Jan's River Ramblings

Cologne Induced Migraine

2009-03-08T12:07:00.003-04:00

No, not me, lol. My co-worker who persists in wearing cologne every day even though he knows it make me sick actually gave himself a migraine Friday and had to ask me if he could leave early. I was happy to tell him YES! 'Cause then maybe I could avoid a headache for the entire weekend. Selfish of me but I think canaries (people with MCS) quickly learn self-preservation techniques and use them instinctively.

Cologne Free - For a Day At Least

2009-02-20T23:58:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm still alive and guess what - it worked. My co-worker must have remembered my request (finally!) and didn't put cologne on before work today so I made it through all day without a headache which was fortunate since my workday was over ten hours.

Computer problems galore today and EXTREMELY frustrating. The computer geeks have been beefing up the main program we use and you know what that means, lol. We appear to be their beta testers in real time or else they just don't bother with testing. Then when you report that the program is taking 1.5 minutes to do what used to take 5 seconds they're saying it must be your computer and to reboot. This delay doesn't sound that bad until you multiply it times the thousand transactions necessary to accomplish what needs to be done. Anyway after finally convincing them that it has to be the programming they're saying yes it is but they have to do the fix over the weekend so no help today. Grrrrrr. . . .

Death by Cologne?

2009-02-19T21:11:00.003-05:00

One of my co-workers continues to wear strong cologne to work every day and so today I asked him to just wear a bit more tomorrow and maybe my reaction to it will be so strong that it'll finally kill me and put me out of my misery. I'm just really tired of having to work every day with a pounding heart, splitting headache, and nausea. He was rather allarmed by my request. Guess I'll find out tomorrow whether I die or maybe, just maybe, he'll think twice before reaching for that bottle of cologne.

Tooth Fairy Rate Hike?

2009-01-27T22:43:00.002-05:00

The son of one of my co-worker's pulled a loose baby tooth yesterday and put it in a zip-lock bag with a note on it. "Dear Tooth Fairy, This tooth was really hard to pull and was very painful so I think I deserve $20 for it." Haven't heard what the Tooth Fairy left yet but I thought this was very creative for a small boy. I know I'm getting old when I hear things like this 'cause I remember when the Tooth Fairy left a quarter and that was a lot.

Another Work Day

2009-01-24T20:07:00.006-05:00

Had to work today, Saturday, with most of my team. We're swamped with work now and even working long hours during the week didn't solve the problem so it was just another work day. One thing I enjoyed about working today (did I actually say enjoyed?) is that with only a few scattered people, there were no toxins from scent so no headache, nausea, erratic heartbeat, or fatigue from MCS to deal with. First work day since Christmas that I was MCS symptom free and therefore I got a ton of work done in a short period. Just think how much more productive I could be at work if my company would just put a little effort into convincing people to leave there scent for non-work occasions. The toxins affect me severely but others must be affected also and just don't realize it. So making the work-place scent-free would probably increase productivity in general and thus would improve the bottom line.

So what's keeping companies from doing this? Offices have been rendered smoke-free so why not scent-free? Is the scent industry influence so strong (no pun intended) that the government can't do anything about this problem let alone individual companies. I've been reading some of the blogs and web-sites listed on the right and with no regulation on the scent industry's use of known toxins you'd think people would be a lot more careful about using highly scented products. Canaries (people with MCS) aren't the only ones affected, just the ones who get dangerously ill from it.

Funny how people think about this. I have a friend who's knows I have MCS and wouldn't dream of wearing scent when going somewhere with me but thinks nothing of wearing an outfit she laundered that day that reeks of highly scented fabric softener (one of the biggest culprits in my opinion). There's been a lot of discussion about the effects of these toxins on our health and the alarming increase in recent years of people with severe health problems that have to be connected to the toxins. Here's a really frightening stat for you, one in every 150 children is autistic. The odds are even worse in Georgia where I live. WHY? Has to have something to do with our increased exposure to toxins.

