Directions to Kirby Road Houses
Posted by: shealm on: April 30, 2009
It’s Kirby Rd between Weston Rd and the 400 series. It is East of Weston Rd. If you are taking Weston Rd north you turn right and if it’s south you turn left. Go under the 400 series and it’s the first house on the left.
A lot of people have been asking for the directions as of late so here they are in all their glory (if directions could be glorified). If you have the Google earth program you can actually see the Kirby Rd houses on the satalite pictures that it produces. Again in point form the directions are:
1. 400
2. Major Mac west
3. Weston Rd N
4. Right turn on Kirby Rd
5. First house on the left after passing under the 400 series.
Happy ghostie hunting folks!
Book Cover – Novel Promo
Posted by: shealm on: January 31, 2009
- In: Fallen| author| haunted| humor| news| novel| personal| pictures| short stories
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I’ve decided to let my faithful readers (thank you) should have a sneak peek at the new book cover, done by Amped Designs, for a co-authored novel I’ve been working on as of late. First draft is done, second draft is well under way.
Synopsis ~
When Kara, a green eyed and red haired college vixen, runs into a handsome but mysterious man little did she know both love and chaos would ensue in the seedy under belly of New Orleans City streets. She finds herself and her group of college friends in a dangerous battle with an ancient Egyptian demon goddess named Sekhmet who has possessed Kara’s new Louisiana born beau, Chance. As the feline demon begins to dwindle their group down one person at a time, feeding on their souls, a battle ensues that could mean life and death for all of them. Love may not be enough to conquer all in this epic battle of demon versus mortal.
Meanwhile, Kara’s new boyfriend, Chance with his soft Southern Creole drawl and dual colored eyes, finds himself embroiled with passion for the young college beauty while the demon traps him deeper into her web of desire to feed. As their love grows for each other, Chance’s secret life becomes a force to reckon with when the demon starts destroying those around him out of a jealous rage. When his darker half rips apart Kara’s friends it forces him to face the truth of his dual life in order to save the ones he loves and cares about. With their help Chance takes his shot in the dark to rid himself of the demon that has been riding on the cowboy’s back even if that means he must sacrifice his own life and the love of his woman.
Low Cost, Low Budget Recipes
Posted by: shealm on: January 27, 2009
I am a stickler for low costing recipes that don’t eat up my grocery budget. Why should I have to pay 20 dollars for a family of 7 to eat for one night? If I wanted to do that I’d hit up Little Ceasar’s Pizza every night. Here are two really good recipes for a low cost and tight budget. That’s two nights of meals for the week plus left overs for lunches the next day. In total 4 individual meals for the cost of two.
Quesadillas:
Ingredients:
1 brick of cheese (I get these when they are sale for 4.44 a brick – no name Equality brand)
4 pkgs of 10 tortillas or you can make your own with this recipe.
Canola Oil
Tools of the meal:
Frying pan, spatula, bowl, big plate and cheese grater.
Add on splurge: El Paso Spicey Ranch sauce
Instructions: Grate the cheese into the bowl, pre-heat pan on stove top while you are doing this at medium-high. Once pre-heated pan is ready 2 teaspoons of canola oil go in. Let the oil heat up then slap that first tortilla in there, put a handful of grated cheese on top and if you’ve splurged on the ranch sauce, add that on top too. Put the second tortilla on top, let the bottom one bubble then flip and cook the other side. Take out of pan and place on plate to cool, slap husband’s hand away to keep him from stealing first one before you. Repeat until done with all packages of tortillas.
Serve and enjoy. If you want to add a low cost meat to your recipe I recommend chicken breast or chicken legs that you can debone yourself. Cube it up, add it in.
Mac & Cheese Casserole
Ingredients:
1 can of no name brand tomato juice
1 pkg of macaroni noodles (no name again)
1 brick of cheese (again, I buy these on sale at 4.44 a brick)
Tools of the meal:
Tin pan, spoon, cheese grater, pot, bowl
Add on Splurge: Garlic bread, texas toast style.
Instructions: Set a pot to boil for the macaroni and grate the cheese into a bowl. Once macaroni is done, toss it in the tin pan and add 3\4 of the can of tomato juice and the grated cheese. Stir in the cheese and tomato sauce and set the oven to 180C. Cook casserole for 15 to 25 minutes depending on your preferences. If you’ve splurged, follow instructions on the garlic bread package.
