Things I Learned This Week...

The Beatles refused to perform at segregated concerts in the early years when they first came to the USA. Yeah, Fab Four!

Mummies smoked. Someone did hair analysis tests on the remains of ancient Chilean people and found they used nicotine. Blah. Stupid people exist in every culture.

Andrew Goodman, one of the student volunteers who went to Mississippi in 1964 with the Freedom Summer program, was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. When they found their bodies, his fist was clutching the dirt. They think he was buried alive. This disturbs me greatly. The whole story disturbs me greatly, but I've known of it for a long time, just not this detail. Too many evil people in the world.

And on a more positive note: Hilda! I am delighted to discover Hilda, the plus-sized pin-up girl from the 1950s. She so adorable. Since I have been overweight and a red-head all my life, she would have been a huge inspiration in my youth. Now she makes me smile and want to wear a bikini in public. Well, maybe not...

 

 

Hornets' Nests!!

 

 

Do you see the hornets' nest hanging off my shed? Does it strike terror in the very depths of your soul?

 

I hope so. At least if you are a hornet.

 

 

The summer I moved here I could see traces of old hornets' nests under the eaves of my house. Someone knocked them down before I moved in. Then as I'm landscaping the yard I found a massive nest about the size of a basketball behind a bush. It still had hornets in it! The next spring the hornets were at it again and managed to make a little nest before I found it. Trying to whack it down, spray it with water, and run like mad before the hornets organize themselves for an attack is not my idea of a good time. I don't use pesticides because they are toxic, and also hornets are actually really good for gardens. I still don't relish the thought of getting stung so I'd rather discourage the nest building. So every spring through summer I'm on watch. I constantly walk around inspecting the under-eaves of my house, shed and garage. This year I managed to find the start of a nest with only one hornet working hard to build it.

 

Shortly after destroying all that hornet's hard work, I saw an article online on natural pest control methods and one of their ideas was how to keep hornets from making nests. It seems a hornet will not start a nest if it's within 200 feet of another. It's a territorial thing.  The remedy? Psych them out with fake ones! That calls for a papier mache project!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used balloons I blew up about halfway, strips of old newspaper coated with papier mache mix, or flour and water the poor-person's papier mache. Since I'm gluten-free I bought a small amount of bulk flour and used gloves when applying it to the paper strips.

 

 

 

 

I hung them to dry so they wouldn't be flat on one side. It's summer so I can do this out in my garage, unlike winter art projects which I have to do in the house.

 

 

 

 

The next layer of papier mache I used paper towels in hopes of giving it a little texture so it looks more like a hornets' nest.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I painted them with gray paint made with exterior latex house paint tinted with acrylic black.



 

 

I hung one on the garage, on the side of the house, and on the shed.

 

 

 

This one looks the most realistic because it's not so perfectly round. I think the balloon popped inside before it dried. I like it the best.

 

 

 

I'm also back to making beads only now I can do it out in the garage so it's not so messy. The set up is much more efficient:

 

 

Summer projects!!

Online Shopping: Sleepwear

I don't shop online much. Often what comes in the mail is not the right size, not the right color, too smelly, or the shipping is too expensive. Then if it's wrong, I have to go through the trouble of mailing it back. I like being able to see what I'm buying before I buy it, therefore, avoiding the hassle. But as someone who is chemically sensitive, shopping at a store is down right masochistic if not deadly.

I've looked online many times for organic, cotton sleepwear, but usually what I find is too expensive and I worry if it'll fit. I found a link for the American Environmental Health Foundation (www.aehf.com) which is the corporate entity of Dr. William Rea who runs the clinic in Dallas, Texas, and is well-known for his innovation in treating MCS. Most naturopaths have developed their own vitamin brands, written their own health books, and sell other items which makes them extra money. This guy has a whole website devoted to his favorite merchandise from beds to clothing to pills. I found this site while reading an article on bedding which provided a link.* Since I've been looking for sleepwear for a long time, I thought I'd check it out. "Cotton nightshirt, $16.50, one size fits all."

