Family and/or Personal

A Courage Exercise

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Whether you’re a full-time homemaker, a dual-career parent or a single person working up the corporate ladder, we all get in a frenzied mode that doesn’t really stray outside of certain invisible boundaries that we’ve set for ourselves.  Sometimes these fences of our personal world are purposely set or involuntary done so in reaction to what our life ingredients are: marriage, children, married with no children, single and married to work, et cetera.

For those of you who know me well, I am married with a toddler son and I proclaim myself to be a CEO of the home with constant side projects like gardening, tending to my three egg-laying chickens and cooking for family.  I’m also an artist by nature, perhaps a bit disabled in the left portion in my brain so to speak.  I love to draw, paint, create crafts, cross-stitch and sing at church as a Byzantine chanter in the Greek Orthodox church.

One day a few months ago I felt that mundane feeling that seems to slowly suffocate us at times in our lives.  So I decided to jump on the cyberspace search for what was ailing me in my creative hunger.  By searching the arts in my local area I found out that we have an opera group.  As a fluke, I filled out the application in case there was ever a need for an alto, soprano 2 person like myself.  I forgot about it.

Two weeks ago, my inbox had a message inviting me to audition for the local opera house–particularly for their chorus.  I thought why not and ran to gather the two musical pieces I would need.  I remembered an old tune that I had sung before as well as the classic “Caro Mio Ben” in Italian.  I practiced as I could at night and with the help of a friend.  Still, when the audition came up yesterday, I knew I wasn’t fully ready (hadn’t quite memorized all the lyrics).  I called the opera house to tell them that I was unable to sing without sheet music.  Figured that was the end of it until the production assistant called me back and told me that the director still wanted me to attend and I could have the music before me.

Upon entering the opera house I immediately got butterflies.  I found the waiting room and was taken aback by what I heard on the other side of the door–a gentleman was belting his song in full opera fashion.  Frozen in my seat I realized that I was half-paralyzed by fear and the knowledge that I was way out of my league.  Do I run out of there? Do I excuse myself and make sure to scratch out my name? Again, do I just get the heck out of there?

The few people in the room were a diverse mix, men and women, various ethnic races and sexual orientations, you think it and that’s the motley crew waiting for the next person to go in.  I learned a lot from everyone’s nervous chatter about the opera and chorus industry in that twenty minutes that seemed to last forever.  Everyone else proclaimed themselves musically trained and most had already worked professionally in the music industry locally and abroad.  I felt completely inferior.

Unfortunately, sitting in the marinade of inferiority, I walked in when it was my turn and could hardly breathe as I handed my sheet music to the pianist.  Hardly looking at the director, I started to sing and could hear laughter on the other side of the door.  It’s not that I sang badly, it’s just that I’m not an opera singer by any means and I certainly knew that I probably sounded like a poor high school soloist.

Yet, as I started my second song, my old favorite “Caro Mio Ben”, I thought to myself, “Who cares? I will sing this like I mean it and no matter that it’s not a professional sounding Italian aria”.  I got into the song comfortably but then my breath suffered and so I started a line wrong while the pianist next to me most mercifully sung to me the right words so I could get back on track.  I closed my eyes and ran with my voice to the end of the song, collapsing at the ending as I jumped too soon and missed a musical rest in the last 5 beats.

“Thank you”, he said.  “I’m an amateur,” I quickly responded in an almost confessional-type of tone.  “Keep singing”, he said almost sarcastically and perhaps with a shred of pity for the homemaker who walked in and sang two songs off the street.

I wish I could tell you that I walked out of there with my head high.  Instead I looked at the ladies waiting in the room and told them, “See, you’ll do just fine in there, I’m an amateur” while I walked/ran out of there, entered my car in the little parking lot and rolled down my windows down with my tragic Greek music blaring.

This morning I awoke and thankfully that awkward, exposed emotion that overwhelmed me after the audition session last night had passed.  In its stead, I felt this strong sense of courage.  It’s as if I exercised a muscle last night that hadn’t been used in ages.  Perhaps it’s good to step out of our personal boundaries, even if it ends in what seems like a failure.  Success really can manifest in forms we don’t predict.  So I’m not an opera singer, but at least I tried something new and I have a bit more knowledge about another world and newfound respect for those folks who reside in it.

RVSB

A Study Report You May Have Missed This Week: Link Between ADHD & Pesticides

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Good Thursday to all of you!  It’s been a busy week yet again in my personal orbit but I haven’t forgotten the one little Associated Press report I read in my local paper that had been stuffed/hidden in page 7a.  This was released back on Monday, May 17th, you can Google search to find it or just go to this Time publication link: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989564,00.html

The title of the report simply describes it: “Study Links Kids’ ADHD to Pesticides”.  It turns out that a recent study has scientists buzzing about and clamoring for more research studies to be conducted on the possible health effects of pesticides on children.  A quote worth remembering from the study: “In the body, pesticides break down into compounds that ca be measured in urine. Almost universally, the study found detectable levels: The compounds turned up in the urine of 94 percent of the children.”

