Help Me Layout Our Living Room

November 25, 2013kakakakaty 3 Comments

So… we’ve been in this house nearly 6 years and we have barely scratched the surface of what needs to be done. That happens when you live in a 90 year old house, both work and daycare costs are bleeding your wallet dry. BUT! My family will be coming here this year to do our family Christmas celebration and I decided we needed to get our butts in gear about the living room.

See, when we moved in the entire first floor was covered in wallpaper, most of it a yellow grass-type paper. I tore it all out of the living room, dining room, stairway, entry and hall before we even moved it. Thinking we might do some electrical work we didn’t do much else and left the plaster bare (which honestly was a step up from the 30+ year old paper). The plaster itself was in good shape but the old paste was still on the walls, giving them a sandpaper-like texture. About 2 years after we moved in the walls were still like that and we hired a neighborhood teenager to scrub the paste off the walls. I think he may still curse us because that was a crazy-hard job. He got about 85-90% of it off and we were able to tackle the dining room shortly after. It took Mark and I at least 3 weekends of work to get the dining room prepped and painted. I’ll talk more about those joys in a later post. What you need to know is that last weekend I took on the living room and we are (slowly, oh so slowly) getting it ready to paint. I just couldn’t think of having the marked-up plaster walls in the background of family Christmas photos.

This has my wheels turning about how to layout the furniture when we eventually get done with the prep and paint. We know we’re getting rid of our couch (it’s a hand me down from my parents and it’s at least 35 years old and it needs to go) but then we have some options. We don’t want to spend a ton given the age of the kids (we figure we have another 5 or so years of prime fabric staining and couch jumping days) so we’re scoping cheap couches like the Ikea Ektorp, as well as things on Wayfair.com and other sites. However, we also have a loveseat in good shape. It’s beige so workable nearly anywhere, and solid. We could put that in the living room and get some new chairs. We really should replace the recliner as well (it’s given all it can give).

Add to all of that the fact that our old house has the worst imaginable layout for furniture placement and I’m stumped at to what do. The all 4 walls are littered with interruptions like windows, doors and archways. The longest stretch of wall is only 4.5 feet. I found a great site to do room layouts and I’ve been playing around all day. This is where you come in! Tell me what to do and suggest what I should buy! I’m so bad at this and I need your help! I need it to all be in place by December 20 when every arrives.

Other than the interrupted walls and long, narrow room other issues are:
1) We use the room mainly for TV watching so the (very big) TV is the focal point.
2) The TV can’t go above the fireplace because of how narrow the room is and how high the mantle is (the angle would be too severe and we’d all have sore necks).
3) With old plaster walls, I worry about hanging something as big and heavy as the TV. So while hanging the TV isn’t totally out, I’d need to hear from people who have done it in old houses.
4) We don’t use the fireplace now but it’s the biggest feature in the room so it’s hard to ignore.
5) We need to keep about 3 feet of space off the wall with the arches for traffic flow

This is how the 13’2″ x 22′ 6″ room is built:

Top wall: left archway goes to stair landing/kitchen pass-through. It’s hard to show on the renderings but about 3 feet of railing is exposed on the left side of the archway. The right archway goes to our entry which is also a pass-through to the dining room. There is a built-in bookshelf between the archways. To the right of the second archway is a radiator. Here’s a photo (we’re mid-prep so the room has a everything pushed around):

The right (front) wall has a giant window in the center. With the trim it’s 4.5 feet wide and 6 feet high. The bottom is only 11 inches off the floor. Crappy iPhoto here (watching the Browns suck, as usual):

The bottom wall has 2 windows flanking the fireplace/mantle. The windows are about 3.5 feet wide and the mantle is 5′ 6″ wide with the hearth jutting out 26 inches into the room. The window on the right has a radiator in front of it.

The back wall has an off-center set of French doors that lead to the patio. The doors swing into the room and we do use them, so the area in front needs to stay clear. Although in the winter we can block them…we usually put the Christmas tree in front of them.

photo 1 copy

Ok, whew! Now that you’ve seen all that I can’t believe you’re still here. Below is how we’ve had the room set up:

Desk is in the top left. We really do use it and have no where else to put it. The outgoing couch faces the fireplace with a storage ottoman in front of it. A (old, crappy) Mission-style recliner and table with a lamp are by the front window. The TV and stand are angled in the front corner (that sucker is 53″ and we can’t go any smaller with the 52″ TV).

Still here? Here are some ideas I’ve worked up.

1) Swap out the couch for the love seat, and put chairs on either side of the fireplace. Thinking of chairs something like this in grey. Maybe put a bookshelf in the corner to hide some toys and stash kid books.

2) get a couch like this one and position it to the right of the fireplace. Put a slim sofa table behind it and keep the bookshelf from above. Get a chair for across from the fireplace (maybe recover the mod swivel chair I have from my grandma’s house?). Connect the two with a round table. All else says the same.

