tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7407390954019532232024-02-20T12:31:37.355-05:00Bitches BrooRandom commentary from a organic, home-cooking, home-birthing, natural-schooling, Immigrant-Libertarian-American, teacher, yogini, mama.
Got your ears on?Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-2421575673552238582020-05-20T13:46:00.000-04:002020-05-20T15:08:51.125-04:00My Liberty Doesn’t End Where your Fear Begins!<br />
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<img alt="American Revolutionary War Artist Don Troiani" class="detail__media__img-highres js-detail-img js-detail-img-high" src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostonteapartyship.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F08%2Fdon-troiani-stand-your-ground-lexington-green.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" style="display: block; height: 262px; text-align: center; width: 321.69167803547066px;" /><br />
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Ok, I’m one of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those </i>people.
I’m your friend, your colleague, your sister, cousin, neighbor, stranger, who
you suddenly disrespect, distrust, and shame because she chooses to avoid
wearing a mask. Look, if it’s not a policy, I will not cover up. Wearing a mask
all day is as useful as walking around with a bike helmet on your head in case
you trip. Yes, I’m one of those labeled a “covidiot” breaking many of the
baseless rules that don’t make sense, because I take my brain, my freedom and the
US Constitution that was given to me VERY SERIOUSLY. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m an Arab-immigrant, naturalized since 2000. Immigrants
come to this country and get to participate in the greatest idea that humanity
ever came up with, Democracy. We were handed freedom on a silver platter. Most
of us don’t have grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought in WWI and WWII
on the American side. Most of us, don’t come from a lineage of military, American
slavery or the Civil Rights battles. Most of us immigrants (Hispanic-Americans,
African-Americans, Asian-Americans, other) don’t have great-great grandfathers
who served as Minutemen in the American Revolution, or soldiers in the Union and
Confederate Armies of the Civil War. Most of us might not even have a basic
understanding of what it really means to be American. We simply don’t have it in
our DNA. We’re the newcomers to this dream. So we behave like lucky obedient
guests, take sides with the popular opinions, while enjoying the civility,
infrastructure, social/health services, nature, peace, and taxes that fund them.
Yes, many of us vote, too, but for the most part, we just shut up, try to stay
out of trouble, follow the rules, and try to live peacefully. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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So, maybe those armed “White Thugs” out in the Michigan
capitol building just happened to be white because, unlike us citizenship
“inheritors,” they are the ones who have the original American spirit of the Constitution
running through their veins. Did anyone consider that perhaps these people
might simply have been armed because they were re-sending the clear message of their
forefathers, that the people are the boss?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Might a few of those white guys and gals even be direct descendants of
our Founding Fathers who made sure to give us the now heavily debated 2<sup>nd</sup>
Amendment - that the ONLY and FINAL power will ultimately be in the hands of
the American people? Could this be the reason why most of them happen to be white?
Wouldn’t it be a great country if black Americans also dared to join in this
anti-tyrannical stand? But no, let’s focus on these guys’ whiteness and change
the subject to guns and Trump. Easy as CNN.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s what’s meant by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“an
armed society is a civil society.”</i> WE have the power over OUR ELECTED
rulers, not vice versa.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! Reduced to serfs by the world’s biggest most
corrupt government and corporate class.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! Believing every lie and infantile politicized
handling of this allegedly serious pandemic. It hasn’t been that long ago since
we went through a much worse pandemic. And you know what? Life went on.
Woodstock happened. People died, and a LOT of people survived. Society
survived. We were simply less gullible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, all is lost, folks, and Biden isn’t going to save us,
especially if he appoints a white tyrant thug disguised as a woman for VP.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! We’re drowning in confusion and fear games. The
media games. The social media games. The political games. Games, games, games.
We have been reduced to a simpleton sports fan mentality of being either with
the red team or with the blue team. Here are your candidates. Don’t think too
much, just pick the best of the worst that was picked for you. Give us all your
rights, one by one, with each “crisis.” Put the good and honorable who speak
out about these injustices in jail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! We’ve gotten to the point where the right to
BREATHE AIR is prohibited. We all walk around with our mouths sealed as we
listen to the same media sources and “experts” who feared us into countless
unnecessary wars and corrupt elections in the past. Most Americans can no
longer critically think for themselves and are (tragically) so far removed from
our human instincts and intuition due to hypnosis by all the politicized
messages coming upon us. So, most Americans, are programmed to takes sides. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“With us, or with the terrorist,”</i>
another invisible face mask we willing wore and accepted from George W. in 2001.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! We’re being forced into poverty. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we so willing to give up the right to our
body by mass vaccination mandates? Are we so willing to be tracked, forced,
stopped, frisked, harassed by more TSA-like thugs to feel safe? Where in the
Bill of Rights does it say that the government has to keep us safe? WE are only
safe if we’re safe from the tyrants. In fact, one of our Founding Founders Ben
Franklin said <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13.0pt;">"Those who would give up essential
Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor
Safety."</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13.0pt;"> This guy KNEW his history! Next time someone tries to take
my temperature when I walk into a store, I’ll tell them they can get a much
more accurate reading rectally!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The average American doesn’t even know how our living
Constitution came about in a less than shallow manner. If they did know some
history, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. Our collective eyes would be
much more widely open. This forced prison-schooling of my son has clearly
revealed that the education system has no interest in creating citizens who
know much about their history, or any subject for that matter. It seems that they
just want to train them in being constantly plugged in and lose all peripheral
vision so they can be better managed as adults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The history curriculum must have been intentionally created to be
flunked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LOOK AT US! Forced into poverty. Stolen childhoods. Stolen
lives. Stolen futures. Stolen rights. Locked indoors and becoming less and less
immune to even the slightest bug because we’re not getting fresh air, sunshine,
nor socializing and touching. These are basic human rights! And don’t give me
any bullshit about the greatness of Zoom. They’re spying on you, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So when you see these “white thugs” standing up to TYRANTS,
you should at least not criticize your fellow citizen from behind your sealed
mouth and delicate latex-covered hands while they do the risky and dirty work
of protecting what little is left of YOUR liberties. Please don’t call yourself
liberal if you don’t even believe in liberty! Whether you consider yourself a
Democrat, Republican, something else or nothing, and have an understanding of
what it really means to be an American, you ought to at least respect their
rights and bravery to take a real RISK, not the psychological risk of passing a
masked-jogger two inches closer than 6 feet away from her. Oh, what a threat
you are with all that breathing you do, people!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, I was handed my citizenship on a silver platter. But
one thing that I did which the natural born citizen doesn’t have to do if they
don’t want to, is to swear to defend the Constitution of the United States and
to be willing to bear arms to defend it from foes foreign AND domestic. It
doesn’t say we must obey the president or the rulers, it says defend the
Constitution! And as far as my motherly/educator eyes can see, there’s a very
big domestic crime going on against our children right now. And it didn’t just
start with this pandemic hysteria either. It’s been shamefully going on for
decades. That’s why I backed Marianne Williamson in the Democratic race. She
deeply understands that there is no future if we don’t take care of our
children. There can be no other priority. Not even in the midst of a pandemic.
ESPECAILLY in the midst of a pandemic. The children are not in danger and they
are our greatest resource. Why can’t they play in parks? Why can’t they go to
school? Why can’t they celebrate their birthdays with their healthy friends and
family? Nobody can truthfully answer these questions so the propaganda machines
are now pushing a new “Covid-related” respiratory disease in children. Oh,
yeah? A common cold is also a “Covid-related” virus. Notice that this is only
reported in America by the American media. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 10.0pt;">"...the
moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the
dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly;
those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
"-</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In almost every global poll published that ranks children,
we suck! We also suck at all the other stuff in the quote. Furthermore, we also
suck at maternal mortality during childbirth because we were filled with, guess
what? Fear! We have become so terrified of childbirth that we started
distrusting the wisdom of women’s bodies. American women today have given up this
magical experience only to be butchered by the hands of the medical establishment
who botch up C-sections and births at much higher rates than homebirths! (Which
featured stories do you hear of most in the scare media?) But we, Americans,
accept this mindless shit and are too asleep to do our own digging for the
truth. Too asleep to make health and medical decisions for ourselves. We’re
playing their games and getting distracted.. Oh Em Gee! The president just touched
his obese face. Quick, put it in the headlines.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Shame on us if we don’t right this wrong. Shame on us if we
allow these tyrants to rob our children’s lives and to take control of every
aspect of our own health and livelihoods. We’re allowing the current culture to
treat our children like cockroaches, scurrying from corner to corner of our
homes. No other children to contribute to the rapid development of their minds,
bodies, and social interaction skills. Plugged into screens all day watching
mind-fogging garbage. Whether “educational” or not, too much screen time harms
children’s developing brains (and adults for that matter). Science knows this
fact. Steve Jobs knew this fact and didn’t allow his own children iPads or iPhones
and enrolled them in screen-free Waldorf schools. But the joke’s on us. We’re
the addicts, they’re the dealers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Shame on us for making the legalized spies and thieves
richer and richer (Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, big corporate/agri/pharma
complexes), and ourselves poorer and poorer in money and spirit by buying into
their destructive products and lies! We are now literally surrendering our
lives with white flags to be their indebted servants, WILLING to be watched,
controlled, vaccinated, and imprisoned because we are terrified of empty words
and a virus with a 95% survival rate. Where are the free? Where are the brave?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“There is nothing to
fear, but fear itself.”</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-famously
said by FDR.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Look. I get it if you’re a little afraid because you don’t
even know who to trust anymore. I get it if you don’t have the same kind of
courage it takes to stand armed against a tyrannical government, and sing the
Star Spangled Banner on the house floor. But you could at least protest. You
could at least say no. You could at least find common ground with the “white
thugs” and every other American from every color, religion, background, and
education who is here for liberty. It is our own rulers that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“hate us for our freedoms,”</i> not the
ghost terrorist the TSA thugs have yet to capture. That common ground that we
should all agree on is OUR LIBERTY. We are being brainwashed to hate each other
and disrespect our most basic right of being who we are, free and
free-thinking. We are giving our rights away because we are kept distracted by a
most dangerous emotion, false fear. And worst of all, fear of each other. I am
not afraid of this virus. People will always die. How can we be accepting a
government that is out-lawing simple LIVING with the excuse that it is saving
us from dying?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Give me liberty, or
give me death!”</i> That’s Patrick Henry for you, another American white thug,
eh?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m sorry Mr. President, Mr. & Mrs. Governors, and Mr. and
Mrs. Mayors, but every single one of you made that same oath to defend the
Constitution as I did. The difference is, I take it seriously. Therefore, your job
is not to protect us. Your ONLY job is to protect OUR RIGHTS, and everything else
will take care of itself peacefully, intellectually, and effectively. How can
we trust a government that doesn’t even trust us?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h1 style="line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">George W, sold us an illegitimate war by mumbling
that we shouldn’t get fooled twice. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know
it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on…
um,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shame on you. Fool me ..um…you can't
get fooled again.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></h1>
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My fellow citizens, we have been systematically fooled and
have been reduced to mumbling creatures shaped by sound-bites. It’s time to
wake up and ROAR together! <o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ve reached the end of our National Anthem. Can we still
sing “land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE” with a straight (masked)
face? Hell, no! Not if we don’t come together and do something about this
Constitutional crisis we’re in.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
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These are the “Tyrannical Twenties.” So either you rise for
liberty NOW…or get the hell out of the way and take good notes.<o:p></o:p></div>
Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-11488846055947125142014-07-12T11:11:00.000-04:002014-07-12T11:27:34.704-04:00All Is Gray, Hooray!The moment finally arrived. Since making the <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/its-all-comig-togethernaturally.html" target="_blank">decision in November 2013</a> until now, I grew enough natural hair to be able to finally get a short haircut. The honor of the scissors went to Michel, the greatest, most experienced, and possibly the oldest hair dresser in Lebanon. He did my grandmother's hair, my mother's hair, my aunts' hair, my hair, and next week he will cut my son's hair. If you're wondering how old he is...well, he'll soon be 80! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHckcNmTiVtpmZ2qHUS53JeW1pNM8R0450DoH7L1FDxGcphYR2A3RTXDbZW6YciCHfm1glpAiJv7f6gA2HGkH3ifvGgahNrRCdKTT2bMiVx23Xtf6nFniSTBKlXp5od7frF4EkhAPZBN_/s1600/IMG_4888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHckcNmTiVtpmZ2qHUS53JeW1pNM8R0450DoH7L1FDxGcphYR2A3RTXDbZW6YciCHfm1glpAiJv7f6gA2HGkH3ifvGgahNrRCdKTT2bMiVx23Xtf6nFniSTBKlXp5od7frF4EkhAPZBN_/s1600/IMG_4888.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
Pre-washing..<br />
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The Masestro cutting.<br />
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Getting short...I needed cigarette, c'est normal au Liban.. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePptZtsdEWa2oqhJsanbye6cKCbMUrj7W0qqJ-xgx5Pu37FW0-JejWDdTEcy9KzJODEeuBS1DDl1lUJkiojGRRsAyOEBPIx-DRw_HvyEbgRn3SkOJKcwAotTOZl4DKonAsrR3x4XOHrla/s1600/IMG_4902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjePptZtsdEWa2oqhJsanbye6cKCbMUrj7W0qqJ-xgx5Pu37FW0-JejWDdTEcy9KzJODEeuBS1DDl1lUJkiojGRRsAyOEBPIx-DRw_HvyEbgRn3SkOJKcwAotTOZl4DKonAsrR3x4XOHrla/s1600/IMG_4902.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
