Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Accomodations.

I am getting really sick of Blogger's little messages that I can't upload pictures. I don't like linking to pictures on other servers, but they leave me no choice.

I learned something tonight. My idea of doing upper body weights on Wednesdays is a really, really bad idea. I tend to work with weights until failure, and when I get to spin class I'm all shaky and my arms are utterly useless. I can't even hold onto the handlebars. I'm like one of those dinosaurs with the tiny teeny arms. Well, maybe it will make my legs stronger. Time will tell. Anyway, I was a good girl this week; I ran 5K yesterday, and today I ran 2 miles, upper body weights, and spin class.

Then I come home. Now, Sweet Baboo wrote about how cheap he's gotten in the area of clothing. The accomodations he's made. We, as insane triathletes, have made many accomodations as our priorities have changed. Chances are, if you're reading this, you have too. Mine has mostly been in my home.

My sister, whom I visited over the holidays, has the most beautiful home; it looks like something straight out of Ethan Allen and Southern Living. It's, first of all, SPOTLESS, with matching cherry furniture all over the house, WHITE carpeting, lots of prints tastefully decorated on the wall, and a magazine rack with several national magazines in it (all special editions devoted to Lady Di). Each room has coordinated stuff in it, and some sort of "theme." She has a formal dining room with a formal dining table and chairs, sideboard, large chandalier, and her china is on display behind glass in a china cabinet.

Very, very tasteful. And SPOTLESS.

I start to get anxious whenever I see her house, which is, thankfully, is only about every 5 or 6 years or so, and wonder if I shouldn't have that kind of house. My southern upbringing does it to me. I make mental comparisons to my decor, and then harass Sweet Baboo for reassurance that he'd hate to live in a house like that. Which he promptly does.

Me and Sweet Baboo (well, actually Sweet Baboo did the work) painted each wall downstairs a different color: green, blue, off-white, orange. We have kitchy magnets from places we've visited, my wooden chicken collection, and finishers medals all over the place. We have a few magazines scattered around, Runner's world, Triathlete, Skeptical Inquirer, VegNews and Ultrarunner. When we get around to making a quilt out of our race T-shirts, that will be tossed over the couch, otherwise known as The Big Expensive Scratching Post and Trampoline. I could no sooner have white carpeting than I could have white clothing. Which I don't own, either.

We have four cats. Most of what we own is furry and shredded and, I'm certain, would glow like a Jackson Pollock painting under blacklight.

And then there is the dining room. The floor plan that we picked when we built this house a few years ago included about a 18 x 15 space off the kitchen. Several of my neighbors chose this floor plan too, as it was featured in the model home in the subdivision in which we live. All of them, including the model home, made this space into tasteful eating areas. Tasteful southwestern eating areas, with tasteful southwestern furniture.

We got a nice table and comfy chairs, and put them in the kitchen.

I'd like you to meet our dining room:

Yes, that's a treadmill, trainer, and weighbench. In the dining room. In front of the treadmill and trainer, there's a small DVD player/TV, and a couple of fans.

It's frankly, one of the first things you see when you walk into the house.

My china, by the way, which was my mother's china, is safely packed in a box until Mini-baboo is away to college and I get around to some sort of cabinet. Actually - and this sounds terrible - I'm thinking of selling it. It doesn't match anything I am, have, or do. It's very fussy and formal Noritake.

I think could put a down-payment on a CycleOps Indoor Cycle with what I could get selling it on Ebay.

...

14 comments:

  1. I really like your style and taste in your home. Functional, efficient and meets your needs.

    What more could one ask for?

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  2. When you describe your house--it sounds like mine. I thought I had the corner on that decor. I just think life's too short living in a house that not me.

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  3. I love it, I love it. It's close to your perfect house! And yes, I'd sell the china. If you're not using it, why keep it?

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  4. That is the most beautiful dining room I have ever seen!!!

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  5. Oh Dear Sweet Geek Girl,
    As a Designer I have to tell you that you and I could have a lot of fun. Riding in your dining room!!!!! Your home should never make you feel like you have to emulate perfection. Your home should make you feel like you have just walked into your own private sanctuary. Utility is just as important as your personal taste. I say if it works for you and the two Baboos then it's right!People stress too much over how things "look". (Thank God for me, or I'd be out of a job!!) LOL
    Di

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  6. I got a google account just so I could say THANK YOU for the great blog. I finished my first marathon last Sunday (6.5 hours of FUN) and your comments have been so helpful for me as I have read them over the last months. Very very appreciated!

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  8. You're doing what is right for you and that is all that matters.

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  9. I LOVE the fact that the trainer is set up in the dining room!
    (You still have a nicer place than I do-and what is it with people who have white carpet? Can you even walk on it? I bet there are no kids or animals in that household!)
    I LOVE to wander in and out of model homes...just to see how they are decorated, but I could never really ever LIVE in one!

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  10. ..well there's priorities and then there's priorities!

    I love that you have so much space devoted to training in your house. I am lusting after your weight set, btw...

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  11. I keep doing that to myself in the weight room, too. (Although minus the spin class...more like gingerly grip steering wheel on way home instead.)

    This morning I couldn't reach the peanut butter. It wasn't on a high shelf...I just couldn't get my arms up that high. My right arm needed a boost from my left.

    COULDN'T REACH THE PEANUT BUTTER.

    Scary, I know. My working out is *so seriously* getting in the way of my eating.

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  12. I love your dining room! I wish I had one just like it!

    My advice: Only invite triathletes to your house. They'll say you have the most stylin' house in the whole neighborhood!

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  13. Looks pretty immaculate to me!

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  14. Living in a household with 2 preschool boys, 2 dogs and 3 cats I know where you're coming from. If we ever get around to painting more than just the boys room your house sounds like where we'd get. We don't have a dining room but I think it's a perfectly reasonable place for a trainer and treadmill- near the kitchen and bathroom, makes perfect sense. I could never have white carpet, I'd be afraid to live in my own house.

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 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...