Wouldn't it be amazing if we could write trees?
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Labels: Image, Random
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Flu Shot Doctor Update
I am sorry for this very short post today but I have been ill for 3 days and its bothering my eyes to look at the computer screen for a long time.
I took my son to the doctor this week for his one year check up. I discussed with the doctor the whole Vitamin D vs the Flu Shot thing and here is the answer that he gave me.
Any other year he would not fight me on not getting the Flu Shot. Swine Flu aside every seven to eight years the flu mutates into a new form that our bodies have not encountered and we have small epidemics. Over the next two years he would like to see me get the shot for all of us until the world sees how the flu mutates. Then we can go from there and again we are not talking about the Swine Flu. He had no comment on it at all.
My friends Pediatrician states the same thing. She only recommends the Flu Shot based on data for that year. My friend has not been advised to give her son a Flu Shot ever but her Pediatrician is leaning towards a yes this year. Her son is four years old.
According to http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/04/this_years_flu_season.php. Pediatric flu mortality has also been better this year 45 deaths. But of the 36 deaths in ages for whom vaccination was recommended (older than 6 months), 5 had been vaccinated, although the data are provisional. No data are given for vaccination rates for comparison. It's clear that if vaccination is protective, it is not completely so. Bacterial co-infection (primarily with Staph) was mostly in older children (over age 10). He has a chart over at the site too.
My Pediatrician said that he loves Vitamin D and recommends it for many other reasons. He stated that he had not heard any news on Vitamin D helping to prevent the Flu but we all know that doctors are not required to keep up on all the latest information.
I'm getting closer to a decision and I think that I am going to make my decision based off of what my friends Pediatrician has to say. If two doctors who normally don't push the vaccine tell us to take it this year, then I think I will listen.
I took my son to the doctor this week for his one year check up. I discussed with the doctor the whole Vitamin D vs the Flu Shot thing and here is the answer that he gave me.
Any other year he would not fight me on not getting the Flu Shot. Swine Flu aside every seven to eight years the flu mutates into a new form that our bodies have not encountered and we have small epidemics. Over the next two years he would like to see me get the shot for all of us until the world sees how the flu mutates. Then we can go from there and again we are not talking about the Swine Flu. He had no comment on it at all.
My friends Pediatrician states the same thing. She only recommends the Flu Shot based on data for that year. My friend has not been advised to give her son a Flu Shot ever but her Pediatrician is leaning towards a yes this year. Her son is four years old.
According to http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/04/this_years_flu_season.php. Pediatric flu mortality has also been better this year 45 deaths. But of the 36 deaths in ages for whom vaccination was recommended (older than 6 months), 5 had been vaccinated, although the data are provisional. No data are given for vaccination rates for comparison. It's clear that if vaccination is protective, it is not completely so. Bacterial co-infection (primarily with Staph) was mostly in older children (over age 10). He has a chart over at the site too.
My Pediatrician said that he loves Vitamin D and recommends it for many other reasons. He stated that he had not heard any news on Vitamin D helping to prevent the Flu but we all know that doctors are not required to keep up on all the latest information.
I'm getting closer to a decision and I think that I am going to make my decision based off of what my friends Pediatrician has to say. If two doctors who normally don't push the vaccine tell us to take it this year, then I think I will listen.
What do you think and has anyone ever heard of this seven year mutation thing? I couldn't find any information on the subject.
Labels: Did You Know, Guest Blogger
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Cold Foods for Summer
One way to easily conserve energy and avoid heating up the house with the oven during the warm summer months is to eat raw fruits and vegetables, and to prepare cold soups, drinks and desserts. Fruit makes a very good breakfast food, raw vegetables julienned on a tray with cheese and crackers make a healthy and tasty lunch, and cold soups, such as chilled zucchini with basil and walnuts, make a filling and satisfying dinner. Though the recipe link for the chilled soup calls for chicken broth, I would personally recommend substituting that for vegetable broth. Even if you are a meat eater, this vegetable soup needs no meat ingredients.
One of our favorites, since we eat very few packaged foods, is frozen yogurt pops. This is a dessert you can eat without guilt, and with an assurance that you are still eating for health. If you are a dairy-free household, you might try rice yogurt as a substitute.
One of our favorites, since we eat very few packaged foods, is frozen yogurt pops. This is a dessert you can eat without guilt, and with an assurance that you are still eating for health. If you are a dairy-free household, you might try rice yogurt as a substitute.
