About my product raves

Philosophy products have done wonderful things for my skin.  They do not have SLSs in them which is a great start, but sweet jesus you should see the other toxic chemicals in them.  Here is a quick list I found of the top 5 toxins that you should look out for.

Parabens: These preservatives come in several forms (methyl, ethyl, propyl, benzyl and butyl) and have been found in breast cancer tumors — though the link to cancer has yet to be substantiated. Parabens are found practically everywhere. Really, spend five minutes in your bathroom today and you’ll find parabens lurking in products in the medicine cabinet, the shower, and your makeup bag.

 

Aluminum and friends: Aluminum should be wrapped around sandwiches and not absorbed into the body where, as I mentioned earlier, it has been connected to Alzheimer’s disease. But aluminum is a key ingredient in antiperspirant and may look like any of these on a label: aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly or any other aluminum compound.

 

Triclosan: Sounds like a toilet bowl cleaner, but it’s really a chemical that is classified as a pesticide by the FDA. It’s thought to contain carcinogenic contaminants and is stored in body fat. Also look for triclosan in antibacterial soaps.

 

Talc: This seemingly benign duster of baby bottoms is often contaminated with asbestos (which is carcinogenic). The catch? The amount of asbestos in talc is unregulated, so you don’t know how much asbestos you’re in for when you buy products containing talc. 

 

Propelyn glycol: As a “penetration enhancer,” propelyn glycol sounds as if it should be sold with Viagra, but it is actually believed to be a neurotoxin that may cause kidney or liver damage.

Let's start with parabens.  In everything, literally everything.  Lotions, shampoos, face products.   They mimic estrogen and may possibly play a role in breast cancer and fertility issues.  Nice, right?

Aluminum is one that I am not sure I can totally rid out of my daily routine.  I love my secret.

One not on the list but an obvious is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.  It's not only a possible carcinogen, but it's also extremely crappy for your hair.  This one can also mimc estrogen.  

The rest are just as shitty and all over the damn place.   Baby powder anyone?  Well you obviously can not rid yourself of all of these but I am just putting them out there.   Why do I even think about these now?  The toxic ovary comment from the RE.  I started researching what I put on my body and it is just amazing.   Now, I highly doubt that any of these lead to my crappy eggs, but hey living healthier can't hurt now can it.

02/17/2009

Thinking about adoption gives me panic attacks, literally.  We are going to two different workshops in the upcoming months which should give us a lot of insight on what we want to do.  We are not comfortable with open domestic adoptions and that is all that they have in Delaware.  I can just imagine our child becoming a teenager and abadoning us for their much cooler bio mom.  Really, I stay up at night worrying about these things.  I have read horror story after horror story of families who adopted domestically outside of their race.  The children growing up to resent the parents for adopting them.  I have had clients in my office who state they want to adopt, work with the agencies and then decide last minute not too.  This would be our luck.  

The only obvious decision that we have made so far is that we are going to look into international adoption.  We are going to need a minimum of 25k and chances are it will be more like 30k.  That makes me want to throw up and cry all at the same time.  We just got out of credit card debt and if we take out a loan for that amount we won't be able to afford our house, the loan payment and daycare.  We could save up and live like we did back when we had no money on ramen noodles but that is not what I want either.  Chris wants me to stay positive but all I can think is that we are just screwed.  Yes, we could go back into serious debt but that just opens a whole other can of worms.  Constant worrying about money, fighting because of constant worry, ect.  

Maybe this is the reason I have had headaches off and on for a few weeks now.  

02/13/2009

Another quick update:

I have been so busy at work.  This crappy economy makes the social work business boom to say the least.

Here is where I am at this week

1) Currently down 8 pounds since IVF!

And that's pretty much all I have at this point.  Exciting, huh?

02/03/2009

Oh my, it's February already!  My quick goal update for the week is that I have lost two pounds since we came home from vacation, I have re-found my love for yoga, and I still have no idea what I want to do career-wise.   I would have to say that I am doing pretty good!

I have some product raves to share.

#1 is Philosophy's best seller kit.   It is kick ass and for 19.95 every three months I think it's a pretty fantastic deal through Philosophy Direct.   While ordering I threw in Supernatural and Help Me.  My skin looks fantastic even without make up!

#2 Avalon Organics Shampoo.  With my toxic eggs and all I have decided to go with organic shampoo and conditioner.  No sodium laurel sulfate or whatever the hell it is for me.  I was a little worried since I have some crazy hair, but I have nothing but good things to say about this awaphui mango shampoo.

