March Against Monsanto, Boise

Two million people marched in protest against seed giant Monsanto in hundreds of rallies across the U.S. and in over 50 other countries today, and Boise was no exception. I joined several hundred people to march from Julia Davis Park to the capital for a rally. We wanted to make people aware of the dangers of GMO foods to our bodies and to the environment and to support our local farmers.

In the bottom pic, I am the one in the black sweatshirt holding the sign that looks like a giant ear of corn, shaped to look like a grenade to the right and down from the podium. Unfortunately, my head was turned.

Saturday at the Market

So, Saturday morning we hit the market downtown, and did some local wine tasting-Idaho has some of the best wineries. Bought a bottle of Viognier from Davis Creek Winery. Gina Davis is the winemaker and her parents are at the market every Saturday selling her wines. They are absolutely phenomenal. My husband's favorite is their "Up a Creek" Syrah. We wanted something a little lighter for the warmer day, so we went with the Viognier this time. Bought a bunch of starts for the garden, finally got it cleaned out and ready to be planted, thanks to one of the older sons. Bought some organic heirloom tomatoes, chard, peppers, basil, cucumber, eggplant and yellow squash. Still have to pick up a few more.

After the market we went to Ann Morrison park for a picnic. Didn't get to open the bottle of wine though, we forgot the wine key. Figures.

Boise Bike Week

This week is Bike week in Boise. It is a celebration of cycling in any form. Get out of the house and ride, start using your bike for transportation instead of your car. Just get out and have some fun. Here is a link with information and schedule of events for the week.

http://www.boisebikeweek.org/

Do You Know What You're Eating?

GMO Film Project Sizzler from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.

Are you a carnivore or an herbavore?

Would You Like a Heart Attack with that?

Bad Bad Blogger!

Been quite the while since I have posted anything. Went back to work and by the time I got home gimping around with the stupid boot on my foot I was thoroughly exhausted. Then in August, school started back up and literally kicked my ever living ass. Anatomy and Physiology, Technical English, Fitness Foundations, Humanities, CPR and my fun class...bowling. Next semester isn't going to be much better. I have two computer classes that I need to have before I can take Accounting, I have the second half of A & P, Math 143 (this is going to be my scariest class-I so suck at math), and Child Development. Really looking forward to winter break. I have 3 finals next week and then I will be done with this semester. My grades are definitely not where I want them by any means, though. We will have to see after next week how I did. Keep your fingers crossed for me-I need it bad!

Toe has never completely healed. I still have pain (also pain on the incision site, too, weird) and still can't touch the floor with it. According to the doctor the X-rays look okay, but he thinks my tendons are too stiff and wants me to do a little physical therapy on myself. Am trying, but it does not really seem to help. I think he had the pin angled up too high and the bone healed that way, but what do I know-I am just the suffering patient. It also didn't help that my youngest daughter accidently slammed into it the other day (it was hiding under and blanket and sticking off the end of the couch. She felt so bad, she cried along with me.

Unfortunately, I gained about 20 pounds being off my foot for so long, so this week I have started back at the gym. I can't really run, but the recumbent bike, the elliptical machine and the weights are okay on my foot. Don't think I will be doing yoga again anytime soon, though.

Slowly recuperating

Well, my toe is slowly getting better. I was off work for about 2 1/2 months and am using a boot to get around. I am now trying to wear shoes when I can, but still need the boot at work. I still can't put my toe completely flat on the floor yet, which puts a lot of stress on my ankle, and I am much faster at work with the boot on. Unfortunately, when the floor is wet I have to be careful, since there is not a no-slip bottom on the boot and have almost ate it quite a few times. As you can see from the pic, my left foot is still swollen and red. I now have a toe worth over $10,000, do you? Who would have known that a stupid toe could cost so much?

