Running - back at it...

Trying to get motivated...Day 1...

OK so I felt like I wasn't motivated at all so I was hoping to get inspired.  I decided to go running near my house and hoped to get 5-8 miles in.  My headphones of course stopped working as I started my run...there went my new music for motivation.  I figured at best I would get 3 miles in then.  Well much to my surprise I managed 10 miles on a pretty humid day!

Now, I don't recommend that you go from nothing to 10 miles in a day if you haven't been running for a while, but I have been 'sporadically' running/working out so I figured I should try it.  I averaged a 10:00 min/mile pace, which isn't my best, but was good considering I haven't done 10 in awhile.

Hopefully day 2 of this week goes as well as today! ;-)

Oh ya, I managed to get roped into completing a marathon at the end of the year too! eek! I guess it's time to really get my ass in gear (and motivated!) I better get some new headphones....

Motivation

Motivation...or lack thereof...

I have been far from motivated to run or exercise in general and am hoping that writing about it will help me.  I googled "how to get motivated to work out", "what to do when your stuck in a running rut", etc.  None of it seemed motivating. To be honest, it just showed me HOW unmotivated I am. I mean, I am registered for a half marathon in 3 weeks! The beginning of the summer, I was consistently working out and running. I do a combination of running and weights with some cross training.

The past month I was working less (since I work in a school), so I was hoping that the reason was because I was simply lazy.  Well ya, it definitely is because I'm lazy. I just don't want to get off my lazy ass and work out (although I love the thought of working out and how I feel after!) That initial step of turning off the TV and getting changed into running clothes has been a major challenge.

OK so back to WHY do I feel this way?  Why am I not motivated to workout?!!?

I decided to come up with a list of easy changes to hopefully help keep me motivated for more than one day!

1.  Try listening to an audiobook or new music. Maybe if I have something that I'm looking forward to reading..well listening to, I will be motivated to work out??
2.  Make short term goals WEEKLY.  Week 1 (August 31-Sept 6) is workout for at least 30 minutes 4 times.  I have Monday off for Labor Day so hopefully this will be easier??
3.  Make a running date and group class with a friend.  Friends will hold me accountable!!!


OK this should be a good start. My 4 workout days are in my calendar..Let's see if this works! Maybe if I can follow my weekly goals for a certain number of weeks, I can treat myself to something (new shoes, massage, running clothes?!) Yesss I am ALL about tangible positive reinforcers!!!!!

What motivates you to work out? Are you a morning or night person to work out? I would love to hear for any of your ideas!

Bathroom Finale!

Since we were replacing the vanity, we needed to put in a new floor since the flooring wasn't under the vanity.  I went back and forth of what I wanted since we had linoleum before. It wasn't that I didn't like our flooring before, but since I had to change it, I didn't know if I can find something I liked more.

I didn't like any of the linoleum they had at the store and since I was renovating the bathroom by myself, there was no way I was able to cut and put in tile, nor do I have the right tools.

Another choice I had was the self-adhesive vinyl squares.  I HATE them, but the ones that I did like (12"x24" tiles) were (of course!) not available in stores and I didn't have time to order online.  So while searching for vinyl tile squares that I "sort of" liked (30 minutes of walking in the SAME aisle was torture!), I realized I can grout tile!!! Yay!! I really wanted to do a happy dance in the store but I didn't think it was appropriate haha.  So I found tile that was a lighter color since I was painting the walls a dark gray and I got a light gray grout. Now, this is the first time I was tiling and grouting from scratch. So I was anxious!

Before

New tile! 

Adding the grout

Finished product! Don't forget to seal your grout! 

Paint on the walls, new vanity, fixtures up, and Voila!!! 

I'm so pleased with my DIY project! Overall, with curing time for the tub paint and grout, the bathroom took about 10 days.  And I even did things backwards (should have painted the tub last probably since I spray painted the fixtures in the shower...oops!) The only problem I really ran into is the the vanity was taller than my old one, so the faucet didn't reach the bottom pipe of the sink (yup those are REAL plumber terms ;-) so I had to get an extension pipe.  Can you believe I know what I'm able to find things on my own in Home Depot!?!?

Bathroom Makeover Part 2: Painting the bathroom!!

On to phase 2 of the bathroom! It has been a hectic week where I haven't been able to write but the bathroom is mostly together! I've painted our tub making sure to sand it down a little and repaint..

Before

After!!

So shiny and bright!! Such a big difference! Now hopefully it wont chip! I will keep you posted. 

