Kittens From The Dark Side

Monday, March 16, 2015

19 Years

On March 16, 1996, Greg and I got hitched!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my best friend.

I'm honored and happy to be on this epic journey with you.

Nicole, me, Greg, Jer

I still love that dress.

didn't need glasses then -
or was I wearing contacts?

Look how happy I was!

And Greg was happy, too!

Blurry it may be, but I adore this photo:

This picture makes my heart melt.

Guests had left, family was lingering. I was tired and had put on slipper socks instead of my wedding shoes and I needed a little cuddle. Also, if you look verrrry closely, you can see a little chafe mark on my shoulder from where the elastic in the dress was rubbing on my scapula.
Thanks to my sweet brother, Mark, for catching this even though the "event" was over.

Those fancy dresses aren't really made for comfort.

It was beautiful, though, and just my style.

Here's the back:

I was able to detach the tulle by unsnapping little snaps under the roses at the back.

Convenient!

No gluten problems back then!

Eat that cake!

Obviously I had no idea I was supposed to feed the cake to myself.

It makes more sense to me that each of us would nourish the other, but

that doesn't work for this sort of photo!

Thanks to everyone who shared our joy on that happy day 19 years ago

and to those of you who've joined us along the way.

xoxoxoxoxo

Spiffing Things Up Post-Norbert and The Terrible News About Ubiquitous Emulsifiers

Those of who who've been keeping up on events chez Priem will remember that we sustained damage when the remnants of Hurricane Norbert barreled into town. Chandler, where we live, is even listed in this wikipedia article on the storm! Here's a little quote . . .

In Arizona, rainfall peaked at 6.09 in (155 mm) near Chandler. During a seven hour period, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport recorded 3.30 in (84 mm) of rainfall, breaking the 75 year old daily rainfall record. It was also the highest precipitation in a single calendar day, but fell short of the station's 24 hour rainfall total. The rainfall was more than the city's average summer rainfall. About one of every three Maricopa County rain gauges set all-time records. Accumulations in Chandler and Mesa were deemed to be a 1-in-1,000 year event while Phoenix was calculated to be a 1-in-200 year event.

A 1-in-1000 year event - how exciting!!!

We had water running down some of our walls and we learned afterwards that our roof wasn't in great shape to begin with due to being on the elderly side. So in January we had our roof all fixed up and it should be good for another 20 years. And now we need to fix the inside!

We had the contractor out today to check stuff out and he's working up an estimate for us. He was a nice guy and seemed to know his stuff. For our damaged floor, he recommended replacing the warped laminate with wood-look tile, and we're considering it because tile is so much more durable (and water-resistant!) Something like this, maybe . . .

can you believe this is TILE?!

. . . or maybe this slightly ligher one (though I like the above one best):

We also need some drywall repaired and a bunch of painting done, so it will be busy around here for a while once everything gets underway, but I'm confident we'll be happy with the results!

Happy news: I've been feeling REALLY good!

I have been feeling SO good that I have been slowly cleaning and tidying everything. So far in the last week I have organized the laundry room shelf, under the kitchen sink, the cabinets in the guest bathroom, and the left-hand cabinet in the master bathroom. I have cleaning one cabinet, shelf, or closet per week as my goal, but when I'm not fatigued, it's easy, so I've done more. *Everything* is easier when I'm not fatigued! (Praise Jesus!) Today I vacuumed and cleaned both bathrooms. When I'm sick, just one of those things is too much. I am not zooming around too much, though; I'm still being careful because I don't need to use up every bit of spunk I have!

Have you read the new research about emulsifiers,

by the way?

The articles have been everywhere . . . and it's terrible news!

I was dismayed to find out that emulsifiers (ingredients that enhance texture and improve shelf life) appear to cause chronic digestive inflammation and specifially Crohn's! They also appear to increase abdominal fat and obesity. They do these things by changing the lining of the intestines in a harmful way.

Crohn's and emulsifiers

Emulsifiers include:

soy lecithin

polysorbate 80

carboxymethylcellulose

xanthan gum

guar gum

carageenan

and MANY more . . .

POO!

They're in most packaged products, sadly, because I now believe them to be poison.

I knew that Crohn's is an inflammatory disease and that inflammation has become chronic in our Western world (I will probably do a post soon all about this because I went to a fantastic conference on it just a few weeks ago!), but I always wondered WHAT caused the inflammation to become chronic and damaging in my particular body. I didn't believe that I lived a particularly inflammatory lifestyle, though I did spend five years in graduate school during the same time I got sick, and I now realize I squelch a lot of my stress even though I don't realize I'm doing it.

And sadly, the thing that helped my original digestive distress the most (being gluten-free) might have led to the diagnosis of Crohn's, because gluten-free products contain more emulsifiers than traditional products.

NO WONDER everyone I know has digestive trouble all the time now.

But this brings me hope - maybe I can cut them out and keep getting healthier. Perhaps my gut biome will return to a good balance with good care and keeping. And maybe it helps explain a piece of why this illness exists in the first place. Obviously, some people still have more sensitivity to things than others, since we aren't all sick (at least on the surface!), but there's more to it than just that, I think, since the rate of these sorts of illnesses keeps rising and rising.

