The Painting is Finished!!

You'll all be pleased to hear that our marriage has survived the Great Kitchen Painting Trial of 2011. Iven finished painting on Monday - an 8 day epic paint festival - and it looks pretty good (as long as you don't look too close in some parts)

I have been without full access to both the kitchen and laundry for most of that time and we all know that my kitchen is one of my happy places so it has been a little testing at times. The most testing moment was when I was finally allowed back into the laundry to catch up on a few days' washing. Washing isn't that exciting but for a change I was happy to be doing it cause as little as I hate doing laundry, I hate piles of dirty clothes even more. I filled the machine with our dirties, put in the detergent, pressed the button and walked away. It was only when I heard Iven's frustrated voice about ten minutes later that I knew that something wasn't right. SOMEONE had put in the laundry tub and forgotten to attach the plumbing under it. Major ooops! There was water all over the floor and guess who had to mop it up? I personally think that the one who neglected to attach said plumbing should have to rectify the results of their oversight. But I'm a long-suffering wife...

So Iven has managed to fill almost two of his three weeks vacation productively and for the last week he's giving me a real treat. He's going down to visit his Mum. Woohoo!!! I get to have the bed to myself for an entire week. I get to read till as late as I want. I get to watch whatever I want on TV - oh, hang on, I get to do that already. But I have to get up for the middle of the night dog toilet duty.

Yeah, I know it sounds a bit mean but I do think that our marriage has lasted over 25 years because of moments like this. When you're in each others pockets continually it can be a bit wearing. Togetherness is good but a little space can be good.

And on the running side - my left hamstring has been giving me a little grief since Sunday's half. I don't think I've torn anything but it's been really tight and I decided to err on the side of caution at speed on Tuesday. Unfortunately we had the session that I least wanted - 200m repeats. Fast take-offs were a little risky so I told Coach Chris about the hammy and that I'd be running conservatively. After 8 reps he pulled us over and changed it up a bit - 400m, 200 recovery, 200m, 200 recovery and repeat. Again, I ran conservatively - or so I thought. When I got home I checked my watch (can't check it on the run because it's too dark still) and my 200s were in line with what I'd been doing. And the 400s were faster than what I'd been doing for a while. I'm quietly thinking that this may be because of the Vit D.