I also painted all of the fixtures to be a brushed nickel using Rustoleum metallic spray paint with primer in it and then a matte finish over it. 

Before

After

Next is installing the vanity and painting the walls.. Then the bathroom will be complete!! :-) 

Bathroom Makeover - Part 1 Re-grout Shower Tile

Bathroom Reno Project - Part 1 - Re-grout tile

Our bathroom needs a complete overhaul. It's just "outdated".  We considered having it gutted and redone, but I decided to try my hand with some DIY work and see if I can give our bathroom a facelift. Luckily, we have a second bathroom we can use during my project that of course takes longer than most! :) Here are some before pictures.  I know the tub and tile look gross! No matter how much I clean and scrub it, I can get it to look clean! It probably doesn't help that along the bottom, most of the grout was coming out anyway!
                                

                                    

I looked online at a ton of DIY re-grouting projects to see if I can handle it.  Looks like I could!? (Hopefully!) One useful step-by-step instructions were from Angela Russell at The Coupon Project.  She inspired me greatly! 

I started by cleaning the tile/grout.  You then are supposed to remove caulking from the edges.  Low and behold, there is no caulking done for my shower! No wonder we have water problems.... 

The tile wasn't cleaned too well when it was grouted (is that a word?) the last time, so I used 2 handy tools for cleaning out old grout. I used a grout saw to saw away the old, chipping grout as well as my handy dandy Pampered Chef plastic scraper.  It worked really well in the small cracks and cleaning off the grout from the tile.  

I vacuumed up the grout a couple times throughout because I didn't want a huge mess.  For my shower, this took me at least 3 hours. I really wanted to make sure that I was thorough. Make sure you saw enough that you will be able to get the new grout to stay well!

Next I used bleach and water with a brush to clean out any loose grout between the tiles.  At this point, I flaked (when I saw what a mess I was making) and didn't take anymore pictures! 

Once the between the tile dried, I mixed my grout (I used Laticrete's SpectraLock Grout - make sure you get both parts!)and attempted using a floater to apply the grout to the walls...NOPE that didn't work...Shit now what?? I only had 80 minutes to complete this before it was to dry! AHH! 

  

So I went with the tried and true way that I learned on The Coupon Project website...use your finger.  Yup, I applied the grout with my finger and it took a painstakingly long time. I cursed myself and wondered why the hell I would do this to myself, stressing the whole time, not sure if I would finish before the damn grout would dry! Luckily I finished applying the grout with a HUGE mess of grout in the tub... damn I thought I would be neat! 

Using a damp sponge, I wiped the tile in circular motions to get off the grout from the tile and set the grout the way I wanted it in the tile.  The only problem I encountered was the mixed grout was pretty dry by the time I was finished with the first round so it was hard to do some touch-ups, but I managed.  

Here is the finished grout! 

Next up, painting the tub! 

Baked Parmesan Crusted Zucchini Rounds

Busy day today! We have soo much extra zucchini that I am running out of ideas! We are getting sick of Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini muffins so I decided to make some zucchini pickles and some baked parmesan crusted zucchini rounds today!

The zucchini rounds were so simple and delicious that they were a perfect side for dinner (which I had yet to determine).  I read a few recipes to get an "idea" of what I wanted, but I have such a hard time following recipes to a tee, so here is my version:

Baked Parmesan Crusted Zucchini Rounds: 

Ingredients:

• sliced zucchini
• 1 tbs olive oil
• equal parts Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs (the amount you use will depend on how much zucchini you slice) 
• a dash of sea salt
• ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  You can slice your zucchini to your liking. I sliced mine 1/4" thick so they had a little meat on them and not just breading! Drizzle the olive oil over your sliced zucchini to coat.  

In a separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Next, place zucchini slices a few at a time in the bowl with bread crumb mixture and coat each slice. You may have to press on the bread crumb mixture as it doesn't "stick" super easy.  Next, place slices on greased cookie sheet (I just used cooking spray).  Make sure each slice isn't touching so they can become brown and crispy.  

Now, most recipes will tell you 10 minutes then flip for another 5-10 minutes.  I don't know about you, but I like mine crispy on the outside so I baked mine close to the heat for about 15 minutes on each side.  When I only had one cookie sheet in the oven, they cooked a little bit quicker than with two.  On average, each tray was in there for 25-30 minutes.  If when you try to flip them, they stick to the pan, let them cook longer on that side! They will un-stick themselves (most of the time!)! 

Voila! There are my delicious Zucchini Rounds! Hope you enjoy!