3) This one flips the whole room so the TV is back between the stairs and the patio doors. Get the new (cheap) couch and add a chair to the side of the fireplace and put the desk in the front corner.

flip room, recover swivel

4) This one was suggested by my mom who stalks my twitter then texts me her replies. Split the room into a TV area and sitting area. Angle the rug and furniture towards the TV. This requires us to ditch the desk which will be hard and Mark doesn’t really want to get rid of it. (I don’t know what happened to my archways in this one, you can barely see them). We’d need to get 2 chairs and 2 side tables in this work-up.

Now – go go gadget pocket friends! Tell me what to do and what to by!

Holiday Card Time

November 13, 2013kakakakaty 1 Comment

This year I’ve not partnered with any company to do holiday cards. This means that for the first time in a long time I’m searching various sites, trying to figure out what I want to do without spending the equivalent of a car payment for cards. However, my “mail on December 1” rule still stands, so I need to order soon and I need your help.

Shutterfly – the old standard. I’ve used them in the past and love their stuff (Bonus – there’s a Living Social deal to save $). Here are 2 I like:

Tiny Prints – the gold standard in holiday cards, and always my favorite option. Their paper is fantastic, their new trim options are so cool, the quality is outstanding… the prices are high (womp womp). But! There are sales and I recently got a TP discount code when I made a purchase a Hanna Andersson so, I can maybe swing it. Here are 2 TP designs that make me swoon:

(holiday ink)

(joyful everything)

Vistaprint – yes, the are more known for business cards and coffee mugs but their card quality has come a long way in the last few years. I’ve used them for other custom cards, but not for holiday cards. (Bonus – a there is a groupon for them right now). Here is what I’m liking from them:

(not the photo I’d use, just a placeholder)

Thoughts? Favorites? Would it be weird if I got 2-3 different cards – it’s so hard to choose just one! Other places I should look for cute holiday card options?

Mac

October 4, 2013kakakakaty 8 Comments

My apologies for the rambling post and glut of photos, but I have tears streaming down my face as I write this.

It was October 2001. Mark and had just celebrated our 1^st anniversary that summer and we had been in our new house nearly a month and had discussed getting a dog. Mark and I wanted the same thing – a large dog, a rescue, not a puppy. But after al lot of talk we had come to the conclusion that we should wait about a year before adopting a dog.

Then one night we watched the movie “Return to Me” and while David Duchovny and Minnie Driver gave decent performances it was the dog, Mel, that won us over. At the end of the movie I turned to Mark and said, “We need a dog just like that. Let’s do it now” and he agreed. We were on Petfinder.com that night.

I came across the listing for “Slick” at the Toledo Humane Society. He was 2 years old, a lab-shepherd mix (they thought) and he had big, dark puppy eyes. We went to meet him and he was the mellowest dog we’d ever met. They warned us that he was prone to ear infections and was sensitive around his ears so we were gentle and gave him his space. We could see his personality right away and knew he was our dog. Paperwork was filled out and we scheduled a time to come back to get him.

When we arrived to take him home, several staff came out to greet us. Slick had been at the Humane Society for several months. As a large adult dog he wasn’t what most people were looking for; he had long fur, was prone to shedding and got lots of ear infections. He wasn’t overly affectionate and shied away from anyone touching his head because of his sore ears. But the staff adored this sweet boy and they were so excited for him to be adopted. We happily took him back to our new house where he quickly came inside and pooped under the dining room table. Our first thought was “oh no! What have we gotten ourselves into?”

There was no need to worry as that was the one and only time he ever did that. He didn’t answer to Slick (there was some confusion as his name on some papers was Slick, on others it was Flick) so we changed his name to Mac (yes, after Apple computers), which he took to right away. He really was the best dog – housebroken and trained. He never strayed from our yard, even when off-leash, he didn’t bark unless there was a reason to, but if there was reason his bark told you to back off! He never chewed anything that wasn’t given to him or got onto furniture without permission. Yes, he did get nasty ear infections but we learned to deal with them. When we started taking him to our own vet we learned that he was closer to 4 years old which explained his mellow nature.

We also came to learn (over time) that he was allergic to wheat and corn, which is what caused the ear infections. I remember a short time where we fed him a raw diet of …I don’t remember exactly but it involved chicken and carrots and maple syrup and we were spending more on his food then on our own!

Mac quickly became part of our extended family. Despite his size and his deep, rumbling bark he was gentle as can be around nieces, nephews and the children of friends. At home he sometimes pretended he was a lap dog and crawled onto the couch for a belly rub. He was so chill that we used to joke that when we left for work during the day, Mac put on his smoking jacket and read Proust until we returned. He seemed too dignified for tricks, almost sighing at you when you asked him to “shake”, but he would do it to please you.

