Around and around we go

This morning my mom mentioned to me that she had seen Jenny McCarthy on TV. Jenny has a son with autism and she is an outspoken advocate for judicious choices regarding vaccinations. While I do applaud her advocacy of delayed and selective vaccinations, my choice is no vaccinations. About a year ago or so my mom saw Jenny McCarthy on Oprah and was amazed to learn that a higher percentage of boys are affected by the MMR vaccine than girls are, and was glad I knew this ahead of time so that I reduced the chances of Il Tonino being harmed.

However, this doesn't mean she doesn't think I shouldn't vaccinate him at all. No. And now that he is over 2 years of age (the magic age for those who are delaying vaccinations), I can tell she's thinking about it more and trying to provoke me a bit more about it. I suppose it doesn't help that I keep using stall tactics instead of telling her outright that Il Tonino is NOT to be vaccinated. I'm just not quite ready to go there, especially since she'd have no qualms about "debating" my decision. Though how do you debate with someone who has not read lots of information on BOTH sides of the issue, but rather mostly just follows mainstream thinking in this area?? Like what Jenny McCarthy says. Argh. In the past I have tried to have discussions with her regarding my views on vaccinations, and she dismisses them all as conspiracy theories and me being cynical about pharmaceutical companies, the CDC, etc. Blah.

And now the Western financial institution is on the verge of collapse with the proposed $700 billion bailout rejected and the stock market down 777 points. It just may happen that the downfall of the financial institition will bring about the downfall of the Western medical institution. This article explains it nicely, but the FDA is tied to the pharmaceutical companies who are tied to the financial institution. It is a whole house of cards. Of course the collapse of the latter may mean I'll be out of a job, but if the whole economy and way of life is shifting, I'll shift with it. So the downfall of the Western medical institution in the USA could mean the end of the vaccines, which would then render my need for a discussion with my mother about this a moot point. Ha ha!

Last Night I Dreamt...

...that I was sitting with a group of very cool women. I don't know what we were doing, but whatever it was, it was cool. The group included my midwives from Jake's pregnancy/birth, Pamela and Lennon, Alice from The L Word, and Angelina Jolie. There were others, but I didn't get to see who they were.

Why did I have to wake up? ;)

My Bedroom

So the other day we rearranged our family bedroom. Now, instead of Il Tonino's bed being against the windows, it is now against the wall with our queen size bed right next to it. So we have one big, long cozy family bed.

The bedroom is not exactly beautiful, as there are toys everywhere, children's and adult books on various surfaces, clothes that need special attention (hand washing! dry cleaner! or 'will be worn again the next day') and just general stuff that makes for a family bedroom.

My mom looked at the bedroom the other day because she wanted to see how it was rearranged. Her face said it all.

She prefers her bedroom to be beautiful and immaculate. That's her right -- she doesn't have small children anymore. Right now I prefer the functionality of our bedroom over the beauty factor. When I am 60, I can have a beautiful bedroom like my mother's. Actually, my parents just remodeled their bedroom. It is gorgeous. It reminds me of the bedroom in a 5-star hotel room. Beautiful yet kind of sterile. Maybe I'm just not used to it. But it is a far cry from my own cozy bedroom!

For now, the most important thing is that Il Tonino is comfortable and happy where he sleeps. And right now that is with his mama and daddy.

This comic says it all...

Ack!

My head is swimming.

I am looking at schools for Il Tonino for fall 2009. So many choices. It is overwhelming.

Soon we will start going to some school open houses and trying to get a feel for what we like.

My mom will help, for which I am grateful. This is one instance in which her many, many years as a teacher and then later as a supervisor of student teachers will really come in handy for me. She'll come and just observe in the classrooms and observe the student-teacher interactions.

I think I'll be figuring a lot of it out based on my intuition.

I'm kind of hoping the school(s) I like the most will be within walking or biking distance. But knowing life, I'll probably like the one that is the farthest away!

Any advice for us when we are looking?

Four

I got tagged by Rebekah!

