Dear Ms. Mayor of Houston,
You believe anyone with gender confusion or change should be allowed to share restrooms with whomever they identify to the point you want to destroy the first amendment over it. At what point in the conversion should the sharing begin?
On NPR I listened to a female to male transgendered man, at least that's how s/he identified herself--only hormone treatments, but no surgery yet--just the clothing, facial hair, muscle bulking, voice change, receding hairline, etc. Much to her shock, because s/he'd been raised a good feminist, s/he found out her brain had been changed. S/he had become interested in pornography, and even just a little skin showing on another female aroused her. S/he found her crude thoughts embarrassing, but unstoppable. S/he began losing her verbal acuity which had always been her long suit, and s/he had difficulty crying. S/he claimed she was reading more in the sciences which had never interested her before. Some points sound like a joke, but this interview was on NPR and I know we can trust the government in all things about sex. The NPR guest doesn't have the right equipment for the urinal in the men's room yet, but sounds a bit dangerous for the ladies room. Maybe while in Houston, s/he could use your private restroom?
Norma
P.S. You may remember Chaz Bono's girlfriend (a lesbian) complained about her former lesbian lover's male behavior (and personal habits) and left her/him. The former Chastity Bono decided her attraction wasn’t because she was a lesbian, but because she was a man.
Gay marriage, confused restrooms and hate speech packaged ordinances such as Houston's will not be the end of it, folks. There is hate speech legislation that includes 30 forms of sexual behavior, many of which I didn't know existed such as klismaphilia and gerontosexuality, as well as pedophilia and incest. H.R.1913 - Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
APA's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," Fourth Edition, Text Revision (Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 2000), pp. 566-582 (DSM-IV)
Earlier this year (seemed like it went on forever) we remodeled two full bathrooms in our condo in Columbus. Then this summer we decided the wall in our only bathroom at our cottage needed more repair and fixtures than we knew (i.e. my husband) how to repair and repaint. So we hired this one done, too. We bought this house in 1988 when we were 49 and 50 and a lot livelier, and for 12 straight week-ends we drove here to paint and repair things, redoing the entire house, including carpet, curtains, window blinds, and since it was all done in the same time period, everything was coordinated around the colors, blue, pink and cream. The previous owner, a widow, had done a few things after her husband died, like put in whole house air conditioning and triple track storm windows. We added a deck, eventually replaced the roof, the furnace and the AC. In the last few years, the sink, cabinet, floor and toilet in the bathroom have been replaced, and finally, the damage from showers just had to be fixed. The reason you see a window in the shower/tub area is that when this house was built (1944) very few homes had showers, so it was never a very good fit. The shower was added probably in the 80s, and we’d had some of it repaired a few years ago. So here’s the “new” color—sort of the shade of the sky this morning under the sun as it rose over Lake Erie and I was walking on the dock—it’s deeper and richer than what shows in the photo. It will get a second coat today—after rescheduling this 3 times due to a variety of reasons, we got the most humid week of the summer. Owning a home is never an “investment,” it’s always expensive. But owning a second/vacation home has no tax advantages at all, unless you rent it out, in which case you have even more repairs.
I haven’t tried this, but wanted to save the recipe, and putting it in the blog is easier than printing it.
What you need:
-1 Professional Spray Bottle (it is worth the extra $1, trust me!)
-8 oz. Distilled White Vinegar
-4 oz. Lemon Juice
-2 oz. Liquid Soap (I use Dawn)
-2 tsp. Baking Soda
-10 oz water
To Mix:
Funnel in all the ingredients, squeeze out the suds, screw on your cap and go make your bathroom sparkle!
To Use:
Clear the surfaces, use toilet tissue to wipe off any dirt, hair, spilled liquids, etc. Using the lightest spray setting, spray down everything- sink, counter, mirror, faucets, tub and the whole toilet, inside and out. I let it sit while I sweep the floor. I then use a microfiber cloth to wipe down the surfaces from the cleanest to the dirtiest. In our house that means mirror, faucets, sink, tub/shower and then the toilet. Be sure to rinse out the tub/shower really well so it isn't slippery.
Stubborn stains in your tub?
Whether its a dirt ring at the top or dirt stuck in the textured bottom, this will solve your problem! Spray down the problem area heavily, and then using a sponge with a non-scratch scrubber, scrub in a circular motion. Again, rinse very well and then put on your shades because its going to be shiny.