2 cups nonfat or whole milk UNFLAVORED plain yogurt
3/4 cup cherries or blueberries or strawberries (or other fresh or frozen fruit) NOTE: do not substitute any canned or prepared fruits because you will lose the simplicity and nutritional value.
1 TBSP RAW honey (not the processed, filtered kind) Raw honey gives actual food value that processed honey is lacking. If you do not have raw honey, the next best substitute is processed honey.
Blend in food processor, blender wand, Magic Bullet, Bella Cucina Rocket, or similar blender until smooth. If using cherries or blueberries, you will still see bits of fruit skin, and this is okay. If using berries, you will of course have seeds still visible.
Place in freezing dish, such as freezer-safe Corning ware or stainless steel cylindrical container until frozen. To make popsicles, use popsicle forms or place in small containers and add popsicle sticks.
ENJOY!
Labels: Did You Know, Make Your Own, Guest Blogger
Friday, June 5, 2009
Keep those Grounds!
I garden by organic methods, so began saving leftover coffee and grounds to aid in my garden. Since I have been saving my grounds, I have found so many other uses for coffee grounds that I am like a circling hawk when I am at any coffee shop. I ask if I can take used grounds off their hands. I stop into Starbucks, not to buy their coffee, but to see if they have a 5lb. bag of grounds I can snag. See Starbucks' "Grounds for your Garden."Coffee grounds are good for your garden because they repel slugs, snails, and other pests, and they add nutrients at the same time for plants that like acidic soil. If using on plants that need more alkalinity, just add a little lime to your soil as well. What other uses have I found?
- Use as a dye for fabrics and handmade papers. Experiment with soaking in leftover coffee for differing lengths of time.
- Sow with root vegetable seeds when planting to repel pests below the surface of the soil and prevent root rot.
- Mix leftover coffee with water in your watering can to make a "tea" with which to water plants.
- Rub used wet grounds on hands after cutting or handling onions, garlic, or other strong smelling foods.
- Place some in a small open container in the back corner of your refrigerator and freezer to absorb odors.
- Place some used coffee grounds and citrus peel in your sink garbage disposal and run briefly to deoderize the drain. If you do not have a disposal, just use a teaspoon of grounds in a container of boiling water and pour slowly down the drain.
- Use wet coffee grounds for abrasive action when cleaning stain resistant surfaces. Mix a little baking soda, distilled white vinegar, and coffee grounds together for optimum scrubbing and cleaning.
- Use whole coffee beans to make deoderizing sachets for drawers and closets.
- Use whole coffee beans to make "beanbag" toss toys.
- Place used wet grounds on ashes in the hearth to lessen dust when cleaning out the fireplace/woodstove.
- Use wet grounds on dark furniture to repair scratches.
- Place directly in compost pile.
- Place in worm bin to keep worms alive and healthy if you keep worms in vermiculture, or use them in fishing.
- Scatter near door entrances with orange peel to repel ants.
- Scatter with orange and/or lemon peel in flower beds to deter cats from using as a litter box.
- Make an exfoliating rub for your face and body.
- If you have dark hair, mix leftover coffee, a few tablespoons of grounds, and hair conditioner or yogurt and apply to hair for 1 hour to darken, soften, and highlight. This process will need to be repeated about every 14-21 days if you wish to keep the effect.
- Use with massage oil when giving an exfoliating massage.
I'm sure there may be more uses, but those are all I have found thus far.
So, drink up, and save your grounds...or send them to me!
So, drink up, and save your grounds...or send them to me!
Labels: Did You Know, Make Your Own, Guest Blogger
Thursday, June 4, 2009
EarthCadets
Name: Krissy
Shop Name: EarthCadets
Shop Link: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5528895
Location: Chicago
Ships To: Everywhere
What materials do you use for your ECO friendly products? I use 100% recycled tote bags made out of reused cotton and plastic bottles. I also use 100% organic cotton for my t-shirts and flour sack towels. All materials are also shipped in 100% recycled tissue paper and recycled cardboard boxes.
Why did you decide to make ECO friendly products? Initially I wanted my tote bags to replace plastic and paper bags. It felt like a step backwards if my product was not also going to be eco friendly. 100% recycled totes reusing every day products to carry around our everyday purchases just seemed to make sense.
