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

Why Governor Crist Is No Better Than Palin…

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I’ll admit right away that I’m a mother to a toddler of nearly 2 years old, I am pretty doggone busy every day as I try to keep up with my son’s physical pace and intellectual thirst for knowledge (yes, pointing at things and grunting in a questionable way as to what that object is called).

Yet, I still try my best as do most parents to stay somewhat connected to the current events, especially locally…so when I see the headlines in the The Palm Beach Post read: “State to act against BP, Crist says”, I get pretty worked up since I can’t help but be insulted by our Governor’s assumption that we just want to sue BP because of the oil disaster brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. You can read more for yourself at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-may-file-lawsuits-as-early-as-monday-679030.html

Yes, because even though I’ve been unable to keep up with all the specifics of this tragedy I still find it ridiculous that our Florida governor, you know- the Senate now Independent candidate has decided that BP must be have “action taken” against them.  That’s right, because I’m sure that BP thought it was a brilliant idea to have their oil rig have an accidental and fatal (to at least 11 persons) explosion take place to grant them fabulous and infamous media scrutiny as the coastal economies brace themselves for what may be the oil spill fallout.

Here’s the long and short, humble opinion of mine as to why Gov. Charlie Crist is no better than former Vice Presidential candidate and former Alaskan:  He is an opportunistic politician that just keeps grabbing at straws even though his chance to drink victory is long gone.

I can’t help but shake my head and just be plain disgusted that he would tout taking any type of action against BP, especially since it’s vague and just is a lame attempt at tugging at Floridian’s heart-strings.

What upsets me most as a native Floridian about this BP oil spill situation is that the nation as whole assumes that all Florida residents are against oil drilling in general, especially off our shores.  However, the reality is there are a good number of us that were open to the idea since we don’t all wish to be hypocrites.

At the same time, I’m willing to concede that oil drilling off our shores is a bit risky since our main industries are tourism and agriculture in Florida.  But here’s the issue that I struggle with: how is it okay that we drill elsewhere on Earth, but not in our own country because of the ENVIRONMENT?

Don’t get me wrong, I love our environment, I don’t rejoice in the fact that we have to over-harvest some of our resources as our appetite seems insatiable.  Still, I have a huge issue that we find it okay to rip out oil from Africa and Arab countries, but we’re above that in the United States of America. Really? The ANWR  (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) is too risky? For what, the animals that live there? How about the clam and oyster beds, the fishermen, the hotels and resorts along the Gulf and perhaps even Atlantic coasts (thank you Gulf Stream current capabilities)?

The hypocrisy of our nation gets me even while I am in the throes of raising a family…we guzzle oil, we must accept that fact and be adult about our responsibility in that and stop just assuming that our sources should be elsewhere, not our backyards.

Overall, my biggest complaint is with the attitude of our current governor, he’s much more concerned about his political welfare.  There’s no denying that oil drilling ideas for Florida were pretty  much killed after what happened with BP in the past few weeks, but Crist’s is taking it to a personal crusader level just to help win him some opportunistic votes for his struggling U.S. Senatorial race…

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

Beach Cleaning or Sorting the Smokers from the Cruiseships

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This past Saturday I participated in the Great American Cleanup Day in
conjunction with my husband’s company Florida Power and Light (FPL)
Power to Care event held at John D. MacArthur Park in Singer Island.
It was a company family event where participants wore matching FPL
Power to Care green volunteer shirts and yes my son was adorable in
his little shirt dubbed as a volunteer-in-training.  If you are
interested in the general information on Keeping America Beautiful
Inc, including their most recent campaign you can check out their
webpage at www.kab.org

I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder concerning beach cleanups mostly
because I consider them to be an ineffective means of keeping our
shores clear of trash on a regular basis but also for the reason that
Saturday mornings were always a tough day for me to be available.

Still, I’m glad I joined my son and husband for the FPL team event as
I was able to participate and witness the pros and cons of a beach
cleanup scenario.

As a side note, did you know that the beach is also known as the GIANT
public access ashtray?  I find it unbelievable every time I step foot
on the sandy shores of Florida that I always end up stepping on a
cigarette butt of some sort.  Is it truly that difficult to take your
empty water bottle, fill it with sand and then dump your butts into it
and toss into the trash bin on your way out from the beach?  Talk
about the perils of your child playing in the sand.

Back to beach cleanup, we entered the beach and were handed gloves,
bags and these tools that grab the trash in an extended fashion so you
don’t have to bend over.  The gloves I accepted and after about a
minute I ended up returning the trash contraption because I just don’t
think it’s helpful.

During a beach cleanup, the bulky trash items are picked up en masse
in less than fifteen minutes.  The reality is that there is still a
load of trash available to pick up but it must be sorted through by
hand, the tools will just slow you down.

Instead I recommend cleaning methods like getting on your knees next
to a pile of wet or dry seaweed with good gloves on.  Proceed to turn
that seaweed/debris pile over and you will find more trash than you
imagined there at first glance.

Looking around during the beach cleanup I was disheartened to see that
folks weren’t really looking for garbage unless it jumped out at them.
 While searching through the piles of seaweed myself, I was astonished
at how much is hidden in the shorelines and overwhelmed that it seemed
it never can get clean enough.

We were told by one of the wildlife officers that a majority of the
trash they find every year is caused by the cruise ships offshore.  I
vaguely remember someone in the past telling me that the cruise ships
do end up dumping debris while at sea, although I can’t remember if it
was just limited to sewage or what not.  That completely horrifies me
and there must be a way to help stop that practice sooner rather than
later!

I was glad that my son got to see other people picking up trash on the
beach since most of the time he only sees his mama doing that when we
go to the beach together.  I don’t want to be a naysayer against beach
cleanups, they are a good team building experience for work and
schools, I just wish people could take that mentality with them when
they go to the beach themselves.

If you have the opportunity to participate in a beach cleanup, go for
it with an open heart and mind.  You may find it to be more rewarding
than first thought, I certainly did and if nothing else learned how to
better find debris to trash.

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