I’dd be adding more later on like Sheppard’s Pie and Veggie & Tuna cassaroles. Enjoy!
A Thank You
Posted by: shealm on: January 27, 2009
- In: Daily Dealings| environment| family| friends| home| income| kids| personal
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Here I was cruising my blog stats and I came across a link from Blogher. A lovely lady named Nordette had quoted me not once but twice in her contributions to Blogher. I would like to say thank you to Miss Nordette and I am honored that you would find my blog and my post on Balancing Babies and Bills interesting enough to quote.
So, in turn, I return the favor amicably.
Nordette has been blogging about the econimic times and crisis we find ourselves in. How can one cut the budget to survive these times. It’s difficult to say the least. Here’s a few more tips for budgetting and pulling in the purse strings.
1. Utilities
Phone
Do you really need all those features? Voice mail? Call forwarding? Call waiting? You pay up to 7 dollars a feature after the promo freebie of three months. If you package it together you are still looking at anywhere between 15 and 20 dollars a month for the package deal. The only thing you really need is a basic phone line, if the person desperately wants to get a hold of you, they’ll call back and keep calling until they get you! If you need an answering machine, get an old style analog machine. Our phone is cordless with a base that has an old style analog answering machine – I just saved myself 7 bucks for the voice mail service, 7 bucks for the call waiting services and 7 bucks for caller ID services on my bill by changing it to remove those features. That’s 21 dollars in savings on my phone bill already and I haven’t even spoken about long distance yet!
Long Distance Services
Think about how often you call long distance. Is it within the country? International? How often? We don’t call the United States at all. We call long distance at least once a day within Canada and that’s only my mother’s work place if I am returning her call or my sister’s phone number. Instead of 12.99 a month for anywhere, anytime in Canada and the USA we chose to change it to 5 cents a minute in Canada only. That’s a 5 dollar a month service compared to a 12.99 service a month. Savings: A penny shy of 8 bucks.
Still keeping score with me? That’s 28.99 or almost 29 dollars in savings on a phone bill. Our phone bill was all the bells and whistles at 80 dollars a month now it’s a basic line with no bells and whistles for 23 dollars a month plus 5 dollars a month in long distance. That is a 52 dollar savings on a phone bill a month. Over a year – 336 dollars compared to paying 960 dollars a year. That’s an extra 624 dollars a year to put toward something else.
Electric & Gas Heating
Turn off those appliances, use a clothes line to dry your clothes, use your power hungry appliances in low peak hours (usually between 8pm and 11pm). Buy energy saving light bulbs and appliances. Turn off that television when not using it. Turn off the lights when leaving a room. Make it a habit! Take showers instead of baths – even the kids. Couples, pair up with your showers at night, hey it’s couple time!
Water Bills
Would it pay you forward to pay now to fix running and leaky toilets? You bet, a toilet can run you anywhere from 200 to 400 dollars in water bills if it is not maintained. A leaky faucet? Just as much. Keep those toilets and faucets well maintained. A leaky water heater? You’re looking at a 500 to 700 dollar water bill spike if you don’t do something about it now. It is better to pay 50 dollars to fix a relatively easy problem to fix now in a toilet or 300 dollars to fix a leaky water heater now then it is to get shocked at your mail box with an 800 dollar water bill later.
Utility companies don’t care if your toilet was leaky or your water heater. They want their money, they are for profit companies and to them bottom line is all that matters.
Television – Cable Services
Do you really need 300 channels? Have you ever sat there on a Friday night and flip through those 300 channels saying with an exasperated sigh “there’s nothing on” Why not cut the bill literally in half and say it with 100 channels instead? Bells and whistles don’t mean a darn thing if you can’t pay for them. Go basic, or go without – You have an extensive DVD collection you say? Hey, favorite movies make for favorite family nights! Games? Kids love parent’s attention, any way they can get it! Game night and going back to basics based on family quality time might satisfy little Billy’s or little Bailey’s cravings for mama and papa time with them.
If you are like us though, can’t go without your Dr. House or Fringe once a week and don’t have online services that cater to Canada yet or your area, get the basics and stick with the basics. If you only watch television an hour or two a week like I do, go with basic cable. That’s a savings that can’t be beat at over 100 dollars a month.