What inspires you? I am inspired by well thought out color schemes, patterns, hand illustrations, typography, warm weather, antiques, hard workers and jokes.
How long have you had your shop on Etsy? My shop launched Dec 15 2008
Is this a job for you or a hobby? For now, this is a hobby. But it is certainly my goal to go full-time some day. There is nothing I'd rather do that be my own boss, working for a cause and products I believe in, waking up when I want to and staying up as late as I care to to complete projects, wearing a smock and paint covered jeans and screen printing or drawing in the studio all day. Some day, that will be my life.
Besides your business practices, do you do other things to live a green life? I have been a vegetarian for 14 years now but starting Earth Cadets has made me an even more conscious consumer. Especially about the little things and differences one can make in day to day activities. I try to recycle anything I can – I drink out of my Nalgene bottle instead of buying plastic water bottles. And if I ever have to buy a plastic water bottle, I reuse it as many times as possible. I think my gym water bottle has been with me for a good three months now! I am reducing my use of paper towels but using organic flour sack towels in their place. I also take public transportation back and forth from work. I am looking forward to a next step of making my own shipping envelopes by recycling brown paper bags.
How did you get into your craft? I have always been a doodler, a drawer, a wannabe artist. I got into painting on t-shirts at an early age with puffy paints (because what child of the 80s didn't?) and it evolved from there. Following puffy paints I used iron-ons, started bleaching t-shirts, using stamps and stencils and finally learning how to screen print almost three years ago.
Do you have any advice for fellow Etsy shop owners?
I have really enjoyed being a part of the Etsy community - the forums, blogs, sellers and buyers all have something valuable to offer. As I am just starting out, having had Earth Cadets open five months now; there is ton for me to learn. I have found that blogs are an extremely valuable form of Etsy seller education. The Storque has great posts informing sellers as well as inspiring them every day. And I have found that Twitter really opens up the Etsy community allowing you to directly connect and "stalk" buyers and sellers alike linking to their blogs and/or websites. Also, joining a team is another way to connect with Etsy sellers who are like-minded. I am a part of TeamEcoEtsy and the opportunities and education through that team has been so helpful.
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Labels: Etsy Seller Interview
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Seedling Selection for a Home Garden
If you grow your own garden, or have been thinking about even growing a small scale potted garden, there are some things to think about when making your seed and plant selections. Though it is late this year to begin sowing many plants from seed, the premise is the same when choosing started seedlings at a nursery. If you know what seed you want them grown from, you will be further on your way to choosing the right batch of already started plants.Territorial celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Located in Cottage Grove, Oregon, it was purchased in 1985 by Tom and Julie Johns. Noticing the alarming trend of disappearing diversity and quality in the seed market caused by large conglomerate consolidation, they set out to invest in land and equipment that would allow them to grow commercial quality home garden seeds that consumers were then unable to obtain. They have been offering these quality seeds to customers ever since, and this makes them an independent seed company that consumers can trust. (Territorial Seed Company history, Territorial Seed Company Spring 2009 Catalog.)
When selecting seeds or seedlings, it is very important to look for the following:
- Open pollinated (this means non-hybrid). You may see it as OP on seed packets. This means that the plant is pollinated by natural means, such as by wind, bees, and other insects. It also means that my seed packet says "Indeterminate Habit." This just means that because of the uncontrolled pollination of the plant, the seed company does not know from whence the male pollen is derived and that the traits of the mature plant may vary (widely) from 'norm' expectations. To me, this means I have seeds that are heirloom quality. For more information, take a look at Nature's Seeds.com.
- Heirloom. This means that you can save the seeds from the bounty of your harvest and they will grow into new, healthy plants if you plant them. Many people are not even aware that seeds which are not heirloom do not produce seeds that may be saved and planted to provide a reliable new generation of crops. Avoid hybrid and GMO (genetic modification), especially if you wish to save seeds from your crop(s) to plant later. These are said to add heartiness and desirable traits to plants, but it can make successive seasons from saved seeds unpredictable. For more information on this topic, visit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. If you cannot find OP/Heirloom plants, the next best thing is an F1 hybrid (as long as you don't wish to save seeds), and usually, this information is available on the little informational plant stick that is stuck in the flat.
- Non-GMO (as discussed above).
