The 30-Second Original A Cappella Festival (Online!)
http://www.vocalitysingers.com/30sec/
Friday, December 18, 2009
Did I just read that?
Doing research on BHT, and I came across this gem of a sentence, "Negative side effects also appear in some people when eaten in large amounts."
Indeed. Being eaten might cause negative side effects.
Ingredients I am scared to find in my food:
BHT and BHA.
From wikipedia: "Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), also known as butylhydroxytoluene, is a lipophilic (fat-soluble) organic compound that is primarily used as anantioxidant food additive (E number E321) as well as an antioxidant additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products, electrical transformer oil[1], and embalming fluid."
Embalming fluid? Seriously? BHT is the stuff that makes stuff that keeps things from rotting from going bad? (Did you get that?).
And it's in EVERYTHING. Almost.
From Chemistry.About.com: " There is evidence that certain persons may have difficulty metabolizing BHA and BHT, resulting in health and behavior changes." (http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/a/bha-bht-preservatives.htm)
Also this: "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers BHA to be “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” Nevertheless, the Food and Drug Administration still permits BHA to be used in foods. This synthetic chemical can be replaced by safer chemicals (e.g., vitamin E), safer processes (e.g., packing foods under nitrogen instead of air), or can simply be left out (many brands of oily foods, such as potato chips, don’t use any antioxidant)." (http://chemistry.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=chemistry&cdn=education&tm=165&f=10&su=p284.9.336.ip_p897.6.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm)
From wikipedia: "Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), also known as butylhydroxytoluene, is a lipophilic (fat-soluble) organic compound that is primarily used as anantioxidant food additive (E number E321) as well as an antioxidant additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products, electrical transformer oil[1], and embalming fluid."
Embalming fluid? Seriously? BHT is the stuff that makes stuff that keeps things from rotting from going bad? (Did you get that?).
And it's in EVERYTHING. Almost.
From Chemistry.About.com: " There is evidence that certain persons may have difficulty metabolizing BHA and BHT, resulting in health and behavior changes." (http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/a/bha-bht-preservatives.htm)
Also this: "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers BHA to be “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” Nevertheless, the Food and Drug Administration still permits BHA to be used in foods. This synthetic chemical can be replaced by safer chemicals (e.g., vitamin E), safer processes (e.g., packing foods under nitrogen instead of air), or can simply be left out (many brands of oily foods, such as potato chips, don’t use any antioxidant)." (http://chemistry.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=chemistry&cdn=education&tm=165&f=10&su=p284.9.336.ip_p897.6.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm)
Ingredients I am scared to find in my food:
from my Red Baron Pizza tonight: "isolated carrot product".
a) What the heck is that?
b) Why do we need carrots in pizza?
c) Why do the carrots need to be isolated?
(A quick google search reveals that they use carrot fiber to bulk up processed meat, and they label it "isolated carrot product"--not so scary, but not meat, either.)
a) What the heck is that?
b) Why do we need carrots in pizza?
c) Why do the carrots need to be isolated?
(A quick google search reveals that they use carrot fiber to bulk up processed meat, and they label it "isolated carrot product"--not so scary, but not meat, either.)
Ingredients I am scared to find in my food:
New mini-feature on my blog--ingredients I'm scared to find in my food.
This was one of the ingredients in the brightly-colored Fruity Cheerios we bought: Trisodium Phosphate.
Why is this scary?
The first line from the article in Wikipedia on it: "Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate)
Many of my cleaning books recommend TSP for removing wallpaper, scrubbing oil stains off garage floors, and cleaning really difficult spots.
Also from Wikipedia: "Trisodium phosphate was at one time extensively used in formulations for a wide variety of consumer grade soaps and detergents, but ecological problems have largely ended that practice, at least in the western world."
If it causes ecological problems, why are we consuming it?
Then there's this: "Although it is still the active ingredient in some toilet bowl cleaning tablets, TSP is generally not good for cleaning bathrooms, because it can corrode metal and can damage grout."
And this: "TSP has gained a following as a nutritional supplement that can improve certain parameters of exercise performance....However, it is generally considered to be a bad idea to ingest compounds that are sufficiently caustic to dissolve cell membranes"
You think?
And then there's this info: http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1178.htm. SCARY.
So if the ICSC says, "Avoid all contact", and it's mostly illegal in cleaning supplies now because TSP is bad for the environment, WHAT IS IT DOING IN KIDS' CHEERIOS?
This was one of the ingredients in the brightly-colored Fruity Cheerios we bought: Trisodium Phosphate.
Why is this scary?
The first line from the article in Wikipedia on it: "Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisodium_phosphate)
Many of my cleaning books recommend TSP for removing wallpaper, scrubbing oil stains off garage floors, and cleaning really difficult spots.