Here is a picture of a happy, lovely model wearing the nightshirt, and of course, I'm sure she can make anything look good.


I figured with all the very sick people Dr. Rea treats, it's got to be safe and for $16.50 plus $8.00 shipping, the price was good. The customer service person claimed it definitely wasn't scented and confirmed it was organic. It arrived two days later fairly non-descript and very ugly. When I put it on I feel like a patient in a mental hospital. It's made by S.O.S. From Texas or Oldham Farms and their tags tell the history of their ancestors and their philosophy of organic farming. I checked their website and they are also selling the same nightshirt for $2.00 more...?

It smelled like a horse blanket, so yes, it must be natural. It itched like burlap. I washed it twice which is so much better than washing it ten times as one must do with regular, chemically-treated and scented clothing purchases. The first washing I used Planet All-Purpose Miracle Dishwashing Soap and the second time baking soda as I read baking soda is a really good, natural fabric softener. I did rinse well or the baking soda would make me itch so I don't know if it did any good. Then I hung it outside to dry. If I had a dryer that might have helped soften the fabric, but I don't, so I didn't.

It's still smells like a horse blanket and it's still ugly, although it may have shrunk a bit. I plan to try wearing it tonight. If it doesn't work as a nightshirt I can always wear it as a very ugly dress. An very un-Hawaiian mini muumuu. It screams "PAINT ME!" but that would defeat the purpose.

There is definitely a reason people enjoy the chemically-bleached, chemically-softened, chemically-scented, and chemically-dyed piece of clothing.

Oh well.

UPDATE: I love it! It's comfortable and doesn't smell. Perfect.



*I've been in the market for a new mattress for the last, oh, ten years, but organic mattresses are very expensive. This article said an alternative is to buy (seven) mattress pads stacked on top of each other because they can be washed in a washing machine. Mattresses can't be washed so they harbor dust, mold and dust mites as well as come chemically-treated with formaldehyde and fire retardants. To purchase organic bedding one is required to get a doctor's note. (So ridiculous.) The price is about $85 for each mattress pad so $700 with tax for a mattress. Since the organic mattresses can run up to $1500, that is a good alternative. Someday....

Operation: Snowflake

I've been researching Snowflake: talking to people on the phone and through email, learning all I can about what to expect. The good, bad, and the ugly. I'm paying close attention to the ugly, and being hopeful for the good in light of the fact there is no perfectly safe place in the universe, but cautious because I know how bad it can get. The Moldy Landlady experience was a wake-up call and not quickly forgotten. I've been in contact with some people who are selling their safe homes or selling their trailers. There was one place for rent, but I missed it. Since I won't rent anything sight unseen and I can't pick up travel 1,500 miles very quickly, I fear I will be missing many opportunities. This is the disadvantage of considering remote locations.

I found a new website that gives helpful advice for MCS/EI people. It has all kinds of different articles on living with chemical and electromagnetic sensitivity.

www.eiwellspring.org

 

 

I especially loved the articles on safe house plans and experiments although the whole idea of working with contractors scares the hell out of me and much of their advice gives me no comfort, only reminders of my bad construction karma. Check out the article "A Cozy House in the Mountains" by Andrew Erikson located under the subtopic "Healthy Houses." I would love to live in that house. I wish there were indoor photographs.

 

Under "Arizona Local Area" there is a whole section on Snowflake.

Effects of Locations

I just found this really cool website-list for checking the effects of locations:

http://locationseffect.proboards.com

 

 

Interestingly enough, a lot of the people on this list talk about mold causing fatigue especially in my area of the USA. Some contributors say they got so exhausted they couldn't function at work. I've always wondered if the mold is the cause of my fatigue and I'm pretty sure it's the cause of my face rash. It rains a lot where I am located and most houses here smell like mold or mildew. I've worked hard to make sure mine doesn't and I've done everything possible to eliminate water drainage problems or possible mold issues, but I think once a house has it there isn't much you can do. Even if you dry out a house, the mold dries, too, creating a dust, but that's just my theory.

 

Check this resource, find your location, and see what people are saying! Then add your own comments for your area.

Utopia???