That’s right, whether or not the pesticides themselves can put our children at greater risk for health problems such as ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) is going to be up for more debate as more research studies is needed–however, the sad and sobering truth remains that we are absorbing these chemicals into our bodies when exposed and our children being smaller are really taking a hit physically.

Unfortunately, this particular report doesn’t determine/reveal how the children in the study were exposed to the pesticides: had they eaten food treated with it, breathed it in the author or swallowed it in their drinking water?

The findings that were published on Monday in “Pediatrics” have the lead author Maryse Bouchard from the University of Montreal saying that one way we can limit our family’s exposure to pesticides is to eat organic produce when available and scrub all produce to get external residue off (regrettably, some things like blueberries and strawberries will have the highest concentration of pesticides absorbed in the fruit-so do try getting organic fresh or frozen.)

For my own family, I do try when available to purchase organic produce, but it’s not always in the store right?  That’s probably why I also try to grow in my garden items that our family regularly consumes in our weekly menus so that I can control what the plants are exposed to.  But what about rain that may fall with pollutants from the atmosphere?  We have to temper our aversion to the reality that our human society is polluted whether we like it or not.  As consumers, we still have some power play left as we can guide the market to reduce its dependence on poisons such as widespread pesticide use.  However, we must educate and arm ourselves with information as to what we want ourselves and our families to be exposed to when eating certain products.  Ultimately, you make the choice as to what path your household will consume whether it be based on environmental or cost-effective terms.

Here are a couple of helpful online resources for your own personal research needs: www.organicconsumers.org , www.organic-center.org and www.heathlychild.org, www.chemicalfreekids.com , www.centerforfoodsafety.org , www.foodandwaterwatch.org , www.ewg.org  .

RVSB

Why When We Judge Others We May Truly Judge Ourselves…

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Judging others.  We do it so often that much of the time we don’t even realize we’re doing it.  Better yet are the judgements we make about others by observation as we tell ourselves and perhaps even share with others that we would not do such-and-such if in that situation.  Never is this more true than when we witness our fellow human(s) deal with their offspring. Disclosure: I am indeed guilty myself of such internal actions I’m embarrassed to say.

On that introductory note, welcome to the world of “I-ate-my-judgement” as I did a couple of things in the past week with my son T.A. that I harshly thought I would never do as I saw others in the past.

My son is approaching the 2-year-old milestone age marker within weeks and as he is actively vying for his independence he is also still very needy in terms of the physical and intellectual attention he requires of me on a constant basis throughout our days together.  Therefore I was worn down this past week as I’ve found myself progressively falling behind on administrative and maintenance tasks that fall in my “CEO of the Home” job description.

“Why I Ate My Words/Thoughts”

It was Thursday afternoon and we were at my mother’s house again as we usually visit once a day to tend to my 3 egg-laying hens and the garden we have on her land.  Among our other activities there, I assist in the general maintenance of the lawn and foliage at my mom’s property.  It’s South Florida and our summer has begun along with the super speedy grass habits that require almost weekly grass-cutting.  Her lawn needed help and my younger brother had squeezed in a half-done lawn job with his crazy work schedule.  

I took a look at my mom’s lawn, another look at my son as he was tagging along with his needy whines and then glanced over at the garage housing the Craftsman lawn tractor.  If you haven’t guessed already, I scooped up my son and placed him on the seat in my lap–yes, I took my son along for the ride as I operated that lawn tractor to cut the rest of the lawn.  I was almost instantly haunted by my many previous judgemental thoughts and words.  My actions that day fulfilled the very opposite of what I had proudly declared for myself: “I would never endanger my child by taking him/her on a riding lawn mower, what parent would do that? blah, blah…”

Thankfully, I relaxed on the mental guilt trip a bit enough to actually enjoy the experience with my son as I communicated with him what we were doing , things we saw along the way and why it was important that he stay with me at all times around that piece of equipment and so on.  He did really well and was excited to share in his talk/babble/sound re-enactments later on to family as to the ride he took with “Mama” and even the next day he told me as he pointed to the grass that we had “vvvvvvmmm” ‘d the lawn.  Personally, it felt good to actually get something done that day that served both my son and the duties I have…I couldn’t help but think that our women ancestors pre-Industrial era had to weave their daily duties to their families along with their immediate children (note: most mothers have always “worked” before the 20th century).

Final Note

I wish that this little experience of mine could help me to avoid judging others in my mind and heart but unfortunately that seems to be one of my personal struggles in this life journey.  It’s like an automatic program that runs without my conscientious consent at times but thankfully we do encounter moments of karma-turnabout like my riding lawnmower story that help to ground us before we judge too quickly.

RVSB

When All is Crazy: Just Bake!

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I am having one of those weeks where you’re constantly running behind on everything, every day.  You know the kind where Monday starts and your mind is still stuck on third gear on the past Saturday afternoon.

Therefore, I found myself yesterday morning with my son T.A. on the stepstool beside me in the kitchen as I threw several ingredients together to make a loaf and half dozen muffins of banana nut bread.

As we all have these crazy times, I wanted to share this wonderfully simple and tasty recipe with you all and offer some notes on how I’ve adapted it to my family’s specific tastes and such.