Well I need to get off my soapbox 'cause my daughter is bringing over my severely autistic granddaughter and she's faster than lightning and into everything but still doesn't know her own name at two years old. So sad. She's so cute that you just want to pick her up for a hug but can't since she doesn't like to be held and won't look at you. She sees what you're doing though and the other night her hand snaked out as she was walking by and grabbed a muffin off my plate of food. She just kept walking and made the rounds (den, hall, living room, dining room, kitchen, then back to the den) and grabbed another handful of food off my plate. At this point I told my daughter to get off the phone and computer and come FEED HER DAUGHTER! Grayson had just been fed about an hour before so really wasn't hungry. She just helps herself to whatever is handy and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth, even the pebbles from the gas fireplace (which my husband had to disconnect for this reason). Gotta go! Grandmother duty calls, lol.

Symphony Night and No Headache, YAY!

2009-01-18T01:11:00.005-05:00

Came home last night from the Symphony with only a minor headache and this is a first for me since we frequently have to change seats and I still get really sick from all the scent (toxins). Wouldn't you know that on the one evening I could have enjoyed the music, the program was BORING! Had a hard time keeping awake. The musicians were really good but the music choices weren't.

Anyway I just purchased/downloaded La Tua Simplicita , a duet by Placido Domingo and Josh Groban from Placido Domingo's new album Amore Infinito. It's beautiful beyond words. Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is singing but they both have such fantastic voices that there's no way a duet couldn't be wonderful.

Blog Items

2009-01-17T13:51:00.003-05:00

Can't keep up with all the new stuff available in the blog-world but I'm trying. Today I've added a chatbox and a followers box. OK so maybe nobody wants to chat or follow this blog but hey, you have to start somewhere. Next I'll try to figure out how to add some bling to my blog but this may be beyond my abilities, lol. I'd also like to add a slide show but this will have to wait until I upload some pictures to photobucket. So much to do and so little time. Wish retirement were next Monday so I'd have more time for what interests me. Guess we all wish that at some time or other.

MCS and Meetings - Not a Good Mix

2009-01-15T23:52:00.004-05:00

Had an early meeting in a relatively small room today and spent the entire time with my eyes tearing and my head feeling like it was going to explode. Add to that my pounding heart and the mixture is fairly lethal. Trying to get my point across when I could barely see let alone think coherently was not easy. The day didn't get much better since the exposure to so many toxins gave me a really pounding headache and everyone on my team seemed to need my expertise in some form or another all day. Fortunately the further I got from the toxins the better I felt so by the time I arrived home, poof - no headache.

Possible Seizures

2009-01-13T23:15:00.003-05:00

My daughter was over tonight and thinks her two-year-old severely autistic daughter may have had several minor seizures today. In addition to autism, Grayson has Klippel Fiel syndrome and the related severe health problems. We were afraid this would happen but this is the first time it's been seen. It's so sad to watch my beautiful little granddaughter suffer so. Fortunately both her parents have medical training and don't frighten easily.

Tough Choices

2009-01-08T23:49:00.003-05:00

Did everyone get perfume for Christmas and feel compelled to wear it to work? Feels that way to me. A friend once said to me "growing old 'aint for sissies". Well she should try it with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity on top of arthritis and hot flashes. It takes a lot of courage to face going into an office every day when I know I'll have a splitting headache within thirty minutes and have to work that way all day. I've been having to take alergy meds to aleviate a bit of the headaches and lethargy caused by my body's reaction to all the toxins in the air then have to take an energy booster to combat the drousiness caused by the meds. I feel like a walking science experiment about to explode and this is just so I can get some work done. I spoke to the HR person at work about requesting that employees refrain from wearing scent to work and she said that you can't do that because they have a perfect right to wear perfume if they want to and that I'll just have to get used to it. Tried to explain to her that MCS is not a preference but a health problem but it made no difference. This is the same person who expounds diversity in the workplace. Go figure!

