Posted on

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS (OUT YOUR WATER HEATER)

Last week I had a series of bad luck events that culminated in spending around $1.6k on a new water heater and – most unfortunately – on a new floor underneath the water heater. 🙁 🙁 🙁

Here is the sequence of events:

  1. Had to call the sheriff’s department Saturday morning to report an alarm going off at my neighbor’s house… alarm woke me up at like 7:15 a.m. and didn’t turn off for over an hour. I was very sad as this prevented me from sleeping in. However, silver lining – was up early enough in the morning to go to the oft-too-crowded grocery store (Sprouts – the parking there is atrocious) without incident
  2. <redacted extended family matter>
  3. Sunday evening I was in the master bathroom puttering around and heard water running. The water heater is next to the bathroom in a closet that opens on the outside of the house. I checked the bathroom faucets and was like, ohhhh…. nooooooo. And went outside and looked in the closet and sure as shit, the water heater was leaking from the top and the whole floor was flooded about an inch. There was a drain and the water was going out there but everything was wet. FROWNY FACE. I turned the water off to the house to stop the leak and there wasn’t much else I could do besides go drown my sorrows in pizza and discuss the <redacted extended family matter> with my mom.
  4. The next day the plumbers came out and removed the water heater. Advised that the floor was ruined so they couldn’t install the new heater. Which was sitting in my carport. So we stowed the new heater in my shed for the time being while I started to call around to see if one of my maintenance guys could replace the floor. The plumbers restored water to the house, but only cold. This meant that I could do laundry, shower, flush, etc. but no hot water and no dishwasher, which runs off the hot water line. SORROW AND DISMAY
  5. Was able to schedule the maintenance company for Friday.
  6. Friday morning discovered a broken mirror in one of my eyeshadow pallets. Could this be the source of my misery?? 
  7. Was stuck at work till almost 7 on Friday completing a project. While finishing it up, my guy called to let me know that the floor work was done. Yay!
  8. Got home and admired the new plywood floor. The old one was MDF. Who does that???! Particle board underneath a water heater? WTF.
  9. Unfortunately, they called too late to schedule the plumber, so on Monday morning called and they were able to get out that afternoon. I had already missed a bunch of work (it felt like… only like 3 hours) due to this so I had my mom meet them out there and they were able to install.
  10. While my mom was at my house she cleaned my whole kitchen. Moms are amazing!

So, I’m back up and running with hot water and ran the dishwasher and had a couple of warm showers (I was starting to get used to the cold showers… TBH my hair LOVED this – so shiny looking!). Last night I partially cleaned out the fridge… the garbage can was too small to hold it all so that project is on hold till next week. I’m starting the big spring cleaning project I didn’t have energy for in the spring.

This upcoming weekend I have 2.5 days off and to myself (office closes at 1 on Friday and I have absolutely no plans, hurrah!) so I shall try to not be a complete hobo and keep up with my projects. I pulled out the binding machine the other night with the plan to bind a couple of knitting pattern ebooks I purchased.

I also think I may be mentally ready to tackle the studio.

Maybe.

Posted on

PODCASTS – WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

Cacti with a message on Morro Rock

In April, my sister and I drove down the Pacific Coast to LA on a several day road trip where we visited Hearst Castle, Morro Bay, Catalina Island, and Harry Potter world at Universal. One of the suggestions my sister had was to listen to podcasts along the way. My suggestion was to listen to the Backstreet Boys.

(I never claimed to have sophisticated taste in music, okay? Losing hipster cred here.)

She asked me for suggestions on podcasts she could download which I thought was funny because I had never listened to one before. I had, of course, heard of This American Life and Serial and a few others, but the format didn’t really interest me much. Coincidentally I had just read an article about S-Town so that was my suggestion.

Morro Rock with seagulls fighting the wind

She came armed with several podcasts she thought I might like besides S-Town. Undisclosed, The Art of Charm, Sawbones, Stuff You Missed in History and maybe some others. So we listened to those during the trip. My heart belonged to S-Town though, a story about a maybe-murder that turned into an examination of a life cut short by mental illness.

By the time we got home, we had a couple of episodes left of S-Town so I downloaded the BeyondPod app to finish listening to it. I also downloaded a couple more episodes of Sawbones and Stuff You Missed in History, and started listening on my commute(s) which are generally around 30 minutes each way, the perfect podcast length.

While I would not say I’m obsessed, it has definitely become part of my week. Here’s what I’ve been listening to!

Hearst Castle from the Veranda below

CURRENT FAVORITES

The Nerdist Podcast – I can only take Chris Hardwick in small doses on TV but I actually find him quite appealing on the podcast. I particularly enjoyed the recent Elijah Wood episode as well as the one with Trey Parker (of South Park fame/infamy)

Criminal – This one has bite sized (30 mins or less) stories of weird tales of crimes. Start with episode 51 where a woman learns her identity was stolen… but then years later learns who did it.

Tom & Lorenzo’s Pop Style Opinion Fest – I don’t listen to all of TLo’s podcasts but they always have interesting things to say about pop culture and television. Most recently I enjoyed their discussions on “Peak TV” and their deep dive on Game of Thrones.

Mind Body Green Podcast – I just started listening to this one so I’m only a couple eps in, but the ones I’ve listened to so far (interviews with Melissa Hartwig of Whole30 fame and Califia Farms founder Greg Stehltenpohl) are really interesting. Those particular interviews had an entrepreneurial bent and really flowed well.

