It happened. Again. Today.
I was, again, brought to my knees in tears. Sobbing like a 31 year old baby.
I’ve had this burden hanging over my head for a while in regards to my car. I like to think of it as my “Hot Rod”, while others call it the “Mom car” (for the record, I have no children). But whatever you call it, my Honda Accord was in need of some attention. I’d been putting off taking my car in for quite some time. People were telling me “It’s your alignment” and “It’s your brakes” and “It’s your power steering”…all sounded kind of expensive to me. And I just simply don’t have a way to pay for it.
Tuesday morning I broke down Read More…
In my last post I told you about how I have been able to do so many things that I haven’t been able to for a while. Like fly to another state to visit my best friend 
We decided that part of our adventure would be to check out organic wineries – and boy did we find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (well, maybe it wasn’t actual GOLD, but, we did have a BEAUTIFUL rainbow that day)!
We discovered Fitzpatrick’s Winery and Lodge in Fair Play, California. This darling family owned winery and lodge is absolutely delightful and you should definitely go sometime if you are in the area!
I’ll tell you more soon, but for now, look at the sign we found:
Much, much better than the sign I found at that BBQ restaurant!
Dear Friends,
It’s just about 3 months into this detox program and guess what?! IT HAS WORKED!
I am now able to do things that I wasn’t able to a few months ago. For example, my best friend bought me a plane ticket to go visit her in Sacramento a few weeks ago. I managed the flight and being in close quarters with lots of people without having any reactions! I was elated! Additionally, my energy levels have increased, and as long as I am steering clear of certain chemicals, I am very clear headed and focused! After being ill for so long, this is an incredibly liberating time in my life! Knowing that I am about half way through this detox, Read More…
Hi, Friends! Thanks to my friend Kat, I came across FrogTV.com. It is a new site- I believe launched at the end of January. I think you’ll be happy you did if you take a few minutes to watch these succinct and poignant cartoon clips! You will even laugh a bit when you do!
My two favorite videos so far are Frogotten Genders and Outlawed. Both clips are just a minute or two long. Well worth your time in my opinion.
Frogotten Genders talks specifically about the feminizing of male frogs due to the exposure of Atrazine. Male frogs are being found with ovaries. If Atrazine does this to frogs, what is it doing to YOU? Or, your yet to be born kiddos?!
This second video, Outlawed, makes the point that this particular chemical Atrazine is banned for use in many countries, especially European countries. It should help convey the point that in the US we are so liberal in our chemical use. The effects are far-reaching.
Enjoy!
The sign reads “Cancer Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Other Reproductive Harm May Be Present in Food or Beverages Sold or Served Here”.
In Spring of 2009, on our way home a long weekend by the sea in San Diego, we stopped at a BBQ restaurant. This sign caught my eye, so I took a little picture.
At least they warned us before we dined on the poor-health producing meal. I’ll give them that.
If you are like me, you love to travel. One really challenging aspect to being chemically sensitive or suffering from allergies is finding hotels or B&B’s to stay in when you want to travel. We all know that one inhalation of the wrong thing can ruin our entire vacation!
I just came across a great directory from MCSCanadian.org that lists some details about places to stay around Canada, US, and the UK!
Click here to go to the site!
As I find more Allergy and MCS Travel Destinations I will absolutely post them! And please let me know of any good places to stay that are not on this list!
Another question I am asked almost daily is “How Did You Get MCS?” Fantastic question! I can only speculate, but I believe it was a lifetime of chronic exposure followed by a chemical onslaught in my mid-twenties.
I believe the Indoor Air Quality in the homes, schools, places of employment, living near chemical manufacturing facilities, the food supply, and possibly my unique body’s detoxification pathways have all contributed to my toxicity.
From childhood through my adolescence and 20s, I was chronically exposed to off-gassing from new buildings. A couple of weeks before starting the 1st grade, my family moved into a brand new house. A few weeks after school started, we were moved to a brand new school. The area that I grew up in was constantly growing (libraries, groceries stores, friends’ houses were all new). In the 4th grade I moved to another brand new school. My junior high school was pretty new, and I spent a good portion of junior high in new portable classrooms. Maybe I slept through high school economics because the portable classroom was putting me to sleep?! In any event none of my schools ever had windows to allow any ventilation or circulation of fresh air, so were trapped in a box with VOCs.
In college, I think I Read More…
Dear Friends and Readers,
Hi! I hope that you are having a wonderful day so far! And if you aren’t, I hope that you are able to find some joy and peace amidst the chaos!
I continue to be overwhelmed and grateful for all of your love. Truly, I fully recognize that I could not do this without all of you, and my heart has been softened, deepened, and healed by your contributions to my experience. Thank you.
On that note, I want to answer many of the questions that I receive quite regularly. In this post you will learn what MCS/Environmental Illness is and my personal symptoms. My next post will tell you how I believe I became toxic.
“What is MCS or Environmental Illness?” There is a vast amount of information written in regards to MCS/EI. Simply put, a person reacts in varying degrees upon exposure to a one or more chemicals (my own words).
I recommend having a look at the Environmental Illness Resource website’s definition of MCS. It seems to be the most informational, yet concise and easy to understand description I have found so far. The CDC Read More…
Recently I came across references to a PBS Transcript on 2 seperate occassions that sparked my interest. Saturday night and Sunday morning I read through this transcript. This transcript reveals how companies in Chemical Industry deliberately covered up the toxic exposures that killed many of their employees and debilitated others. Bones in fingers rotted away. Entire body systems failed. Brain Cancer. Testicular Atrophy (“That’s ok. You can adopt.”). 492 deaths due to exposures that one company was well aware was much too high for their employees (well, who cares if it’s not your Dad, or Son, or Brother, right?).
It’s disheartening, sickening, and really pisses me off. Who are these people that sit behind their desks and okay the painful existence and premature death of their employees? One supervisor at a Conoco plant in Lake Charles wrote on a lab report of a very sick employee “exceeds short term exposure” and “do NOT include on wire to Houston” in regards to his Vinyl Chloride exposure. View this document yourself. Somehow it becomes more real this way.
If you are still interested, check out this sister site to the document and transcript above that I found today.
Crazy, isn’t it?
And to think, this is only what has been discovered and uncovered. Makes me even more curious about what the chemical plants less than 5 miles from my house are really doing.