He did have a few quirks – one was that he hated cages/kennels so boarding him was never an option. Luckily we have good friends who had a golden retriever around the same age and we became each other’s dogsitters. Mac and Kilmer would put on a royal joust each evening they were together, both vying for Mark’s affections. Mac was Mark’s shadow; they had a bond like no other. Mac was Mark’s dog first and foremost.

When Matilda came along in 2006 Mac rolled with the punches without even a blip. He quickly took to hanging out around the baby when she was on the floor, not so much protecting her as just being near her. Things really looked up for Mac when she started eating table food. She could hang on him, squeeze his fur and he would patiently wait for a moment where he could make his get-a-way, but he never so much as growled at her. Madman’s entrance to the family was just as easy with Mac. Mac is a fixture in every family photo

Another of his quirks was his internal clock. No matter where we were or what we were doing at 10 PM on the dot he’d find you to let him out. And if you were late he’d start pacing from you to the back door until you got the hint.

Mac was so mellow from the start that it was always fun to see his playful side come out. He loved the snow, and even in his old age would romp around like a puppy after the first snowfall.

He’s been a fixture in our house, at family events and in our lives. A constant reminder that all you really need to be happy in life is a nap, a hot dog and a belly rub.

About 18 months ago Mac had a seizure. It was awful to witness and so hard to deal with. Our vet, who loves Mac as much as we do, told us to start preparing for the end. Of course Mac was fine for months after that.

About 6 months ago he had another. And another. He was often unable to get up from a laying position without help supporting his hind legs. His appetite came and went and he got thin. Discussion with our vet found nothing unexpected…he’s an old dog nearing the end of his life. He had a large growth (lump) on his neck and one near his liver. We decided to just let make him as comfortable as possible in his old age and not intervene.

Last week he had another seizure and instead of walking around after and “shaking it off” he just lay on the ground, with no energy left in him to gain his bearings. Anther discussion with the vet and we decided it was time to let him go. Today is that day and Mark and I are barley holding it together. As much as we know this is absolutely the right thing for Mac it doesn’t make it any easier.

Goodbye, buddy. Thank you for all the joy, smiles and cuddles you brought to our lives for the last 12 years. Thank you for being the best dog anyone could ever hope to have.

Cedar Point – HalloWeekends and a 48″ kid

September 30, 2013kakakakaty 1 Comment

Disclosure: I was given media passes to check out HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. I paid for travel, food and souvenirs. I was not asked to post about my trip, but I am so you can read about an easily-frightened/sensitive child’s visit to HalloWeekends.

As part of her 7th birthday presents I told Matilda we’d be going to Cedar Point for HalloWeekends. In all my life, filled with many dozen Cedar Point trips, I have never gone during HalloWeekends, so I was as excited as she was. But, my sweet girl is also the one so frightened of anyone in costume that she hid in the bathroom when Slider visited the social suite. After much discussion with others we decided that a day at CP would be great, even with a little spookiness.

My sister and her family joined us because I thought that having her older cousins around would help Matilda be a bit more brave in the face of a plastic skeleton. In typical fashion for my family, we arrived about 30 minutes before the gates opened. The kids took the time to map out our day.

Last year Matilda was only tall enough to ride the Iron Dragon; now that she’s 48″ she had big plans to hit all 8 roller coasters that allow 48″+. We thought a “warm up” ride on the familiar Iron Dragon would be a good start to the day. As we headed to the ride she was nervous – not about the ride but about seeing scary things in the park. 95% of the decor is tame (fake grave yards, plastic skeletons, bats in the trees, etc.) but we had passed two really creepy HalloWeekend billboards on our drive to the park and she was on high alert. What’s up with the terrifying clown fad? It needs to go away – it freaks ME out and she was super-anxious about seeing one inside the park.

She kept her head down and a with tight grip on my hand we got to the Iron Dragon without incident. She was excited to show off her favorite ride to her cousins.

Then we worked our way back through the Frontier Trail towards the Mine Ride. (Fun fact – my sister worked at the Red Garter Saloon on the Frontier Trail 22 years ago and the menu is still the same.) The trail was littered with pretty cool steampunk-type decor – nothing creepy as the mazes and haunted areas weren’t open yet. We of course stopped to get a photo in the stockade – my brother, sister and I have several of these from when we were growing up.

We hopped right onto the Mine Ride and Matilda declared it her new favorite. She rode it a few more times throughout the day.

After that we decided the kids were ready for the Gemini. Again, we hopped right on the ride with little waiting. My sister’s family in the blue train and Matilda and I in the red – we were off to the race! (Fun Fact – the Gemini was my first roller coaster back when I was Matilda’s age. I rode with my sister and about halfway up the first hill I decided I didn’t want to ride so I tried to climb out of the train!) This time Matilda was ready to beat her cousins in the roller coaster race but our train stopped midway up the hill – the blue train kept going. I was in a mild panic about a broken coaster and trying to keep Matilda calm when a park employee walked up the hill to confiscate a phone from the guy in the front seat. He was trying to photograph the ride so they stopped the train to take his phone away! They remind you before each and every ride “For safety reasons, taking pictures, videotaping and filming on rides is strictly prohibited” and they are NOT messing around with that rule.

