meshbetty

Stupid Trader Joe's Nazi's

I have nothing against eating healthy.  I have nothing against eating organic. I am for the most part a vegetarian....I do eat sushi. I feed my kids healthy foods. We don't eat at fast food places. My youngest daughter has never had McDonald's. We eat organic almost all of the time.  So what is my point in all of this?

My point is Aubrey, Isabel and I stopped at Safeway today on my home from playing in Golden Gate Park. We were in line and Aubrey saw another mommy offer her daughter a pretzel.  Aubrey got all excited because it was close to dinner and she wanted it to be known that the other girl was getting a snack and that she wasn't.  The other mom kindly offered a pretzel to us after observing Aubrey turning three shades of green with envy.  I politely asked what they were and then almost right away declined her offer after discovering that the said pretzels were from Trader Joe's. 

What you readers out there in Internet Land may or may not know is a large percentage of Trader Joe's products are manufactured in a facility that uses peanuts and or tree nuts.  For those who are not aware, my older daughter is severely allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. (Peanuts are actually legumes. Tree nuts are any other kind of nut out there, like walnuts, pecans, pistachios, etc.) So, in essence, there is really no reason for us to go to Trader Joe's where you can't even buy their ketchup because it is made in a facility that processes peanuts or tree nuts. Although Aubrey had not tested positive (Knock-on-wood) for nuts at this time, she is allergic to eggs. She is not allowed to have any nuts until she is at least five years old.

So getting back to my story about the kind mother offering Aubrey a pretzel....I declined her offer stating that we can't be sure of the nut situation and the like. The other mother looked completely dumbfounded that I would even think about purchasing food for my children anywhere else than Trader Joe's. In fact she even asked me: " Well then, where do you go."  She was even more dumbfounded that I admitted shopping at Safeway (I go to a series of different grocery stores to get things...I will save that for another post.)  Which is retrospect was really quite odd as she was in line to pay at this time as well.  I just told her, that my choice was either I shop elsewhere or risk having to take my child to the hospital when she goes into anaphylactic shock.  Sometimes ya just gotta sacrifice the "coolness factor" of Trader Joe's for the health of my child.

Happy Halloween!

H is for....Holly

Ooops...I haven't been very good with keeping up with these posts. But I gotta at least finish out the whole alphabet right?

On that note, H is for Holly. Holly came into our lives way back in 1996. She is from the mean streets of Baltimore.  If you are at all familiar with the neighborhoods surrounding the main Johns Hopkins University campus you will know that I am not kidding about the meanness (is that a real word?) of the streets. Oh, the things we used to see from my boyfriend's (now husband) apartment.

Anyway, Holly joined our little family way back then. She has traveled with us to the many different places we have lived...including a move across the country. She has also accepted the two new members of our family....

Now she spends her days sleeping on the couches downstairs and then venturing outside when the weather is warm.  Oh to live the life of a cat.

G is for.....Global Health

Global Health...oh what can I write about on this topic.....Considering this is the main area of study for my MPH (Masters of Public Health). Well, my actual concentration is International Maternal and Child Health but Global Health just about covers it.  This has been my obsession for the past eight to nine years or so. My life prior to having kids consisted of working for a non-profit in Wash. DC where I worked on HIV/AIDS programs numerous African countries and eastern Europe.  In order to advance in my job I really needed to get my MPH so I started on that about 6 years ago or so. Now, 6 years and two kids later I am about done!!! (Knock on wood, I am completing my final paper as I write this! Can you say procrastination???)

Anyway, global health has become such an important aspect of everyday life  worldwide that it is hard not to include it in my ABC list.  If you don't know much about it I would highly recommend you read  three excellent books that will give you an amazing insight into how important Global Health really is in today's society and what can be done to improve things worldwide.

Check these out:

Rx for Survival: Why we must rise to the Global Health Challenge By Philip Hilts

Betrayal of Trust: The collapse of Global Public Health by Laurie Garrett

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance by Laurie Garrett

Let me know what you think! :o)

F is for......food

Food, glorious food. How could one not include food in their list?

Food holds a certain place in our family.  My daughter Isabel has a severe food allergy to peanuts and tree-nuts. (Peanuts are actually considered legumes and are not actual nuts. Hence the tree-nut, label.)

