7QT Friday: The Hundred, The House, and A Failproof Exercise Routine

08 August 2014

- 1 -
In a few hours I will be headed to The Hundred where I will meet up with some of my blogging buddies and hone my craft. When I was signing up for sessions, I actually had to look up what "prop styling" was, so I'm starting at a bit of a deficit...but I'm stoked!


- 2 -
Life has been busy lately. I confess to saying things are busy when they really aren't, but this time I can say it honestly.

Life HAS been REALLY busy. We were in St. Louis then Los Angeles then Hawaii then home then Austin then Fredericksburg and tomorrow we head to Dallas. Somewhere in the middle of that, I started talking to someone about teaching again this fall and then we powowed with my two brothers here in Houston and bought a house. What?!? Yup. We bought a fixer upper with my brothers and my is she ugly. We close Monday, and I can't wait to start ripping out linoleum. Or watch as Jacob and my brothers start ripping out linoleum because I know exactly what I'll be doing during this entire remodel project and one is nine months old and the other is going through a super whiny phase and tries to explain away all his ugly behavior with "I was just pretending to be a bad guy."

And we're excited about it, and even though the house is more of an "investment," we're thinking after the remodel is done we're just going to move into it. Like all of us. Together. Like Jacob and me and our kids and my two bachelor brothers. It has four bedrooms, so it's not insane but it is kinda crazy.

And did I mention it's a very ugly house? Because it's very very ugly. It's every kind of ugly. The dingy paneling kind. The linoleum yellowing with age kind. The musty carpet bunching at the wall kind. It's a house that screams: fix me up! There's no way you'll make me worse than I am! 

Anywho. Get ready. Because this blog is going to get a little crazy with before and after pics.


- 3 -
I try to wake up early - or at least I've been trying over the last six months. Lucy June kinda sleeps in, and Jake stays in his room until his Christmas lights click on at 7am (or at least he did before I forgot how to reprogram the outlet timer and at 6:30 my "quiet time" has been peppered with "NOW is it time to get up? But the sun is SHINING.") so my alarm is set for 5:50, and sometimes it only takes a couple snoozes before I'm up and drinking coffee and typing on the blog or tooling around the internet, and it's...pure bliss. Then the kids wake up and I get them breakfast and sing my way through unloading the dishwasher. 

Or that's about 30% of the time. The other 70% of the time I snooze right on through my alarm or I wake up and so does Lucy June or Jake throws down the Ace of spades and yells out "MAMA I needa go POOPOO!!!!" And then it's 6:15 and everyone's awake and the morning just got a lot longer and my coffee goes in the microwave over and over and over again. 


- 4 -
Exercising while your coffee is brewing

So I haven't been burning through any miles recently. I don't know if you know this, but Houston is hot. And humid. In the spring the kiddos and I were pretty religious about our midmorning jogs, but now...it's just too hot. The only times cool enough to jog are, respectively, my am coffee-drinking time or my pm wine-drinking time, and I've cut into those sacred times like...twice all summer. 

Which leads me to my safehold as far as exercise is concerned: coffee brewing time.

How do you spend your coffee brewing time? 

I spend mine doing abdominal exercises. This is something my mother taught me. My over-exercised high school self was pretty unimpressed by my mother's coffee-brewing work outs, but here I am, half my life later, and I'm only just beginning to realize how brilliant she was. 


- 5 -
So I mentioned earlier that Jake is in a bit of a  - lets cross our fingers and call it a - phase right now. Pushing boundaries, those types of things. Most of this little toddler exerting his independence is pretty unfun, except this one part: he's learning to express his dislike for certain things but he doesn't have the vocabulary for it. We get a lot of "I DON'T LOVE this squash, mama." And "This pasta is NOT my favorite."

So THAT part of the phase can stay.

- 6 -
Me: Jake, what does this say?
Jake: Jake Ramsay Rhodes

- 7 -
Butter Waffle Cookies from Trader Joes

These are what happen when you send Jacob to TJs for some "sweet potatoes and sparkling water."


- 7.5 -
In an effort not to lose my baby blogger brand: kiddos. harmonizing.
Click on over to Jen's for more Quick Takes. Happy Weekend!


17 comments :

  1. Congrats on the new house!! I can't wait for you to get all young house love on us... with styled props to boot! ... Will usually brews coffee in the mornings before I even come downstairs. So if I have to brew it myself, I usually spend my coffee brewing time pouting and eating cereal.

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  2. Every time I try to wake up early, Noah wakes up at the same time. Therefore I have a cranky kid and no quiet time. I often find myself wondering why I bother lol

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  3. Surely it's just a phase and all will be well. You're good parents and you've got this.

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  4. I'm so impressed that you have a "vision" and can buy an ugly house and make it something special. I am totally lacking that area. My best friend has the same vision and it makes me completely jealous! I'm good at looking at someone else's vision and trying to recreate, sort of. I just don't have that crafty/artsy/home dec skill. At all. Can't wait to see all the progression pics - and with Jacob's skills?? I bet it's going to be gorgeous!

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  5. She is SO chunky I LOVE it.

    Shoot girl you paint that paneling white and you got yourself and enviable living room. Ok maybe after the linoleum rip-up. But congratulations! That's big!

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  6. We just bought a fixer upper and we spent all summer stripping wall paper.. It's tedious laborious work, but oh so satisfying... We also sledge hammered a wall and dealt with some poop brown panelling.. Nothing like fresh paint to change a space... The only problem.. we spent all our $ on the fixing part forgetting about the furniture part.. A little at a time.. a little at a time.. Congrats!

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  7. Can't wait to see how the house progresses along! And when did Lucy June get so big? She looks so much older all of a sudden.

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  8. Congratulations on buying a house! I can't wait to see ALL the before/after pictures. How exciting!

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  9. Ooh, have fun with the remodel! I love that kind of stuff.

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  10. You guys will do great with the remodel! We are about to list to sell the ugly house we bought two years ago and Joe fixed up, much of the time while we all lived in it. It has been a satisfying experience even though we never did many of the things we hoped to do. Of course, Joe is not actually a handyman and Jacob is, so I can't wait to see your progress!
    Also, the good thing about kids under seven is that most of what they go through is a phase. Just another thought to add to your series!

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  11. Only you can describe a house that way and make me super excited about it! Congrats on today's closing and thanks for letting us have some Rhodes time during your busy Dallas weekend. So great to reconnect.

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  12. And we were thinking about asking for a Keurig for Christmas...forget that! ;)

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