Women in Student Affairs

I really enjoyed my day today...and not just because I got out of work for a couple of hours.

Today there was a little get-together on campus to celebrate the women in the Student Affairs division. I get a kick out of celebrating the contribution of women. I also felt like I was part of a little family--sappy, I know. I've come to know a lot of people on this dear campus of ours and if I didn't know them, then they knew my husband. I also love being part of the fitness side of our campus. As I was talking to my husband about it I told him I felt thin just by hanging out with them--just as he was about to ask if I felt thin by association. It was a really weird feeling--two of them were arguing about who was skinnier (playfully) and instead of feeling horrible and self conscious, I felt healthy and confident.

After the celebration in our honor, we headed back over to the other side of campus to visit the tables our Wellness program set up for a "Safe Spring Break". We tried on the beer goggles and just had an all around good time. I guess the thing I'm happiest about is that I'm feeling more of a bond between my coworkers and myself. Makes me happy. :o)

An aside: I didn't eat anything at the get-together...and didn't even feel like I was missing out. I just kept thinking about how my stomach would protest afterward. How much you wanna bet I see some weight loss from this? Ha!

Bathroom re-do

But first!...I bought skyscraper sunflower seeds today. I decided that instead of spending lots o' money this year on vegetable plants that never produce anything, I'll see if I can manage sunflowers. I'm starting them inside, so hopefully they'll have a fighting chance.

Another something cool: the house below ours finally got cleaned up. Think of the typical redneck...that's who lived in this house. It was quite sad because their next door neighbors actually have a very nice house--I'd always say to C, "I'm so glad we don't live next to them." We live above them and that was bad enough. They moved a bunch of concrete bags into the back yard and then left them--their dogs tore them up & it rained on them. Strange. I saw as many as four dogs & 2 cats there. I also saw them beat their dogs. Trash EVERYWHERE. A car that never moved, with among other things, a vacuum cleaner sitting on top. I actually had the huevos to knock on their door once when my dogs got out. Not pleasant. I imagined a house full of animal urine & feces. At any rate, there'd been no activity there for quite some time...since last summer or fall maybe. And then the other day as I was driving home I saw some men cleaning all the junk up...wearing masks. I was overjoyed. I still am. I go outside just to peer down & see how clean it is now. I have no idea how the clean up happened or if it'll go up for sale now. I do know, however, that their next door neighbor's house is now up for sale.

Now on to the real reason for this post: I'm full of brilliant ideas that cost moolah. It just came to me while I was sitting on the couch today. Let's do a black & white bathroom! And ya know what? C loved the idea! Which means I get the go-ahead! (I always get the go-ahead.)

Here's what I'm thinking for the floor:



I'd like to do black & white tile, but more subdued like this kitchen, not dance floor black & white.

With the shower curtain I can go one of two ways: either a subdued black & white like this...


Or a beautiful damask like this:


It really depends on if I do a damask accent wall:


If I'm able to find that kind of wallpaper, I'll go with a simple black and white shower curtain.

And something like this (that adds a punch of color) will go on the wall above the toilet:

I'm not quite sure about the wall color as of yet. Bright white? Muted gray? Definitely not black. Our current toilet is beige, so we'll have to buy a new white toilet. :o) Dual flush?? Definitely. Maybe. White vessel sink a must. Black cabinet.

The next two pictures are pretty close to what I envision:



I hope we get some big money back on our tax return!

Fructose Malabsorption

...is what I'm diagnosing myself as having. It's a problem of the small intestine that causes a concentration of fructose in the entire intestine. Which leads to some very uncomfortable stomach somersaults.

I noticed it with apples & pb&j sandwiches a while ago but never looked into it until recently. Apples & pb&j sandwiches tear my stomach up. Which I thought was weird--especially the apples.

I was trouble shooting it with my sister & I noted that my stomach doesn't get upset after I eat a banana. When I was doing research last night on what may be going on, one website said that it's not necessarily the amount of fructose in the food item but the fructose to glucose ratio. Apples and pears have a >1 fructose to glucose ratio whereas bananas have a <1>

So who knows, I may have some degree of this condition, or I may not have it all. Personally, I'm going to change my diet with the assumption that I do to see if it helps at all. I'll try anything at this point. Today I didn't eat my generic raisin bran...high fructose corn syrup (shouldn't be eating it anyway). Nor did I put jelly on my *now* pb sandwich. No applesauce with my lunch either. And amazingly enough, I did feel better today. My stomach got a little upset, but not nearly as bad as it has been. My guess is there's high fructose corn syrup in my sandwich bread (I couldn't check because I take the loaf out of the bag).

Looking at the foods to avoid, the list goes on and on. Especially fruits--the only ones listed that were okay were cumquats, limes, lemons, & something else I can't remember right now. That said, there are varying degrees of FM & I may be able to eat some things on the 'maybe avoid & avoid' lists. And watermelons! They're on the avoid list--I was thoroughly disappointed with this because they're one of my favorite fruits. I've never noticed getting an upset stomach after eating watermelon though--I'll have to experiment.

Anyway, that's my sad story.

*picture from alternativeremediesonline.com*

The season for home improvements

I can feel Spring right around the corner.

Which is cool, but also not so cool. My brain goes into over-drive with all of the things I'd like to do around the house. With money that we don't have.

• Buy cabinet pull bars (won't do this unless I find a really good deal)

This is what I want (in brushed nickel or whatever our faucet is):

• Put up a backsplash & under cabinet lighting in the kitchen (would do this before buying cabinet pulls)

I'd love to do red, but it might be a bit much for a small kitchen & probably wouldn't be good for resale.



I may end up doing something with a red accent like this:



Who am I kidding?? I'll probably go with whatever's cheapest or not do anything if I can't find anything I like for a price I like.

• Come up with a creative way to draw people to the front door instead of the back door (our drive takes you to the back of the house instead of the front). I'm pretty sure this will involve taking out a good deal of grass and replacing with plantings. If anyone knows of any solutions, I would be thrilled to know--I've searched and searched on the internet and can't find anything specifically for this problem. The easiest thing to do would be to call the back door the front door and the front door the back door.
  
• Along those same lines (& the more permanent fix to the front-back door problem) is to convert the carport to a garage. That would conceal the door and then people would have to use the front door. Don't think that will happen any time soon. Maybe not ever.
  
• Create a patio of some sort in the back to create more entertaining space and integrate the fireplace more fully.
  

This is what I'm thinking:


I can't wait to tell C...I'm sure he'll be thrilled.

Status Update

Today I feel like dancing with these guys!

Light sleeper

Bought a new alarm clock & it's sitting in my closet because it's too bright (+ you can't pick up any radio stations here). Maybe I should try this.