Friday, April 26, 2013

Sensitive Skin, Rashes & First Aid Solutions

California Baby Super Sensitive Diaper Rash & Eczema Cream (12% Zinc Oxide)

http://www.babyearth.com/california-baby-super-sensitive-diaper-rash-cream.html

Apply generously five to seven times a day, especially overnight, to prevent diaper rashes.  Use free and clear/sensitive/fragrance free products, especially for bathing, shampooing, wipes, laundry detergent and fabric softener.

http://emuseproducts.com/inc/sdetail/31/475

For sensitive skin or drier climates:

Pierce three natural vitamin E oil capsules and mix it into emu oil container.  Also keep in fridge to prevent spoilage/bacteria from forming.

Coat baby or toddler in pure, food-grade emu oil twice a day, especially after bathing.  Don't forget their little lips, which can get chapped in wintertime.  Use pure emu oil three times a day in diaper region to help with chafing, rash prevention.  Remember to wash hands well (soap up and rinse off twice) with antibacterial, fragrance-free soap before applying, and don't get any diaper region bacteria into their face/mouth/eyes/hands area.  Start with those areas first, then work to the rest of their body.  If that's unaffordable, try using: food-grade olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil or coconut oil.  Organic is best.  Also, pure jojoba oil is excellent.  You can find that at natural grocery stores or vitamin shops.  Some people recommend shortening (like Crisco) or Vaseline.  You can get a healthier, organic alternative to Crisco and Vaseline at Whole Foods for eczema and cradle cap rashes.

Make sure indoor humidity is adjusted in bedroom and living areas to 45-55% with cool-mist humidifer (also use Protec sphere to keep bugs from developing).  Trim everybody's fingernails every three weeks to prevent itching injuries and spreading bacteria to skin.  Consider adding probiotics, more omega-3 fatty acids to their diet if they're over 6 months of age and restrict sugar/high fructose corn syrups (bad for immune system and can cause yeast/fungal infection).  Check out Sarna Sensitive Anti-Itch lotions.

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=183842&catid=182918&aid=338666&aparam=goobase_filler&device=c&network=g&matchtype=

_____________________________________

Remember that scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with the Windex spray bottle?  This is my version of it.  I love this product!  I think every first aid kit should have one.

Dermoplast Pain Relieving Antibacterial Spray (contains alcohol though):

http://www.drugstore.com/dermoplast-pain-relieving-antibacterial-spray/qxp412576?catid=183117

This worked incredibly well after childbirth, for the post-episiotomy area, to numb the stitches down there before wiping, when you go to the toilet.  You might need to ask for it from your pharmacist, as it's sometimes behind their counter.  Also use a refillable squirt bottle of warm water to cleanse the area, and flushable wet wipes (sensitive skin friendly/fragrance free).  You can make your own cold compress/ice pack by filling those disposable medical gloves with ice cold water, tie it in a knot at the wrist portion like a water balloon and keeping it on that episiotomy area.  Will help with pain and swelling post-childbirth.

_______________________________________

Neosporin Portable First Aid Antiseptic/Pain Relieving Spray (may also be good for insect bites and itchy scabs):

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=190696&catid=184304

________________________________________

Treating allergic rashes, insect bites, chicken pox and poison ivy:

Ask your pediatrician if you should administer an oral antihistamine or apply an antihistamine lotion.  They can figure out if the rash is an allergic reaction (important if they're allergic to medicines, nut/shellfish foods or bee stings), insect or spider bite, bacterial, yeast/fungal, eczema or psoriasis.  Due to the moistness of the diaper region, cute fat folds in infants and toddlers, along with scratching at their rashes, bacteria and fungal infections can develop.  Also, ask your pediatrician about the chicken pox and shingles vaccinations.

Look for ointments with:

1 to 2.5% Hydrocortisone (for swelling, redness, itching)
20% Benzocaine USP (to numb itching and pain)
0.1% Benzethonium Chloride (to disinfect, may help prevent MRSA infection too)
L-lysine (which may be helpful as an oral supplement or ointment with chicken pox, shingles and cold sore virus)

It's important to take them to the pediatrician's in case they turn out to be allergic to bee stings, shellfish, nuts or medications (like penicillin).  If they do turn out to have that, their doctor may help by recommending you, and their school/daycare have custom epi pens (marked with their name, in the correct dosage), dietary changes and medications to help them breath better.  It can sometimes cause swelling of their airways.  Recurrent yeast or fungal-related infections may mean getting checked for diabetes too.