Anyway, because of this, we have to be extra cautious as to what kind of food we can have at our house and where we can eat if we decide to go out. Since eating out can be a challenge, due to the threat of cross contamination of nuts in the food preparation area, we like to make a lot of our meals at home. We are constantly trying out recipes and exploring new ways to prepare other foods that usually have nuts in the list of ingredients.

Lucky for us San Francisco is such the foodie town with loads of fresh produce to keep us well nourished.  Some people spend all their money on shoes or computer gadgets and the like, but for me? I tend to spend it all on food! This can't be a good thing, can it?

E is for......East Coast

I live on the West Coast but I am from the East Coast. After four years of living out here in Cali I still consider myself to be an East Coast ex-pat. Although I have never lived in the same place growing up like many people I know, I still consider the East Coast my home. There is something about having an actual change of seasons, a real summer (instead of wearing jackets and sweaters in the month of July and August.), real thunderstorms, fireflies (these only exist east of the Rockies), real beaches where you don't have to wear a wet suit to protect you from the ice cold water....I could go on.

Someday I will move back, someday.....

D is for.....digital photography

I love taking pictures. I love taking pictures with my nifty cool digital Canon Rebel Xti. I have been into photography since about the 8th grade when I took a class at school where I learned how to develop my own film.
My dad had his own little homemade photo lab in our basement years prior.  I remember watching the photos magically appear as they sloshed about in their chemical bath.  When I got to the ninth grade I was in heaven as I was able to create my own pictures and plunge them into the magic bath to watch them appear as well. Half way through my tenth grade year we moved to Florida.
My school in Florida didn't have a photo development lab. They may have in the past, as I think there was sign over a door in the art room saying photography lab. However when I asked, I got a look from the teacher as I  had grown two heads. Obviously  they didn't have a lab.
It has been about twenty some odd years since I have developed my own film.....however, now that I have my nifty cool camera things have changed somewhat. Now I can experiment on photos just as I did back when I did my own developing. Now I won't feel like I am wasting money on film.  Now I just got to find the time to perfect my digital editing skills so I can look as good as the rest of the excellent pictures I see elsewhere on other people's sites!

C is for....crafts

The whole crafty trend fascinates me. I have come across numerous crafty blogs  that I enjoy reading and visit on an almost daily basis. I love these little projects these authors create. I am so envious of their talent and time they have to spend on creating these little dolls, tote bags, t-shirts, note cards, sweaters, etc. I wish I had the time and patience to do the same. I think there is a hidden artist in me looking for the perfect opportunity to make itself known to the world.

B is for....BBC

I am a news junkie.  Well, let me rephrase that, I am an international news junkie. I am a huge fan of the BBC. I used to check CNN all the time but now I only check their site when there is a story on the BBC site about something that happened in the US.
I guess what really turned me off CNN was when they considered the whole Paris Hilton jail time thingy to be breaking news. I mean come on. How stupid do these people really think their viewers are? If you are really interested in Paris Hilton and her ilk go buy yourself a People Magazine guys! Seriously!
The other thing that kills me is when you watch local news (which I really despise) and they do the world news in a minute.  Do the producers of these channels really think that the public believes the day's world news can be summed up in a minute?
For all of that I enjoy the BBC. They actually cover real issues that occur in countries that most Americans couldn't find on a map. (Don't even get me started on that issue. I had a friend once told me that she didn't believe the country of Malawi even existed. She thought I made it up!)

A is for.....Aubrey

Almost one year ago I gave birth to my second daughter, Nathalie Aubrey. 
I came across a really neat idea from the Bella Dia site about creating an Encyclopedia of Me. Basically you go through day by day and letter by letter.  I thought, hey, what a great way to get my blog back up to speed seeing as I have been MIA for the past 5 months.... :O)

Anyway, so as I stated before A is for Aubrey. As of tomorrow little Aubrey will be 11 months old. Sigh. She is not all that little any more. At this point she is on the verge of crawling, she can say a few words (she says "ohhhh" when she wants Cheerios, "uh-oh" when she drops things from the table, and "No-No" when she is doing something she knows she is not supposed to be doing-  which is quite often!) and she is a great eater!

Stay tuned for more posts as I work my way through the alphabet...