Bird Feeder Fun

I lost the funniest post I never got to write. It was all in my head written a couple of nights ago as I lay awake between snoring children. Somewhere between 2-4am. I couldn't get up, I couldn't sleep. Whatever it was, it made me laugh out loud. Now it is gone and I've got nothing. UGH!!!

The other day my older son came running into the kitchen. I was trying to get ready before work, and really needed a sip of coffee. "Mommy come quick, come quick" he yelled waving his hand for me to come. I was like in my head going what now....i am so tired what does he want.... "Do you want to see something beautiful?" His face lit up with excitement. I went with him to look out the window. There at the birdfeeder was something beautiful a bright red cardinal. "A cardinal mommy a cardinal isn't he beautiful?" "Yes, he his sweety" and so are you I thought to myself and so are you!

My kids and I love looking out our window using Stokes Beginners Guide to Birds to ID birds it is a blast. We have a finch feeder and a regular feeder up. It is amazing how fast the baby is learning to say bird names.

MSG In your Soup

So all you soup consumers out there, who in a pinch can only find progresso and campbells soup in CVS I urge you to write a comment to their site regarding the use of MSG in their products. Even Progresso in the low sodium version of their soup had MSG in it (Monosodium Glutamate).

While looking into the whole MSG thing I discovered a bunch of sites listed below who are not into MSG. My primary reason for writing this piece was initially b.c. I think MSG also has extra sodium in it. Why would it be in low sodium soup, why should it be in any soup geared towards children? Again I guess that is why I am making my own pot of soup for the kids today, but I don't always have this luxury. I do know that if Campbells and Progresso don't change their ingredients to support a healthier attitude then I believe in the long run their sales will go down. So why not write and tell them this. Don't buy the product if they refuse to be healthy. Here are their contact sites:
campbells soup
progresso soup
Oh and why not tell your local CVS or grocery store to buy healthier soups such as
health valley or any others of your choosing. Feel free to comment regarding soups of your choice.

Wikepedia on MSG
sites that agree MSG is bad
MSGTruth.org
Truth in labeling
MSG MYTH

FDA Fact sheet
FDA

Literacy in America

So, I have been working with low income population of patients for almost as long as I have been a nurse and Nurse Practitioner. I took a temporary leave for 5 years after being exhausted/burnt out of clinic work. (I used to come home everyday crying or so tired my husband would just help me into bed to sleep.)

Now that I am back in a clinic like environment I could not be happier. The diversity of the patient pop. has been helpful. One thing however totally saddens me, literacy. I don't get annoyed with people who can't speak a lick of English after living here for 1,2 3, -12 years. That doesn't bother me. They are able to at least read and write in their own language. What makes me sad is that in the year 2007 people don't know how to read or write. Some of the women I come in contact with do not know how to read at all, in the language that is the primary language from their country of origin.

I had a patient the other day who had to take a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and look down at it to slowly write down her name. Oddly enough there were two names on the paper and if she got confused she would write down the wrong one. She barely knew how to draw the letters, let alone know which one was her name to copy. I wanted to cry. This is part of the public health crisis. I think people need to know how to read and write. Granted, many of these women come from a country in Latin America where they don't learn Spanish. They speak a native dialect that is nothing like Spanish and don't have the resources that Spanish speaking only people have. I hope that in the work I do I can figure out a way to give these people the opportunity to learn to read an write so that their children will have a better chance at making it in this country. I can only imagine how hard it is to live here.

Spring is Coming

I saw the most amazing sight today while driving my kids to school and going to work: large flocks of birds flying north. I saw them high up in the sky in the distance, large V like units flying so brilliantly against the morning sky. It lifted my spirits. I wanted to cry! To see something so beautiful and the beginning of the return of spring, to actually witness the return! What a sight. I love spring!

Why I HATE CABLEVISION AND TACO BELL

Cablevision blows! We get our online service through cablevision and it has been out since Friday

We waited all day for them to come on saturday-ok I didn't wait I was at work- and they never showed. My husband decided to find out why and they said, oh we noticed there were outages in your area so we didn't come....fuckin' brilliant logic. They finally arrive today and HOPEFULLY I will be able to access the internet again. I can't post, can't read my email, I couldn't even post to Poetry Thursday.....I am sooooo frustrated.

On another note, nobody seems to understand the concept of the family bed-I wish I could write about it today, but I ate some taco bell for lunch and I just can't handle the stomach pains. I think I have to take another bathroom break. Taco bell you need to work on your sanitary conditions and what kind of crazy health care provider eats at taco bell anyway!!!!! Oh one that doesn't get a lunch break and who is starving and needs to ask a co-worker to get food. Man don't eat at taco bell. Ok this is a rant and rave post-so sorry. Maybe I will be back tonight with a happy family bed post!

Vermonter Vote: Impeach Bush

Vermont is totally radical! I want to move there-oh but its too cold for too long. Check out the above link on VT and the voters in that totally rad state.

Lunar eclipse lost

we went to look for the moon
only it wasn't there
I dragged the kids out into the car
my mom stuck between to car seats
even my husband came out
and we drove into harriman
to look for the moon

only we couldn't find it
the moon was missing.

we went looking,
for a total eclipse
and found not the moon
but sleeping children who didn't see
a sunset
over snow, ice lakes and black
silhouetted trees
Aug 28 we will look again