Frugality out the window

So much for being frugal when I do something stupid and injure myself. Not only did I blow a ton of money on hospital and doctor visits, but I can't go to work. Now you ask, how did I do this really stupid thing....well, I was already not feeling well and had given up a few shifts, when I remembered that the kids needed clean clothes for school. So, I grabbed a huge load of clothes in my arms and missed the last step on the way down to the laundry room. Knew I broke my toe as soon as it happened. The orthopedic doctor I saw said that usually with toes you can't do anything, but when I do something, I guess I have to do it well. Not only did I snap the bone in half, but completely moved it away from the joint. So, now I have a screw (which won't be removed) and a pin (to hold it all in place, which eventually will be removed). Had surgery on Friday, but still hurts and got infected. Taking antibiotics that upset my stomach and make me dizzy, and can hardly get out of bed because of the pain.

Another doctor appointment for me tomorrow to check on the infection and see when I may possibly go back to work. Have a shit ton of homework due this week and can't even think straight. When I went to St. Al's for my surgery, one of the nurses there said that she broke a toe the same way-so a warning for all those out there with a laundry room in the basement, BE CAREFUL on the way down, the toe you break may be your own. And so are the bills and loss of income. My work only allows two weeks off of work in a row or you are fired. Hope this will count as medical leave-they are very strict. I had an umbilical hernia surgery and was out for 2 weeks once, was short 9 hours for my insurance and they cancelled me, even with a medical, so will see if I still have a job after this too. My husband doesn't call me Grace for nuthin'. Need to be more careful, this is costing me too much. I also hate relying on others for everything. I can pull together a quick frugal meal with just a few ingredients, but hard for my husband to do and he is the one doing the cooking-so higher grocery bill as well. We also had a birthday today and yesterday for some of the kids and had to send out the man shopping...OUCH!! Then, birthday celebration in my room, NICE! Had plans with daughter to do the 50% off shopping sale at Savers and wanted to take my son and a few of his friends to the college for a bowling party...Sorry guys maybe next year. I know they understand, but still feel bad about it.

Want to Know What Kind of Produce You Are Eating

You know those annoying little stickers attached to your fruits and veggies you have to remove before eating? Well, you can learn a lot about what kind of produce you are eating by "cracking the code" on them.

A four-digit number means that your produce is conventionally grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. A five-digit number beginning with 8 means the produce is genetically modified. And a five-digit number beginning with a 9 means you are getting organically grown produce.

No impact week

Colin Beaven, aka "no impact man" is challenging everyone to try a "No impact week". All the information is available on his website, including instructions and sign up. What do you think? Could you go "no impact" for a week?

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

Sorry for the Rant

Not really sure where to begin, but it seems to be an on-going full moon or something. So, I apologize for a bit of ranting, but I have been a little frustrated lately. First off, my brother had met this lady over the internet (already know where this is going right), hillbilly from Virginia-remember the Hatfields and McCoys-she's a McCoy. We are talking grade A hillbilly here, with 3 kids and my brother meets her in real life I'd say a total or like 3 times and then he marries her and moves her and the brood to Boise. Well, they are both on disability. My brother had gastric bypass surgery which almost killed him, had to have surgery on his legs and learn to re-walk. Finally out of wheel chair not too long before he meets her. She has some undiagnosed illness, which most docs think is mental illness, but finally finds a doctor that diagnoses her with MS (after Lord knows how many). She had stated that in her family the sicker you are the more attention you get. Anyway, her parents didn't disclose all her issues to my brother, because they were done being care-takers to her and her kids.

So, now into the real world, my brother ends up being housekeeper, care-giver of her kids (who haven't had much for parenting up until now) and her (she never gets out of bed). All while he is trying to work a part-time job and go to school. She is addicted to pain-killers, Marinol (a synthetic form of Marijuana), Methadone (her and her ex were addicted to heroin) and who knows what else. At a picnic we had this summer my brother had to wheel her up in his old wheelchair (couldn't walk) and she couldn't even talk and watching her eat was just disgusting, because she was so doped up. Anyway, with the temptation of the painkillers in the house and her wanting someone to get high with my brother became addicted to painkillers again (became addicted after his surgery, but had been off them for many years). They started having a lot of trouble and my parents intervened and agreed to help both of them get into recovery. If they didn't they would have to move-my parents owned the house they were renting and they didn't want to be renting to drug addicts, my brother had dropped out of school, got layed-off, lost his disability and the kids trashed the house, since there was little to no supervision. My brother agreed to treatment and asked his wife to get help, but she refused and that was his stipulation for saving their marriage. She went into detox and then to the mental health unit, but refused to treatment since she thought she only had a physical addiction, so she was asked to move and my brother asked for a divorce.