Anyway – off we finally went on Matilda’s biggest coaster yet! Her face after the first hill was pure white and wide-eyed. She clung to the harness but managed to smile a bit by the end. She said is was scary fun but didn’t want to go on it again. She was more upset about losing the race to her cousins than anything else! She also waited in the short line for the Magnum XL-200 but in the end the sight of that 200-foot first hill had her opt out of riding.

We spent a lot of time on some of the “thrill rides” and this is where having her cousins with us was a plus – I didn’t have to ride any of the “spinny” rides with her (they make me motion sick). So she got to ride to her heart’s content and I stayed nausea-free. We checked out the kid-friendly Howl-O-Palooza area where Matilda literally jumped into my arms as we toured the Magical House on Boo Hill. There was nothing scary in it – it was simply spooky! However Matilda is the kid who will bravely jump off a diving board and ride roller coasters yet freak out at the sight of a mechanical fake spider dropping down from the ceiling. But while we were in the area we also caught a ride on the Blue Streak, which was just re-opening after a brief rain. I had forgotten how much air time that ride gives you. It’s old but fun!

These decorations were tame enough for her to enjoy

We had a terrific day and by the end Matilda seemed unfazed by the decorations and knew to simply look away or cover her eyes if she saw something scary. And that was one of the reasons we went…so she could face her fears and learn to deal with them. A year ago she would have hid under my shirt and refused to do anything, so we’ve come a long way. In the end she rode 4 roller coasters – she really wanted to ride the Corkscrew but it was closed when we were nearby. The Magnum, Millennium Force and Mean Streak will have to wait for next year when maybe those big first hills won’t seem so daunting.

Would I go to HalloWeekends again? Well, Matilda said that while she DOES want to go back to Cedar Point next year, she doesn’t want to go during HalloWeekends. But this was right after telling me that the day wasn’t that spooky! So yes, I would go back simply because it was a great day – no lines, good weather (a few short-lived sprinkles didn’t slow us down), no crowds. There’s no doubt that fall a great time to visit Cedar Point!

Things I’ve Bought Lately

September 20, 2013kakakakaty 4 Comments

non-disclosure: I bought everything in this post with my own cash, and have no incentive to write about any product except my desire to share my finds with you. Links are not affiliate links.

Taking a cue from Sarah Lena, I’ve decided to share with you some of the things I’ve bought lately. Just because.

image from swellskin.net

Swell soap and sea buckthorn oil. I saw this item being discussed on Twitter by a few people who were swearing by it. Apparently it’s the new buzz product being recommended by estheticians around town and it’s now being sold at local-grocer Heinen’s. At first I scoffed at the idea of a $24 bar of soap. Not to mention that I haven’t used a bar soap on my face since I used Clinique in high school. But I kept seeing people talk about it so I checked it out. I was totally rolling my eyes at the hippie-talk on the website but I noticed it’s a local company. Then I ran out of my previous (purchased on clearance at Target) face soap and I Heinen’s had both the soap and oil on sale. So I’ve been using it about 2 weeks now and I’ve noticed an improvement in my skin, especially my pores (not so visible anymore) and the overall tone. So, color me impressed. I would by this again.

image from Payless.com

Payless Women’s Claire Scrunch Flat by Dexter. I have finally admitted to myself that I am a flats girl. I’m slowly getting rid of all my heels, including my long-coveted Cole Haan pumps. I don’t wear them. Ever. If I need height I wear wedges. So when Miranda (and someone else, I can’t remember who!) mentioned some Payless flats a while ago on twitter, I ordered some in black. Fast forward 5 months and I’ve worn them every working day and the sole is starting to wear out. So I took advantage of the current BOGO sale and got a new pair of black and this tweed gray. I LOVE these shoes. They are like wearing slippers. I may need to stock-pile some at the next sale in case they ever stop making them.

image from Amazon.com

I didn’t buy this but Mark gave it to me for my birthday. I was nicely surprised but I’m not a huge cookbook person…I prefer to get my recipes from the web where I can read reviews and reactions. However, I’ve quickly fallen in love with this book. It’s nothing ground breaking, nothing fancy. I’ve described it as “stupid-easy recipes you wonder why you didn’t come up with yourself”. Nothing is odd (no doctored condensed soup, no pre-made ingredients), but every recipe we’ve had so far has been really good and very fast. I’m looking forward to cooking my way through the book.

Bacon, tomato, basil pasta -so so good!

Grilled flank steak with corn & bacon salad – yum!

So, have you bought anything fun lately?

