You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain
The Wall Street Journal (4/1, Trottman) Washington Wire blog reports that “Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced similar bills last month to ban [bisphenol A (BPA)], which has been linked to breast and prostate cancers and reproductive problems in animals, from all food and beverage containers, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban it from food and beverage containers for infants and toddlers.” Sen. Schumer’s bill, “called the BPA-free Kids Act, would enact a nationwide ban and stiff penalties for manufacturers, importers and stores that violate it.” Washington Wire notes that federal studies concerning BPA are “contradictory,” with a report by the National Toxicology Program concluding it “may be linked to a number of health…problems,” and an FDA study finding that “BPA in small amounts doesn’t pose a health risk.”
So, I got this clip from my friend, Mr. Diggles, who is always posting funny things. I have “taken” quite a few funny clips from him in the past and here is yet another one. Sort-of a weird yet funny video. Just watch and see what you think. I laughed out loud. Cute.
Then after watching more I noticed this kid has videos all over youtube and he is funny!
All Anna wants to do these days is walk. She doesn’g go far, but it is her new favorite thing to do. She has become very daring with it and isn’s afraid to take a good fall. She is fearless, much like her mother. Last night we were at our friends house for dinner and she took the most steps she has ever taken at one time. They had a nice open kitchen that she seemed to enjoy testing her skills in. She took about 8 steps in a row. It is so fun to watch. To think we all started out like this. Learning to walk gives us such independence. Soon enough she is no longer going to be our “little” baby but a walker.
Last night she burst out with a high fever and didn’t sleep well last night. Hoping it gets better today.
Howard Bell, 98, works in Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital’s short-stay unit where — between cracking jokes and flirting with nurses — he helps with paperwork and errands. At 98, Howard Bell has earned the chance to relax.
But twice a week, Bell has an early breakfast and sets out from his Northwest Portland retirement center to walk to Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center to spend a few hours volunteering.
Bell is the oldest of the hospital’s 538 volunteers and works in the short-stay unit where patients await surgery. He’s logged nearly 3,000 hours over the past seven years and has become a favorite of everyone who works there.
And a legend.
“He’s never missed a shift,” says Ashley Moulton, the hospital’s volunteer coordinator. “We treat volunteering kind of like a job. Most people work one shift a week. He does two a week.”
Moulton, 25, adds: “When he walks in, everyone brightens up. I’ve never met anyone like Howard.”
Bell walks from his retirement home in Northwest Portland twice a week to volunteer at the hospital. “He’s never missed a shift,” says Ashley Moulton, the hospital’s volunteer coordinator. Bell began volunteering after his wife died in 1999 and he moved from their Southeast Portland home. His wife had volunteered at a Northeast Portland hospital. With Good Sam just down the street, Bell thought he might give it a try, too.
What does he do there? “My stock answer is that I do everything up to brain surgery,” says Bell, sitting at a dining table at his retirement home. “What I really do is run errands and collate papers.”
And why? “Keeps me off the streets and out of the beer halls,” he quips. Six women laugh from the next table.
“OK,” he says, “I’m a joker.
He reveals another reason. “I was married one month short of 61 years,” he says. “My wife didn’t make it here with me.”
He pauses. “I’d like to think she’d be proud of me.”
The moment passes, and Bell turns playful again.
“Want to know the secret to not getting old?” he asks. “Chasing girls.” The women at the next table twitter.
“We heard that, Howard,” Pat Lawrence says. “I think the ladies have been known to chase you up and down the hall.”
“I don’t want to get caught,” Bell says, drawing more laughter.
He pushes back from the table. “Let’s get out of here,” he says.
On the way to his room, Bell says he’ll turn 99 in November. He’s going strong — he gave up driving only five years ago — and says he plans to break 100.
“In fact,” he says, “I got 102 in mind.”
His apartment is filled with memories: photos of his wife — they met as Franklin High School students — of his children, and of his parents, brothers and sister. In his bedroom, a large painting depicts a young Bell standing in front of a delivery truck.