Four jobs I've had:

• Retail clothes folder at Nordstroms
  
• Grocery store cashier
• Office gopher (filing, stuffing envelopes, making copies, fixing the jams in copy machines)
  
• Clinical Researcher for 4 companies now
  

Four movies I can watch over and over:

• Before Sunrise
  
• Before Sunset
  
• The Matrix
  
• Fifth Element
  

Four places I've lived:

• SE Portland, OR
  
• Middletown, CT
  
• Rochester, NY
  
• SW Portland, OR

Four TV shows I have seen:

• Weeds
• The L Word
  
• Chuck (bag over my head here)
  
• Alias
  

Four places I've vacationed:

• Bahia, Brazil
• Malmo, Sweden
  
• Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
  
• Alaska

Four of my favorite dishes:

• Chocolate Almond Midnight at Millenium, San Francisco
  
• Veggie enchilada with peanut sauce at Chez Jose, Portland
  
• Vegan pizza at Kalga Kafe, Portland
  
• Anything at Real Food Daily, Los Angeles
  

Four sites I visit daily:

• MotheringDotCommune
  
• GoogleReader
• NaturalNews.com
• YouTube.com

Four places I would rather be right now:

• In bed, asleep, alone
  
• That resort in Bahia, Brazil
  
• Millenium, eating Chocolate Almond Midnight
  
• On a hike or white water rafting

Four people I'm tagging:

• Amy
• Lennon
• Korin
• Aimee
  

Mr. Mom?

So last night, which was a Monday night, the Urban Shaman went to his first class for his union apprenticeship. We had anticipated the class being every Monday night from 5:30-9, and thus had set my work schedule to Tuesday through Thursday so I would be home with Il Tonino while he was in class.

During the class they decided that class would be every Tuesday.

F*CK!!!!

Sigh.

Turns out that the class is a lot of (non-captioned) video watching and quizzes. That, combined with no interpreter (the union won't pay for one) makes for a rather dull class. Yesterday they watched a video about OHSA safety, and featured a true story about a family dad who had fallen to his death on the job. Kind of like when you take driver's ed and they show you videos of the most horrible car accidents. Ugh.

Additionally, the union has decided, starting January 1st, that there will now be random drug tests. As opposed to a drug test every 6 months (easy to plan for). Not that this is a problem, but the green herb makes for good medication once in a while. It's sad that they have to interfere with home life when it should be more obvious on the job if you are being a safe worker or not. Besides, it has been proven that the number one hazard to job safety is sleep deprivation. They don't test for that!

So the Urban Shaman came home last night feeling kind of blah about all this, not to mention this has screwed up our carefully planned work/nanny schedule. So we brought up an issue which we've visited before -- if he should be Mr. Mom and I should go back to work full-time (which would mean full-time traveling). My full-time salary would be enough to cover our living expenses. But I would really miss the home life and being with Il Tonino every day. Not to mention I'm the one who really does the cooking. And what would we do when we're ready for a second baby?

For now we're just going to keep things the way they are. Maybe something else will change. Sigh.

From Without, and Within

These last few years I have felt this internal push to change my eating habits for the healthier and to become more environmentally-friendly in my life. I believe that these changes come from my spiritual side, and also strengthen my spiritual life. I didn't decide to do these things for convenience or social status, but more from an innate necessity. At the same time, our world is one of global consciousness... we are all not only connected physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Thus all great ideas and changes arise both outside of, and within, ourselves from our global consciousness.

I find the more I clean up my diet, the lighter I become. Health issues which used to plague me have decreased greatly (migraines, acne, allergies). But truthfully, even though better health is enough, in itself, to want to continue this, I find this need to 'make myself lighter' is as much for the greater good as it is for myself.

Similarly, the more I approach living eco-friendly and sustainably, the lighter my environment becomes. I am taking in less resources and trying to reduce, reuse, and recycle the resources I do consume. Thus I get closer to living in harmony with mother nature, rather than separate from it. What I do to or for mother nature, I also do to and for myself.

Today's world is such a mixture of lightness and darkness. In order to not let the darkness take over, I find it so important to 'hold onto the light'. If there is any purpose to my life that my higher self has dictated, it is to hold onto the light. How do I do that?

