Boosted Immune System Culprits

It just occurred to me that I've been well for a long time. No cold, flu, infections that start with allergies, etc. I used to get colds a lot, especially in the spring and fall here in the allergy capital, Austin, TX.

I attribute this to several lifestyle changes over the years. Some may seem common sense and some may surprise you. But I assure you they are worth the trouble (and expense) to my health.

Wanna know what I did differently?

1. Keep my purse off the kitchen counter where food prep happens. For me, this meant reserving a 2 ft part of my 6 ft long island for a catch-all area, including my germy purse bottom. And using only 4 ft for cutting raw or cooked meat, veggies, fruits. Who knows what bacteria I picked up from the grocery carts or bathroom floors? Keep your food prep area holy.

2. Investing in a reverse osmosis water system. By drinking less chlorine and other water cleaning chemicals, my immune system was boosted immediately. We got it hooked up to the ice and water dispenser on the fridge too. It's nice to have better, safer water easily accessible at home! Yes, it's pricey but my family and my health is worth it! And it tastes wonderful too!

3. Worked and volunteered several years around preschoolers which exposed me to things that my body now fights off easily. Followed by working at a hospital which exposes me to different things my immune cells recognize and attach quickly. If you get a chance to be around little ones who attend a preschool or Mother's day out, take it!

4. Scrubbing with bacterial killing soap a few times a week and using anti-bacterial gels at the hospital. Plus longer hand washing with no antibacterial soap at home with more friction-making moves. Preschools and hospitals are great places to find immune boosting surfaces! Go visit people you know in the hospital or volunteer to work with kids at church!

Your body has to learn how to fight and exposure to the enemy is part of this process! Our bodies are smart, don't be afraid to let them go to battle.

However, people with immune system deficiencies should not take this advice!

While 1 & 2 are about staying away from germs, 3 & 4 are about safe exposure to them. It's always a balancing act!

Gag Me with a Spoon

Lying in bed this morning, I took a normal breath and realized something was wrong! My tween was smelling up the entire upstairs with a Bath & BW spray that instantly gives me a headache. I quickly covered my face with the sheets to protect myself from a migraine reaction. But my anger raged beneath the covers.

She has been told not to spray that stuff near me or like a deodorizer in her room, next to ours. She is old enough to remember a warning like that!

It is an improvement that she cares about her personal hygiene. So while angry and breathing thru the bed linens, I think of things with which to be thankful about her. And my negative emotion subsides. I come up for air and realize the purple cloud has dissipated, so I get up.

Once I get into my morning routine, I soon forget how rudely it had started.

Later, with coffee in hand and iPad on my lap, I'm grateful I didn't have to take an Exedrin Migraine with breakfast!

And that purple bottle of stinky stuff is going into the trash before there is another incident. Plus I'm going to have to open her bedroom window and run the fan to send the rest of the poison outside, gag me with a spoon!

Note: Do you get headaches from ordinary smells that don't seem to bother others? You too may have a chemical sensitivity.
http://www.multiplechemicalsensitivity.org/

Follow Up to Eggs that Make History...

These are the finished 3 dozen egg creations from Easter.  My daughter and I used pins and nasal aspirators to blow out the insides of one dozen eggs, but it was tedious; so we decorated the rest of the two dozen as hard-boiled eggs.

We used several techniques including using the PAAZ color tablets.  But we added two tabs in each bowl of vinegar water to intensify the colors.  Next year I want to try the Kool-Aid suggestion.  We used oil to marbleize, glitter pens for dimension (but they dripped before drying), and sharpies.  The hard boiled eggs were easier to color because they sank in the dying liquid, while the hollow eggs had to be filled to submerge in the dye.

I'm saving the hollowed ones, since I nuked them for 20 seconds and let them dry before coloring for 24 hours (per directions listed on previous post).  They don't smell and haven't faded, so we'll compare next years to this years and see if we can improve on our designs and ideas.

Happy Mother's Day today!

Tween Obsessed with Twilight Series, My Fault?

Did I encourage the obsession by withholding my 11 year old daughter from the Twilight series until I thought she was ready?  Or is obsession just part of tween life?  I remember listening to the same Imperials tape over and over as we skated in my parents basement for hours.  Looking back, it must have seemed obsessive to my parents, as well as,  driving them nuts!  But we were good kids and not in trouble.

Someone referred to teens as two year olds with hormones.  I believe it.  Two year olds happily watch reruns of their favorite shows like Barney (Marissa), Dora the Explorer and Max and Ruby.  They also sass at mom and dad, but with simpler words.  Sounds like my tween!

Emily's reading these 600+ paged Twilight romance novels, which is something I never could do.  Reading is good, right?  She insists that I should read them too.  Well, I tried and started New Moon but wasn't into it, like alot of other moms were.  I've disappointed her because I quit reading and haven't picked a team. Yes, she's seen the movies over and over too, but she likes the books better.  But what worries me is she keeps dwelling on the story. What's the big deal?

I know they pull away about this time, and their peers become their mentors.  Parents instantly become stupid.  She has  become more recluse.  That's not all bad, I've been pushing for more independence and am getting that part of development too.  When I engage her in conversation or ask her to do something she smarts back with disrespect.  Not allowed!  I've been working on which times to call her out and which times to ignore.

To ease my worried mind and if she's so intrigued by Bella and Edward's romance, I think I'll show her my wedding shower book.  And we can look over her dad and my wedding album again.  I can talk about the four and half years Greg and I  dated and hung out together and how much we couldn't wait to be together.  How he would call me everyday and I would call him right back so his parents didn't have to pay for long distance.

I got to date and be engaged for a year and have a fairy-tale wedding.  Starting a family was hard but our story includes getting the best kid I could have asked for...her!  She loves hearing about her adoption and watching her baby videos.

She's almost 12 and she's not into boys much yet, except for participating in the silly games at school.  She still prefers hanging out with girls and I'm thankful for that.

Eggs that will make history

Like many American moms, I have done the pre Easter ritual of egg dying with my child.  Sometimes we invite friends over to make fun holiday memories with us, but this year it's going to be just the two of us.  And we'll plan, buy, set-up, create, clean up and display our work together as a process not just an event.

Since March, I have created a board for Easter egg ideas and have gleaned many more ideas than I could have come up with on my own.  I have 37 pins on by Eggs/Easter board.  http://pinterest.com/shawneepooh/eggs-easter/ Wisdom is learning from other's mistakes.  It's a time and frustration saver in any setting...even eggs!

You don't have to be an artist to create something beautiful!

This years dying egg project with Emily is going to be different.  We are going to use hollow eggs instead of boiled ones.  She is ready for the next step in this traditional childhood activity.  She can do it through adulthood and continue to come up with, or copy, creative egg decorating ideas.We will hollow out our eggs with the pin and nasal aspirator.  Yes, we'll be frugal and eat the eggs.  I'll check allrecipes.com for a great recipe for strata, quiche or omelet.  We may even tighten our skin with some of the whites, who knows.

One pin suggests dying eggs bold solid colors with dry kook-aid powerder...http://www.heyjenrenee.com/2011/04/kool-eggs.html

Another pin shares a marble technique http://crafts.kaboose.com/marbled-eggs.html

Venn diagram with a black sharpie or texture eggs with white puff paint on white eggs for an elegant look http://www.readymade.com/blog/design/2011/04/20/modern_easter_eggs

In one of our future Easters, we'll give a go at making Pysanky, egg decorating with traditional Ukrainian fold designs using wax resist.
http://www.livinginseason.com/tag/ukrainian-eggs/

I'll post some pix when we finish.  I hope I've inspired you to make developmentally appropriate craft memories with your children!