Children are sometimes too small to describe their food, medicine or bee sting allergies too.  Consider a red medical alert necklace and matching bracelet to help them.  It's quite hard to communicate for older, more verbal children when they're wheezing with swollen airways too.  Medical alert necklaces and bracelets are also good for those who have autism, asthma, diabetes or epilepsy.  Sometimes children who have autism can wander off, and it's quite a challenge to find them, if they have severe autism.  If lost, they may not know how to seek help, go to rescuers or police officers because of their condition.  Young children and elderly without autism sometimes have the same challenge too.  Some parents and nursing home caregivers get GPS tracking devices combined with the medical alert necklace and bracelet too.  This helps the police find them faster so they can get their medications or treatment.



Contagious Prions: Detecting Mad Cow & Cadaver New Variant Creuzfeld-Jakob Disease

An old article fm 2008:

\http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nanotechnology-protein-amyloid-alzheimers


Alzheimers & Nanotech

http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=23726.php

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nanotechnology-protein-amyloid-alzheimers

Prions, Mad Cow, Alzheimer's & Nanotechnology

http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=25617.php

Rent the Rodin Museum (Legion of Honor) in San Francisco (Major Events, Weddings)

Rent the Legion of Honor for your corporate events, weddings and receptions:


http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/about/approved-caterers

Truly breathtaking venue, filled with Rodin's exquisite (and romantic) sculptures.  Perfect place for a private wedding ceremony and reception for art lovers.  

Nouvelle Vague's "This is Not a Love Song"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Tvg2sbAN8

Wax Poetic's "Girl"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2qyXjAXi5o

Thursday, April 25, 2013

40% Zinc Oxide Desitin Diaper Rash Ointment

For treating nappy rashes and also great for overnight prevention:

http://www.drugstore.com/desitin-diaper-rash-maximum-strength-original-paste/qxp10751?catid=182979

Preventing nappy rashes:

-Use fragrance free, alcohol free baby wipes (or switch to using soft washcloths soaked in distilled water, with a tiny bit of vinegar, especially for newborns who tend to be more sensitive to baby wipes). Try a liter of distilled water to 2 tablespoons of vinegar.  Will help prevent yeast/fungal infections.

-Change frequently: every two to three hours (including twice at night time)

-Apply a generous amount of Desitin (seemed to work best fm my experience) ointment with every diaper change (or at least every other diaper change)




World Vision: Unique, Compassionate Bracelets

http://worldvisionshop.org/given/accessories/all-accessories/recycled-pop-top-leather-bracelet.html

http://worldvisionshop.org/given/accessories/bracelets/bali-beaded-wood-cuff.html

Monday, April 22, 2013

Shop Komen (Breast Cancer Charity) For Mother's Day

http://www.shopkomen.com/featured.php/

Check out their New Balance collection, waffle robe and slipper set, pens, towels, scarves and totes.  For the men there are plenty of shirts.  Also, a good selection of women's outerwear and rainwear.

Nepeta Six Hills Giant Catmint Perennial: For 7 to 8k Feet Above Sea Level

This is the only perennial I can say that works for me at 8k feet altitude in Evergreen, CO.  The poor soil, drought, high winds, rabbits, deer, elk and unpredictable weather are quite a challenge for most gardeners here.  Lambs' ear, snow-in-summer, artemisia, alliums and echinacea are also good bets for beginner gardeners to the state.  Indoor plants that do well here are jade tree and sedums from my experience (with sunny well-lit location, well-drained cactus soil, so don't overwater as they don't like wet feet).  I put lightweight rocks for extra drainage in the bottom of the large pot for my jade tree when I had it.  That seemed successful.  Let them go as dry as possible between waterings, and only water twice a month or so.  The drier air is the challenge for indoor plants so stick to those plants that aren't picky about that.  The indoors ZZ plant (dark green, waxy leaves) is also a winner for those who don't have a green thumb.  It's quite sturdy, but tends to be a slow grower, so get the biggest ones you can find for your indoor garden.

Hardening off perennials, planting at the right time, using lots of mulch and adding mushroom compost to amend the soil will aid in beginning the garden.  Even a plant as sturdy as the Six Hills Giant Catmint needs to be initially babied and watered deeply, regularly, to establish its place in your garden.  Give it lots of expansion room when planning where it'll go too.  It tends to get very wide and tall.  It does well when planted as a group with other Six Hills Giant Nepetas.  Imagine a field of lavendar when incorporating it into your garden's design.  After a couple years, you can just add another thick layer of mulch and leave it alone (reduce watering to once a month, late afternoon, in only the driest months of the summer).  Shear it back once a year (right after its blooms fade) and it will come back for a second bloom.  The foliage is valuable for color, a medium green, when it's not in bloom.  After its second or third year, divide the plant when it's dormant (died back completely) in early spring.  Shovel it up, and break its roots in half.  That way it doesn't get woody in its center and you can give it away to a neighbor or plant the divided sections at other places in your yard that have poor soil.