Important things are to keep a positive state of mind, express gratitude, and be kind. Being positive is not possible 100% of the time because I am human like everyone else. My lower self has to deal with this world and the problems that sometimes crop up. But being positive more often than not is key. And not beating myself up about the times when I am not, but to take it as a learning experience and move on.

Gratitude... I find it easy to be thankful for the things I have in this life. However, remembering to express that gratitude is the hard part, when we get distracted by day-to-day living. So I'm starting to use simple reminders. Whenever I eat, I try to express gratitude for my meal. Sometimes I don't remember until I'm taking the very last bite, but that is okay. Late is better than never. Another way I remember is that I have all these cloth wipes for our family cloth system. One particular cloth wipe is totally different from the others. Whenever I happen to get that one, I must say 3 things I am thankful for. May seem kind of odd, but it works well.

Being kind... just something I strive for in my daily interactions with any living being that I come across, whether human, animal, or plant. So thus, I work at holding onto the light. And in turn, more light comes into my life. In eating healthier, I allow my body to grow toward its full potential. In being sustainable, I am giving my love to the earth, which in turn, gives back to me.

When we trash the earth, we trash ourselves. Similarly, when we trash our bodies with junk food, we ... well, we trash ourselves, too. My mom and I recently had a little tiff about the way I eat. I basically told her that based on what I know, I can't go back to eating in a mainstream way. She replied that the social aspect of eating was far more important to her than the health aspect. That floored me. Maybe it is a generational thing -- people my age are much more likely to have a variety of eating habits and be more flexible about that kind of thing. Could it also be that humans, as a whole are evolving? Each generation is closer to the light than the last. I am so excited when I think of the possibilities for Il Tonino and other children, present and future.

There are 4 pillars of our lives, just like a table has 4 legs. We have our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. If any one of them is lacking, we are unbalanced. How we walk, talk, eat, and love in this world affects all of those aspects. Thus the lighter we walk on this earth, the more positive the thoughts and words that come from us, the healthier we eat, and the greater we love, contributes to a more profound life that benefits not only us but all that is around us.

What you do for yourself, you do for others. What you do for others, you do for yourself.

In love and light. Gaia Hippie :)

How Eco Can I Go?

So this month and next I am working on the Ditch the Disposables challenge found here.

Here's a list of challenges:

• Paper napkins to cloth napkins
  
• Paper towels to cloth towels
  
• Tissues to handkerchiefs
• Paper, plastic or Styrofoam plates to your kitchen plates
• Inexpensive plastic “Take & Toss” sippy cups to Sigg or Camelbak bottles or the Kleen Kanteen
• Disposable water bottles to (again) reusable bottles like Sigg or Camelbak
• Paper coffee cups to reusable coffee mugs like Sigg
  
• Plastic sandwich bags or paper lunch bags to reusable containers/bags
• Paper lunch bags to cloth or neoprene reusable bags.
  
• Swiffers (or similar products) to a broom and dustpan or mop (or use reusable cloths like cloth diapers/terry inserts in your Swiffer)
• Disposable dust rags to cloth rags
• Disposable diapers to cloth diapers
• Disposable wipes to cloth wipes (inexpensive plain washcloths work really well)
• Disposable feminine products (tampons, pads) to reusables like DivaCup, MoonCup, Glad Rags, Luna Pads, Pretty Pads, or New Moon Pads, among others
• Grocery store bags to reusable bags

Or, for the really adventurous:

• Toilet paper to cloth wipes/washcloths (for #1 or #2 too if you are really, really adventurous)

There are only three on this list that I have not yet accomplished -- tissues to handkerchiefs and cloth wipes instead of toilet paper and baby wipes.

I have actually been using cloth wipes for peeing for about 8 months now and absolutely love it. But for #2? I've been resisting that for awhile. No more! I'm setting up a system for that and luckily the Urban Shaman is onboard, although he did complain that the cloth felt a bit thick. I think that by having on-hand a bottle filled with water/tea tree oil/witch hazel to moisten the wipe with beforehand will do the trick. Then it will work well for all 3 of us. I have the system ready to go, I just need some more cloth wipes! But I love not buying so much toilet paper. So for this system I have the cloth wipes, a small receptacle labeled "cloth wipes" in which to throw the used wipes, and a bottle to moisten the wipes.

