Adventure with my brother

So my favorite ;) brother, Nick was visiting good ol Michigan from the state of Washington, he is now a self-transformed (who knows if that's a thing) western/mountain/back-woods guy! Good for you, Nickel pickle :) ...Anyway he tried to take me on in an adventure in this side of the USA - we went to Cuyahoga Falls National Park in Ohio. It was raining, no POURING, thundering, lightening. We were driving along early in the morning and then got close to our destination when the torrential downpour began, we could not see, this was "big ol fat rain" (Forrest Gump)...as though I don't get nervous enough driving on the highway. But, we made it to this National Park, where there were homes and neighborhoods, a little strange, but we found this water fall! Pretty neat, I had no idea this was here. Once we snapped a couple of pics, the rain started coming down even harder so we decided we should move on to an indoor activity. 

 We went to the home and farm of President James Garfield, our 20th president, and learned a bunch about history, that I probably should have known a little about. President Garfield only served 200 days and then was shot, but did not die for 80 days after this assault. He wanted a farm to have to work on and for his children to work on, so (to paraphrase the former president) 'he could connect with the land and teach his children the meaning and merit of work'. Pretty admirable. His wife may be a bigger player in this story than he was, she admired her husband and his work. The picture below was a memorial made by Lucretia Garfield (the first lady), using her husband's weapons and the 38 star flag. 

 Below is a picture of the funeral wreath of her husband's that Lucretia saved and stored in the cement vault she had built in the library. Vault? You ask. Yes, the first lady, built a library to commemorate her husband and his literary work; this was the first library in a tradition of libraries now built for presidents. In the library she had a cement vault built to hold what she believed to be the most important works of President Garfield. 

 This is the door to the vault room, this vault is said to be fireproof, and in the vault room is a safe to hold even more important pieces. 

 This is a view of the library. 

 This is the outside of the Garfield home. It is gorgeous. Everything I would ever want in a home, vintage, intricate wood work - beautiful. 

 Then from there we went downtown Cleveland, we intended to check out a couple museums, to carry on the theme of learning we had started, but our stomachs won - we were HUNGRY. I've heard learning burns a lot of calories. We went to this yummy place, I think it was an Irish pub, very good food, wish I could give them a shout out but I can't remember the name. I had fish tacos and Nick had a HUGE burger :) After eating, humidity, thick humidity took the place of rain; hot and thick humidity. So we headed home after trying out a desert place - yum. 

 Above is downtown Cleveland, pretty clean eh...take note Detroit. 
And below is a picture of Nick in the first Mormon "temple" ever built, in Kirtland, OH - Nick wanted to check out some Mormon history. Doesn't he look like he has had a day filled with learning?

There is a brief, and interesting history lesson for the day, but basically just me bragging that I got to spend time with my brother - rain or not - it was a good time. I wish I had more opportunities for adventures with my big brother :)

Follow up pics and ....9/11

PART ONE:
I have TONS of homework and errands today so this will be a quick post, but I was so excited about my major organization that I did following my last post that I wanted to post the pics. The following are the before pictures:

I did not take after pics of the food pantry yet, because I am painting the inside of the door with chalk paint to keep an inventory, like what I did with the spice cabinet. I also am waiting for my husband to install a couple of pull out drawers in place of the way-too-deep shelves that are there now. BUT, I did shock myself, I consider myself to be a minimalist, yet I tossed out three bags of food that was either expired, never going to get eaten, or opened and not sealed – food that was able to be, was donated, of course. Also what a difference in space it makes to put food in jars or baskets and RECYCLE the box! Went from two pantries down to one and was able to transform the other into a “cleaning closet”. 

This is the spice cabinet. I did not take a before pic, as I just got uber motivated and ambitious all of a sudden and started attacking the entire kitchen, but trust me “before” was bad. 