Not Alone After All

2009-01-08T23:25:00.003-05:00

Walking in the door from work this evening I dumped by bag and hung up my coat then immediately started cooking supper. I'd been cooking for about thirty minutes when nature called and I started down the hall toward the BR but noticed the light was on in the computer room and wondered why since my husband was working and I should be alone. This wasn't the case however since my youngest grandson was working on a school report on our computer, verrrry quietly. . .lol. Glad he didn't just decide to walk into the kitchen to say hello 'cause he would have scared me senseless (he's 6'4" and fills up a doorway). We always know when our oldest grandson is around these days since the speakers in his 4x4 announce his presense to one and all, very loudly. My husband and I were watching a nature show on TV and I asked him what was that loud noise shaking the house. Of course it was our grandson coming to pick up his brother. He came by the house five times this past weekend and had a bunch of friends (numbers varied) each time he arrived. Our home felt like Grand Central Station. I'm going to be prepared this weekend. I'll bake some goodies and then get these huge boys to put my boxes of Christmas decorations up in the closet.

Good Day in the New Year

2009-01-04T19:08:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, my grandson actually remembered to come by and take down the garlands over my living and dining room windows so I'm a lot further along with removing all the Christmas decorations. You might wonder why it's taking so long but I literally decorated every room in my home except the "junk room" 'cause we entertained 27 people on Christmas Eve. First down were the three Christmas Trees and now I'm slowly but surely removing the rest.

Also today Linda left a comment on a previous post leaving me three web sites to check out for info needed by those with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) like me. Here's her comment quoted.

Here are some great sites for checking what is in your products. But remember that "fragrance" can mean a concoction of hundreds of carcinogenic, neuro-toxic, endocrine disrupting, respiratory irritants, untested and undisclosed.

Household Products Database (2005) from National Library of Medicinehttp://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/

CHE Toxicants and Disease Database from The Collaborative on Health and the Environmenthttp://database.healthandenvironment.org

Cosmetic Safety Database by Environmental Working Grouphttp://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

I'll be checking these out in the near future and report on what info I've gleaned from these sites. Thanks a bunch Linda for leaving this info.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-03T18:10:00.007-05:00

I need to loose weight big time and so does my grandson so I challenged him to see which of us can loose 30 pounds the quickest. Since he's 15 and 6'4" he probably has a better chance than I do but I figure we'll both be winners in this contest.

My next goal is to learn to scrapbook with Photoshop Elements. This is one accomplishment I intend to persue with diligence since I've had the program for years (began with v1, now have v7) but haven't gotten very far with learning how to use it. I have other digital scrapbooking programs that are far easier to use so I've chosen the easier road so far. Thing is that I just can't do all the things I want to do with the quickie programs so I'll just have to buckle down and learn to use this extremely "user unfriendly" program. I've also been not too happy with the photos made with my little point and shoot Sony Cybershot. It's handy and I carry it with me always but sometimes I want to take closeups from a distance and the camera isn't designed for this. Can't afford an SLR so I did the next best thing. For my 10th anniversary with the company where I work I got to choose a gift from a catalogue and selected binoculars with digital camera. Should be here any day now and hopefully will help with some of the nature shots I'm always trying to take.

My next resolution is to clean out my "junk room" aka my library. Over the years this room has accumulated all the items I couldn't throw away but didn't have a place for. You wouldn't believe how much stuff I can pile in one medium sized room. The room is actually lined with book shelves and over a thousand books but forget trying to get to one of them. All my current books are now located in my computer room aka guestroom or sewing room.

This leads to my next resolution for 2009 - bone up on sewing techniques and use some of my fabric stockpile (10 boxes full and located in the "junk room"). Does this give you the idea that I'm a collector? Well you would be right. But as I've gotten a bit older and hopefully wiser, the time has come to stop collecting and start using or disposing. I'll be 65 on my next birthday so the time is right to do something about this propensity to collect.