Also from Wikipedia: "Trisodium phosphate was at one time extensively used in formulations for a wide variety of consumer grade soaps and detergents, but ecological problems have largely ended that practice, at least in the western world."
If it causes ecological problems, why are we consuming it?
Then there's this: "Although it is still the active ingredient in some toilet bowl cleaning tablets, TSP is generally not good for cleaning bathrooms, because it can corrode metal and can damage grout."
And this: "TSP has gained a following as a nutritional supplement that can improve certain parameters of exercise performance....However, it is generally considered to be a bad idea to ingest compounds that are sufficiently caustic to dissolve cell membranes"
You think?
And then there's this info: http://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1178.htm. SCARY.
So if the ICSC says, "Avoid all contact", and it's mostly illegal in cleaning supplies now because TSP is bad for the environment, WHAT IS IT DOING IN KIDS' CHEERIOS?
Time for a trip report!
Three weeks in Utah, and I was unsuccessful at convincing anyone I'm related to that they really DO want to move out to Colorado (and believe me, I tried!). Even the ones who are looking to move sometime soon are probably going to stay in Utah.
Rats.
Anyway, it was a nice trip to Utah, and a nice trip home despite the fact that Daniel had to pee every 90 minutes, and then invariably had to go again right after we got back in the car when he'd just gone! Caleb was getting over some fever sickness. Anda was just coming down with it. Tim was in the middle of it and aching. Still, he drove all the way this time.
Got home and wondered why nobody cleaned my house while I was gone. And then wondered what I can do right away without money to make cupboards and shelves for the house so we can start to put things away. My latest brainstorm: as temp cupboards (intended to be seriously short-lived), stack boxes, open side forward, floor to ceiling and nail the bottoms to the wall to keep them from falling over. They won't hold heavy things, but I don't need them to. I need a place to toss things like gloves and stuffed animals to get them off the floor. And the one thing we have plenty of is boxes. So tomorrow's project is makeshift cupboards so that the next day's project can be cleaning up.
And what was today's project?
Food.
We came to a house plentifully stocked with tomato products (soup, sauce, petite diced, whole canned, etc)--and not much else. Cold cereal, but no milk. A little cheese. Sugar-free koolaid mix. Regular koolaid mix but no sugar!
So today Tim cleaned out the car, emptied the trailer, and unhitched them, and then at 11:30 pm I set out to find food for our family. First stop, Safeway. Produce. A Ham (for Tim, as a sort of Christmas present, because he LOVES real ham and it was cheaper than hamburger). Cheese. Then they kicked me out because the store was closing. Then King Soopers, where the customer service is FAR superior. More produce, a little meat, milk, more cheese, tortillas, canned goods of various kinds (all ingredients, though), baking stuff. See, I decided since studies now show that high fructose corn syrup causes serious health problems, I want to avoid it more carefully. But it's really in almost every processed food. SO, I'm trying to go for fresh, home-made, and stuff I know the ingredients in. It's close to the way we were eating before, it's healthy, it's cheap, and it is aligned with the Word of Wisdom. I even try to buy stuff that is in season and limit the amount of meat. I do "carbs" because grains are supposed to be central to a healthy diet, but I think the less processed your grains are, the better.
This is also a high magnesium diet, and I've discovered that my family has symptoms of magnesium deficiency (which parallel symptoms of fibromyalgia, actually!).
So food today.
Ironically, I was so exhausted from buying everything fresh and for scratch foods, we had frozen pizza for dinner tonight.
Meanwhile, Tim spent the day writing and recording tracks for his latest project--working on a jingle for a regional company. He's got to get something cool, rock-based, and a cappella. So he's down doing that still.
The last project--the one for McAfee that brought us to Utah in the first place--is still in limbo, waiting for some guy in China to approve the final draft while the Christmas season slowly ticks away....If they take out the last line (which I think is stupid anyway--it sounds like a public service announcement and is at odds with the tone of the rest of the commercial), they can extend the life of the project indefinitely. But as it is, it's holiday-themed and they're missing the holidays!
So that's us. We drove, we visited, we drove. And here we are. Living along.
Rats.
Anyway, it was a nice trip to Utah, and a nice trip home despite the fact that Daniel had to pee every 90 minutes, and then invariably had to go again right after we got back in the car when he'd just gone! Caleb was getting over some fever sickness. Anda was just coming down with it. Tim was in the middle of it and aching. Still, he drove all the way this time.
Got home and wondered why nobody cleaned my house while I was gone. And then wondered what I can do right away without money to make cupboards and shelves for the house so we can start to put things away. My latest brainstorm: as temp cupboards (intended to be seriously short-lived), stack boxes, open side forward, floor to ceiling and nail the bottoms to the wall to keep them from falling over. They won't hold heavy things, but I don't need them to. I need a place to toss things like gloves and stuffed animals to get them off the floor. And the one thing we have plenty of is boxes. So tomorrow's project is makeshift cupboards so that the next day's project can be cleaning up.
