Safer For Your Home And Self

In September, as part of the network’s award-winning Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign, Lifetime Television and Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Jewel delivered more than 12 million petition signatures to Capitol Hill, urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005 (S 910/HR1849). The bill would ban the practice of “drive-through” mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital just hours after their surgeries and before they are ready to go home. Sign our petition now to help end “drive-through” mastectomies once and for all.
http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

Did you know women that stay at home have a 54% higher Cancer rate??? Why, you may ask?
Take the time to learn more, visit

www.TriCountyMoms.com

Take a few mins and listen to tips Dr Weil give on labels. When shopping for products don’t be mislead.

Bestselling author and physician Andrew Weil teaches a simple trick for reading labels and lays out a few easy-to-remember rules for food shoppers. He discusses what’s wrong with the American diet and why Americans are getting fatter

http://www.lime.com/health/video/2191/andrew_weils_lessons_on_food_labeling

www.TriCountyMoms.com
Smart Moms working from HOME!

Mom’s ( Dad’s too),

I feel I just needed to write this as it is something that is so dear to my heart!
9 years ago I was downsized from a Corporate JOB. Very life changing and stressful it was but after this past week I can truly say it was the best thing that ever happened. Those of you who are concerned about taking the “plunge” of staying at home to earning your income I say GO FOR IT! Even if you are wanting the extra income and tax reliefs of a home business I say GO FOR IT.
Ladies, be smart and prepare for your future while you enjoy your time with the family.
This past week I was able to be very involved with school events for both of my children, 13 and 16. When the school asked for my help I was there. I worked my own hours, was actually in control of my time and life and made the money needed to pay the morntage and food. FOOD what an expense that is with 2 teenagers!
So if you are the mom who wants to be involved with your kids life, see your husband on a regular basis and make an income then take the “plunge” and just go for it.
Working from home has turned into a wonder life. I invite you to take a look!
www.TriCountyMoms.com

Ever wonder If you have a CHEMICAL HOUSE??

Check them out…..

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/Products/Toxics/chemicalhouse.cfm?product typeid=16&productid=87

Do we really need a home water filter? Can’t we just assume the water that flows from our kitchen and bathroom tap is sufficiently treated for contaminants by our municipal water facility? In order to answer these questions, we need to obtain a little more background information.

Next to air, water is the most important element for our survival.

Water is an integral part of our life and we use it for many household tasks throughout the day, such as: drinking and brushing our teeth, steaming fish and vegetables, washing salad greens, face and hand washing, showering and bathing, feeding the pets and watering our plants.

Most of us take it for granted that our tap water is safe to drink and use for common household tasks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), however, estimates that 45,000,000 people drink tap water that is polluted with chemicals, lead, germs, parasites and other impurities.

A large majority of the major U.S. cities still employ the same basic water treatment technologies that have been used since before World War I. In cities such as Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C. consumers are relying on pipes that are, on average, over a century old. Many people don’t realize that our municipal water treatment plants are not designed to remove synthetic chemicals and as a result we find traces of health threatening contaminants in most of our public water supplies.

Situations arise when our tap water is polluted with more than the usual amount of contaminants. Municipal treatment plants have breakdowns that take time to repair. Lead leaches into our drinking water from old pipes and private wells. Smaller water-supply sources can become contaminated from agricultural and other environmental pollutants.

It is difficult to be sure of the exact amount of toxins in our water supply. The EPA has estimated that, in our modern society, we use in excess of 75,000 toxic chemicals and more than 1000 new chemicals are developed each year. The Ralph Nader Research Group‚ after reviewing thousands of pages of EPA documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act‚ concluded that to date more than 2100 toxic chemicals have already been detected in U.S. water supplies.

Our planet earth reuses the same water over and over again, which means there is no “new water”. Every single chemical used in our society, eventually winds up in our water supplies. As the use of synthetic organic chemicals increases, so does the toxicity of our water. The earth’s natural filtration process is not effective at removing these toxic synthetic organic chemicals.

The human body is made up of over 70% water. The proper function of each organ system, as well as every healing process that happens inside our body, takes place with water. Optimal functioning is only possible when water, our body’s transport medium is clean. Wastes form during the body’s metabolism and if these wastes are allowed to accumulate through insufficient water intake, fatigue and even illness results.

If we drink water that contains chlorine or other organic and inorganic chemicals, we force our liver and kidneys to act as a filter for these contaminants. The liver purifies and detoxifies the blood of waste products and toxins. In addition to regulating the body’s water balance and maintaining optimal pH, the kidney also removes metabolic waste products from the bloodstream.

By providing the liver and kidneys with water, a universal solvent and transport medium, they are assisted in their role as a natural body filter. Bombarding these organs with water that contains traces of additional toxins only hinders the body detoxification process and delays waste removal.

Water may not cure every ailment, but it is a primary ingredient that allows our body to dilute and eliminate toxins that have accumulated over time.

What Can We Do To Provide Healthy Water For Our Family?

The simplest, most effective and also the most economical way to treat municipal tap water is a home water filter. Multi-media water filters that combine activated carbon with iron exchange media such as KDF are an excellent choice.

Carbon and KDF work together to remove or reduce traces of contaminants such as chlorine, lead, Cryptosporidium and Giardia cysts, synthetic chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), MTBE, pesticides (lindane, atrazine), chemicals linked to cancer (benzene, TTHMs, toxaphene) and hundreds of other chemical contaminants that may be present causing bad taste and odors in your drinking water.

The result is healthy, great-tasting water that still contains natural trace minerals that are beneficial to optimal wellbeing and health.

Experts discuss how to live green at home, work
Simple tips to save energy offered at environmental summit

January 11, 2007
By Jennifer Golz staff writer
It’s as simple as turning off the television when you’re not watching.

