Update School Nutrition Standards

Due to artificial colors, additives, preservatives, flavors, etc., I refuse to let my children eat school-made lunches, so every morning I agonize over what to pack (because I can’t get it together enough to pack them the night before).

I feel fortunate that I am able to do that for my kids, but for some parents, it can be too difficult due to time, money, convenience, etc. and unfortunately that means school-made lunches.  For the children that do eat school lunches, please take the time to sign he following petition…

The USDA’s school nutrition standards were developed in the 1970’s and aren’t consistent with current nutritional science.  USDA doesn’t even consider candy bars, snack cakes or french fries to be junk foods.  The standards don’t even address calories, saturated and trans fats or sodium.

I added my name to a petition calling for an update to these standards and I hope you will too.

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1925

The petition will be hand delivered to Congress June 24th. The more signatures we have, the greater our impact.

What you should know about using herbal or natural products to treat fleas and ticks

According to Greenpaws.org,  not all essential oils used to treat pet pests are safe for pets or people.  Herbal or natural products that contain cedarwood, lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary and thyme are likely safer.  Use herbal or natural products containing citrus, cinnamon, clove, d-limonene, geranium,
tea tree, lavender, linalool, bay, eucalyptus, and rue oils sparingly because they can cause allergic reactions in people—and severe reactions in cats and
dogs have been reported.   Avoid the use of any flea or tick product containing pennyroyal oil.   It can cause seizures, comas, and even death in animals.

Tell the EPA to protect kids from dangerous pesticides in pet flea products

An important message from www.greenpaws.org – a chance to use your voice!

-slt

The Butterfly of Freedom

“Why do you fly outside the box?”

“I fly outside the box because I can.”

“But we KNOW the box.  We are SAFE inside the box”.

“That, my friend, is why I leave it.  For YOU may be SAFE…

…but I AM FREE!”

~Edward Monkton

My Mom gave me a card with this quote, and it inspired me to continue to dance to the beat of my own drum.

Introvert or Extravert – Which one are you?

As a “twice-exceptional” adult with ADHD and giftedness, I find myself constantly having to defend my actions, mannerisms, and quirks.  WE ARE NOT ALL THE SAME, PEOPLE!  Even “normal” people can be classified into two types; the introvert and the extravert.

Look below to  determine your type.  This is especially helpful if you have children.  Understanding where their behavior and actions stem from, can allow you to change your reactions.  Most people will see themselves  in both categories, but the easiest way to figure out your type is to ask yourself if you are energized or drained when around other people.  If you or someone you know is an introvert (like myself), keep in mind that introverts need a little extra care and understanding.

Extraverts

Get energy from interaction

Feel energized by people

Have a single-layered personality (same in public and private)

Are open and trusting

Think out loud

Like being the center of attention

Learn by doing

Are comfortable in new situations

Make lots of friends easily

Are distractible

Are impulsive

Are risk-takers

Introverts

Get energy from inside themselves

Feel drained by people

Have a persona and an inner-self

Need privacy

Mentally rehearse before speaking

Hate being the center of attention

Learn by observing

Are comfortable with changes

Are loyal to a few close friends

Are capable of intense concentration

Are reflective

Fear humiliation; quiet in large groups

How to care for introverts

Respect their need for privacy

Let them observe first in new situations

Don’t interrupt them

Give them 15 minute warnings of changes

Teach them new skills in private

Do not push them to make lots of friends

Never embarrass them in public

Give them time to think.  Don’t demand answers.

Give them advanced notice of changes in their lives

Reprimand them privately

Enable them to find one best friend

Respect their introversion.  Don’t try to remake them into extraverts.

Counseling the Gifted & Talented, 1993, pg. 69, Love Publishing, Linda Silverman

Homeopathic First-Aid (keep these in your kit)

My daughter, Willow is highly allergic to chemicals, including chemicals in medicine.  I was forced to try homeopathic remedies, and as a result was absolutely amazed and thrilled with the outcome.

I have put together a list of homeopathic remedies that are staples in a first-aid kit.  If you are not familiar with the way homeopathy works, please go to this link http://abchomeopathy.com/homeopathy.htm.  These remedies are available in any health food store.  Please follow directions on the label.