My parents were more than nice to her, they gave her back 2 months worth of rent, so she would have the money to find another place. They even offered to pay for plane tickets for her and her kids and to pay the moving costs of her things back to Virginia, but her parents didn't want her back. And to pay them back she kept my brothers things hostage and refused to give them to him. All my brother wanted was the things he came into the marriage with and let her have everything else, but she refused and even wanted to sell his family heirlooms on E-bay for the money. I think my brother was way nicer than he should have been, but even so, she pulled this? After she left, he finally got a few things back that she left in the house. The house was trashed and now my parents have to clean it and pay for repairs and they are missing out on several months worth of rent. She also abandoned one of her cats-out of three-in the house.

My parents always treated her kids as if they were their own grandkids, spent a lot of money on them buying them all new clothes, etc. and watched them while she was hospitalized. We even had the boys over the weekend and my DH had to clean up puke all night when one of the boys got sick. Half the house also walked away in the boy's stuff when they left. Joanna-if you are reading this we would like our movies back and whatever else walked away. Never got a thank you, either.

But, I guess the thing that irks me the most is that she is telling everyone on her blog about poor little her and telling everyone about how horrible my brother and my parents are and making up lies. She even stated that now my brother is now living FAT in my parent's million dollar house. My parent's house is May-be a $250,000 house, no where near a million-don't know where that came from. My parents are not well-off. And they were so awful that they kicked out a poor defenseless woman with MS with three children who had no-where to go. And she was hospitalized to adjust her medication-not mentioning anything about addiction or mental illness. All her readers think that she is just an inspiration for everything that she has been through. She even tries to say that my brother is an abuser because he grabbed one of the boys when he was trashing the house having a tantrum and that he told her to F-off over the phone when she wouldn't give him his stuff back. OMG, how abusive.

I am not trying to be degrading to her, but it just makes me angry that she is trying to make herself out to be some Saint and make everyone feel sorry for and they believe all this crap. I think she needs to tell the truth and maybe her readers will appreciate that instead of the garbage bag full of doodie she is feeding them full of.

Well, I think that is enough of ranting for today, part 2 tomorrow-my DIL. Bet y'all can't wait!

And if ya wanna, you can all check out the blog here: http://jojo-justjojo.blogspot.com/

Fowl Play

If you think that you are being less cruel and being healthier by eating “cage free” or “free-range” eggs, you might want to think again. Animals in "free-range," "cage-free" and other systems are still often subject to some or all of the following abuses:

Overcrowded living conditions
Denial of veterinary care
Abusive handling
Transport through all weather extremes
Painful mutilations (debeaking, castration, dehorning, etc)
Unproductive, "spent" or by–product animals, such as
male chicks of the egg-laying industry, are killed by
methods such as suffocation and crushing.
Violent slaughter

"Free Range" means that the animals must have some access to the outdoors, but there are no government regulations about how much outdoor area must be provided.
United Poultry Concerns, an advocacy group for poultry, describes the typical free-range egg farm like this:

"Typically, 2,000 or more hens - each hen having only 1 to 2 square feet of floor space - are confined in a shed without access to the outdoors during their lives. If the hens can go outside, the exit usually is very small allowing only the closest hens to get out. The yard may be nothing but a mud yard saturated with droppings and intestinal coccidia and other parasites."