The main recipe is from a cookbook compilation called “Mountain Morsels” put together by the Ladies Night Circle of the First United Methodist Church in Ellijay, Georgia.  I found it after raiding through my family’s cookbook collection one day when I had ripening bananas and needed a quick little recipe ASAP.

BANANA BREAD

  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Mash bananas in a bowl.  Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together. Add to bananas.  (Add eggs.) If using nuts, add now. Stir well. Put in a buttered loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees.  By Minnie Waters

My notes:  This recipe is truly simple, so much so that it doesn’t give a time for how long you should leave your bread in the oven at 350 degrees.  On average my banana bread loaf will take 35-45 minutes or so.  If you decide to pour  your batter into muffin cups, it will take a shorter amount of time, like 20 min or so…my best test method is to pluck out a muffin and subsequently slice it in half and if it looks done I proceed to eat it!

As for the ingredients list in this recipe, let me offer my suggestions for substitutions or variations if you will:

  • Instead of 2 cups of plain flour, I like to use 1 cup of unbleached flour and 1 cup of whole wheat or wheat pastry flour to beef it up a bit.
  • Instead of 3/4 cups of sugar, I like to use about a half cup of honey or 1/4 cup of agave nectar.  I have yet to try Stevia, but I grow that particular plant/herb now so I’ll get back to you in future posts.
  • For the nuts category, I like to use crushed up pecans as they lend a sweeter flavor than walnuts, almonds are fine if you have no other nuts available–of course nuts are OPTIONAL.
  • Not mentioned in Ms. Waters’ recipe is my penchant for tossing a dash of ground cinnamon and cloves in my banana bread, it’s a spice combination that goes well with these flavors and if you like them in general you can have at it.
  • As a topping for ascetics, you can always sprinkle a combination of ground nuts and spices on the top of your bread before you put it in the oven or simple sprinkle some rolled oats on top.  This makes for a great presentation if you’re giving the loaf as a gift or for your coworkers feeding trough station in the office.

I hope your week is going as smooth as possible and if you do find yourself racing just to keep up with the pace of the workload of your daily routines, just remember that you can always just bake and at least enjoy a simple but delicious treat of choice that will help distract you from that unfinished “to-do” list.

RVSB

American Apparel…What a concept!

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This is a blog short…I want to share my recent experience that was really a fluke but I’m glad it happened since I may be addicted now.

There is a store in some malls, maybe one near you, called American Apparel.  The first time I saw one was about 5 months ago in Boca Raton, Florida and it looked like a bunch of clothes from the 80s that I wasn’t too attracted to walk in and check out any further.

Instead, it took me until last Thursday when I yet again stumbled by another American Apparel store and actually decided to walk in and take a closer look since I had satiated my dear son with some mango sorbet.  Don’t worry, I asked the nice young ladies behind the register desk if I could bring my stroller in with my toddler slurping sorbet.

Again, I was a bit overwhelmed by the clash of Broadway meet the Eighties and Dirty Dancing scattered about in the style of clothes.  But then I finally saw something that caught my eye, it was a sign near the cash register describing American Apparel true appeal: this is an American owned and operating company that uses an “efficient, vertically integrated system” that “means heightened quality control and greater flexibility in design”.

Basically, this racket operates out of Los Angeles where they knit, dye and stitch the fabric together to make clothes for infants through adults, boys and girls, men and women. Made in the U.S.A.  You can look them up at http://www.americanapparel.net

In addition, they strive to use organic cotton where possible and I only bought three items but am ecstatic with them.  One is a toddler fine jersey which I washed and put on my son today.  It is so soft and the design is a basic shirt but you can tell the stitching is of good quality.  It’s full price was $11–yes,that seems steep, but it really felt good to put a piece of clothing on my child that was made in our country under good conditions and intentions.

I also bought a scarf that I wear on my head like a Greek island villager, I LOVE it and have vowed to go back and get more or at least order some online.  The third item is a cherry red collared shirt for my son, its stitching is notably of good design and I look forward to dressing him in it soon.

Moral of the story is that one shouldn’t immediately dismiss a store because it may seem like they carry 1980’s throw-backs.  Even though American Apparel definitely can give off that vibe, their company methodology makes it worth trying to find what styles may fit our wardrobe and ease our over-stimulated-with-Made-in-China consciences.

RVSB

ROAD TRIP: A mini-guide for road travel with little ones

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I’ve been absent from writing on my humble website as my son T.A. have been away for 10+ days on a road trip originating from West Palm Beach, Florida through Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky and then back again. 

We were able to stay and visit with various friends and family as we traveled and we also treated ourselves to one night at the Gaylord’s Opryland Resort where we explored their multi-faceted atrium complete with a little riverboat ride

In an effort to share what pros and cons I’ve encountered in road-tripping with my son since he was 5 weeks old-I’ve compiled a fun breakdown of the word ROAD TRIP in sharing some tips:

Relax, Overnight Bag, AAA, Diapers and Toiletries, Technology, Reveal New Toys/Remind Old Toys, Inquire with Locals, Point Out to Yourself and Your Crew

RELAX

Relaxing may seem pretty impossible when embarking on a road trip with one or more children.  However, I have found that it’s helpful to focus on enjoying the actual journey and new experiences together and try to avoid obsessing over details like how well or not well your kids are eating during the trip.  Early on in our journey I immediately noticed that my son was snacking much more and eating less at sit-down meals.  He sometimes avoided the food served to him entirely, thankfully I pulled myself from the ledge as the days wore on and found it liberating to let him splurge on things I otherwise wouldn’t allow back at home.  When he was cranky and tired, I would try to just listen to my music and look around at the sights while driving. 

