A special request and a chance to do a good deed.

The following email is from a former colleague of S.  As you'll see, his daughter has a horrible disease and it seems that up until midnight tonight we all can do just a little bit to help.  If you have a minute, please take the time to vote.  Thank you so much!!

 "Hi All,

 I have a small favor to ask of all of you. As some of you know, my daughter, M is very ill. She's 14 years old and was diagnosed with Juvenile Dermatomyositis when she was 12. It is a rare, incurable autoimmune disease that attacks the skin, muscles and vascular system.


M has had 3 surgeries, almost 100 infusions, and over 75 chemo shots. She takes 32 pills a day, some of which are anti-rejection drugs and there is no end in sight for her. Through all of this, she has a strong spirit and a great sense of humor. CureJM made an informational movie during the Austin Marathon last year about juvenile myositis. To view it, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovp4y3JHhb4&NR=1. M opens up the movie. She's the red head at the beginning.


CureJM is a 501(c)(3) all volunteer organization whose sole mission is to find a cure for Juvenile Myositis (http://www.curejm.org). I am devoted to doing all that I can to make sure that no other child has to suffer from this debilitating disease. I have devoted my time to grant writing and raising funds for research. I submitted a grant to the Pepsi Refresh Challenge for $250K and we are currently in 4th place. We need to be in the top 2 to get the funds. People can vote 3 times a day by:

1. Text 100850 to 73774 (Pepsi) *Standard text messaging rates apply.

2. Use this Facebook app: http://apps.facebook.com/pepsirefresh/idea/view/id/5cc97f04-a2e5-102d-b2ee-0019b9b9e205

3. Vote directly from the Pepsi site for our entire "Kids to Win" team at:http://www.refresheverything/makejmamemory/

 You can vote all 3 ways and I need you to vote every day in the month of August. VOTING ENDS TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT EST!! Please share this information with anyone and encourage folks to vote. Please help me in my cause to make sure that no other child suffers from this debilitating disease.


Thanks,
A"

Dinos dinos everywhere! 8.7.10

This morning started bright and early (despite a late night.....) with the kids up at 6:30 and all of us out and at the visitor’s center by 8:30, in time for the shuttle ride/tour.  The unfortunate thing about our visit here right now is that the main event, the dino quarry at the visitor's center, is closed.  Said visitor’s center, built in the 50’s I believe, has been condemned and is being rebuilt.  We knew this going in, but still, it’s a bummer.  We’ll have to stop by next year on our way home when it reopens.  Anyway, the park now offers a shuttle ride down a road that’s not open to the public at the moment and then a guided hike up to see some cool fossilized dino bones - that you can actually touch!

That big mountainside 'wall' is where we were heading to see an abundance of fossilized bones.

That strip of white, just below the arrow tip is the vertebrae

Inventor checking out a fossilized bone up close and personal -



What we saw was pretty darn cool but we would have loved to see the quarry itself with it's massive amounts of bones.  Like I said, we need to come back.  I’m glad we caught the first shuttle out since the sun was beating down on us and it felt like 90 when in reality it was apparently only 74!

Heading back down -

Whirlwind at the temperary visitor's center, measuring up to a dino leg -

The rest of day was spent relaxing, hanging ‘round the site and biking around.  In the evening, after quite a storm blew through, the older kids and I headed over to hear a ranger presentation about another site in the park.  This site is an old cabin (which we’ll see tomorrow) built and run by a single women homesteader back in the early 1900’s.  Quite the tough cookie she was.  Married, divorced and/or widowed 5 times by the age of 35 I believe, and back then yet!

....Back from the presentation we’re settled in to our snug and warm RV tonight as the temps outside drop a bit (but not too much) and it’s pretty wet.  Hoping for a nicer evening tomorrow when there’s another star gazing program offered.

We’ve had better drives.....8.5.10

No, it wasn’t a long ride, as I said before, but I think the kids swallowed some ‘I’m gonna go nuts now’ pills this morning cause it wasn’t pretty!  Good thing it was short at least......We’re at the south east side of DNM and the kids popped in to get their Jr. Ranger booklets to complete in order to earn their badges (FYI all national parks and monuments offer this).  The cool thing here is they offer a Jr. Paleontologist badge as well, they’re super excited about that one!

