Hi Chocolate Fans!
This isn't a real post. This is just a quick note to tell you I desperately want to write a real post. I've got a solid dozen in my head right now. The issue is that I decided to start a new blog in the middle of the Christmas season, with 2 small children, while prepping for a move.
Why yes I do have a superb sense of timing. *head desk*
So I love you. There is more coming, I promise. Its just right now I can blog or sleep and I'm only getting about 5 hours of broken sleep night thanks to The Girl Child, so, please, forgive me.
Random side note - I wouldn't mind running a small bakery type something. Just like out of my home on the side. I have no desire to be a full time professional baker and make 5 million little pastry somethings and get up in the wee hours to make bread. But I could have fun doing it as a side gig. Maybe seasonally? Right now I make an amazing loaf of french bread (so insanely easy. I'll share sometime I promise). I've nailed 3 different varieties of chocolate cake. I also make a couple other crazy good cakes. My chocolate chip cookies are amazing. I just mastered sugar cookies (Yes its a sugar cookie actually worth eating). I've got several others as well but there are a few things I need to work on (like cake decorating).
Yes I'm very humble. But I am a serious baked goods snob. I come from a line of truly amazing cooks and I've realized I'm incredibly spoiled in this area. It has to be worth the calories or I just won't eat it. I can count the number of times I've had cake from a pro bakery that I felt was worth the calories and I would eat it again, on my fingers. And I have rave reviews from my tasters and I've lost count of the number of times I've been told I could sell my food. Or been begged for the recipe. So I've decided its not just me and its important to recognize your talents. So I just say it like it is.
So yeah. It would be so fun but I wouldn't want to do it full time or I think it would cease to be fun. Ya know?
Anyway I need to get to bed before The Girl Child wakes again. But I will be back. I promise.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Dietary Supplements
Do you know what really burns my biscuits? That the FDA doesn't regulate supplements at all. Did you know that? They don't. I personally think its state sponsored fraud b/c in no other business can you sell one thing and call it something completely different.
Seriously. Those vitamins you just spent all that money for? They could be sugar pills.
How is this legal?? I will tell you why. B/c the businesses have lobbied for it to be legal.
Now HALF of their argument makes sense to me. See FDA oversight usually comes in two parts - they make sure the box contains what the labels says it contains and they make sure the pills do what they claim to do and aren't dangerous. Does this pill really work better than a sugar pill? Yes. They've done studies to prove it.
See the reason why prescription medications cost so much is because while the second pill might only cost the company a nickel to make, that first pill cost them 10 million dollars. That's why they get exclusive rights for years before the generic becomes available. They have to make their money back.
Clinical trials ain't cheap people and asking the vitamin manufacturers to spend for the research to prove that the ingredients actually do what they claim they do would put most of them out of business. All for a compound they can't even patent.
Okay. That I respect. I'm not asking for clinical trials to give me detailed half life information and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this pill, say red yeast rice, really does help lower cholesterol.
BUT what I cannot condone is that something that I eat, doesn't have to be labeled correctly. If it claims theres 500 mg of the active ingredient, by golly I want there to be 500 mg of the active ingredient.
Now some higher quality supplements do get themselves certified by an independent lab. Almost all of them claim they do on the label but they don't specify who that lab is and theres no way to know if its a legit business. Thats why I try very hard to only buy USP certified supplements because its a large, well known outfit with a good reputation and you can find their very distinctive logo on the sides of many supplements. I like that. It helps me feel confident that what I am buying is what it says it is.
But sometimes you can't find a certain compound in USP certified. Thats when I just have to stick to a name brand with a good reputation and hope they're honest across the board. And fall back on the old rule that if you can't tell if the vitamin is making a difference, its probably not.
For example, I started taking CoQ10 a few years ago at the direction of my neurologist. The first bottle I got was USP certified and man that pill was awesome. Not only did it dramatically decrease the incidence of my migraines, it gave me a ton of energy. I was thrilled.
Pictured: The Good Pill
Seriously. Those vitamins you just spent all that money for? They could be sugar pills.
How is this legal?? I will tell you why. B/c the businesses have lobbied for it to be legal.
Now HALF of their argument makes sense to me. See FDA oversight usually comes in two parts - they make sure the box contains what the labels says it contains and they make sure the pills do what they claim to do and aren't dangerous. Does this pill really work better than a sugar pill? Yes. They've done studies to prove it.