Project 365

2009-01-03T17:52:00.003-05:00

The Project 365 idea is to take at least one photo a day and scrapbook it. Just took my "picture of the day" of all my Christmas decorations that have yet to be "closeted" lol. Waiting for my oldest grandson to come help me . . . and waiting . . . and waiting. Knew I shouldn't have paid to get his 4x4 out of the shop yesterday 'cause now I'll never see him.

Five Times Platinum

2009-01-03T00:45:00.003-05:00

Noel by Josh Groban was certified five times platinum a few weeks ago and Josh Groban is listed as number one in sales for 2008 on Billboard Top 200, that makes two years in a row. Quite a feat considering he doesn't get that much airplay, at least not in my city. He works really hard to raise money for his charity, The Josh Groban Foundation, and for other charities as well.

Noel by Josh Groban

2008-11-23T15:27:00.005-05:00

The local radio stations (Sunny 100 in particular) have started playing all Christmas music already which I actually enjoy as it gets me in the mood for all the preparations necessary at this time of year. I've noticed that although the radio station has included a couple of older Josh Groban Christmas songs in the playlist, they've totally ignored what is clearly the best Christmas album ever, NOEL by Josh Groban. This album was #1 on Bilboard 200 for FIVE weeks straight in 2007 which was a first in history. The album is listed as #1 again on several of Bilboard's charts this year and currently is listed in the top 10 best sellers by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Strange that the local radio stations would not include even one song from the album. I thought payola was dead but that's the only reason I can think of for not including any of the songs from this album in their playlist. Oh well, over four million copies have been sold since mid October 2007, 35 thousand just last week and it's a year old so lots of people are enjoying it, airplay or not.

End of the World?

2008-11-20T00:40:00.004-05:00

I was talking to someone at work today and he mentioned something he planned to do in about five years to which I replied that according to the Discovery Channel, the world may come to an end as we know it on December 21, 2012, so maybe he should revise his time-line, lol. It seems that all the ancient calendars end on that day even though the people who created them were in different parts of the world and had no contact with each other. Spooky! There was some discussion about the flip-flop of the magnetic poles and the fact that this has happened before and may happen again with catastrophic results and that this may be the reason for the end of the calendars. Nothing you can do to prepare for such an event. Maybe I should give some thought to retiring earlier than six years from now, lol, or I may never get a chance.

NEvergreen

2008-11-12T19:31:00.004-05:00

One of my co-workers was in a really bad auto accident about a year ago and the doctors had to reattach her ankle. For several months since she came back to work she's been in excruciating pain and knew she needed either an ankle replacement or fusion and the best doctor in the area certified to do this type surgery doesn't operate at the hospital approved by our Evergreen (called Nevergreen by the health community) insurance so the insurance company wanted her to see a less qualified doctor. This stalling by the insurance went on for months while she was walking around with a cane and apparently a broken leg since that's what the surgeon found when he finally operated Monday morning. Maybe now her leg will finally heal and she'll get some relief from the constant pain.

I really believe that only the very rich get adequate health care and the rest of us just have to make do with mediocre health care or no health care at all and those who're in a position to do something about it don't feel pressured to do so because all their health care is provided at little to no costs to them. It's amazing that the US is one of the greatest countries but probably has the worst health care system of any major power and all you hear is rhetoric about changing this situation, no actual changes.

Remembering Family Veterans

2008-11-11T22:49:00.002-05:00

Eighteen members of my family served in World War II and although all were involved in the hot spots of action, incredibly all returned alive. They've all passed away now but I'm still alive to remember them and hopefully with my scrapbooking maybe my grandchildren will honor them too.

Barack Obama Has A Tough Job Ahead

2008-11-09T09:02:00.002-05:00

Corporate and individual greed have just about wrecked the economy, we're in a war we have no business being in, and we're definitely in a recession if not an actual depression. Yes, tough job ahead for him but having read the stand on the various issues by both Obama and McCain, I think Obama's attitude of taking action stands a better chance of improving the situation than McCains "do nothing, wait and see what happens" attitude.