2. Groceries
Oiy, you have a household like mine? Grocery bill depressing when it can hit 300 a week? No name brands, dollar stores, bulk buying. These are your saving graces. No name brands cost exponentially less than name brand and food is food. No one ever keeled over eating no name brand food. Dollar stores are now carrying both no name brand and name brand for a buck a buy. Hit up the bigger dollar stores to find your favorite brand names that you just can’t go without.
Buying in bulk gets you the best amount for your dollar. It’s work it and you don’t have to hit up a Costco to do it. There’s places like Bulk Barn and fresh market grocery stores (ie: Oceana, Asian Markets, ect) that sell meat, of all things, at almost a quarter of the price that grocery stores and deli’s sell them at. They make the cuts in front of you like a traditional butcher would and you can see how fresh they are. You are likely to find some pretty interesting new foods at an Asian Market as well.
Remember that fruits, veggies and anything healthy for you is not taxed. Anything that comes in a box, can or bag (except your fresh produce like apples and veggies) or is “convienence” food are taxed. High amounts of sugar? taxed. Believe me, I know, I worked for a grocery store. They also place the product in a way that entices you to buy more of the taxable products, it’s business not pleasure for them. Go with a full stomach, never ever go grocery shopping hungry! The mind plays funny tricks on a grocery shopping person when you are hungry – it causes more impulse buying.
3. Clothing
With kids, it can be difficult when they are growing out of their clothes so quickly. Start a clothes swap with the other parents in your kids schools. Not in school yet? Start a neighborhood clothing swap! Put the word out there, look at freecycle yahoo groups within your areas! Craigslist, Kijiji, online\offline. Church swaps, Salvation Army…plenty of resources out there. Can’t find a freecycle in your area, contact the organizers and ask to start your own chapter with them for your area!
Thrift stores are your best friend, you can find just about anything there if you take the time to do so. Outlet stores are much cheaper for brand name than Big Box clothing stores in the malls. You have to go looking for it, it’s a lot more work but in the end it’s easier on your wallet.
Essentially, saving money is about priorities. What do I need compared to what do I want. In this day and age society is hungry for bigger, better, faster, more – it’s never about us as individuals, it’s about what can I present myself to be accepted by society material wise. Keeping up with Jonses can destroy families and finances. Should you care that your neighbor has that sub-zero fridge? Why? No, it’s not about what the person next to you has material wise, it’s about what you can do to make your life comfortable, your family’s life comfortable. The neighbor with the sub-zero fridge – can he pay your bills for you? Would he want to with a brand new, on credit 2000 dollar fridge (or more) sitting in his kitchen? Don’t think so, does your utilities companies care if you have other bills other than theirs? Does your bank with your mortgage or car loan? Do they care if you WANT a sub-zero fridge? Or do they care that you can’t pay your bills with them? Priorities, it’s all about priorities. Groceries before car payment, car payment before cable…and so on.
If you don’t have a house, you don’t have a place to pay utilities for, if you don’t have electric, you don’t have a stove or fridge for those groceries, if you don’t have water, you don’t have a means to keep tidy home and self. What’s the point to having an expensive fridge if you don’t have groceries to put in it or electric to power it?
Nordette’s article on Blogher can be found here: BlogHer Article
Owning A Classic Car
Posted by: shealm on: January 23, 2009
Ford’s Taurus SHO (Super High Output) model had an eleven-year run. In 1989 it was introduced with a Yamaha-built 3.0L V6 and only with a 5-speed transmission available. By the end-of-the-line in 1999 Yamaha was working with Ford on building the SHO’s 3.4L V8 motor. Only a four-speed automatic was available in the later years.
Annual sales averaged about 7,000 to 8,000 SHO’s a year, or about 2% of the total Taurus production.
POWERTRAIN Transverse front-engine/front-wheel drive
ENGINE 3.0 liter DOHC V6
Horsepower: 220 hp @ 6200 RPM
Torque: 200 lb-ft @ 4800 RPM
DRIVE TRAIN Final drive ratio is 3.74
5-speed overdrive transmission
GearRatio Max Speed
@ 7000 RPM
1st 3.21 44
2nd 2.09 67
3rd 1.38 101
4th 1.02 137
5th 0.74 143 @ 5350
WHEELS & TIRES Rim width: 6 inches
Tires: P215/60Rx16 94V
BRAKES Four-wheel disc
ABS
DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES
Curb weight 3380 lbs.