Voila!Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-2538338333998412662014-07-02T08:57:00.000-04:002014-07-02T08:57:33.874-04:00Cinnamon Leaf Oil: A Solution for Summer Pests, and More!Wouldn't summer be better if we all didn't get stung by mosquitoes and pests that leave colonies of bites all over our limbs? Personally, I've had more summer vacations ruined by mosquito bites than I care to remember. I'm one of those people who is a living magnet for mosquitoes, and it's been a joke in my social circle that when I'm around nobody else gets stung. I'm like a human citronella candle. <br />
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And speaking of those candles, I've never really liked them, nor have I found them to be effective. Before I knew any better, I would always use the commercial bug sprays on myself, which are usually full of toxins. Then several years ago I read something about cinnamon leaf oil and its effectiveness in keeping bugs away and killing mosquitoes better than DEET. So I tried it, and I haven't gone back to anything else since. It absolutely works, when I remember to spray it on, that is. And as my experience with this essential oil grew, I came upon two new discoveries. First, cinnamon leaf oil not only keeps mosquitoes away, but it keeps animals away, too! So for example if you aren't an animal lover and you're visiting a friend who has a dog or cat, rest assured that the pet will stay far away from you if you dab some on. I've recently discovered that you can even mix it into your favorite sunscreen for dual skin protection.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0EjhKqFHz-tPgsMas93L01_sppNAahfLR6CPkcoIDcBkyJOVLW0ehAA0aoEec16L4R55iFj1guvVJzevsv2rkYCX3YwplmovMAJyFsEh-TxYfWQKxsd3huVHfuYiMuA4sDQwcYQUSRxT/s1600/IMG_4811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0EjhKqFHz-tPgsMas93L01_sppNAahfLR6CPkcoIDcBkyJOVLW0ehAA0aoEec16L4R55iFj1guvVJzevsv2rkYCX3YwplmovMAJyFsEh-TxYfWQKxsd3huVHfuYiMuA4sDQwcYQUSRxT/s1600/IMG_4811.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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But my newest and most exciting discovery in using cinnamon leaf oil is for gardening. Having lived in condos most of my adult life, I've never been a gardener. But when we moved to our house recently, I wanted to try my thumbs at growing some cucumbers and sweet peppers. But to my utter disappointment, the bugs were merciless on my new plantings and they ate up the leaves and flowers right away. Not wanting to use any insecticide on my plant foods, I decided to try spraying my cinnamon oil solution on the leaves and see what happens. I did this once a day and well, a miracle happened. The bugs stopped eating at the plants, and all the new leaves are now growing healthily without any holes in them. Look at the picture, only the old leaves have been eaten. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8OMi3y1biql99VjEV24zSt1ZJz77L7fhPXCF_seX3A_v7C3f8Av2MsuTHV-uts3jBEvNPY4mooviYFKCwKKa0OP8ZAc6MN8WkJ8Rza4uZ2UOXJW_umWM6nQT0veoTHsdvZbutIQ3LdKk/s1600/IMG_4812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG8OMi3y1biql99VjEV24zSt1ZJz77L7fhPXCF_seX3A_v7C3f8Av2MsuTHV-uts3jBEvNPY4mooviYFKCwKKa0OP8ZAc6MN8WkJ8Rza4uZ2UOXJW_umWM6nQT0veoTHsdvZbutIQ3LdKk/s1600/IMG_4812.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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Now I don't know how this solution might affect the taste or quality of
the resulting veggies and fruits because I haven't found anything at all on the Internet that suggests using it on plants. I guess I'm just going to have to find this out
for myself, unless you're a green-thumbed person and are curious
enough to join in my continued experimentation with this discovery.<br />
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So here's what you do. This is the same mix I use to spray on the body and
clothing before venturing outdoors.<br />
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In a spray bottle, mix a proportion of 5 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil to each 1 oz. of filtered water (multiply the ratio as needed). Fill a small bottle for personal use and a large one for gardening. <u>Shake well</u> before each use.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-eONBF5zrHZbOIQCubbafSsCUekh_H5Nv8Swx9I5fVxDQR8XNZ6YMgpVyFwhXkL5h8zsOimcI5Qceno3NkKaNO2M_aN718mG2-GxCcZ0CVwI8IhscYa8gT1ZHhkWkj9UznskBC6DgXIc/s1600/IMG_4814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-eONBF5zrHZbOIQCubbafSsCUekh_H5Nv8Swx9I5fVxDQR8XNZ6YMgpVyFwhXkL5h8zsOimcI5Qceno3NkKaNO2M_aN718mG2-GxCcZ0CVwI8IhscYa8gT1ZHhkWkj9UznskBC6DgXIc/s1600/IMG_4814.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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Try it, folks. It's simple, inexpensive, safe, and organic! As long as you don't have a personal aversion to the smell and you don't mind walking around smelling like a fresh-baked cinnamon roll, you might even like the scent. I promise you a bug-free summer with this cinnamon leaf oil solution.<br />
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Remember, you heard it here first, so<br />
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Keep your ears on!<br />
<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-66348909685541621712014-05-22T22:15:00.000-04:002014-05-22T22:48:17.019-04:00It All Started With Angelina Jolie<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><img alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaHGLOhpOdirbT8x47VCrafSwqufuTGEiYf4xoMSFc8knVVDu2kCPqui7UNZBVX_PtgwHFe4W63FadzxT3EOQARnhsHjYCCy5LwMW2cebWi1xto0H1i0I0lTuTIpiVJCF-VpdRXnq41w/s1600/Angelina-Jolie-at-The-2012-Academy-Awards.jpg" class="shrinkToFit decoded" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaHGLOhpOdirbT8x47VCrafSwqufuTGEiYf4xoMSFc8knVVDu2kCPqui7UNZBVX_PtgwHFe4W63FadzxT3EOQARnhsHjYCCy5LwMW2cebWi1xto0H1i0I0lTuTIpiVJCF-VpdRXnq41w/s400/Angelina-Jolie-at-The-2012-Academy-Awards.jpg" width="246" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When the Broo published its <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/05/angelina-jolie-youre-not-my-hero.html" target="_blank">first commentary</a> one year and one hundred blog posts ago, it was in revolt to all the positive media attention the disturbed and self-harming Angelina Jolie was receiving when she wrote the NY Times Op Ed, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html" target="_blank">"My Medical Choice."</a> She became an instant hero and a model parent because she chose to have her breasts removed and replaced to "avoid" getting breast cancer. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">A week later, she got even more attention and publicity because Dr. Mehmet Oz, the doctor who plays wizard on TV, gave her the proverbial medal of honor as the media headlined how "proud" he was of her. I responded with a somewhat harsh <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-fake-leading-blind.html" target="_blank">follow-up post entitled "The Fake Leading The Blind,"</a> which concluded with these words:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"<span style="font-family: inherit;">I might be coming across as not liking Angelina. That's not true at all. I care about her as I would care about any living thing.</span></i></span><i> In fact, I'm "proud" of her for being a millionairess high school drop-out! But, she happens to be in the spotlight for something that could potentially turn out to be a very dangerous trend among women world-wide."</i><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the Broo celebrates its one year anniversary, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2635679/Angelina-Effect-Doctors-warn-worrying-rise-double-mastectomies-Jolies-op.html" target="_blank">Angelina is in the news again</a> for the very outcome that the Broo predicted. The loud cheer-leading doctors who supported this act of madness are now being discredited by what is being termed the "Angelina Effect," Here are the alarming facts today, thanks to the UN <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1292866/Angelina-Jolie-driven-cut-I-felt-caged.html" target="_blank">ambassador of self-harm</a>:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span id="ext-gen126" style="font-size: large;">A recent study found
more than <u>two-thirds of women</u> who had both breasts removed after a
cancer diagnosis <u>did not have a medical reason for doing so</u>.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">They
had a very low risk of developing cancer in the healthy breast because
they had <u>no family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or BRCA 1 or
BRCA 2 gene mutations.</u></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">The
study was carried out by US researchers, but surgeons in Britain say
such requests are on the increase, especially from <u>young patients who
want the unaffected breast removed at the same time. </u></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">In
the US study, of 1,447 women treated for breast cancer, almost 8 per
cent had undergone a double mastectomy. But <u>69 per cent of these women
who underwent removal of the unaffected breast at the same time had no
genetic or family risk factors.</u></span></li>
<li><span id="ext-gen130" style="font-size: large;">women who do not have a genetic predisposition or family history are being over-treated</span><span style="font-size: large;">. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;">As if it wasn't enough that the hospital factories have millions of women lined up for costly c-sections, which are <u>the most common hospital procedures in the US</u>, generating the bulk of revenues by needlessly slicing up women's bellies. The second most common procedure <a href="http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-301622/AHRQ-Surgical-Admissions-Bring-48-of-Hospital-Revenue" target="_blank">in the "top three list"</a> is circumcision, which is another completely needless assault on the human body. And in third place is Percutaneous coronary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angioplasty" target="_blank">angioplasty</a>. A 2011 study found that about half of those heart procedures were also unnecessary. Now we have unnecessary mastectomies battling for a lucrative spot in the top rankings, thanks to Mrs. Pitt!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Until men and women stop blindly and willingly surrendering their sacred bodies and the bodies of their children to the operating tables; and until we stop considering doctors our gods --unquestioningly handing them full control of our life decisions-- we will continue to be a country of medical guinea pigs, sacrificed to feed the piggy banks of the greedy, while destroying our bodies and minds in the process. Although this mass insanity makes good material for the Broo to keep bitchin' for years to come, it will have very sad results for the world if we don't collectively awaken from our slumber and start reversing these disturbing social and medical trends.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Keep your ears on...and the rest of your body parts!</span><br />
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Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-31486366798981069712014-05-19T12:29:00.000-04:002014-05-19T12:31:14.671-04:00May BHM: Rinat VS. The Beast <img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/17/article-2631088-1DF056FF00000578-787_634x404.jpg" height="203" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /><img alt="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/17/article-2631088-1DEE7AF500000578-376_634x414.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/17/article-2631088-1DEE7AF500000578-376_634x414.jpg" height="208" width="320" /><br />
To be honest, I didn't know who Rinat Dray was until two days ago, but this week's media spotlight on her is enough reason for me to instantly crown her this month's Beautiful Human of the Month.<br />
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Rinat is suing the beast! <br />
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Rinat Dray is one of millions of American mothers who are sick and tired of being assaulted and treated like property once they become pregnant. She is a modern-day Rosa Parks--a simple mother who refused another c-section (after having had two), yet was <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1250257/mother-forced-to-have-cesarean-section-and-now-shes-suing/" target="_blank">forced to undergo this disempowering major surgical operation</a>, which ended with the surgeon perforating her bladder and putting her life at risk. For begging to have a natural birth, she was accused of endangering her unborn child, and threatened that her baby would be taken away from her. All this mother pleaded for was some more time to give birth on her own, and her doctor called this "child abuse??" Birthing cats and dogs are given better treatment in America. They are at least allowed time, space, quiet peace, and privacy to have the best chances for a successful natural birth!<br />
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This scenario is becoming very widespread in hospitals all over the world. In Britain a woman who is deemed "mentally unfit" can be <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/high-court-judge-rules-doctors-3476512" target="_blank">sedated , restrained, and forcefully cut open</a> to remove her baby. <br />
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Expectant mothers very often check into hospitals with the full intention of having a natural birth, and come out traumatized and threatened as the hospital staff rush to get the babies out on <b>their own </b>schedule. It seems the concepts of free choice and "informed consent" when having surgical procedures in American hospitals <u>do not apply to pregnant women</u>. Women seem to lose all ownership of their bodies once they become pregnant. Just this week in Tennessee, the governor passed a law that made <a href="http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/04/29/tennessee-governor-signs-bill-criminalizing-pregnant-women/" target="_blank">criminals out of pregnant mothers</a> who might struggle with "substance abuse." This is outrageous! What defines "substance abuse" these days? What about forced substance abuse? What is that, you might ask? Well, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528129/Pregnant-nurse-29-FIRED-refuses-flu-shot-protect-unborn-child.html" target="_blank">here is the story about a pregnant woman </a>who was legally fired from her job in the state of Pennsylvania because she refused to take the flu shot for fear it might harm her unborn child. Aren't vaccines a substance, and wouldn't administering them by force be considered abuse?<br />
<br />
That is why, Rinat Dray's fight is so important for women all over the world. Enough is enough. Enough controlling our reproductive systems, birth, and medical decisions. Enough <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2630258/I-want-come-Heartbreaking-final-calls-girl-adoptive-parents-returned-ex-biological-father.html" target="_blank">meddling with our parental rights, already! </a><br />
<br />
Although there is a steady <a href="http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20110520/home-births-on-the-rise-in-the-us" target="_blank">rise in home births</a> among educated American parents wishing to avoid hospitals, I honestly don't know what is taking so long for us to fully unite with Rinat Dray and fight this barbaric practice of legalized assault on mothers. I do hope we see more and more such law suits, maybe even a class-action suit, to put an end to these mad practices once and for all. It's one thing for a woman to choose a pre-scheduled c-section for her own convenience (a mistake if you ask me), but quite another to be forced into it. It would be just as wrong and criminal as forcing people to have face-lifts (or <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">amputations?</a>) against their will, and putting them at risk of further injury in the process.<br />
<br />
Here is a step by step breakdown of the Cesarean trap (also called an <a href="http://theunnecesarean.com/avoid-an-unnecesarean/#sthash.mDfa8MLa.dpbs" target="_blank">unnecesarean</a>) which many women are falling into today. This is the trap that Rinat Dray was desperate to avoid. I copied it below from my midwife's website where it is called <a href="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/Birth/NaturalBirth/CascadeOfInterventions.aspx" target="_blank">"The Cascade of Interventions."</a><br />
<br />
Does it sound familiar? If it hasn't happened to you, surely it must have happened to someone you know...<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.fitpregnancy.com/sites/fitpregnancy.com/files/styles/384x384/public/field/image/pregnant-belly-hospital-gown-blood-pressure-cuff_700x700.jpg?itok=Xkte3QCJ" height="200" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 5px;" width="200" /> <br />
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>Changing into the hospital gown</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
Something as seemingly harmless as wearing a hospital gown can have an
effect on the laboring woman. Putting on the hospital gown shifts the
balance of power from woman to hospital. Her perception of herself
shifts, and she sees herself as a patient, in the care of “experts,”
rather than as a woman confident in her ability to birth on her own
terms. This simple act may also make the woman feel less comfortable,
feel cold or she may be concerned about modesty as well, which increases
stress and makes relaxation harder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
<b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM)</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
The major effect of continuous EFM is that it keeps the mother immobile in bed. The use of EFM is not evidence-based, and even <a href="http://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2009/ACOG_Refines_Fetal_Heart_Rate_Monitoring_Guidelines" target="_blank">ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) admits it has had no effect in improving outcomes for babies</a>.
