Halloween

 

 

A few weeks ago I was out taking a quiet walk early in the morning in the dark when I came around the corner and saw this:

 

The new people in town who are renting my friends' house have a flair for Halloween. I love it. That evil thing at the right is at least ten feet high if not taller. It's not quite as dramatic in a photo, but in person it certainly makes you take a step back. So cool. You can't see the strobe light on the porch that looks like lightning and the witch on the porch is dark in this photo. Pretty creepy. I have a feeling they might add some sound effects tonight.  I know I plan to venture out once the sun goes down to see the show and see how many kids are too afraid to approach. He he he....

Happy Halloween!

Cadet Heater Poisoning (Update)

I was so excited for my new Cadet Heaters, unfortunately I celebrated too soon. Remember this illustration I did last year in conjunction with the nausea and respiratory inflammation I experienced after turning on the toxic furnace? Well, there is a reason I've dug it out of the archives. It will serve to illustrate my current reactions to the Cadet Heaters.

It actually feels worse than it looks...

In September I turned the cadets on maybe twice for about ten minutes each time. It didn't take long to heat the house and since it was still fairly warm outside, I didn't see any reason to keep them on.

Later when autumn temperatures dropped, I kept them on. Within thirty minutes my sinuses, ears and glands started burning, and one hour later, my whole respiratory system from my nose to my lungs burned painfully, then dizziness and nausea followed by severe neck and spinal pain. Misery. I turned all the heaters off and aired the rooms.

Something in the heaters are offgassing. I'm not happy about this and this is my fault for not holding my ground and getting the heaters I wanted. I settled for the crappy, cheap heaters with too many plastic parts. Yeah, I can holler at myself for the rest of my life, but any new appliance is going to offgas and there is no guarantee the more expensive models would not have been problematic, although their innards are metal and not cheap PLASTIC. And who knows what kinds of sealants or treatments they use on the materials.

I drug all the fans and air purifiers out of closets and turned them on, opened all the windows in my house and within fifteen minutes, my body started clearing. I went to bed with all the bedroom doors upstairs shut and sealed, every window in the house open, and I left the heat on for about two hours. Such a waste of energy with all the windows open, but I needed to do something to offgas whatever needs to be offgassed.

The next morning the air seemed clear (and cold!), but still my lungs and ears started to burn slightly with very slight bouts of nausea. Something was in the air. Not as bad as the day before so I was hopeful if I keep the heaters on eventually whatever it is that is giving me grief will heat off. Strangely enough, I couldn't smell anything odd.

I keep reminding myself living with MCS is a constant risk AND I am thankful I didn't buy the $5,000 heating model and had the same problem. I've never had a problem with cadets in the past, but I've never had to deal with new ones. The toxic stuff just needs to offgas. I am being very hopeful and positive.

 

It's now been two weeks of off and on. A few times I left them on for up to four hours and either left the house or went to bed with my bedroom sealed. Even after I air the whole house out with opened windows and fans, I was still experiencing painful neck and spine inflammation, respiratory burning, dizziness, and extreme nausea.

I contacted the company and they offer no solution but only told me I'm the only person in their sixty year history who has ever complained of this. I find that hard to believe. I just want answers so I can figure out how to remedy the problem. Instead they asked me if I've ever been chemically sensitive to anything and then proceeded to ask me every little detail about my house, because it can't possibly be their heaters causing the problems. So frustrating. Then they just disappeared and I never heard back. They get an award for lousy customer service. Still, I persevered because these heaters are new and if I can just get them to a "used" state whatever is making me sick will burn itself out. I HOPE!

I waited another four days for my body to detox and clear the poison. I attempted to wash the plastic innards down with vinegar. I turned them back on again. It's such a risk each time. This time I sealed off individual rooms and tested only one heater at a time. I'm only experiencing slight throat dryness and some shoulder tension now. It seems to be getting better. I don't know if it's the constant use or the vinegar that helped, but I have hope!

Californication

Why is California so far advanced from the rest of the country???

I've been office chair shopping. It's a real challenge trying to find a comfortable chair, let alone a non-toxic chair. Yeah, I could probably spend thousands of dollars on a chair and get perfection. Or not. Spending lots of money doesn't guarantee safety from chemicals. It just guarantees poverty.

