the San Antonio marathon

About to watch our Dad run a marathon!

early Sunday morning, it's about 7.30am and we've been up since 5am


lots of people, lots of fun

the lead runners

at mile 2 in front of the Alamo

the kids in front of the Alamo - made this the new header picture for a while on the blog. They were arguing and would not pose for the picture.

here's a good happy one though - with Chris' sister Stephanie - she flew down from Chicago to see Chris run

Superman in the wax museum

cool mosaic tile art

looking down to the riverwalk area

Nintendo DS and MP3 player to pass some time

Elvis ran the marathon. This was the "rock and roll marathon" - there were live bands every mile and Chris said along the route there were people out in their yards playing their guitars, high school bands playing etc. After going through downtown and by the Alamo the run went down south of San Antonio and past the other old missions.

Thomas had some toys to play with too.

they weren't really sleeping, just tired - we probably walked 5 or 6 miles around downtown to see various parts of the race

less than a mile to go the kids ran a little with him. The morning was cloudy, but it was humid and when the sun came out it was an 80 degree day. Chris starting feeling nauseous around 20 miles and threw up at 24 miles and after laying down about 10 minutes he was able to get back up and finish. There were several people carried off on stretchers.

Chris finished in 5 hrs, 28 minutes.
This is Rayna and Jonathan - his marathon training team!

family picture at a Mexican restaurant after the race. All sunburnt and tired. We're proud of you Chris!

Thrift store Thursday

this bag / purse was not so cheap at $9 but is was new with a Target tag marked $16.99.

the copper jello mould? was 99c, I will probably hang it in my kitchen

and the Pampered Chef little stoneware baker was $1.99 - it probably cost a lot more when it was brand new!

another $1.99 find was this red plaid lampshade, I thought it would look good in Thomas' room with his new red bed

I got this little silver stand a couple of weeks ago at Goodwill, right now it is just collecting dust as you can probably tell from the picture. It will be nice for cookies or cupcakes for a party though, or maybe Christmas ornaments when it is time to pull those out.......

Visit Holly's blog Homebody for more thrift store Thursday finds.

Happy Halloween

Tiger Cubs

Lightening up - Painting the kitchen - Part 2 (after pictures)

These first two pictures were taken before I painted the cabinets, very dark and the white fridge really looks out of place.

very brown, and the granite and backsplash is not so noticeable because you just see brown.

To see more pictures of when I painted the cabinets go here

A nice big kitchen but this brown was just feeling too dark for me:

I had about 1 1/2 gallons of paint leftover from when I painted the kitchen cabinets a few months ago, so this project was free!

The paint I used was Zinsser perma white - "Two coat system, no priming required". I had used it on the cabinets and it covered well, so I thought it would be good for covering that dark color too. It is a satin finish and looks so much nicer than the brown did - it was a glossy paint and showed all the imperfections in the walls - the previous owners had removed wallpaper and the walls are not super smooth). The color is Sherwin Williams softer tan #6141 (they can mix any SW colors at Lowes if you are on a budget like me - this paint was under $20 a gallon). I have to thank Janell from the blog Isabella and Max Rooms where I got the idea for this creamy color for the cabinets instead of the traditional "white".
The room feels so much more balanced now with the light color - and it is a much better transition to the family room which is painted a gold color. I will probably change these curtain valances for some other curtains at some point.

another blog idea I used was the giant fork and spoon in the kitchen

Mine came from Goodwill and were $2.99 - I spray painted them black - I actually used the chalkboard paint because that's what I already had.

these pillows were a yard sale find from a month or so ago, and they are perfect for these chairs. The chairs were $20 each - yes also from a yard sale and when I looked them up online I found they were originally from Pier One - $99 each - yay! We don't actually use them that much - mostly the kids backpacks stay here during the week to organize their things for school, but they sure look nice!

a 99c Goodwill store Halloween decoration

the white fridge does not stand out so much now. Eventually in a couple of years or when this once breaks it would be nice to have a fancy stainless steel one here. I haven't put any decorations back up on top of the cabinets yet. I love this color - even though the cabinets and walls are painted the same color it looks different depending on the light.

view from the family room




one more little project on the "to do" list is take off the shiny brass door knobs and spray paint them the oil rubbed bronze to match the cabinet knobs.

from the kitchen to the family room

the table and black painted chairs look much nicer against a light color

I had not thought to use this little window to display things before

the paint transition from one room to the other

Posted on Between Naps on the Porch - Metamorphosis Monday

and DIY day at A Soft Place to Land