Lore – really well produced historical background on urban myths and legends.

The Chris & Sam Podcast – Shout out to my long-time internet friend Sam! Started listening to this a while back and as a shallow American, I just love listening to New Zealand accents. These guys talk about a lot of different, random topics, and are pretty funny – and the length is just the right amount for a commute. And did I mention the accents? 😉

The beach near the marina in Santa Barbara

HONORABLE MENTIONS

One-offs or series I don’t listen to very often but are still entertaining or interesting.

S-Town – I mentioned it above but I can’t express enough how much I got into listening to this one. In a way, I wish it hadn’t been the first one I listened to because the production quality is so good and raised the bar for others that I’ve tried. It also raises some great questions such as – was it too intrusive on its subject matter and should it have even been made? One of the things I found so engrossing about it was how it started off being one thing but at the end of the second episode it just pivoted into something else entirely. Even months after I listened to it I still think of John B. Macklemore

30 for 30 Podcasts – I have only just started listening to this one (not through the first ep yet) but the production values are spot on and the topics interesting. I thoroughly enjoy their TV documentaries on ESPN and if you haven’t watched their epic OJ: Made in America (one of the finest documentaries I’ve ever seen… and I’ve seen approximately one million) then you are missing out. I’m looking forward to listening to the podcast and have high hopes for it!

CG Garage: Episode 131 – Interview with my cousin regarding his career as a VFX and matte painter in Hollywood. It was interesting to hear my cousin talk about his career and the industry. Over the years it’s sort of like, oh yeah, whatever, but this really shone a light on all the hard work he’s done to get where he is today – having a proud cousin moment, haha!

Sawbones – husband (comedian) and wife (doctor) duo discussing weird medical history as well as topical items in a humorous and accessible way.

Stuff You Missed in History Class – the title is self explanatory. I particularly enjoyed the episode about the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

And that’s about it for now! I will likely revisit this in the future as I listen to more. And possibly at some point my sister and I will go on another trip where I will be exposed to other podcasts. If you have any other recommendations please leave me a comment and I’ll check it out!

Posted on

WHOLE30 #4 AND WHY I KEEP DOING THESE

Some of my favorite Whole30 meals I cooked in January

I’m currently on Day 11 of my fourth Whole30 and the last couple days I’ve been questioning my sanity. At this point, I generally know what foods are not my friends, but it’s still good to reorient, especially after a vacation in which there may or may not have been cake available practically 24/7.

***To be honest, it’s actually not that hard to stay healthy on a cruise. Yes, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. I don’t drink that much, so a few beverages over the course of a week (I think I bought four plus had some at the wedding reception) was really my main concession to ridiculous behavior. At our meals, I made the attempt to always have some sort of salad or veg, and often stuck with meats and potatoes and the like. I honestly don’t think I ate a single noodle!

Anyway, so after traveling through the Caribbean and having a (birthday) month of not eating so great, I knew that a summer Whole30 was in the cards in order to get myself back on track. I’ve found that doing these every six months or so has been very beneficial to my mental health because even though last weekend I wanted to eat ALLLLL the Pop Tarts, I generally have a sunnier disposition and am less crabby when I’m eating clean and healthy. Which – hmmm. 😉

So some of the things that I’ve learned while doing these include the following:

  • Milk and liquid dairy (sour cream, half&half, etc) are in generally not my friends. I seem to be able to eat cheese in general, in particular everyone’s favorite processed cheese, American… and cheddar. I don’t miss milk at all as I stopped drinking it years ago but I was definitely worried about cheese!
  • I do better when I eat low FODMAP as that seems to affect bloating and stomach pain. The things I’ve noticed that affect me are Brussels sprouts (*sob*), cauliflower when eating a lot of it (*sob* x 2) and a fair amount of fruit (no big deal, I don’t love fruit). I am still experimenting with this as there are a lot of items on the high FODMAP list that do not affect me such as beans, but definitely processed wheat products.
  • Bread and processed wheat products can be my enemy. Not all bread, but some. I find it gives me heartburn and sometimes contributes to stomach issues. I in general do not eat much bread in my day-to-day life and have not for some time, but I also have cut back on noodle products and am trying out various gluten-free noodles with mixed results. Gluten-free noodles are kind of lame. I don’t necessarily think I have a problem with gluten, I think it’s the processing and possibly the type of wheat we use here in the US, but since I have no immediate plans to go to Europe to test my hypothesis on the different strains of wheat, I shall continue to endeavor. 😛
  • Sugar… eesh. I generally don’t have a lot of it in the house but I do love chocolate and I especially love fruit gummy candies, and I SUPER heart So Delicious Cashew Milk ice cream. And coffee creamer. I have mostly been able to wean myself off sugary coffee creamer but I do love my sugary coffee beverages so much. :/
  • I absolutely ADORE munching on things like crackers and chips (inc. plantain chips) and this is a habit I need to try to break. I mean, it’s as simple as not buying these things but a salad is not a snack to me, nor is fruit. Crunchy things are! (I’ve never really been a nut person.) :/
  • Rice and corn have no effect on me and I shall continue to eat them if not with abandon, then with relish.

It’s good to know what affects me and what my weaknesses are. I am still working on my so-called “food freedom” and it will continue to be a work in progress. But I improve every day (hey, didn’t eat those Pop Tarts, right? …only because I couldn’t find them, tbh… still that’s a win!) so who knows where I’ll be in a year.