Peeling back the layers...

This weekend was kitchen focused. Matt was busy at work removing the last of the cabinets, but needed a little help when it came to taking off the sink. Nick came through with some extra tools and help Matt cap the water lines.


After getting all the cabinets out, Matt found that we had extensive water damage and mold. Not only was it under the sink but it extended outward.



Matt and Nick put on their masks and went to work removing the many layers of flooring, I think it was 5 different layers through the year. Under all those layers Matt found the original hardwards that match the rest of the house. We really wish we could refinish them, but with the water damage from the sink that won't be possible.





Matt finished up cleaning off the floors, and getting more of the glue and stick residue off. He also got the stairs off the kitchen cleaned off too. You'll also notice that he took out the closet and drop ceiling that previously was in the hall.




You may be wondering, 'Jen- what did you do?' Well my job at this point in the game was to organize and label all the flat packed cabinet boxes, each cabinet has a specific label. I was able to do this and I arranged it neatly against the wall by cabinet. I'm also in charge of nutrition, we need to eat but the goal is to avoid going out for each meal. The challenge right now is that we can only use the microwave, toaster oven, or grill. So far it has been a success. Tonight was grilled flank steak with grilled onions/peppers. On the side we had a Cilantro bean salad I made the other day. Yummy.

The "kitchen":



Then this afternoon, after procrastinating all day, Matt encouraged me to go tackle my 10 mile run. So I got on Map My Run, and figured out a route that would take me on a 10 mile route from the house, around town, and back to the house. I think I spend so long procrastinating because it was a cold windy day, but once I got out there it wasn't too bad. I had to stop at few stop lights, and I dragged a bit at the end but my average pace was 12:30 min/mi so I'm good with that. I find it difficult to pace myself, I'm hoping to feed off fellow runners during the race.

Here are my splits:
mi pace
1 12:10
2 11:51
3 11:19
4 12:11
5 12:42
6 11:57
7 12:51
8 12:29
9 13:09
10 13:00

Alright off to relax before a busy week...

Special Delivery...

Thursday night we continued to work on clearing out the kitchen, we're almost there. Our biggest accomplishment of the evening was getting the dining room floor covered and re-arranging our temporary kitchen. Now we have a fridge and everything is on one side of the room so that the other side of the room can be used for assembly of cabinets and other construction tasks.

Friday we got up early, took the day off work, and headed down to Pittsburgh to pick up our kitchen. We ordered all the supplies about 2 weeks ago, and were excited to take delivery. However we were nervous about just how much space all the boxes and appliances would take up. We figured since the smallest truck we could get was 10 feet that it would be more than enough room, we really wanted to rent a van but they don't allow you to take them one-way between cities.

We arrived in Pittsburgh around noon, picked up our moving truck, and then headed to get our kitchen. We decided we needed some food fuel before we actually loaded up the kitchen so we headed to a sub shop, then returned to the furniture pick up.

We arrived to about 3 pallets of boxes about waist high. With the assistance of the IKEA employee Matt loaded all our boxes, and the employee verified everything was there. Once all the boxes were in the truck Matt went to work arranging the boxes so that they did not move or shift during the trip back to Buffalo.




It was a long drive back to Buffalo, and once we arrived it was threatening to rain so we quickly decided to unload the boxes into our office/living area. We figured since it is slightly out of the way so it would be a good staging area for the boxes. Here are some before pictures of the space:



And then once we got all the boxes off the truck it looked like this:




Our dishwasher and microwave only made it to the foyer, no room in the main house just yet:


Up next is to finish clearing out the kitchen, taking up the floor and stripping wallpaper from the stairs next to the kitchen.

Cinco de Mayo

It's Cinco de Mayo today which is basically just a great reason to eat Mexican foods and have a bit of fun. So the hubby went to work after we got home from the gym.

He made us Tilapia tacos with all the fixins'. Fixins' included: red cabbage, red onion, fresh cilantro, cheese, homemade guac, and his secret special sauce. Can you say yummy!

Here's picture of the chef's spread:



Here's the taco I created w/ blue corn chips and guac:


Alright off to enjoy the rest of the night...although it appears to be later than I thought...

Obviously I've been running a lot lately to get ready for the half-marathon, but lately it takes at least an hour so it's hard to fit it in along with my strength training routine. So I decided this week to switch it up. I'm going to do strength training Monday, Wednesday, Friday; and I'm doing my running on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday(long) with a walk on Sunday.

Tonight was my run, so I decided to try out my running skirt and hit the local sidewalks for a five mile run. It went pretty good I weaved my way about 2.5 miles out from the house then turned around and headed home. On the way home it got a bit windy on my way home as a storm appeared to be coming, and it started to sprinkle. Luckily I made it home without any major rain. I also was able to pull off five miles in 1 hour 1 minute, which means I was able to maintain my pace of 12:00 minute miles on average.

I was very happy to see that because it is so hard to run alone, against the wind and with no tunes to keep you groovin'. Although I think I am taking a liking to running.

Check out today's splits:

mi pace
1 12:44
2 12:58
3 11:55
4 12:12
5 11:42

Have a great night!

Happy Birthday Katie!

Creation Monday....

Tonight's Dinner

Chicken Sausage w/ Red Quinoa

Tonight we needed a protein packed meal after our strength training, so I created a quinoa side dish for our chicken sausage. It was created by sauteing onions and garlic, then cooking the quinoa in chicken broth for added flavor. Once the quinoa was prepared I add left over chopped asparagus from last night and black beans. It turned out pretty good considering I was just making it up as I went along.

Have you created anything lately?

The fun has begun...

This weekend was the official kick-off to the kitchen remodel. The beginning to a long journey to a new kitchen and an efficient place to cook, we're super excited. So far we have cleaned out all the cabinets and taken about 1/2 the cabinets out. We moved the dining room to the living room, and then we created a temporary kitchen in our dining room. Eventually the dining room will also have to be the assembly area for our new cabinets. Basically it will be getting crazy around here, and we're trying to be as prepared as possible. Here's some picture of how a temporary kitchen looks.







You might have noticed there is no stove in the temporary kitchen, and you're right. For now it is still usable in the kitchen, but once it is time for the new floors we will be down to only the microwave, toaster oven, and grill. We're going to make it work.

Before the kick-off I was cleaning out some items from the fridge and decided to take our apples and made some dried fruit for our oatmeal. I peeled and diced about seven apples that were going bad, covered them in cinnamon, then let the dehydrator do the rest of the work.





I also baked up some egg cups for Matt. Often he is crunched for time in the morning, so I mixed up some eggs and egg whites and baked them in a muffin tin with some sauteed spinach. It will make the morning quicker, and will be easier since our kitchen isn't fully functioning.

Alright off to finish the weekly laundry...

She's going the distance...

Here's today stats for my long run:

splits:
mi pace
1 12:11
2 11:53
3 12:47
4 12:36
5 13:02
6 13:58
7 13:09
8 14:16
9 14:54
10 14:22
11 11:59

It was rough run today. I went to a local park that has a 1.75 paved route, only they are getting ready to repaved the path so they have ripped it all up. It was like running on a trail with the terrain being so rough, and to top it off it a bit windy out. Don't get me wrong the wind did a good job keeping me cool, but running into the wind makes it more difficult.

I got through it. It wasn't easy physically or mentally, but I'm glad I got it done this morning. Now it is off to get ready for some kitchen renovation shopping. And I think tonight we're going out with some friends so it should be a good day!