And by new, I mean, my mom's old sewing machine - a Husqvarna Lily 530. And by old, I mean, about four or five years. Which for a sewing machine is practically brand new. What other home appliance still has to deal with competition from the 1940's? When I was in China, I saw this awesome Singer - the old solid black and gold ones - and I would have bought it if I could have thought of a way to carry it to the nearest UPS office - since we were in some nameless village outside Shenzhen, I am pretty sure I was right not to risk it. They are as valuable as workhorses out there, and I probably would never had made it for one reason or another. At any rate, I promised myself that if I ever do have an excuse to go back to China for some reason, I'm bringing UPS shipping labels with me for anything I want to buy. Don't get me started on the fabric I had to leave behind....
Girly Stuff: July 2008 Archives
How long are toaster ovens supposed to last? This one only survived for three years before giving up the ghost. Silly toaster oven. It's not like I used it every day! Or used it more for ovening than toasting! Or never cleaned it because I hate cleaning. or. um... you know, that sounds really bad when I say it out loud. Anyway, my poor little Oster died. Poof. New toaster time.
Hey, are you looking for a charity to support this season? May I recommend the Alzheimer's Memory Walk? For one thing, it would be good exercise - which helps combat the early onset of dementia, among other things. For another, you won't have to waste gas on it. And most importantly, it will be a fun social event to get you out of the house. Oh wait, that's just me that has that problem.
Anyway, the Alzheimer's Memory Walk organizers are looking for more captains - people to help coordinate walkers and support resources, like water stations and whatnot.
So click away, start a team. Bring some kids with you, or better yet, teenagers - it's never too early to start encouraging a sense of civic duty and volunteering. Also, they can talk to each other while they walk. Or trade songs on their MP3 players. The point is, bring as many people as you can and have fun. The walks will take places at different times in different areas, so check and see which one is nearest you!
First, the press release:
Taking Control: Future Therapies for a Host of Serious Diseases May Be Found in Women's Menstrual Blood
July 07, 2008: 01:28 PM EST
OLDSMAR, Fla., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With today's hectic lifestyle, where most women are juggling careers, family, relationships, and a host of activities, the idea of possibly facing a serious illness in the future is not something that readily comes to mind -- especially when a woman is in the prime of her life. But what most women don't know, is that the key to treating a number of possibly life-threatening diseases that she, a parent, a sibling or even her children may face in later years, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, may be found within her own body -- in vital stem cells, which can now be harvested from her own menstrual blood.
Now, thanks to the revolutionary research and technology of C'elle, a service dedicated to providing women with a safe and easy method of collecting and preserving stem cells found in her menstrual fluid each month, even the busiest woman can take control of her future, right in the privacy of her own home. With C'elle's non-invasive collection process, menstrual cells are processed and cryo-preserved (stored at a very low temperature) for potential cellular therapies that may be used in the future. These self-renewing cells one day may even be used for sports medicine or cosmeceutical treatments, such as anti-aging therapies.
"C'elle enables and empowers a woman to take control of her future health, and possibly of those genetically closest to her, in a fast, painless and stress free way," said Michelle Kay, Marketing and Sales Manager for C'elle. "We live in exciting times, as science and technology are discovering how extremely valuable menstrual blood stem cells really are, and the enormous treatment potential they represent for future therapies. C'elle's ongoing research is supporting these promising findings."
For more information about C'elle, please call 1-877-892-3553 or visit www.celle.com.