See the reason why prescription medications cost so much is because while the second pill might only cost the company a nickel to make, that first pill cost them 10 million dollars. That's why they get exclusive rights for years before the generic becomes available. They have to make their money back.
Clinical trials ain't cheap people and asking the vitamin manufacturers to spend for the research to prove that the ingredients actually do what they claim they do would put most of them out of business. All for a compound they can't even patent.
Okay. That I respect. I'm not asking for clinical trials to give me detailed half life information and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this pill, say red yeast rice, really does help lower cholesterol.
BUT what I cannot condone is that something that I eat, doesn't have to be labeled correctly. If it claims theres 500 mg of the active ingredient, by golly I want there to be 500 mg of the active ingredient.
Now some higher quality supplements do get themselves certified by an independent lab. Almost all of them claim they do on the label but they don't specify who that lab is and theres no way to know if its a legit business. Thats why I try very hard to only buy USP certified supplements because its a large, well known outfit with a good reputation and you can find their very distinctive logo on the sides of many supplements. I like that. It helps me feel confident that what I am buying is what it says it is.
But sometimes you can't find a certain compound in USP certified. Thats when I just have to stick to a name brand with a good reputation and hope they're honest across the board. And fall back on the old rule that if you can't tell if the vitamin is making a difference, its probably not.
For example, I started taking CoQ10 a few years ago at the direction of my neurologist. The first bottle I got was USP certified and man that pill was awesome. Not only did it dramatically decrease the incidence of my migraines, it gave me a ton of energy. I was thrilled.
Pictured: The Good Pill
But one day I ran out of those pills and was in a hurry and didn't have time to go to Costco to get more, so I snagged Spring Valley CoQ10 at Walmart...
Pictured: The Evil Pill
It did nothing for me. Right away I missed the energy boost and after a couple weeks, my migraines were back with a venegence. I threw the bottle out and went back to my Trunature.
That shouldn't happen. If I buy a box of Wheat Thins or a bottle of Tylenol, I know whats going to be inside. Its not going to be wood shavings or sugar pills. That would be fraud. This needs to change people.
I'm not asking for expensive clinical trials. I'm asking for basic laboratory oversight. They randomly screen samples. If those samples do not contain what the labels claim the company can face fraud charges and fines. I think thats only fair to hold them to the same standards we expect from every other business.
So ... who is with me?
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Bummer
So I'm totally bummed out about something and I can't whine in any public forum but this one (b/c its anonymous) b/c I'm paranoid about announcing that I'm going to be out of town on the internet. I think its really just asking for trouble personally to announce when you're gone.
Long story short - We are gonna go home to see my folks for Christmas! YAY! That part thrills my socks off. Seriously. SO. EXCITED.
The bummer is that b/c we are going out of town for Christmas... We aren't getting a Christmas tree this year. And that makes me a sad panda.
I really want one. I'm jealous of all my friends who are posting pictures to FB of their gorgeous, happy, decorated trees and I want one real bad. But we are leaving town so its stupid to get one. Except that it makes me sad that I don't have one. lol. But we are broke so the mature, responsible thing to do is not to get one.
*pouts like the small child I really am*
Also I seriously need to put up Christmas decorations even if we don't have a tree b/c its amazing how the pumpkins and fall decor that delighted me for the past two months instantly become depressing the first day of December. My family traditionally decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving and got our tree the first weekend of Dec at the latest.
Also I'm skeerd of my weigh in tonight. I've been doing Weight Watchers to lose weight and making great progress the last month that I've been back post baby. But this last week was bad. Very, very bad.
Not only was it Thanksgiving but it was Hanukkah with my inlaws. Three large holiday meals that I had zero menu control over. I actually did pretty good staying on track for Turkey Day but then both MILs (I have two bc The Hub's folks are divorced and the FIL has remarried) were too tired to cook a big dinner and so did take out. And then bc of x, y, and z I showed up to both meals starving which is never good for my self control and was faced with pizza, salad and pie at one and ribs, quesadillas, salad and cheesecake at the other. It was bad. It was very, very bad.
And so I'm very scared of the scale and rather depressed about gaining which logically makes me want to go eat a gallon of ice cream and chase that down with a pound or two of cookie dough. I haven't yet... but I want to.
