Saturday, September 17, 2011

The forgotten run

My 8 mile run this morning totally, completely fell off my radar.  I woke up at my usual time and had a missed call from my stepdad which immediately reminded me I was supposed to meet him at 5:15 for an 8 mile run.  Oops.  Looks like a long run alone (or with a jogging stroller) is in my future.  Bummer!

How did I forget-- aside from being human?!  Let me tell you a little story...

One of the dumb things my hubs and I did when we were early in our marriage was buy an "investment" property.  Dumb for many reasons but mostly because it has tied up a nice chunk of change and we didn't sell it right away like we thought we would! 

He's handy, I enjoy design and can swing a hammer when needed so we bought a fixer upper, added a full bathroom, bought carpet, updated tons... well... then the margin of profit wasn't as great as we thought so we decided to rent it out and wait on the market to go up more.  Low and behold a friend of my hubby's needed a place--so we let him rent it at our cost.  Another bad idea.  He also had a dog.  Bad idea again.  And without bad mouthing the guy-- the place did not stay looking nice in the 3-4 years he lived there and smells like dog.  He just moved out to change to an out of town job so I have camped out there painting and cleaning all week. 

Knowing all 4 bedrooms needed to be repainted I got the bright idea to attempt it while the kiddo was with me and awake. I brought his pack and play along but that lasted about 30-45 minutes before he really wanted out.  So I decided to let him roam for a few minutes and planned to put him back in.  That was until this happened...


Oh yeah-- that's a gallon of paint tipped over onto the carpet.  I only noticed (your backs to the room when you paint) because I heard him giggling and then saw him happily smearing his hands around in the puddle!  Whoa.  I scooped him up-- called my husband in a panic who said-- just take him home and get him cleaned up, leave the paint (there was no water on in this house at the time) and he said-- take a few pictures!

So here is kiddo after stripping him to his diaper...

 


So yeah-- all that to say-- the house and messes and constant working on it and knowing I was going to be back there all day again today-- is why I completely spaced that today was Saturday and I had a long run planned.

Disclaimers-- This was No VOC paint but did not make it a good idea to allow a toddler to roam in the room with a full can and a lid that obviously wasn't on very well!

Yes-- we usually use cloth diapers but knowing I would be here for a long day-- we put on the easier ones.

I do indeed do archi work at home but this week was a bit slower and therefore I tried to play this role too.  Little man has now had many naps there and I only paint during those.  Some lessons you do learn quickly. 

Here's to hoping we can sell the house and make an investment property another lesson-learned-- at least until a later phase in life!

3 comments:

  1. Hi, I'm Amy :)
    I saw your comment on YHL & noticed that you were painting a rental property. I run a blog about how to fix up rental properties, so I hopped over here to check out your post.
    Hilarious! And a very similar thing happened to me recently when I was painting a big stencil on my porch floor. Now we have tiny red footprints on our carpeting by the front door! (My 3-year-old, Sonia, is as fast as she is sneaky.) I haven't cleaned them yet because they still make me chuckle. But I will soon, I promise Mr. Landlord!
    Anyway, seems you're actually a rental house owner (rather than a renter yourself, which is my usual audience), but you might still enjoy some of the tips on my blog.
    They're always budget-conscious, non-structural & most importantly, UN-doable! (Even tiny footprints... ha ha.)
    I noticed you're having dog stink problems. I can relate. Check out my post called "The Holy Trinity of Carpet Cleaning." There's a product I HIGHLY recommend featured in that one.
    My website is at http://www.rentalhouserules.wordpress.com
    And I'll totally be back to visit Running for Two again:) Bookmarking!

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  2. Thought I'd return the visit! Your little man is adorable...and looks quite pleased with himself for "helping" you paint. :)

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  3. Thanks Amy! Haha he was Mandy! ~running for two.

    Stupid google won't let me sign in to post!

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