Last week I found this incredibly comfortable chair, but I worried about the "faux leather" upholstery and the cushy seating. I was pretty sure it was made from 100% petrochemicals, stuffed with poisonous foam, and seasoned with a generous supply of toxic plastic, but the floor model didn't stink. My unrealistic positive attitude and relentless hopefulness is a recipe for brain dead-ness.

So I go back to the store to buy it today hoping to use my soon-to-expire coupon which will make it even cheaper, but the floor model is gone. They have a new one still in the box just delivered. OK. This will work. This WILL work. THIS WILL WORK. I chant because I'm confident the universe will hear me and grant me perfection and serenity. And I know if I don't chant I'll come to my senses. But I don't want sensibility! I want a new chair!

I start to load the box into my van and I see the warning sticker on top of the box:

Granted, these chemicals are only in California, right? These chemicals must be perfectly harmless in the remainder states of the un-United States. Thankfully, this warning brought me back to my senses just in the nick of time. I couldn't argue with the black and white. I carted the box back into the store and returned the chair.

Maybe if consumers refuse to buy or return merchandise made with toxic materials, it'll stop being made? But without safe alternatives, for now we don't have much choice.

I am thankful for the powers-that-be in California who are looking out for the rest of society.

The Mutant

A few years ago a former, subsequently fired, health care provider was harassing me about taking B12 supplements. I kept telling him about the reactions I have had to most supplements including B12. He refused to hear to what I was saying. He argued and bullied me over the next couple of appointments and through email demanded I take B12. I guess he thought it was life or death. Really?

At our last appointment his doctor-friend sarcastically asked me why I was even there if I wasn't willing to submit myself to their ignorant experimentation. (I'm paraphrasing, of course.) Then all of a sudden, my doctor backed off and said something about a genetic mutation that creates all kinds of serious negative reactions if you take the wrong type of B12. I threw up my arms and exclaimed, SEE, I TOLD YOU IT'S NOT AS SAFE AS YOU THINK!

I felt vindicated. As I've said many times to many people, there is too much we don't know about our individual body chemistries to make blanket statements about how something is good for everyone without question. I have no idea why these people assume all supplements are safe and I find it so incredibly ignorant and unprofessional. On top of their ignorance and their narrow-minded veneration of drugs, they persist in ignoring what I'm trying to tell them about my personal experiences with supplements. In my mind, this compounds their incompetence and my distrust. I want to scream, WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME? I wasn't sure why he waited so long to back off and give me this information. I wondered if he was researching in between our email exchanges and appointments and had himself an "Ah Ha!" moment. That crazy patient of mine was right!

My newest health care provider was talking about genetic testing during my appointment. I'm not sure why she wanted to tell me about her heritage, but I read a philosophy once that said people who come into your life always have a message for you transported through the universe. Even if it's a casual meeting like talking to someone while waiting in a grocery checkout line or passing someone on the street and smiling with a quick "hi". Everyone has message for you. Something you need to know. Whether or not it's true, I like the idea of our universal interconnection. Her conversation about her genes was interesting because she said she thought she was part Native American, but surprisingly her results came back all Scandinavian. Interesting since that's my assumed heritage, but the conversation was so random I kept asking myself why was she using my appointment time to talk about herself? But it stuck in my head. It would only cost $99 to find out all about my DNA.  What could I learn from this kind of testing?

Then last week read an article by the highly informative thyroid doctor Chris Kresser on MTHFRS (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) which is a genetic mutation having to do with that enzyme that effects methylation. http://chriskresser.com/methylation-what-is-it-and-why-should-you-care His website-blog is listed on my blog list to the right of this post or find him at http://chriskresser.com

I have read several books addressing methylation, its issues, and possible contributions to chemical sensitivity as well as other conditions. But wasn't MTHFRS the same enzyme that the doctor-B12-bully told me about?  Later in the article Dr. Kresser says you can get genetic testing done for only $99 and not only can you find out about your ethic background, but all kinds of health related issues or genetic mutations. Is that the test the last doctor told me about?


WHOA! Epiphany! All these people have been giving me the same message! Without hesitation, I ordered the test online.

The company that does this DNA testing is 23 and Me.  It takes about 2 days for the test kit to arrive and it's very easy to do. Spit in the tube, close it, shake it, mail it. No doctor involvement makes this my kind lab test! The whole process is quite easy and incredibly efficient. When they receive the sample, they send an email which I really appreciated since I erroneously mailed the sample through the Rathole post office and doubted their competence. The notice was reassuring.