Wheelbase 106 in.
Length 192 in.
Fuel tank 18.4 gals.
Oil (with filter change) 5.0 qts.
FUEL EPA 18 city / 26 highway
92 Octane recommended
PERFORMANCE From R&T:
0 to 60 mph.6.6 seconds
1/4 mile 15.2 seconds @ 92.5 mph
Lateral acceleration, 200 ft skidpad .81g
Braking distance, 60 to 0 mph168 ft.
PRODUCTION About 9,100 produced in 1991
Source: http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/SHOpage.htm
There are about 2100 SHO’s left on this planet (give or take). We sold our SHO in 2007 due to GTA insurance prices at that time. She was beautiful, powerful and fast. Very good response time with 5 speed manual tranny. We loved that car but didn’t love the insurance prices. Even though it was a 4 door sedan it was considered a sports car by insurance companies.
We have some great memories with that car. The time we had to convert the digital heating system to an analog by ripping apart the dashboard for blend door actuator motor to the rip roaring good times we had in North Bay and Elliot Lake testing her top speeds and performance on quiet country roads.
She was fire engine red and what some called a “rice burner” in the car fanatic circles. The tire burns alone could make a person envious of an SHO owner. I’ve never liked Ford much but the Yamaha engine made up for the tranny issues that can occur with SHO’s. She sold for 3200 dollars, 300 less than my asking price.
I miss her, very greatly but I know she’s being well taken care of like we took car of her. Hope she’s flying high and fast with her new owner. She was a good car!
Update To A Rant
Posted by: shealm on: January 17, 2009
- In: Daily Dealings| environment| family| friends| home| income| kids| personal
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You remember this rant a few days back? The Governments, Schools & Life?
Here’s the update:
They work, and it’s worth it. If you are a person who needs help call these people up and ask for help. They can cover up to two months of rental or mortgage arrears and utilities (Hydro, Gas, Water. Possibly Phone). On Wednesday they, particularly the case worker working with us, were kind enough to pay our Hydro company the arrears we had. They covered our rental arrears as well yesterday and will be dealing with the gas company by Monday or Tuesday.
We had had a snaffu with our accountant and got cut off for our child benefits for 3 months causing us to fall behind in everything and go into survival mode playing float the bills for the last 6 months. It finally became way too much for us to handle because honestly we were living those 3 months without our child benefits as if we were. We lived outside our means and it was honestly our fault for doing so. The blame is not solely on our accountant or losing our benefits due to that snaffu in accounting and income taxes.
It is a harsh reality that slapped us hard but we’re getting through it as best we can. We now can claw our way back out of the money pit we have created with the help that this program provided. I am thankful for the help and the fact that we do have this available to us. If it weren’t for the accidental finding of this program, we’d be without heat, electricity and homeless by now. To all the case workers that work in this department dealing with utility companies and landlords at their wits ends and not so happily nice – I salut you! You are selflessly acting in the kindness of your hearts to help families step it up a notch and get back to where they need to be without complaint, without judgement and with compassion.
It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we realize that pride has nothing to do with the situation and that everyone needs a helping hand at times. I am a prideful person, I have a hard time putting out a hand to ask for help but sometimes our pride must be set aside for the greater good of our children and ourselves to garner the help that we may need. There is never anything wrong with needing help to make it better for yourself. Harsh moments are only that, a moment and it will pass with the right steps taken to help it pass quickly. Be proactive about your situations, especially in these trying economic times. You are not alone, there are many people who are seeking help and need it.
To those families who are stuggling and to those people who need a helping hand, I salut you as well. It is not an easy task to admit inability to help yourself and needing help from someone else. Don’t give up, don’t shut down – there is always hope to be had!
Daily Dealings
Posted by: shealm on: January 9, 2009
Well, my battle of the buggie dirvish is almost over. The kids are clear of the head lice issue but I’ll take the weekend to make sure that they are for sure clear of it.
