ringing jingle bells outside of Little Fox's window. I was just grumpy in general. 

 

All day, I was cold. Around 3 in the afternoon, I checked the thermostat, and it was 4 decgrees colder than it should have been. You know what that means... yep... ran out of oil. On Christmas Eve. We called the oil company, and I got a lecture from the oil man. I mean, I understand that we were basically ruining his day... but I didn't need a lecture. I felt bad enough about it, and I was grateful that he would come out to deliver the oil. Anyway, since then, I've thanked God every time the furnace comes on.

 

So after I finally warmed up enough to take my hands out of my pockets, I poured a glass of wine and tried to shake my grumpy mood. Little Fox took a phone call from Santa, which completely blew his little mind. We had pancakes, bacon and peaches for supper... a special request from Little Fox. After that, we read the Nativity story, sang some songs, and hung out by the tree. At bed time, we read The Night Before Christmas, hung the Santa Key on the door knob, and left some cookies, milk and a carrot on the table for Santa and Rudolph. It took Little Fox about 3 seconds to fall asleep and then the flurry of Santa activity commenced. 

 

I'm worse than a kid at Christmas. Well, I'm way better than I was when I WAS a kid... at least I don't puke while opening presents any more. I was awake last night about 4 times, and then at about 5am, I just gave up trying to sleep and read until Little Fox jumped into bed with me, saying that he had to hurry so that Santa didn't see that he was out of bed.



 

We got Red Fox up and we headed downstairs to the tree. Little Fox had a great time, and was actually very patient, and excited about the gifts that everyone got. Little Fox got lots of books, games, and a Gameboy. 

 

(Gameboy Timeout)

 

Red Fox was quite happy with all his gifts, including the claymore sword I gave him. :)  (I'm all out of super-amazing Christmas gift ideas for Red Fox... not sure how I'm going to top it next year!)

 

And I was very pleased with the paint that Red Fox gave me for my office/sewing room, a ponytail running hat, and some new ear buds to use for running. AND... mom gave us a Kitchenaid mixer (yay!).

 

We had a small Christmas Dinner. You can tell by my plate that I'm just here for the stuffing. Also, it really sucks when you're all ready to make the gravy, and realize that you have no flour or corn starch. 

After dinner, we played a game of  Trouble, and then I put together the 250 piece k'nex Angry Birds game. Little Fox loves it, but finds it hard to launch the bird. We'll have to Tim-Taylor the slingshot.



Almost Christmas

 

This is our first Christmas in the Big House. Honestly, it seems like it's kind of an after thought this year. We've been packing, moving, putting away and just getting used to living here. I didn't even do any baking! I decorated back in November just because I figured it was easier to do it then than it would be to put the boxes away only to pull them out 2 weeks later. And up until now, I've only been here on the weekends. We're just winging it for now, and will tweak it next year.

 

We got our trees last week. Little Fox got his own special little tree that we put at the top of the stairs. We decorated it with red ornaments and some dinky cars. He had a great time, other than dropping and breaking one ornament.

 

 

 

But when we decorated the family tree, Red Fox dropped and broke one too, and Little Fox felt MUCH better then. My favorite part of the Christmas season is reading a book by the light of the tree. 

 

Today, it snowed. A little bit. Enough to make the ground white and to make me feel a little more Christmas-y. So I made some hot chocolate for Little Fox and I, and we sat at the counter and read some Christmas books. 

Our dog Molly LOVES the snow. I took her out to play for a few minutes to help get her in the spirit too.  

Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, is my favorite.

Introduction

I have a few New Years Resolutions. One is to run a few 10k races this year. The second is to maintain a record of our lives at our new home here in French River, Prince Edward Island.

So, here begins the blog. It will hopefully tell the story of the Carr's of Foxfield, as well as keeping me honest and motivated with running.

Lets start by introducing the family.

I'm a 30-year-old wife and mother, and my day job is as a marine geologist. I like to read (historical fiction is my go-to genre right now), and I'm trying to like running. I can sew, cook and bake, however I'm not as creative or motivated as I want to be. I'm a Bluenoser living on the Red Island.

My husband (Red Fox) is... we'll say "older than me", and is a great dad to our son. He's trained as an electronics tech, but has a lot of experience doing a lot of things. He also likes reading, however hasn't read much lately.

Our son, Little Fox, is 4. He's talkative, friendly and adaptable. He likes when we read to him, and he loves playing Angry Birds and Bad Piggies on our phones. He has a very expressive face, and I love watching his little expressions when he talks, thinks and plays. He likes to play cars/trucks, and his Cars 2 game on the xbox.

Now for the Foxfield story.

In May of 2012, Red Fox and I purchased an old home and 4 vacation cottages on a beautiful property in PEI.

We spent the summer of 2012 traveling back and forth between our home in Nova Scotia, and the "big house" in PEI. We decided that we wanted to live in the Big House, so late in 2012, I spoke with my boss about continuing to work for the company, but working from home in PEI. He agreed, and I will start that arrangement in January. Meanwhile, Red Fox has been doing a lot of work to the Big House in order to make it comfortably livable. A lot of work remains, but it's coming along.

As for running... In August (I think), I started a Learn-to-Run class. We started with 1 minute intervals of running and walking, and by the end of the summer, we had worked our way up to what was essentially 5k. I signed up for the 5k race at the PEI Marathon, and finished with a time of 30:32.

I've done 2 other un-timed fun-runs since then. I love the races, but find the training/practice runs difficult. Not physically difficult... mentally. The next 5k race is the Resolution Run on New Years Eve... I haven't run since the Santa Shuffle on Dec 1st...

I've been having some trouble with my foot since starting to run, and will be getting orthotics at some point. In the mean time, I'll have to deal with a sore foot during and after runs.

So... in order to reach my 10k goal I think I'll have to register for a 10k race to get my butt in gear. I'll also have to figure out some way of dealing with my foot... hopefully I can get the orthotics sooner rather than later. Thirdly, and to me, most importantly, I have to find something to keep me entertained while running. I'm not sure why, but music doesn't do it for me. Maybe an audiobook. I'm also hoping to try the 10 and 1 minute intervals using the Running Room app on my phone. I want to enjoy running.