And what was today's project?
Food.
We came to a house plentifully stocked with tomato products (soup, sauce, petite diced, whole canned, etc)--and not much else. Cold cereal, but no milk. A little cheese. Sugar-free koolaid mix. Regular koolaid mix but no sugar!
So today Tim cleaned out the car, emptied the trailer, and unhitched them, and then at 11:30 pm I set out to find food for our family. First stop, Safeway. Produce. A Ham (for Tim, as a sort of Christmas present, because he LOVES real ham and it was cheaper than hamburger). Cheese. Then they kicked me out because the store was closing. Then King Soopers, where the customer service is FAR superior. More produce, a little meat, milk, more cheese, tortillas, canned goods of various kinds (all ingredients, though), baking stuff. See, I decided since studies now show that high fructose corn syrup causes serious health problems, I want to avoid it more carefully. But it's really in almost every processed food. SO, I'm trying to go for fresh, home-made, and stuff I know the ingredients in. It's close to the way we were eating before, it's healthy, it's cheap, and it is aligned with the Word of Wisdom. I even try to buy stuff that is in season and limit the amount of meat. I do "carbs" because grains are supposed to be central to a healthy diet, but I think the less processed your grains are, the better.
This is also a high magnesium diet, and I've discovered that my family has symptoms of magnesium deficiency (which parallel symptoms of fibromyalgia, actually!).
So food today.
Ironically, I was so exhausted from buying everything fresh and for scratch foods, we had frozen pizza for dinner tonight.
Meanwhile, Tim spent the day writing and recording tracks for his latest project--working on a jingle for a regional company. He's got to get something cool, rock-based, and a cappella. So he's down doing that still.
The last project--the one for McAfee that brought us to Utah in the first place--is still in limbo, waiting for some guy in China to approve the final draft while the Christmas season slowly ticks away....If they take out the last line (which I think is stupid anyway--it sounds like a public service announcement and is at odds with the tone of the rest of the commercial), they can extend the life of the project indefinitely. But as it is, it's holiday-themed and they're missing the holidays!
So that's us. We drove, we visited, we drove. And here we are. Living along.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Did I just read that?
Walmart's ad this week has a really funny claim on the cover. It says, in large print, "Christmas dinner for a family of 8 for under $30".
In REALLY small print at the bottom, it says, "Dinner includes....six 11-15.5 oz cans of Del Monte vegetables...."
SIX cans of corn and beans. Those cans contain 3 servings each. So the dinner for 8 includes 18 servings of vegetables.
The rest of the meal consisted of a 10-lb ham, 10 lb potatoes, 12 rolls, and a 10-inch pie.
I don't think whoever wrote that ad has ever tried to serve a family of 8! Six cans of vegetables indeed.....
And I don't think a nutritionist would suggest that meal--it's heavy on the carbs and sodium, has NO fruit at all, and no fresh veggies. Hmmmm....
The funniest thing is I feed a family of six EVERY NIGHT for $10 or less. For the whole meal. Even if I bought their $16 ham, I could feed everyone a full, healthy meal for $20, including fruit, fresh vegetables, rolls, and dessert. Oh, and mashed potatoes.
For $30, our whole family can eat out at an all-you-can-eat buffet, so why would I make that myself?
I'm still trying to figure out what they thought we'd do with 6 cans of vegetables. Leftover omelets?
In REALLY small print at the bottom, it says, "Dinner includes....six 11-15.5 oz cans of Del Monte vegetables...."
SIX cans of corn and beans. Those cans contain 3 servings each. So the dinner for 8 includes 18 servings of vegetables.
The rest of the meal consisted of a 10-lb ham, 10 lb potatoes, 12 rolls, and a 10-inch pie.
I don't think whoever wrote that ad has ever tried to serve a family of 8! Six cans of vegetables indeed.....
And I don't think a nutritionist would suggest that meal--it's heavy on the carbs and sodium, has NO fruit at all, and no fresh veggies. Hmmmm....
The funniest thing is I feed a family of six EVERY NIGHT for $10 or less. For the whole meal. Even if I bought their $16 ham, I could feed everyone a full, healthy meal for $20, including fruit, fresh vegetables, rolls, and dessert. Oh, and mashed potatoes.
For $30, our whole family can eat out at an all-you-can-eat buffet, so why would I make that myself?
I'm still trying to figure out what they thought we'd do with 6 cans of vegetables. Leftover omelets?
Did I just read that?
