Creating Independent Kids

Here we go...the other day my 7 yr old came home with a bumper sticker that said "My child is an honored student at .....school" HONORED student! What the hell is that? I mean give me a break! I'm so sick and tired of our kids being coddled in the school system! Since my kids were in kindergarten, if they want to invite anyone from school to a birthday party, they have to either invite all the girls or all the boys (depending on if your child is a boy or girl), or the whole class...why? So no one has hurt feelings!!! Because as we all know no one ever gets their feelings hurt in REAL LIFE! So now it has spread to the bumper sticker. You're all Honored students...so the kids who bust their ass to get good grades get NO special recognition and the kids who are trouble makers and are disruptive get a pat on the back as honored students - why should they strive for any better? Why should they want to be honor students, they wouldn't get any special treatment or recognition!!!

I think this is why we have a generation of younger employees in the workforce right now that have no work ethics! They were never made to take responsibility for their actions! Everyone is always making excuses and making up reason why they did or could not do something - it's never their fault, there is always some reason. What ever happened to "I made a mistake" or "I used poor judgement"??

Intestinal Candida Foe Woes

OK, I kind of went on hiatus from blogging for a while, but I'm back and I'm looking for some help. I can't remember how I first stumbled across this information, but I now believe I have intestinal Candida. I've always been a little bit of a hypo chondriac, but I have so many small, non-threatening ailments, I feel I'm too young to feel so old! I can't stand when you go to see a doctor about something and they say "Well, you are getting older"...Hello! when did 38 mean I'm supposed to start looking for a cane!!! It's infuriating! I'm not saying I want to run out and start hang gliding, but I'd love to be able to go hiking with my family on a regular basis or go biking to stay in shape! I never wanted to be one of those people that just rolls over and stops doing things b/c they are getting old.

Sorry, I got off track...so intestinal Candida. I've been googling the crap out of this and I've taken many of the "tests" on various websites to see if it is likely that you have it...when a score of 180 means you most likely have it, my score was over 400. The more I read, the more convinced I am that solving this medical issue, could solve a lot of problems for me. Who would have thought so many seemingly unconnected problems, could really be connected: losing the feeling in your fingers and toes b/c they are cold, psoriasis, toe nail fungus, bad periods, migraines, feeling your heart pounding like it's coming out of your chest, shortness of breath...and many,many more!

Here is the dilemma, and it seems I'm not the only one who runs into this b/c many websites talk about having to treat yourself for this b/c some doctors don't believe it is real! The same thing happened to me when I was told I had Epstein Barr...shortly afterward I had to get a physical for a new employer and when I told that doctor that I had Epstein Barr, he said to me "that's what doctors tell their patients they have when they want them to stop complaining. There is no such thing as Eptein Barr!"...I also think that's what doctors used to say about Alzheimers and autism, so I can't understand why doctors aren't becoming more educated about this. Anyway, I do have a doctor who is pretty open minded, however after emailing her and calling her weeks ahead of my appointment to make sure she was informed on the subject, I was disappointed to find she knew nothing about it and tried to bluff her way through my appt. She did give me a prescription for an antifungal med, suggested a natural supplement to help strengthen the intestinal wall and even sent me for a blood test (I haven't heard any results yet)...but it was obvious during our discussion that she had no idea about the ailment I was referring to.

This is where I need help. From what I've read, it seems like there are two paths you can take to ridding yourself of intestinal Candida: you can go on a sugar restricted diet while taking an antifungal med and then I think once your symptoms go away you are supposed to take probiotics to put the healthy bacteria back into your body. Then you have to pay close attention to what you eat to see what your body reacts to; the other option appears to be taking something called ThreeLac or something similar which is supposed to do all the work instead of diet/meds, but costs a huge amount of money and, quite frankly, sounds a bit gimmicky. I kind of feel like I need some hand-holding here - I need a doctor who has treated this successfully before and can say, OK, take this and at the same time don't eat this, this and this. I need someone to tell me exactly what to do. I don't want to spend $250 on ThreeLac to find out it does nothing....I've done that enough on diet pills, etc. I spent $25 on brown sea weed pills that did nothing for me.

