Please care…

About others and read this…

Imagine each day you wake, you live with the possibility of feeling ill. Your throat gets scratchy, your ears plug, your sinus’s have painful pressure and your eyes water. Imagine everyday feeling like you have a cold…that will never go away. Not enough? Take your right hand and with your index finger and thumb, pinch them together over your nose and hold. It’s at  this point you begin to breath through your mouth. Now, with your left hand, place your flat palm over your mouth and hold tight. Imagine the weight of a 30lb child standing on your chest in the center between your nipples. Can you feel the weight pressing? Now wait until you have to breath…until you’re actually scared…and then… don’t let go. Not enough. Dig a hole… in the ground…and place yourself in it. Let a friend cover you over with fresh, heavy earth, until there’s no light and no air. Get the picture?

Asthma facts and Statistics

Every day in America Alone:

• Every day in America Alone:
  40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma.
•  30,000 people have an asthma attack.
•  5,000 people visit the emergency room due to asthma.
•  1,000 people are admitted to the hospital due to asthma.
•  11 people die from asthma.

An estimated 20 million Americans suffer from asthma (1 in 15 Americans), and 50% of asthma cases are “allergic-asthma.” The prevalence of asthma has been increasing since the early 1980s across all age, sex and racial groups.

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity 

Chemical-based products are all around: in the clothes we wear, in the food we eat and in the air we breathe. It is not possible to escape exposure. Many people have become sensitized to the chemicals around them. It is estimated that as much as 15% of the population has become sensitized to common household and commercial products. For some people the sensitization is not too serious a problem. They may have what appears to be a minor allergy to one or more chemicals. Other people are much more seriously affected. Such people have a condition known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or MCS.

Symptoms of MCS 

• asthma or other breathing problems  • autoimmune disorders  • behavioral problems  • bloating or other intestinal problems  • cardiovascular irregularities  • chronic exhaustion  • disorientation or becoming “lost”  • dizziness  • dystonia (paralysis)  • eye, nose and throat problems • fatigue and depression • flu-like symptoms • food allergies and intolerances • genitourinary problems • headaches • increased sensitivity to odors • inflammation • irritability • learning disabilities • mental confusion • movement disorders • muscle weakness and joint pains • numbness and tingling in limbs • persistent infections, especially yeast  • persistent skin rashes and sores • seizure disorders • short or long term memory loss • visual disturbance

MCS may result from a single massive exposure to one or more toxic substance or repeated exposures to low doses. Some people become chemical-sensitive following a toxic chemical spill at work or in their community, or after exposure to pesticides. Or, individuals may develop this condition from spending time in a poorly ventilated building, where they breathe a combination of chemicals. MCS may be brought on by a wide array of chemicals found at home, at work, in hospitals, in parks, and at school.

Now, the next time you splash on that aftershave…or the next time you spray your body with your favorite brand of perfume…to go to work, a restaurant, a club, a sporting event, a play or concert… think about this…

Did you know that perfume is made of toxic chemicals that can injure your health? Many of the chemicals in perfume are the same chemicals in cigarette smoke, and yet there is no regulation of the fragrance industry. Many people are “bothered” by perfumes – developing headaches, sinus problems, and even asthma from exposures. Many have gotten sick or even disabled from wearing (or being exposed to) fragrances and using other scented products. And fragrances are now used in almost every cleaning, laundry, and personal-care product on the market! These chemicals go directly into the bloodstream when applied to our skin and are also absorbed into the skin from our clothing. We also inhale the chemical fumes, which then go straight to our brains where they can do major harm. Many even have a “narcotic” effect, which is why some people seem “addicted” to their perfumes.

The problem with scented products is not so much the smell itself as the chemicals that produce the smell. Nearly all scented products currently on the market are made largely or entirely of synthetic chemicals, usually derived from petroleum or coal tar. Nearly one-third of the chemical additives used in perfumes and other scented products are known to be toxic, and it’s not safe to assume that the other chemicals are safe just because they aren’t yet known to be toxic. (Keep in mind that most of the chemicals used in this country, including 90% of the pesticides, have never been tested.) And just one perfume can contain more than 500 chemicals. Expensive products are just as likely as cheap ones to contain synthetic chemicals. And words like “hypoallergenic,” “natural scent,” “floral,” and the names of various flowers don’t mean that you can trust the product under the label–they just mean that the manufacturer wants you to think that the product is safe. Even “unscented” may actually mean that a masking fragrance has been added to the product to disguise the smell of certain ingredients.