Also, it is odd that I use cloth diapers for Il Tonino but have always purchased the Seventh Generation baby wipes to use on him. I think it's because I never developed a good cloth wipe system in my head, even though I know it is entirely possible. For baby #2 I will be using cloth wipes for sure. But now, since he is using the potty most of the time to poop and the potties are located where the cloth wipes are, it will be easy to just use the same system for all three of us when we are home.

Moving away from tissues is actually harder for me. I have some kind of love affair with tissues. I buy them by the case because you get like 26 boxes of tissues at once and a 10% discount. Then for awhile you never run out of boxes, which is awesome. But I have been feeling guilty about the number of tissues we throw away... and now we are *gasp* down to our very last box in the house. Instead of buying more, I've dug up bandanas that we never use. They work great, but they are rather large. So I brought some cheap organic cotton handkerchiefs on the internet recently and am waiting to receive them. Am really excited to try them out. We'll see how this pans out.

I think one of the reasons I am finally able to divorice give up using tissues is because I haven't needed to use them nearly as much as I have in the past. Since I have virtually eliminated sugar from my diet in the form of cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc., as well as pasturized cheeses, I have not been waking up with a runny nose. Thankfully, dark chocolate and raw cheeses are fine! It will be interesting to test this when one of us has a runny nose from a cold.

All in all this is good. One of my goals for 2008 was to reduce the amount of packaging that I have to purchase and dispose of. Combined with not using shampoo and conditioner, I'm doing better than I expected. But there is always more -- I am already starting to think about getting a different type of composter bin and getting better at growing my own food. Maybe someday I'll even be focusing on raising chickens, LOL.

Moon

The moon from my bathroom window at 6:35am. So cool.

The Cornfields of Idaho

So I'm still waiting to be assigned a new work project and begin traveling. About 2 weeks ago my supervisor informed me that she had found a study for me to work on, a study related to constipation. Not exactly infectious diseases, but more interesting than cardiology. I'll take it.

She also informed me that I would be monitoring sites in Washington, Montana, Nebraska, and Iowa. Nebraska and Iowa??? Those are kind of ... far away from Oregon (considering that we are supposed to be regional monitors. In the past, I never had to go further than Denver or Phoenix, although once I went to Houston, but that was a special circumstance and not my assigned site).

Then last week I got to talk with the director of the project. She informed me that I would be traveling to Washington, Montana and Idaho for the project. Seems that my supervisor, who lives and works in New Jersey, confused Iowa for Idaho. Because you know, all those western states are way out there and the same, even if it is at least 2 hours of additional flight time between Idaho and Iowa. Sheesh. The project director didn't know anything about Nebraska.

So I am relieved. I was not exactly looking forward to flights all the way out to Iowa, especially in the winter time.

Speaking of winter time, when I went shopping for new work clothes I thought that I was going to be going to California for work. So I brought warm-weather clothes. I don't think that will work for Washington, Montana, and Idaho in the winter time!! It's a good thing I didn't remove the tags and still have the receipt.

Where were you?

September 11, 2001. I was at work in Beaverton, Oregon that morning when I noticed that people were crowding into one of the small conference rooms that had a TV. Upon investigating, my boss told me what was happening. It was too horrible to comprehend right away.

At the same time, the building was getting a new tar roof, and the smell was seriously bothering me, giving me a bad headache. I asked to leave and work from home and was reluctantly given permission (chemical sensitivities were still a relatively unknown phenomenon back then, even though I obviously had it, thus it was hard to get people to take it seriously sometimes).

I went home and turned on the TV. And just remember sitting in shock all day. And crying.

Luckily later I found out that a childhood friend survived. He worked in one of the two towers and usually took the subway to work. However, because it was such a beautiful day, he decided to walk instead. He was almost there when the destruction began, and then he got away. He wouldn't have survived had he taken the subway.