Musical Surprise

2008-10-02T17:58:00.003-04:00

The other day my teenage grandson needed to use my computer to re-download some purchased music to his Zune since he doesn't have internet at home. Imagine my surprise when my wonderful Josh Groban song ended and Led Zeppelin started playing. Apparently the downloaded music is still on my computer and my grandson says his Zune is now filled up with Josh Groban music in addition to his own selections. Maybe his musical taste will be improved, lol, but actually he downloaded some pretty good music. Not exactly my thing but good for an occasional listen.

Left Blinker

2008-09-25T21:43:00.004-04:00

OK someone told my husband that one of the rear lights was out on his car so he's got me sitting at the wheel pumping the brakes so he can figure out which one. No luck there so he asked me to turn on the left turn signal (lever on left of steering wheel) and I flipped the lever on the right and turned on the wind shield wipers. My husband is flabbergasted and asked me how could I not know which lever to flip when I use the turn signal every day. Well I was reading a book and distracted but still tried female logic on him and said that this was his car not mine. That didn't fly either 'cause we drive identical 2005 Prius Hybrids (mine's gold and his is silver). At this point my husband is standing there looking at me like I've got two heads....or maybe no head. Well, I'm not usually so feather-brained and no, I'm not blond....just not too clever with auto gadgets. My sister asked me one time if I even knew where to put gas in my car. I told her I'm not stupid (just spoiled) and there's a perfectly good manual in the glove box that I could use to figure it out if I ever have to. I've been driving this car for three years now and haven't had to yet since I only need to fill up every other week and my husband takes care of it. Probably couldn't get away with this if the car didn't get 42 to 50 miles/gal around town and 60 on the highway.

Humorous Medley on Emmys

2008-09-22T23:04:00.007-04:00

Last night on the Emmy Awards Josh Groban did a wonderful humorous medley of snippets from 26 old TV show themes including the voice of Animal from Sesame Street (hope he didn't hurt his vocal cords). He was so cute and did an amazing job of imitating a dozen different voices and singing that many or more different singing styles. Don't know how he did it, especially since he was in Boston three days earlier appearing with the Boston Pops for the taping of Chris Botti's PBS special and singing with Sting. Josh's voice is way too powerful for an effective duet with Sting even tho Josh wasn't singing full voice so the engineers will need to make adjustments on the CD/DVD.

Josh has been really busy this year which is not surprising since he was the top selling artist of 2007 and had the top selling album of 2007. In addition to the events already mentioned he also played the Russian in the musical Chess at the Royal Albert Hall in London (hear Anthem and Where I Want to Be), sang La Boheme on Charles Aznavour's new CD, and recorded a duet on Placido Domingo's new CD as well. But that's Josh for you, he's multi-talented and also very funny and fun-loving.

Well enough of rapsodizing about Josh, it's late and I need to get to bed. It's been a good day...no one wore overpowering scent to the office and I was able to get a ton of work done. It's amazing how much more you can get accomplished when you don't have to battle the fatigue and headache caused by the toxins from scent. Guess only someone else with MCS would understand what I mean but trust me, it does make a difference. Even tho we're like the canaries in the mine and are affected more than others, the toxins have to be affecting everyone to some extent, they just don't realize it.

Can't believe I was seduced by a TV ad

2008-09-21T17:29:00.006-04:00

Family and friends know I don't watch much TV so it's a wonder I even saw the ad in the first place let alone fell victim to it....but I did. On a whim I bought Spray 'n Wash with Resolve Power and boy was I sorry. If you have MCS like me, DON'T BUY SPRAY 'N WASH 'cause it's loaded with scent and will make you sick. Oh, it works...but so does Shout and without all the scent. What possessed the manufacturers to go to the extra expense of adding a ton of scent to a stain remover? Obviously you're going to wash the item and use detergent and fabric softener (both usually scented) so why would you need scent in stain remover. It boggles the mind. Anyway it took five washings to get the scent out of the item my husband used it on and then he just thru the whole bottle away so no one would use it again and give me another three-day migraine.