“I was in the motion picture industry here in Portland,” he says. “The unglamorous side. Had a company that took care of the needs of the theaters in town. We’d supply the advertising for the front of the theater, pick up the films and sell the theater everything from thumbtacks to screens.”
He leads the way back to the living room.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he says, “I’ll pop a few pills, and we can take off.”
He grabs his cane and pulls on an old fishing cap — setting it just so. Outside, he sets off down the street. After a block, he stops to catch his breath.
“You know you’re getting old,” he says, “when you have to stop — going downhill.”
He arrives in the volunteer office about 15 minutes later, slips into his volunteer shirt and clips on a badge.
“Ladies,” he says, “how are you today?”
Bess Dodd, the unit secretary, grins. “Howard,” she says, “there’s no one else like you. What would we do without you?”
He laughs as he grabs a stack of paperwork. “Without this job,” he says as he walks away, “I’d be bored stiff.”
“You cannot control the world, but you can change how you react to it”
Not sure where I found that quote or who wrote it but I think it is a good one.
First off, lets get something straight, I am not a good writer. I would have to say writing has never been my strong point. Although, I was always an above average student, I some how always slide by under the radar in my English classes. You would think having completed high school, undergraduate and graduate school that I would have developed at least some decent writing skills, but really I have not. I am even worse at grammar ( is that even spelled correctly?). In school, none of my teachers seemed to push the grammar on us. Sure, I had the basics that we all have to learn, but after that, most of my English teachers seemed to care more about English literature and creative writing than actually the logistics of grammar.
I have written many essays and research papers all of which have been mediocre. None have been outstanding or remarkable or interesting. They allowed me to get by. I usually passed with B’s in English; never a C or a D and usually not an A. I got into graduate school with the help of my husband who spent endless hours with me, helping me write my entrance essay. It also didn’t hurt that I was a science major so nobody really cared if you could write well or not. Recently, I have had dreams to be a writer. The lifestyle sounds great. Wake up when I want to, snuggle up to the morning cup of coffee and start writing. Maybe take a break, take the dog for a walk and reflect on the work in progress only to return home to more writing. I would end the day early feeling a great sense of accomplishment. It also sounds nice to be able to work on your own time-to wake up and work at your own pace with your own goals in mind. I sometimes dread my standard 8-6 job where I have to be there on time and get my standard 30 minute lunch ( although some days I get no lunch–what is up with that).
Maybe I’ll start writing my first novel. It can be about a girl from a quite small town in Minnesota located on a river and all the adventures she has growing up there. Then the second book can follow her off to her first year in college, away from home for her first time in life. It can chronicle all the life lessons, hardships and joy she has come to experience in those glorious college years.
I dunno, I am not good at writing and I am not very creative, so the likelihood that I could pull that off would be miraculous. I definitely should not quit my day job just yet. Although, I am a firm believer in that we can accomplish anything if we just put our minds to it. I have usually succeeded at the things I put my mind to. I am not known to be failure or one who gives up easily. I almost always succeed at what I do. Of course, there may be something to say in that I likely chose to do the things that I will be likely to succeed in. I have never really attempted to write a novel because I am such a bad writer so why bother??
Well, I’ll keep you posted, if I suddenly become a writer and publish my first book, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just keep writing silly things on this blog.
So the city of Portland has been shut down for the past 4 days. We have had about 1 foot of snow with more possible tomorrow. If no snow then likely freezing rain. Yikes. I have had to work at the Urgent care these past few days and Ryan has gotten to stay home with Anna.
Tomorrow is Xmas eve. We are excited for our first Xmas with Anna and we are glad we are not having to travel in the midst of all this crazy weather and snow.
Wishing you all Happy Holidays and new years.
Off to friends house today to celebrate thanksgiving and feast. It is a beautiful fall day here in Portland. NO RAIN! Ryan is off playing football and Anna and I are making pies and green beans for later.
We are thankful for all our friends and family–especially Anna–our miracle baby.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I am not sure who this quote is by, I got it from a cousin of mine who is 32 years old and currently fighting breast cancer.
