Tag Archives: Water

What’s YOUR Favorite Kind of Pie?

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1. If you had to retrieve your birth certificate right now, how long would it take before you had it in hand?

The length of time it would take me to drive home, walk up the stairs, and open the drawer. So about 15-20 minutes, depending on traffic.

2. Do you drink enough water?

Yes. I drink 100-120 ounces a day (sometimes even more). Any less, and I’m thirsty.

3. What are your thoughts on bottled water?

Don’t like individual bottled water as it’s such a waste of resources. Is it really THAT hard to refill a reusable bottle? I don’t mind the 5-gallon type of bottled water, as those containers are reused over and over again. For my part, though, I don’t mind tap at all.

4. What are two things on your night-table (or next to your bed)?

A humidifier and my mouth guard (to prevent me from wearing my teeth down while I sleep). Other than that, there’s only a lamp. I rarely read in bed, so my books stay over on the table by my reading chair.

5. What’s your favorite kind of pie?

This is a good Thanksgiving question, though a hard one to answer. It’s basically a 3-way tie between apple, pumpkin, and pecan. On Thanksgiving day, though, I always choose pumpkin first (though will eat the others later). I think someone would have to keep track of my pie-eating habits surreptitiously to see what my true preferences are.

The Great Water Heater Adventure of 2010

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This has been an interesting week (and we’re only halfway through).

Monday evening as I was leaving my first time back at the pool in way too long, I checked my phone and saw I read this text from my roommate:

major issues…hot water heater overflowed & it’s leaking into hall

My response?

i’ll be home soon…running back into the pool to shower.

Priorities, right?  It wasn’t like I could go to work the next day without having showered in 2 days and with chlorine still in my hair.  I’m sure I’d be pretty rank.

Upon hearing the *drip* *drip* coming from upstairs, my roommate went upstairs to discover that the water heater overflowed.

[Sidenote: Why do we call it a *hot* water heater?  It's really heating cold water to make it hot water, right?]

She heard the drip upstairs because the water heater is in the ATTIC.

Whose idea was THAT?  ”Well, we don’t want to use this closet as it’s a good place to put coats.  I know, let’s put the 40-gallon tank of water in the attic!  That way, if something happens, it can do a lot of damage.”

By the time it was caught, the water had leaked through the attic “floor” (okay, just plywood), parts of the hallway ceiling and a bit into my ceiling and wall, too.  It had been leaking for a while, apparently.  A 3′ x 6′ section of hallway carpet was thoroughly soaked.  We filled up 8 towels worth of water before a friend came over with a carpet cleaner, which sucked up another gallon of water…and then it took another 36 hours of a fan on it to dry.

Thankfully, my roommate was paying attention, because the damage could have been much worse.

We thought we finally had it under control (even after we turned the water back on), when I see another drip from the ceiling.  What we thought was controlled apparently wasn’t…my roommate had to get up every 2 hours during the night in order to empty out the water (with a small juice glass and a couple of large bowls).

I, like a clueless new father, slept through the night, not even waking as she pulled down the attic ladder each time near my bedroom door.

I wasn’t entirely unhelpful, as I worked from home while the plumbers installed the new water heater so that she could go in to work to finish preparing for the first day of school.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, we had a new water heater and could turn the water back on.  I tell you, it’s so weird to go without water when you’re used to it.  Made me thankful that I’m blessed to have clean water and indoor plumbing.

I’d be lying if this didn’t remind me a bit of my apartment fire 3 years ago this week.  I think it was using the same towels to mop up the water and throwing them in the same dryer (my current roommate bought the washer/dryer from a former roommate who is also her former roommate…yeah, we get around).

Though this was obviously a pain (and not a fun cost to incur to my still-new-to-homeownership roomie), it could have been much worse.  I’m glad that it happened when it did, and not a day later, the night before school starts.  What a nightmare that would have been!

Even a Global Warming Skeptic…

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I have no idea why I’m writing an Earth Day post.  It’s not likely that this will be the first one you will read, if you spend any time at all in the blogosphere.  But over the past year I’ve been taking more intentional steps to take better care of our home.

