August 11, 2022

A New Podcast

I am so happy to be writing this from my bed! Well, actually it's just my mattress on the plywood that is the floor in my bedroom right now, but it feels so luxurious to be in my bedroom instead of on the couch in the living room. With the exception of the area where the new shower is going to go, I have all of the subfloor done.

Pure luxury right here

The cats have been going crazy because I haven't been able to let them in the bedroom (the first thing they would do is jump down into the crawl space). As I've been working in on the bedroom, they sit right outside the door. Yesterday, I was screwing down the plywood right in front of the door when I saw a black paw push a small piece of wood under the door--it was so funny!

I feel like all of my blog posts have been rushed lately, and I guess it's because they have--this whole bedroom/bathroom project has been non-stop. (I really need to think of a different name for it; calling it the bedroom/bathroom project is too much.)

I was thinking about it while trying to sleep (on the couch again last night) and I realized how funny it is in a way. I wanted to surprise Jerry while he was out of town for the weekend by removing the carpet in our bedroom and installing the luxury vinyl planks that were left over from the rest of the house. It sounds like a lot, but that would have been a pretty simple project.

If I didn't run into any complications. 

I hadn't thought of what I might find when I ripped up the carpet--and water damage on the floor between the bedroom and bathroom was probably the worst case scenario. The shower was against the bathroom wall that is was on the other side of my bedroom, and the water damage went from bathroom to bedroom. I knew, as soon as I saw it, that I was going to have a big mess on my hands.

I really wanted to just put the carpet back and forget that I saw anything! Haha. But it wasn't something we could ignore, especially with mold growing there. The easiest way to really fix everything was to remove the subfloor, the shower, and a couple of walls. *eye roll*

Since we had to remove the shower anyway, and we've been needing a new one for a while, we are going to rearrange the bathroom a bit. Instead of putting the new bathtub/shower where the old one was, we're going to put it in the opposite corner. Then, we're going to put up a couple of walls where the old shower used to be and turn it into a linen closet. I think.

Our bathroom is really big and we don't need that much wasted space. By moving the shower, we gain a space that can make a pretty big linen closet. So it'll be nice when it's done! It's just a lot of work getting there.

This morning, I drove up to West Bloomfield to visit my friend Jack, who I went to high school with. I was already sore from working on the "bedroom/bathroom project", and then Jack and I went on a five-mile walk/nature hike. West Bloomfield is pretty hilly, and I could certainly feel my quads working hard. So, I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow, too, but at least it's a good sore ;)

Anyway, West Bloomfield is an hour away, so I had a lot of time in the car and I chose to listen to a new podcast. It's called 'The Plant Powered People' and the episodes I listened to were SO good. Remember how one of my big goals for this year was to focus on eating more fiber? Well, the first episode I chose was about fiber and the digestive system--particularly about the gut microbiome.

I'd read about it but didn't fully "get it" until listening to this episode with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, a gastroenterologist who is a total nerd (in a good way!) about fiber and poop and how the microbiome is super important to our health. It ended up being a two-part interview, so there are two one-hour episodes. I highly recommend that everyone listen to them! (Episodes 75 and 76--you can find them here.)

I also listened to an episode about sprouts (episode 78)--which sounds really boring, but it was a topic I knew nothing about and thought it would be interesting. And it definitely was--I had no idea that sprouts (from seeds, lentils, beans, etc) were so good for us. Now I want to try sprouting some things! The guest that was interviewed, Doug Evans, wrote a book called 'The Sprout Book', and he explains how to do it (no garden required).

I'm going to look for some more interesting episodes to listen to. I was getting bored with true crime, so I added a couple of new podcasts to my phone. It was refreshing to listen to something new and it got me kind of excited about fiber and sprouts--hahaha!

6 comments:

  1. Growing sprouts is super easy! I use sprouting lids on mason jars and just keep the sprouts by the kitchen sink, so I can easily water them. The hard part is getting into a routine with them where you start different jars the right amount of time apart so you have fresh ready to eat sprouts at the right time, rather than being out for days between them or having too many jars of them ready all at once. My favorite are a mix of radish and alfalfa sprouts, and I like to do them on a sandwich with bread and butter pickles and cheddar cheese, on hazelnut bread. I know you can't do the cheese because you are vegan, but something similar might be possible without it.

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  2. So glad you got away from the project for a bit. We "sprouted" a few times, but we're not as motivated as you are so buy sprouts in the store, but they are delicious and so good for you. Good luck! I know you love a DIY and sprouts are an easy one . . . unless you don't eat them quickly enough. They do go bad quickly.

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  3. Sprouting is so fun! Try it!

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  4. I love The Plant Powered People Podcast! You might also like Rich Roll's podcast and Health and Mora with Dr. Laurie Marbas. Great work on the floor! Progress!

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  5. Katie you would love the Rich Roll podcast. His life story is awesome (involves becoming a distance runner later in life and he changed his life by becoming vegan). He’s the best interviewer on a podcast, in my opinion. His book, “Ultra Man,” is great, as well.

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  6. Have you tried "Olds Gods of Appalachia"? It's really good! And I'm not saying that b/c its by a friend - its won a bunch of awards!

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