Evidence shows that Intermittent EFM with a handheld Doppler is just as
effective as continuous EFM at identifying babies in distress. The
only effect continuous EFM has had is that it has increased the cesarean
section rate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
<b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Getting the IV</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
IV’s restrict a woman’s mobility and make it easier to administer fluids
and medications that can interfere with natural birth. Sometimes, IVs
can be helpful, especially if a woman is unable to tolerate oral
hydration, or in an emergency situation. In normal labor, women need to
be free to move their bodies throughout labor, and should be encouraged
to change positions frequently. Having an IV can hinder that. The IV
is also simply uncomfortable, annoying and may interfere with her focus
on relaxing with contractions as well and make holding hands with her
support person more uncomfortable or impossible. Even a hep lock can be
bothersome in the same ways. The perception that having an IV readily
available is helpful in an emergency is not evidence based. Many times
this IV port is not working well enough to handle an emergency and must
be restarted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
</b><br />
<b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Labor augmentation with Pitocin®</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
The use of synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin®) makes labor more painful for
the mother, and more difficult for the baby to tolerate. There are
studies that show <span style="font-family: Verdana;">Pitocin®</span>
may interfere with the body's natural ocytocin hormone production which
may hinder the mother's natural efforts in the pushing stage, may
contribute to postpartum hemorrhage and may interrupt her bonding with
her baby, contributing to postpartum depression. <a href="http://www.birthresourcenetwork.org/resources/54-pitocin-the-whole-story-" target="_blank">http://www.birthresourcenetwork.org/resources/54-pitocin-the-whole-story-</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
<b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Pain relief</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
Because the contractions are so intense with Pitocin®, the mother frequently will choose to receive an epidural for pain relief.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Restriction of movement</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
An epidural keeps a woman confined to bed for the duration of the labor
and birth. Being unable to move restricts the woman’s ability to help
her baby get into a good position for birth. It may also hinder the
baby's ability to move, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Contractions slow down</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
Epidurals can slow labor progress, which results in increasing dosages
of Pitocin® to increase contraction intensity and frequency, which can
lead to an even greater need for pain relief and greater risk of fetal
distress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
</b><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Progress slows or stops</b><br />
Assuming the woman reaches full dilation, the epidural can interfere with the woman’s ability to push effectively.<br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Fetal distress<br />
</b>Hard contractions, combined with reduced blood pressure and the lack
of blood flow to the baby, can cause the baby to go into distress.<br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.novabirthcenter.com/_SiteImages/Common/Arrow.jpg" style="border-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 34px; vertical-align: middle; width: 50px;" /><br />
</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />
</span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>
Cesarean section</b><br />
After having exhausted all of the tools at the obstetrician’s disposal, this one option remains.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I'll be following Rinat Dray's case with great attention, and I wish this Beautiful Human of the Month all the justice and peace that she and her children deserve.<br />
<br />
Keep your ears on... Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-85221094599653043112014-05-14T14:40:00.000-04:002014-05-14T14:41:54.124-04:00The Pistorius Saga Pauses<br />
<br />
<img alt="Supporter" class="trb_embed_imageContainer_img" data-baseurl="http://www.trbimg.com/img-534c0da6/turbine/la-fg-blade-runner-oscar-pistorius-in-court-pi-016" data-content-naturalheight="1379" data-content-naturalwidth="2048" data-height="300" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-534c0da6/turbine/la-fg-blade-runner-oscar-pistorius-in-court-pi-016/500/16x9" data-ratio="16x9" data-width="500" itemprop="image" title="Supporter" /><br />
<br />
Maybe if I <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">kept my mouth shut</a>, we wouldn't have to wait another month to get a verdict on the Oscar Pistorius case, huh?<br />
<br />
It looks like the judge in the trial has<a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-pistorius-mental-health-evaluation-20140514-story.html" target="_blank"> ordered </a>that the defendant undergoes a one-month-long psychiatric evaluation to investigate more deeply the anxiety disorder Dr. Vorster claimed he had.<br />
<br />
All kidding aside, I am very surprised that the case has taken this sharp turn, and that Pistorius was taken for a psychiatric evaluation during the Easter recess, three days after I <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">wrote about his childhood trauma</a>(s) and how it may connect to the murder.<br />
<br />
If Pistorius makes it out alive from this psychiatric evaluation (I cannot imagine the depth of pain from revisiting his past in such a way), the results of it will have to become public. I'm sure the thought of his life being laid out for the world to judge him by is terrifying. But his case also has the potential of bringing new light to a dark world. A world that downplays the importance of childhood experiences, from pregnancy to birth to infancy to bonding and security, and how these play a role in the future of our PHYSICAL and mental health.<br />
<br />
I know the Broo readers might welcome a break from this story for the next month, but I can't wait to hear more details about his amputation, birth, and early relationships with his parents. Don't laugh, but I wonder if he was circumcized, and under what circumstances. I am firmly against any circumcision, male or female; so, I also wonder if his amputation at 11-months, not only caused him trauma from the horrific experience itself, but also a double-trauma due to his body memory of the circumcision that preceeded it. Two body violations before the age of one. Something's gotta give.<br />
<br />
Keep your ears on...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-17840005501694225712014-05-12T20:11:00.000-04:002014-05-12T22:03:01.202-04:00Pistorius: You heard It Here First.<img src="http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20120409/mortazavi20120409102445450.JPG" height="179" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 79px;" width="320" /><br />
Update on "<a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">Pistorius, Neither Innocent, Nor Guilty.</a>"<br />
<br />
Is the defense team reading the Broo? I'd love to think so, but probably not.<br />
<br />
But the quotes below from<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/oscar-pistorius-suffers-anxiety-disorder-psychiatrist-n102871" target="_blank"> the most recent </a>reports in the news media today, which come from a psychatrist called on by the defense, got me all excited to share this new development with the Broo readers.<br />
<br />
"Dr. Merryll Vorster told the athlete's murder trial Monday that events
during Pistorius' life, including the amputation of his lower legs as a
baby and his late mother's habit of sleeping with a gun under her
pillow, contributed to his "increasing stress."<br />
<br />
"Pistorius' mother slept with a gun under her pillow, sometimes abused
alcohol and did not soothe the feelings of anxiety her children
experienced."<br />
<br />
"The children were reared to see their external environment as a threat. It appears that the children were not soothed by their mother but
rather all developed features of anxiety. Instead of the mother being in
a position, if there was a threat, to relieve her children's anxiety."<br />
<br />
"His parents always encouraged him to
behave and appear as normal as possible. He was never able to allow
himself to be seen as being disabled. He was always encouraged to be
seen as being normal. Over time this could result in increasing levels
of anxiety as the stress of appearing normal continued."<br />
<br />
It all fits right into the formula, folks. We discussed this in detail in the previous post <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/05/happy-mothers-day.html" target="_blank">Happy (m)Others' Day,</a> too. It couldn't be more clear. Negative body memory plus absent mother equals negative outcome. <br />
<br />
Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Px9XzIapwI" target="_blank">this portion of the hearing</a>! It's very revealing.<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/0Px9XzIapwI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
This could become quite interesting! Keep your ears on...Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-60801509789487776702014-05-09T11:04:00.003-04:002014-05-09T11:04:34.793-04:00Happy (m)Others Day!<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">"<i>A Mother is she who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take. </i>" </span>--<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Mermillod" target="_blank">Cardinal Mermillod</a></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/25/magazine/25economy/25economy-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/25/magazine/25economy/25economy-articleLarge.jpg" height="202" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/25/magazine/25economy/25economy-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="url" width="320" /></a>Before we go celebrating another rosy posy balloon-happy Mother's Day (a day which can be a source of much pain and sadness for many people), let's consider what little is left of motherhood and the basic role of the mother in America today!<br />
<br />
Warning: This is going to be a long one.<br />
<br />
We indeed live in dangerous times for humanity when everyone thinks they can take the place of the mother. The doctors, nurses, hospitals, corporations, drug companies, schools, religious leaders, and the government, all continue to work tirelessly at replacing the mother (and father!) with something else, in order for the country's workforce to be doubly strong and the fat government tax account can be well-fed for squandering.<br />
<br />
Statistics indicate that currently 75% of infants' mothers work FULL TIME in the first year of their child's life. Since the U.S. has no laws granting a single day of paid maternity leave to mothers, most return to work as soon as possible, forcing an abrupt severing of their natural maternal instinct, and resulting in the child suffering the same developmental setbacks of children of "absent mothers" -- In the excellent book <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emotionally-Absent-Mother-Self-Healing-Getting/dp/1615190287/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398261073&sr=1-1&keywords=the+emotionally+absent+mother" target="_blank">The Emotionally Absent Mother</a>,</u> by Jasmin Lee Cori, the term includes absence for any reason, even death. There is no blame here, just a profound recognition of the ill effects the absence of mothers, intended or unintended, has on the development of humans. Whether the mothers were disconnected due to forced separation, high paying jobs, drug addiction, or depression, the children will undoubtedly be affected by this loss of time. Just think of that number again-- 75% of the current generation of American infants are separated from their mothers because of work outside the family. What a sad generation we are raising.<br />
<br />
This trend of mothers returning to work began to rise sharply in the early 1980s and continues alarmingly unchallenged today. And what do we have as a result? The ADHD generation, the food-allergy generation, the mood disorder generation, the emotionally disconnected tech generation and the skyrocketing divorce rate that goes with it. These innocent children who grew up with "absent" working mothers of the 80s and 90s and TV are the same adults who have today grown up with deficits resulting from unhealthy mental, emotional, and physical development.<br />
<br />
Not all mothers have a choice, of course. There is a <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/americas-silent-crisis-the-plight-of-the-single-working-mother/259935/" target="_blank">Silent Crisis in America</a>. Many working mothers are single, widowed, or divorced. It is these mothers especially who should get government support to stay home with their kids, and not get thrown into a system of chaos in order for them to get back to work. Last week, I met an elderly lady visiting from Sweden. She laughed out loud when I told her that the US government has no paid maternity leave laws! She said in Sweden, the law mandates that women get paid 80% of their salaries for ONE AND A HALF years to stay home with their children. What a better way to spend tax money than to waste it on handouts and expanding preschool factories, which do nothing to strengthen the core family or the natural development of the children.<br />
<br />
But many mothers in America are more fortunate. They are married or partnered, and might have a second income to depend upon. It is to these mothers I want to reach out. Those who work, but don't really really have to. They don't have to have the big house, or the extra car, or the extra vacation, at the expense of being "absent" from their infants in the first years of life. It's scary to see <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/magazine/the-best-nanny-money-can-buy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">how much parents are willing to pay</a> for this social parental trap! In New York City, for example, nannies can be paid more than pediatricians! I want to caution those mothers most of all: Your child may very likely grow up to pay a heavy mental/physical/emotional price for that absence (if she isn't paying already), and climbing out of that hole is hard and lonely. I know because I am 47 years old and still working on "fixing" some leftover scattered deficits, even though my childhood wasn't even that bad apart from the fact that I was separated from my working mother a lot, and she didn't even travel frequently out of town like many <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-marissa-mayer-travels-with-employees-2013-11" target="_blank">millionaire moms pride themselves </a>in doing today.<br />
<br />
People tend to think that I have postponed going back to work because I can "afford" to "stay home." I put quotes around that latter term because it's so hilarious. As if non-professional mothers do nothing but stay at home. When properly bonded and connected, we are like the control tower of the airport we call home! Without us <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB3xM93rXbY" target="_blank">"Directors of Operations,"</a> many more accidents are prone to happen--present, future, seen, and unseen mistakes. Things can and will fall apart when mother is absent! The job of mother simply cannot be outsourced to daycare centers and nannies, and result in the same quality of life for the marriage, family, and children.<br />
<br />
I'm often asked if I see myself returning to a regular job outside the home anytime soon. My answer is, when there comes a time that I feel can, I will. Right now, my family needs me, and the other reality is, my husband and I can't afford for me to go back to work and make a second income. Shocking, huh? Not really. We actually did all the math when I was pregnant and working, and it was clear that it would cost too much for me to go out and earn that extra $100,000-- from a quality-of-life perspective AND from a financial perspective. Once we factored in the childcare outsourcing costs, the increased taxes (due to more income), the food short-cut costs, wardrobe, and transportation costs--Plus the savings in money and time by keeping our family healthy, without a constant need for "professionals" to intervene in our home-life, it was a no-brainer.<br />
<br />
I speak with an urgency about this subject today because I am a child of the 60s, a time when it was still very uncommon for new mothers to work full-time, but mine did. So I feel like my life has been a trailer or a preview for the feature film we are about to see in the increasingly mother-shorted generation to come.<br />
<br />
When I was growing up, most moms stayed home and my mother was the only one among all my friends' who worked (double-full-time). Indeed she 'had' to work for financial gain, but she was also primed by her own childhood experiences to grin and bear detachment from her children because the circumstances of her early childhood rendered her own mother emotionally detached. The author of the book I mentioned earlier talks extensively about these generational patterns that get passed on from mother to daughter.<br />
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My working mother also never had the opportunity to breastfeed me, an act of nature I deeply believe is where the bonding process is rooted between mother and child. When I say "breastfeed" I don't only mean feeding <i>through</i> the breast, but also <i>on</i> the breast (through a bottle). As long as a mother or the bonding parent (father, adopting mother, caregiver) is doing the feeding up close and personal, the bonding has a chance to take root. So all this empty talk about those poor working moms wasting time and emotions on pumping and storing milk for their babies to feed in their absence, does absolutely nothing for bonding. In fact, the more absent the mother is from her child, the less likely she is to keep producing milk. Another catch-22 for working moms thanks to the government that "strongly recommends" that all mothers breastfeed for a year, and in the same capacity gives them no legal right to do it!<br />
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I adore my mother and feel her love and hear it in her sweet words, but still, there seems to be something missing, not connecting. This deficient "wiring" and the differences between us continue to slightly irritate us to this day. We love each other, but we don't know how to express it. We want to help each other, but we don't instinctively know what to do. We need each other, but we don't know how to ask for our needs and we 're frustrated when they are not known and instantly met. We want to comfort each other, but we don't seem to know the right words to say. This is what the broken bond does. It becomes a bad wiring situation between mother and child. This delicate seed can only be planted early in a life-time-- in those first days, months, and years of a mammal's life. Is it too much to ask for this natural right? Is it too hard to give up a second income for just one year? Are our children not worth a properly rooted life?<br />
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With strength and understanding, together my mother and I have worked very hard at facing and resolving the truths that make us. And although I feel like I've overcome many obstacles as a result of this effort, she continues to suffer through an endless history of chronic and unexplained illnesses which are very likely to be the result of her own childhood suffering. (see another book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Body-Never-Lies-Lingering/dp/0393328635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398358253&sr=8-1&keywords=the+body+never+lies" target="_blank">The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Hurtful Parenting, by Alice Miller</a>).<br />
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The well-known healer and lecturer, Louise L Hay also convinced me through her own experience and through her many books, that physical illnesses have definite mental and emotional sources. One of her books, (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heal-Your-Body--Z-Physical/dp/1561707929/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398263000&sr=1-1&keywords=louise+hay+a-z" target="_blank">Heal Your Body A-Z</a>), references many medical ailments, their emotional sources, and a new thought pattern to help heal the problem. You don't have to buy the book to see this list, a similar one is <a href="http://www.kekmadar.com/heal/a.html" target="_blank">readily available here.</a> The author herself was diagnosed with late-stage vaginal cancer in her adult life. She supplemented her healing through deep inner work, which left her convinced that<u> no cancer healing would be complete without it.</u> She is also convinced that the cancer came to her from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory" target="_blank">Body Memory</a> of "deep hurt" when she was raped at the age of five and battered in her childhood. "No wonder the cancer hit me in that area," she says of her fate. She believes, as I do, that if buried childhood issues are not recognized, resolved, and healed, then illnesses of the body, mind, and spirit are inevitable. Babies may not cognitively register the memories of growing up without mother's constant presence, but their bodies will! I discussed this in the two previous posts about <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">Pistorius</a> and <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/05/dr-drew-you-blew-it.html" target="_blank">Dr. Drew</a>.<br />