 

 

Have you ever dreamed of the perfect community? Chemically-free houses in a chemically-free neighborhood surrounded by chemically-free neighbors who are like-minded and GET IT? Living together, respecting each other's needs for a safe, unpolluted, non-electromagnetic environment with organic food at the local grocery store? That's my dream. I've been looking...

 

 

 

 

I think I found one! There is a community in Snowflake, Arizona that started in the late 1990s and it is now up to thirty houses. I've heard many of the houses are on their own twenty acres. Organic food stores, no commercial agriculture in the area, and plenty proactive committees writing and signing petitions to control the government use of herbicides and pesticides. MY PEOPLE! I've been told land runs about $1,000 per acre. Granted, its location is in the high desert, but with some creative landscaping I could live in a cute little adobe house with a brick patio surrounded by fruit trees! My own personal oasis.

I lived in Arizona once so I'm somewhat aware of desert living. I asked about icky things one might find in a desert like rattlesnakes, scorpions, and poisonous spiders. The real estate agent I spoke with said they have bull snakes (eeewww!) but bull snakes are good because they are harmless and eat the rattlesnakes so there are very few rattlesnakes. I would like it if they ate dogs, too. The elevation is too high for scorpions. They have tarantulas, but they are more ugly than dangerous. Maybe they'd eat dogs, too.

 

OK!! I'm ready!

Oh, wait a minute. The real estate agent says he gets calls from all over the country from people who are looking for non-toxic housing options. There are long waiting lists for rentals and even longer waiting lists for contractors. I'm brainstorming options. Buy a chemically-free trailer and live in it? Or a tiny house on wheels? I'd rather live in a cute adobe house like a modern Anasazi.

Every now and then I search online for updates on chemically-sensitive housing to see what's new. This is the first full-scale community I've found, but there are some chemically-free apartment houses here and there. All of them have long, long waiting lists, so long the waiting lists are closed. This is a huge, untapped market. It surprises me a developer doesn't buy up some land, build some cute little sustainably "green" houses and sell them. Many of us are willing to buy....maybe there isn't enough money in it since so many MCSers are disabled and low income? If I had lots of money or a whole bunch of land, this is what I would do. But even now if I could just find a group of like-minded people, we could get one started. If I am willing to do this, there must be others? All we'd need to do is decide on a location and call others to us. I'd build two little houses on my lot. One to live in and one to rent. There is cheap land in eastern Oregon, but I don't know if it's cheaper than Arizona.

I also found an online snippet about a community in the process of forming called the Portland Tox-Free Community, but there isn't much information. I'm hoping someone will answer my requests for information so I can find out more.

If any of you would be interested in joining a chemically-free utopia, let it be known in the comments.

The Things I Learned Today, or Weird Trivia

We learn new stuff every day even if we don't try. Even if we don't want to learn, we do. The Native American philosophy of education is when the time is right we learn what we need to know. (In other words, institutional classroom education is unnatural.) I think we learn a whole lot of stuff we don't need to know, too. Some of that stuff might come in handy in the future. Or not. I read a lot. Some times I read about things that amaze me, make me wonder, make me laugh or disturb me greatly. This is my new blog post series so I may share these new learnings with my readers.

Today I learned yellow fever epidemics used to decimate whole communities in the 1800s. No one knew mosquitoes spread it so everyone got sick, died, and whoever survived threw all the dead bodies into mass graves. Can you imagine watching everyone around you dying and not knowing why? How incredibly frightening. The very first inoculation in the USA was for yellow fever. They would drain the pus from someone who was recovering, make a tiny incision on the affected person's skin, and stick the pus in. Yuck. But it worked.

Second learning: paraphilia  This is a crazy-ass mental illness whereby a person gets sexually aroused when viewing a dead person. Hmmmm.... I read about Jane Toppan, serial killer nurse who would kill friends and patients with overdoses of morphine. (Friends might be too strong a word.) As they died she'd snuggle into bed with them and watch. It gave her "voluptuous delight." (Her words, not mine.) Hmmm.... They are also called "lust killers".