- Untreated. Often, seeds are treated with fungicides, insecticides, and/or other chemical substances to protect them from damage, insects, and blight. This is supposed to be a positive selling point, but to those of us who care about what we put into our bodies, it means more unnecessary chemicals. If my seed is coated in chemicals before it ever even goes into the ground, how am I going to grow chemical free plants and crops? I cannot.
- Organic. Remember in High School biology class, when we all learned the definition of organic (basically, ..."of or pertaining to living organisms")? Now, the term "Organic" has emerged on the food circuit to mean..."pertaining to, involving, or grown with fertilizers or pesticides of animal or vegetable origin, as distinguished from manufactured chemicals: organic farming; organic fruits." (Definition extracted from Dictionary.com.) According to Organic.org, it means...grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. When discussing seeds, it means that the plants from which the seeds were harvested were grown using organic farming principles.
More than you wanted to know? Well, take this away with you: Request your tomatoes HEIRLOOM; hold the pesticides, sewage sludge and any form of radiation.
Labels: Did You Know, Guest Blogger
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Tech Tuesday - Tales of Boot DOOM!!!
This week I'm not really going to talk about a new technology but instead give you some helpful info that was very hard won on my part. Over this past weekend I heard about a cool new Linux distribution called Linux Mint 7. I was reading up about it and discovered that it has a "live" version you can boot from a DVD. Me being me, I needed to try it out, so I downloaded it immediately and burnt it to a DVD. It is quite cool and recognized all my stuff quickly and painlessly. Its a really nice operating environment and I would recommend it to anybody. But as I said, I'm not here to talk about that today. No, I'm here to tell you a story of woe and tribulation.
You see, though I am a hardcore PC guy from way back, for simplicities sake I am currently using a Mac Mini as my main machine. Apparently, you can't simply pop a disc into a Mac and boot from CD like you can with many PCs. So I started looking around and found a place in the system preferences to change your boot drive. In typical Ev fashion I haphazardly changed it to my CD drive and called it a day. This would come back to bite me but more on that later.
I popped in the DVD after changing my boot drive and restarted my computer. Everything loaded up wonderfully and I had a great time playing around with Linux Mint 7. This is when the real fun started. When I was done playing around with Mint 7 I shut it down, the DVD popped out and the system turned off. When I turned it back on however, I got an error telling me that I had no operating system. It was at this moment that I realized that my computer was no longer going to even try to use my hard drive to boot up because I had already told it that from now on I was going to boot from the CD drive. Being an old PC vet I was unperturbed by this minor speed bump. I had looked online and found the Mac equivalent to the old book keys I was used to holding down at start up to get my PC into different modes. So I rebooted the computer and held down the "D" key on the keyboard, which is what you use on a Mac to force it to boot from the hard drive. Nothing happened. I got the same error. I also tried the "Option" key which is supposed to load up the Mac boot menu. Still nothing. At this point I tried all sorts of other key commands that all also failed.
Now I started to get frustrated. I used Linux Mint 7 to go on the internet and hunt around for what must be going wrong. I spent hours looking around forums and Mac tech sites and even went so far as to call my brother-in-law who manages an Apple store. I did all this only to find out that since I was using a $10 PC keyboard I picked up and had hooked up through a PS/2 to USB adapter that I had had lying around and not used an actual USB keyboard, my Mac wasn't going to recognize the boot commands.
So now I'm stuck. It was almost midnight at this point and I was thinking that the only way to get my computer back up the way it had been was to buy an expensive keyboard. That was my brother-in-laws answer anyway. I had other ideas. Before I went to sleep that night I had made up my mind that instead, when I woke up the next day I was going to use Mint 7 to format my hard drive, then install Mint on it which I hoped would automatically set the boot drive back to the hard drive.(hoped and prayed that is) Then I planed to load the install DVD that came with my Mac Mini to format the drive yet again and reinstall Mac OSX. I had decided on this course of action because I would be damned if I had to spend $40 dollars or wait a week (he offered to mail me an old Mac keyboard that was going to get thrown away) to fix a problem caused by wanting to play with a "live" Linux Distro.
Well, when I woke up I decided to look around one last time on the internet before I hunkered down and spent half the day formatting, installing, reformatting and reinstalling the crap out of my computer while praying it would all work out and all I would lose is EVERYTHING I HAD ON MY COMPUTER!!! I spent another hour or so searching and then I found it. A glimmer of hope in a sea of sorrow. On a random forum thread about an unrelated Mac issue, as an afterthought a guy mentioned that if you held down the menu button on your Apple remote during start up it would bring up the boot menu. I tried it and nearly wept when I saw the boot menu load up.