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The child in me couldn't care less if we had an extra car or what my mom's own childhood was like. That child in me probably would have much preferred to be 'poor' for another year than be separated from my mother twenty hours out of the day, than to bear the pain of being without her grounding force, mirroring my SELF to me. I have no cognitive memory of how traumatic it might have been for me to be left with a string of strange caregivers because, as all infants, I was non-verbal at that stage in life. However my body's memory somehow recycled these experiences into my adult behaviors and unshakable paterns. And now that I'm all grown up and know the facts, I still don't think my mother's two jobs were worth a couple of steps up for our family on the socio-economic ladder.<br />
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It took a lot of inner work and yoga, but I've had many positive breakthroughs as I worked through the myriad of weight/smoking/relationship puzzles in my life. But the biggest breakthrough happened when I had my own child. I was struck with a profound awareness of the pregnancy/birth process and I made a conscious decision not to fall into those same patterns in my own mothering style.<br />
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As a young girl, I knew deep inside that I wouldn't be a mother unless I was fully able to be present for my child's first year of life. I was even ready to accept a life without children if I couldn't do it that way. Like most people, until my late thirties, I was still a mystery to myself, and I couldn't have possibly matured my delayed and deficient maternal instincts in time, in spite of the fact that I was a teacher and surrounded by kids for 17 years. I didn't get married until the age of 40, and with no serious intention of having children. But the universe sent me a magical boy of my own at the ripe old age of 43. As a result of my maturity and the full support of a mature loving husband, I decided to take complete ownership of motherhood. I did what most people around me said was un-doable. I chose unmedicalized pre-natal care and a home-birth. I put my career on hold and we relied on my husband's income alone (which is already truncated for child support from his previous marriage, so I know it can be done!) We gave up the second car, lived a simpler life and shared rooms with our son for a couple of years. Nobody starved or suffered and we reaped the benefits of the health, peace, and harmony that come from having only one parent work outside the home. I was able to nurse my son and give him round the clock care. I chose<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_parenting" target="_blank"> attachment parenting</a> all the way!<br />
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The term "attachment parenting" is a little deceiving because people who are not familiar with it tend to visualize clingy and spoilt kids. In reality, it's quite the opposite. Malattached kids are more likely to be clingy while well-attached kids will be more independent in their mother's absence because they don't experience feelings of abandonment when their mothers are consistently away for long periods of time. They trust their environment and feel secure in it. In Jungian theory, the 'natural' child is described as honest, genuine, generous, loving, innocent, open, trusting, imaginative, intuitive, curious, spontaneous, vital, alive, full of wonder and play. We have succeeded in creating a scoial system that literally operates to prematurely delete these inborn characteristics in the natural child. It's very sad indeed.<br />
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Remember the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/04/21/teenage-stowaway-defied-oxygen-shortage-extreme-cold-in-planes-wheel-well/" target="_blank">teenage stowaway who has been in the news</a> for defying death in order to reach his mother? Now there's a properly attached kid for you. It's easy to assume that he has all those characteristics otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make that crazy trip. I don't know anything about his early life because my research hasn't turned up anything, but I'm willing to bet this kid was a home-birth, breastfed, and uncircumcised. I'm also willing to bet he was constantly carried by his mother in his early years, smelling her, hearing her voice, breath, and heartbeat--bonding with her. The power that made this kid believe he can reach his mother and act on it blows the mind. This is the super human power that is born in mother and child through natural childbirth and proper bonding. Ain't no mountain high enough! I'm afraid humans are being slowly stripped of their species' instinctive superpowers through continued practices of artificial pregnancies, violent birth, cruel circumcision, unnecessary vaccinations, formula-feeding, bad medicine, and the general outsourcing of the parents' role.<br />
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I might not be doing a perfect job with my son, (it's been a wild ride) but I can guarantee you he's properly attached. I "see" him and I "know" him. I can effortlessly tell how he feels, how he thinks, and what he means. I can predict his responses and second-guess many of his actions. I don't need to be around him all the time to know he's ok, my maternal antennas instantly know when things are or aren't right. This is not because I'm so highly educated, or anything silly like that. In Dr. Raymond Moore's words, "children thrive more in bad homes than in good institutions." In other words, most children are better off with their own lousy mothers, than with anyone else. Unfortunately mothers are increasingly trading this work for a paying job outside the home without even needing to. Many highly professional mothers today are walking around with these broken antennas, wondering why they can't bond with their kids, as society wonders why the rates of postpartum depression, ADHD, food allergies, behavior disorders, childhood sex, murder-suicides, childhood cancer, diabetes, obesity, and everything bad in this world, are skyrocketing? Humanity is on a health downward spiral, with the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/generation-x-fatter-than-baby-boomer-parents-university-of-adelaide-study-20140405-365pd.html" target="_blank">Baby Boomers less healthy than their parents</a>, and the Generation Xers less healthy than theirs.<br />
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Why do healthy twenty-somethings of today think their "biological clock is ticking" and they need expensive and invasive in-vitro fertilization to become pregnant, c-sections to give birth (<a href="http://www.hngn.com/articles/30845/20140508/unnecessary-c-sections-in-low-risk-births-extremely-common.htm" target="_blank">up 500% since the 1970s</a>), and strangers, nurseries, and now computers, to mind her infants while they attend to other careers? Because there seems to be an active media campaign that hypnotizes them so. At the rate society is going, there won't be much of mothers to celebrate as we are forced to pledge our ovaries and our children to the churches and state, so they may be vaccinated and processed to be good citizens with attachments for the nanny institutions of America.<br />
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My message to new mothers (and fathers)-to-be on this Mother's Day is: If work can wait, get your priorities straight. Resist being de-feminized to gain bogus "equal rights." Resist the federal, medical, and educational systems that strip women of their womanhood and mothers of there motherhood. Get informed. Say No to unnecessary c-sections! Demand the natural right to breastfeed and care for your own child for at least a year. Fight for paid maternity leave in America. Recognize that there is a fourth trimester in pregnancy after the child is born. Humans are the ONLY mammals that practice maternal-neonatal separation, and we've yet to come to a full understanding of the depths of the psychological, biological, and physiological wounds this will have on future generations. Are beast mothers and their offspring more deserving than our mothers and babies?<br />
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In her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Body-Never-Lies-Lingering/dp/0393328635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398358253&sr=8-1&keywords=the+body+never+lies" target="_blank">The Body Never Lies, by Alice Miller</a>, the author investigates why people continue to honor their parents, regardless of how they are treated by them. She found that around the world, people do this as a duty buried in their psyches that dates back to Moses' 4th Commandment (of the ten), which is strongly evident in the books of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. <i>Honor your mother and your father, or risk an early death from God.</i> And from here, the complexities of our psychological issues take root. The 4th Commandment empowers parents to be untouchable, in spite of any mistakes they might make with their children, and leaves children helpless and haunted by this love dilemma.<br />
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The meaning of Mother's Day in America has come so far from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Ward_Howe" target="_blank">Julia Ward Howe'</a>s call for peace. The many roles of mother have been outsourced to test-tubes, surgeons, nurseries, bottles, baby-monitors, TVs, other machines, and doctors. Along with "Father's Day" the purpose of this holiday has morphed into a mere propaganda ritual for keeping alive this out-dated and hurtful 4th commandment, so parents are immune from blame for screwing up their kids and kids can never ask too many questions about their childhood. It essentially takes the pressure off parents to, first and foremost, be present in their children's lives.<br />
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In the USA, we have a day, or a week, or a month on the calendar to honor everyone, their heritage and illnesses! This week, for example, in addition to Mothers' Day, we've been celebrating "Teacher Appreciation Week." which falls in Asian-American Heritage Month (shared by Jewish and Haitian Heritage), and Celiac Deisase Awarerness. And that's not it. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commemorative_months#May" target="_blank">Here's the list for May</a>.<br />
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But of all the commemorative dates we share with the rest of the world, there is one thing starkly missing on our list of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commemorative_months" target="_blank">holidays</a>. Can you guess what that is?<br />
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<Drum roll, please.><br />
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Children's Day!!<br />
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And that's because we could never decide on what day to have it on. Bill Clinton came along in 1998 and said we should celebrate it on October 11. George Bush, said, no, let's make it June 3! Obama says let's just make it the first Sunday in June, while the state of Illinois is arguing for the SECOND Sunday in June. I kid you not. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_day#United_States_of_America" target="_blank">Look it up</a>.<br />
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So until we stop our governing leaders from making a constant mockery of our children, their health, security, and education, Mother's Day will continue to lose it's meaning in America; for what is Mother's day without Children's Awareness Day, week, month?<br />
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And now we interrupt this depressing programing and return to our regularly scheduled rosy posy balloon-happy (m)Other's Day, because after all, most moms truly deserve to be celebrated and honored for their billions of sacrifices to us! And they've ALL sacrificed something, somehow, in some way, no matter, to bring us into this world.<br />
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To my mom, and to all the m(others) who care/d for me, Happiest Mother's Day to you from the Broo!<br />
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Thanks for reading, and keep your ears on...<br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-35716927739112689542014-05-02T11:58:00.001-04:002014-05-02T14:27:49.727-04:00Dr. Drew, You Blew It!<br />
<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8484" src="http://www.jeffpearlman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/drdrew-300x224.png" height="224" title="drdrew" width="300" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since I published my last blogpost about <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2014/04/oscar-pistorius-neither-innocent-nor.html" target="_blank">Oscar Pistorius and body memory connections to the crime he committed</a>, the mainstream media has been abuzz with the 'scandal du jour' targeting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Pinsky" target="_blank">Dr. Drew Pinsky.</a> Predictably, everyone completely missed the point he tried to make about body memory, and it continues to be buried by the "pseudo" label-mongerers of this science. Everywhere I look I see that this human phenomenon is real, and the diseases that come from it are also real, yet for some reason, it's still not accepted. Even the media turned on its own popular TV doctor because he dared to suggest it. It's another conspiracy, I tell ya! There's a powerful lobby out there that is very busy giving new names to old illnesses and writing big prescriptions on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies. Nobody wants to investigate drug-free therapies that don't make corporations rich!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> <a href="http://www.refinery29.com/2014/04/67067/dr-drew-endometriosis" target="_blank">The story goes like this</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">A man called in to seek advice from Pinsky on how to deal with his fiancée's medical issues. He explained that his fiancée was suffering from endometriosis, lactose intolerance, interstitial cystitis, and a lack of stomach lining. Dr. Drew responded:</span><br style="line-height: 25px;" /><br style="line-height: 25px;" /><span style="line-height: 25px;"><i>"These are what we call sort of functional disorders. Everything you mentioned, everything you mentioned, are things that actually aren't discernibly pathological. They're sort of — they're what we call 'garbage bag diagnosis,' when you can't think of anything else, you go, 'Eh, well it's that.' So, it then makes me question why is she so somatically preoccupied that she's visiting doctors all the time with pains and urinary symptoms and pelvic symptoms, and then that makes me wonder, was she sexually abused growing up?"</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Why, oh why, did popular TV doctor with massive reach take this perfect opportunity and ruin it by using such a stupid term to bring light and attention to the topic of body memory? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But to his credit, Pinsky guessed correctly that the caller's fiancee was indeed sexually abused! He continued to explain a little more eloquently, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br style="line-height: 25px;" /><span style="line-height: 25px;"><i>"When people have unexplained pain, particularly pelvic pain, it's called somatoform dissociation, and the only way her body, which was suffering during those early experiences, can tell its tale of woe is with pain. "</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All the media took from this is "garbage can disorders" and nobody bothered to even define SOMATOFORM DISSOCIATION for the public- which is basically a medical term for injury from trauma. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The woman in question suffered from three things in particular, endometriosis, lactose intolerance, and cystitis. In the Louise L. Hay's book, <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heal-Your-Body-A-Z-Physical/dp/1561707929/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399042222&sr=8-2&keywords=heal+your+body+louise+hay" target="_blank">Heal your Body A-Z: The Mental Causes for Physical Illnesses and The Way to Overcome Them</a></u>, the author says the same thing. If you look up the disorders the caller was complaining about, you'll find that they're all connected to fear and anxiety from holding on to the memory of trauma. Louise Hay herself was diagnosed with vaginal cancer and she is absolutely convinced that her condition came as a result of her being raped at the age of 5. She survived this late-stage cancer by supplementing the medicine and surgery with inner healing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Dr. Drew even gives the caller some useful advice. The man was calling in the first place because he and his fiancee seemed to be running out of medical options. At least Dr. Drew offered a new path and recommended that the woman go see a trauma specialist, instead of giving him the real 'garbage' about the latest 'advances' in surgery and drugs for these conditions!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since I'm TV-unplugged and not familiar with Dr. Drew Pinsky's program, I don't know enough about him to form a complete opinion. But I'm disappointed that three days have gone by and we heard no further explanation from him. He is still silent and the media seems to have completely snatched away the microphone from him. Rather than debate what he is saying, the media is choosing to demonize him. What a sham journalism has become. Nothing more than a tool to sell a single message.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I hope his silence is temporary, and I hope he doesn't turn out to be <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/kerry-apologizes-for-apartheid-remark-about-israel/article/2547815" target="_blank">another American coward</a> who will bow and apologize to save his career, rather than muster the courage to use his position to bring more light onto the truth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Keep your ears on...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.celebrityhealthfitness.com/18161/drew-pinsky-calls-endometriosis-garbage-bag-disorder-listen/" target="_blank">UPDATE:</a> "</span><span style="background-color: #f7f4ed; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21px;">In the latest episode, Pinsky offered a lukewarm apology to endometriosis sufferers last night on “Loveline.” He said he was only referring to the caller’s case, not the affliction in general."</span>Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-25477655707563925082014-04-29T19:35:00.001-04:002014-04-29T20:13:59.573-04:00Oscar Pistorius: Neither Innocent, Nor Guilty<img alt="AFP/AFP/File - South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius appears on February 20, 2013 at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria" class="attachment-in_article wp-post-image" src="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/pistorius.jpg" height="224" width="400" /><br />
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By now, most everybody knows who <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_pistorius" target="_blank">Oscar Pistorius</a> is. We know without a doubt that he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013. Many people have strong opinions and beliefs about the case as the world waits to see whether it will be proven that he shot his gun with full intent to kill Reeva (knowing it was her behind the bathroom door), or he fired his fatal gun with the intent to kill an intruder. What will the verdict be?<br />
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I've followed this disturbing story closely because I have my own underlying curiosity about it that comes from my deep interest in the study of <a href="http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/zpm/psychatrie/fuchs/Body_memory_Unconsious.pdf" target="_blank">"Body Memory."</a> I have read so much recently about how the mammalian body has a completely separate memory system from the mind, that it's given me a whole new perspective on human responses and a complete paradigm shift in how I respond to people's personalities and circumstances.<br />
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When the details of the crime began to surface and as the trial began to unfold, I was deeply repulsed by Pistorius because I have a strong feeling in my heart that he knowingly shot and targeted Reeva. But as I started to make connections from what I've been recently learning about childhood experiences and body memory, I began to see things differently in this case. Heck, I began to see everyone I know differently! I feel like I've had a major breakthrough in my understanding of people. Everything about the theory of Body Memory makes so much logical sense that I'm really astonished that there has been very little serious interest and research on this science in the psychological and medical fields that closed-mindedly continue to insist on its pseudo-status.<br />
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According to the short and limited Wikipedia description:<br />
