I head to Washington DC next Monday. Me and the government are going to go at it again. Maybe this time I'll win? Didn't really get too far with the CPSIA but I am eternally optimistic.
The newest issue in my world is the FDA reform - dubbed the Food Safety Modernization Act. I am supposedly meeting with some of the powers that be in Washington DC to try and convince them that our FDA is broken and needs to be fixed. I have been asked several times now - why are you doing this? Why are you going to DC - it is because you just like to get involved in causes? Do you feel really strongly about this issue?
And I have been asking myself the same questions. I suppose that before Monday, I need a clear answer. But the fact is that there are a lot of reasons to do this. I have to at least admit that on some level - the shallowest and least important reason is - it's a really cool way to get to see how the government works and to get to go to DC on someone else's dime.
BUT.... there are also important reasons.... like the fact that I have now seen first hand what a bad law does to good people. Having personal up close experience with the CPSIA, I know what bad government can do. I realize I am small potatoes compared to some of the biggies out there - but if I can make the smallest amount of difference, it's worth it.
It is not OK with me to think that we cannot rely on our government and it's agencies to take care of our food supply. Eating is NOT an option. We have to get our food from somewhere and since no one I know has the ability to eat 100% from their own backyard, we need to rely on grocery stores and other food sources. I need to know that when I go to my local store, the items I choose to buy for my family will not make the sick, give them long-term health problems or even cause them to be hospitalized or God-forbid, cause death.
So - I am off to DC... and our local News station picked it up. More press on it's way - this was just the first. We had the crew in the living room this morning before school - nothing like a news crew to start your day!
KTVZ News
Friday, April 24, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Birthdays
I LOVE birthdays. Love em. I also really love making birthday cakes. I spend hours planning it and hours making it. I need people to oohhhh and aaahhhh over it. I am crushed when no one makes and/or buys a cake for me on my birthday.
Silly - I know. But true. Can't help it. It's like if I don't receive a cake, no one cares. OK - that seems really lame now that I actually type it out - but it's true anyway.
This must be why I love making cakes. I think I put so much time and effort into the cake that the person must now know how important I think they are.
So - here it is - my latest cake - Thomas will be 7 tomorrow. Think he'll understand the love that went into this cake? One can only hope.
BTW - It's a Bakugan. Don't know that that is? If you don't, you clearly do not have a 7 year old boy.
Just in case you are dying to try this at home - I covered a tray with a tie dye t-shirt and then covered it in plastic wrap. (An idea I totally stole from the internet) I then made a sheet cake and used Wilton spray on frosting to make it look like a Bakugan Card. The eyeball is made from a round cake pan and the things that look like leaves are actually construction paper that Thomas colored and then we covered them in plastic wrap so they wouldn't actually touch the cake. It looks like an actual Bakugan.
Silly - I know. But true. Can't help it. It's like if I don't receive a cake, no one cares. OK - that seems really lame now that I actually type it out - but it's true anyway.
This must be why I love making cakes. I think I put so much time and effort into the cake that the person must now know how important I think they are.
So - here it is - my latest cake - Thomas will be 7 tomorrow. Think he'll understand the love that went into this cake? One can only hope.
BTW - It's a Bakugan. Don't know that that is? If you don't, you clearly do not have a 7 year old boy.
Just in case you are dying to try this at home - I covered a tray with a tie dye t-shirt and then covered it in plastic wrap. (An idea I totally stole from the internet) I then made a sheet cake and used Wilton spray on frosting to make it look like a Bakugan Card. The eyeball is made from a round cake pan and the things that look like leaves are actually construction paper that Thomas colored and then we covered them in plastic wrap so they wouldn't actually touch the cake. It looks like an actual Bakugan.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
What would you do?
What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
This question has been repeating itself like a skipping record through my head for the last few hours. While I ran tonight I began making a mental list - a benefit to running I hadn't thought of previously - time to think!
I began with selfish things I wish I could do, sing, dance, write a novel, compose music, play an instrument. Then I moved on to career choices - and came up a little empty there...maybe something to do with my self-diagnosed career ADD. Can't commit for fear I'll get bored within a year. Anyhow, then I began to think - maybe the question is supposed to be bigger - like feed all the starving children in Africa, create world peace etc. So I am beginning to come to the decision that the list has to be broken up into segments - personal, career, global etc.
Here's the beginning of mine - I think it'll be a work in progress for a while. And keep in mind, this is what I would do if I could not fail - not what I have skills to do or anything so real as that.
Personal things I'd do if I knew I could not fail:
1. Learn to play piano and guitar - because one is portable and one is not. I think it's useful to play an instrument.
2. Learn to speak Spanish fluently. There's absolutely no reason I should not do this already, you'd think after 3 years of it in high school I would have retained some right?
