Why I’m unsubscribing from Good Housekeeping

Last night I was working on a Vision Board in preparation for a class I am teaching next month. For this particuIar project, I was trying to avoid looking at the words and focus just on the images, so it took me a while to notice how many of the ads in the magazine were drug company ads.

I decided to go back to the beginning and tear out all of the pharmaceutical ads.

I could not believe it!

So many ads telling us that we are broken, faulty, but don’t worry–we can sell you a medication for that! A toxic, potentially deadly, medication.

The most egregious of these is the Gardasil ad. I recently heard this vaccine referred to as “Garda-kill” by Brandy Vaughn (a former drug company rep for Merck). Think about that. Keep reading

Why it’s important to consider your position on abortion before getting some vaccines

This is probably not something you thought you’d need to factor into your decision-making.

Maybe you’re like me. I used to think that vaccine bottles contained some form of antigen and saline, and not much else.

And then I learned about mercury. And aluminum.

I thought these things were probably bad to have injected into our bodies. Alas, I did not know vaccines contained these and other materials when I was making most of my vaccine decisions.

I started to question the process after I became a nurse. In nursing school, I was taught that nurses need a physician’s order to administer a drug. After I graduated and was out in the ‘real world’, I learned about flu shots being given out in the community at senior centers and such. I asked how nurses could be giving these shots to people without a doctor’s order. I asked about the process of informed consent, which I was taught was required before any medical intervention. Keep reading

Back to (bread) basics

Back to (bread) basics

I love bread.

Not just eating it! I love making it, too.

I started making bread over twenty years ago. I made all kinds of bread. For years I believed that there was only one way to make a yeast bread, and that way included quite a bit of kneading. Not my favorite thing. During one of those lengthy kneading sessions, I even made up a new word to describe it: tediosity

And then, around 2007 or so, I discovered Zoe Francois (with coauthor Jeff Hertzberg) and her new approach to making bread. I bought the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (note: there is now a newer version of this). All you need is yeast, water, flour, and salt. Keep reading