So the moral of this story is:
1) If you have a Mac and want to boot from a CD or DVD, NEVER change your system preference of boot device. Instead, either hold down the "Option" or "C" keys at start up as these will bring up the boot menu or force your computer to boot from a CD/DVD respectively.
2) Don't use a cheap keyboard if you might need to mess around with boot keys. Go for a real USB or Mac keyboard.
3) If for some reason you decide to throw caution to the wind and ignore morals 1 and 2, pray to whatever higher being you pray to that you have an Apple remote and have read this post because you'll have a snowflakes chance in hell of finding that little remote trick anywhere else very easily. Trust me...I tried.
~EV
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Labels: Tech Tuesday
Monday, June 1, 2009
Life With My Kids - Infant Mini Period
Yes, you read that correctly but lets back up a little. Willow is doing great, her check up on Friday went well, only lost one ounce and just a teeny bit jaundice. She is a little piglet and loves her organic formula. The only complaints I have is that she doesnt burp easily and she sleeps better during the day than night.
Now back to the subject at hand. Willow was born Monday, the 25th, and we came home on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon when my husband was changing her diaper he noticed some odd discharge and told me about it later (I was napping). He said it was clear and sticky. Fast forward to Friday, Im changing her diaper and found the same sticky discharge except it is blood colored. So we called the pediatricians office and waited for a return call from a nurse or doctor.
The phone rings and hubby answers it, he explains the situation and then sits there listening to the nurse. He hangs up the phone, turns to me and says
- "The answer is so f-ed up I don't even want to tell you"
- "Do we have to take her to the hospital?"
- "No"
- "Is she ok?"
- "............technically"
- " What do you mean, what is going on?"
- "The nurse says she is having a mini period"
- "....................A what?!"
- "A mini period............apparently baby girls can have estrogen withdrawals from not being inside the mother any more and it gives them a mini period. It will last 3-5 days and if it lasts longer we have to give them a call"
- "You're kidding......"
- "No"
- "Seriously?"
- "Yes"
- "Seriously, you're sure that is what she said?"
- "Yes"
- "Who did you talk to?"
- "A nurse"
- ".....................................that doesnt sound real..........Im going to Google it, I don't believe it, it just sounds waaaay to ludicrous"
- "I know"
- "That's messed up, I cant believe it, it's too weird and a little creepy"
- "I know, I didnt want to tell you"
So I Google "infant mini period". You know what I found..........nothing, well a little something on a wedding site, but that to me counts as nothing" So I call my MIL. She is just as shocked as me and she has certainly never heard of it. Who else do I turned to? I mean I am kinda embarrassed to talk about it...a mini period........wow.......who'd thought. So I just write it off as weird and go about my day.
Two days later I am talking to my MIL again, Great Grandma is not doing well at all, she says she mentioned it to the Aunts and family. I thinking, great now they are going to think we don't take care of our children properly. To her surprise and mine two of the women have heard of this before!! They both know moms that have had daughters and their babies had a mini period. Now the other women in the family are just as stunned as us, they had never heard of this happening.
So there you have it, baby girls can have mini periods. Now it is documented on the web so other moms can rest assured they are not alone and this is in fact real, no matter how weird or creepy it seems.
Labels: Life with my kids
How to Naturally Get Rid of Ants
If you have ants in your house, there are a few ways to get rid of them:
* Make an ant trap by dissolving 2–3 teaspoons of sugar in one cup of water. Moisten paper towels or sponges in the sugar water and set out overnight. The next morning, sweep the trap and the ants into a dustpan.
* You can also spray windowsills, door thresholds, counters, cabinets and other surfaces with a mixture of equal parts white vinegar and water.
* Sprinkle cayenne pepper and cinnamon on surfaces where ants gather.
* Spread grits, flour or ashes over ant trails and ants will soon find somewhere else to walk.
* Outside the house, pour lemon juice on thresholds, sills, cracks, and holes where ants can enter. Scatter lemon rinds around door entrances. You can use borax, salt, cream of tartar, or oil of clove in the same way.
* Apply petroleum jelly around the rims of pets' food bowls to keep ants at bay.
Via Reader's Digest
Labels: Helpful Tips
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