Am I the only one subject to this logic? What positive coping mechanisms do y'all use? Ideas to make me feel better about the no Christmas tree thing?
Long story short - We are gonna go home to see my folks for Christmas! YAY! That part thrills my socks off. Seriously. SO. EXCITED.
The bummer is that b/c we are going out of town for Christmas... We aren't getting a Christmas tree this year. And that makes me a sad panda.
I really want one. I'm jealous of all my friends who are posting pictures to FB of their gorgeous, happy, decorated trees and I want one real bad. But we are leaving town so its stupid to get one. Except that it makes me sad that I don't have one. lol. But we are broke so the mature, responsible thing to do is not to get one.
*pouts like the small child I really am*
Also I seriously need to put up Christmas decorations even if we don't have a tree b/c its amazing how the pumpkins and fall decor that delighted me for the past two months instantly become depressing the first day of December. My family traditionally decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving and got our tree the first weekend of Dec at the latest.
Also I'm skeerd of my weigh in tonight. I've been doing Weight Watchers to lose weight and making great progress the last month that I've been back post baby. But this last week was bad. Very, very bad.
Not only was it Thanksgiving but it was Hanukkah with my inlaws. Three large holiday meals that I had zero menu control over. I actually did pretty good staying on track for Turkey Day but then both MILs (I have two bc The Hub's folks are divorced and the FIL has remarried) were too tired to cook a big dinner and so did take out. And then bc of x, y, and z I showed up to both meals starving which is never good for my self control and was faced with pizza, salad and pie at one and ribs, quesadillas, salad and cheesecake at the other. It was bad. It was very, very bad.
And so I'm very scared of the scale and rather depressed about gaining which logically makes me want to go eat a gallon of ice cream and chase that down with a pound or two of cookie dough. I haven't yet... but I want to.
Am I the only one subject to this logic? What positive coping mechanisms do y'all use? Ideas to make me feel better about the no Christmas tree thing?
Monday, December 2, 2013
My Favorite Thing about eBooks
So when the eReader concept was first introduced years ago I NEVER thought I would be come a fan. I'm just so in love with my lovely, lovely paper books. I like the way they smell. Theres just something magical about book stores. And I just luuuuurve the good old fashion dead tree books.
And then we were given a Kindle and an Amazon gift card for Christmas one year. And well... it would be rude not to use the thing right?? And I discovered the joys of instant delivery of the next book in the series at 3 am when I finished the previous title and I NEED to know what happens NEXT. OMG.
And then I discovered that my book cases were FULL. Like full full. We even weeded out and donated bunches and bunches of books and we still have not enough room. We have 5 of the really big Billy bookcases from Ikea. My little house is full. I have ZERO room for more book cases due to the greedy small children and their 5 million toys and gear sucking up all the extra room in my house. And thus I reached this terrifying conclusion:
I have no room to buy more books. *GASP*
This represents crisis in my world b/c the one thing I love more than actual books is READING said books. And I love to reread my titles many times. In fact I rarely buy a book now days that I don't intend to read multiple times. Otherwise I'll just check it out from the library and move on with my life.
So since never buying another book was not an option, getting rid of the children isn't happening either and I can't afford to buy a larger house I need a way to buy new books that doesn't require shelf space. Enter the Kindle Store Stage Right.
Now to be clear we no longer have a Kindle (the hand held reader produced by Amazon). Our first one mysteriously died at 11 months old. So Amazon replaced it b/c it was less than a year old. Then our second one died THE EXACT SAME WAY and it was in my possession at the time and I swear to you I did NOTHING mean to it. But this time it was 13 months old so Kindle refused to replace it but offered me a discount on a new reader. For the low, low price of like 80 bucks they'd give me another one. And I decided they were insane if I was gonna pay them 80 bucks for a device that only lasts a year. I have a smart phone. The Kindle reader app is free. I now just read my books on my phone that is permanently glued to my side anyways and life is very happy.
But this doesn't tell you what my favorite thing is about eBooks.
My very favorite thing about eBooks is that I don't have to be seen in public reading books with hideously embarrassing covers. *nods*
I have in the last couple years discovered that I adore Urban Fantasy. I love it. Its fantastic.