At lower (metro Denver's typical one mile above sea level) altitude, consider Russian Sage, Nearly Wild pink rose shrubs and also ornamental grasses for your garden.  Those do very well in those regions.  High Country Gardens has a website that sells a wide range of ornamental grasses, plants, deer-resistant wildflower and also drought-resistant grass seeds.  Bluestone Perennial has the Six Hills Giant Catmint plants also.  Some Liatris, Penstemons and Achillea on those sites would also do quite well in the metro Denver, CO gardens.  Colo State University has a lot of information on the most successful plants and shrubs for the area too.  Try to find a local Plant Select nursery in the area as they have training and supplies to help with our unique gardening challenges here.

High Country Gardens link (check out their drought-tolerant, low water, and no-mowing grass seed selection)
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/Grass_Seeds

Spinach, carrots, swiss chard, zucchini, onion, and garlic will do well here, as long as you can ward off the deer, elk, rabbits, and chipmunks.


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Rabbi Harold Kushner on Life Pains

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQW6xvmREx4

I was touched by Rabbi Harold Kushner's promise to his dying fourteen year old son, who was afraid he'd be forgotten.  This is a good interview to watch if you are struggling with why tragedies, diseases, and violence occur.  Self-blaming and then healing from that and the false belief that God is punishing us for getting breast cancer, for instance, is discussed.

Cantor Shalom Katz - El Male Rachamim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNY7oyDUMxM

"

Sholom Katz was born in Grosswardein, Hungary. At an early age he was already displaying his unique ability before vast audiences. When he was only twenty years old, he won the post of cantor at the famed Kishinever Shul, with a three year contract. His next position was in the Hecker Shul where the renowned Shlomoh Zalmon Razomne once officiated as Cantor. In 1942 in a Nazi concentration camp, Sholom was among 1600 Jews scheduled for mass execution. He received permission to sing the Keil Molei Rachamim (Prayer for the Dead) while the prisoners were digging their graves. The Nazi commandant, impressed with his voice, spared him to sing for the officers, and the next day he was allowed to escape, the only one of 1600 spared a brutal death.

Sholom Katz' phenomenal vocal range, his perfect control and dramatic quality are well displayed in his moving rendition of the Sabbath Services. Several years ago he was elected "The Outstanding Cantor of the Year" by the World. Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education

"

Many Jewish Families Turned Away By U.S. Perished in Concentration Camps

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/neh-preservation-project/2013/apr/07/70th-anniversary-warsaw-ghetto-uprising/

Most striking to me are these excerpts:

"Dr. Joseph Thon, head of the General Zionist Organization of Poland and former Editor of the Polish daily Chwila of Lwow, pleaded for support.  "Mr. Mayor, at this moment we stand before you as mourners and with hearts full of pain.  In our desperation we ask your voice to be heard...Mr. Mayor, help us bring our message to places where the fate of our surviving brothers and sisters may be decided.  Help us save them!Chaim Yisrael Chai! The folk of Israel will live forever!"
From his chair on the podium, Mayor La Guardia may have heard these cries for help more acutely than the crowd knew.  Mayor La Guardia's mother was Jewish, and his biographer Thomas Kessner writes that, "although La Guardia did not think of himself as a Jew, his estranged sister was in Europe and he was aware that she had been taken away by the Nazis."[2] The Mayor calls the event "one of the most impressive ceremonies that has ever taken place at this historic spot..."Every man and woman here assembled is mourning the death of some dear one who was brutally and cruelly murdered by the armed forces of the Nazi government.”

"


Mayor La Guardia told his audience of survivors and mourners their voices would be heard. "The American people understand the plight of the people of Jewish faith in Europe.  The need to go to their rescue is high on the list of the military actions that are to take place before long."
Although the Mayor was optimistic, little changed. On the home front, U.S. immigration laws were so zealously enforced that even official quotas for Jews were not filled. Many who were turned away were sent to concentration camps. Long after the war ended, crowds continued to attend memorials in the hopes of finding friends and family they had lost.