We’ve certainly changed our scenery during this relatively short drive.  Gone from lush green mountains to high mostly flat desert.  Most of the green around us is short, dry and stubby.  Beautiful nonetheless.

S’s driving confidence and skill is growing by leaps and bounds, he’s managed to maneuver us in and out (getting out is important!) of shopping plazas and now the visitor’s center here.  Quite impressive if I do say so myself.

We all enjoyed the black water dump this morning, and now you can too :-)

It’s really not so bad, coming from the one who stood by and took pictures.  But ask S and he’ll say the same............

...........Well, many hours later and our relatively short driving day has turned into yet another late night of travel.  But before those details, an important milestone was reached briefly after leaving our first encounter with the park, WE LEFT COLORADO!

Ambivalent feelings were had by all, but we were comforted by the notion that we would indeed be back to our home state.  So now we’re in Utah, officially our second state on the trip (counting CO as first of course).  DNM BTW stretches across both CO and UT.

So, going back to how our nice short yet crazy kid day turned even nastier....we somehow missed the western entrance to the park and ended up 40 minutes past it in a town called Vernal.  We had originally thought about spending the night there since we had read somewhere that the park itself cannot accommodate our monstrosity, yet we later found out it can (sans any hookups though).  Soooooo, we happened across a Honda/Harley/toy shop where S managed to pick up a generator for a fairly good price, headed to eat (since by that time it was getting pretty late and the natives were even more restless) and finally started BACK towards the park.  We settled into our site by 9ish at which point Whirlwind was completely falling to pieces.

Despite my original plan of everyone heading straight to bed, we found out there was a stargazing program starting at 9:30, so off S went with the older two while Whirlwind was thrown in bed.  Analyzer and Inventor now have the opportunity to earn their stargazing patch if they complete their activity book.  Boy, one park and three badges/patches!

....It’s now 11PM and they just came back......guess it’ll be a low key day tomorrow, which sounds just about right.

WELCOME!!

We’re the Dors, S, K, 3 kiddos: 9 year old Analyzer, 7 year old Inventor, 5 year old Whirlwind and our beloved old dog Labra.

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but we do not believe in extremes :-)

We're a mostly vegan, mostly raw, totally homeschooling and RVing family.  To some (most??) our lifestyle may seem a bit off the rocker, but like I said, we don’t believe in being extreme anything.  Our kids don’t go to school, but they’re not hidden away from the world either. Like kids who go to school, they too are exposed to the good the bad and the ugly.  They participate in lots of activities (current lifestyle permitting), they find friends at campgrounds and other activities, and have lots of real life contact with grownups, those same people you find at museums, zoos, parks, etc on weekday mornings.  We do some so called ‘sit down work’, but mainly we’re out and about in the real world.  Meeting real people and facing real life situations and issues (for good and bad).  Yes, true, we don’t live in a so called stick house.  But we do have a home. It may be small but we’ve got America as our big back yard!

So, how'd we end up in an RV you ask?  Well.....

Over a year ago S got laid-off from his high tech job. As time went by and a desirable job was not appearing on the horizon, we had to start thinking about the future. Something had to change. After an incredibly successful road trip from CO to FL a crazy notion hit me....We could sell it all, live in an RV and travel the country! S thought I was nuts. Slowly and little by little the idea began to sink and settle in.....As I said, the original plan was to sell it all off. As January and February rolled in we needed to step up the pace if we were to get the house and all it’s contents sold by early summer. Panic began to set in. How do we get rid of 4000 square foot worth of stuff in a matter of a few months?! Would we be able to sell the house to our satisfaction in that time period? Should we buy the RV first? After? It was dizzying.

One extremely snowy weekend in February I went out to get the mail. Among some bills and junk I found a folded white sheet of paper. I read it in total disbelief. I walked into the house, half smiling half mouth gapping and handed it to S. My Mom, who was visiting, looked at me and kept asking what? what? I couldn’t answer. As S read the letter, a huge smile mixed with disbelief crossed his face. We both looked at each other and said really?? Could this be real? Could this really be happening??