After three to four weeks the results come back. The first result they sent is I am a Neanderthal. I have no idea why I care about this, but I guess we are connected through various ancient groups. Mine originated in the Near East and then ended up in Europe. Maybe this is why the Paleo diet is good for me? I am also related through this ancient group to Jimmy Buffet so that's kind of cool.


A few days later I started getting emails from unknown people wanting to connect with me due to our ancestral linkage. Although I didn't get an email notification, I deduced this was because my ancestry results were ready and they were. I'm 99.9% European. This is interesting since I have been told all my life my great, great, great, great grandmother was Cherokee. I guess not. I know the name of her husband and their children, children's children, children's children's children, etc. I was told she died in childbirth, but I always assumed since we were supposed to be blood related that my great, great, great grandfather was her son. Maybe she died before she had any kids and her husband remarried creating my lineage? I have no idea. It's amazing what we think we know, but really don't know about our family and lineage. My grandmother was supposedly 100% Norwegian, but my Scandinavian ancestry was only 16.3% so this leads me to believe she wasn't all Norwegian. Who knows. It's a bit discombobulating to realize everything you've been told about your heritage was fabricated and it makes me think I come from a family of storytellers! But then I looked at the "Countries of Ancestry" and 2.1% is from Norway and only 1.4% from United Kingdom which makes more sense. In truth, I have no idea how to read any of this.

The fun, but slightly weird thing about this information is one can go online and see where all your relatives are located, or rather, everyone who has done this genetic test through this company who matches your ancestry. Many of my distant relatives are from Virginia and North Carolina. OK, that's where my Cherokee grandmother was from so that kind of/sort of makes sense. At least no one lied about location. I have many relatives in Ireland and Britain and since my last name is old English, that makes sense. One Irish woman matches me 53% and is considered a 4th cousin. For those who have little or no immediate family, this would be a fun way to link to distant relatives and create a larger family. I don't know. I'm not really fond of most of the family I have now so I can't imagine wanting more of them.

This company also does genetic research. I linked into their surveys and answered all kinds of bizarre questions that required me to constantly look in a mirror. Some addressed chemical exposures, drug usage, and allergies. This was interesting and it gives me hope that someone is researching chemicals and their effects on our health and genetics. The last survey was about sexual preference which is also fascinating. It would be interesting to know what role genetics plays in homosexuality and I look forward to when scientific evidence becomes fact silencing the irrational preaching of all those homophobic religious nuts.

I waited a day or so but didn't receive another notification. I had to search the website to figure out where they put the "raw genetic data." If you click on your name in the upper right hand corner, a drop down list appears with "raw genetic data". They used to interpret this for you, but as Dr. Kresser mentioned in his article, they got into some kind of FDA, USDA or government trouble. Now they send you the raw data results and you have to jump through hoops on other websites to get it interpreted. My first thought this was bureaucratic nonsense just making it harder for people to get information, but some of the results are a little hard to understand as it's all scientific explanations. I'm sure the powers-that-be don't want people doing stupid things in the name of health to try to fix their misinterpretations of the results.

There are two websites that will interpret your data. I'm not sure why they can and 23andme can't. One is GeneticGenie which will give you the gene type and results. Needless to say, I'm seriously mutant. Out of twenty genes, six are fine, twelve are compromised, and two are serious screwed. Some of the highlights caused by these mutations: MCS (SURPRISE!), B12 depletion, mood swings, sulfur intolerance, slow metabolism of caffeine, behavior problems, irritability, pain sensitivity, sleep problems, short-term memory issues, mast cell activation disorder, and lots of detoxification problems. These mutations also put me at risk for Autism, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Bipolar Illness, blood clots and stroke. Great. I am doomed. What is new?

So far I'm not showing signs of Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Bipolar Illness, sulfur intolerance, short-term memory issues nor mast cell activation disorder. Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia...fatigue and pain? That's just part of the MCS family of symptoms although I've never been diagnosed with either as I don't think my symptoms are that chronic. Behavior problems? Well, that's up for interpretation! However, I don't think I'm that weird other than I'm not friendly with my stinky neighbors nor do I like toxic people in general. I think I'm fairly empathetic and cognitively aware when certain behaviors might be considered abnormal. Maybe I'm just good at hiding my weirdness? I suppose constant annoyance would be considered a behavior problem.