With fancy bathrooms and low flow toilets, I decided to buy some new plungers--just in case. The $3 old fashioned kind at Wal-Mart are sort of ugly, but for $15 I can get one in a cute little brushed nickel canister or bronze, and if want to scare the guests to death, there is one with a handle like a sea monster, so when it's in the toilet it looks like some something is attacking. Garden pots work too for storing the ugly ones. This is $30 at Bed Bath & Beyond, but only $15 at TJ Maxx.
Make an all-purpose bathroom cleaner by mixing two tablespoons of dish liquid, two tablespoons ammonia, and one quart of warm water. Use this for the tub, sink, floors, and shower. Rinse with clean water. A baking soda paste can help get rid of marks in the sink or tub. Using a squeegee on shower walls after each shower helps stop mold and mildew from growing.
Leaving the lid up when you flush can spread fecal matter and germs all over your bathroom, even to your toothbrush. To limit nasty germs, clean your toilet bowl weekly -- and keep the lid down. Use a wet cloth and an all-purpose cleaner to wash the lid, seat, and outside of the bowl. Then use a toilet brush and the cleaner to scrub inside the bowl.
From: Web MD, Beat germs all over your house.
One thing we've learned while remodeling two bathrooms (other than it costs much more to remodel than to build new) is that the building trades are doing just fine--they are very busy here in Columbus. If they were sloppy or careless, the recession did them in (as it should--survival of the fittest). However, to avoid what Obama is doing to small businesses, they are running on very small crews and expecting a lot from their employees. I'm hoping deadlines can be met. We're expecting company in June, and I don't want to send them to the neighbors.
My husband was not fond of the wallpaper in the guest bath, but I sort of enjoyed it. High end decorators with big price tags, two men, lived in here about 23 years ago—I think this reflects their taste. The cabinets and doors are black. The guest bedroom had black carpet, yellow walls (lightened by the next owner from a dark green), and black and forest green checkered fabric on the walls and ceiling, plus pink roses drapery fabric with forest green completely covering the window. My husband said it looked like a funeral home.
In the last 6 days I've done more traveling around metropolitan Columbus than probably the previous decade. I am so impressed with our city even on gray rainy days! Congratulations to our Republican governor and Democratic mayor. I saw lots of growth and ingenuity, great small businesses, and yet big developments, too. Our immigrant community is starting many new businesses; I saw expansion everywhere. (unemployment 5.8%)
It was three trips to the east side for my eyes (I was wowed by Mt. Carmel), and then lots of driving around picking out bathroom cabinets, fixtures, tops, lights, etc. Yesterday we spent an hour with a salesman who will be singing in Vaude Villities (a local talent show 71 years old). At all the businesses, the sales force was knowledgeable, polite and helpful. Today the contractor came and ripped out the old shower. Finally, we have a dumpster and big trucks in our drive-way just like our neighbors.
We are stripping the walls, moving furniture, and emptying bathroom cabinets that will soon be removed. The contractor is to start on Tuesday. Two 1970s era bathrooms are being upgraded (I’ve got a bad case of sticker shock). Who knew we had 6 different boxes of band-aids, and never could find one when needed? And to think my father was a senior in high school before he knew people had bathrooms inside their homes.
The story he told me, which may be embellished a little because he was a great story teller, was he knew there were bathrooms in public buildings like schools. He attended Polo High School and was in the senior play. Because his parents lived on a farm and there was a night rehearsal and then the performance, he stayed overnight with a fellow cast member and realized that people living in town had toilets inside the house, just like at school! He was a year ahead of his age group, since in rural schools they weren’t real picky about that, so I’m guessing he was about 16 or 17 when this was taken.
When I was in first grade and my father returned from service in the Marines after the end of WWII, his old route with Standard Oil had been taken over by someone else, so he was doing a long drive to a different area. So he bought a home in Forreston, about 15 miles from our home in Mt. Morris. It was an old farm house on the last street at the south end, and it had no indoor toilet. And there was a pump on the counter of the kitchen. Really, I don’t know what my mother must have thought, but she learned carpentry and plumbing and we soon had a bathroom. Nothing fazed that woman. Of course, being six years old, I thought it was a great adventure. Now, not so much!
My husband and I have discussed this many times--rules for taking a shower. Not how to get clean, mind you, but how to keep the cottage bathroom from becoming a playground for mold. A disaster of peeling paint and drooping wallpaper. Sticky floors and standing water. If you click on this photo, you'll see what we'll have to repair this summer--two years after we repaired it.
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