I’ve already mentioned our garden a few times.  It’s been growing, especially the cucumber and tomato plant (which is already about 1/3 to half it’s full size).

I wish I could show you pictures, but that’s what I get for having supervised-visitation only with my plants (I joke that I feel like I don’t have custody of them as I haven’t yet moved in with Jen).

You’ll just have to picture growing plants (except for the mint which I apparently killed by burying the seeds WAY too deep).

Another thing that I’ve finally gotten good about it using reusuable shopping bags.  I’ve only gotten a few eye rolls from cashiers (that used to be me, so I understand), but it’s worth it on many levels.  I wish I could tell you my primary motivation for this is creation care, but that’s secondary.  I really just hate having to mess with plastic bags.

I’ve also been working on water usage. Still haven’t figured out how to help with the garden water, but I have figured out that I don’t need to run the shower while I’m shaving my legs.  Saves gallons of water, especially when it’s been a while since the last time I shaved (I apologize for any men reading this!).

I’m not trying these things because being green is in.  I’m doing them because I believe that as a Christian I’m called to be a good steward of everything God has given me, not just my time and money.  And that includes this beautiful planet God has given us for a home.

I’ve still have got a lot to learn.  That’s why I’m excited to read Green Like God which I just ordered from Amazon.  I heard about it on Carol’s blog, got excited about it, and then realized I knew who the author was, as he was a student at Southeastern when I was.

Even a global warming skeptic like me can take steps to take care of the Earth.

Have any more suggestions?

Photo by cygnus921

I Smell Like Change

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Monday morning, I didn’t know what would hit me.  But by Monday afternoon I had decided (all my decisions are of-the-moment, though these are things I’ve been thinking about for weeks in the back of my mind):

a.) I did want to take the 8:30-5:30 shift (working 1/2 hour earlier) that was offered me over a month ago.

b.) I am ready to commit to getting healthy instead of just thinking/talking/putting it off.

For me, these two decisions go hand-in-hand.  In the 4 years I’ve been working the same hours (and to think before that my shifts changed DAILY), I’ve gotten lazy, taking more time than needed in the morning.  This just wasn’t cutting it.  I’m all for relaxing, but dragging out what should take 30-60 minutes into an 1 1/2 hours, sometimes even more, is ridiculous.  I just simply wasn’t starting off the day on the right foot.

So as I was thinking about building better habits into my life, I realized that if I changed my schedule, I could have a new start at better starts to my day.  So far I’ve done this twice, and I’m enjoying it.  Working earlier does mean a little more traffic, but getting home earlier (and to bed earlier!) helps me be a happier and–along with the other changes in my life–healthier person.

The big commitment I made Monday was to join SparkPeople.  I’ve been contemplating it for ages and have heard good things about it, but I just took the plunge.  I love that it allows me to easily track my meals (most foods’ nutritional information is pre-loaded into the system already), track my exercise, and track my water consumption.  There are plenty of encouraging/informative articles and things too (some are a little too just-love-yourself-more for my taste).

Isn't my water bottle cute? Bonus: it's better for the environment than those dumb styrofoam cups!

Isn't my water bottle cute? Bonus: it's better for the environment than those dumb styrofoam cups!

I’ve been doing this for a couple of days now, and though it’s a bit premature, I think it’s going to work for me.  It appeals both to my competitive nature (you can earn points and it keeps track of “streaks”–how many days in a row you’ve done your self-selected goals) and my visual, analytical side (it makes graphs for you).  I also like how it’s not pushing me…my beginning goals are each day to go for a walk, write in my journal, eat 2 fruits/veggies, sleep 8 hours/night, and drink half my weight in ounces (which is umm, a lot!).  These were pretty much my goals before, I just am now getting visual accountability for them.

While I need to lose weight, my real goal is to be healthy.  I’ve been overindulgent, and when I am overindulgent in one area of my life, I am in all areas of my life.

As an out-of-the blue bonus of these changes?  Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t “need” a Diet Dr Pepper in the afternoon the last 2 days (though I still drank one on Tuesday, anyway)!  That’s a habit I’ve had for almost half my life…