The other is Nutrahacker which will tell you what supplements/foods/things to avoid and what to take based on your raw genetic data results. I should avoid things like alcohol, cannabis, curcumin, cumin, estrogens, folate, grapefruit, noise, and vitamin E!!! Whoa! Grapefruit?? I eat curry and cumin all the time. Curcumin in particular is supposed to be an excellent anti-inflammatory and blood thinner. I thought the noise was really interesting since I have such a serious noise sensitivity, but the results specifically say too much noise and I have a greater chance for hearing loss than a less-mutant person.

The number one purpose behind getting this test was to find out if I can take B12 of any kind. I'm a little confused as both lists include B12, all forms, so I'm not sure what that means since another mutation creates a B12 depletion. My life is one on-going paradox.

I'm not sure if knowing all this is helpful in the long run. One of the gene mutations makes me prone to anxiety and worry. I guess now I have more to worry about!

Tiny House Possibility

I'm trying to motivate myself into building a tiny house. I can't seem to find anything to rent that is safe and I can't afford to buy as much land as I want without selling my house first. I need to find a way to have something to live in in order to sell the house. Once I have a dwelling of sorts, I would have somewhere to go. Where I will park it? I don't have a clue, but this is the first step.

My main worry is will my energy sustain such a huge project? If I start in the spring, can I get at least the flooring, walls and roof done by winter so it'll be waterproof? Even a small amount of exertion creates horrible muscle pain and fatigue. I'm thinking if I can do it slowly, a little at a time, this might work.

My second worry is money. If I give up in the middle, I don't want it to be a total financial drain. So my goal is to make it as inexpensive as possible using found (free) materials and low-cost, used supplies. Slowly, one step at a time will allow me to gather materials and not be tempted to spend unnecessarily. My goal is to spend less than $5,000 on the whole thing.

The great thing about free materials is they are usually old and not treated with chemicals. If anything in the material needed to offgas, it already has. The problem with free materials would be mold or insect infestations especially with wood. However, old-style wood is usually a much higher quality and better cut. High quality wood doesn't have knots and these days quality, untreated wood is hard to find in stores.

I've been trying to collect doors and windows from the dump. It's a slow process because the garbage man's brother keeps taking the good ones. He must be building his own low-cost house. Also, I'm picky. I only want solid wood, nothing toxic or synthetic. Interesting designs and eclectic styles are preferred. If it's going to be cheap, I want it to at least look interesting or artsy. I only have two small windows so far and they aren't interesting, just free. I missed a couple of opportunities as I had friends with beautiful old windows they wanted get rid of, but I waffled as I questioned my commitment to such a big project. In the end they took them to the dump and I regret my indecision.

Pre-cleaning and sanding...lots of boards!

 

A friend of mine recently gave me old fir flooring from the old house he's remodeling. This wood is really high quality and nicely cut without knots. Everyone who knows wood looks at it and exclaims that's nice wood...you don't find that kind of wood anymore so I feel lucky. Unfortunately, it's been stored in a basement for about ten years, but I think before storage the house was really dirty.

I've been cleaning the boards with soap and lots of bleach to kill any mold or bacteria hiding in it. The boards are so dirty I've wondered if they used the house for livestock...they are that bad. Or they definitely wore their muddy boots in the house and let their dirty, wet dogs lay all over the floors. The dirt is packed into the tongue and grooves, hardened, and nearly permanently attached if it weren't for my paint scrapper and a whole lot of elbow grease.

After scrapping...

It's a hellish, filthy job, but this is what one does when you have lots of time and less money. Free usually means extra work. It's exhausting which makes me question my stamina and if I should be attempting this. I just hope I'm not wasting of time, but I keep reminding myself my time is free.

 

Recently I saw a video of a tiny house and the builders used pieces of pallet board to line the kitchen walls. It looks really cool. The old, beat up wood gives it a lot of texture.

See the pallet board walls in the kitchen? Don't you love the pull-down pantry that
stores in the ceiling?

You'd think pallet boards would be easy to find, but lately most stores are now returning them to the shipping companies to get a refunded deposit. However,  the hardware company in my area puts the ones they aren't returning on the corner on Thursdays. They aren't always in good shape, but sometimes they are. I'm being picky. I want the good ones.