3. Sing. Well. Now - not so much. I don't want to be on American Idol or anything, but singing a line or two of a song in my head in the shower is about as far as I'll go now.
4. Act. Like - I wanna be in a movie. Wouldn't that be fun? I have ZERO talent in this area - but this is if I knew I couldn't fail right? :)
5. Write a book. A total fiction novel that people would be scrambling for - something that'd be made into a movie someday.
6. Get a PhD. I have NO idea what the subject would be - I just want the fancy letters after my name.
7. Run a marathon.
Career things I'd do if I knew I couldn't fail:
(this list is a little harder - it's not that I'm afraid of failure - it's that I'm afraid of boredom. It's not the same thing is it?)
1. Be a doctor - which would of course require accomplishing #6 above.
2. Run a non-profit organization with a multi-million dollar budget. One that does amazing things with children.
3. Direct a movie. this would of course be in line with #4 above - maybe if I don't have the talent to act myself, I could tell other people how to do it?
4. Be a graphic designer or marketing person.... My favorite people in the world do this for a living and I am often jealous of the things they do daily. Or - at least what I think they do daily.
5. Be a photographer - this might fall into the personal category...
Ya - I think that's it. I just come up empty when it comes to careers. That's not good.
Globally - what I'd do if I could not fail:
1. Teach women in 3rd world countries how to operate businesses that would be profitable for them and would take them out of poverty.
2. Join the Peace Corp and go somewhere I've never heard of - make a difference in the future of an entire village, community or city.
This is a good start. I like to think that there are about 500 other things I'd add here. Maybe some of it will turn into a to do before I die list. Some of it will continue to live in the fantasy land that is my head. Some things are meant to live there forever - it's a good place to be. :)
What's on your list?
This question has been repeating itself like a skipping record through my head for the last few hours. While I ran tonight I began making a mental list - a benefit to running I hadn't thought of previously - time to think!
I began with selfish things I wish I could do, sing, dance, write a novel, compose music, play an instrument. Then I moved on to career choices - and came up a little empty there...maybe something to do with my self-diagnosed career ADD. Can't commit for fear I'll get bored within a year. Anyhow, then I began to think - maybe the question is supposed to be bigger - like feed all the starving children in Africa, create world peace etc. So I am beginning to come to the decision that the list has to be broken up into segments - personal, career, global etc.
Here's the beginning of mine - I think it'll be a work in progress for a while. And keep in mind, this is what I would do if I could not fail - not what I have skills to do or anything so real as that.
Personal things I'd do if I knew I could not fail:
1. Learn to play piano and guitar - because one is portable and one is not. I think it's useful to play an instrument.
2. Learn to speak Spanish fluently. There's absolutely no reason I should not do this already, you'd think after 3 years of it in high school I would have retained some right?
3. Sing. Well. Now - not so much. I don't want to be on American Idol or anything, but singing a line or two of a song in my head in the shower is about as far as I'll go now.
4. Act. Like - I wanna be in a movie. Wouldn't that be fun? I have ZERO talent in this area - but this is if I knew I couldn't fail right? :)
5. Write a book. A total fiction novel that people would be scrambling for - something that'd be made into a movie someday.
6. Get a PhD. I have NO idea what the subject would be - I just want the fancy letters after my name.
7. Run a marathon.
Career things I'd do if I knew I couldn't fail:
(this list is a little harder - it's not that I'm afraid of failure - it's that I'm afraid of boredom. It's not the same thing is it?)
1. Be a doctor - which would of course require accomplishing #6 above.
2. Run a non-profit organization with a multi-million dollar budget. One that does amazing things with children.
3. Direct a movie. this would of course be in line with #4 above - maybe if I don't have the talent to act myself, I could tell other people how to do it?
4. Be a graphic designer or marketing person.... My favorite people in the world do this for a living and I am often jealous of the things they do daily. Or - at least what I think they do daily.
5. Be a photographer - this might fall into the personal category...
Ya - I think that's it. I just come up empty when it comes to careers. That's not good.
Globally - what I'd do if I could not fail:
1. Teach women in 3rd world countries how to operate businesses that would be profitable for them and would take them out of poverty.
2. Join the Peace Corp and go somewhere I've never heard of - make a difference in the future of an entire village, community or city.
This is a good start. I like to think that there are about 500 other things I'd add here. Maybe some of it will turn into a to do before I die list. Some of it will continue to live in the fantasy land that is my head. Some things are meant to live there forever - it's a good place to be. :)
What's on your list?
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