I would really love to hear from anyone that has been cured of Intestinal Yeast Candida whatever you want to call it...and I want to know how. I'm different things work for different people so it would be interesting to hear what works and what doesn't. It seems to tie a lot of things together, but am I just falling prey to some made up solution?

Another twist I just read online is that people with this affliction usually have elevated levels of mercury in their system! Obviously I don't know if this is true or not, but it mentions the fillings in your teeth having mercury in them...it wouldn't surprise me at all, and I have a ton of fillings! I wonder what my blood would show if I were tested for Mercury?

Short Skirts, Fans on the Attack and Russian Chills

So I don't know if you have heard about this woman who was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight b/c her outfit was "obscene" as a Southwest employee called it? I say "Good for Southwest!"...Have you seen her outfit? She has been making the talk show and news show rounds, on the advice of her lawyer, I'm sure, showing off her outfit! The skirt is so short, I'm sure when she sits down you can easily see her underwear...it's like she took a regular mini skirt, then cut the bottom off up to the bottom of the zipper...yeah, WAY too short! I say shame on these shows for having her on and shame on her lawyer for taking this ridiculous case!

OK, I wanted to comment on this one yesterday, but I really wanted yesterday to only be a reflection of 9-11. At first, the video image of the newscaster in Melbourne, Australia kind of makes you laugh. The guy is standing out in front of some street, rehashing a rugby game, when a fan literally takles him and pushes him from out in front of the camera. My first thought was they were fans that were happy their team won and were letting off excitement. Then you realize these fans are beating the guy and the camera is still rolling! I mean they really look like they are having a good go at him! I know the rugby crowd can be brutal, but this newscaster didn't deserve this!

Lastly, I have to comment on things in Russia. I don't remember if it was some sort of documentary or just a news piece, but I saw some disturbing information about Russia. This story told of how Putin has created these camps for kids all over Russia. For the most part they looked like summer camp in the US: they showed kids in the woods, hanging out together, etc. The main difference is it also is helping kids to learn the ways of old Russia and help them to be ingrained in that mindset. Putin is heading his country back to the likes of the cold-war era, and that really gives me chills!

Day of Remembrance

9-11....who would have thought saying those numbers would evoke such emotions, especially for those in the US? I bet most Americans can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they found out what was going on.......

I remember what a beautiful day it was - clear blue sky, bright sunshine. I was off from work as my youngest was having daysurgery to have tubes inserted into their ears. We were at the hospital by 6am and home by 8am-ish. I decided to watch the news and remember seeing the live news covering where the first plane had already hit. Then, while I was still watching the news cast, along with so many other people, we saw the 2nd plane hit the towers. I remember calling my husband, never taking my eyes of the TV. I just couldn't believe what was happening. Then I remember calling my boss. At the time I worked for Nestle Waters, which owns Poland Spring. My boss was the General Manager for much of the East coast, which included NYC. Each tower was actually its own delivery route. One guy for each tower and they spent their week just delivering to their tower - that's how big those towers were. I was very loyal to that company and loved working there - I guess that's why I called. I told him to turn on a TV, but calls had already come in about what was going on. I guess when the first plane hit, the guy in that tower was OK and Nextel'd the guy in the other tower to get out. From a story in Vanity Fair, I found out later the second guy was going to get on to the freight elevator that he always used, and on the elevator was the elevator operator who he knew very well from always being there, when the 2nd plane hit and I guess the elevator exploded or something like that. The Poland Spring guy managed to get out but he thought his friend in the elevator died. Days later he found out the guy survived and there was a photo in Vanity Fair of the two of them being reunited in the hospital.

I was very fortunate to not have known anyone directly that was killed or injured in 9-11. Again I refer to Poland Spring - a guy that worked there, his wife was one of only 12 out of 200 that survived on the 80 something floor - the sky lobby? She said they were told to evacuate and were down to something like the 40th floor when people started passing them going back up saying everything was fine, so many of them went back up. She actually worked higher up in the tower, but fortunately never made it back up that far. Someone else I remember telling me that a family member and their 4yr old daughter were on one of the planes headed to Disneyland in CA.