The letter was from a couple from the east coast. They were on a house hunting trip in our area and really liked the neighborhood. The letter simply stated that they were moving to the area and are looking for a house to rent for a year, hopefully two. We learned later that they had dropped those letters off mostly in homes that were for sale and a select few that were not. Ours was in the latter group. They just like the house and thought, hey, it couldn’t hurt!

Well, letter in hand, I immediately sat down to shoot them an email. Long story short, it all fell into place. We signed a lease in April and they moved out to CO in July. Talk about karma! They are the nicest people and we couldn’t ask for a sweeter family living in and taking care of our house.

We pulled out of our town on August 1st and have been embracing life on the road since.

We hope you enjoy our little blog as much as we are enjoying life!

P.S. Just some blog housekeeping notes:  I’ve been writing entries for months now, obviously way before the blog publication.  Therefore, you’ll find several early entries grouped together under one heading with little subheadings inside.  Other than that, I’ve been trying to play catch up since we left.  One of these days I’ll get to up to date as to where we are this very minute.  Until then, enjoy our recent past :-)

“Educational moments”

Just as an a example this morning’s car ride. Questions asked and answered from the back and front seats: What makes a bird a bird?  do all birds fly? could a T-rex have had feathers? how do they know what color dinos were?  what about bats? what’s echolocation? examples of echolocation?  If moths are attracted to light, how come they don’t live in the daylight?  How is it that paper airplanes hardly fly but big planes made of metal can? The questions never stop......

While driving, depending and where and when, the kids get to watch DVDs, so called 'educational' ones.  This morning they are watching a Rock ‘N Learn DVD about life science and geology.  They’re learning about erosion, plate tectonics, layers of the earth and such.  All applicable to where we are and what we’re seeing.

A few days ago they watched a DVD about maps and map making (from Library Video Company).  Obviously also very applicable to what we're doing.  When we got back home they, on their own initiative, pulled out the paper and markers and each worked on making their own map.  Compass rose, grid lines and map key included.

‘School’ never stops....

Rain, wind and ice............. 8/4/10

Yesterday we took the trip into town, Steamboat that is. It’s a 40 minutes drive, no not exactly a hop skip and a jump. Seems taking ‘trips into town’ is another set of skills we’ll have to perfect. Though this was not a food shopping trip per say (Walmart was involved however), a cooler would have been a good idea for any items we might decide to pick up not to mention packing food for the afternoon or day. The real reasons behind our excursion were access to wireless and taking Analyzer skating at the olympic size rink they have in town. She had a chance to practice and later S and I had a chance to access the real world (briefly) and plan our next stop. The kids were remarkably well entertained during that time with legos, books and Shape by Shape, one of Whirlwind's favorites. Oh, and Starbucks banana bread was involved, that helped too :-).

Obviously Analyzer's skating will not get the attention she has given it this past year while we’re on the road. It seems this will be a source of frustration for her (and a small source of heartbreak for me) as her skills won’t progress as fast as she’s accustomed to. You can’t really expect the same level of development when you practice once every week or two (if she’s lucky) as opposed to 4, 5 and often 6 times a week! It makes me sad for her. Yes, I know, she’ll benefit and gain so much in other areas of her life thanks to this trip, but still, like I said, a little bit of heartbreak.

Apparently while we were out yesterday, a huge storm blew threw our campsite. We were very lucky. We had left our windows, and worse, our roof window vents (or whatever the heck they’re called) open.....The storm was so bad it lifted our beach umbrella (that was in use over the picnic table and tied to it!) straight up in the air landing it right behind our neighbor’s camper. Amazingly enough our camper was dry inside, just a little dusty coating on the table.

This morning we were again blessed with another storm, though this one did not involve such winds. It’s our first day cooped up inside thanks to the weather and I have to say, the kids and I are fairing quite well. They’ve been in their room most of the day playing and I’ve made some miso soup, since it’s gotten chilly as well. S is back in town trying to figure out our wireless situation. Hopefully when he comes back we’ll have wireless up and running here, or wherever we may be.