Someday I'll need to know those things. Not today. Today these learnings are categorized as weird trivia. I might need to change my new series heading to "Weird Trivia".

I'll spare my readers illustrations for these two new learnings or it could get even weirder.

New Doctor...New Disappointment

Once a year I become brave enough to try another doctor. I found one who has a fragrance-free office! So rare. This gave me so much hope. Finding a fragrance-free office is 80% of my battle with doctors. The office is nearly three hours away from my home, but if it's really fragrance-free, it's worth it.

With this visit I would focus on the fatigue and pain I was experiencing since I decided a few blog posts ago I might have another forty years of life in me and I really don't want to spend it tired and miserable. Somewhere, someone must have answers. My continual optimism never ceases to amaze me.

The office was very efficient and the doctor very kind and articulate. After looking over my forms and asking a few questions, she immediately told me to see a naturopath. I thought that was odd. Really odd. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd seen eight in the last eight years.  So strange. How many AMA doctors give that advice? I wondered what I did to make her think I was crazy or beyond help. (I did not tell her I was chemically sensitive and I was being really careful with the crazy....)

 

She ordered a whole bunch of tests and off-hand mentioned the fatigue and pain just may be from hormones, or lack thereof. I love it when doctors slip ideas or "off-hand" mention something as if they are thinking aloud. Most are incredibly tight-lipped unless you pay for another appointment and then they will slowly disclose information, one appointment at a time. Ugh!

Her suggestion would be to try hormone replacement just to see if it makes a difference. The suggestion to see a naturopath threw me for a moment, but there it was: the easy slide into drugs.  With this advice I knew for sure she was an AMA doctor! She suggested drugs for only for a short time and if I had some bad side effects, she'll try to wean me off the hormone addiction.  Hmmm...no...not going to happen. I'll pass. I don't need my menopause symptoms getting worse. That sounds way too risky an experiment. I thought it was strange she made absolutely no comment about Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, a condition I clearly marked on my medical history form and known for fatigue as a main symptom. I always get the impression conventional doctors don't quite understand Hashimoto's as it defies their drug culture.

The labs were, gulp, really expensive. Shockingly expensive. More than double what any other labs I've had although they are the same lab tests I've had once a year for the last five years, but through a different doctor and a different laboratory.

But they came back the next day, which was shocking as well. Usually labs take a week to two weeks. And this office was so efficient, I could email the doctor, make appointments, and get lab results sent to me via the Internet. The convenience was almost worth the price. 

The lab results! OMG! They were ALL normal. Thyroid, vitamin levels, mineral levels, blood work, everything. Totally normal. All within normal range. According to conventional medicine standards, I am incredibly healthy aside from the pain and fatigue, of course.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you!" said my new doctor.

Really? Should I just ignore the pain and fatigue that affects my lifestyle on a daily basis?

 

The doctor included a Vitamin D test. I had one of these done last year for $65. This one cost almost $300. Last year's test came back as 25. This year it is 44, within range but at the lower end of the spectrum. After I hoorayed and cheered with joy, I pondered this change. That's a huge improvement, but I've done very little if anything to improve my Vitamin D levels.

As I pondered I remembered my naturopathic medical assistant training. Blood lab results in conventional medicine are based on lab result comparisons OR sick people statistics so their normal isn't really normal at all.  The premise is most blood tests are done because someone is sick. Throw those all in one big statistical pot and one has to question the validity of the ranges for healthy results. A naturopathic-oriented lab tweaks blood lab results to offer a more realistic view of what is going on. I know the doctors I worked for had lab result manuals they used as references to adjust and interpret the false positives. Hmmm...do they do that to sell more supplements? It made me wonder if we ever get correct information and how much physician agendas affect those results.


In conclusion, the new doctor offered no solution to my fatigue and pain other than a drug experiment. That only cost $600.

Consumer Terrorism, or Air Pollution for Purchase

ScentAir is the latest gimmick in consumer marketing. They call themselves smell consultants. Here is one of their marketing slogans:

Add More Excitement to Your Crowd Experience! 