There was one instance where we were sitting at a T.G.I.Fridays in Chattanooga and T.A. had a level 4 meltdown after the meal was served.  It was at that point I calmly picked him out of the high chair, kissed him and then put him in his jogger stroller, reclined the seat, pulled down the sun shade, made sure he was secure, had a blanket draped and told him he needed to take a nap.  While he railed in the stroller I then summoned the waitress and ordered a Coors Light and proceeded relax accordingly as within a few minutes my son gave in to his over-stimulated exhaustion and I enjoyed my beer followed by coffee and an ice cream brownie drizzled with Bailey’s Irish Cream (no worries, we were walking around downtown for hours following that lunch).

OVERNIGHT BAG

This may seem elementary to most of you but for some reason I hadn’t quite gotten the hang of how to pack clothes and such for road trips even though I’ve done a few already with my son during his young lifetime- his first interstate road trip in the car being at five weeks old!  I often have found myself resembling some Biblical era nomad with tons of little bags and things.

So I finally figured out prior to leaving this time that I could pack a big suitcase for both of our clothes and have it act as a traveling dresser while I had a medium-sized duffle bag be our overnight bag that I packed prior to every stay at someone’s home or a hotel.  I found this to be liberating and much lighter for our helpful family and friends who were always asking to take our things to the designated room they had for us when we arrived.

AAA

That’s right, I’m plugging for AAA, the auto club of America, you can find them easily at http://www.aaa.com . If you are only an occasionally road tripping sort, then this is probably not a membership you necessarily need, although their roadside assistance benefits are worthy of consideration. 

I love AAA for the continuously updated travel software programs available to members such as myself.  Their TripTiks, for example, is very detailed and accurate in its directions and mini-maps, I prefer it over Mapquest or Google maps any day.  I also appreciate AAA’s tour books for all the different states that give you great travel info such as where are the best hotels to consider, what the main attractions in the different cities and towns are.  Those books also give you information in detail about the name and numbers of exits on the interstates in conjunction with various sites and attractions.  Between what signs I saw along my road travels and what information I had in my AAA tour books and maps, I always felt pretty well educated and prepared as I drove my son and myself through four different states.

DIAPERS AND TOILETRIES

Diapers are an obvious mention for those whose little ones aren’t potty-trained yet.  However, the toiletries portion also refers to the parent not just the child/children’s needs on the trip.  

Before I left town I visited some of my favorite places like L’Occitane and Aveda to pick up a couple of travel-size toiletry treats that made me feel taken care of as we traveled.  Things like a little bottle of sweet smelling hair spray and a Bergamot tea lotion mist from L’Occitane that was neatly packed in my oversized make-up tote that contained my staples like mouthwash, toothbrush, eye cream and lotions.  Having a small-scale but well stocked toiletry pantry in my overnight bag made the beginning and ending of my busy traveling days have a pleasant and energizing routine. 

For my son I had a small blue plastic container filled with one of his favorite bath toys, a small travel container of his bubble bath from home (we love Burt’s Bees!), his little toothbrush and toothpaste and his night lotion and butt crème.   This provided him with a familiar bin of his own that we opened together every morning and evening for his respective pampering needs that helped his days have a proper start and closure.

TECHNOLOGY

This is a fairly recent development as families driving through our nation as a mode of travel in the 1940s and 1950s would just stare in astonishment at the options we parents now have available to us and on average our American families containing less children than they had in those decades.

My friends and colleagues who know me well understand that I have an overall avoidance issue with most forms of technology.  For example, if I hadn’t married my husband I may still have lived without a computer in my personal home space.  Of course, I use them especially now as a mode of writing and communicating, but I still try to spend less than 5 hours a week on it as I used to have to spend WAY too much time on a computer when I was working in the government and corporate worlds.

However, I do admit that I carried a separate bag on this road trip of two particular items: a mini-DVD player and my iPod player with nano iPod.  The DVD player was NOT used in the car; I have a personal philosophy on playing movies in travel.  I feel they are okay for long airplane rides where one is restricted especially with small lap children.  But I believe that part of doing a road trip is to see the sights around you and usually you have the time to play with and stop whenever needed for extra distractions.  Plus, my toddler son has a short attention span so I was much happier to use the DVD player in our room when we would settle in for the evening so I could wash my face, re-pack or just generally take a break from his need for attention-why waste that in the car?

The iPod player was used only for the evenings when my son was washed and dressed in his pajamas and it was time to go to bed.  I always pressed play on my “lullaby” playlist that helped calm both of us down as he wound down for a restful sleep after some busy days during our road travel.