‘Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so love the people who treat you right,
forget about the ones who don’t,
and believe that everything
happens for a reason. If you get a
chance, take it. If it changes
your life, let it. Nobody said
life would be easy, they just
promised it would be worth it.’
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A single sample of infant formula has tested positive for trace amounts of the toxic contaminant melamine, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.
Of 77 samples tested, one contained melamine, FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon told CNN. A trace amount is defined as less than 250 parts per billion, she said.
Last month, the FDA set the safety threshold for melamine at 2,500 parts per billion for foods other than infant formula. The agency said it did not have enough data to set a safety threshold for infants.
Leon on Tuesday would not disclose the maker of the formula that had trace melamine amounts.
The testing program was initiated after contaminated infant formula in China was linked to thousands of illnesses and a number of deaths among infants.
The FDA said it checked with all manufacturers licensed to distribute baby formula in the United States and determined that none of the components in U.S.-sold infant formula are from China.
Leon said the sample that tested positive most likely became contaminated through the manufacturing process or through contact with can liners. 
Learn more about melamine »
A spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based International Formula Council, a trade group, said she had not seen the data, but was encouraged that the quantity found was below levels deemed safe in infants by the governments of China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Canada and New Zealand.
“Apparently these trace levels can be found in lots of food,” said spokeswoman Mardi Mountford.
The FDA also found trace levels of melamine in several samples of medical formula supplements for the elderly, but the amounts posed no health risk to adults, Leon said.
Though U.S.-based companies can import ingredients from China for nutritional supplements for adults, there is an import ban on dairy products and components, she said.
Melamine is an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of can liners, flame retardant, cleaning products, fertilizers and pesticides.
It does not occur naturally in food.
Because it contains nitrogen, its addition to food products can wrongly suggest an inflated protein content. Ingesting melamine in large doses over an extended period of time could cause kidney stones and other illnesses, though small amounts pose no such danger for adults, agriculture and health experts say.
Its presence in Chinese infant formula has led to the hospitalization of more than 12,000 children and the deaths of several in China, according to the FDA, which said it is not aware of any such illnesses in the United States.
This month, the FDA announced it was limiting the import of all dairy products from China until they have been proved free of melamine.
You all have probably already seen this but it is so funny I had to post it.
Just wanted to give a plug to my friend Tyler from Portland, OR. He is a terrific song writer and has a new CD out. Here is a link to his site where you can listen to and buy his music. One of my favorite songs is “better be us all”. Check it out.
Not only is bottled water a concern for the environment as it is filling up landfills across the world, but it may not be the best choice when it comes to drinking water. It appears as if drinking just plain old filtered tap water from your faucet is healthier than bottled water.
It’s just what we’ve all suspected – pure, “straight from the mountains” bottled water is not so pure after all. Yesterday, EWG released an industry-rattling report that reveals the dirty truth about bottled water.
We tested 10 brands and found an alarming array of contaminants, including cancer-causing byproducts of chlorination, fertilizer residue, industrial solvents and even caffeine.
In light of these disturbing findings, here’s what you can do:
• Drink filtered tap water instead of bottled or unfiltered tap water.
• Mix infant formula with filtered, non-fluoridated water.
• Carry water in safe, reusable containers.
Read the full report or download our handy guide to safe drinking water for more tips.
For those of you interested in trying to live a more”green” life for both you and your baby here is new website/blog I have found. Worth checking it out.
I have to say I don’t always live the most green life possible but I do try to make better decisions when I have the opportunity. For one, I feel all of us should avoid plastic bags. When we go the grocery store or shopping there is absolutely no need to use plastic. Those bags are not biodegradable nor can you recycle them. If you care about the earth at all and what the earth may look like it 30-40 years for our children and grandchildren, then you should stop using plastic bags. I recommend bringing you own bags that you can use time and time again. What I have found is that you can fit more into these reusable bags, they are easier to carry and they don’t harm the environment. If you forget to bring your own bag, then at least opt for paper which is recycle-able.