 

It seems it is their mission to poison people with toxic chemicals worldwide and on a grand scale. Currently they are operating in 105 countries with over 40,000 deployments. Deployments? Isn't deployment a word used during wartime to describe military maneuvers? Fitting. It's no longer enough for the corporate machine to legally poison individuals with perfumes and colognes. If a little is good [for profit], then much more is much better [for much more profit]. To hell with health. Very American.

The trend began with perfumed clothing, then expanded to whole retail outlets in hopes of higher profits. The target is now large gatherings of people: arenas, shopping centers, casinos and stadiums. Where ever people congregate in mass numbers. Sound familiar?  Like a terrorist operation? Legalized terrorism. Here are some of ScentAir's deployments, clients, companies and locations and their choice of stink:

Barclays Center in New York smells like their sponsor Calvin Klein. 

The Edward Jones Dome or St. Louis Rams' stadium smells like Cotton Candy.

Bloomingdale's smells like Baby Powder, Lilac and Coconut, except at Christmas when they smell like Sugar Cookie, Chocolate and Evergreen.

Hard Rock Hotel smells like Sugar Cookies, Waffle Cones, and Ocean.

City of Dreams casino in Macau smells like Rainforest.

Coors smells like something called Ice Show, a mix of peppermint and vanilla. (What? They don't want to smell like beer?)

Times Square in the middle of Manhattan in New York smells like chocolate...right outside the Hershey's store. On the street. "It's not really chocolate. It's nose chocolate."

NOSE CHOCOLATE?

REALLY?

Other stinkers include the Westin Hotel and Resorts, Anytime Fitness, Jimmy Choo Shoes, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, and Florida Hospital. Yep, that's not a typo...a scented hospital. No wonder I have no confidence in our medical system.

ScentAir boasts over four billion individual enduring impressions. In addition to impressions, pretty words like scent and fragrance are used in abundance on their website along with relaxation and belonging. The words POISON, POLLUTION, or DEATH are not found anywhere.  No mention of ingredients used to make this purposeful air pollution. No mention of toxic chemicals. No mention of the health effects of these impressions on at least 15% to 33% of the population. No mention of asthma, anaphylactic shock, depression, joint pain, brain fog, migraines, or illness. No warning label. There is one claim of "scent studies" implying serious scientific research although the focus is entertainment rather than meaningful public education. Great advertising if your target is the unquestionably stupid. I wonder when they'll figure out how to puff toxic chemicals through a computer if someone clicks on their website?

 

Why don't company managers and consumers question how chemically-contaminated air might affect their health and the health of everyone around them? Do they care or is ignorance to blame? And what about the innocent bystanders? Are they warned in advance? Do they get a choice whether to breathe clean or polluted air? Is there a disclaimer to read prior to purchasing event tickets, making reservations, or buying memberships? Do they get their tickets, reservations, or memberships refunded if they can't breathe? Are their medical bills paid by the host company if they are rushed to the hospital with asthma attacks or anaphylactic shock?

But there is still hope! People have been complaining about ScentAir, in Las Vegas, anyway:

The use of air fresheners in Las Vegas businesses HVAC, are creating barriers under Title III of the ADA. The businesses refused to address requests for accommodations resulting in the US Department of Justice filings.

Hooray Americans with Disabilities Act! One of the businesses was Abercrombie & Fitch, a retail business known for offending many. Not only are they perfumed, but they have in the past marketed Nazi clothing and have stated they cater only to "popular" and "beautiful" people so if you are overweight, uncool or just plain ugly, don't bother. They claimed no wrong doing, of course. Several other businesses, mostly casinos, claimed it wasn't their fault and the customer should contact the distributor, ScentAir, directly. Wow. Talk about lack of responsibility. Passing the buck. They don't think they are responsible for hiring a company to create the problem? It amazes me if up to 33 % of the population is negatively affected by chemically-based scents and if these businesses are dependent on having and keeping customers, why wouldn't they figure out toxic impressions aren't good for business? Logic 101. Is the ambiance worth it?


It is good ScentAir lists some of their clients. This is helpful so we know who, where and what to avoid.

 

The world gets smaller every day.