Tomorrow we’ll head out as soon as we can get organized and start our way towards Dinosaur National Monument (DNM). Not a long drive, but we’re still not sure where we’re staying. Unfortunately due to the length of our RV, we can’t stay in the park itself.

Living and learning.......8/2/10

A successful restful night was had by all, hallelujah! It was kind of nice not to have to jump out of bed in the morning and have to rush out for this or that errand, just hangin’! No idea what the day holds, but finishing to organize the RV is definitely on the list as we randomly dumped our last minute stuff in yesterday and we don’t have a place to sit down unless we move things around constantly.......not an acceptable situation......

.......We’ve now enjoyed our first road trip smoothies for breakfast while getting some very helpful suggestions from yet another friendly camper. He is actually the campground host but he’s also a full-timer, spending the summer here and then moving on, so we *really* got many helpful tips...

......RV’s been shut up, moved and water’s been refilled. Dumping the so called ‘black water’ (use your imagination if you don’t know what that is) is currently underway with the boys in tow since that *is* what they’ve been waiting for all this time. Check out RV the movie to see what I mean, but it ain’t pretty! Hopefully S’s dumping process will go much smoother, no pun intended ;-). We now have a new neighbor who will help S park the darn thing (we have yet to name it) when he returns - bottom line, RV folk are really really friendly and helpful!!!..........

.........We’re learning to live in our small space, that, BTW, isn’t really that small come to realize! There is so much storage in this thing it’s unbelievable. We are experiencing some bumps and bruises, literally, since moving within our limited spaces will take some getting used to. We’ve had bumped heads, elbows, feet - all part of the learning curve. But really, when we get tired of being inside, we head outside.

We’ve got a beautiful view of the lake, mountains, Aspens and wild flowers. The sounds of birds, crickets, wind and rain. The older two have been biking around the campground loop and are having the time of their lives.



The following quotes were heard today: “You know, it’s not so bad living in an RV” by Inventor and “Can we stay in the RV for 2 years? maybe 3? or even 5??” by Analyzer.....

......Conservation - we’re looking at it in a whole new way. It’s beyond doing the right thing or being PC, it’s actually a matter of running out of stuff. While living with indoor plumbing we don’t necessarily think about running out of water. We know that we should conserve and can maybe even picture the lakes and oceans being polluted and depleted. Right now we don’t have a water hookup so we fill the tanks at a central location and then if we don't want to move the whole darn thing again, we *must* minimize our water use, there are no two ways about it. Dish washing takes on a whole new face, not to mention showering, toothbrushing, hand washing and even toilet flushing (but I’ll spare you the details)! If we don’t have electrical hookups we either have no electricity or when we purchase a generator we still have to use electricity way more conservatively than we did while living in our house (and as some of you know, we were pretty conservative to begin with). It’s all about preserving our resources, and this time, it’s right in our faces. I don’t have a problem with that, I actually find it kind of liberating ironically.

Oh, one more kitchen related item, I like not having to take 6-8 strides from sink to fridge or stovetop, or to an opposite counter. Granted, it’s only been a day, but still, we all keep looking at each other and say, wow, this is pretty cool!

Some of our adventures during our stay at Steamboat......

Nothing like arriving in the rain to literally get your feet wet......8/1/10

 

Turns out that embarking on a new and exciting adventure can bring about stress. Go figure! What I was predicting to be an upbeat and exciting day and moment, was, well, stressful and pretty upsetting. For all, young and old. All were crabby, on edge and short tempered.

All. Day. Long.

This does not make for a nice storybook beginning. Fear of the unknown, sadness at leaving friends behind, leaving the house, the neighborhood, even our own beloved Costco all contributed to today’s anxieties I’m quite sure. Inventor put it best I think when he said, “it just feels weird”.

