Friday, February 05, 2010

favorite thing friday

I recently read a blog where the author has, in all of the 27 years that she has lived in the same exact house, never once rearranged her furniture. I can't even imagine that...

When I was growing up, my mother would rearrange our furniture at least once a month. Sometimes I'd walk in and wonder if I was in the right house, because nothing looked familiar.

Since then, I've come to believe that rearranging furniture is good for you. Unless you try to take it upon yourself to push a 300-pound wall unit using only your legs and strain a muscle.

There's just something about the change that is so invigorating. It shakes things up and shoos away stagnancy. Rearranging furniture not only gives a room a whole new feel, it provides an excellent opportunity to clean behind the couch and beneath beds and dressers.

Last month, or last week - I can hardly keep track anymore - we moved all of the tables out of our "kitchen" area and threw down a big area rug. We now eat in what was once our "family room", but is now our "dining room", that space located immediately next to our "kitchen" area.

(Got that?)

Having this extra space in the kitchen has been great. The kids will drag their beanbags in and lounge around while we prepare meals and wash dishes. And since we've been without a #&^#@#% dishwasher for six days, we're spending even more time than we usually do, in the kitchen area.

Washing a multitude of dishes. By hand.

A few years ago, one of my extremely fit co-workers told me that she would spend 20 minutes a day running on a small trampoline. According to her, this was a great cardio work out and great fun, the perfect combination. So this past Christmas, because I've been looking for an easy way to get some aerobic activity in to my every day, Santa brought me the kids a small trampoline.

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NOW, instead of the kids jumping on the couch - they jump on their trampoline. And since we've got extra space in the kitchen, we pull the trampoline out whenever we're making dinner - or washing dishes - and the kids enjoying being near us as they take turns jumping and launching themselves in to their bean bag chairs.

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What I love most about this little trampoline is that I can get in a great aerobic workout any time I want, without leaving the house. Jumping on a trampoline is less likely to hurt an unsuspecting child that wanders in to your path like a jump rope, and I can do it while I'm talking to the kids - watching American Idol (yay!) - or catching up with Charlie.

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Important things to notice in this picture that perfectly captures our lives: Bunny is no more than a foot from Elizabeth. The highly imaginative William is pretending to be something. In this case, a jock with arm weights. And Henry is running around in the buff. Whoa. Is that a box of brownies on the counter?

Why, I never!

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The trampoline that we own is rated to 200 pounds and was received fully assembled, with the exception of the legs which simply needed to be attached. (This looks similar but I don't know if it's the same brand. Ours doesn't have a label on it.) Charlie loves jumping on the trampoline and was very surprised that he got such an intense aerobic workout. He was even more surprised when his legs were wobbly the next day.

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(Santa also brought one of these for Christmas which nearly killed us.)

I love jumping on the trampoline. I'll run, do jumping jacks, and throw in some "twist" moves. Within five minutes, my heart is beating out of my chest, I can hardly carry on a conversation and my brow is dripping in sweat.

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Not only is jumping on a trampoline a good aerobic workout, if you're coordinated enough, you can even add a little weight resistance.

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I think it's important to have good muscle strength since you never know when you might feel compelled to move a 300-pound wall unit by yourself.

16 comments:

  1. So know what you mean about moving the wall unit with your legs. I've been known to do that.

    Unfortunately my next re-arranging scheme involves moving furniture from the upstairs to the down and Hubby has emphatically informed me that he doesn't want to me involved. Hmmmm, wonder if some brownies might induce him....

    That little trampoline looks like so much fun!

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  2. That's actually a really great idea!

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  3. Some things never change. I am still moving the furniture all over the place. Jim never knows where to sit down and has to look behind him before he sits.
    MOM

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  4. LOVE the mini trampoline idea and of course the FIRST thing I noticed was the brownie box mix sitting on the counter - I'm a true, blue chocoholic :)

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  5. You look fanatstic! That side-on photo of you on the trampoline... geez if only I could look that great!

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  6. Could I interrupt this post for just a second to announce that I JUST SAW CHARLIE ON SUPERNANNY!!!

    WOOT! WOOT! Great job Charlie!!!

    XOXO AM

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  7. I haven't moved my furniture around in fourteen years. Is that bad? You've seen me on a trampoline!!!! I wonder if I can tell Greg to find me one for $2 at a garage sale?

    Okay, one hour until Charlie is on!

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  8. Oh, and just had to add that my mother always moved the furniture around, which made my dad go crazy!

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  9. Watching Charlie on supernanny RIGHT NOW! So much fun! He did so good!!

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  10. DANG! I caught the final credits of SuperNanny and thought "was this the week Charlie was on?"
    DANG DANG DANG

    I move my furniture every few months - it evens out the traffic wear on the carpet. My great grandmother moved hers so often, her children took her furniture out of her house and had wheels (brass casters) put on it so she could wheel it around the room. She was 80 years old and still moving that furniture. We have great furniture scooters from Menards that make things slide across the carpet.

    I'm buying a mini trampoline next month.

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  11. OMG. Watching now. WOW. WOW. WOW. Haven't seen Charlie yet, but WOW. All I can think is what in the heck is she feeding them. Cut the red dye. CUT THE RED DYE.

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  12. Where in the heck were the life jackets? Ugh. I'm freaking out here and I wasn't even there.

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  13. Life jackets?! I had NO idea what you meant when I first read your post - you were ahead of me watching the show. But now I get it. The scene at the beach? That was one high tide!!

    See, you're thinking what are they eating? And I'm thinking why aren't the kids sleeping more??? To me, it all comes back to GOOD SLEEP. When our kids sleep well - they act well. And when they don't sleep well ... holy hell in a hand basket!!!!

    That was a GREAT SHOW. I can't wait to write ALL ABOUT IT tomorrow. But as a teaser, I am SO proud of that family for putting it ALL out there. That was no easy thing to throw down the cards and say, "HELP. Where's the emergency exit?!"

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  14. Jen- I hope you write about how they went to a church group that advocated beating their children with a wooden spoon. You know who that is? That is the Pearls. I've written about that before.

    http://fourtimesthefun.blogspot.com/2006/11/sparing-rod-over-here.html

    Yeah, I agree that there was some major sleeping issues going on in that household. But it broke my heart to hear a child tell her parents over and over that she hated them. I am so glad I had my "extra" child last because he never had to adjust to being in with a bunch of kids. It was just his life.

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  15. That looks like so much fun! Go Jen!

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