The only safe assumption about scented products is that they contain numerous toxic chemicals which constantly vaporize into the air and attach themselves to the hair, clothing, and surroundings of anyone who wears them. These chemicals are skin irritants, suffocants, eye and respiratory tract irritants, and neurotoxins. That’s why being around someone who’s wearing a scented product (or who’s wearing clothes that have picked up smells from past use of scented products) can cause an chemically sensitive person to develop obvious allergy symptoms (sneezing, coughing, watery eyes), to have an asthma attack, to develop a headache, to become dizzy or nauseous, to have trouble focusing or thinking or remembering, to experience sudden mood changes, to develop muscle cramps or spinal subluxations, or even to have a seizure or lose consciousness.

And that’s why wearing scented products isn’t just a personal choice. It’s a choice to impact the air space of others–and in ways you may not be able to predict or control. And that’s why “I’m just wearing a little!” or “It’s not perfume, it’s just my soap” are irrelevant responses. The chemicals don’t care. They don’t care how much you’re wearing or in what form you’re wearing it–they’re going to vaporize into the air around you and do their chemical thing, even if you weren’t planning to harm someone.

I don’t own these statistics and words. They belong to these wise and caring people and Foundations:

Thanks go to Roberta Rigsby, the World Asthma Foundation, the Asthma Foundation and the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation for all this great info and for trying to make the world a safe place for everyone.

Costume Favorite ;)

There were many fabulously interesting costumes and I love the details put into them and last night was no exception. And every year, there’s one or two kids that catch my attention in a big way, making it hard to forget them. It may be their expression (candy corn girl of last year) or some wacky costume. I wasn’t even sure the poor kid would fit into the photo tent but I’m sure glad he and his buddy did. This year my 10 fingers up award goes to the Turd Man and Ace Plumbing…HA!

Photos generously provided by Jim McGill of Photo444.com

Half Crocked

I’m one of those people who can’t sit back. My mind is always whirling with the next event or idea. About a month ago, after realizing I had mastered the Barbeque, I started thinking about my next cooking adventure. The idea of the crock pot came to mind. Tonight I went to Target and perused the kitchenware like a pro…of course I got side-tracked with a woman wandering around with a patterned pillow. I knew she was looking for either towels or a bedspread, and anyone that knows me, knows I can’t stand around waiting for someone to miss-match. There’s this “need to help” thing that comes over me. It’s a “gift”…  I grabbed a towel, walked quietly towards her, shoved it at her and watched her smile…

Back at the crock pot aisle… they apparently call them slow cookers now…maybe that’s because there’s one made by “Crock pot” and they’re hording the name. Makes perfect sense to me. They had a really nice little red one for 20 bucks but it looked so small compared to the rest. It also had this weird flicking switch button that I did not feel met up with the crock pot standards I aspire to. I left and headed to a store called Kohl’s. I was even less impressed with the choice they had and they were much more expensive!…So…yes…I drove to Wal-Mart. I hate the store after I had a scream out in a long center aisle with some blowhard shithead bully that yelled at an elderly woman. She apparently wasn’t walking fast enough for his supreme being. I can take anything…but bullying a senior is my limit. We had quite an audience and I got in some really good stuff before I saw his browbeaten wife and her downcast eyes. The hair went up on the back of my neck and I stopped abruptly knowing she would take the brunt. Besides…Karma baby…He’ll get his.

So back to this crock pot. While looking for the aisle ( I’m only acquainted with where the movies and the giant boxes of Lucky Charms are shelved)… a  woman with a heavy foreign accent, who obviously knew about “my gift”, began to asked me what to use to sloth her skin…well not in those words…but I got the gist.  I was happy to know, even with the band aid across my cheek, she was undaunted and knew that I would know. I brought her over to the meager loofa aisle and 10 minutes later I was explaining to her (and a Wal-Mart employee in charge of that aisle), about the benefits of sea-salt and Trader’s lavender sea salt oil scrub abilities. When I felt they were both satisfied, I went back in search of my goal.

On the crock pot aisle, they had lots of quart selections…3 quarts… 4 quarts, 5,7,9…heck how many people can you feed from this pot? I settled on a sorta middle number because it came in black and met my aesthetic needs. I took it to the counter and asked the young man at the register how he was. He got all happy and told me he had just come back from a 3 day vacation. I smiled and politely inquired where he had gone. When he told me “Los Angeles” I decided not to mention it was 40 minutes away and that I go there “for breakfast”  if the biscuits are good…

Back at home, I eagerly cut through the tape and pulled out my new toy. It came with a booklet and as I perused it. I saw words like “saute” and “brown in a skillet”… I shook my head…already thinking about re-taping and returning. I want to cut things up, toss them in and have it come out “food”. I don’t want to “brown” things. That requires a pan and I already have the pot.

I’ve decided to search the net…and possibly some of you know what might be good. I eat fish or fowl, any veggie imaginable…so bring it on you crack pot chefs.