#3 Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga.  I have never worked up quite a sweat as I do with this yoga routine.   This is definitely not a routine that you want to do if you are looking for a relaxing workout. 

I think that's all I have for today.  Work is entertaining as usual.  Chris and I may be losing a day of work a week due to the economy which will suck big time.   There goes us trying to save up for things like finishing renovations on the house, vacations, and luckily we talked about waiting until I hit 30 to start the adoption process so we have quite a bit of time there to save.  If we had wanted to start it this year we would be royally F_U_C_K_E_D!  I am seeing a lot of video game playing, walking around the neighborhood and going to Woodland beach in our future if this does happen.  It could be worse.

I ordered a few healthy eating cookbooks that should be in this week so I will be reviewing those once they come in!

"I Could Do Anything, If I Only Knew What It Was"

Could there be a more perfect book title for how I feel about my career-life?  I bought this book of off amazon.com earlier this week and it came in the mail yesterday.  I dived into it during lunch and am finding that it is a great book for people like me.  The entire first chapter focuses on what you think other people want you to do.  Its always interesting to analyze the past and see how it affects your present.

One question that I always have issues with is what would I do if money did not matter.   A few years ago I would have said that I wanted to open a bookstore.  That dream has been shot down over the past few years for several reasons.  One is that people just don't shop at bookstores as much as they used to and at least around me, all of the smaller bookstores have gone out of business.  Issue two is the Kindle and other electronic readers . Chris has been telling me for years that one day soon bookstores are going to go out of style all together.  While I don't think that is entirely true when I found myself wanting a Kindle not too long ago I realized that he may be right.

Ok, so that is what I would do in a perfect world where everyone loves to read actual books.  I worked in a bookstore for years and loved it.  I love being surrounded by books.  Now we know that I love books and love to travel.   I also have a thing for writing papers, but I have obviously gotten out of practice.   I can't stand writing ficitional stories, but I love to read them.  Where do we go from here?  Well I just signed up for an online welcome to editing class at the local community college.  It's a start, even if it is a total bust, it is still something different.

In other news this morning I completed the Self-Slim and Sleek Fast video.  It was had a lot more dancing then your regular aerobic video so the gymnast in me naturally dug it.

01/15/2009

I can't believe we are already half way through January!  I am wondering if we have off next Monday for MLK day.  I am going to have to look into that so I don't show up to work . That would be lovely.

Since our ttc journey has come to an end, my blog will no longer be an infertility blog.  I think my blog is now going to follow me through my 2009 goals for the year.  I need some serious changes to take place to get out of this "I hate IF, I hate my body" rut that I seem to be stuck in.  Goal #1 is to lose 15 pounds this year so I can get back to my wedding dress weight.  Along with that goal, goal #2 is to do some sort of excercise besides walking the dogs everyday.  I thought I was going to try couch 25k and even did it one day that I had off of work.  The next morning it dawned on me that is pitch black out when I wake up so I was going to have to come up with a new plan.  Goal #3 is to work on my self esteem issues that have gotten way worse over the past two years.  Finally, goal #4 is to try and figure out what I want to do with myself, career-wise.

Week one:

-I ordered some career books to read through, one having to do with jobs that require travel.  I love to travel, but I thought we were going to have kids soon and never even considered a job that required travel.  

-I jog/walked Monday, did yoga on Tuesday, and rode the bike on Wednesday.

-Ordered a self esteem book since counseling does not seem to be helping in that arena. 

The best thing of the week is that with working out I am not at all sore, athritis wise.  It is so nice to be sore from exerting yourself and not from just being me.  

WTF appointment update

It didn't go so well.  The first thing the doctor said was that he was sorry to have to give me such bad news on the second day of the new year.  Then he asked me if I lived near something toxic, worked in a factory, if my parents worked in a factory, my diet, ect.  My embryos looked like embryos of patients in their 40s.  My fsh was perfectly fine, my antral count was good so it is all a mystery.

He wants to try a different protocol but there was no hope that it will work any better.  He doesn't think it's possible that every single egg I have is bad, but they just don't know.  DH wants to try IVF again and I did too while we were on vacation.  Then our ship docked and I had a panic attack just thinking about doing it again with such low chances that it will work.  So...we will always try naturally because why not but as far as treatments go I am done.  Maybe in a few years we will try IVF again but I am just not seeing it.

I will write an indepth post about my awesome vacation later in the week when I have more time!