Captivated by Mandie - the blog -: July 2006

Blogathon 2004

Blogathon 2004,
originally uploaded by -Mandie-.

Don't worry. This is my monitor's fault. Sara really didn't look that scary. But it is funny, isn't it? This was her 3rd year of Blogathon, and as tradition goes, this year is her 5th. She's blogging for 24 hours to raise money for Young Survivors. Find out more at her blog. I will take lots of goodies for keeping such good records. Send them to me, people!

EPA Alert

ALERT: EPA ACCEPTING COMMENTS ON PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD

A coalition of health and environmental groups have filed a petition with the EPA, indicating the agency has violated federal laws for establishing allowable levels of fluoride pesticide residues in foods. The petition comes on the heels of over 7,000 EPA employees calling for stronger limitations of fluoride in food and water, as well as a recent report from the National Academy of Sciences indicating the average American diet has unsafe levels of fluoride. Specifically, the petitioners (including Fluoride Action Network, Beyond Pesticides and Environmental Working Group) are asking the EPA to prohibit the use of sulfuryl fluoride in food production. Elevated levels of fluoride are associated with bone fractures, thyroid function losses, IQ deficits, bone cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. The EPA has posted a public comment period on the issue ending August 4, 2006. Learn more and take action here: http:www.organicconsumers.org/rd/fluoride.htm

Baby Hats!

Baby Hats!,
originally uploaded by -Mandie-.

Look what I made!

I knitted my very first baby hat! You can do it, too, for Save the Children. I am a very beginning knitter, and I finished this in 3 hours. I love that I know how to rib now! It's much easier than I thought. And so is decreasing.

Next on my agenda? Increasing! Then patterns! Then dp needles! Oh my!

Morning Sickness

Morning sickness will be the death of me. Today is the first day since my last post that I've not been queasy all day long. I think that was God's way of saying it will (hopefully) be very short for me. I'm a really whiny sick person. No one can stand me when I'm sick, not even my own mother. ;-)

I received Isel's Project Spectrum postcard in the mail the other day, and WOW! So gorgeous! 3D and everything! Mine is not so fabulous, but I hope she will like it nonetheless. If you are my swap partner for this month, and you haven't heard from me yet, please email me again, as my spam filter has managed to consume email I've received so far, which I've had to retrieve from the bulk folder.

Tended the bees yesterday, and stole one frame of honey. Seems as if they want it back, because they came to the house, flew under the screen door, and proceeded to take it back to the hive. I must have left a trail. So we closed the glass door and the windows. Dad took the frame out for the bees to clean up, and now half the hive is on my back porch. The honey is draining as I type, and will hopefully be in a jar by tomorrow. So far, I've only gotten grazed by a bee, not really stung, which is great. Then again, I always wear full suit. Just to be on the safe side. I'm very impressed with their gentleness, even when I'm stealing from them. They get upset, but they don't attack, really. They don't mind the camera in their faces, either. Cool fact: Honey bees can sting more than once. Other insects, that is. Not humans or animals.

Does anyone want any Fordham zucchinis? Several are going bad because I can't get them frozen before they rot, and I'm running out of freezer space, and I have loads more coming in! Help!

We're off to see the Pirates, so I bid you adieu.

It begins.

mebathingsuit2,
originally uploaded by Mandie | CBM.

Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you quickly that I won't have kids. Can't, really. But wouldn't if I could.

Fast forward to Saturday, July 1. I couldn't eat my Toaster Strudel. I love Toaster Strudels. I had an egg instead. Flags went up. Math was done. Test was purchased. Big blue plus sign showed up. Life as I knew it ended.

All those years of knowing I wasn't having kids just blew right up with a blue plus.

So here I am, barefoot and pregnant, and if I'm going to do this, I'm gonna do it my way - photographically speaking. I'm gonna chronicle this baby (boy) through his entire parasitic adventure. And I'm gonna try to look good doing it. Though, that's easier said than done, already.

No morning sickness yet, just major hunger pains. I'm on the seafood diet. Everything I see, I eat. Unless it has sugar, which at this point, the zygote does not approve. I will make this baby like sugar one way or another, for my own dentist's sake.

Although I haven't had the official test, I'm pretty sure our family is going to have ANOTHER March baby. March 6th, or thereabouts, I'm sure. You do the math. Then check my flickr for pictures from then.