Symphony

2008-09-18T00:00:00.009-04:00

We went to dinner with friends Saturday night and then to the symphony (Columbus Symphony Orchestra or CSO for short). The Eroica Trio played with the CSO and were really good. Hear them if you get a chance. Of course it seemed as if everyone there took a bath in perfume, cologne, strong-scented deodorant or hair products, or used a ton of smelly fabric softener. Maybe I have a different perspective since I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and the toxins emmitted by these chemical scents cause me to be ill. Had to take medication to make it through the event and by the time we got to our friend's home for after-symphony desert & coffee, I felt like a zombie. I love music and we have season tickets but boy, sometimes I wonder if it's worth the pain.

Easter Seals Day Care

2008-09-18T00:00:00.008-04:00

My 20 month old grandchild started going to the Easter Seals Day Care for four hours/day on Monday and it was really traumatic for her (and her mom). My daughter said when she picked Grayson up, she was wimpering in her sleep and started wailing when awakened until Kristie held Grayson's head to force her to look and see that it was her mom. In addition to multiple physical problems, Grayson is autistic and won't look directly at you. The staff at Easter Seals have infinite patience and know how to work with chalenged children. We're all hoping this will help Grayson learn a bit how to deal with a structured environment and play around other children. She'll have to continue individual therapy but this group interaction should help.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

2008-09-10T00:05:00.003-04:00

Sick today. Bummer but I have MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) and someone who's cube is close to mine wore perfume yesterday and triggered a migraine. Could definitely do without that lol. Felt a little better this evening after the toxins emmited by the scent had time to work out of my bod so hubby and I went out to dinner and to buy some cute end-of-season clothes for our youngest grandchild. She's almost two and will be going to a special school beginning in a few days and needed clothes. She's cute as a button but has some health problems that prevent her going to a regular nursery. Anyway it's late and I'm tired so that's it for now.

Nite nite,
Jan

New Info!

2008-09-07T23:26:00.000-04:00

Already posted once today but just found out some wonderful info and had to share it. If you've been frustrated by not being able to extract rar format downloads not to mention worrying about purchasing a digital scrapbooking kit only to find out it's in rar format and you can't extract it, then worry no more. Mozz at Forever More Creations had a link to Extract NOW and I downloaded it and guess what . . . it works!!!!!! You can extract multiple rar and zip files at the same time and almost instantaneously. Off to find the rar freebies I've been missing lol.

Get your own,
Jan

First Post

2008-09-07T17:31:00.001-04:00

Trying to get into this blogging thing since it seems to be all the rage now. Don't want to be left too far behind in this digital world. I've been looking at a lot of blogs lately and keep going back to several to see what's happing in that blogger's world. Funny how someone else's life always appears to be more interesting than your own. "Grass is greener" syndrome or something.

Anyway, one of my favorite blogs to read is by Kim Broedelet (kimbsdesigns.blogspot.com). She's a fantastic digital scrapbooking designer who lives in South Africa and has such a wonderful sense of humor that clearly show's through in her blogging. Guess you can tell from this that I'm into digiscrapping, not designing though. Afraid my skills are somewhat limited in this area but fortunately for me there are a plethora of great digital designers in cyberland just waiting to share or sell their designs. When I figure out how, I'll list some links to my favorites.

Guess this blog post is living up to my header but I actually do live in a city by a river. In fact my office building is right next to the river so I see it every day and frequently take pictures from the parking garage to show my husband. This is because he's always wanting to go down to the Riverwalk in the evenings and I just came from there so I show him the picture taken an hour earlier to pacify him. Doesn't always work so I'll try to post a picture taken one evening recently.

Bye for now,
Jan