The good news is it took us 2 hours less than expected to get up to Steamboat Lake, our very first stop. And no, we were not speeding with that monstrosity dragging behind us. Got here, found our site, filled the fresh water tanks (though apparently not fully, quite a problem as you’ll soon learn), and then began the process of attempting to back in.

 

Well, coordinating a ‘back in’ with a 37’ trailer attached to a mega huge truck is no easy feat.

But of course! you say. No kidding....

As I was *trying* to guide S into our spot, a skill that no doubt will take a good while to learn, it started raining. Really really raining. As we’re going back and forth, literally and figuratively, a wonderful man from a nearby campsite approached us and offered some help. Thank God!! He helped S maneuver this way and that and finally, he was in! As they were doing that, I was chatting with another nearby camper. Yes, I should have been paying closer attention to the whole maneuvering business, but I was too busy learning from said camper that this site is one of the hardest spots he’s ever seen to back in to! Of course it is, it’s our first night. In fact, it’s so hard that had he come upon it he would have up and left to find someplace else!

Well, as Pa Ingalls says, all’s well that ends well. But, and here’s the kicker: Tomorrow we will have to do this all over again since our water tanks are only a 1/3 full and the spigot is down the road just enough that our hoses can’t reach it......

We did manage to end the day on a lovely and celebratory note thanks to all our books, toys and a wonderful gift from our dear friend J: An RV sized popcorn popper!

Bunk beds built by S!

Analyzer on her perch -

The day before D day....7/31/10

...And what a crazy day it was.....

I spent the morning running around doing last minute things. The older two and S went to hike up the Flatirons one last time before we leave. Upon their return I whisked Analyzer off to her very last skating session at our beloved Y. Skating being done with we rushed back ‘home’  (we were staying at a wonderful friend's house) so we could all head over to other friends to say goodbye one last time and then head over to a party thrown by yet more friends who were also leaving town. Whew! I’m exhausted just writing it all down.....

As we’re rushing around the house trying to leave, I cruised by Whirlwind who was seated on the couch, heard something snap and out of the corner of my eye saw something flying........

The child was chewing on the drawstring of his pants and had gotten it stuck between his two lower front teeth. He proceeded to yank and yank and yank, until, as he like to put it now, his tooth went - fling!!! - across the room. Picture if you will his hand motions along with that description. Of course his stunned silence was followed by profuse bleeding and screaming.

 

A little Arnica and ice and 15 minutes later he was practically back to normal, sans tooth that is. No, the tooth was *not* loose to begin with, yes, he’ll be toothless for at least another year and a half and no, the tooth was never found.......

Well, we were on our way out the door as this happened, so, needless to say we were late getting everywhere. Nonetheless fun was had by all at both places and the rest of the evening was a success.

The addictive nature of cooked food - A personal experience........... 6.8.10

We’ve experienced it before, but not in such a clear fashion.

 

On good days our diet is mostly raw. We’ve known all along that theoretically cooked food is addictive. We’ve even experienced it somewhat when we ate it occasionally and felt that need for more and more, never quite being satisfied even when we were stuffed. But now, we’ll, this is on a whole new level. We basically spent a whole week eating more cooked food than ever before since going raw. On my part, what I deviated with was bagels and cheese (cream and otherwise). I also had a few meals consisting of cooked vegetables and either a noodle or rice. Other than that, I was pretty much on the straight and narrow. S on the other hand deviated significantly more than I. He enjoyed meat, fish and eggs in addition to everything I ate. And he ate much more of it than I did.

Results?

 

Well I think if you had stopped and asked us how we felt we’d say: Slightly heavier and loaded down.

Fast forward to the following week at home and back to our normal lifestyles......

Here’s where the significant change kicked in. For 4-5 days after we got home both of us were constantly searching for something to eat. Anything. Anything at all just to munch on. Just so you understand the big picture here, we never do that. We eat our breakfast smoothie that usually last us well past lunch. Then we eat something for dinner. Rarely do we look for something else to eat in between and certainly don’t spend the day hunting and pecking in the kitchen. We just don’t have the need to, it’s not our will power that’s keeping us in check, the desire is not there.