Indians Family Social Suite

September 10, 2013kakakakaty 1 Comment

Earlier in the summer I had applied to attend a Tribe game in the Family Social Suite. I asked to attend this last weekend because Mark is a life-long Mets fan and it was my birthday weekend. I was overjoyed when the Indians told me I was selected to attend and we were looking forward to taking Madman to his first Tribe game.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the Indians know what families want and need and they cater to it. From the Kids Clubhouse to adding the Family Social Suite to the popular Social Suite this year, they are a fantastic organization. Having been in the regular Social Suite before, I was excited to take the kids this time.

Being selected gets you access to the wifi enabled suite (hello private bathroom!) – everything else is on your own dime. We were in the suite with 2 other families. Friday night was dollar dog night and we were visited by all three of the racing Hot Dogs…I’ll tell you now that Ketchup is very sweet and Mustard is a prankster!

Mark was “attacked” by Onion and Ketchup as he ate his second Dollar Dog. Not awkward at all to be eating
hot dogs when the Hot Dogs visit the suite.
Matilda, who is terrified of people in costume, hid in the bathroom the whole time.

The game was a good one (GRAND SLAM!), the weather was perfect and the suite had enough space and things to do to keep the kids entertained while we watched the game. (The family suite is stocked with games, puzzles and drawing materials!)

Madman preferred to watch the game inside the suite on the TV from the comfy chairs, of course.

Even Slider made a visit to the suite!

During the 7th inning we took the kids down to the Rookie Suite where they could blow off some steam while we still watched the game. Seriously, if you haven’t been to a game with little kids in the last 2 seasons, get there ASAP. The Kids Clubhouse is situated so the parents can still see the game while the kids climb, play, and craft.

Seventh Inning Stretch

When we got back up to to the suite the real surprise of the night happened. We were going to watch the post-game fireworks from a dugout! As soon as the game ended we gathered up our stuff and hustled down to the field with strict instructions to stay off the grass.

After some family photographs on the field we went into the (sunflower seed shell covered) dugout. It was then that the Mets ball boy (it think it was their ball boy), who was getting something from the dugout, handed Madman a game ball! Mark was just over the moon. The kids were excited because “cool! a ball!” – they have no idea how awesome it is that they got a game ball while in the dugout after a MLB game.

Soon the fireworks started and we had the best seats in the house, hands down.

The entire night was unforgettable. We had such a fantastic time with the Tribe. There are 11 home games left as they chase the postseason. Tickets start at just $10 and you can always apply to be in the Social Suites.

I applied for and was granted access to the Family Social Suite. I was not asked to post about the game nor was I given any compensation. I just wanted to write about a fantastic night with the Tribe.

Sky Zone Westlake Review and Giveaway

August 29, 2013kakakakaty 19 Comments

UPDATE: Congratulations to lucky number 1: Ashley, who won the 4 1-hour passes. Please check your email!

Disclosure: I was invited to bring my family to Sky Zone Westlake to try it out for free but I was not compensated for this post. As always, my thoughts are 100% my own. I only share events that my family plans to attend or has attended in the past, so I know they are worth the visit.

Awhile back, one of my favorite bloggers mentioned taking her boys to an indoor trampoline park and I thought “OMG that sounds so cool! Cleveland needs one of those”. Fast forward to this summer and now we do! And let me tell you, it’s a blast!

Sky Zone Westlake opened in July and it has not taken long for the word to get out. In fact, the first time we made the trip, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the parking lot was overflowing with parked cars lining the street surrounding the brand new facility. We didn’t even try to go in that day. We came back another weekend, bright and early on a Saturday morning. We arrived when they opened at 9:00 AM and basically had the place to ourselves.

Sky Zone Jump Shoes – they are required to jump and included in the price.
Don’t forget your socks!

I opted not to jump due to an old knee injury (torn ACL) that makes me scared to jump. But Mark and the kids took no time to check it all out. From the open jump area (a floor of trampolines, with trampoline walls) to the foam pit, they ran back and forth like crazy hopping frogs.

Sorry for the blur – the kids never stood still!

I was worried that at age 3.5, Madman would have a hard time. I didn’t need to worry. He buzzed around enjoying all the features. Our only problem with him was keeping him from sitting down on the trampolines (against the rules) and running along the padded edges (blue strips between the trampolines – also against the rules). I think for a regular day, age 3-3.5 may be as young as you want to go. But they just started a toddler time which sounds be perfect for the littles as parents are allowed on the pads to supervise. Madman found his true love in the foam pit. That dude spent most of the hour flinging himself into the pit then climbing back out.

The pit is so fun, even Mark did a few dives.
Madman loved it even though he did sometimes struggle to get out of the pit, but there was
always a Sky Zone employee there to give him a hand.

One last thing – while a 30 minute ($10) or even 60 minute ($14) session doesn’t sound that long, my kids could only jump for about 10 minutes at a time before having to take a break. They were wiped out after an hour. Even Mr. Marathon Runner Mark was tired and sore the next day. This place is going to be awesome this winter – a perfect place to get the energy out!