Then there are the additional understood staples such as your cell phone and digital camera.  It’s a good idea to keep your chargers with you at all times during road travel and make a habit of recharging them at night and then throwing the chargers back into your overnight bag each morning so as not to lose them.  I will admit that on this trip I lacked a car charger—those who really know me well will recall my cell phone explosion in the 2004 car trip with my husband from DC to FL that gave us both 2nd degree burns, let’s just say I’m a little paranoid about those unstable lithium batteries in the car charging.

REVEAL NEW TOYS – REMIND OLD TOYS

This is a two-part approach that seems opposite in nature but its intentions are the same: the goal is to help your little road warrior(s) travel as comfortable as possible in the vehicle as well as in the places you lay your head each evening.

One of my good friends L.H. had given me the advice last year for traveling for a 6+ airplane flight that it is good to break up the trip with revealing new toys/books to my son.  It worked well and I have stuck to the habit ever since.  This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune or buy elaborate toys, it can be simple stuff really and just ask me if you need ideas.  As I planned this past road trip, I looked at when my longest drive segments were and planned accordingly with stocking a few new things in the back of the car hidden.  Also, for the older children, there is always the ‘souvenir’ option as you travel through attractions or various places.  Thankfully, lots of Wal-marts along most of our interstates these days!

Old things are also good to travel with: their favorite toy or nighttime reading, the security blanket or stuffed animal.  These familiar things help your child(ren) feel some security as they travel the unknown with you.  Remember that you’re not the only one enduring stressful emotions on the road trip, they go through their own versions and it’s good when they have their own fall-back items and habits to help ground and re-center themselves.

For example, when staying at folks’ homes, T.A. enjoyed being in the kitchen with the adults as they or I would prepare meals.  I had a canvas tote bag with his fond pot and lid with a small bin of plastic fruits and vegetables that he likes to play with at home when I’m cooking food.  So I would bring that in whenever he started asking to participate.  We still ate out as well but this was nice for when we were hanging out with our hosts while food preparation was in full swing.

INQUIRE WITH LOCALS

Although we have AAA, you may have Apps on your iPhone and our laptops with wireless internet capabilities, my personal experience is that I found the best eateries, major attractions, parks and stores with the help of a local resident’s counsel.

For instance, Chattanooga’s Sticky Fingers is a great place for ribs and smoked wings, I’m so glad that locals verified that choice and I highly recommend it if you’re ever passing through there. 

Also, there was one day about a week into the trip that I wanted to make a comfort meal for T.A. at my family’s house in Tennessee but I didn’t know where I could find my specialty ingredients.  While at a children’s discovery museum I approached a couple of mom’s and asked and they told me about a great fresh and organic market not far from there and it was the best! 

Technology and such is great, but nothing beats asking someone who knows where’s the best this-or-that and I’m glad I did in almost every state I hit.

POINT OUT TO YOURSELF AND YOUR CREW

This last one is a little silly but I found it to be truly effective for my little crew of my son and me during this particular road trip.  Sure, he’s young and perhaps this little trick will fade in its attractiveness or maybe we’ll just progress and evolve into more detailed absorption of what scenery we encounter.

Whenever we saw cow pastures, I pointed them out to my son and talked about them. He would usually respond with the sounds of the cows and his recent adaptation of “Whoa Bull!”  If I saw construction vehicles, trucks or boats (all of which he LOVES right now), I would also point those out and we would go back and forth about them in adult vs. toddler language exchange.  You get the picture?  What surprised me about this constant observation activity was that it helped my driving go quickly and I found myself being intellectually stimulated even though I was making simple statements to my son, I was expanding in my thoughts on whatever the subject was and therefore more thoroughly enjoying my travel with him.

ROAD TRIP

I had a good time with my little road warrior and actually look forward to more trips in the future.  We’ll still use air travel from time to time, but the benefits of road trips outweigh those of airplane usage to me since it allowed me to visit with friends and family in greater quantity than I’d be able to do if I had to pay for all the air, car rental and hotel stays required in that mode of air transport.

If you have a road trip in your near future with your family, I wish you safe travels and most of all hope that you have fun new memories etched in all your hearts.

RVSB

Friday’s Closing Thoughts: Simplify, Why & Gov. Crist’s Peril

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CLOSING

It doesn’t matter what type of work you’re involved in, Fridays still seem to hold such a relief factor for most of us.  Especially if you have children and go by school or self-imposed schedules weekly.  For stay-at-home parents, Friday also brings the joy of your other half coming to the home front for hopefully most of the weekend helping you feel a little like an adult again. Welcome to Friday friends!

SIMPLIFY

I pulled an all-nighter this past week, I believe it occurred on Tuesday evening when my husband was out-of-town for a business trip.  It began with crusade to clean out our car, it has been a virtual gyspy-mobile for months with the necessity of mini-cleans along the way.  However, the spring cleaning I’m talking about consisted of pulling out all rugs, mats, special vinyl and leather cleaner, leather conditioner (yes, conditioner cream for leather!),vacuuming EVERYWHERE, de-gunking all appendages, buttons, et cetera. 

In addition to the car itself, I boldly attempted to clean my son’s car seat as well. WARNING to all my parent friends and strangers alike, do have your owner’s manual to the car seat handy before you start to remove fabric pieces and if you can manage, just take wipes and spot clean for the large areas. I almost tossed the entire entourage out of frustration of trying to reassemble the doggone contraption while my beloved toddler was in tantrum wind-up mode the next morning. (another caveat: reassemble child car seat while child is still sleeping soundly, so even if it’s 3:40am, just do it!)