The secretary from the school called today to offer a bit of an olive branch toward me for attitude that was pulled on the Monday. While I understand her being upset about her not being able to reach us while we were out I didn’t appreciate the attitude that was given. There are ways to convey how one is upset over an issue without being mean about it.
I accepted the olive branch because I know she really does care for the kids in the school, including mine and it can be frustrating for her. I’m still not particularly impressed with the attitude that was displayed but we are all human.
As for financial issues, we have an appointment to see the homelessness prevention program case worker to start a paper trail with them and work out what we can do and what we cannot do with them. Hopefully, this will help us get back on our feet and give us a working budget that will facilitate the goals of getting our finances in order. The other case worker from Ontario Works has stalled off our electric company for us it seems, so no cut off of electric for us for now. Hopefully this is a good sign for us, it sure does seem like it.
I’m experiencing a particularly bad flare up of fibromayalgia today. My back and arms are just screaming bloody murder. More so my back and it’s quite painful to sit here while I mosey my way to all of my Internet haunts. I’ve been working on charity graphics from a forum board holiday helper service from Christmas. I have deadlines and it’s the killer crunch time for them very soon.
I’ll manage as usually I do. I am also writing a novel with a very dear friend to me who is another author and fibromite like me. We’ve been pounding out the chapters together at a very fast rate. He’s awesome and I liken him to being the brother I never had when growing up. I’ve always wanted a big brother and he is definitely it.
Hubbs is working as usual, the kidlets are all bouncy, vibrant and chaotic today. I’m feeling okay today, much better than yesterday that’s for sure. Smiling a bit and thinking about the good stuff instead of the bad.
Head Lice Program
Posted by: shealm on: January 9, 2009
- In: advocacy| cleaning| environment| family| home| kids| medical| personal
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There is a 21 day non chemical removal of head lice program floating around on the Internet. I have since adapted it for school aged children to reflect the need to be back in school as soon as possible with the use of a chemical alternative called Resultz (Isopropyl myristate).
I hope it helps some of you parents who have children in school. I know not a lot of us like using chemicals but sometimes the lesser of two evils is better than the other. Remember Resultz or any other derivatives of this product CANNOT be used on children under the age of 4 years old. This is for school aged children 4 years old and up. VIP in the header means most important day of the 10 day program. It is imperative to proceed with those VIP days at all costs.
Adaptation of 21 Day Program Into 10 day Program for School Aged Children
Attendance is a must for school aged children, it is conducive to their education and as parents we must protect and harbor our children’s educations by encouraging good attendance in school. It can be difficult when a child is removed from their school setting because of head lice but is of no fault of the child or parents when it happens. Schools today have a no nit policy that requires the child to be both head lice and nit free. This adaptation of the 21 day program is for children attending school in the regular school year session.
Action – Day 1 – removing the layers *[VIP]*
Application of chemical treatment. In this example we will use Resultz (Isopropyl Myristate). Apply the chemical treatment as it suggests on the insert and bottle. Then on to Combing as indicated below.
Today’s combing session is aimed at removing existing egg-laying adult lice that may have been missed with the chemical treatments. All your family should be lice-combed today again, ideally at the same time in the day or evening. Do not look for the lice in your hair but use the comb systematically in sweeps so that eventually you will have passed the comb through all of the hair. There will be very young nymphs in your hair which the comb may not remove. Do not worry about these as we have planned to get them out later in the program when they are bigger and before they reach an age where they are able to lay new eggs.
Action – Day 2 – removing the last of the layers
Today’s combing session is aimed at a second attempt at removing existing egg-laying adult lice that may have been missed in the day. All your family should be lice-combed today again, ideally at the same time in the day or evening. Effectively, you are repeating the session you did yesterday without the chemical treatment.
Action – Day 3 – last chance day! *[VIP]*
Today is one of the most important days in the program. It is your last chance to comb out any remaining adult-lice egg layers. Bring your family together and perform the lice combing with extra special care and attention. Make sure you comb right from the scalp to the tip of hair tufts and wipe the comb diligently after each stroke. Work through all the hair several times and check the comb before re-introducing it to the hair to make sure there are no visible lice stuck on it.
The reason today is so important is that the rest of this program assumes that after the combing session today, you are free of first generation lice able to lay eggs and lice just about to reach the stage when they can lay eggs. After today we are only concerned with very young lice, the dormant eggs, and eggs just starting to hatch.
