Pittsburgh Alternative Health

Yesterday I had an amazing experience at Pittsburgh Alternative Health.  I had the EAV test done and it was pretty enlightening.  I looked all over for what EAV means and finally came across this, and it stands for Electro Acupuncture by Voll.  A simpler way to explain the procedure is this: you hold a copper rod in your left hand and the naturopath takes a conical metal device and presses it into pressure points on the fingers of your right hand.  The machine is hooked up to the computer so I was able to watch it read my responses to every sort of food, additive, and environmental influence imaginable.  I worried that I might learn about a dozen things to which my body responds negatively and have to severely amend my lifestyle, so I was relieved to find out that only a few things upset the harmony of my body: MSG (a total non-issue), dioxin (a byproduct of burning plastic, which hardly comes as a surprise and, being that I live in a city with some of the worst air in the country, is hard to avoid), mold (also expected since we live in an old house where mold spores are plentiful), wheat (though fortunately not gluten), shellfish (also something I avoid anyway), grapes, and raisins.  These final two were more surprising; I've never heard of grape intolerance, but there it is.  I've enjoyed grapes most of the summer, and raisins are staples for my oatmeal, but I'll get by.  At least oatmeal's not off the table.  I'm looking into getting an air purifier and will do my best to avoid the things on the list (at least while not in Europe; all bets are off there) to allow my body to better combat whatever it is that's been attacking my lower extremities.  I have high hopes that modifying my diet will alleviate the problem.  And for anyone interested in improving their total well-being, I highly recommend visiting your local naturopath and having this procedure performed.  It's fascinating.

Playing Hooky

I've been surprised to learn lately how early children are heading off to "school".  From as early as a year I've known little ones whose parents sent them away during the week to environments of learning and, while I do see the merit in theory of this, I still can't help but to shake my head in disbelief.  I remember going to pre-school at three before starting kindergarten at four, then proceeding to first grade and so on, but earlier than three just makes me wonder. While something about this just wasn't sitting right with me I felt like my reservations about it may be rooted more in my unfamiliarity with that schedule and my feeling that some children simply aren't quite ready to be tossed into those sorts of social settings before a certain age.  I've been asked countless times by friends and acquaintances whether I've found a preschool for Olive, even though this was never a consideration from the start for us.  Then I came across this article.  While I by no means take this study as the only right way, it sure did make a lot of sense to me.  Olive thrives in a home learning environment and gets on well with all sorts of folks, though she could still use a little work in the peer department since her interactions occur largely with adults.  The bit about peers wanting to mimic one another and feel the need to be like others in order to fit in really resonated with me, though.  When I was a teacher I witnessed proof of that on a daily basis - far more than seemed healthy or appropriate, and I'd much prefer for my child to not be burdened with the premature pressure to be like someone else.  Regardless of your stance on childhood education, I feel like it's worth the read.

My Lazy Summer

Finding myself with all the laundry folded and dishes done and two hours to kill before I'm off work, I figured I'd take some time for a little writing.  It's not that I've had nothing eventful going on my my life to inspire me - I've simply been lazy.  Too lazy to upload the pictures from my camera, that's for sure.  In my down time I've been happier to hang around with Rob watching episodes of Big Love while Olive's asleep.  That show is fascinating.  Mindboggling.  It makes me even happier that I'm only married to one man and not two other women, to boot.  It makes me appreciate the simplicity of our lives and marriage.

Anyway, our past few weeks have been busy and fun-filled.  Several weeks ago we took a two-day trip down to West Virginia to my parents' lovely and tranquil lake house where we gathered with my folks, my sister and three (soon to become four!) children, and my brother, Taylor.  We enjoyed the scenery, taking walks through the woods, Rob and Olive did some kayaking, the kids played in the lake, and the adults enjoyed games every night as we always do. 

Last week we hosted a 30th birthday party for my good pal, Keith.  We grilled homemade sausages and fresh salmon that Keith's girlfriend, Alex, had just brought back with her from Alaska (she and her father made the sausage; her brother-in-law had just caught the salmon).  To top it off, Alex decided to not take a job in New York City in favor of staying in this wonderful little city of ours!  This was probably the best news I'd received all summer because, MAN, was I getting tired of friends up and leaving. 

To celebrate a day off for both Rob and me, something that rarely happens, we decided to go up to Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie.  We live just over two hours away and I'd never visited that particular Great Lake and it seemed the perfect day to go.  The weather was glorious and we enjoyed what was probably the last day we'd get into a natural body of water this year.  It really was beautiful up there, through Erie, Pennyslvania is (and no dissage to lovers or natives of the town) a major eyesore.  The beach was pleasant except for the pebbly strip at the water's edge; my feet were tender that night and the next day.  Olive went back and forth between the shore and lake, periodically dipping in to wash off her hands. We nibbled all day on apples and almonds, our only provisions since I'd left the bag of seven peanut butter or almond butter and jelly sandwiches behind on the kitchen counter. On the way home we listened to the Sound of Music sountrack and I fought back tears during every song.  After getting the soundtrack earlier this summer I realized I couldn't listen to it without choking up.  You see, my beloved Gi-Gi, who died almost exactly three years ago, really enjoyed those songs, too, and my association with them is so deeply rooted in my memories of hearing those songs when I was with her, so many years ago.  She loved the film and loved visiting Austria, so I did, too - or believed I did - and that's why I'm finally going to see the place she adored.  That said, it's hard to believe that our trip is not even a month away.  We have so much planning to do! 