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"<b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Body memory</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> is a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Hypothesis">hypothesis</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. This is used to explain having memories for events where the brain was not in a position to store memories and is sometimes a catalyst for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repressed_memory" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Repressed memory">repressed memory</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> recovery. These memories are often characterized with </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_pain" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Phantom pain">phantom pain</a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories of incest or sexual abuse can be retained and recovered through physical sensations.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Smith_1-0" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory#cite_note-Smith-1" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> The idea is </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Pseudoscience">pseudoscientific</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> as there are no hypothesized means by which tissues other than the brain are capable of storing memories.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 13px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"</span></span><br />
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When humans are in infancy and before verbal expression develops, body memory is most dominant because there is no verbal memory yet. That is, experiences can't be stored in words, but they may very well be stored in our living cells. Thus, negative experiences in childhood often manifest themselves into adult physical symptoms or mysterious psychological struggles.<br />
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As I researched Oscar Pistorius' childhood and particularly the circumstances surrounding his amputation, my verdict on him changed. And if I was his defending attorney, I would seriously look into a completely different strategy for his defense, because even though I believe Pistorius committed this crime in full mental knowledge, there might be enough to prove that it was actually his body memory's response which took over and made him knowingly pull the trigger. I would argue that this physical memory of violence and trauma triggered a REFLEX in him which is completely not in his mental control.<br />
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The story goes that when Oscar was born, he was missing the fibula bones in both legs. He had feet and two toes on each foot, but his shins below the knee were congenitally deformed. This beautiful baby boy was not "perfect" enough, so his parents quickly set out to "fix" him.<br />
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After an obsessive search for expert doctor opinions by his parents (bordering on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchausen_by_proxy" target="_blank">Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy</a>, if you ask me!), the decision was made to amputate his legs below the knee sooner than later. The reasoning behind the urgency had nothing to do with any danger of deterioration of his health, he could have lived with this deformity for the rest of his life. The reason the parents and surgeons decided to amputate in infancy is to give him neat stumps and no chance to experience anything but prosthesis legs to walk on from the beginning. I recognize this flawed mentality. In modern education speak, they call this impulsiveness to act on human imperfections BEFORE problems arise "early intervention." The child will learn better if we try to fix him sooner. In my opinion, this rush to "fix" Oscar was a tragic mistake and an injustice. The amputation could have been, and should have been, postponed until this baby had the verbal ability to decide what he wanted to do with his body, and a verbal ability to express physical pain and understand its source and purpose. In his autobiography <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Story-Oscar-Pistorius/dp/0753540851/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398737028&sr=8-1&keywords=blade+runner+my+story" target="_blank">Blade Runner </a>(published before the crime) Pistorius writes:<br />
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"Basically if I had a double-amputation before I learned to walk, I would never know what it was like to walk on my own feet and so would not suffer from the trauma for having lost them."<br />
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And so his legs were amputated at the age of 11 months.<br />
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But trauma he did suffer at this most tender and impressionable age. His body must recall this operation as a gross act of violence against it. In the first chapter of the book Pisorius tells us that his father (the same father who traveled the globe to collect dozens of expert opinions) was out of town on a business meeting when the amputation surgery took place. When he returned early, feeling guilty for being away, he found<b> infant Oscar alone in a cold recovery room in the hospital "wailing in agony," because no effective pain medication was administered to him.</b> Just imagine this infant's terror and pain. Where does this horrific memory get stored if it doesn't verbally get stored in the mind?<br />
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I haven't read Pistorius' entire autobiography, but believe me, I will soon. These are just little clues I found by looking at the book's preview on<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Story-Oscar-Pistorius/dp/0753540851/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398733468&sr=8-1&keywords=blade+runner+my+story" target="_blank"> Amazon</a>. Predictably, Oscar must have spent the rest of his life hearing messages of "you can achieve whatever you want," and that is likely why he achieved his athletic successes. But he also must have heard over and over, that his legs were amputated because his parents loved him so much and wanted him to be perfect.<br />
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I have read biography after biography of historical figures, criminals, artists, and all kinds of people with tragic life endings. In all these lives--all of them-- an injured childhood is unquestionably the root of the violence. The body memory is separate from, and uncontrolled by, the mind, yet it probably defines half of our life's responses. A more serious study of this human phenomenon is overdue and it has the potential of breaking ground in the way we view everything, from medicine to education to criminal law.<br />
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I'm not a judge, witness, or lawyer, but I don't believe Pistorius' recent emotional <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/oscar-pistorius-trial-when-does-trial-resume-was-south-african-olympian-acting-witness-1575355" target="_blank">breakdowns in the courtroom are an act</a>. I think what we are seeing instead is the image of a baby trapped in his injured body who cries for the lonely violence he endured in the name of love, and lost in his confusion by his own fatal reaction to his girlfriend. I also don't think that Oscar believes his own story. He simply cannot verbally explain what happened to him in that insane moment, but he knows it was wrong, and no other defense is available to save his life except to convince everyone (including himself) that he meant to kill an intruder. In the mind and heart of Oscar, he didm't intend to kill Reeva. Only in his BODY, did he intend to. The person on trial here is the injured infant inside Oscar, not the adult Oscar. Hard to prove in a court of law, but personally, I rest my opinion.<br />
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So there's your doze of Pistorius during the recess. Until court resumes on May 5, <br />
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Keep your ears on...<br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-20815071537926624692014-04-28T20:40:00.000-04:002014-04-28T20:43:16.537-04:00Alternative Tabbouleh!I was just complaining to my husband about how a lot of the blogs I follow are flooding my mailbox with recipes lately. So this gave me the idea to share a recipe. Ha, ha, hypocrisy! But it's true, I've been meaning to share this for a while, and being waaay behind on posting (because I've been working on a rather long one for Mother's Day), I'm seizing the moment.<br />
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This isn't a new recipe, but something that's been gaining popularity because it's one of those new twists on something old. Some of you may have tried quinoa tabbouleh, substituting it for the burghul, but I doubt you've tried it with kale! Ever since a friend introduced me to it, I haven't gone back to parsley. Friends who've tried it at our home were delightfully astonished with the authentic taste. Everything about it is the same, but instead of parsley, substitute with a bunch of well-chopped kale. The difference is almost unnoticeable, and the added bonus is that kale has a better refrigerator life than parsley in tabbouleh. Unlike day-old wilted parsley tabbouleh, the kale version tastes just as crunchy and fresh the next day and even the day after.<br />
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So, if you're looking for new ways to eat kale, you might find this recipe a fun and familiar addition to your diet.<br />
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<a href="https://www.google.com/#q=kale+tabbouleh" target="_blank">Many variations</a> are available on the internet. Here's one recipe from the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/12915/kale-tabbouleh.html" target="_blank"> NY Times </a>that has cumin (ick!) and radishes in it (?). Here's mine, based on the tabbouleh recipe passed on to me from my mom, and her mom before her, etc:<br />
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5009" src="http://www.adashofcompassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/DSC_8085-1.jpg" height="132" title="DSC_8085-1" width="200" /><br />
<br />
KALEBOULEH<br />
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1 large bunch curly kale -- finely chopped.<br />
2 large ripe tomatoes-- diced.<br />
5 scallions - chopped<br />
1/2 cup fresh mint -- finely chopped<br />
1/3 cup bulgur ---washed, pre-soaked, and strained<br />
1 1/2 lemons --juiced.<br />
1/2 cup olive oil<br />
1 Tablespoon sea salt<br />
dash of pepper<br />
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Remove the stems from the kale and chop the leaves finely- by hand or food processor. Be careful not to over process. In a large bowl, thoroughly toss all the ingredients together. Taste. Add lemon, salt, or oil if needed. Serve.<br />
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<i>Sahtein!</i><br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-80734325400515711022014-04-04T16:18:00.001-04:002014-04-04T18:11:22.884-04:00Unwanted Facial Hair Solution (Maybe)<br />
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<img alt="http://static.deal.com.sg/sites/default/files/new_images_3/Pretty%20360%20IPL%206.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://static.deal.com.sg/sites/default/files/new_images_3/Pretty%20360%20IPL%206.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></div>
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Genetically, I don't think I inherited the hirsute gene from my lineage, as I went through my entire puberty and teens without sprouting a single hair in my armpits. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWVpDhrvRE8OndUFRLS8aneIB1cCrVEBoPxngS71WAXUsBtpc6G3IzHzP_2Me204GWJgQbQJX6GzTvZv46A4T_M89h8z6FglMHbljgaUuLfzU9mUysmFPv4Oirshp9bTtLTg6I2zBcQ4/s400/julia_roberts_armpit_hair_2.jpg" target="_blank">Unlike Julia Roberts</a>, today I have about twenty hairs there in total. I also never tweezed my eyebrows. They were always the right shape and thickness for my face. My arms and thighs? Not much hair growth there, either. But being born Mediterranean, in an <a href="http://offtrackplanet.com/magazine/articles/the-hairiest-cultures-around-the-world" target="_blank">area of the world where the hairiest women proudly cluster</a> and boast sugaring hair-removal techniques (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpeyWkleVbs" target="_blank">halawa</a>) which were probably invented by Cleopatra, I was nonetheless trapped in the feminist battlefields of the centuries-old Hair Wars.<br />
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You see when I was 13-years-old, my family moved to Greece, home to some of the hairiest of them all; and one of my first friends was our landlord's daughter who lived in the same building. When I met her, she had some noticeable upper lip hair, but one day, it was gone along with all the other hair on her body! Of course, I wanted to try this waxing thing that the pubescent Greek goddesses were doing, even though I had no upper lip hair at the time. My dear friend obliged in giving me instructions, and the rest is history. I've been paying for this mistake all my life. Ever since that one time, the more I waxed, the more hairs came out, and they were more determined to be fruitful and to multiply with each plucking. It was a vicious cycle, and I was doomed.<br />
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So throughout my adult life, I've had to do this monthly routine of waxing my upper lip, until it became a bi-monthly routine, and eventually become a weekly routine. So as I tired of constantly waxing and tired of the the fear of being away from my tweezers for more than 24 hours, I decided to try <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis_(cosmetology)" target="_blank">electrolysis</a>. I tried it at a dermatologist and I tried it at home. It was daunting and didn't work. Then when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_hair_removal" target="_blank">laser hair removal</a> was introduced in the 1990s, I tried that too. It didn't work, was expensive, and each session gave me unsightly blisters and dark spots. Additionally, because of the requirement to SHAVE before each session, the hairs on my upper lip got stronger and increased in number. This was bad, so I quit the laser and went back to waxing and tweezing. By then, I had to wax or tweeze almost every other day to keep up with the rapid hair growth.<br />
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After <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-99101/Complete-guide-hair-removal.html" target="_blank">exhausting many options</a> and in desperation for a solution, I turned to<a href="http://satorilaser.com/studies-and-news/hair-removal-history.html" target="_blank"> history </a>in search of the early traditions used for hair removal. Posted on my favorite folk medicine website, <a href="http://earthclinic.com/">Earthclinic.com</a>, I found information about the use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum" target="_blank">ALUM</a> by Asian women to stop hair growth. This made me extremely curious and led to deeper research. It's claimed that when a mixture of alum and rosewater solution is applied to freshly removed hair pores, eventually hair will stop growing in that area. Apparently in India, this is done to girls early in puberty, and by the time they reach their teens, they would be hair-free in all the right places. So, I decided to give it a try for a year and see what happens. Being in my late-forties already, I knew I was getting a very late start on this, but I had nothing to lose, and I had tried everything else (<a href="http://inhibitif.com/smooth" target="_blank">except this new product I just found, which is used in a similar way</a>). And now that it's been exactly a year since I started using alum, I'm going to report the results of this personal experiment here on the Broo.<br />
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THE METHOD:<br />
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1/2 teaspoon of alum (I got mine at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=alum" target="_blank">Amazon</a>)<br />
1 teaspoon high quality pure rose water<br />
(quantity needed for upper lip area)<br />
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In a sake-sized cup, mix the two ingredients thoroughly until most of the alum is dissolved. It's hard to dissolve it completely, so do your best. You can use an art paintbrush to mix and apply the solution to the skin. After about ten minutes, the alum will dry and grain. Reactivate it by spraying some rosewater on the skin and leaving it on for an additional 10 minutes. Wash all the alum off under running water and pat the skin dry with a towel. The epilated area must be washed very well, especially if it's on the face or near the eyes. Alum can sting and damage eyes. I found alum to also have a nice post-waxing cooling effect. The Executive Shaving Company even sells it in the form of an <a href="http://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/shavepedia/Alum_Block" target="_blank">after shave balm</a>.<br />
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Finally, moisturize the skin with <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/09/no_author/160-uses-for-coconut-oil/" target="_blank">coconut oil.</a><br />
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I did this for 6 months, then I decided to add another step to the method to encourage the alum to more efficiently go into the hair pores. To get this effect, I wiped the skin with a cotton round saturated with hydrogen peroxide before applying the alum solution. It bubbles and cleans the pores deeply, making them more open to receive the alum solution. Hydrogen peroxide not only made a wonderful sterilizing agent for the pores, but I feel like it might have helped the alum solution to further slow my hair growth in the second 6 months of this trial.<br />
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THE RESULTS:<br />
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<ul>
<li>I have 70% less hair on my upper lip today than I did a year ago.</li>
<li>I only need to wax about once every ten days, as opposed to every other day.</li>
<li>I can easily skip the magna mirror and tweezing routine a couple of days a week.</li>
<li>The hairs that remain are much thinner and no longer have dark strong roots. </li>
<li>I have much less ingrown hair problems in the area. </li>
</ul>
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BONUS RESULTS:</div>
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<ul>
<li>It didn't cost time or much money ($15 total)</li>
<li>I see less wrinkling on my smoker's upper lip. I don't know if this is from the alum-- since it's also known for it's tautening effect, or from the fact that I'm less frequently waxing and yanking at my skin, but I definitely see less wear and tear on my upper lip. In some African and Middle Eastern countries, alum is used to <a href="http://www.africanseer.com/news/224616-artificial-virginity-alum-stone-restores-the-female-organ.html" target="_blank">restore female virginity</a> by tightening the vagina! So who knows? </li>
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Since I haven't yet reached the point where I can throw away my tweezers, I plan to keep this up for another six months and see what happens. Until then,</div>
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Keep your ears on...</div>
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-66090039045539683352014-03-28T22:42:00.000-04:002014-03-28T23:02:32.737-04:00The Death of Writing: Back to Dictation.<br />
<img class="irc_mut" src="http://academy.justjobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/dig7.png" height="329" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 32px;" width="400" /><br />
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I promised myself that whatever happens, today there would be a blog post on the Broo. I also made a commitment to start posting more regularly, at the very least every Friday.<br />
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But I woke up this morning still not knowing what the topic would be. When the time came for me to sit at my laptop, I searched through my draft folder, but nothing in it felt fresh or inspiring or ready for further elaboration. As the hours ticked by, I decided to turn to the news to see what's happening in the world, and to leave it to the Universe to send me the signal later. Sure enough, right there on the front page of the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a> was a story about<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591342/How-did-146-word-essay-Rosa-Parks-A-UNC-football-playerss-shocking-term-paper-released-whistleblower-alleges-widespread-academic-fraud.html" target="_blank"> a scandal at the University of North Carolina </a>where an athlete wrote an elementary level one-paragraph essay about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_parks" target="_blank">Rosa Parks </a>and received an "A" on this "final" essay in African-American history.<br />
<img alt="The paper: This is the essay on Rosa Parks that received an A- that Mary Willingham produced as evidence of apparent academic fraud on an ESPN special timed to coincide with March Madness" class="blkBorder img-share" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/28/article-2591342-1CA2E5E600000578-487_634x359.jpg" height="181" id="i-acd40e8e" width="320" /><br />
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<span id="ext-gen150">FULL 146-WORD TEXT OF THE TERM PAPER</span></h3>
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On the evening of December Rosa Parks decided that she was going to sit in the white people section on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. </div>
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During this time blacks had to give up there seats to whites when more whites got on the bus. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. </div>
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Her and the bus driver began to talk and the conversation went like this. 'Let me have those front seats' said the driver. </div>
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She didn’t get up and told the driver that she was tired of giving her seat to white people. </div>