Macy Miller's tiny house with pallet board siding!
She writes it took dismantling 80 pallets.

I'm looking for anything that will work that is free, interesting, quality, and non-toxic. Sometimes it's hard to tell. I'm learning.

My pallet board collect...so far.

What re-motivated me was a visit to my brother's house about a week ago. He was showing me his RV trailer he has for sale. Sorry to say, it smelled really badly and then he confessed one wall leaks.  MOLD...no thanks. As I'm walking away I spied a FLATBED TRAILER parked beyond underneath trees. It used to carry a camper, but I think he must have sold the camper. He offered to sell the trailer to me. This may be the biggest purchase I make so I'm planning. I need to make sure it can carry the weight of a tiny house, it's in good shape, and be safe. He's not in a hurry to sell so it'll sit there until I feel confident enough to fork out the money.

Do you think I can build a tiny house for less than $5,000? Am I crazy? (The jury is still out on that....) Can I physically do it? I might end up calling this another What Was I Thinking Project as I'm pretty sure I'll be saying that non-stop. Heck, I already started saying it! If I can remodel closets and not go too crazy, why I can't I build a tiny house? If I can rip my whole heating system out of a crawlspace and live to tell, why can't I build a tiny house? Yeah, OK, I can think of a lot of reasons why I can't or shouldn't, but I'll need a project next summer for entertainment anyway. Why not?

I'll ponder on this for a while and in the meantime, collect materials.

Validation and Vindication

As a young girl I watched my mother die. She sat on the couch every day for months and cried in pain. After she died, my brother and I were forced to live with my father, his new wife, and step-siblings to grow up surrounded by smokers, junk food eaters, drug addicts, alcoholics and every other manner of poor parenting and little nurturing. As a young girl I made a solemn vow to not get cancer, be healthy, and not end my days in such a miserable situation. I started reading health books. I refused to ever smoke cigarettes, drink much, or do drugs. I probably missed out on a whole lot of fun in my youth, but I was convinced it was for the best. Anytime I started to slip, I hit the "play" switch in my brain and listened to my mother's tears.

I grew up being harassed for my health-driven determination. No one really understood my emotional baggage. They just thought I was weird. Or bossy. My step-mother constantly accused me of being a hypochondriac. I'm pretty sure she got really tired of my epiphanies and constant dietary advice...you shouldn't drink Coke constantly, we shouldn't eat that fake cheese, the book I just read said smoking will kill you, why are we eating frozen dinners or pizza so often? She didn't understand I was trying to save them. I didn't want anyone else to die. My siblings, who all started smoking around eight years old, always asked me with a smirk and snarky tone, So, what weird diet are you on now? My father constantly told me I was fat, but he didn't seem to connect our diet with his obesity nor my weight gain. As a young adult I'd have to stand out in the rain during holiday dinners because everyone inside was smoking and my lungs couldn't handle it. Eventually I stopped trying to celebrate the holidays with family, but I was the only one left out and this always made me question if my desire to be healthy was wrong. After all, I was the minority and I was the one suffering in exile and isolation. Everyone was having way more fun than I was!

I do blame much of my chemical sensitivity on my family's ignorant bad habits. I've heard there is a connect between hypothyroidism and second hand smoke and chemicals of all kinds contribute to autoimmune diseases. Children don't have much control over their environments: poor air quality, poor diets, and general emotional stress can take a toll on developing bodies. Stupid, irresponsible people shouldn't be allowed to be parents, and unfortunately, they usually pass their bad habits on to their offspring. We really shouldn't wonder why our health care system is overtaxed with all the unhealthy, apathetic people doing whatever they want regardless of the outcome.

Aside from the chemical sensitivity and the thyroid disease connected to the chemical sensitivity, the rest of me is fairly healthy. Hooray! I can deal with dying. I just don't want to be miserable on the way there or for any length of time. Is that too much to ask? I am determined to outlive all my relatives and I am hopeful all my sacrifices and healthful habits will pay off. If not, I'm going to be a very resentful dead person.