The other big change would be in the gastro department, which I will kindly spare you the details of, but let me tell you, we’re significant as well. To add insult to injury, those gastro issues tacked on the pounds! Not to worry, all’s well now, ‘gastroly’ speaking and pound wise :-).

So, what lesson did we both learn from all this? Well, nothing new really, but boy did it reinforce what we already knew and then some!

Bottom line is: Cooked food is addictive!

When you eat it, you want more. And more. Your body doesn’t recognize it as nourishing and sustaining food, hence, your brain doesn’t tell it to stop desiring the food.  The brain thinks it needs more to supply the body with what it needs (that's a pretty simplistic explanation on my part but will do for now). Therefore, we keep eating. And eating. And eating.

When you enjoy a primarily raw diet, and yes I did use the word ‘enjoy’ quite deliberately, you eat you feel satisfied and you stop eating. In fact, the taste of food changes once you’re body’s had enough. It’s not as tasty anymore and it can even become downright bad tasting sometimes.

I already hear some of you saying, sure, it doesn’t taste good to begin with so of course you don’t want to eat a lot of it!

Ah, but that’s not the case! When we eat raw on a regular basis, we find ourselves desiring those foods. We actually developed cravings for greens. Have you ever sat in front of the TV and had a craving for lettuce wash over you? We have. When we find ourselves hungry, it’s not the chips or pasta we want but a nice crisp piece of fresh veggie of some sort. Even cravings for fruit have died down some (too much is not a good thing). So, you see, it’s all about what the body demands. When it eats healthy, it demands healthy.

I know, some of you will cry out and say low fat cooked veggies and whole grain pastas and breads are good for you. And certainly, they are better than heading for the drive through.  Even just a little bit of research into the difference between foods as they appear in their original forms and those same foods when they are cooked and wilted down, or worse, processed in some fashion, is highly recommended.  But that's just my humble opinion :-)

“The Unhealthy Truth” by Robyn O’brien - my commentary.

Well, it’s been a long month of packing.  Packing and a bit of great traveling, but now it’s back to business. Well, back to the business of finishing packing and heading out! Finally. We had an amazing time in NY. Wedding, family, sightseeing, the works!

During our travels I was reading this incredibly important book:  “The Unhealthy Truth - How Our Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It” by Robyn O’brien. If you’re a Mom it’s an absolute must read. If you’re a Dad it’s a must read. If you’re a grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, or anybody who puts food in children’s mouths, not to mention YOUR OWN - it’s a must read.

Now I will admit that I already come from a ‘health’ standpoint in the way live, eat, drink and medicate. At least we try to. Given that but if info I guess you could claim I am somewhat biased. But even if you are a sceptic and a potential nay sayer, you owe it to yourself and the children around you to at the very least read it.  After you've read it, then decide how you will proceed. As I see it, there’s no such thing as too much information even if it’s information you don’t necessarily believe or agree with, initially anyway. Another disclaimer: Though we live in the same area, I do not know Robyn nor do I have any connection to her or her work, other than strongly believing in it that is :-)

So, what’s this book about?

Well, the title’s pretty self explanatory. Specifically though, Robyn discusses how our food supply, and particularly foods marketed directly at children, are more than likely causing the increase in the so called 4-A disorders, a term coined by Dr. Kenneth A. Bock in “Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies”.

She discusses ‘food politics’, the history of food ‘manufacturing’ (as opposed to food growing as I see it), the hazards of hormones, artificial ingredients, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and antibiotics (in our foods). She guides us in how to examine studies and so called official websites. Those include all those run by formal associations and often even those government sponsored ones. We learn how to become detectives when determining who’s behind the studies and reccomendations, what money is potentially influencing outcomes and how to open our eyes wide to the revolving door between the government agencies that are meant to protect us (AKA the FDA, USDA, etc.) and the high powered food and chemical manufacturers and their legal representatives, chiefly Monsanto.