You must not miss the combing session today or the program will fail! If you have missed any combing sessions to date, this is the only chance you have left to make amends an get those adult egg-laying lice out of your hair.
Action – Day 4 – Stage 1 Mopping up new born from first generation eggs
You are entering stage 1 of the program today. With all the adult lice egg-layers gone the second wave of adult egg-layers are in the making as the eggs left behind from the first lice removed will be starting to hatch now. Also, your hair will contain larva developing into their first nymph lice stages. Not all eggs hatch at the same time but you need to start the combing sessions again today to ensure you start to reduce the population of emerging lice.
At the moment, none of the lice in your hair can lay eggs. In a few days time, your head will be teaming with the new generation of lice as all the eggs finally hatch. By starting to whittle down the increasing population before it expands, you improve your chances of preventing new-born lice from reaching adulthood when they will start laying new eggs.
Action – Day 5 – Stage 2 Continuing to mop up new born from first generation eggs
We continue with stage 2 of the program today. At the moment, none of the lice in your hair can lay eggs. The combing session today is a repeat exercise of the session 2 days ago. Our objective is to continue removing new born lice and existing young lice approaching adulthood
Action – Day 6 – Continuing to mop up new born from first generation eggs
We continue with stage 2 of the program today. At the moment, none of the lice in your hair can lay eggs. The combing session today is a repeat exercise of the session 3 days ago. Our objective is to continue removing new born lice and existing young lice approaching adulthood. Be aware that right now – eggs from 2 generations of lice will either be hatched or will be hatching. It will be a another few days before we can be certain all eggs are hatched and this will be the most critical moment in the program.
Action – Day 7 – *[VIP]* Stage 3 – The final assault
Today is the first of three critical days. Your carefulness and attention to patient and thorough combing of you and your family needs to be of the highest standard during these three days.
Between today and two days from now, we reach a point in the life-cycle of the lice in your hair where they are most vulnerable. During the next 3 days (including today) all eggs will be hatched out, yet no lice can yet lay new eggs. This is the moment when, if we get them all, there will be no more eggs laid, none left to hatch out, and no living lice left in your hair. This means victory!
The uncertainty factor is that there is no way of telling if the last egg will have hatched today or tomorrow, so we need to treat today and each of the next 2 days as if it was the last egg-hatching day. Three combing days all together is likely to test the patience of your family so it is just as important to realize that if you stick through the next 3 days, you will be lice-free for certain!
A second application of the chemical treatment should be applied on day 7 as indicated by the instructions on the insert of the product and bottle. It is important to follow the proper procedure of the product in this adaptation of the 21 day program for use with chemical treatments in conjunction with the lice comb.
Action – Day 8 – *[VIP]* Stage 3 – The final assault
Today is the second of three critical days. Your carefulness and attention to patient and thorough combing of you and your family needs to be of the highest standard during these three days.
Stick with it. Repeat the combing you did yesterday. Make sure none of your household family miss their combing session. Wipe the comb in a fresh paper tissue after each pass through the hair and check the comb carefully to make sure no lice are on the comb when you insert the comb into the hair before each stroke. Do not be alarmed if you find you are extracting large numbers of very small lice when previously it seemed there were none left!
Action – Day 9 – *[VIP]* Stage 3 – The final assault
Today is the third of three critical days. Your carefulness and attention to patient and thorough combing of you and your family needs to be of the highest standard during these three days.
Today is the last day you have to remove all existing lice before some of them are able to lay new eggs. You must get any remaining lice out of your hair today! Repeat the combing you did yesterday. Make sure none of your household family miss their combing session. Wipe the comb in a fresh paper tissue after each pass through the hair and check the comb carefully to make sure no lice are on the comb when you insert the comb into the hair before each stroke.
Action – Day 10 – The final sweep!
All the lice should be gone now but since this is the last day of the program, its worth having one more full combing session with all your family just to be certain that no young lice (very small) have managed to avoid all the previous combing sessions.
Essentially, in this adaptation of the program, we are removing the resting period days and accelerating the program with the help of a more effective chemical treatment.