I visited my brother yesterday who lives about three hours away. I do this once a year around his birthday and when his organic Asian pears ripen. Because of the bad habits of all family members, I don't have much contact with any of them. Once a year or every other year, my brother visits me. He works hard at not smelling like smoke, we usually sit outside, and I catch up on the latest family gossip. Sometimes I ask him about his diet and he tells me he had Twinkies for breakfast, McDonald's hamburgers and fries for lunch, and dinner will be two cans of processed spaghetti with four slices of margarine-frosted, bleached-white Wonder Bread. Eeeww. There have been times I've uncontrollably exclaimed, WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?, but I no longer lecture or advise. It took me a long time to realize trying to be helpful was a waste of my time. I've trained myself not to care.

Everyone is getting older. There have been times over the years when I've whined about MCS and wondered why no one else in my family seems to be as unlucky as me. Poor, poor, pathetic me. But it's all relative (pun intended), and it's all starting to catch up with them now. In the last year alone, family members are plagued with newly diagnosed diabetes, Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia, blood clots, back problems, heart attacks, strokes and out of control stupidity forcing perpetual unemployment and disability. And that's just what I could drag out of my brother. He's not really forthcoming with the gossip. I can say I'm not surprised, but I confess, as I listened to him I silently thought, It's about time!

Am I a horrible person for thinking this? Am I bad? I know I should probably be more sympathetic, but really? If you smoke for 40 years, this is what happens. If you eat junk food all your life, this is what happens. If you do drugs or drink excessively, this is what happens. Did they really expect a better outcome? My brother tends to blame all health problems on genetics. He thinks if it runs in the family there is nothing that could have been done to prevent it. Really? This is a common medical assumption I always hear, but in truth I think it's just a way to avoid personal responsibility. The only thing we've inherited from our parents were their bad habits and the nasty environment they provided for us. As adults, we have a choice to continue the stupidity or stand up and take responsibility for ourselves. I put up with a lot of abuse as a kid for wanting to be healthy and throughout the years I've questioned if it was worth the effort. Even with MCS and Hashimoto's, I'm still fairing better than anyone else and I am thankful for that! Their bad news is my validation. (I AM a horrible person! Why don't I feel bad about that?)

The best news, however, was my brother quit smoking!!! This is a MIRACLE. He said his lungs started really bothering him to the point where he couldn't breathe. Such excellent news! He had a new house built and doesn't let anyone smoke in it. Hooray!!! I'm trying to pretend I didn't hear about the tumor doctors recently found on his spinal cord. Hey, he did say God told him smoking would kill him, I just figured it would be lung cancer, esophageal cancer or something more obviously connected to his cigarette addiction.

Beach Front Property. No Thank You!

I'm doing my best to offgas the new heaters in my house so this morning I turned them on and left for a walk on the beach. Beautiful day. Sunny, but cool. The ocean was gorgeous.

This is the same beach I dig for clams so in the last year I've gotten to know it well. However, it changes constantly. The land has been eroding away for years with houses falling into the ocean every now and then. There is an artist in the area who collects old house wood from this area and makes decorative signs with it. I know of one person who's land is now IN the ocean. He probably could petition the city or county so he doesn't have to pay taxes, but he likes owning ocean. Taxes are only $1 per year. Not sure why they bother.

During this walk I noticed a lot of trees on the beach up ahead. I didn't remember trees when I was here last week so I thought I should go explore.

 

 

Yep, more of the land is being eaten by the waves and the trees on the shore are falling into the water. Big healthy deciduous trees and pine trees with huge roots that could not hold onto the ocean-soaked earth any longer. How sad.

 



Last week, this little building was up on land! I remember thinking it had lots of room, but might not still be standing a year from now. It was either a garage or large garden shed, maybe a small cottage. It's now toast. How scary is that?

This foundation hangs over the ledge waiting for the next high tide and large wave.

 

Houses precariously close to the ledge...that little yellow house only has about ten more feet to go before taking the dive. I doubt if the owners can even sell them and their only option is to wait until the water gets too close for comfort and abandon everything. It makes me wonder about the other houses down the beach that seem to be situated back far enough from the water. Are they at risk, too? Eventually will they end up in the ocean?

 

Can you imagine buying beach front property, building a house, and then slowly watch it destroyed by nature? I wonder what options the owners have? Could they bring in lots of boulders and build some kind of protective wall? Or would the waves destroy it anyway? Maybe it's too costly or the property values aren't worth it? There are warning signs all over stating the sand is unstable and to stay out of the water. People ignorantly ignore these signs and attempt to drive their little foreign cars on the beach. They get stuck in the sand all the time. People don't know how to read...I just laugh.