Besides the car, in my post-tax season purge, I went nuts and tore into all random bags of receipts, bill stubs, business cards, random mail, you name it and I found it in its burrowed sack/box and had it all on the floor.  Between sips of my favorite Greek Retsina wine and leftover Publix cake, I battled through this reorganization, reallocation and ultimate trash-fest at about 4am officially Wednesday morning.  Shortly before 5am I came to my senses and realized that I was on morning kid duty in less than 2 hours so a nap would be in order.

You may expect that I regretted staying up all night clean and organize but the fact is that taking that unfettered time to simplify areas of my life that I spend so much time in was the best thing I’ve done in months.  Yes, I’ve paid through being a little more tired this week but I’ve relaxed in my mood because the catharsis of simplifying clutter and mess has allowed me to just indulge in the adventures (both expected and unexpected) of every day after Tuesday this week.  If you can find a way to do this for you and your family, I highly advise it as it truly has been a relief.

PERIL: Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist

In other news, I awake this morning to the www.sayfiereview.com headline for Gov. Crist stating that the stage may be set for him to become and run as an Independent in the state as he seeks the election win for the U.S. Senate race.

A fun quote from Mr. Steve Bousquet’s report from the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau reads: “Crist is boxed in politically. His political future is in peril. The former quarterback who loves sports analogies needs to throw a Hail Mary.” You can look this story up here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/with-veto-crist-sets-stage-for-independent-run/1087793

I remember working in Congress for a Florida congressman back when Crist was seeking to run for the Florida governor seat he now occupies. I had been tracking him in the headlines for years as I watched him strategically position himself to be the right candidate on paper.  Many of my colleagues contested the idea that he’d win the race, I stood my ground because I knew he was packaging it well.

In this case, I haven’t been paying much mind as everyday life keeps me occupied from reading all the details of the going-ons in the politics world. But I believe my sense of Crist hasn’t changed and I’m disappointed that he got the governor’s seat only to look again to other higher political aspirations instead of just doing the job he was elected to do. Now a young, vocal and naive Marco Rubio comes out and challenges him like Rufio from the Lost Boys in the Peter Pan movie rendition of “Hook” with Robin Williams.  Crist is flustered that his carefully crafted goals may be shook and possibly destroyed so he goes for the old change-my-political-affiliation get-out-of-jail free card.

Sigh. I love Florida and the politics in our state truly can be unique from other parts of our nation.  I just hope that this governor’s race plays out for the best of the citizens of the state of every political party: democrat, republican, independent and otherwise.  I’ve lived through both democratic and republican governors in our state and respect the office and the job they do more than the party they affiliate with. 

I simply don’t support Crist for the U.S. Senate seat because I feel he just went through the mediocre motions needed to fulfill his governor’s role and with that type of attitude, I don’t want him to represent our Florida voices in the U.S. Senate.

RVSB

Apple Juice and Arsenic: A Recent Story I Missed!

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This past Saturday consisted of a day road trip to my Alma Mater University of Florida along with my husband and son T.A.  It was UF’s Orange & Blue spring exhibition game and basically a fun time for current students and alumni and their friend and families to hang out and say go Gators!  My son T.A. took it all in stride and even clapped in delight during the scrimmage.  However, it was dinner conversation that night with my old college roommate that affected me the most Saturday: she asked me if I’d seen the report from the St. Petersburg Times regarding the amounts of arsenic found in apple juice. What?

First, I needed to read the story written by Mr. Tom Marshall, dated March 14 and I’ve provided a link for you if you are interested as well from Florida’s St. Petersburg Times website: http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2010/reports/apple-juice/

The overview of this report is that the St. Petersburg Times decided to commission independent testing of apple juice at least 18 different  juice brands including Motts, Apple & Eve and Tree Top to name a few.  More than 1/4 of those apple juices tested reflected arsenic levels between 25 to 35 parts ber billion (ppb).  To give you and I a better explanation to compare that test result, the FDA since 2006 considers that the nation’s drinking water supply should not have more than 10 ppb of arsenic occurring.

I further discovered how ignorant I am, or perhaps how little I learned in chemistry as a teenager, because evidently arsenic is “naturally occurring” and there is no way to avoid it completely.  The same goes for arsenic in items such as our drinking water but the apple juice issue (and in the past other testing reports by others on pear and grape juice) is more sinister because the arsenic is actually applied in the groves as an ingredient in pesticide.  Great-so we parents have already become super-paranoid about all the poisons and pollutants in our food supply and then we learn that the brilliant farmers in not only China but even our own country have settled on arsenic as a deterrent rather than utilize better options.

China does happen to be supplying more than 60% of our apple juice concentrate at this time.  Other countries include Argentina, Turkey and ourselves.  Yet American control over the apple juice market happens to be less than a 1/5 of the market.  I gleaned from this article that the individual companies that produce and package the apple juice seem the ones who are responsible for testing the concentrate they receive from abroad.  Although there is one instance cited where the FDA did step in and alerted their border officials of incoming pear juice from China in 2008 only after it was Canada officials who tested and found that the juice contained between 28-32 ppb of arsenic.