Though I had previously known about a lot of what she discusses, what shocked me in particular was the fact that there are American companies out there, big ones, who have changed the ingredients in their products to suit European demands. Europe (among other areas of the world) has insisted upon the removal of a variety of artificial ingredients and marking packaging clearly stating the presence of GMOs. Companies, including U.S. companies, have voluntarily removed various artificial ingredients from foods sold in The United Kingdom. The research that came out of South Hampton University in 2007* and the public concern and demand following it were enough to get those companies moving.

However, and here’s the BIG shocker: The people in this country are apparently not important enough to do the same for!  Here, many companies continue to use GMOs in their products, Kraft continues to use artificial ingredients in it’s Mac and Cheese (among all their other creations) and marking packaging clearly when GMOs are used? Fugetaboutit!

Europeans (among others) have already questioned and realized the hidden potential dangers lurking in our foods AND have done something about it. Us here? Not even close. So so sad, to say the very least, but true.

My impression is that the way things stand now ‘new’ ingredients used in our processed foods seem to be innocent until proven guilty. The so called studies that are conducted on them are for the most part funded by the companies that manufacture them or by researchers who have some kind of financial ties to those same companies. Often, the FDA puts the onus of determining the safety of said ingredient on the manufacturer!!!

Say what?!?!

It’s like trusting a tobacco company’s study on the safety of cigarets, which many many people did of course. Would you do that today????

As Robyn points out, do you really think one can get unbiased results that way?! Are you prepared to be these companies guinea pigs? Are you prepared for your kids to be?! I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like reading about the danger of substance xyz 10 years from now. 10 years after I’ve been loading myself and my kids up with it. Let’s not fall into the same trap we did with the tobacco companies. They claimed their products were safe, they did study after study. They fought their case in court for years and years and years all along claiming their product was safe. Now we know the truth. Do we want to play this game all over again with the food we eat?

I know I sure don’t.

*In case you’re interested in the reference info for this study: D. McCann et al., “Food Additives and Hyperactive Behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old Children in the Community: A Randomised, Double-Blinded, Placebo-controlled Trail,” The Lancet 370, no. 9598 (November 3, 2007): 1524-25.

In case you're interested, another incredibly eye opening and shocking book is "The Secret History of the War on Cancer" by Devra Davis.  Not an easy read by far, but a MUST as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

A birthday to remember.........4.5.10

As I approach the beginning of the last year of my 4th decade, I can’t help but think back to 10 years ago. 10 years ago?! How did that happen?

I had the honor of spending the beginning of the last year of my 30th decade with my father. It would be the last birthday I ever get to celebrate with him. And I knew it. I remember the poignancy. Happy that here I was with him and the rest of my family (mother, siblings, grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins), but keenly aware that this was going to be it. Happy to have him there to hug and share cake with. But very much horrified that there would be no more shared BDs. It was a magical moment really. A moment when you *really* appreciate and focus on the now. I consciously made myself imprint the scenario in my brain, so it would be with me, always. And, it is. Though the pictures in my mind and in print are of my dad hooked up to oxygen and a PICC line and quite yellow (bile build up), the physical sensation of having him near me and hugging him make the rest disappear. THAT is what I physically feel when I think back on it. The feel of his cheek on mine, the feel of the skin on his hand. His smell. Those are the things I try to hold on to. As this last year of my 40th decade begins, I think of you, Abba. I can feel you here with me, I can feel your skin, I can smell your smell. I miss you.

Working towards the RV - a process

It’s for real...........3/31/10

Wow. It’s real. We have a renter. we put a deposit down on an RV. I guess, we’re going somewhere!  Really??



 

 

This has really snowballed fast. It seems to be a pattern in our lives. Not a bad one I guess. But a pattern nonetheless. We think of something. We do some research. We put the plan into motion. That last putting it into motion bit always seems to be a fast transition. I think it’s a good thing though.  If it stretched out over a long period, would we actually do these things? I guess long term plans may happen and for some people it may work.  But for us, short term action plans, whether major or minor, are the ticket.

 

This pattern appears problematic at times, for others. As as example, I give you my mother. Her comment when we first told her we were thinking about RVing full time was: “The problem is K, you always do what you talk about!”