The facility was clean, they had friendly, helpful staff and they offer all kinds of programs – from dodgeball, SkySlam Basketball and SkyRobics (fitness classes on the trampoline floor) to teen nights and birthday parties. There are quarter-operated lockers for your stuff, a snack bar, and lots of areas to sit and watch (or rest!)

View from upper viewing area and the private party room

Tips for when you visit Sky Zone Westlake:
1) bring your socks!
2) go close to opening time for less crowds
3) fill out your waiver before you go to save time
4) bring quarters to stash your stuff in the lockers.

Ready to give it a try? One reader will win passes for one (1) hour jump time for a family of four (4). All you need to do is visit Sky Zone’s website and tell me in comments what you want to try out or why you want to go OR tweet the following phrase and leave a comment letting me know you tweeted: I want to jump at @SkyZoneWestlake thanks to @kakaty : http://wp.me/p3i9i6-Fw

One comment/entry per person, winner will be selected on Friday, September 6.

Weekend Recap: A Date with our Girl Edition

June 11, 2013kakakakaty 2 Comments

Oh what a weekend…

It started out as usual with our summer Saturday ritual of heading to Shaker Square for breakfast at the Farmer’s Market. We get most of our meat, eggs and cheese at the market in the summers, along with produce. The first local strawberries were the excitement of the day and consumed quickly. The kids were also thrilled that Donut Lab was there and chowed down on freshly made donuts loaded with powdered sugar.

Then Matilda and I headed to a graduation party on the far west side of town. The honoree is someone I’ve known for at least 16 years…I babysat for her when she was just 2 years old and now she’s heading to my alma mater. To make me feel even older, one of the guests was a girl I coached in soccer while I was a college student. She was 9 when I coached her, she now has her masters degree and is working at a nearby university! Oh, how old I feel!

The party was at Huntington Beach and while the weather wasn’t the best, the beach was sunny and warm enough for some fun. Huntington is one of the best beaches in the area (side note: I’m so thrilled that the Metroparks is taking over the management of six lakefront parks. Such fantastic news for everyone!) so Matilda played with the other kids while I quickly found a handful of pretty beach glass.

Sunday was the big day of the weekend and something that Matilda had been looking forward to for 2 weeks: her date with Mark and me. While we often take the kids out for one-on-one time it’s rare that one kid gets to spend time with the two of us. Matilda had earned an outing and this was her choice. So we got a sitter for Madman and headed out on our adventure. She, of course, picked Noodlecat for her lunch so we started off with some ramen and steam bun and ended with a delicious push-up.

From there we explored the town – checking out the film set, driving through the Flats to see all the bridges, ending up in Ohio City. I wanted to walk around to try to find the iconic spot where so many people get photos taken with the skyline as a background. We had no luck (although, thanks to Ashley, next time I know where to go) but had fun walking around and being goofy.

After posing in front of the mural above we checked out the Ohio City Farm and walked around for a bit. It’s so neat to see the farm there, right in the heart of the city and neighborhood, doing so much good for so many people. Hopefully next time we’re back the farm stand will be open.

Before we got to the car to head home we popped in the Glass Bubble Project to look around. Greeted by a friendly chicken and the nicest artists you’d ever meet, we watched as they started work on a new piece. Matilda can’t wait to go back, but only when “it’s winter so I don’t get sweaty”. It would be so fun for her and Mark to take a class there together!

We had a really great time, hanging out with our almost-first-grader, even though there were several times I felt anxious, like I was forgetting something. Not having Madman around was odd and it seems as if a piece of us was missing. But, Matilda talked about her date all night – how her dad always opened her door for her and took care of her.

Sunday evening, as Mark started cooking up some burgers, a girl on our street asked if Matilda could come play in their sprinkler. Even thought it was dinner time we let her go – I’ve never seen her get into a bathing suit so fast! She played while Mark cooked and Madman, Mark and I had dinner. Of course, we couldn’t keep him away from the fun so he got fully soaked in his clothes. Exactly how a summer evening should be!

How was your weekend?

Cheering at the Cleveland Marathon

May 22, 2013kakakakaty 5 Comments

This past Sunday was the Cleveland Marathon, and while Mark was not running it, we knew several people who were – including my friend Vin and twitter friends Jenna and Michelle. This was going to be the first time Mark would be on the spectator side of things since he started running, which was interesting. As I said before, this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve cheered at several marathons in many cities.

The entire week before I kept saying “We need to make our plans for Sunday” and he’d kind of shrug and say, “we will”. Ha. He’s never done this before so I didn’t push. On Saturday I dug out a couple of my laminated signs and got poster board to make a few more.