I don't understand when people from other countries think it is wrong for us to want to go after the people who caused this to happen? I'm not saying there is a right way or a wrong way or how it should be done, but does the rest of the world really expect us to have something that catastrophic happen and just sit back and say OK? I'm not looking to debate the Iraq war...that's far too complicated. I'm just saying, if it happened anywhere else, that country would want to do something about it too.

Other than that, the only other news I feel like commenting on today is the NFL football player who, yesterday, was thought of having a grim chance of ever walking again, is now being told will probably walk again. Always nice to hear some good news for a change!

More thoughts on the day...

I've been sitting here playing around with different options for the blog and noticed my left foot is turning black and blue. If you end up following my blog at all, you'll come to realize I can be quite the klutz. Yesterday I had tried to fill a small cooler-type lunch bag with ice cubes from the fridge ice dispenser, but one or two fell to the floor. I thought "No problem" at the time b/c usually the dogs are all over anything that hits the floor. So I left to go poolside without another thought. Hours later when I returned to the kitchen in my bare feet, and I swear this only happens to me, I stepped in a pool of melted ice cube with my left foot. Said foot then slid 2 feet until it crashed into and under the stove - my toes were saved as they fit under the stove, but the part of my foot after my toes was searing with pain. I yelled at the dogs b/c I thought it was a pool of drool (not unusual) and cried out in pain. No one paid much attention as apparently I tend to be quite dramatic no matter what the injury. I can't wait to show my husband my black and blue foot and say "See! I told you I was hurt!".

Other thoughts on news:

I heard a small piece of a news story on TV about President Busch - it sounded like they were listing all the mistakes he made during his visit to Australia. The only one I heard was either he addressed a group or thanked a group of AUSTRIANS, not AUSTRALIANS while he was there. How unfortunate. I remember years ago, I think it was Busch Sr. as a matter of fact, although I could be wrong, when the US president was visiting Oz and he was giving the peace sign out the limo window and trying to get the crowds on the other side of the street, gave the peace sign with his hand facing palm-in and that gesture over there is like saying "up yours"! No wonder everyone hates us!

Hanging on to summer!

Well, this is my first blog - feel free to welcome me to the age of high tech! My original thought was to post everything from my two Boxer's point of view, but I'm not sure I want to write that way, never mind would want to read it.

Anyway, I'm still not ready to admit that summer is, for all intense purposes, over. I'm not sure why b/c I love the Fall in the New England and I hate the humidity that inevitably comes with our summers. So I made my kids go swimming with me tonite for our last swim of the year. I don't think the weather will get warm enough again to keep the water warm enough for us to go in anymore. Sasha and Sheba, our boxers, will be sad as they love to sunbathe. Unfortunately Sheba has some weird allergy to the sun and within 20min of her laying in the sun, she gets hives all over and her face around her eyes swells up! We try not to let her lay in the sun, but sometimes she sneaks into a spot of sun coming through the front window...nothing a little Benedryl won't take care of!

My thoughts on news I've seen today (I haven't really seen much today!:

Am I the only one that thinks regardless of who actually took the little girl in Portugal, Madeleine I think her name is, the fact that the parents left 3 small children ALONE in a hotel room is just plain wrong?! When the story first came out I couldn't believe that none of the news stories on TV were addressing this fact!

Vanessa Hudgins (High School Musical) and the naked truth! Well, she isn't the first and certainly won't be the last Disney sweetheart to get slutty (Britney Spears? and I'm sure there are others) - it never stopped them or Disney from making the big bucks - I'm hoping we don't hear much more about this story - I mean I'm disappointed b/c bad role model for girls who love the HSM movies but everyone makes mistakes and it's all in how you recover from them...moving on

Steve Fossett missing: I just read they think they saw wreckage that could be his plane - they have investigated several wreckage areas over the last week, none have been his so far. I have this image of this guy wanting to disappear for some adventurous reason and reappear a year later with some outrageous tale of where he's been...at least that is what I hope for him, he has been quite entertaining! I can only hope to be that adventurous and interesting in my later years!