So I am slowly weeding the emulsifiers out of my diet, but I keep forgetting to check products. I'm shocked that chocolate and mayo (even organic!) are risky foods now. Pretty much all chocolate contains soy lecithin. But I just learned yesterday that this brand makes chocolate that's CHOCOLATE without those things (and I can get it at Sprout's!)

buy here

And it turns out that even "healthy" sliced meats have carageenan or other emulsifier(s), so I'm not going to eat them regularly, either. I decided that when I want a sandwich, I can used organic canned chicken (just organic chicken and water!) or canned wild-caught tuna and whatever else I would put on there (lettuce, tomato, cheese, mustard, etc).

buy here

There's no such thing as gluten-free bread with no emulsifiers (because it won't rise and be soft) unless I bake it myself, and I've ~~failed~~ come up with a satisfactory result too many times already, so I'm not ready to start the trials again quite yet.

Until that time, I've substituted these great little crackers I found that are made of nothing but whole grain brown rice and salt (of course I found them at Sprout's!) These aren't organic, but they contain no GMO ingredients, and they really are the best option for "bread" because they're so thin. They also add a little crunch, which is nice! I am doing this almost every day for lunch now and it's easy, quick, healthy, and tasty (not very expensive, either)!

buy here

Well, you've gotten your science lesson today! If you weren't up on this topic before, hopefully now you are!!!

Happy Monday!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Italy? Gilbert?

I had a meeting with some friends and we met at the clubhouse in the neighborhood where one of the women lives. Look at this view! It looked like Italy to me.

That square is a big fountain and beyond that is a golf course. I can only imagine what their association fees are!

We sat outside and I looked out over green grass, trees, and mountains.

The conversation was good, too.

The citrus trees are blooming right now.

Lovely smell from afar, but get too close and they'll make you sneeze!

And then Greg and I got to go see "My Fair Lady" at the Hale Theater in Gilbert,

thanks to a gift from my parents for our anniversary (it's on Monday!)

Downtown Gilbert is old(ish) and cute.

This watertower stands right in the middle.

And the Hale Theater is right across the street!

The theater seems more like a very small basketball court.

This is Henry Higgins's library!

If you look closely in the middle of this photo, you can see Greg, Jeremy

(white shirt, head back), and Echo (navy & white polka dot dress).

This was taken in the intermission when the "stage" was set up like Henry Higgins's house.

I'm not a theater critic, but I can definitely say THANK YOU, Dad & MOM!

We enjoyed ourselves immensely and the production was very good. I was even impressed with most of the accents!

I've been working hard at chugging out a few videos this week, and Allistair has been happy to have me around and stationary!

Working with cat-on-lap syndrome . . .

Working at the desk in my office . . .

And looking at his loooong little snout

(it looks much longer from this angle and I think it's funny!)

I got something from Amazon delivered in a fun little package that I decided needed to become a cat toy. Allistair agreed!

Packing bag, part 1:

Packing bag, part 2:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

New Products + Cuteness

My friend Shawna had this mug in her cabinet and asked if I would like to have it -

of COURSE, I said yes!!!

Thank you, Shawna!!!

Claude decided to be extra cute the other day . . .

You can see her Daddy in the background. She LOVES him.

When he takes a shower, she sits on the counter in the bathroom and waits for him to come out.

It's adorable.

Sunday in the 1:1 Classroom, I found this drawing on my white board . . .

PRECIOUS!!!

Love how our hair is sitting on top of our heads like hats.

I am especially happy that I happen to be blue (my favorite color)!

While we're talking about blue, here's my bedroom because

my parents bought us a new painting for above our bed as an anniversary present

(it's coming up in a little over a week!)

Closer-up - beautiful, isn't it?!

quilt by Greg's Mom

My parents also bought us this new shower curtain,

which I am loving.

I am still working on getting my personal care products and diet cleaned up of nasty chemicals and unhealthiness, and I happened upon these products at SuperTarget yesterday.

Free & Clear Shampoo and Conditioner

This morning was the first time I used these, and I LOVE them.

They have no scent, no dyes, parabens, gluten . . .

they're pH balanced (good for hair) and gentle for sensitive skin.

Also, the shampoo rates just a 1 on the EWG toxicity scale

and the conditioner rates just a 2!

UPDATE on 2015/4/4:

I have been using this shampoo and conditioner for about a month,

and the ends of my hair got really dry. Since I noticed, I've been deep conditioning almost every day.

While in Minnesota, I bought these, and so far I'm liking them. I will do a little review in a month or two.

Amazon

also from Amazon!

I also bought some Vanicream with SPF for summer . . . our annual week at my parents' lake cabin is approaching, and I'm sure there will be hiking and stuff before then when I'll need more than my usual spf 15. Most SPF-containing lotions are horrible for my skin and make me break out or itch. Also, they are typically pretty toxic. This one rates just a 1!!!

I wore a new dress today . . .

it's a great abstract stripey animal-y sort of print.

Greg digs it and so do I - it highlights my tush in a nice way.

I wore it this morning with a chambray shirt because it was slightly chilly in the morning.

Here's what it looks like without the shirt

(peek-a-boo!):

During a quick browse through TJ Maxx today, I unearthed this clutch -

I love the amazing studs and the fancy tassel!

It looked REALLY good with the outfit I'm wearing today.

I think it will be a good bag to have inside a tote bag with my lipsticks and lotion and stuff in it to prevent them from getting lots in the cavernous enormity of the bigger bag.

Of course, the next time I go to a rock concert, I'll be sure to take it!