FINALLY, on Saturday night after the kids were in bed we started to plan our cheer attack. We pulled up the course map, Google maps, a list of road closings, and cheering stations. Of course each one of these bits of information were on different webpages – the Cleveland Marathon site wasn’t much help. We did find that Cleveland.com had a good resource page with links for everything we needed.

Race-spectator planning, more complicated than you’d think it would be.

By the time we had it done (nearly 2 hours later) Mark was tired and a bit shocked at how much effort it took. But, before we went to bed we had our bags packed, signs made and route plotted.

Bright and early on Sunday morning we loaded up the kids and headed to Tremont. We easily parked behind Sokolowski’s and set up at the corner of W 13th and Abbey just before the 10-mile marker. This was a GREAT spot to see both full and half runners. Easy to get to, there were other people cheering nearby and shade was plentiful if you wanted it. It was also pretty easy to see they runners as the came around the corner from W 11th.

One of my favorite cheer signs ever – always gets laughs

We saw Vin who was in great spirits and gave us high fives and a very sweaty hug. Having not ever met Jenna in real life, every woman with a green tank top on got a good look over. When we saw her she was on the other side of the road so we burst into shouts of “Go Jenna” and I waved her sign around above my head.

Once we saw Jenna and Vin and Mark got to see some of his running mates, we packed up our things and headed to our next spot at E 40th and Chester at mile 16. Again, having planned our route the night before, it was easy to get to this spot. We found street parking on 40th and walked 2 blocks to a shaded cheering spot. This was a pretty good place to cheer with easy access to parking just a couple of blocks away. The kids were hungry so we set them up with snacks, mounted a sign on the stroller and started cheering.

The stroller hasn’t been used in a year, but came in handy on Sunday

I must say that it was here that I started to feel sad about how my city appeared during this marathon. There was a pile of rubble in the road right in front of us and a half a block down there was tire debris strewn near the curb. We were near a cross street that had weak traffic control so people were zooming across in front of runners even though the intersection was closed. Those that did stop to turn around weren’t given good instructions about how to get around and often ended up back at the stop sign confused and angry about being stuck. The lack of thought about things like sweeping the streets and providing clear directional signage just makes Cleveland look amateurish compared to other marathons.

Vin, looking good just over halfway through his first marathon

Random rubble pile, in the running lane of the street – not cool, Cleveland!

After Vin and the others went by we carted our stuff back to the car to head to our final destination: E 33rd and St. Clair at 24.5 miles. After getting stuck in a parking lot-like traffic on E 55th (I couldn’t see but I don’t think they had any alternative route for traffic where St. Clair was closed – nothing was moving at all except for cars turning around to head back north. It was a mess), we finally got to Hamilton which runs parallel to St. Clair and parked in a lot facing the course at the corner of 33rd. This was an AWESOME spot. You can literally tailgate from your car here. This should be an “official cheering station” next year.

I made this sign after Mark lost his first toenail. Runners are gross.

It was brutally hot and there wasn’t anyone else cheering nearby and I felt awful for the runners. They were coming up a long, hot stretch of nothingness – mostly empty storefronts and warehouses with no shade anywhere. I also couldn’t believe that there were large box trucks parked on the street here that the runners had to run around. Again – couldn’t the Marathon Organization do something to clear the side of the street the runners were on? This intersection did have a more forceful guy directing traffic (“Get off your phone and get the hell off my street!”) but there were still some close calls as idiots played chicken with the runners. It wasn’t until a cop showed up that the cars stopped going across the course.

Outtake of photo above, but it shows people being stupid

About 70% of the runners were walking through here. We were cheering and reminding them they were less than 2 miles to the finish, trying to keep them going. Lots of them had cramps… lots of them were complaining about the heat, the many potholes and the boring route. “I hate this course!” was heard often. I felt so bad for them – we kept reminding them a water station was just ahead.

I finally saw Vin walking and I walked out to meet him. He was cramping pretty badly and was drenched in sweat. I walked with him for a block then Mark ran/walked with him for the next mile. On his way back to us Mark saw his friend Michelle, also walking, so he joined her for a bit.

Michelle aka “RunnerMommy” – drove up from Cincinnati and ran a marathon with bronchitis. BAD. ASS.

By the time he got back the kids were D.O.N.E. and were waiting in the car. It was close to noon so we took off for home, getting the finish results via text on our phones.

It was a fun day and I’m thrilled to have been able to cheer on our friends, and make a few other runners smile with our signs. But, overall, I was kind of disappointed in my city. I was dismayed to hear of injuries due to un-marked potholes or broken concrete. I was sad to see the debris on the road and trash on the sidewalks where we cheered. And disheartened to see so few cheering on the sidelines (compared to what I’ve seen in Columbus, Cincinnati and other towns). No, Cleveland will never be Chicago, Baltimore or the Twin Cities – all known for their scenery or great crowds – but we can at least send the street sweepers through the course and do more to encourage a crowd.