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'I’m going to have you arrested,' said the driver. 'You may do that,' Rosa Parks responded. </div>
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Two white policemen came in and Rosa Parks asked them 'why do you all push us around?' </div>
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The police officer replied and said 'I don’t know, but the law is the law and you’re under arrest.</div>
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Yes, it's pathetic. Many are asking, <a href="http://deadspin.com/this-unc-athletes-paper-is-a-joke-whos-to-blame-1552798110" target="_blank">who's to blame?</a> But the story and the whistle-blowers involved in telling it are really missing the point. They are making it seem as if this fraud only happens when it comes to keeping semi-illiterate athletes on the school's sports teams. What the story is actually covering up is the fact that the writing quality of MOST young people born after 1980 is atrocious! The elephant in the room here is the clear shift in priorities that have occurred in educational institutions, a shift from being institutions of academia and intellectual growth and curiosity, to institutions that prioritize sports, help produce a population of Apple products-crazed young consumers, and offer degrees with major holes in them (no pun intended).<br />
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The sorry fact is that we have an entire generation of young adults today who can't write a complete paragraph if their lives depended on it!<br />
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When I began teaching in the early 1990s, Bill Clinton dictated that all schools and children of all ages should be wired and on the "Information Super-Highway"within five years (yes, the wreck started way before No Child Left Behind). It was after that time that I became the writing specialist at the school in which I worked. What got me this new position were the results that my ESL (English-as-a-Second Language) students were getting on the Virginia Literacy Test, which was the only standardized test for 6th graders at the time, and it measured basic writing, reading and math ability. When George Bush became president and brought us NCLB, students in all grades had to be tested on these three core subjects and more, on a yearly basis, starting in SECOND GRADE. As a result, children were given pens and computers in kindergarden and drilled in the alphabet and phonics and made to write....whatever..,just write. The idea was to let them write freely, even if their writing was incorrect and they had nothing to say.<br />
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At the middle school, a writing coach of sorts was needed to figure out how the school was going to meet the new writing standards at the new 8th grade level, and I got the position. My first task was to develop a writing curriculum that prepared students for the the state writing tests, because until then, there had been none.<br />
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Even though I was able to take our school-wide testing scores from "failing" to "average" in the first year alone, I still believed that the skill of writing was endangered in the next generation unless we stopped allowing students to learn how to write on machines before teaching them how to read and how to formulate thoughts and express ideas. I knew we had to stop forcing children to write before their fingers were big enough to properly grip writing tools and navigate keyboards. I knew that young children learned by emulating, and the less we spoke to them, the less they talked; and the more we placed them in front of machines, the more likely they were to start resembling machines. This over-reliance on technology really scared me and caused me much professional frustration.<br />
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When I first started my career in teaching in the early 1990s, I was aghast at the lack of emphasis there was on grammar in the U.S. primary schools, but I still had the freedom to teach it. By the time the early 2000s rolled around, I started seeing student essays that mirrored text messaging and chatting language. And today, we have a Rosa Parks paragraph that passes for an A-worthy essay--perhaps when compared to a Twitter message it might be considered so. Yes, folks, we have a new generation of T'writers quickly killing American literacy!<br />
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What we are witnessing is the emergence of an entire generation that doesn't read much beyond the 150 characters allowed by Twitter, or the short blurbs of nothingness on Facebook and in phone text messages they send and receive. Yes, I'm generalizing here, but most young people today don't read much beyond required school texts. They can't recognize good writing because they don't read good writing. When I was growing up, I remember my brother sneaking extra time reading chapter books under the bedsheets with a flashlight at bedtime. Today, kids spend endless hours under their bedsheets obsessively reading abbreviated gossip and nonsense that can seem to have no relationship to the English language. The problem with the education system today, is that there is hardly any literature left in these young adults' lives for them to have any literacy!<br />
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Though I left that position in 2005, <a href="http://tswalkingthedog.blogspot.com/2013/10/fifth-annual-rsvp.html" target="_blank"> I hear that my methods and materials are still in use today</a>. But things have clearly gotten worse since then, too.<br />
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So what did I do back then to help my students write better? Well, I had many tricks up my sleeve as I helped them to unlearn the bad writing habits they had developed as a result of early media exposure. But one of my best secret weapons, which was frowned upon and perceived as old fashioned in 'modern' education practices, was weekly DICTATION tests. Based on my my own learning experiences and on much research that I did in this area, I was convinced, that it was the best method for embedding the skills of grammar, proper sentence construction, punctuation, and idea elaboration without having to drill these skills in my students, which allowed me time to teach other important skills.<br />
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It's very simple and costs nothing extra (which are attributes public schools seem to dislike as opposed to money-wasting complexities that require wasteful teacher-training time and usually fail to make any difference). Basically, all I had to do was assign the students to study a relevant passage approximately 100-150 words long. They had to learn to spell all the words in it, recognize where the punctuation belongs, and use capitalization and homonyms appropriately. On the day of the dictation test, the students were handed a blank piece of paper, and they wrote the sentences down as I read them aloud in fragments. I repeated each sentence once, and finally I would read the passage in its enirety at the end of the test, giving them a few minutes to make any corrections before I collected the papers. It worked like magic. The students' writing became better in every way, and their interest in their writing improvement also soared! This method doesn't by any means replace teaching the writing process and composition skills, but it sure helps improve the quality of writing mechanics and vocabulary usage.<br />
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According to <a href="http://myenglishpages.com/">MyEnglishpages.com</a>, "Dictation is a decoding-recording activity. It is the act or process of dictating material to another for transcription. Oller (1979) defines it as a "psychologically real system that sequentially orders linguistic elements in time and in relation to extralinguistic context in meaningful ways."<br />
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The vast merit of dictation has been underestimated and ignored in modern education practices. I can't think of anything else that can be as effective and cost-effective, and save the skill of writing, which is drowning in the ocean of information snippets we live in today.<br />
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If I was still in the business of teaching writing, I would be pushing for schools at all levels to return to dictation testing in every subject. It's a simple method that not only improves writing, but also greatly improves the lost art of penmanship, listening skills, and recording skills. Young children learn by copying. Let's give them high quality speech and high quality text to copy, rather than low quality abbreviated language that comes from addictive little machines. But I'm not in this business anymore, so I'll rely on certain Broo readers to help make the push (wink wink, nudge nudge ,TS).<br />
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Thankfully, my son attends a Waldorf school, where the mass media are unwelcome teaching tools in the classroom, and discouraged at home; and where the skill of writing naturally emerges in each student individually, after a strong oral tradition is laid out in the foundation of language acquisition.<br />
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How can we expect children to write, when they can barely read or speak in complete sentences anymore? Seriously, WTF?<br />
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Keep your ears on...<br />
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<img class="irc_mut" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSxBCQHeo5yb8XQ9H44UWUTlfDQn_iGqFtvaK3-R8tZFyYjMAgWBbs8OzmCHxSEVJ_nl28Bz9lylJoRQRwkWTsTP3AURZdznkNOqAPNqaIbWajc2j7Y2g4tZgJD-IzOHguJ6RWfXh4w2o/s640/spellcheck.gif" height="324" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 35px;" width="500" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"></span>Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-80802836031998241652014-02-24T15:54:00.000-05:002014-03-01T08:28:00.593-05:00Make Up Freedom Fighters<img alt="COMPOSITE_nomakeup.jpg" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/24/article-2566621-1BCB495600000578-10_636x382.jpg" height="240" width="400" /> <br />
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Apparently, the hosts of the Today Show caught onto the "<a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/makeup-freedom-week-2.html" target="_blank">Make Up Liberation Movement</a>" and did a "<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2566621/Did-pasty-just-Today-Show-hosts-make-free-air.html" target="_blank">No Make up Monday</a>" gig on this morning's show. I say "apparently" because I didn't learn this from watching the show since regular readers know we <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/10/tv-fatwah.html" target="_blank">don't watch that kinda TV</a> in our household. So, yes, it was in the Daily Mail Online! Boy, these people are brave to go on live national TV <i>like naked</i> because they look...well, so plain and human.<br />
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Can you imagine the <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/its-all-comig-togethernaturally.html" target="_blank">gray hair revolution</a> catching on?<br />
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I must say that even though I'm no fan of the show or any of the anchor persons, I'm so glad they did this. Wouldn't it be amazing if their "No Make Up Monday" thing takes off and becomes something workplaces embrace regularly--like "casual Fridays" or something? Would people even dare? Well, having celebrities do it would be a good start.<br />
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Here are other celebrity Make Up Freedom Fighters who deserve a nod for daring to bare their beautiful bright clean faces.<br />
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<a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-beauty/news/cameron-diaz-stuns-without-makeup-shares-new-book-20131312" target="_blank">Cameron Diaz</a><br />
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<img alt="Cameron Diaz and her new book, "The Body Book"" src="http://assets-s3.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/68793-cameron-diaz-stuns-without-makeup-shares-new-book/1386880403_cameron-diaz-lg.jpg" height="320" width="319" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2308815/Emilia-Clarke-shows-clear-complexion-chats-fans-Broadway-show.html" target="_blank">Emilia Clarke </a><br />
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<img alt="Still sexy: Emilia revealed her flawless skin in the candid make up free photo" class="blkBorder" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/04/10/article-2306812-19360BE6000005DC-980_634x638.jpg" height="320" width="317" /><br />
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<a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-beauty/news/demi-lovato-goes-without-makeup-posts-selfie-on-instagram-2013168" target="_blank">Demi Lovato</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.reveal.co.uk/beauty/news/a514459/jessie-j-looks-flawless-in-no-make-up-picture-while-relaxing-at-home.html" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.reveal.co.uk/beauty/news/a514459/jessie-j-looks-flawless-in-no-make-up-picture-while-relaxing-at-home.html" target="_blank">Jessie James</a><br />
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<img alt="Jessie J posts no make-up picture - 10 September 2013" src="http://i3.cdnds.net/13/37/618x577/jessie-j-no-make-up-hair-mask.jpg" height="298" width="320" />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-33463388062952486662013-12-22T13:27:00.000-05:002013-12-22T13:29:36.790-05:00A Sting-Along For The Holidays<br />
<img alt="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1Hgh7K5O4L._SL1500_.jpg" class="decoded overflowing" height="320" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1Hgh7K5O4L._SL1500_.jpg" width="248" /><br />
Hey, readers! <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/beautiful-human-of-month-scott-sonnon.html" target="_blank">The Broo's "November BHM," Scott Sonnon</a>, found his way to my blogpost and linked it on his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ScottSonnon" target="_blank">facebook page!</a> So lemme take a minute here and pay tribute to another celebrity whose art I've loved and whose actions I've admired my entire adult life. Maybe he'll find his way over to my blog, too.<br />
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Hello <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/sting-9495433" target="_blank">Sting</a>. Remember me?<br />
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Of course, I'm kidding. I just wanted to take a festive moment to share Sting's Christmas album, which isn't very well known among non-hardcore fans. Most everyone on the planet is familiar with at least one of Sting's solo or Police songs, and he has millions of admirers. But, I feel that the music produced by him over the years has particularly mirrored the events in my life and captured my life-experiences in a serendipitous timely manner. Each album he released over the years seemed like a personal musical gift that picked up where the previous soundtrack (of my life) left off. From love gone bad and breakup songs, to political messages and religion. This parallelism continued to the point that soon after my son was born in August 2009, Sting released his first "Christmas" and lullaby album, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eEMKrvBnQc" target="_blank">If On A Winter's Night. </a>Just like that, out of the blue, after 30+ years, he produced a <u>lullaby</u> album right when my son was born! I once ran into Sting at a club in Beirut after meeting him the night before post-concert. I asked him jokingly, "are you following me around?" He will never know how much I meant it!<br />
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I remember being home with my infant son in his first winter of life with this album often playing in the background, and we've enjoyed it every holiday season since. A favorite song on that record is "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu8H5rA9HuA&feature=kp" target="_blank">Soul Cake,</a>" which my son also has a fondness of, probably because I used to dance with him in the carrier to it's music when he was my infant soul cake! The album is truly a masterpiece and captures the magical character of the winter season. The compositions in this record further prove that Sting is not just a popular musician, he is a serious and dedicated artist with an open heart and a wide-open spirit for the breath of life. If you're tired of the same old Christmas music you have, you might want to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/If-On-A-Winters-Night/dp/B002H3F7F6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387735653&sr=8-2&keywords=if+on+a+winters+night" target="_blank">add this one</a> to your collection.<br />
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I've met Sting on several occasions (though I'm sure he still doesn't know who I am) from concerts in Beirut to fundraisers for Arab-Americans in Washington DC. He is truly a remarkable human being, (but not as remarkable and understanding of my 'Sting thing' as my amazing husband, who some say has a resemblance to the man). But what makes me such a huge fan, is the added admiration I have for him on many other levels aside from his musicianship --yoga, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2387726/Sting-Richard-Branson-accused-using-Uruguay-laboratory-drug-reform-politicians-country-oppose-recent-legalisation-marijuana.html" target="_blank">pro-marijuana legalization</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_%28song%29" target="_blank">anti-war messages</a>, and <a href="http://sting.com/tour/date/id/413" target="_blank">support for Palestinian kids</a>, for starters.<br />
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As I listen to these songs again this year, I want to wish all ye wonderful Broo readers health, happiness, love, peace of mind, and much much <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu8H5rA9HuA" target="_blank">soul cake</a> throughout the season! <br />
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As for us, we'll be moving to a new place in the new year, so expect the Broo to get a little more quiet until we move into our new hOMe.<br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-10962076250621241472013-12-12T21:42:00.001-05:002013-12-12T21:42:49.382-05:00Crochet Bits: Brooversible Sweaters<br />
I present to you two broo-versible sweaters I recently made for my son from scrap and left-over yarn. They are not reversible in the sense that they can be worn on the inside out, as "reversible" clothing items usually are. These sweaters have no front nor back, so they can be worn with either color facing forward.<br />
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Again, T-shape, basic stitches, and easy as 1, 2, 3. Click on each image to enlarge.<br />
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Sweater #1<br />
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Brown Side</div>
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Blue Side </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYgAlOu24C59rOPQNZp7hR5jR-Wg1-_YdPMp9Gk4lgxVPFVd7QEuTuODFu3XAyHI-i33YkDiHkmGMHCZvh1kCz2wy1K4D05PGG6Awve_ToJcT6IMOndVv7vdRHZnf_-S26Opgkp2PCktb/s1600/IMG_4715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYgAlOu24C59rOPQNZp7hR5jR-Wg1-_YdPMp9Gk4lgxVPFVd7QEuTuODFu3XAyHI-i33YkDiHkmGMHCZvh1kCz2wy1K4D05PGG6Awve_ToJcT6IMOndVv7vdRHZnf_-S26Opgkp2PCktb/s320/IMG_4715.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sweater #2<br />
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Green Side</div>
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Orange Side</div>
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Stay colorful...Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-33214197686052769782013-12-12T16:29:00.002-05:002013-12-12T16:33:16.964-05:00I Don't < 3 NYC<img class="irc_mut" height="317" id="irc_mi" src="http://momsfortruth.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/baby-getting-vaccinated.jpg" style="margin-top: 11px;" width="400" /> <br />
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Now that the flu vaccine has been rendered not only <a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/26/flu-vaccine-exposed.aspx" target="_blank">useless, but also harmful</a> to consumers, the drug companies have nowhere else to turn but to their lobby-driven comrades in government to help them push their poison onto the youngest and most defenseless American citizens in order to make more money and stay in business.<br />
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If you haven't heard already, Nanny Bloomberg's city has voted to <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/mandatory-flu-vaccine-children-nyc-lawmakers-approve-mandate-kids-under-5-1505514" target="_blank">require ongoing flu vaccines for babies and children </a>as young as six months old who are enrolled in city-licensed daycare centers and preschools. Every mainstream media article I've read on this news topic quoted officials who cited flawed statistics and mad science driven by propaganda. One indisputable fact is that the more we vaccinate, the more we damage our immune system over time. So New York wants to start them wee young, eh? Give them another "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program" target="_blank">Head Start</a>"--on the fast track to illness.<br />
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The Health Department is either selectively ignorant or guilty of outright lies when is states, “This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City.” There is absolutely no proof of this nonsense.