"Cage-free" eggs means that the birds aren't in cages, but the majority of cage-free eggs are produced by hens forced to live in overcrowded sheds. These living conditions aren't as horrific as the typical battery cage, but overcrowding and cruelty are still common occurrences in many cage-free operations.

Meat's Not Green

Free Gym Membership

One of the benefits of being a full-time student at BSU is a free gym membership at the Student Rec Center. I admit that I have been having difficulty finding time between work class, homework and family-that and the fact that I tend to be sorta lazy. Since school was out this week, due to Thanksgiving vacation, we decided to check it out. We went 4 times this week. One of my sons who is also a full-time student decided to join us as well. Hope to try to make this a regular routine, since I really need to get my fat ass in shape and why not take advantage of a FREE gym membership.

They have all the benefits of a regular gym-cardio, weight machines, free weights, classes, climbing wall, racquetball, basketball, indoor track, etc. For an extra fee, there is massage and personal training. There is also an aquatics center located elsewhere on campus, for those that prefer swimming and such. Used to like water aerobics, but hated traipsing back to the locker room all wet, cold and drippy, then having to get out of a wet suit.

Also, think my body may be rebelling against this healthy crap. Since I started eating vegan (started off as a self-intervention for a psych class and decided to continue for health and ethical reasons) and exercising my GI system is complaining (well, complaining more than it usually does-have IBS). Gonna try to keep this up though. Think the health benefits will be worth it. And did I mention the membership was FREE!

Happy Thanksgiving

Normally, not a fan of some of Peta's tactics, but like this ad.

Lunch?

Stop Animal Abuse

Warning-contain graphic images. Please help stop animal abuse. If you don't have the time, money or patience to properly take care of an animal...don't get one! And if you already have one, please give them to someone who can. I don't understand how people can be so cruel, all animals want is someone to feed them, give them somewhere warm to sleep, someone to play with them and give them some attention and a lot of love. The same as every one of us wants. I don't think that is too much to ask.

Plowing Their Way to Zero Waste

Interesting article on a family in Shoreline, WA (where my parents used to live), trying to eliminate their impact on the earth and living more sustainably.

SEATTLE - A family of four has moved from the farm to an urban Puget Sound community and is now plowing its way to zero waste.

When the Peterka family moved to Shoreline, they brought part of the farm with them. They ripped up the backyard lawn and planted a large garden.

They built a fenced chicken coop in one corner, and worm and compost bins in the other. Then they made some sacrifices.

"We stopped buying groceries that came in plastic, essentially which was a big deal, not an easy task," explained Brian Peterka.

The family trimmed its plastic waste-line by adding on the bulk. They buy most of their food in bulk then store it in jars. They buy their vegetables fresh and unwrapped and grow everything else in the garden.

The Peterkas have successfully re-created the perpetual farm cycle they enjoyed in the country.

Here's how it works: The leftover food goes into the chicken coop or worms bins. The chickens return the favor by providing the next meal, the worms produce nutritious soil to put in the garden, which produces the Peterkas' meals, and leftover stems and leaves that go to a compost bin where more soil is produced.

At the end of the week, the Peterkas have about a baggie full of garbage leftover. They only put out their bin once a month for the CleanScapes garbage trucks to pick up and then its only about half full.

"This is impressive," exclaimed CleanScapes President Chris Martin who toured the Peterkas' yard today.

Martin says because his company is small, small trash producers like the Peterkas, allow him to serve more neighborhoods with fewer trucks.

Cleanscapes is even hosting a contest to see which community can reduce the most waste.

Shoreline is taking part and has found a goal to shoot for in the Peterkas' backyard.

Eating Animals is Making Us Sick

Saw this article on CNN and it is pretty interesting, thought you might enjoy it.

www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/28/opinion.jonathan.foer/index.html

• Jonathan Safran Foer: Inhumane way we raise animals for slaughter poisons us all
• Foer: Factory farming tied to global warming, swine and bird flu, other illnesses
• He says animals loaded with antibiotics, live in gruesome conditions
• System driven by food and pharmacetical industries; Foer asks: Why no outcry?l