Actually after combining so many duplicates, I was able to make it my baking and spice cabinet, complete with inventory per chalk board on cabinet doors. Now when I need a spice I won't buy a duplicate because what I have is written down and I can write what I need when I run out :) 

This is the new “cleaning closet” and my new favorite household cleaner – Mrs. Meyer’s (lemon verbena scent). It says on the bottle that it is aromatherapeutic, well believe it I was cleaning with a smile, and kept cleaning everything I could find to wipe down…ahhhh. You just add a drop to a bunch of water (that's how I measure) and start wiping down with a cloth. It really cut through grease on the outside of cabinet doors in the kitchen. And did I mention smelled TERRIFIC. Anyway putting the cleaning products in the pantry freed up space below the sink where I will be installing a pull out bin for recycling so you don't see my paper bag on the floor anymore.

I highly recommend tackling your cabinets you will feel so much better! 

PART TWO: 

...Now for the second half of the post title - 9/11 

I would like to start off by honoring all of the members of my country who have been affected by this tragedy or have offered a helping a hand since then. I am sorry for those who lost and I thank those who have given. I do want to say something very briefly about some upsetting posts made on FaceBook today: 

This is very sad to me ...people should try to be more educated and make less assumptions and judgments. I do not believe that an entire religious group should be blamed for the alleged actions of political groups or extremist groups whose actions are not ordained by that religion. Actions of our government are not blamed on Christianity because the majority of Americans are Christians. I highly recommend reading Karen Armstrong's book, Islam: A Short History, here is an excerpt from her book, "The new sect would eventually be called Islam (surrender) a muslim was a man or a woman who had made this submission of their entire being to Allah (same God of Christians and Jews, one God) and his demand that human beings behave to one another with justice, equity and compassion." (pp. 5) The Quran does not ordain violence, yet strongly endorses peace and justice above all things. 

Also see the following short TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/mustafa_akyol_faith_versus_tradition_in_islam.html

Something new every day... every minute

If you read my first....and only post, you may be wondering where my follow up was - or maybe not. But the big thing that maybe I should have opened with was that I am passionate about a hundred or so different "things" in any given day. I am a nurse and I am a science nerd (and proud of it), I do a lot of research just for fun, I like to learn about as many things as I possibly can, I am a geek for nutrition in a totally non-annoying way, I love to cook...the list does go on. But I may simply be the picture of my generation - I was doing my homework for my BSN class this week and stumbled across this little paragraph in my text book, Professional Nursing Concepts, 2nd Ed.: 

"Generation Y (nexters, millenials, generation next, mypod generation, gen-Y) born 1980-present: this is the generation primarily entering nursing now ...millenials' characteristics are optimism, civic duty, confidence, achievement, social ability, morality and diversity. In work situations, they demonstrate collective action, optimism, tenacity, multitasking, and a high level of technology skill...typically they take risks and want to be challenged...they are tech savvy and multitask. Sometimes this makes it difficult for them to focus on one task" (Finkleman & Kenner, 2013, pp. 97).

...Also known as, ADD/ADHD and as a side note, dang look at that citation and off the clock.

This may be why I start out intending to write about one thing and then by the end of my post, my focus has completely evolved. Before I finish one sentence I am already contemplating the last paragraph or thinking about all of the things I was suppose to be doing today that did not involve being on the internet. 

So today's post will not be a continuation of my first, I will eventually get to it and do not want anyone to think that I no longer feel the content of that first post is unimportant - because IT IS - I just have other things on my mind today. 

My husband and adorable chocolate lab and I moved to a new town, a new home and new jobs last November, I can't believe it has almost been a year... and I feel like I am finally ready to accept this change (yeah it only took me 10 months) and get settled. Yes I have unpacked, I am not a savage. I just mean I have not really made this house my home. We lived in our last home for close to six years and tore it down and rebuilt most of it, it was ours, we made it. Here is the old house ....

I refinished those floors, that had ugly carpet on top of them the week before our wedding, we took down the plaster walls and put up new ceilings and walls, we re-did both bathrooms, re-built the steps, put in new windows, planted gardens, and so on. I hated that house at first and it was the DEFINITION of a "fixer-upper" but we made it what we pictured in our heads. And as I write this I see how much that house meant to me...funny how you don't know things until you take the time to think about it. Anyway, I won't get mushy, this is the new house.....

