The Truth About Plastics

Contrary to what the FDA told consumers, bisphenol-A (BPA)—a chemical commonly found in hard plastic bottles—is not safe at current levels, according to a new report by scientists at the CDC, EPA, and three major universities. That’s disquieting news for the 93 percent of Americans who already test positive for the toxin. Reduce your exposure by limiting your intake of canned foods and learning what the numbers on plastics really mean.


Source: Best Life magazine, February 2009.

Wills

Do you have a will? If you have children, in particular, this is critical. I have a good friend whose husband died way too young, without a will, while she was pregnant with their 2nd child. It was a shocking experience - devastating for her and her then 13-month old son. She pushed me then to get a will - we didn't have one at the time, and I'm ashamed to admit, we still don't. That is the #1 thing on my list of things to address this year.

Suze Orman just made it a little easier - get her online Will & Trust for free - yes FREE...no excuses now! - Here and click on the "Will and Trust kit" (left side of the page.) Enter the gift code People First.

Thanks to Frugal Coupon Mom (one of my new heroes) for the info.

5 Months Old

IMG_5605
Originally uploaded by sjross

How can it be? Time has seriously flown by...and yet, here she is. Sadie is 5 months old today!

How many insects did you have for breakfast this morning?

The answer may surprise you...the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has adopted Grade Standards designed to protect American consumers from inferior agricultural products. The standards set legal limits for spoilage or contamination due to insects and other agents. The highest grade is "U.S. No. 1".

In order to qualify as U.S. No. 1 Grade, the commodities listed below cannot exceed the following limits of contamination:

Ketchup -- 30 fruit fly eggs per 100 grams
Canned corn -- 2 insect larvae per 100 grams
Blueberries -- 2 maggots per 100 berries
Peanut butter -- 50 insect fragments per 100 grams
Curry powder -- 100 insect fragments per 100 grams
Wheat -- 1% of grains infested
Sesame seed -- 5% of seeds infested
Coffee -- 10% of beans infested

Yum...extra protein!

Long time gone...

Sorry I've been so absent. We've had a crazy, busy, overwhelming month or two. I've also had a dirty little secret that completely flipped me out for pretty much all of December and a good chunk of January. There's a lot of back-story here, so excuse the long ramble.

Sadie had issues nursing when she was born - a weird suck pattern from sucking on her ENTIRE hand in utero. I spent a few hundred bucks on lacation consulatants, talked to MANY people on the phone, and saw the pediatrician quite a few times. Ultimately, none of them could sort it out. I still wanted to nurse her, so we ended up in occupational thereapy. We did that for 6 weeks, and by the end, she was nursing like a champ.

BUT my OT red-flagged us with another issue. She believed that Sadie had a "low tone" issue, and because of her somewhat traumatic birth (dirty secret #2 - I had an emergency c-section, but that's a story for another day) she was concerned about cerebral palsy. And despite her saying that I shouldn't worry about it, I worried. I obsessed. And oh man, did I Google. And that's pretty much all I did for a month.

Each visit, she'd call in a different physical therapist for a second opinion. Each time, the PT would say they didn't see anything. But the OT was on a mission. So she called my pediatrician, who also freaked out and called us in because she thought she'd missed something.

Ultimately, the ped didn't see ANYTHING. She called in other peds from the practice, who all agreed with her. Bottom line - the OT was wrong. And Sadie is totally fine. And I'm breathing again.

We want our children to be perfect - and take every imperfection personally. I also have had way too much emotion resting on Sadie's surviving and thriving because of Isabel. I've compounded the pressure on her, and on me, I think to somehow prove that we're okay, we've moved on, we can do it. Not fair to either of us.

I had a major breakthrough in January. I feel like I was literally picked up and set down on a completely different path. Off a path that was full of fear, dread, worry, anxiety. And set back down on a road that's free from that. As Martha says, it's a good thing. So here's to a new year filled with a new, functional me. Hurrah for breakthrough :)

Blame Beyonce

A rather amusing article from China Daily:

Beyoncé's song 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' could lead to economic collapse, according to scientists.

A study carried out at New York University has found that songs with a more regular beat coincide with volatility in the American financial markets.

Phil Mayim, a professor of finance and risk engineering, has studied the Billboard chart for decades and found that low "beat variance" songs had an "inverse correlation with market turbulence", reports The Guardian.

"If it's a steady beat, the same beat, no matter if it's fast or slow, that's a low beat variance song," Maymin told PRI Radio. "[But] if [the song] starts off slow and becomes fast and comes back down, that's a high beat variance."

The last market crash coincided with the release of A-Ha's 'Take On Me', which had a "steady beat". Meanwhile, songs with more complex arrangements were more popular at times when the market was less volatile.

"The correlation is pretty strong," Maymin concluded. "The turbulence of the music predicts the steadiness of the market."

Beyonce's 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' is currently at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

And just because I can't ever think about Single Ladies without Shane Mercado, here he is:

Congratulations Ryan & Christy

Mr Ryan and Christy Mack
Originally uploaded by sjross

Four Months Old

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Originally uploaded by sjross

smile, sadie!

smile, sadie!
Originally uploaded by Meagan Vanover

Pic taken by my sis while we were up north. She looks SO old here!