We’re better than this, Cleveland! There are 360 days until the 2014 Cleveland Marathon…. Put May 18, 2014 on your calendar now and join me on the sidelines to cheer!

How to Cheer at a Marathon

May 21, 2013kakakakaty 6 Comments

I’m not a runner. I never will be. I tried it for a while but I hated it. But ever since Mark started the C25K program nearly 3 years ago, he’s been addicted. That means the kids and I have cheered at a LOT of races – 5k, 10k, half and full marathons – we’ve done them and I have a few tips for anyone who wants become a professional run spectator like me. I probably should have posted this last week, before the Cleveland Marathon, but now you’ll know what to do the next time a crazy friend or family member says they are running a “mary”.

Cheering with my cousin & his family at the Oktoberfest Half in Grand Haven, MI

Here’s what I take when I cheer, especially with the kids:

Snacks – race cheering is all about waiting for hours to watch someone run by in 30 seconds. Snacks and drinks are a must.
Noise makers – it doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s noisy take it. We usually take 2 cowbells with us. Side note: why are cowbells a marathon tradition? Just to be obnoxious? This time I also took a tambourine (from the toy box), in the past I’ve taken whistles, maracas and once, a harmonica.
Something visual – pompoms are always in our bag. Small flags work, too.
SIGNS – of course make them for all of your friends running. But make some generic ones for runners to enjoy why you’re waiting. They really do like them. My other tip is to laminate a few with clear contact paper – this will protect them from rain & water stations and makes them sturdy enough to keep for a few races. (You’ll see some sign repeats in the photos).
Course Map – this is critical, especially when the races’ website crashes on race day (cough *CLE Marathon* cough)
Distractions – race spectating is a hurry-up-and-wait game. It can also be totally boring. Take a book, a phone, and if you have kids with you, toys. They will save you.
Camera – I don’t lug my big camera with me because I’d rather cheer when I see my runner then have a camera in my face. I do, however, try to snap a shot or two on my phone or a point and shoot.
Pack all of this in a backpack and wear comfortable shoes. You’ll likely be hoofing it for several blocks at each cheering spot. Take a stroller for little kids.

Cheering at the Shaker Father’s Day 5k

Cheering with friends is best – at the Blossom Time Run with the ClassyChaos Crew

When it comes to long races (half-marathons and above), I like to move around and catch my runner(s) a few places on the course. Here’s what I do pre-race.

Print course map and look at recommended cheering spots. Almost every long race will have some “official cheer stations” and these can give you a good idea of where you can easily part near the course. I don’t normally cheer at these official spots, but go a mile or so on either side.
Find 3-4 areas I want to cheer that are 5-7 miles apart, which gives me about 35-60 minutes to get from place to place. (Unless your runner is crazy-fast, then you’ll have to scale back to 2-3 areas).
SCOUT YOUR CHEERING SPOTS. This is critical – something that Mark learned this past weekend. Where can you park? What streets will be closed? What’s the best route from A to B; can I walk or should I ride? I can spend more than an hour pouring over Google Maps looking for parking, access to public restrooms, and how everything interconnects. Don’t forget to look for a list of road-closures in the area. Even better – drive the course the day before and find your spots – I do this for out of town races so I can learn the area a little better.
Print driving maps for each section (i.e. map from cheering spot A to cheering spot B) AND have a phone/gps with you on race day in case you run into any obstacles.
Sign up for up for text alerts so you know where your runners are on the course. You’ll start to get anxious without these updates… remember that even if you know their usual pace, they may be slow for the first few miles before the pack thins out.

Finish line cheering at the Perfect 10-Miler

Race Day!

Have your runner(s) text you a photo of what they are wearing that day. This gives you something to look for in the herd of runners. This was critical for me finding Jenna on Sunday.
If you are cheering with a group, you can all wear matching shirts, hats, headbands – something for your runner to look for.
Let your runner know where you will be. I’m not talking exact locations, but “somewhere between miles 9 and 11” will give them something to look forward to.
Dress in layers – most races start early when it’s chilly but warm up fast. And don’t forget your sunscreen!
If you want to see your runner cross the finish line make sure you arrive at least 35 minutes before you anticipate them crossing. This is the most crowded area, it’s hardest to find parking and people will be jockeying for space on the curb.
CHEER! Cheer for everyone – shake those noisemakers and randomly yell encouragement. Many runners have their names written on their shirts so use it when you cheer.

Cheering at the Flying Pig Marathon with my parents

Cleveland Fall Classic Half Marathon cheering squad – this one is ALWAYS cold!

That’s about it. All my knowledge about being a good cheerleader for the runners in your life. Have something to add? Put it in comments!

Coming soon… our Cleveland Marathon Cheer Experience.

Ka-Ka-Ka-Katy

a 30-something mom, wife, daughter, sister, woman in Cleveland

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Author: kakakakaty