Daylight and it’s hidden secrets

I had a chance, before preview, to take a few shots so the folks who can’t come…can see what makes up this years Halloween theme. This is esecially for Yumiko, an Artist from Anuvue Studio & Gallery, who had brain surgery and is at home recovering. High five and big hug Yumi!
This was a very “Green Friendly” year in that most everything is being recycled in some form. What the kids and adults see at night is created with blacklight paint, extremely minute details that they may never noticed,and a bit of mystery. Here’s a sneak peek in the daylight.

The entrance was made from recycled plywood, donated by our friend Gary, used previously for cement work. It was painted from the “not the right color” section of our local hardware store. I thought it was strange, every time I showed up, they had another can of practically the same color…I swear I have Halloween angels at work 😉

This is the view as you enter.

I simply could not resist these clear tubes… You are looking at command central, where the ship is controlled…and every kid in the neighborhood wants to fly. All the neato controls were gifted by my neighbor Greg who works for KOCE. The channel was clearing out allot of outdated gadgets…just in time for a spacecraft. The edging on the desk is actually the stuff they put along lawns… sprayed silver. I think it looks like metal and is very spacey. 😉

Do not touch signs are an absolute must bring the “touching” down to only “minimal madness”.

What a ship without a lab of bubbling jars with strange things. These aliens are cloning humans…with aliens. I love the doll heads so much, they are going in my house when this is over. They fit perfectly into the washing machine overflow tray I found 😉

Fred and Ethel diligently in their tubes…along with a new 2 headed offspring. All the dials are old hairspray, paint and misc. lids with dial stickers. Anything white glares in the blacklight so they look quite real. All the tubes are cardboard that’s been mitered and heck, there’s even some cookie trays and mac computer box inserts painted silver up there.

Tonight, after second preview night, I’ll take some shots so you can see the transformation at night. We had about 100 guests on Thursday night. One boy was so cute in his hotdog costume. I love bringing the kids in to see the candy and watch their frustration of how to pick just one. With all the do not touch signs, one little boy kept whining “Dad, I can’t touch anything…DADDDDDD, I can’t touch anything…finally I let him touch some of the keyboards on the center table with the baby heads. The next thing I know there are 5 little boys jumping up and down, all trying to all touch the keyboard, all shouting “I want to touch it” !
I asked my friend Jamie to be the “don’t touch” person in the room. She raised 2 kids and her costume has a sword…;)

Another day, Another adventure

Today we were joined by some neighborhood children who are new the area. Their parents walked by, saw Team Halloween building strange things and ask “what the heck is going on” ? I myself love the neighbors that ask if we’re having Halloween here at the house or at the Studio. I have given up telling them there isn’t a Studio anymore because frankly, if you see what’s attached to the the house currently… and still have to ask where the event is taking place this year…I think the matter of the Studio existing or not will still be lost. 😉

Anyway, the darling girls were put in charge of dressing the aliens and stuffing their heads. After a few moments of panic, they did a wonderful job.

UH OH…Legs in the arm holes

Alien wedge

Adding “Bling” to the walls

Halloween vs Football…OMG

Finishing the Pods for the “Human Cloning Gone Bad Experiment”
(isn’t that a band?)

Alien Profile (Handsome devil isn’t he?)

Guess who’s coming to Halloween…

Too Much Color

Gallery unrelated consumer report 😉

Ok people…is it me? Or is it that we Americans are given too many choices? For instance…You go into a store to buy tea. I happen to drink green tea. In the good old days, I used to go to the store, find my tea, then get the heck out. Well now there’s about 35 different brands of green tea to search through. They really push the stuff now so everyone can be “healthy”. They put allot of “healthy additives” in it to make it taste yummy, screwing it all up until it’s no longer healthy. But…people pretend it still is and drink it with a good conscience. I ask you. Do we really need 35 choices of green tea? Wouldn’t you rather just see the nice pretty box, with Japanese information that you can’t understand, verifying it as the really good stuff. That’s the kind you can feel confident that you have the very tip of the tipsiest part of that dang green tea leaf…you know…just the point! NO. They got to offer bottles and bags and boxes and powders and stuff that looks like grass clippings that have dried up in a lawn mower bag. And don’t get me started on the “flavors”.

