Is Painting Considered a Workout?

With the Race for the Cure tomorrow morning, I debated running today. I thought about getting up this morning, but after finishing a run last night around nine, that was not going to happen. So, I figured I would get a  head-start on painting the basement. For those of you who don't know, David and I bought a house three years ago and have been working on it ever since. We have redone the roof, put in a new water heater and furnace, totally redone the kitchen and living room area, and are presently working on the basement. We have added a full bathroom down there and just got primer on the walls yesterday. I started painting at eight o'clock this morning and finished around six. I had a few breaks in there (contact checkup, packet pickup, lunch), but I would say I painted for at least seven hours. That being said, I'M FINISHED! The downstairs closet and main room have two fresh coats of paint. It's a great feeling to know that I never have to paint a space that large again (well, in my own house). Brother David was at our house and could have helped, but I am a bit anal when it comes to things like this; I would rather do it myself and know that it's how I want it. David was great. He encouraged me to keep going, and he cleaned up the laundry room. That doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Well, we have kind of let it go, so he had much vacuuming to do, and he also switched the washer and dryer hookups so that when the doors open, they don't hit each other. 

One corner in the basement-demolition.

Edging.

The same corner with fresh paint. (Notice the new ceiling!)

No run for me, but that's okay because I had an uber-productive day.

p.s. I know some might be wondering why I would possibly want to create a blog. I really don't have that interesting of a life, but there are some things I want to share. First of all, I like explaining my running/workouts. Secondly, I am going on a once-in-a-lifetime trip this summer and want to be able to share my experience with others who are interested. I applied for and was accepted into the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers' Education Program. I will be gone for three weeks this July and will travel to Washington D.C., Israel, Germany, and Poland. You can view last year's itinerary here and for more information, go here. Right now, I am preparing by reading. I just finished On Both Sides of the Wall, which was sent to me by the program director. Vladka Meed, the author, actually created this program. She lived in the Warsaw Ghetto but was able to escape and live on the "Aryan side," acting as a liaison between resistors in the ghetto and resistors on the outside. Currently, I am reading The Nazi Conscience by Claudia Koonz. Koonz takes a look at what life was like in Germany leading up to and while Hitler was in power. Jim Russell lent me a book called All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein that I finished a few weeks ago. I will comment on the Holocaust and my experiences as I travel, but one thing I have noticed in my reading is the consistent mention of citizens and countries doing absolutely nothing. It wasn't that the German Nazi Party had an abundance of support; it was that no one was willing to stand up to them. Victims could only do so much, and they thought for sure that their neighbors and friends (and democratic countries) would be outraged at their treatment. However, support came from few people and it was quite far between.