I've started searching for retail spaces again for the business.  We'd back-burnered the idea for a while since I was satisfied with my 3-day workweek doing olive oil, but sometimes it's not good to wait too long because opportunities can pass.  I was able to look at several really promising spaces just down the street from where we live in the adjacent neighborhood.  Aside from requiring a lot of cosmetic work (new floors, ceilings, lighting), they were just the sort of spaces I'd always had in mind.  I have no idea how I'm going to fund this endeavor, but people take on projects like this all the time so it's just a matter of doing the work to get the loans to get it off the ground.  It's just unfortunate that this isn't the sort of work that really interests me.  But I do know what I want, so there's that.

And the most exciting bit of news of all?  Today I made an appointment with a naturopath who came highly recommended by my sister.  I have not been able to make heads or tails of this blasted itchy leg disease (that's what it has to be - a disease) that's about to drive me round the bend.  I lose so much sleep over this and wake up with blood-smeared scratches all up and down my legs.  It's terrible.  Having thankfully ruled out the possibility of a thyroid disorder, I can only assume now that it's something in my diet or in my environment.  I got some Gold Bond extra-strength anti-itch lotion that feels positively heavenly about a minute after it's applied, but somehow seems to exacerbate the problem after I've gone to sleep.  No good.  Nina, smart girl that she is, suggested Calamine lotion, so I slathered hanfuls of the pink stuff from my ankles up to my thighs and am experiencing some relief - the best temporary solution to date.  So during my appointment with the naturopath on the 17th I will have a test done that will determine any of my body's sensitivities or intolerances.  I feel confident that this will give me the answer I've been needing.  Oh, do I ever hope it does!

Dexter

My friend, Colin, commissioned me to do this cat portrait for him as a gift for a friend.  Cats are easy and work up quickly, as it turns out.  Here he is, all done and ready to go.  This is the most artwork I've done in 2012, hands down.  Now I have another project to begin: a double portrait of two children that someone had won in a silent auction for the Midwife Center.  It's going to be fun.   Christmas is the deadline I set for myself (between working painstakingly slowly in watercolor, juggling my two jobs, and our European vacation, I think that's a reasonable timeframe).

Our Weed

Lately people have been commenting on Buggy's height.  Sure, she seems tall, but folks seem surprised to hear that she's only two and a half.  At just a bit under 36 inches, I just learned that she's beating the average of 33" for a three year-old girl by a good margin (and an inch shy of the 37" average for a four year-old).  Huh.  It must be all of those almonds and kale that she so loves.  Still, I'm not going to jump to conclusions about our child's ultimate height; my pediatrician declared to my mother, when I was two, that I'd grow to be six feet.  Yeah.  So in all likelihood she'll do her growing early and level off by the time she's twelve.

Sweet girl-goon.

My Neen

Today a remarkable girl turns thirteen.  For the past nearly two years I have been blessed with the opportunity to take care of this young lady (and her brothers, who are also pretty great).  Nina has instilled in me faith in the next generation with her intelligence, kind-heartedness, and work ethic, and sense of adventure (she just returned from a ten-day trip to Israel where she went to stay with a family she did not know) - traits that were not always very apparent to me in people her age.  She is devoted to her family, her church, her school, and to her future.  If Olive turns out half as mature, responsible, creative, and driven as she is by that age I will be exceedingly proud.  I'm so thankful that my daughter has an older girl to look up to.  Happy birthday, Sweet Neen!

Goal-Hopping

So remember back when I said I was going to try to run fifty miles each month?  I totaled up my mileage for July and was delighted to see that I ran seventeen!  Only thirty-three miles short - not bad.  It's been tricky for me to fit in runs this summer because I've been busy living the life of a gal in her mid-twenties, it seems.  I've had a unusually active social life this summer, much to my delight, spending my evenings with what became a pretty tight bunch of pals (comprised of folks from the trivia team and then some).  A lovelier lot of folks I've not found anywhere, and boy, do these kids know how to cook some food!  Several of them (Conrad, Morgan, Alex, Joanna, Colin) are leaving Pittsburgh or have already left (Dylan - boo hiss), most of whom are pursuing higher education at esteemed universities, but a good many will remain.  Because of these friendships, my summer has flown by and I'm left scratching my head over my thwarted running goals.  I'll run when I'm older, I suppose. But till then, and beyond, perhaps, I've made the decision to swear off sugar.  I'm nearly through AJ Jacobs' Drop Dead Healthy on cd, to which I've been listening in my car for the past several weeks and, while I knew the harm that sugar presents to the standard American diet, hadn't yet willed myself to take that step (I did eliminate sugar for about a month three summers ago but don't recall how I felt during or after).  Fortunately this doesn't require any sort of a time commitment the way the running does, so I feel confident that this is a goal I can achieve with more success.