"


_______________________________

Defiant Requiem (Verdi)

Scroll to bottom of this page and play the trailer:


http://www.wqxr.org/#!/blogs/operavore/2013/apr/01/defiant-requiem-reprises-holcaust-era-performance-verdi/?utm_source=/blogs/neh-preservation-project/2013/apr/07/70th-anniversary-warsaw-ghetto-uprising/&utm_medium=treatment&utm_campaign=morelikethis



Saturday, April 6, 2013

Denver Charity Helping These Local Sick, Injured, Disabled Children

http://professionalsmiraclesfoundation.com/grant-recipients

World Health Organization: Funding Tuberculosis Treatment & Research Needs

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/tuberculosis_threat_20130318/en/index.html

Doctors Without Borders: On Helping Syrian Refugees

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/ar/report.cfm?id=6231

Doctors Without Borders on New Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatments: Bedaquiline and Delamanid

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=6693&cat=press-release

Over 70k Syrians Have Died Since March 2011 - U.N. Report

So the U.N. has reported that over 70k Syrians have died since March 2011.  That's a shocking amount that is still growing.  There are also close to 200,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey.  And many also in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, living in desperate poverty, with no access to the medical care they need.  Hopefully Sec. of State John Kerry visits some of the Syrian refugee camps in that region before he leaves.  They could certainly use the increased media exposure to benefit the American public's awareness of the dire situation.

Link to article on charity organizations working on behalf of Syrians, refugees:

http://philanthropy.com/article/Relief-Charities-Brave-Intense/138045/


2 Million Syrian Children May Perish

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/world/meast/syria-civil-war-children/index.html?iref=obinsite

Syrian Refugees in Jordan

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/world/meast/jordan-syrian-refugees/index.html?iref=allsearch



Monday, April 1, 2013

Images of Lavender Farms Fm Google For Meditation

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1120&bih=702&q=lavender+farms&oq=lavender+farms&gs_l=img.3..0l2j0i5j0i24l7.1715.4217.0.5017.14.10.0.4.4.0.82.498.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.7.img.KJOnWDFzgrQ


Here in Colorado's High Country, Nepeta Six Hills Giant is a great alternative, although the fragrance of lavender from Australia (they had pink, white and purple varieties) can't be matched.  There are lavender farms in Boulder County, CO and Palisade, CO though.  Sonoma and Napa Valley, California had a better climate for lavender enthusiasts too.  Imagine walking in a field of Provencial French lavender, right after the harvest, when bunches are laid to dry on the soil they grew in.  And bunches of dried lavender stems are hung up in the rafters of a barn.

Sensitive Skin in Children: Clearly Natural Unscented Glycerine Soap

Clearly Natural unscented glycerine soap bar worked well for my son's sensitive skin.  Also, 3 Aveeno oatmeal bath packets instead of those scented bubble baths helped him when he was in elementary school.  Twice a week soaks in Aveeno oatmeal powder packets (I'd add organic honey to it also) alleviated dry, itchy skin.  Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure Mild Baby Castile Soap (liquid form) is another good one that's easy to find.  Some use the latter for shampoo.  Just add a bit of jojoba oil to it for scalp/hair conditioner.

Another mother I knew once recommended adding freshly ground chia or flaxseeds to a child's breakfast cereal to add omega-3 fatty acids, for naturally moisturizing the sensitive skin and scalp.  Keeping the humidity level healthy (in Colorado's drier air, by using a cool mist humidifier) can't hurt either.  Unscented laundry detergent (All Free or unscented organic baby detergent), and unscented dryer sheets worked well also.


Walgreens Going Solar

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/earth_to_power/2013/03/colorado-walgreens-stores-going-solar.html

Motherhood Out Loud, $18-$26/Person, Avenue Theater

http://www.5280.com/events/2013/01/18/motherhood-out-loud

Denver Health Foundation $100/Person, Men's Fundraiser


http://www.cvent.com/events/hot-rocks-griller-challenge/event-summary-0c1fcfb691c64a5aa4fde982bf5a8e7f.aspx

Rose Women's Organization 2013 Fundraiser

http://denverlifemagazine.com/events/?view=full&tid=1423

Celebrate DIA DEL NINO in Boulder, Free

http://www.bmoca.org/2013/02/dia-del-nino-2/

Mendelssonh's Elijah @ Colorado Symphony May 10th

http://tickets.coloradosymphony.org/single/EventDetail.aspx?p=2351

Firefly Autism Comedy Fundraiser Event: Business Casual Attire, $175/person

https://www.blacktie-colorado.com/calendar/event-detail.cfm?id=23871

Find Out Project C.U.R.E's Worldwide Charitable Impact & Fundraising Needs

https://www.blacktie-colorado.com/calendar/event-detail.cfm?id=25065

$10/Ticket for Autism Fundraising Event in Boulder, CO

http://calendar.dailycamera.com/boulder_co/events/show/315422243-temple-grandin-school-hosts-heartchild-documentary-film-screening

Affordable Child-friendly Opera @ Central City, CO

http://calendar.dailycamera.com/central_city_co/events/show/316425443-take-a-child-to-the-opera-family-matinee-of-the-barber-of-seville

Boulder, CO Veterans' Events & Organizations

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-bare/veteran-support_b_2967128.html