I feel the same way I did when we bought the first house, full of regret. Doesn't that sound terrible?! I would like to blame this on my generation as well, we buy and then immediately have buyer's remorse...or maybe that is just me. Obviously this house is beautiful and the surroundings are peaceful and scenic and we have nice neighbors....but that landscaping is a lot to keep up with.

I think the point of this post was to say I am going to start working on this house, until this is our home, until we have made it what we pictured in our heads. Maybe by blogging about it, I will be held accountable...of course that didn't hold up for my first post. I plan to take pictures room by room as I transform this space - so far I painted the living room and got a new couch, probably the only purchase I did not regret at all:

This WAS the color of the walls and my not yet arranged living room with the old sofa - pretty, right? Ha!

This is the NEW wall color, surprising choice for me, I am usually a fan of shades of white.

The new sofa :) that I really am happy about, this is not the corner it ended up staying in. I re-arranged the room, this spot is where my husband thought it went best...yeah blocking a door, great plan dear. See how the wall color looks different in this light, I like that about it, I won't get bored with it as quickly, each different hour of the day it looks a different shade, sounds like me and my brain...speaking of which I need to be doing other things not involving the computer right now. 

And yesterday I thought maybe I would like to change my career path to medical school!

God made dirt and dirt don't hurt...

"God made dirt and dirt don't hurt"... I'm sure most of us heard the saying growing up - maybe. There is a new generation now and I haven't heard the saying in a while, lately you hear more "Eww! Go wash it! Quick!". Everyone has cleansers, soap, disinfectants, antibiotics, etc. The list of products and techniques available to sterilize our world is endless. Why are we so afraid of germs and when did it start? 
I work in a hospital and I am a nurse, so my whole day is an endless battle against germs; and as a nurse I learned along with the rest of the force that the best way to prevent disease is hand washing. I am certainly not arguing with the idea of hand-washing, cleaning rooms between patients or wearing gloves/gowns. The patients we come in contact with carry dangerous "bugs" and we do not want to carry them to another vulnerable patient. What's interesting though is the entire hospital environment is wrought with "dangerous bugs", if you are breathing in a hospital, you're being exposed. So while medical supply companies try to develop machines that cost $40,000 a pair to spray hydrogen peroxide vapor to sterilize a room infected with resistant bacteria, research shows that the air outside the hospital is "self-cleaning" and obviously cleaner...so why not just crack a window? Medicine wants to control environments and wants to fight the unknown and seemingly harmful so badly that it overlooked an important factor for too many years: not all "germs" are bad, actually many of them are necessary for our health. 
The air in hospitals is conditioned and filtered, yet research shows that in one cubic square there are billions of microbes. Also, the average American spends 90% of their life indoors, in air conditioning, with the same outcome. All the germs that people are trying to kill and avoid, make up who we are. Actually people are more bacteria and microbes than people. New research shows that the average person carries around with them at least 8 million genes from microbes that do more work for us and our bodies than our own genes from our own DNA do. 
Not surprisingly, after years of thinking of bacteria as the enemy we have won and lost at the same time and now find that we aren't as healthy as we had hoped or expected we would be. If you have never heard the term, microbiome, then you probably haven't associated what I am rambling on about with that idea. 
A microbiome, in this case, is referring to the human ecosystem, that contains our human cells and the colonization of microbes, bacteria, fungi, etc. Many of us are aware of what happens when we remove a vital part of an ecosystem such as the rain forest, like trees; but do we know what happens when we remove vital bacteria from the human ecosystem? People develop more chronic diseases, they lose the ability to fight off common illnesses, they develop allergies, they become obese, they might be depressed or hyperactive, they are more susceptible to many cancers, and the list goes on and on. All of this because we have a compulsive need to be clean and treat everything with a broad spectrum antibiotic. 
Thankfully more and more people in the medical community are starting to ask how we can work with this germy world instead of against it. I am fortunate to work in a facility that is starting to consider these new ideas based on the original recipe. 
After this post, I will be following up with things you might want to avoid and things you might want to start including in your daily routine, as well as some seemingly odd and gross extreme fixes for this big problem (i.e., fecal transplants), and even just some interesting facts I pick up along my journey through the human microbiome.