 

Is that REALLY a problem?? I guess it depends on how one looks at it. Here’s how it happens: I like to explore and read about all sorts of people and things in many areas of life. Those reading encounters give me strange notions.....I like thinking about those notions, researching them, and then, well, applying them to our lives if it suits us. Taking action.  What’s a life if it’s not full of action?? There is such a thing as analysis paralysis is there not?  S can be accused of that at times, but surprisingly, it does not appear to be an issue for me. That is not say I don’t thoroughly research and think about major changes in our lives. I most certainly do. In fact, I was once told by a good friend that I’m the only person she knows who reads more nonfiction than fiction. It’s true. I love a good novel, but when I check out multitudes of books from the library, they do all tend to be nonfiction.....

So, back to that bottom line: We are going to officially be homeless very soon, so we’d better get organized so we can hit the road! :-)

 

The in-law response........4/6/10

So today we told my in-laws about our plan. S was surprised by my MIL’s reaction: Great! Terrific! Have fun and see the country! Me? Not so surprised. She jumped aboard the whole homeschooling idea once she saw it in action last summer during their visit. Before that I’m not so sure what her opinion was. She was thrilled with the fact that, and I quote, “they’re exposed to everything! It’s remarkable, it’s wonderful!”. Was I surprised then? You bet ya! But grateful. Therefore, her reaction to the RV business, not surprising to me in the least. My FIL is quite another story. His reaction was pretty much predicted by both of us. Reserved, apprehensive, worried. About the future in particular.  Not surprising for a man of a generation that spent a great majority of life focused on building a career to support one’s family and have a secure retirement. Well, I don’t have to tell you that there is no such thing anymore as a secure retirement do I? Security based on a life long job just doesn't exist anymore. It is also quite rare these days to even remain at the same job for your entire career, In fact, it’s pretty much unheard of in the modern industry of today. But, that’s not the world he knows, so his concerns are quite understandable.

 

Between their two reactions is where I find my peace. Yes, one does need to be thoughtful, take care and work towards having some kind of financial security, present and future.  But, I also know that you never know what life is going to deal you. You can spend decades working on your career, planning for your future and all the fun you’ll have in retirement. And then, never ever get there. Never have a future. We could be hit by a bus or struck down by a disease (God forbid).

We just don’t know. Of course, everyone lives and should live according to their priorities. To each their own. But my philosophy is this: Live while you have life. Don’t wait until later, there may not be a later. If you want to travel, find a way to do it now. If you want to write a book, find a way to do it now. If you want to climb Mount Everest, find a way to do it now. Life is not for waiting around. Life is for living TODAY.

More clues that it is indeed happening........4.6.10

Well, the actual real first step has officially occurred! We’ve traded in S’s jeep for a HUGE pick up truck!

 

Now, you need to understand that this was S’s first baby. He bought it new (remarkable for this man!) 12 years ago, after his first 6 months in the work force. This was his prize possession for years. So, yet another milestone here..... Anyway, after saying good bye to the Jeep this afternoon, hugs and all, we welcomed S home with the new monstrosity (I guess that will quickly become a very relative term!) - Whirlwind was almost in tears: “but I love the jeep!”.

 



 

Frown very quickly turned upside down when he got to climb into the monstrosity (guess we’ll have to name this thing).

 



 

 

Wow. The first concrete change to occur.....things are beginning to sink in.....Guess it’s about time.

 

For the habits, they are a changin’.........4.26.10

As I get organized to move into an RV, I am finding that my daily habits are changing as well. I’m not taking out every spoon in the drawer to use while preparing food, I won’t have that many to choose from in the RV. I’m heating up the water for some miso soup only until it’s slightly warm and immediately turn off the burner, thereby saving propane. I’m presoaking the silverware and dishes in the sink and using minimal water while washing and rinsing, thereby conserving water in the fresh water tank. The one thing so far I am quite intentionally NOT doing is taking shorter showers. Those I am savoring until the very end ,knowing good and well that I won’t be hanging out enjoying the hot water in the RV. Mine will probably be the loud shriek echoing through the campground when my hot water’s run out!