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When will this trending assault on the health freedom of Americans be stopped? When will medical dishonesty be stopped?<br />
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I want to first see the children and grandchildren of every government and medical official who approved this mandate in line for a jab of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vaccine_ingredients" target="_blank">mercury, antifreeze, phenol, thimerosal, formaldehyde, animal blood and viruses </a>soup, before I'll agree to give it to my child.<br />
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This story sure cut short my high from the recent <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-bhm-anna-and-andy-hershberger.html" target="_blank">health and child freedom victory of the Hershbergers</a>!<br />
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But I'm staying...hopeful.<br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-49391825589542031652013-12-11T14:05:00.002-05:002013-12-11T14:13:10.538-05:00Got Milk? It Gets worse.In the recent blog post, <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/12/got-milk.html" target="_blank">Got Milk?,"</a> I told you about the developmental damage at risk with the iPad bouncy chair, made by Fisher-Crime, but I missed the iPotty!! <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fisher-prices-infant-ipad-seat-raises-concerns-about-baby-screen-time/2013/12/10/6ebba48e-61bb-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost" target="_blank">I am not making this up</a>, folks.<br />
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Can you imagine the additional butt deformations that will come out of this one?<br />
<img alt="" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_404h/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/12/10/Technology/Images/AP602757989505.jpg" /><br />
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What's next...baby Google glasses while babies sleep? <br />
<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-61948225454782847312013-12-10T14:12:00.000-05:002013-12-10T14:12:03.374-05:00December BHM: Anna and Andy Hershberger<br />
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<img alt="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_salud/defeatcancer168_01.jpg" class="decoded" height="240" src="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_salud/defeatcancer168_01.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Beautiful Humans of the Month (BHM) <br />
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The Amish couple, Anna and Andy Hershberger, scored a huge victory for every American parent this month. I <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/10/its-getting-scary-to-be-parent-in.html" target="_blank">wrote about them</a> recently because I was concerned that theirs was a horrible example of the over-reach of government when it comes to parental rights and health freedom. <br />
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After an Ohio court ordered that 10-year-old Sarah forcefully receive chemotherapy (which was making her suffer more) and transferred her guardianship to a hospital nurse, her parents took her and fled the country. They found alternative therapies for their daughter's treatment and apparently, <b>"the cancer is receding, and she is in excellent physical condition."</b> The nurse resigned guardianship of Sarah, and now the Hershberger's are getting ready to come home. <br />
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<a href="http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/amish-girl-who-refused-chemo-coming-home-hospital-gives-up-guardianship/" target="_blank">Here's the whole story</a>.<br />
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This is also a Brootal loss for the chemotherapy-pushers. As thousands of people like the Hershbergers have proved, and are proving, there are other therapies out there that actually work without harming the patient. I hope that someday the Hershbergers will tell us what therapies they chose.<br />
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Stay Troo..(yes, "tuned" isn't working anymore, TS) <br />
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-65716325914315654932013-12-09T16:38:00.002-05:002013-12-09T21:22:41.088-05:00Got Milk?All this kid is missing is a bottle of scotch, some cigarettes, and he or she will be on a speed train to early mental destruction and death.<br />
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I can't wrap my head <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520560/iPad-bouncy-seat-babies-causes-concern-experts-say-restrict-learning.html" target="_blank">around this story, folks</a> The APA is "worried" and "weary?" They should be up in arms if they knew anything about the business of growing babies! Are they afraid to upset Fisher-Price with their cautious words? This iPad bouncy chair by Fisher-Price should be as illegal as heroin! ...Or come with a danger warning like cigarettes. In my eyes, this is no better than having babies stare at a loaded gun for entertainment!<br />
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Stay tuned? Never mind. <br />
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<img alt="Not as good as the real world: Experts say toddlers belong in the real world, not the virtual one" class="blkBorder" height="523" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/09/article-2520560-19F8F72A00000578-916_634x523.jpg" width="634" />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-81223058399122554852013-12-06T18:14:00.000-05:002013-12-12T15:47:49.577-05:00These Are The Colorful TimesIn the spirit of the season and leaving all politics and the Angelinas and Kims behind for now, this blog post will simply be a mixed update on some of the creative and not-so-creative "colorful" projects started and discussed in previous posts here on the Broo. Hope everyone had a grateful Thanksgiving and enjoying the festivities of the holiday season. I regret not posting more frequently lately, but as you will see, my hands have been occupied.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/crochet-time.html" target="_blank">crochet front</a>:</span><br />
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Tea Cozies....and then there were three...and many admirers waiting for their garments to be made.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqUs3_eXZfdc-_ywGPyB17jUjHMYMLT_fUJhapxU8z0ooMVuc96zcJcTMFONF0PjY9_RpoEB0HkrwvhSxcy_DLEAFzn3cZUASF-ryfcE13owkHM5ZtfekkF6oZOyggmdJLmEPH4Aa-pZy/s1600/IMG_4675.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqUs3_eXZfdc-_ywGPyB17jUjHMYMLT_fUJhapxU8z0ooMVuc96zcJcTMFONF0PjY9_RpoEB0HkrwvhSxcy_DLEAFzn3cZUASF-ryfcE13owkHM5ZtfekkF6oZOyggmdJLmEPH4Aa-pZy/s640/IMG_4675.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Then there was a birthday hat for Mayya. (actual Mayya wears it much more beautifully than my model here).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrxXb8JagIZzuQKPBQDg9WqHbhO42Yv89ZipEhEMvUEI5_cpZcP0kHUNHXTJeTNEYgQ0cU7OrF7Mb-Rdph0WffhkPpAoJMyu3HpIDAysMw5uv8Eup3MWfRBs438zf1O_l_8fHFIPglto9/s1600/IMG_4628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrxXb8JagIZzuQKPBQDg9WqHbhO42Yv89ZipEhEMvUEI5_cpZcP0kHUNHXTJeTNEYgQ0cU7OrF7Mb-Rdph0WffhkPpAoJMyu3HpIDAysMw5uv8Eup3MWfRBs438zf1O_l_8fHFIPglto9/s640/IMG_4628.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/10/toe-color-therapy.html" target="_blank">Toe Color Therapy:</a></span><br />
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After getting a kick out of the rainbows, my son asked me to put planets on my toes, with specific instructions that Neptune should be on my second toe. This four-year-old is a huge fan of anything space or astronomy, so I decided to give it a shot (no pun intended) and paint the sun and the <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/15568/how-many-planets-are-in-the-solar-system/" target="_blank">traditionally known</a> nine planets in the solar system, one on each toe. As you can see, the results were pretty brutal. Can you guess the planets?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_1s1g_O6pwwTn-1dv9mJlSWAzNvD4vTsqZrSRh8ueXWhyphenhyphen-qVaMYbsVQ_aBzgCB4m6QFFOOTCDFuSY65BAxSAJR8FNtDD5mixCU8jKX91Vj2s3199gVEaw4R_7ODFKZlcUufDTtGq4Ei9/s1600/IMG_4659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_1s1g_O6pwwTn-1dv9mJlSWAzNvD4vTsqZrSRh8ueXWhyphenhyphen-qVaMYbsVQ_aBzgCB4m6QFFOOTCDFuSY65BAxSAJR8FNtDD5mixCU8jKX91Vj2s3199gVEaw4R_7ODFKZlcUufDTtGq4Ei9/s640/IMG_4659.jpg" width="480" /> </a></div>
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So you know what they say about not succeeding the first time. I decided to try again but to keep it simple, and just paint my son's favorite two planets on the big toenails, and on the rest of the toe nails paint nothing but star spots on top of the dark base. Here are the results. Now can you guess the planets? </div>
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(Excuse the remains of the spilled yellow and red nail polish on my feet.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OAJ4vBVT8VDhPQqZtJymH2zn8TY0eN4b6MTV4QF9FO4HLkaHyQYFhBl0IQwfZPBIa4YOfj3IqjmBpEvjW13GdbIEAOOD5T2TNRL6CX6X9vYP0vhVRGAMudcgYRf_Rh9WMb4PM_UaOygx/s1600/IMG_4670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OAJ4vBVT8VDhPQqZtJymH2zn8TY0eN4b6MTV4QF9FO4HLkaHyQYFhBl0IQwfZPBIa4YOfj3IqjmBpEvjW13GdbIEAOOD5T2TNRL6CX6X9vYP0vhVRGAMudcgYRf_Rh9WMb4PM_UaOygx/s640/IMG_4670.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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UPDATE: I got a compliment on my <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9OAJ4vBVT8VDhPQqZtJymH2zn8TY0eN4b6MTV4QF9FO4HLkaHyQYFhBl0IQwfZPBIa4YOfj3IqjmBpEvjW13GdbIEAOOD5T2TNRL6CX6X9vYP0vhVRGAMudcgYRf_Rh9WMb4PM_UaOygx/s1600/IMG_4670.jpg" target="_blank">planetary pedicure</a> the other day, in the middle of a jam-packed yoga class, from a male instructor! Apparently, yoga <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/10/toe-color-therapy.html" target="_blank">Toe Color Therapy</a> is contagious and makes others smile, too.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/its-all-comig-togethernaturally.html" target="_blank">On growing out the gray hair</a>:</span><br />
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I finally got a good haircut to remove much of the tired colored hair I'm trying to get rid of. Of course, my hair stylist was aghast and tried to convince me not to let the gray grow out, but I stood my ground. I didn't do anything special with this cut. It's still long and very layered now, but the next cut will hopefully be short enough to be fully naturally colored. Right now, this is a hard (and sloooow) stage to be in, but to be honest, I'm not finding the "skunk" to be too offensive or unsightly. It's blending in an interesting way. I'm very excited about the gray peeking underneath!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw4fxmcHRrsPHePTPJ6KAdvNv_PhJkJKIBWIItpfW4M9iJnZy2zOrvjAkh_Exw_ZH-0BGxIBqTcsXBV6Cq8hAShx8-LUGEVCLYhxGoWHKbnKaqnQdQ5QGGaLgb0G4m_UWrFzZUbq0ROLlp/s1600/IMG_4673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw4fxmcHRrsPHePTPJ6KAdvNv_PhJkJKIBWIItpfW4M9iJnZy2zOrvjAkh_Exw_ZH-0BGxIBqTcsXBV6Cq8hAShx8-LUGEVCLYhxGoWHKbnKaqnQdQ5QGGaLgb0G4m_UWrFzZUbq0ROLlp/s640/IMG_4673.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And we end with some new holiday decorations:</span><br />
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As I've mentioned before, we <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/08/space-invaders.html" target="_blank">don't live in a big space</a>, so decorations are limited to a small tree and a scene drawn on the glass. Last year it was Santa. Here is the scene we painted on the sliding door this year. I used <a href="http://www.crayola.com/~/media/Crayola/Products/588165.jpg?mh=762&mw=645" target="_blank">window markers</a>, and drew it from the outside, so that it's less prone to damage from my son's wandering little hands on the inside. That way, he can also use the pens to draw anything he wants on the inside panels. I wipe it clean from the inside daily, so he can draw new images. This can keep him engaged for hours, giving me this kind of time to blog, for example.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeW8D12UBt_9a2R-zNWZ_nx1amW2YXn-6yh5W8e4eEudNCREc1z2ovhryrxf7IrVkPUYBe8HUyJ0hLW-gDNW7tTs6wNjKSp40RfQ20sY41DVhqjqteernkfPrzKd1AZoRpBnwT_7AcGmD/s1600/IMG_4649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeW8D12UBt_9a2R-zNWZ_nx1amW2YXn-6yh5W8e4eEudNCREc1z2ovhryrxf7IrVkPUYBe8HUyJ0hLW-gDNW7tTs6wNjKSp40RfQ20sY41DVhqjqteernkfPrzKd1AZoRpBnwT_7AcGmD/s640/IMG_4649.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrgGtRk0GQtm29zb21aU-n8FycbkwVN-nPGgXxd7hP3MhbOMHqBIz0i0ddUQ6b0ApkNiTvu_3btnO_RyJYa-1X4mik06Sb18_BFrWsZcou6Ae1aJ77uGvPuzZdInRLJsbznULkmgBQ2ls5/s1600/IMG_4650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrgGtRk0GQtm29zb21aU-n8FycbkwVN-nPGgXxd7hP3MhbOMHqBIz0i0ddUQ6b0ApkNiTvu_3btnO_RyJYa-1X4mik06Sb18_BFrWsZcou6Ae1aJ77uGvPuzZdInRLJsbznULkmgBQ2ls5/s640/IMG_4650.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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It's wonderfully relaxing and therapeutic to work and play with color, even grey!<br />
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I hope you're staying cozy...<br />
<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-28323717594289439622013-11-29T22:38:00.000-05:002013-12-06T18:41:45.165-05:00Gidgets!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUnjNWHlgyyheYi7vkfd6OZdxzW3Uu6rBTqDmzMcfKvaOG5ehML6gyod9sKJZYqWiupFciGFs9wUnDjdalbz_b6VP2a-u298eNofLX4H0U-Gvd8WFcdiCVJSX45SJxLgYTexMkATXMbjB/s1600/IMG_4620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUnjNWHlgyyheYi7vkfd6OZdxzW3Uu6rBTqDmzMcfKvaOG5ehML6gyod9sKJZYqWiupFciGFs9wUnDjdalbz_b6VP2a-u298eNofLX4H0U-Gvd8WFcdiCVJSX45SJxLgYTexMkATXMbjB/s320/IMG_4620.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
When I was teaching elementary school five years ago, I made these little crochet "Gidgets" out of left-over yarn for my students as incentive to do good work. They loved them and very much enjoyed collecting them in different colors. At one point I was making elaborate creatures, too, such as octopuses, starfish, and assorted ornaments. It was Gidget-mania at that school! Kids started to haunt me for them. Each Gidget took me about 5 minutes to make, and after the crochet part was done, it's was matter of gluing any small size wiggly eyes, and drawing on the mouth with fabric paint-- and they loved doing that part. This was more engaging, more satisfying, and more fun for students than giving them candy and food to motivate them. <br />
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A couple of days ago, I started making Gidgets again for my four-year-old son, and he is just as delighted by them as my elementary students were. He puts them on his trains for a ride, and builds homes and cars for them with his Lego blocks. He is even sleeping with a couple in his bed while I type. You have to admit, they're kinda cute! So while making this one, I decided to film the process on my iPhone to share with all of you. You have to <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RubyJay/media/IMG_4618_zps79ced65d.mp4.html" target="_blank">click on this link </a>to
see the demo of how to make one on Photobucket.com.