Forget tea for the moment and let me really throw you a curve. Jamie and I were wandering through Target on Saturday night trying to find some soap. Apparently I am now allergic to natural soap. I’m not exactly sure what’s left after that. Maybe I should just rub wet sand all over me. Didn’t some tribe do that to keep clean? Anyway, on one of the aisles we went down, I was suddenly rendered speechless. Now maybe some of you already know about this but I guarantee I didn’t. You know the good old product Listerine? I used to sit and watch my Dad swishing that stuff in his mouth until he couldn’t take the taste another second. Well, by God, he would be thrilled to know that stuff comes in every color of the rainbow now. I saw 3 different blues, 2 greens, a purple, a yellow, an orange and I think even pink! They were all lined up at attention, proud as fruit punch, all in the same bottle shape and size. I implore someone to tell me what the heck we need rainbow Listerine for? Are people now trying to match their hygienic products with their bathroom decor? Or is it better to offer more colors for the health of the psyche? Because if so, I’m still waiting for the 3 ply, unscented, peacock blue toilet paper 🙂

Number Lore

I have, for the last 5 days, been working on the sales tax for the gallery. Now for those of you that don’t know me, numbers and my brain don’t always coincide. You can ask all the folks at my bank. We’re on a first name basis. Imagine a meteor hitting a small planet at a rather accelerated speed. It’s not that I’ve sold a great deal and there’s a plethora of receipts (not sure what people see in that word). After all…It is art we’re talking here people. But the fact that I’m doing any type of accounting is about the equivalent of me making a pot roast with all the trimmings. It’s quite an unnatural thing.

I feel certain that my accountant ascertained something in me early on that made him come up with an “idiot proof” chart. I’m to fill in “only the little green squares”. I’m to “utilize the drop down menus” and use “only the categories created”. He’s made it “H proof”. It won’t let me type ANYWHERE I’m not supposed to. Ahh, what’s the fun in that? He asked me to send him a small portion of my handiwork to be certain I wasn’t “coloring outside the lines”…screwing up his perfectly executed spread sheet. It even gives me a big red “OK” when I’ve done a good job. Kinda the equivalent of one of those gold stars in elementary school. I sent off my first draft. Sadly…it was for the year 2009 ;(

I did all the requested revisions to round one. I’ve just completed my 4th quarter, sent it off and am eagerly awaiting my grade. It took 6 cups of thick, black, pumpkin spice coffee just to finish. I remember the day when he looked me straight in the eye and asked me if I knew not to keep writing checks if I didn’t have any money in the account. I’m still chuckling over that. I distinctly remember my Father asking my Mother that very same thing! I can say in all honesty, on that one point, I’m pretty clear. I still wish I’d said “That’s when I’m supposed to pull out my credit card, right?…What’s life without messing with the analyticals?

As far as my relationship with numbers goes, I’m not concerned. One of the bank tellers yesterday told me I had wonderful “fashion sense”. The next teller readily agreed and so did the head of business accounts (and he’s a man). So you see…no worries…I already have some form of “sense” down. 😉

The Unfortunate Groom

Photography by Photo444

A little Update

I thought I would give you a little update on the Gallery Opening. It’s really crunch time for me so postings are coming slower. Anuvue Studio is situated in my city where high speed services are quite limited. We are located directly behind a large expanse of natural wetlands and therefore cell phone towers are not available (rightly so). It has been a challenge to find all the features that I’m looking for and has become a chain reaction of events.

We have installed our state of the art flat screens and have utilized all the newest products that the Apple Family has to offer. I wanted to have DSL service (my house 1/4 mile away has it) but it is not available in our environmental position. Therefore my only choice was the local cable tv people. I wanted a package deal with wireless phone, cable TV and Internet. I spent literally hours on the phone and the company has decided to let the studio become a “test pilot” for the new phone service they are not even offering until the end of May. I must have sounded that desperate. The poor agent didn’t even have training on how to write up an order.

From there, it is mandatory by insurance (and frankly I wouldn’t have it any other way) to have an alarm system but one can’t have an alarm system with a phone and one can’t have insurance without an alarm…you get the idea. While I figure all this out, I can’t seal up all the electrical holes in the walls until I know if any of these people need to put yet more holes into my walls.

And to make matters more intricate, all the flat screens and items hooked to them must be dis-assembled and removed so that the drywall guy can do his thing with the finishing coat without ruining alot of electronics. So you see, for every 2 steps forward, we take 1 step back. As you might be able to tell, I have given up sleeping entirely and exist on coffee and cat naps. 😉

On the absolute positive side, my lifelong friend Jamie, is full speed ahead, working on her “Young Rembrandt” art classes for kids (seven and above). She is going to teach everything imaginable. Her list includes perspective, shading, color theory, graphite, charcoal, water color pencils, oil pastels, acrylic paint, creative still life, landscape, life drawing, art appreciation, portraiture, caricature and tromp L’oeil. When I saw her list I said “you go girl”…I’ll be safely down the hall. Let me tell you folks…she CAN do it and all those in her class will be some very lucky kids.

That’s my news. Talk soon. H