Autistic Child On The Go
Posted by: shealm on: January 8, 2009
I had been conferring with my 3 year old’s doctor about her on the go habits for some time now. How she runs on fumes and never seems to sleep. She flooded my basement just three days ago while we slept at 430 in the morning – the water was from our main floor bathroom and from the sink that requires piping work to be done. We had resorted to child safety door knob covers on her door to keep her in at night because we were afraid she would walk right out the front door, start a fire or (like she did the other night) flood the house. On top of this we also resorted to a baby gate across the doorway of her bedroom. Neither work anymore.
The doctor in conjunction with the nateropath have suggested melatonin tabs. They both gave me the proper dosages for her size and weight. We hadn’t picked it up for months thinking maybe changes in our routines and the way our behavior toward her might help. None of it did so we decided to, with the blessings of 2 doctors, resort to the melatonin tabs after all.
Well let me tell you, this stuff works. I can tell when she hasn’t taken it already because she resorts back to the sleepless nights (like last night) if she is not given the herbal. I cannot believe how much it has been effective in helping her mellow out for bedtime routine and calm down quite a bit. Now the GP (regular doctor) said it probably wouldn’t work and it was relatively harmless to try it as long as she is not on any other western medications or herbals like bach flower essence (which we did try but was fruitless in calming her down much before bedtime).
I don’t like medications which is quite a contradictory statement from me as I’ve been on anti-depressants for 5 years and counting. If you need, you need it. This alternative suits us better because I don’t like ritalin or it’s derivitives and neither does her father because he was on it and it zombified him as a kid and stunted his growth causing him to fear the side effects of this drug and it’s derivitives for his children. It’s a nice little compromise for us being natural family living parents and non-plussed with the pharmaceutical companies.
I’m glad it’s still available for us to use and try considering that Canadian Governments are trying to outlaw the use of homeopathic alternatives here. It will soon be criminal to offer, sell or dose oneself and their family members with homeopathic alternatives.
The Schedule restricts the use of the title “homeopath” to members of the College. No person other than a member may hold themselves out as qualified to practise as a homeopath or in a specialty of the profession. Anyone who contravenes these restrictions is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a maximum fine of $25,000 for a first offence and a maximum fine of $50,000 for a second or subsequent offence.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/ysmjht
Now, that piece right there in the new Homeopathy Act 2007 can be read to include, in grey areas, parents that use homeopathic alternatives. Where is the right in that, the rights of the people are being trampled in this Bill 171 to chose an alternative as our Charter of Rights deems we are capable of doing. Mind you, I consulted a nateropath and general practitioner about the alternatives I am using with my autistic daughter. Technically, I’m going about it legally but there are plenty of homeopathic stores out there where, without a perscription, one could obtain the homeopathics they wanted and researched about without consulting a doctor.
How many people do this? Plenty, I use essence of bach flower with my anti-depressants at time of need for calming down in stressful situations. Again, I did consult the proper professionals because using an herbal with a westernized medication can be dangerous if you are not careful. Cross reactions can be and are deadly in the right circumstances. Again, how many people do go out to a health food store or homeopathic store and just start using the products they researched and heard about – plenty of people, too many people.
I understand and see where the government is coming from but they need to be much more specific with who they can fine and how they can fine the person. What constitutes “practising” without a license? Buying melatonin tabs at a health food store under the directions of two doctors and then giving them to a child with specific orders from those doctors? Does this constitute practising without a license? Despite the recommendations of a general practitioner and a nateropath? Even though there is no “perscription” paperwork just a suggestion. Does that make me look like I’m practising without a license? It’s too vague and too encompassing and general to be effective for legislation.
I hope that they do end up making it more specific and much less vague. It needs to be for the sake of those of us who use a combination of western medicine and homeopathic medicines.
Update to SusieQ
Posted by: shealm on: January 8, 2009
Look at that pretty little sweet Lillypad! That is my now almost 2 week old neice Lillyan Elizabeth. She was born on Christmas Eve (December 24th) at 7:17 pm weighing 6 lbs 7 oz. She’s just a dollface. A gorgeous little lady! She’s breastfed exclusively, slings it around with mama, SusieQ and is a happy go lucky little lady.
We’re proud to have her in the family after a very long time waiting for her. Daddy is a doting and loving father and mama is just awesome at being devinely mama. Congratulations to both Lillyan, Papa and Mama for such a lovely little (and cute) family.
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