I remember my mom saying to me that everyone remembers where they were the day JFK was shot. 9/11 is this generation's equivalent of that. Where were you?

Secret Crush

Mrs. G over on Derfwad Manor talks about her secret boyfriends. I don't have any secret boyfriends. Crushes on unattainable males have never been my thing. Ever.

So I find it very strange that I have a crush on Angelina Jolie. This infatuation started when I happened to be watching TV and saw Tomb Raider. For about 8 years now I've thought she was the most beautiful woman and I would love to have dinner with her. With both of us wearing tight-fitting, beautiful dresses.

Then I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I was in heaven.

This crush caused me to do something I've never done before. I brought a copy of People magazine.

Photos of Angelina plus gorgeous husband plus beautiful kids? Drool.

Who do you have a crush on? :)

To Honor and Respect...

We went to a wedding this past weekend. The ceremony was truly wonderful and lovely. The reception? Not so much.

It is not a good idea for the best man, during his toast, to talk about how the groom dated many, many women during college and how once, right after a break-up, told his friend that he could not be alone, but he needed to have a woman to be with.

And it is not a great idea for the maid of honor (who was also the bride's sister) to explain how the bride brought many, many men home, until one finally stayed.


It would be nice to go back in time and give the reception a big dose of tact.

Political Brain Teaser

A few days ago we had a small dinner party with another couple that we know well and love. We started discussing politics, our favorite topic, and talked about McCain's recent vice presidential pick, Palin. It was decided, before we really began discussing her in earnest, to each use a few words to describe our opinion of this pick.

My description?

"A Vagina for the Republican Party."

That can be interpreted in many ways. Enjoy thinking about it ;)

Oh the Irony!

My family has a long tradition of us all gathering at my parent's house, with their 7-8 foot tall perfectly decorated Christmas tree and living room for Christmas morning.

(Yes, the tree is always perfect. My parents will spend up to an hour at the tree lot looking for the one that satisfies all their criteria. Noble fir? Check. Branches not spaced too close or too far from each other? Check. 7-8 feet tall? Check. Enough of a crown at the top? Check. Then my mother will literally spend a few hours carefully wrapping the lights around the branches of the tree so that you can't see the wires at all. It is really amazing and beautiful. I am both in awe of it while at the same time wanting to roll my eyes.)

Around the tree will be presents. Lots of presents. It's rather ridiculous, the amount of presents there are. And they will be divided into piles for each person, because it got too hard to search among the many boxes for a present for each person -- we take turns opening presents, going around in whatever circle we've happened to arrange ourselves in that year. So all the presents are in piles according to the "to:" name on the tag.

Every year I spend plus or minus 2 months agonizing over Christmas presents. Making sure that I have spent an equal amount of money on each person, picked just the right present(s) for each person, etc. Painful, really. Not to mention that I feel pained when looking at my bank statement.

So last year we all said, "let's ditch this and just go to a sunny place for Christmas!" Whoo! So we're going to Cabo, Mexico this year. Pretty cool. I think we're bringing our stockings, though, and just doing very small presents in our stockings. (Which will be cool and interesting -- the stockings are my favorite part of the whole Christmas ordeal, particularly seeing what pratical, functional item my mother has decided we all need that year. One year it was Sharpie pens in various colors. Another year it was toothbrushes. Last year it was Tide stain remover pens.)

Last year I was struggling to figure out how to make my gift-giving more environmentally friendly. I was still feeling a bit new and overwhelmed when it came to the eco-scene. I did manage to wrap all the presents in paper that I had leftover from previous Christmases, so that was good. I did a few other things along those lines.

But this year I am eco-chick! I have lots and lots of ideas for green gift giving. And we're not doing presents this year. Pout. I have some ideas for the stockings such as these cool things, but I guess I don't get to play jolly green Santa this year.


P.S. My friend just wrote a great blog post on ditching disposables! She a lot of the products she mentions comes from Zola Goods, for which I am an Independant Coordinator. Whoohoo!

Lament

Where have all the bloggers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the bloggers gone?
No see them anymore
Where have all the bloggers gone?
Real life claimed them every one
When will they comment again?
When will they comment again?