If you’re wondering what our government, basically the FDA (food and drug administration) is doing or saying about this subject of arsenic levels in juice, this quote is a great summary:  ‘ “We don’t have any evidence at this point to say that we feel there’s a risk issue that you need to be mindful of,” said P. Michael Bolger, the Food and Drug Administration’s chief of chemical hazards assessment.’

Following talk of the 2008 Chinese pear juice incident at our neighboring border with Canada, Bolger then went on to say: ‘ “the FDA has found some apple juice samples with more than 25 ppb of arsenic following increased testing. But the average for those tests was 9 ppb. More evidence is needed to justify setting limits on arsenic in juice, Bolger said. “We’ve got to generate the appropriate information, because you can’t fly blind,” he said. “You have to have some good data to back it up.” ‘

Thankfully, the general consensus among scientists interviewed for this particular article did say that low levels of arsenic in our water and juices does not pose serious health threats.  Of course, if arsenic is showing up in higher levels consistently and as for our children who may drink a large quantity of juice, the arsenic rising in our body’s chemistry can contribute to cancerous conditions as well as hormonal changes, et cetera.

I invite to read this article if you have time and maybe even jump on www.fda.gov for more information.  From what I can tell in the St. Petersburg piece, there isn’t a federal standard yet provided for our juice companies to follow regarding what levels of arsenic are safe.  Some companies use the water standard  of no more than 10 ppb of arsenic allowed, but I do believe if the government espouses to protect its nation’s food supply, then a juice regulation is required.

In the meantime, use your best judgement as a parent, you always make the right choices for your children so trust that.  If you feel better about watering down juice, your kid’s dentist will applaud you.  If you want to use more organic juice products just be aware that they all haven’t stopped using China-sourced apple juice concentrate and arsenic still can occur in soil years after it was used in an orchard. 

Hopefully, through parent-pressure, we can encourage the powers-that-be to nudge the FDA on this one.   And thank you to my old college roommate for alerting me on a recent story that I missed because I’m so busy like all of you mamas and papas!

RVSB

Palm Beach County’s Possible Folly: Easing Ban On Cellphones in Schools?

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Generally speaking, every morning it takes me a nice cup or two of coffee to help me open my eyes and get the fuzz off my brain’s exterior.  However, this morning I was spared my routine overdose of caffeine by the Palm Beach Post’s front page article entitled “Plan to ease school district’s policy on cellphones gets fuzzy reception” that sent shock waves through my cerebellum.   If you don’t live in Palm Beach County, Florida, you can look up the article written by Ms. Cara Fitzpatrick on their website at www.palmbeachpost.com: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/palm-beach-county-school-board-gets-hung-up-535575.html

I struggled to read through the entire article without yelling aloud in back talk as I’m prone to do–especially if I’m watching political pundits on TV.  Evidently there is a group of school technology officials in Palm Beach County that are suggesting that school board members consider easing the district’s restrictions on cellphone use, possibly using them in classroom instruction.

As I must applaud the creativity of using texting to send out memos to students during the day, I also abhor the idea of further overwhelming our youth with technology that offers little benefit overall.

The reality is that as with much of the technology bingeing that our society has participated in only the last three decades, the cons come out much later after we’ve been sold on the pros of the latest gadget or concept (like the world-wide web internet).

In this particular case, school officials have essentially become perhaps a little worn down by the constant need to reprimand their students for illicit cellphone use.  At the same time, I do believe that parents are to fault for sending their children to school with a cellphone in tow.  As for you parents that may be reading this and get upset with me: then at least consider if you do deem it a necessity for your child to carry that cellphone on their person, you are also responsible for ensuring that they do not use that phone during school hours unless it is a serious emergency on your part or theirs (which, honestly, those calls should be conducted in the school administration office, not in the classroom).

One of the ideas for a revised mobile phone policy in Palm Beach County mentioned that “use of cellphones would be ‘generally banned’ in schools, but would be allowed in classrooms for the instructional purposes as determined by the teacher and principal”.  Again, we’ve already learned that computers, both desktops and laptops, offer some benefits in classroom use, but they cannot replace the instructor-student interaction necessary for proper learning as appropriate for the respective grades.  Why would we then incorporate cellphone use on top of a pre-existing educational technology with bigger screens and memory?

A funny proposal was the one I read that offers “students, parents, school employees and others would be allowed to use electronic signatures to sign documents.”  Now I think we’ve truly gone tech-stupid.  The moment a John Hancock is too much for a parent to do in person for their child just makes me angry.  You may want to argue with me on this one and I invite you to do so because perhaps I’m simply a dinosaur in this regard.  I still think I want my child to bring a paper to me in person so we can discuss what it’s asking of he/she as well as myself to sign off on.  Why would we want to treat our interaction with our children regarding their education like some faceless technology swap with our big-wigs at the office or the bank loan officer we’d rather not meed in person?

Ultimately, the article leaves the cellphone discussion “to be continued” in this school board’s case in Palm Beach County, Florida.  It did wake me up again to the fact that our idea of how school was for us certainly is not the same for our children today.  However, I also stand firm that change doesn’t mean throwing away the template completely to make way for something that we still don’t know the true ramifications of in the future.