(End Press Release)
Now for some commentary: Once you get over the source, it seems like a perfectly sensible idea. People store worse things for possible future benefit, and if you could have a good clean source of stem cells to grow your own bone marrow, for example, most people would. I don't actually have menstrual periods thanks to medication, so this doesn't do anything for me right now. Also, the prices are pretty steep for a single person with bad medical insurance. On the other hand, if I were someone with a family history that indicated something where stem cell research would be of benefit, this might not seem so expensive. It's certainly a lot better than having to wait until you have a baby, or even worse, the other main source of stem cells. It's experimental, of course, but all medicinal therapies start off as experimental, and then within a generation no one can understand why it took so long to adopt the new practice. We're still researching treatments for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases where stem cells hold the most promise of helping, and finding a non-controversial, harmless, and non-invasive source for genuine stem cells will always be a problem. Celle seems to have addressed the source issue of stem cells in a unique and creative way, and I hope that they are successful in their continued research. Click here for a Celle Client Testimonial
Seriously, I hate it. I hate moving stuff around, and I HATE vacuuming. I hate the noise. I hate having to move wires around so they won't get sucked into the vacuum cleaner. I hate lugging the damn thing out of the closet so I can kill off the dust bunnies. And I hate cleaning under my bed.
However.... I have allergies, and long hair, and dust. So I HAVE to clean. But I hate it. I wish I could call a maid, but that takes money, and you have to clean before a maid shows up anyway. Most maid services don't move piles of things, so they just vacuum around it. I could have done that myself!
Oh, if only I could get genie service!
Or a new Dirt Devil Accucharge. That would work too! Light, good cleaning power (did I mention the hair? and the dust bunnies? I think they are forming an army or something), and a new very important feature in today's times - it is Energy Star certified. It would be nice to be able to just clean the bathroom without going through the whole ordeal of digging out the real vacuum cleaner. And I could use it to clean moving just one pile at a time. And I could do it without breaking my back or breaking the bank.
Usually, when I clean, I dump all my piles of clean and not sorted clothes on the bed, vacuum really quickly, and then just toss them back on the floor on the plan that eventually I will put all the laundry away. However, since I haven't worked out the contract with the fairies yet, that never happens and I'm left with clean piles on the floor. And that's just the bedroom! Don't get me started on the library - books everywhere, I can dust but I can't vacuum without a major hassle of moving things around - I need to buy bookshelves but I haven't yet. Being unemployed for a year right after buying a condo will do that.
So it's just me and the Dust Bunnies, hanging out, having a little war. Those wacky bunnies. Wait 'til I get a Dust Devil after you!
Once upon a time there was a little mouse. She lived in the walls of a little boy's playroom. The playroom was filled with the most wondrous toys, of all colors, kinds, shapes, and sizes. Every day, the little mouse, starved and bored, looked in on that playroom and wondered what would happen if she ever went in there among all those lovely toys.
Without really planning to, one day the little mouse slipped into the playroom and found herself surrounded by the nicest toys that she had ever seen.
"Hello," she said.
Being Toys, they ignored her.
Quietly, the little mouse scampered around the playroom, introducing herself to all the Toys at least once. They all ignored here, except for the Captain of the Toy Soldiers.
"Don't chew on the furniture," he said gruffly, and the little mouse backed away from the overstuffed chair she had been looking at.
Then the Parents arrived, to pick up the Playroom and the little mouse ran back to the walls.
Day after day, the little mouse wandered the Playroom, meeting all sorts of new Toys. She discovered that if she stood very still, the Toys would forget that she was there, and act perfectly normal. Some of the Toys were more friendly than others, and treated her as if she weren't a mouse at all, scurrying back to the walls every sunrise. But all the Toys had a habit of falling into a nasty silence if they realized that they were discussing deep and secret TOY things, that no mouse should ever know.
But usually, they treated as if she were some inferior sort of Toy, perhaps even a mere toy.
And then, one day, the little mouse worked up enough courage not to go home one morning, and spent all day in the Playroom. As the sun set, the Parents came in to put the little boy to bed. The little mouse was lying in the middle of the floor, making paw marks in the crayon box with a choir doll. There was no place to run, so the little mouse lay very still, wondering if she could fool the Parents as well as she had fooled the Toys.
"Oh, look, he's gone and left the playroom an utter mess again," sighed the Mother, and put the little mouse away with all the other stuffed animals.
