Election day in Iraq. The headlines on CNN’s website are just so biased, aren’t they? The headline, “Eight more Iraqis killed on election eve” begs the reader to believe that the election process is absolutely horrid. Then, a good halfway down the article, you get to see the positive side;

In voting elsewhere, in at least 14 countries around the world, thousands of exuberant Iraqi expatriates — many of them exiles who fled Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship –have already cast their ballots. (Full story)

“It’s the greatest day in my life, the greatest feeling ever in my life,” said Montador Almosawi, who voted Friday in Southgate, Michigan, near Detroit. “My feeling is that I’m doing something for my country.”

Expatriate voting that began Friday will continue through Sunday.

More than 280,000 Iraqis registered abroad, though that figure represents only about 25 percent of those eligible to vote. The biggest group was in Iran, where 60,000 registered.

How nice of them to mention that! I just read something over on Blackfive that sums up how I feel about the media – and this particular article – very well. You’re never going to know how many insurgents we beat to the punch. You’re only going to know how many innocent lives were taken by them.

Ug.

An even better source, Iraqi Blogger Central. Jeffrey, an American, quotes and links to many Iraqi bloggers and their thoughts on the election.

I ask that you please keep our guys and the Iraqi people, who are working toward bringing their country into the present, in your prayers these next few days.

In art related business, I’ll be painting today. I’ll update my webcam status so you can stop in and watch if you’d like.

Ow.

This morning, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to relocate the remnants of my bathroom demolition to my neighbors dumpster. Granted, it’s only 50 feet away from the front door, not too far to haul a disgusting toilet, ancient medicine cabinet and 10 50-pound bags of plaster, chipped tiles and flooring, right?

Wrong.

I had put it off because my back was still so tender. I should have put it off longer. Here I was feeling better and on the mend! Somewhere along the route carrying something I shouldn’t have carried, and probably doing it really wrong, I felt that snap in my lower back. Oh boy. I continued plugging away until every piece of garbage was in the dumpster anyway. And now? I am really becoming more and more stubborn with age, I will not be defeated by anything, not even my health! Someone smack me, eh?

I’m hobbling, unable to stand completely straight, pain radiating down my left leg, and breathing realllly shallow. I know that it will feel better later today, it’s just getting to later today that’s making me a little crazy right now. Took some aspirin, ate a PB&J, and now I wait.

I did work this morning though! It was artful in a web-based way. I had some revisions to do on a website I designed last spring, so I got that taken care of. Replied to some e-mail, stuff like that.

I’ll be turning my webcam on in just a little while to continue working on Emily, Ten & Tori. I’m glad I have a sit-down don’t lift anything heavy kind of occupation!

I’ll change my webcam status in the left column (under the calendar) when the cam is on!

Hope your day started out back-pain-free!!

When I saw my chiro this week, his initial reaction to my weight loss was kinda funny. Eyes popping out of his head, he asked if I forgot the other half of me at home. Well it’s a nice compliment, sure! In a funky and twisted way, this once super-fat girl is thinking “man, I musta been huuuuuge!” Well, that’s just how my mind works.

He’s a very natural, health oriented kinda guy, so he was very interested to talk about how I lost 52 pounds, what I ate, what I drank, all that jazz. Then he throws this tidbit my way that really made me feel like “wow! I’ve done an awesome thing!” that has now been dispelled. Dammit.

He told me that in every pound of fat, we have 100 miles of capillaries. (Approximately) That calculates out to 5,200 MILES of capillaries that I’ve removed from my circulatory system and how much strain I’ve taken off of my heart. Being that I used to have a few valves going bad, it kinda reaffirmed that last echochardiogram I had in November, which took me from having 3 degenerating valves to just 1, with a fibrillating wall (or something). So the weight loss has done incredible things for my heart, indeed! BUT, not 5,200 miles worth.

Now for those of you who have heard that saying before, I am going to link you here, which will give you a nice huge pageful of scientific type information. Here’s the part about how many miles of capillaries are in a pound of fat:

“How many miles of blood vessels are there in a pound of fat?” People write me about this every once in a while. Let’s figure it out. Assume an adipocyte is 50 microns across; it’ll vary from 10-100 depending on how fat the person is. The fatter you are, the less vascular is your fat, which is one more reason that this whole inquiry is silly. In a section of body fat, which I examine often enough under the microscope, the capillary (there has to be at least one) that supplies each fat cell is not usually visible, so I’ll assume one per adipocyte. Put a single capillary between each pair of fat cells and that’s about 20 capillaries per millimeter, or 500 capillaries per inch. Assume a pound of fat is a cube 4″ on a side, which is good enough for junk science, and that is 2000 capillaries crosswise, for a total of 8000 inches. Multiply by three for three dimensions, and this is 24,000 inches or … well, go figure. That this questions is fundamentally wrong-headed can be understood by anyone who considers whether moving a certain total number of cars through Kansas City would be easier with more highways or fewer highways. Further, vast majority of these capillaries are comletely closed at any moment during your life, and not carrying any blood. The real question isn’t, “How many extra miles of blood vessels?”, but “How much rougher is it on my heart to be fat?” Think about walking around carrying 100 lb of weights everywhere you go. The truth is that “education” and moral exhortation do not cause people to lose weight; overeating is programmed just like scratching when you itch. “

24,000 inches is only 0.3 miles. So the whole thing must have been devised by some master exaggerator! Ah well, it’s still a great thing to do for your body. 🙂

My other tidbit for the moment is my header for the day, which is meant more as a “Confucius say” than anything. I thought it funny, because someone out there has been following me around for quite some time, and even mentioned that they hope they’re not wearing stiletto’s when they step on my toes. Heh. I just built a bathroom, I think I can take on a pair of stilettos, eh?