I’ve written before on the subject of the current epidemic of today’s children not knowing how to interact outdoors in nature unabated.  That is a direct result of a number of factors, mostly involving overuse and overstimulation of TV, video games, computers and other indoor medias that have paralyzed an entire generation of kids.  We must tread carefully as we now witness our technology becoming increasingly handheld, head held (like the annoying blue tooth, I lasted with that for a few months before I decided no thanks).

Of course I’m not saying that we can avoid it entirely.  But I know we as parents do still hold the key to teaching our children how to exercise moderation in every aspect of their lives with technology increasingly becoming a pervasive part of it for them.  Already I am curbing in my own usage and have found that it benefits me personally as well as hopefully an example for my son T.A.–and, no, he will not have his own cellphone in middle school, I can promise you that.

RVSB

Re-Use: A Not So Original Idea That Bears Repeating

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Had one of those epiphany moments earlier today while driving from Chick-fil-A to my grandparents-in-love’s house.  You know the sort, a magical proposition hits the mind and you know it would help change things for the better if only you could ensure its widespread and instantaneous implementation.

This idea of mine certainly can’t be original, in fact I know it draws on inspiration of the homemakers of the past going back hundreds of years.  I just think it’s about time that we use the resources of today to accomplish our green goals for tomorrow.

Have you ever noticed how much trash you have to sort when you dispose of your cereals, pastas, rice, cookies, crackers, et cetera?  Your contents are gone, you pull out and toss the opaque white plastic bag inside, then you attempt to fold and flatten the cardboard container which sometimes has those handy clear plastic portion for see-through capability but you wonder if that’s recyclable or not.  Or you may not deal with this dissection process at all and just toss the doggone thing entirely–which if you do, I cannot judge you as I’ve been guilty of doing that at times even though I kick myself for not being “greener”.

Now, if you’ve inducted yourself into a potentially smug society like the Whole Food cult following, then perhaps you’ve just taken matters into your own hands and have glass or ceramic containers at home that you fill with your bagged bulk items from their candy store-like aisle for dry, nonperishable goods.  However, I think I can speak on behalf of many busy parents that we simply cannot carve out that time and care to do that meticulously although we may fantasize about that for our retirement years (that is IF we can ever retire).

My idea is to help encourage companies like Post, Kellogg’s and other staple name brands as well as store brands like Kroger’s, Safeway, Publix, etc to find innovative ways to package their dry products so that they can not only attest to being more green-friendly but save in packaging costs as well.

I propose that reusable containers are sold by the company that are sturdy and reliable in terms of airtight quality that consumers can utilize to house their staple items.  The containers can vary in material, re-used material is best, but anything like glass, plastic, stainless steel can do the job.  As an incentive to buy these one-time purchases, a company can offer a discount for those customers who have accumulated a certain amount of proof of purchase labels from the goods–this reinforces the fact that the consumer will buy this good repeatedly and therefore benefits by buying this reusable container.

Of course, lots of advertising would come out of a product transition like this, but it would again be beneficial for the company advocating this move and make the consumer feel better by simply buying  into it and therefore contributing to helping the environment.

The reusable containers of course could bear the name of the company as well as the specific product.  Next step is for the company is to then overhaul the majority of its packaging for these mainstay products.  Either they could go the route of the Whole Foods wave of offering goods through big containers that the purchaser then takes out themselves by the pound or they could just reinvent the wheel a little by putting their products in mundane packaging.  The purpose of the new packaging is not to be attractive, rather it must safely contain the product for the consumer to empty at home in their reusable container and then dispose of in their recycles bin.  Packaging can range from biodegradable substances such as paper or plastics that can be recycled.

What about the ingredient and nutrition labels you ask?  Well, if you purchase the reusable product container from that company, it will have that on the back automatically.  However, as they are required by law to provide it to the consumer each time they purchase the good I believe there are a couple of solutions to this.  There is the soy-based ink that can be used on a paper packaging, the labels can be provided separately in a dispenser on the supermarket shelf that the product is housed on or as every other company seems to be advocating the information on the nutrition label could be available on the internet or in a phone app (thank you Apple iPhone revolution).

Again, I certainly don’t claim intellectual property rights on this idea, I simply have thought about it over the past few years as I’ve noticed just how much we waste and that there really is another way.  Additionally, I concede that the convenience packaging can’t be entirely eradicated as there’s reason we have “convenience stores” especially for the traveler.  Yet I know that this is a plausible scenario that actually can benefit both profit-seeking company and conscientious consumer while helping de-clutter our Earth of our needless trash.

As for history, it really does hold some nuggets of wisdom that we should note.  Although pestilence and disease was much more rampant, our ancestors did buy their goods in bulk as well and often used reusable containers that weren’t glamorous.

I’m slightly discouraged by how small I feel as a stay-at-home at times, but I think that by sharing this with you and even trying a small letter-writing campaign, maybe someone will notice and help make a change that will cause a chain-reaction for the better in this small subject area of nonperishable, dry goods we all love and use.

RVSB