I don't know if this one came from Microsoft or HP, but I got an error message on my new laptop today: "The HP Advisor has unexpectedly shut down." There were two buttons, "Debug" or "Close." I clicked "Debug."
The computer thought for a moment and then gave me this message: "A problem has caused the program to stop running."
No kidding. A problem? That's all they could come up with? I mean, wasn't that obvious?
Geez.
The computer thought for a moment and then gave me this message: "A problem has caused the program to stop running."
No kidding. A problem? That's all they could come up with? I mean, wasn't that obvious?
Geez.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Homeschool Socialization problems--a MYTH!
This is so so so cool. We homeschoolers were right after all!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/13/home-schooling-socialization-not-problem/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/13/home-schooling-socialization-not-problem/
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Did I just read that?
from the same article as the previous post:
"Salt Lake city's bright spot clearly is unemployment..."
So if unemployment is the bright spot, things aren't so good, huh?
"Salt Lake city's bright spot clearly is unemployment..."
So if unemployment is the bright spot, things aren't so good, huh?
Did I just read that?
from the Salt Lake Tribune, quoting the Brookings Institute: http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13996752
(no grammatical issues; just a really funny quote)
"The sheer abruptness of the shift from hyper-growth early in the decade to a severe contraction in the last year...has spawned a sense of almost existential whiplash."
Almost existential whiplash?
I think that's my new favorite phrase!
(no grammatical issues; just a really funny quote)
"The sheer abruptness of the shift from hyper-growth early in the decade to a severe contraction in the last year...has spawned a sense of almost existential whiplash."
Almost existential whiplash?
I think that's my new favorite phrase!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Homeschooling Page at the National Gallery of Art
Very cool. At least the US Government thinks homeschooling is valid!
http://www.nga.gov/education/homeschool.shtm
http://www.nga.gov/education/homeschool.shtm
Funny Kids
Daniel just turned to Tim and said, "I can't see what I'm looking at!"
It took me a minute and then struck me as really funny.
It took me a minute and then struck me as really funny.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Wandering
Sometimes I find myself wandering the internet searching for answers. To what? I don't know. I'm not even sure the questions. Just wandering. Feeling unsettled.
It's similar to that feeling that I must have done something wrong/someone is mad at me, but I can't think what it is I might have done.
Just unsettled, I guess.
It's similar to that feeling that I must have done something wrong/someone is mad at me, but I can't think what it is I might have done.
Just unsettled, I guess.
Info on SIDS and stomach-sleepers
Turns out that not ONLY sleeping on the stomach causes SIDS. (I always knew this--I've had 5 stomach-sleepers to preserve both their and my sanity). Looks like upper-body weakness, possibly due to magnesium deficiency, might be the problem:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11300621?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11300621?dopt=Abstract
Friday, December 11, 2009
Hmmm...
So after the last "Did I just read that?", I had to look up, "Psychiatric Service Dog". On a website, I found this paragraph:
"You may want to consider keeping an ‘Emotional Support Animal (ESA)’. This is a pet that is owned by a disabled person. ESA are not "individually trained to do work or perform tasks" that assist you with your disability. They are pets, not Service Animals. This subject matter is addressed in the article "Right to Emotional Support Animals in 'No Pets' Housing" on the web site for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law at:
http://www.bazelon.org/issues/housing/infosheets/fhinfosheet6.html. Additionally, you may want to read a useful publication created by the Doris Day Animal League titled, "Friends for Life." You can download a free copy in .pdf format at this URL:
http://www.ddal.org/pubs/bestfriends/. In it, you will find instructions for how to keep a pet in ‘no pets’ or ‘restricted pets’ housing." http://www.psychdog.org/faq.html#need
"You may want to consider keeping an ‘Emotional Support Animal (ESA)’. This is a pet that is owned by a disabled person. ESA are not "individually trained to do work or perform tasks" that assist you with your disability. They are pets, not Service Animals. This subject matter is addressed in the article "Right to Emotional Support Animals in 'No Pets' Housing" on the web site for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law at:
http://www.bazelon.org/issues/housing/infosheets/fhinfosheet6.html. Additionally, you may want to read a useful publication created by the Doris Day Animal League titled, "Friends for Life." You can download a free copy in .pdf format at this URL:
http://www.ddal.org/pubs/bestfriends/. In it, you will find instructions for how to keep a pet in ‘no pets’ or ‘restricted pets’ housing." http://www.psychdog.org/faq.html#need
Now, I don't want to seem callous or cruel, or mock anyone's pain...but this struck me as a bit ridiculous. Not that people sometimes need pets to function and stay happy and calm (I can accept that), but that we have to have an Acronym for EVERYTHING. It's not a pet (or a beloved pet). It's an ESA. And therefore, the rules don't apply to me.
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