First of all, I moved into my new condo. It is wonderful. I am so pleased with the paint job and flooring. It's like a brand new place. Here are some pictures in the order they appear - kitchen, one end of the living room, the other end of the living room, my bedroom, and the den. Notice the nice white baseboards and flooring. I love the flooring. I don't know what's up with the pictures because some things don't look straight - the baseboards and fireplace - but you can bet that they are.
I have almost finished organizing everything, but still need to put the mirror on my dresser and attach the headboard to my bed. Oh yeah, I also need to hang all my pictures. I can't bring myself to hammer that first nail in my nice newly painted walls though.
I needed an additional piece of furniture to store all my sporting equipment/clothing (or at least as much as would fit), so I thought "Ellen, Ikea might have something cheap that would make do, and at the same time look nice". The first few months of home ownership seem to be the most expensive, or at least I hope it's only the first few. I found the perfect piece for my budget. Note to self: Don't buy Ikea furniture ever again. Assembling Ikea furniture is a lesson in patience. I started assembling on Sunday and am almost finished, but the almost-finished last drawer doesn't look right, and the directions (who am I kidding - what directions) are very unclear. Anyway, I'm going to disassemble the last drawer to figure out if (and that's a big IF) I went wrong, but I don't see how I could have went wrong because apparently the directions are idiot-proof. You can call me an idiot if you want, but labelling the pieces "A", "B", "insert letter here" would be very helpful, but apparently Swedes don't do that. UPDATE FROM LATE LAST NIGHT: I figured it out. I had the correct pieces on, but they were on the opposite sides that they should have been. Remember that comment I made earlier - something about idiot-proof? Well, I guess I can offically call myself an idiot. I now have a completed cupboard for my den to hide all my sports paraphernalia.
On Sunday I was supposed to race in a triathlon - Coronation triathlon in Edmonton - but I woke to snow, so it took me .37 seconds to decide I wasn't going to do it. Coronation isn't my "A" or "B" race anyway, so it wasn't a big deal that I didn't do it. Oliver next week-end is my "B" race and a much bigger deal. That's the first time I haven't raced in a triathlon that I was registered for. I don't relish the idea of having numb fingers and feet for an hour and a half. Been there, done that. Memories of the "Splash, Pedal and Gasp" triathlon in Lethbridge a few years ago quickly came flooding back. It was cold, windy and rainy on race morning, but I travelled all the way there, so I couldn't NOT do it. My fingers were so numb by the end of the bike that I could barely use the brakes and couldn't change gears and it felt like I was running on golf balls for the first three kilometres after the bike. I eventually thawed, but it definitely wasn't a personal best like I was hoping.
I am leaving on Thursday morning to do a half Ironman on June 6 in Oliver, BC. Oliver is about half an hour south of Penticton. I'm 99.99763% sure that the weather will be much warmer there. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't know how well I'll do. I am usually very disciplined with my training, but the weather has been crappy and my shoulder has caused me a lot of grief, so I haven't even been swimming. I don't mind riding in cold weather because I can dress for it, but cold, windy and rainy is another story completely. You can't really dress to stay warm. Good thing Oliver is only a half Ironman. Did I say "ONLY". Please forgive me - that's a damn hard race, especially in the heat, and I'm sure it's going to be hot. One year it was 40 degrees and there was a record number of drop-outs - otherwise known as DNFs (did not finish). I'll report in and post my results when I get back or maybe I'll do the geek thing and take my laptop with me and post an update from Penticton while drinking a latte at some overpriced coffee shop. I will be in Canada so I'm presuming there will be free wireless internet, not like Australia.