Blogger kept giving me an error message when I tried to upload it.
Perhaps it's too long? Please excuse the production quality, mumbling, and interruptions-- I also had to readjust the camera in the second half. I was literally holding the phone under my chin while filming this. And please hold all comments about my bulb-shaped thumbs and chipping nail polish! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAXJipTBhW1LyZKIs3WhzGPhb8FVdew6hw1SED7Yxm_5Dq0BJEhdzThrOf8a1-uNyf9zOM0k6T_TZMXZo6Vp7aAK2Ppx0MV5YeXKivnTxMucBR7KGBL4h1qj1giFTpZzQA5a9AXzuVNJj/s1600/IMG_4623.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAXJipTBhW1LyZKIs3WhzGPhb8FVdew6hw1SED7Yxm_5Dq0BJEhdzThrOf8a1-uNyf9zOM0k6T_TZMXZo6Vp7aAK2Ppx0MV5YeXKivnTxMucBR7KGBL4h1qj1giFTpZzQA5a9AXzuVNJj/s320/IMG_4623.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZM25oCmHcZfPHteOmEbyAVemgE_asycwQW6YRV-GJKh4gYF1zzubdltJ4lBJuReep6duKWidPWO13w7CxXxpE3Xkt5brEDl7QhyK9AKwg9Smygxbaedi2dEMQGqhzyXWOXwDsqr5Dt5dW/s1600/IMG_4626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZM25oCmHcZfPHteOmEbyAVemgE_asycwQW6YRV-GJKh4gYF1zzubdltJ4lBJuReep6duKWidPWO13w7CxXxpE3Xkt5brEDl7QhyK9AKwg9Smygxbaedi2dEMQGqhzyXWOXwDsqr5Dt5dW/s320/IMG_4626.jpg" width="240" /></a>Meanwhile, here's another tea cozy I just finished today.</div>
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<br />Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-89008297265952604362013-11-27T18:44:00.002-05:002013-11-27T18:44:48.849-05:00Beautiful Human of the Month: Scott Sonnon<br />
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Scott Sonnon is a highly respected name in martial arts, fitness, and yoga. He is considered by some to be somewhat of a guru, and he's also the founder of the new<a href="http://www.prasarayoga.com/" target="_blank"> Prasara yoga style</a> which is very focused on strength in poses and transitions. Many advanced yogis today could only dream of doing the kind of stuff he does. Scott is truly unique. Here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weshm_17YIc" target="_blank">short demo</a> of this physical genius at art.<br />
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When you look at this, of course you see lots of physical beauty, but what made Scott Sonnon beautiful enough for me to inspire this monthly feature was watching him in raw human form on Youtube giving <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxkBqFbbAP0" target="_blank">this TEDx Talk</a> in Bellingham earlier this month. To me, Scott Sonnon is the ultimate picture of strength, confidence, intelligence and love. Imagine my shock to learn from watching this that his childhood and his school beginnings were the exact opposite-- weakness, crushed self-esteem, learning struggles, and violence. Like many men and women I admire, he defied his tormentors by feeding his internal and external powers and rising above the storm.<br />
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In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxkBqFbbAP0" target="_blank">this moving presentation</a>, he credits his mother for inspiring him to break out and make drastic changes in himself and in his life. In spite of his institutionalized schooling, it is the home-lessons he received from his mother that really counted towards his success. Another living testament to the importance of 'home lessons' and the real presence of parents in children's lives. Scott has much to say about schools and his own learning disabilities, but he really nails it with his message to our modern <u>right-brained-female-advantaged schools of today</u>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"We end learning disability when we stop disabling learning."</span></div>
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Here's Scott's talk on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxkBqFbbAP0" target="_blank">"How we suppress the genius and create learning disability," </a>and here's a<a href="http://www.rmaxinternational.com/om/sonnon-bio.php" target="_blank"> mini biography</a> which tells a little more about him. Scott is also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sonnon" target="_blank">active on Facebook.</a><br />
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The world is full of beautiful humans like him, and I hope to feature some of them regularly on the Broo.<br />
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Stay tuned...Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-53895991234706781402013-11-26T20:13:00.004-05:002013-11-26T20:13:57.457-05:00Tea (Cozy) Time!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I haven't been blogging with regularity recently because, well...life's tea cup has been full. We are still searching for a new home and new car, and caring for ourselves and a teen and 4-year-old. Many of the blog posts I draft in my head, seem to expire in the fog of my thoughts. So lately, at the end of each day, all I want to do is take a long bath or use my hands to read or to crochet. After finishing the <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/11/crochet-time.html" target="_blank">holiday outfits for my friend's twins</a>, I made them these two easy sweaters. I made them a little larger this time, so eventually, they will fit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigj2LANvTjmRJAgnlp-Y6KNul6Fb4EpqYmMqWMYQ4dPcCF1Ho3o58eg4255fx4R8ShWEAwvhvz0GQSwmb3HAdREPZtY2RDvKX8nEqoSsQGxFlQeJHxcFZUXZvTBNUbDUZIYCiJJp6_xqhE/s1600/IMG_4598.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigj2LANvTjmRJAgnlp-Y6KNul6Fb4EpqYmMqWMYQ4dPcCF1Ho3o58eg4255fx4R8ShWEAwvhvz0GQSwmb3HAdREPZtY2RDvKX8nEqoSsQGxFlQeJHxcFZUXZvTBNUbDUZIYCiJJp6_xqhE/s640/IMG_4598.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Last Saturday, a friend came over for dinner and afterwards I served tea in a teapot covered with one of my old crocheted cozies. I got so many compliments on it that I decided to start making cozies again, and maybe gifting some for Christmas. They're fun to make and they really keep the tea nice and hot. Here's the first prototype I made yesterday.<br />
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More to come, so stay tuned.Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-740739095401953223.post-56990725823980312902013-11-26T17:06:00.000-05:002013-11-26T20:10:16.893-05:00Who Doesn't Get Cold Sores?<br />
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I remember getting my first "cold sore" on my upper lip when I was an adolescent. In those days, the Middle Eastern folk medicine explanation I usually got for it was, "oh, your stomach must be in disorder." As a youth who shunned many things Old World and traditional, I laughed it off. As I got older, I continued to get these unsightly lip menaces on occasion. I never really found any other explanations for them until the birth of the internet and the information revolution. I finally was reassured by 'modern' medicine gurus that cold sores are <a href="http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/cold-sores-topic-overview" target="_blank">caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus,</a> and that once a person was infected, her or she would forever be damned with more of them...and blah blah blah. This explanation didn't make intuitive sense to me. I still wanted to know what exactly triggered the cold sores, because at times, I could go months without them, then suddenly I would get one. Eventually, I turned to my favorite website <a href="http://earthclinic.com/">Earthclinic.com</a> for alternative answers. Although I found much useful information and remedies (acetone!), I still couldn't find out why it happened. If it was really the so-called Herpes virus, what triggers it? I couldn't be sure my sores were triggered by <a href="http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/herpes.html" target="_blank">artificial sweeteners,</a> either, because I've diligently avoided that stuff for years. But hey, artificial sweeteners in food might add weight to the theory that it's indeed "stomach related."<br />
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Well, about nine months ago, I went through a period of getting one cold sore after the other. One would heal and another would pop out. It was so frustrating. But this time I noticed that it happened at a time when I had eaten a lot of seafood, and I felt like I might have had some kind of food intolerance since my stomach was also showing signs of disorder. Maybe there was some truth in the old Arab folk saying that cold sores are related to the state of the stomach. So I decided to have a food allergy test to see if it would reveal any food sensitivities. I had been meaning to do this test ever since my husband did a it year and a half ago. He used to suffer greatly from a mystery food-related reaction, but we never could figure out what it was until he did this blood test. To our shock, the culprit was eggs! And, boy was my husband a heavy egg eater at the time! Plus, eggs are in just about every baked good out there, and he's a big fan of those, too. Of course we found this out in the same summer when we ordered FOUR DOZEN eggs to be delivered with our weekly <a href="http://bitchesbroo.blogspot.com/2013/06/csa-season-is-back.html" target="_blank">CSA</a>. Anyway, once he started avoiding eggs, the symptoms went away, and now they only return when he consumes eggs. Could my cold sores be food related, too?<br />
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So we ordered and administered the b<a href="http://www.lef.org/Vitamins-Supplements/ItemLCM73001/Food-Safe-Allergy-Blood-Test.html" target="_blank">lood test kit</a> from <a href="http://www.lef.org/index.htm" target="_blank">The Life Extension Foundation</a>, which is where we order all our blood tests (and many vitamins and supplements) without having to rely on a doctor's prescription. When the results arrived in the mail, only one food sensitivity stood out on my chart--not seafood, but CORN! That explained a whole lot. No wonder popcorn (popped in corn oil!) made me feel so bad after eating it, even though I love it. Of course, corn is in just about everything these days. So many things are fried in corn oil. High Fructose Corn Syrup is also in many commercial sweet foods, so is corn starch. I was doomed to a life without corn, but at least I might avoid a lifetime of cold sores if I stopped eating it. It was worth a try, so now I avoid this food and its extracts.<br />
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Since I started to watch out for corn, I stopped getting cold sores for a while, until a couple of weeks ago. Drat! I got another one. And this time I was even more convinced it was stomach-related because the week before it popped out I had been complaining about not moving smoothly, if you know what i mean. So what happened? What might I have eaten?<br />
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In talking to my husband, we tried to put the pieces together of what I might have consumed that was outside my normal diet. He recalled that this last episode happened to me just after Halloween. Though I normally don't eat any chocolate except the organic dark variety, I had guiltily indulged in some of the junk chocolate my son had collected, specifically Snickers and M&Ms. Aha! The <a href="https://www.snickers.com/Nutritional-Info" target="_blank">ingredients list </a>clearly shows corn products and a lot of other garbage in those candies. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.<br />
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As I nurse what I hope to be one of the last cold sores I get, I want to encourage my dear Broo readers to consider getting a food intolerance test. Regardless of whether or not you get cold sores, you may have other unexplained ailments puzzling you and your doctors. This information can truly be life-changing. I believe that when something goes wrong in your body, the first thing to suspect is food, unless of course you're on some prescription drug and it's causing side effects. Either way, it's clear that most our sicknesses come from what goes into our bodies-- bad food, bad water, bad drugs, unclean air, etc. Even if one stays away from the processed foods, the additives are now
sneaking into meats and produce without the consumer's knowledge. Have
you had any <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread20602.html" target="_blank">pink salmon</a> or a tasteless bright <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/022870_artificial_colors_food.html" target="_blank">red apple lately?</a> Be careful what you think you're eating.<br />
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Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." I'll bet he would have a change of heart (or a heart attack) if he saw the GMOs, ultra-processed, MSG-laden, artificially flavored/colored and highly sweetened garbage we <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/17/worst-toxic-food-ingredients_n_3101043.html" target="_blank">consider "food" today. </a><br />
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Stay tuned...Ruby Justicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12507446086206453876noreply@blogger.com0