Or dusting lighting fixtures or using the front door of a home rather than the garage.

Wednesday’s fourth annual DuPage County Environmental Summit, at Benedictine University in Lisle, focused on how to save energy and help the environment along the way.

Since 1983, the home of Pat Armstrong, on Staunton and Naperville roads, has been an example of environmental ingenuity. To make her home even more environmentally sound, Armstrong planted a turf roof over her garage in the spring of 2005.
Sun file photo

GET CONSERVATION SAVVY
Kay McKeen, founder and president of School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education, suggested ways to save energy around the house during Wednesday’s DuPage County Environmental Summit at Benedictine University in Lisle. Some of those eco-friendly recommendations include:

• Washing clothes in cold water

• Dusting light fixtures and bulbs so light can get through

• Closing doors to unused rooms

• Turning down the heat when away on business or vacation

• Put on a sweater when cold instead of boosting the heat
“We use nuclear power here,” said Kay McKeen, founder and president of School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education.
“When you turn on a light switch … you’re choosing to make radioactive waste.”

But McKeen isn’t suggesting we start living in the dark. Instead, switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use about 75 percent less electricity than a standard bulb.

Or even better, she said, look for LED lights bulbs, which use 97 percent less energy and do not produce any heat.
( I started using the LED bulbs about a month ago. What a difference in the light bill. In Florida we are still
very warm so when the air conditioning does not have to be running all the time it is a good thing! My electric bill was reduced by at least $50. Maybe more except their ere a few days of cold weather so I had NO a/c running. I bought the bulds equal to a 60 watt buld at Lowes. A pack of 4 was $8. These bulds are to last many years!!!)

“If you aren’t using it - just unplug it,” McKeen said of unused or extra appliances.

“And open the blinds during the day and close them at night,” she said. “It sounds old-fashioned, but it works.”

While McKeen talked about how to make an existing home energy-efficient, Marko Spiegel, president of Conservation Technology International, Inc., spoke about how to build and energy efficient home.

Illinois’ first One Watt House is in Oregon, about 70 miles northwest of Naperville.

Specialized design guidelines and materials are used in the construction of a One Watt House to make it climate dependent, meaning minimal heating or cooling, if any, is needed.

“It’s one of the more meaningful investments a person can make in a lifetime if you think of all the benefits,” Spiegel said.

Those benefits not only include drastically reduced heating and cooling costs, but also comfort improvements as there are no hot or cold spots in a One Watt House, as well as better air quality.

Green buildings and roofs do not have to be limited to residential buildings.

Lois Vitt, principal architect with Phoenix Architects, spoke about the Chicago area’s green buildings including the Calamos Investments site in Naperville as well as the two projects in Bolingbrook.

Bolingbrook High School was the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified high school in the state, Vitt said.

LEED builds are certified based on design and construction criteria, as well as how it operates, by the U.S. Green Building Council.

A proposed nature center being designed by the Bolingbrook Park District would make it the second LEED project in the village.

Make 2007 a year of “green”.
Linda

Raising Kids in Tough Times: Those other kids

By Roger McIntire

MARTINSBURG — Peer pressure expands as kids age from 4 to 20. Some kids don’t give it much attention, but many parents worry that the “other kids” have too much influence in the wrong directions. Why do other kids have so much power? It has to come from somewhere.

“Mom, everybody has roller shoes.”

“You don’t need new shoes. What are roller shoes anyway?”

“It’s like having skates in your shoes.”

“If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you …”

“What?”

“Never mind. No, we are not buying ‘roller shoes.’”

Roller shoes may not be an important issue, but if the topic were drinking and driving we sure would want to have an influence.

Both adults and teenagers would list family, security and friends near the top of concerns. But being liked, viewed as competent and seen as “cool” would also be high up on the list—maybe even ahead of those more serious things.

Your child’s appetite for respect, admiration for his or her competencies and just being liked is more than you might think. Provide a lot of compliments at home to counter outside influences.

When counseling teens who experimented with drugs, I often heard that incredible remark, “What have I got to lose?” Why doesn’t he know what he has to lose? Hasn’t anyone told him about his own special abilities? Maybe his parents felt he would become conceited with too many compliments, but that possibility is far less dangerous than a teen “with nothing to lose.”

The Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report for 2006 says there are 21,500 teenage gangs in the United States with 731,000 members. Most are up to no good. Teens who feel they are not liked at home are looking for acceptance somewhere else. Add embarrassment as the top fear of teenagedom and the stage is set for “going along with the gang.”
A parent’s memories of teen years are usually the same: worried about embarrassment, yearning to be liked. Many parents have told me that their early experiences left them with the feeling that they were never quite good enough.

Teens easily lose confidence in themselves. The TV constantly presents people larger than life, perfect people who are bright and beautiful. Parents, always hoping for improvement, often go for the quick-fix advice that usually lacks any message about their child’s good points. Even when parents feel they have helped, the overall impression may be, “you’re not good enough yet, another thing you need to fix is …”

Giving compliments should be done without fanfare. Parents are tempted to add embellishments when they get no reaction. Silence doesn’t necessarily mean there was no effect. Additional gushing risks embarrassment. Because compliments are hard to handle, they are best left to marinate on their own.

Parents can’t know what talents of their children will blossom and supply the self-satisfaction that will keep them on the right track. You just have to provide as much encouragement as you can. It keeps most doors open and provides the best resistance when the peer pressure is on.

—Dr. Roger McIntire is the author of “Teenagers and Parents: 10 Steps to a Better

Relationship” and “Raising Good Kids in Tough Times.” Write him through The Journal, 207 W. King St., Martinsburg, WV 25401 or go to www.ParentSuccess.com.