Are ya ready? The ONLY thing left is the crown molding, my father-in-law will be doing that this weekend. You can’t see the ceiling anyway, really, and the rest is pretty much done!!!

Aaah. I’ve had a shower and everything. For the first time since we moved in 9 years ago, I could actually apply my makeup in front of the mirror in the bathroom! YAHOO!

I am only a few hours away from having the bathroom DONE. I decided to finish it up tonight, hang the towel bars & cabinet and stuff tomorrow once the paint is dry, and then work on The Supremes for a nice big chunk of the day.

I have 2 coats of primer on it now, and it’s the brightest white I have ever seen!!

New dilemma: paint the ceiling, or leave it white? I’m putting white crown molding (which is actually floor molding) on the ceiling, so that would break it up if I went with the color, it would also make the room look taller if the ceiling was white. Whaddaya think?

I should be able to have those before & after pics of this project tomorrow, too! YAAAYYY!!

I’ve been cracked.

I’m feeling much better now, thank you very much!

Do not, under any circumstances, get on a stepladder holding a crowbar in your left hand, and start yanking on 2 layers of drywall/plaster that’s waayyyy over to the right of you.

That’s not such a bright idea. heh.

It’s been a productive morning at least! Only 10AM and I’ve gotten a few things done:

– Up at 6AM, wrote a stylesheet for a newblog skin until 8AM. (It’s uber valentinsey!)
– 2 base cabinets & 2 sheets of MDF delivered at 8AM.
– Caitlin out the door for school with her rockin’ report card signed (I am so proud, straight A’s across the board!)
– Jay up, breakfast served, dressed and out the door by 8:50AM
– Back adjustment & mini-massage (oooohhhlalalaaaa)
– Play-Doh and My Little Pony set up for Jay. She’s havin’ some fun!

Now here’s the rest of The Plan for today:

– Find the remote. Cause, you know, it’s easier to tear the house apart than to walk up to the TV and change stuff manually. Done!
– Finish up the backgrounds on those 6 paintings. (Will do on cam!)
– Get the palm sander inside to thaw Done!
– Change a lightbulb in the hall Done!
– Drink a bunch more coffee Done! (12 cups ought to be enough huh?)
– Take all the shtuff out of the bathroom and prepare for big giant dusty drywall mess. Done!

ow. I just burned my tongue on the hot coffee.

– Bring in those two base cabinets and rearrange the entertainment wall in the family room.
– Possibly prime the bathroom,
– Maybe even paint it.
– Buy a new studio chair. Cheappieceapoo. (Thank you, Clara, for the new chair!) Can’t do it yet!
– Call the plumber to remove gas lines from family room wall. Done!
– Install base cabinets and trim countertop to fit. Done!
– Clean up my daggone mess in the family room! Done!

Okee dokie, there you have it! I will figure out which order I’m going to do all this in and update when I turn the cam on to paint, k? It’ll be fun. You gonna watch?

Funny pic of the day (circulating in e-mail, but worth seeing again if you haven’t seen it already!)

Every morning I wake up and immediately start thinking about The Plan .

What can I accomplish today? What needs to be done, what else am I going to do? I’ve got six weeks now before my man is stateside. And lots more to do.

The Plan changes on a daily basis, you know, ’cause I can’t sit still. That being said, here’s today’s mission:

– Apply second coat of mud to the bathroom walls as smoothly as possible. Done!
– Figure out when the he** that plumber will be back to fix his poorly plumbed shower. Done!
– Work up the backgrounds on those 6 paintings, which I will do on cam. I have something very cool in mind for the three 6×6 black cats, lovingly referred to as “The Supremes”. You’ll dig it, so tune in to see ’em! I’ll update right before I start squeezing paint out of the tubes. Doin’ it!
– I’d like to take a shower before that happens. LOL Done!
– Call Menards to get pricing on two more base cabinets and 3/4″ MDF that I need to finish the entertainment wall in the family room (no more construction, just building a lil extra hanging storage space is all!) Done!
– Get down to Lowe’s for more sandpaper for the palm sander, I am not going to sand that bathroom using elbow grease. Ow. Prepare for huge dusty joint compoundy mess. Done!

There you go, now my day is full, and I’ll have accomplished a bunch by the end of it! Tomorrow I shall visit my chiropractor, the one who sponsored my Mosaic Frogs-a-hoppin’ Frog. My lower back is still in huge pain from the demolition, I need to get that resolved!!

Jeez it’s already 9:30, I better get moving!

Can you spot the imposter in this photo?

This one is for Daddy:

Just saw this article, some great news for the Iraqi people!

It’s going to be a dangerous couple of weeks in country, though, so please be thinking about our guys and praying for their safety as they pull security detail on those polling places!