My right knee hurts when I walk. The joint that connects my right leg to my hip also feels odd. My lower back feels a little stiff after waking up from my afternoon nap. Generally, I can hear all the muscles in my body sarcastically say, "Ppip, good job. Really. Good job."

According to my Nike + iPod app, my running pace was at 0:06:49 per kilometer. I don't know if that's good enough or what but, hell, to me that's friggin' awesome. It was also raining the whole time so we were all soaking in the rain. I'd like to think that it helped increase the runners' stamina since our body temperatures were cooler than the usual but it was a bit uncomfortable running with every squishy step on the road.

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Rafael and I went to the nearby bike shop to check on the status of the repair of his bicycle. Actually, he didn't know that I had it fixed because I told him I threw it away. He thought it was beyond redemption. The repair guy showed Raf the "new" bike and I could see the twinkle in my boy's eyes. Too bad we couldn't take it home yet since it was another guy who knows how much we should pay for it and he wasn't there. We would have to go back tomorrow.

He already has plans for the bike. He said we ought to remove the balancers because he already knows how to bicycle without it. He also wants to paint it new. He also wants stickers. Ok. One at a time, kiddo.

But I also have plans. The reason I had it repaired is because I want my children to spend some time outdoors once in a while. Sunday afternoon picnic baskets, grass, bikes, monkey bars, sun, scratches on the knees, playground bullies and others. Last year and the years before that, everytime we take our children out we usually go to one place: the mall. I thought to myself that there is probably a better way of raising our children.

When I was young, my dad would take the whole family to the beach almost every weekend. I'd like to be able to do that to our children as well.

I'm not shutting them out of malls, don't get me wrong. For example, the best movie experiences can only be had there. It's just that maybe there are other places to spend time with the family.

Like parks. Beaches. Zoos. Lakes. Avoid malls if we can. Next weekend, we will try to hit Family Park so they can play with their bikes.

Part of the reason is that I want do Sunday runs again.

Today was just my 6-year old and I around the house and it made me realize one thing: there's just plenty of stuff lying around at home. Stuff that gets in the way, stuff that smells and stuff that I don't even know why it's there. We don't have a big house and not a lot of storage so when you have plenty of things, it gets in your nerves. And it's just not healthy, physiologically, mentally and financially.

I tweeted this today.

You have no idea what lurks in your fridge when you don't take out stale stuff once in a while. #domesticity

— Ppip Cimafranca (@rakstarppip) January 29, 2012

The fridge was a good start. There were a handful of medicine bottles, a couple of boxes of all-purpose cream and a box of cheese that already went past their expiry dates. They went straight to the trash - I made sure to pour the contents of the bottles at the sink first. For good measure, I went ahead and cleaned the trays in the fridge because it was already grimy.

There are two packs of pasta that have been there for quite a while now. I made a note in my iPad to cook them the next weekend.

Next up: toys.

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