The covers almost with out exception make me crazy. One of my very favorite series of all time is the Cat and Bones books by Jeaniene Frost (disclaimer: they have very graphic smexy scenes at least once a book. If this offends you don't read it or just skim that part). I am so very thankful that I didn't see the covers on that series BEFORE I read them because I may not have read them at all. Yes I am a bad person and I'm extremely visual and my initial judgement takes a lot for me to get over. So if the cover repels me, it will take some serious convincing from a source I trust for me to move past it and read the book anyways.
I know that you can't judge a book by its cover. I learned this many, many years ago. It really got hammered home the first time I read "Archangel" by Sharon Shinn. Its one of my all time favorite sci-fi/fantasy novels. Its fantastic. I love it. I. Hate. The. Cover. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. I hate it so much one of my dear friends sewed me a cover for it after hearing me complain about it, just so I wouldn't have to look at it ever again and I have been oh so grateful. lol
I have issues.
But so it just makes me grateful every time one of my favorite Urban Fantasy authors does another cover reveal and its once again heinous, that I don't ever have to see the cover again if I don't want to and that (even more importantly) I don't have to be seen in public to read such a hideously embarrassing cover b/c people would judge me and I wouldn't blame them.
And then we were given a Kindle and an Amazon gift card for Christmas one year. And well... it would be rude not to use the thing right?? And I discovered the joys of instant delivery of the next book in the series at 3 am when I finished the previous title and I NEED to know what happens NEXT. OMG.
And then I discovered that my book cases were FULL. Like full full. We even weeded out and donated bunches and bunches of books and we still have not enough room. We have 5 of the really big Billy bookcases from Ikea. My little house is full. I have ZERO room for more book cases due to the greedy small children and their 5 million toys and gear sucking up all the extra room in my house. And thus I reached this terrifying conclusion:
I have no room to buy more books. *GASP*
This represents crisis in my world b/c the one thing I love more than actual books is READING said books. And I love to reread my titles many times. In fact I rarely buy a book now days that I don't intend to read multiple times. Otherwise I'll just check it out from the library and move on with my life.
So since never buying another book was not an option, getting rid of the children isn't happening either and I can't afford to buy a larger house I need a way to buy new books that doesn't require shelf space. Enter the Kindle Store Stage Right.
Now to be clear we no longer have a Kindle (the hand held reader produced by Amazon). Our first one mysteriously died at 11 months old. So Amazon replaced it b/c it was less than a year old. Then our second one died THE EXACT SAME WAY and it was in my possession at the time and I swear to you I did NOTHING mean to it. But this time it was 13 months old so Kindle refused to replace it but offered me a discount on a new reader. For the low, low price of like 80 bucks they'd give me another one. And I decided they were insane if I was gonna pay them 80 bucks for a device that only lasts a year. I have a smart phone. The Kindle reader app is free. I now just read my books on my phone that is permanently glued to my side anyways and life is very happy.
But this doesn't tell you what my favorite thing is about eBooks.
My very favorite thing about eBooks is that I don't have to be seen in public reading books with hideously embarrassing covers. *nods*
I have in the last couple years discovered that I adore Urban Fantasy. I love it. Its fantastic.
The covers almost with out exception make me crazy. One of my very favorite series of all time is the Cat and Bones books by Jeaniene Frost (disclaimer: they have very graphic smexy scenes at least once a book. If this offends you don't read it or just skim that part). I am so very thankful that I didn't see the covers on that series BEFORE I read them because I may not have read them at all. Yes I am a bad person and I'm extremely visual and my initial judgement takes a lot for me to get over. So if the cover repels me, it will take some serious convincing from a source I trust for me to move past it and read the book anyways.
I know that you can't judge a book by its cover. I learned this many, many years ago. It really got hammered home the first time I read "Archangel" by Sharon Shinn. Its one of my all time favorite sci-fi/fantasy novels. Its fantastic. I love it. I. Hate. The. Cover. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. I hate it so much one of my dear friends sewed me a cover for it after hearing me complain about it, just so I wouldn't have to look at it ever again and I have been oh so grateful. lol
But so it just makes me grateful every time one of my favorite Urban Fantasy authors does another cover reveal and its once again heinous, that I don't ever have to see the cover again if I don't want to and that (even more importantly) I don't have to be seen in public to read such a hideously embarrassing cover b/c people would judge me and I wouldn't blame them.
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