*First-Aid Kit Homeopathy

Arnica – (Gel and pills) For bumps, bruises & aches (don’t apply to open wound).  Give pills immediately, and rub gel on affected site.

Calendula Cream – 1^st aid cream for open (or not) scratches, cuts, bites, wounds, etc.

Hypericum – The great remedy for injuries to nerves, especially of fingers, toes and nails.  Crushed fingers, especially tips.  Excessive painfulness is a guiding symptom to its use. Prevents lockjaw.  Punctured wounds.  Relieves pain after operations.  Quite supersedes the use of Morphia after operations.  Spasms after every injury.  Has an important action on the rectum; hemorrhoids.  Spasmodic asthmatic attacks with changes of weather or before storms, better by copious expectoration.  Injured nerves from bites of animals.  Tetanus.  Neuritis, tingling, burning and numbness.

Rhus Tox – Muscle Strain.  The effects on the skin, rheumatic pains, mucous membrane affections, and a typhoid type of fever, make this remedy frequently indicated.  Rhus Toxicodendron affects fibrous tissue markedly – joints, tendons, sheaths – aponeurosis, etc., producing pains and stiffness. Helps muscles when motion always “limbers up” the Rhus patient, and hence he feels better for a time from a change of position.  Ailments from strains, and overlifting.

Apis – Stings and/or bites (red ant).  Also apply calendula cream.  Acts on cellular tissues causing oedema of skin and mucous membranes.  The very characteristic effects of the sting of the bee furnish unerring indications for its employment in disease. Swelling or puffing up of various parts, EDEMA, red rosy hue, stinging pains, soreness, intolerance of heat, and slightest touch.

Belladonna – For fever.  Give 2 pills every 1-2 hours & 250-300 mg of Vitamin C 3 times/day.  If fever has not improved after 1 hour – go to Tylenol or Motrin.  Belladonna always is associated with hot, red skin, flushed face, glaring eyes, throbbing carotids, excited mental state, hyperaesthesia of all senses, delirium, restless sleep, convulsive movements, dryness of mouth and throat with aversion to water, neuralgic pains that come and go suddenly ( Oxytropis.)  Heat, redness, throbbing and burning.  Great children’s remedy.

*Always check with your Dr. before administering

Drinking River Water – My life with ADHD

This whole ADD thing has been a trip.  The really cool part is there is now a nicely packaged, single reason for all of the things I felt were wrong…I have always told my mom “it shouldn’t be this hard…it isn’t this hard for other people…this isn’t normal”.

I always felt misunderstood.  I was always called weird (which I was totally ok with…weird is a compliment, I think), but I just didn’t really understand what people thought was weird about me.  I have a tendency to be anxious.  I am completely overtaken by the moods of others.  I procrastinate.  I can’t pay bills and keep track of finances, and have no emotional tie with money.  I can’t keep friends, except for those who have grown to accept me (and don’t try to change me).  I don’t bond easily with people.  I stress myself trying to help everyone.  I’m constantly on a self-improvement plan.  I feel nature in my bones.  I get in a funk where I feel dead inside.  I am easily overwhelmed.  I don’t like to be touched.  The sound of a telephone makes me want to put my fist through a wall.  I can have a horrendous temper and snap, but forget about it 5 seconds later.  I have horrible word recall.  I always forget what I’m talking about mid-sentence.  I don’t pay attention to getting to my destination when I drive, and have ended up in the wrong state more than once.  I love animals so much it’s often painful. I am emotionally and physically affected by the sadness and heartbreak of others.  I can’t watch TV.  Overhead lights bother me.  A ceiling fan on my skin makes me crazy.  Smells can make me throw up.  I can’t make casual conversation on the phone.  I sometimes don’t understand people when they speak (especially if they speak too fast), and have to read lips.  I can’t maintain eye contact during a conversation and if I try to, I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head.  I “have no regard for safety”, according to my husband. The list can go on and on and on…but, the beauty of it is, it all stems from one thing…ADD.  That’s it!

