Counting my blessings...

Show us the cartoon character that annoys you the most.

Caillou

is a smoke alarm that needs a new battery.  About every 5 minutes it gives off one of those very high pitched beeps that is impossible to locate.  Apparently it's going to be one of those days.

My daughters have been playing a post office game for a while.  One of them writes me a "letter" and the other delivers it.  I count it as handwriting practice.  Anyhow, my younger daughter {A}, started sending me "bills".

Abill

I thought it was funny.  But apparently I should have taken it more seriously, because today, I received this:

Acollectionletter

But I am trying to remember how to use my video camera...

By nature I am lazy and disorganized.  However, to get to live the kind of life I want, I have had to improve.  I have tried other people's systems-- mainly the flylady and Getting Things Done.  In their place, I am gradually figuring out what works for me, and I thought I'd share, because it gives me an excuse to sit on the sofa for a few minutes.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

David Allen

Tip #1: Don't over think it.  Procrastinators are great at turning anything at all into a time-wasting exercise, including figuring out every minuscule obstacle that's keeping them from getting their stuff done.  Stop thinking about why you can't do __ or why this isn't a good time, and just start.

Tip #2 Break things down into small, easily completed tasks.  Don't organize your closet all at once, go through your shoes, and then the pile of sweaters, and then when you're feeling good about what you've completed so far, conquer the part you're dreading.  10 to 1 it'll be easier than you ever imagined. 

Tip #3 Have a to do list.  Then when you're sitting around thinking you ought to be doing something productive, you can look at it and remember that you've been meaning to shampoo the cat.

Tip #4  (From GTD) If it will take less than 2 minutes, don't put it on your to-do list, just do it now.  It will make you feel better!

Tip #5 Don't waste time beating yourself up for past mistakes.  It's just another way of procrastinating.  If you notice that you're beating yourself up, take a look at your to do list and go do something.

Tip #6 Done is better than perfect.  Most procrastinators are a particularly weird version of perfectionist that would rather leave things undone than face the fear of doing the job imperfectly.  We need to get over it.

I'm taking Dawn's tag, and passing it on.

The meme is to write 3 things I do right as a mom.

1. I accept my kids as the neat little individuals they are, and try to remember the positive aspects of whatever quirk is making me crazy. 
   
2. I'm not neurotic about food, and so far they don't seem to be either.
3. I don't worry (much) about what other people think of my parenting choices, I just do what dh and I think is best for our kids at the moment, and let the rest of the world react in whatever way they choose. 
   

I do lots and lots of things wrong, but my kids seem to be doing ok despite me!

No Plastic Picture

A friend forwarded an article in Discover Magazine, "The Dirty Truth about Plastic".  I am writing this trying to calm down a little bit before tearing through our kitchen throwing away all the plastic we use all the time (sigh). 

The article (which you should read yourself) explains the research demonstrating reasons to be concerned both about Bisphenol-A (aka BPA, much in the news lately) and phthalates.  BPA acts like a synthetic estrogen, and so its pretty terrifying that lots of well-meaning parents have been using nice-and-clean-looking polycarbonate bottles to feed their babies.  BPA is also in Nalgene bottles, so lots of health conscious adults are probably at risk too-- here's how the alarm bells for BPA were sounded:

Patricia Hunt (then working at Case Western Reserve University) was studying the endocrine environment of the aging ovary in mice. Suddenly, as in Soto’s lab, “our control data went nuts,” Hunt says. “We saw chromosomal abnormalities that would lead to pregnancy loss and birth defects. It turned out that all of our cages and water bottles were contaminated by the BPA in the polycarbonate plastic, which was being sterilized at high temperatures. We set about proving this contamination was coming from the water bottles and cages.” They published that work in 2003. In 2007 Hunt and her colleagues published a paper in PLoS Genetics demonstrating that BPA exposure in utero disrupts the earliest stages of egg development. The fetuses of pregnant mice exposed to low doses of BPA, Hunt says, had “gross aberrations. We were stunned to see the effects of this estrogenic substance.”

In response to the uproar over BPA, there are lists of BPA-free baby-products-- the best I know of is from Z-recs. 

Unfortunately, the research on phthalates suggests that being BPA-free isn't necessarily good enough.  Phthalates inhibit testosterone, making them particularly concerning for infant boys.  They've found affects in both mice and humans.  The EU has banned phthalates in children's toys, but that's not enough either, as a recent study published in Pediatrics has shown that a large source of phthalate exposure in infants are baby care products like baby lotion and shampoo.  And phthalates aren't required to be included on the label, so there's no way to know if any particular product contains them.  We live in a climate with VERY dry winters, lotion isn't optional here.  I'm taking deep breaths, trying not to panic.

As I finish my cup of coffee, made with water boiled in my plastic kettle, I'm trying to figure out the sensible response to all of this. 

Do I swap a cancer risk for a burn risk and get a metal kettle?  Wait-- my kettle is apparently BPA-free.

Do I pitch our gladware?  Wait, according to The Green Guide, gladware is phthalate-free.

I'm calming down now, and I hope someone out there finds this information useful!