 

Arrived home a few hours later and the heaters are doing much better. The air still makes my sinuses burn a little, but my heater-induced symptoms are going away. I'm still angry about letting those electricians install cheap heaters I did not want. What was I thinking?

Winter Preparations

Determined not to freeze to death like I did last year, I have spent most of this year planning for this winter's cold weather. First step on my list was to remove the old, fiberglass heating ducts as well as the Freon-filled heater and air conditioner that has made me sick for the last eight winters. It's been such a nice feeling to have the crawlspace cleared of all those toxic materials.

Next I had cadet heaters installed in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and office. I already had two cadet heaters in the bedrooms upstairs, so that's a total of SIX! Although it's not nearly close to freezing outside, we've had a few mornings when the temperatures dipped a little low and I could hardly wait to try them out. Within minutes the rooms were toasty. This is a huge difference as the old, creepy heating system would take at least an hour to warm up the house before I would feel a difference. I have lots of hope for a toasty winter! It'll be interesting to see what happens with my electric bill. With heat this efficient, I have high (unrealistic) hopes heating costs will be lower than they've ever been.


The next step in the plan was to buy warm, comfortable, organic bedding. I was tired of cheap, formaldehyde-soaked sheets so I splurged and bought organic jersey sheets. Although they arrived with silicon gel packs to prevent mildew in transportation and storage, after six washings they now smell fine and they are soft and so very comfortable.

The final step in the plan was to purchase an organic, wool-stuffed comforter. This has been a dream of mine for many years, but cost prohibitive. Last winter when it got really cold, I used my old polyester sleeping bag on top all my blankets, comforter, and sheets for warmth. So I headed back to Holy Lamb Organics to find out about discounted merchandise.

I love this company. It's located in an old, remodeled turn-of-the-century grocery store and all the original wood counters, shelves and hardwood floors are still there. There is a sign on the door stating it is a fragrance-free facility and asking people to refrain from the stink. My kind of business!

They make their comforter shells from organic cotton and they had fabric with flaws offered at a discount. I informed the salesperson of my concerns with packing chemicals and my not-so-good experience with the organic sheets from one of their suppliers. In order to alleviate my worries, she actually went into their stockroom, retrieved a queen-sized comforter shell and let me smell it. When I deemed it safe by exclaiming it smells natural, like a plant (cotton!?), she put my name on it.

Then I had a choice between thin, medium or thick wool filling. She asked if I slept hot or cold. I said, "Oh, God...Have you ever had a hot flash?" I told her I used to sleep cold, but that's not a guarantee. Last winter I fantasized about the thickest comforter possible, but now during a hot summer day, I waffled. I ended up ordering the medium thickness as I was worried the thicker comforter would never fit in any washing machine, let alone mine.

They HAND SEW these comforters together. I wish I would have taken photos of the tables with the fabric pieces. I watched one comforter-maker climb inside the shell to strategically place the wool batting. There was something very organic watching people hand-create something. The downside to hand-made, organic items is they don't come cheap. I kept chanting to myself, This WILL add joy to my life!!!  An organic, wool-filled, hand-made comforter is definitely a luxurious item.

While shopping online I found most of the organic, wool comforters needed to be dry cleaned. Eeeww! I have seen dry cleaners who advertise they are "organic", but I don't know what that means. Holy Lamb Organic comforters may be washed, but they give specific directions on HOW to wash them and make no guarantees. Their ultimate advice is to cover them with a duvet and avoid washing them if possible.



 

It's definitely beautiful, soft and fluffy. One thing I didn't expect is it smells like WOOL, a oily, sheep-y smell. I only smelled the shell before ordering, not the insides. It smells like the vitamin D capsules I used to use for moisturizer before the side effects started. Lanolin has never been a problem for me, nor wool, so I assumed the glycerin in the capsules were the cause of my discomfort.  I intend to cover the comforter with a cotton, flannel duvet so I'm hoping it'll seal it. Or maybe with time it'll offgas. With MCS, there is always a risk with trying out new products. It could be a very expensive, money-wasting experiment OR it could be incredibly joyous. Right now I am very hopeful!

UPDATES:  Good lord, this comforter is the best purchase I've made in a long, long time! I placed a duvet cover over it and that could be why I haven't smelled the wool. The wool is amazingly heat regulating. I love it!