So now, instead of a billion-trillion things being weird and not-quite right about me…it is only one.  I have only one thing wrong with me!!!!!!!  Yippeee!  The thing is, there is such mental anguish that comes from constantly TRYING to be organized, trying to be on-time, trying to be “with it”, TRYING to be a less loud and rowdy version of yourself, and just basically putting so much energy into trying to be a person that you PHYSICALLY CAN NOT BE (hold a gun to my head, and I get worse, not better), it slowly kills you.  On top of that, there are such immense and painful feelings of self-shame…of being such a loser that “can’t keep friends… etc.”  My self-talk is embarrassing…I would never speak to anyone the way I speak to myself.  It doesn’t end there…you can physically feel the disappointment and frustration from others.

My mom is SO incredibly responsible.  Before, learning about the mental challenges of ADD, I think it was hard for her to understand why I have such a hard time keeping up with everything.  She was constantly trying to fix things, and saying things like… ”Keep a notebook by your medicine so you can write it down when you take it”.  It is such a simple idea, keeping a notebook.  That is just SO logical.  Well, ADD isn’t logical!   We have since learned that in the past, every time she gave me pointers, I would get so defensive and so angry with myself because she made it sound so simple, but for some reason, I couldn’t do it.  I would try to explain… “Mom if it was just a matter of being able to do it, I would do it!”

Now she understands, but she still forgets sometimes (well most of the time), and immediately steps in with a “logical solution” to my woes, but now, I just say “GEE MOM…WHAT A GREAT IDEA!” and then we giggle.  What a difference.  Now, I almost look forward to her hearing her little “logical tips”, just so I can mess with her.

After all of these years, I am beginning to come to terms with my diagnosis of Adult ADD.  I can appreciate my extra intuitiveness, creativity, and what I consider a pretty cool brain.  I believe with all of my heart, that those with ADD have true gifts that need to be celebrated.  I am even ok with the fact that after three years, I still can’t  remember which house is mine when I am pulling into the garage from the back (I do it daily).  No, it’s isn’t the forgetfulness that gets me down, my personal struggle has always been fighting the anxiety and depression that seem to go hand in hand with ADD.  Second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour… just waiting for something bad to happen.  Well, that wasn’t really working for me, so I have decided to look at life with ADD differently.  For instance, right now, I feel like I have a pretty good hold on my life.  However, I am fully aware the bottom will come out and I will fall into the “dead place” again…probably sooner rather than later.I think the key is knowing and also accepting that it will happen.  With this brain disorder, I can’t count on perfect mental health, but I can let go of that terrifying, exhausting feeling of “holding on for dear life” every second of every day.  I have always imagined myself constantly walking on the edge of a cliff, trying desperately not to fall off.   I have decided to change my perception of the way my life works…it doesn’t have to be a stressful analogy like walking on the edge of a cliff.  Why can’t I have a peaceful analogy for my life?  It’s my life, and it’s my analogy, therefore I have decided to change it to the more Zen analogy of floating down a river.

White-water rapids are also pretty much guaranteed at some point in the river which means you’ll be “holding on for dear life” while your raft bounces off of rocks, and you gasp and choke as you unintentionally drink gallons of river water.Is that how normal people think?  Of life’s analogy more described as a river?  Not ADD people.  Because of the physiology of our brains, we get blasted from every direction (that’s what it feels like, too…like a continuous attack, not only mentally, but physically. Smells, sounds, every sense is constantly being over-stimulated) every second of every waking day.  That’s why we feel like we are walking on the edge…we are just struggling to survive the day.  When you add the juggling of life, you have to be pretty steady to keep your balance.  That is sometimes more than we can handle.  We panic, we drop the balls, and we fall.  Anything seemingly minor can knock us right off the edge, but we struggle mightily to keep our balance, because if we fall, we will land in the dead place.

I wrote this about the dead place…

“The dead place is dark, lonely & suffocating.  The voice from the dead place talks to me and tells me that I’ll never leave, I’ll be there forever or until I can’t take it anymore and decide to “check out”.   I begin to believe it, because it is the only voice I hear.  I can hear the faint cry from the other voices.   The other voices are so far away.  I can’t hear what they’re saying. I know they’re trying to tell me something, but the voice from the dead place begins talking louder now.  I get frustrated, straining painfully to hear the words of the other voices.

After some time, the other voices give up, turning away in frustration.  I have no idea they were trying to tell me to hold out my hand, that they brought a rope to help me climb out of the dead place.  Since I’m not holding out my hand, they think I’m ignoring them.  They don’t know that I can’t hear them, that their voices are mixed and jumbled.  They have decided that I must like it in that deep, dark, dead place or I would hold out my hand.

My stomach flips as the dark, heavy fabric of their frustration shrouds my head, making it almost impossible to breathe, see or hear. The fabric starts to move, and slowly begins snaking in and out of my eyes, ears, nose and mouth, before settling heavily in my brain.  Immediately, my senses begin to fade, and my vision is replaced with the mottled, gray-brown color of the fabric.  My stomach jerks as I gag from the sickly sweet smell of it.  Pain makes me recoil from the accusing heat of it burning my skin.  I gag again as my mouth fills with the sharp, metallic taste of it.  Confused, angry, embarrassed & hurt, I begin to mentally disconnect and disengage from the other voices, and their judgments. Doing so will prevent this pain in the future.  Afraid of suffocating, and as the feeling of shame becomes unbearable, I turn slowly back to face the dead place.  Sadly, I realize I am more comfortable down here than balancing up on the cliff constantly surrounded by the other voices.  I sigh, accepting the familiar sense of defeat and begin to listen to the unthinkable words of the voice from the dead place.  I begin to forget about my “other life”, balancing on the edge of the cliff, and look for somewhere to rest my eyes.  My energy is depleted, and it is too hard to stay awake.   As the dead place senses its victory, it begins to whisper wickedly about hopelessness, loneliness, shame, guilt and defeat.  An old movie projector noisily jumps to life.  I watch with dread as images of every failed job, business, friendship, relationship, etc. begin to flicker by on the wall.  On another wall, I watch a parade of faces of the people I’ve let down in my lifetime.  I feel ashamed, and cry out from the sharp stab of hate I have for myself.  Like a broken record, I begin to attack myself.  If I love them, why do I let them down?  Why am I like this?  Why can’t I be normal?  Why is this so hard for me?  I realize with panic, I don’t have the answers.  I’ll never have the answers.  My throat tightens with pain, and I can’t breathe.  My heart responds by beating frantically.  My stomachs pinches with tension and my hands start to shake.  Gasping to get a breath, every movement becomes a struggle.

Remembering the words of the voice from the dead place, I slowly realize that I’m not strong enough (I must have been tricking myself into thinking I ever was strong) to endure this mental & physical torture for another second, let alone a lifetime.

At this point, I have two choices.  I can either climb, bloody fingernail by bloody fingernail, back to the top of the cliff to my designated post of teetering on the edge, (knowing full well that I’ll fall to the dead place again soon, and go through the nightmare again), or I can just kill myself…I know, it sounds pretty dramatic, but think about it…if I killed myself, I would never have to wobble on the edge of the cliff OR endure the eternal suffering of the dead place again.  My only problem with that scenario is that I just can’t imagine that my purpose in this world is to live a constant, daily struggle for a lifetime of years just to end it by gagging down some pain pills and crapping my pants while the bodily gasses escape from my butt like loud popping noises.  That’s not really what I had in mind by “going out with a bang”.  I want to see what this was all for.  I want to see it through till the end.  It’s the only way I’ll ever know how strong I truly am.  So, from now on, whenever I find myself in the dead place, I am going to choose the bloody fingernail route.  When it comes down to it, I have decided I would rather go through a lifetime of my own torture than to put those that  I love through the pain of a self-inflicted “going out with a fart instead of a bang”.

See?  Isn’t the river analogy better?  Instead of standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting with dread to lose my balance, I am floating down the river drinking a cold beer.  Yes, I know there will be some crazy-ass rapids hidden around the bend in the river, but I’m not putting this beer down until I’m drinking gallons of that river water.