Red Sox

Last night was my very first Red Sox game! While I have been to many Celtics games, this was my first Fenway experience. It was pretty fun, but MUCH slower paced than basketball. It was over FOUR HOURS. The photos were from our seats (except the 1st one)

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Cradles Photos

This place is SUPER organized. Each bin is labeled with the size/sex of clothing or the toy's appropriate age, etc. It's my dream! The 2nd photo is the station where I was. We emptied bags of donated clothes and made sure they were in top condition. It was amazing to see just how much gets donated.

Cradles to Crayons

Today I volunteered for the 2nd time at Cradles to Crayons. Cradles is one of the most amazing organizations that I have ever come in contact with. It started when one woman realized how many kids go without basic essentials like clothes, shoes, books, and even toys. Since the early 2000s it has grown to fill a 35,000 sq. ft. warehouse. Everything is donations. There are strollers, books, clothes, toys, blankets, bottles, shoes, etc. It is an overwhelming place to see. I am the Cradles contact person for my office and each month put in an order. The clinicians I work with fill out forms of what their clients need. I submit these orders online and within a week get word that the order is ready. While they can't always fulfill everything, they do a pretty awesome job. I always leave there with my car packed to capacity. They serve over 300,000 kids in Massachusetts each year. There is also a division in Philly. They rely on volunteers and have over 20,000 of them each year. I took a few pictures to show just how massive (and incredibly organized) this place is. It truly is a savior for so many of the families that we work with.

It was that kind of day....lots of rain. Perfect for wellies. Home visiting without them? No way.

When I get time, and the motivation, I make a special snack for my Monday group. The babies in the group are anywhere between 7 and 15 months. I make things that are easy but healthy. It's a nice opportunity to talk healthy food and eating with the parents and hopefully inspire them to try something new. Tonight I made waffles with beets inside. I cheated using canned beets and waffle mix. I mashed the beets with a fork (probably should have pureed them to make it smoother) and made the mix according to the directions. However, I slowly added the water. It didn't need as much as recommended due to the juice of the beets. We'll see how they go over. The small container is the remaining beets that I pureed for the younger babies.

Due to a busy week I did some prep tonight. A whole tray of baked veggies (red peppers, garlic, asparagus, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts), and a container of quinoa. I love knowing that everything is ready to go and easy to grab. Carrots in small containers to eat in the car. A small container of mixed fruit for each day. Also for in the car. I drive a lot during the day and need things that travel well. l (

patriots day/marathon monday

Thanks to Patriot's Day I had today off. It was 80 degrees and sunny which was perfect for a 3 and a half hour walk. Okay, maybe there was a brief stop to buy new sandals and 30 or 40 minutes of lying under the trees in the park. This week I am house sitting, but this time I also have the dog. Max was part of the journey today. We even took another half hour walk tonight!
Photos are a few places we were.

Something Major

From:
Boston Logan, MA , US (BOS)
To:
Managua, Nicaragua (MGA)

Depart:
Thu, Jun 14, 2012
06:45 pm - 12:16 am (+1 day) (1
Stop)

Return:
Fri, Jun 29, 2012
01:10 am - 11:15 am (1 Stop)

Evan and I were here tonight to watch the Celtics beat the Wizards!

If you know me in "real life" you know that I have less faith in western medicine than the average american. This isn't for lack of knowledge or intelligence. Actually you could say that it's because of those things and experience with the alternative. I'm in the last few pages of the book Suffer the Children: the case against labeling and medicating and an effective alternative. If you work in any type of health care field you see how easy it is for drugs to be prescribed, especially to kids. While there is an argument that there are those rare cases that drugs are needed, there are far more times that they're not but given anyway. Why they are so readily given out is a topic for another day. The author of this book states in the last chapter something that made me stop dead in my reading tracks. "Antipsychotics are the single biggest drug expenditure for medicade. Medicade provides antipsychotic drugs free of charge to covered children.....Children on medicade are given antipsychotic drugs at a rate 4 times higher than children on private insurance." I don't know about you but that leaves me feeling ill and disappointed, yet again, in our "healthcare system."

Raw Truffles

Tonight's experiment? Raw truffles! After eating a few, I think I can say that they are a success. Super easy and yummy. I'm guessing they won't last long in my meeting tomorrow.

Upscale Pub Crawl

Yesterday afternoon/last night was spent enjoying a few different bar/restaurants in Boston. A friend of mine had friends in town who are looking to purchase real estate and wanted to check out different neighborhoods. They started int he Back Bay and I met up with them on the 2nd stop in the South End. Picco, our S. End stop is a great place for pizza (we had the roasted garlic) and a glass of wine. Then we headed to J.P. (Jamaica Plain) to Tres Gatos. Incredible wine/tapas bar that also has a used book store and record store in it. It's way more upscale than it might sound. The cheese plate with fresh honeycomb was amazing, not to mention my 2 different wine choices. The location is in an old house. There are only a couple of rooms and they are small, which make for a great atmosphere. Highly recommend! The final stop was across the street at Canary Square. Description from their website: Warmly furnished with a bar of reclaimed wood and chairs made from recycled materials. We didn't eat anything here, but the cocktails were great. This tour was so much fun and the best part was being home in my bed by 10. I like a good time, but just can't do the staying out all night thing!
Each restaurant mentioned above has a link to its website.

Disturbing

For every 1% increase in calories obtained from saturated fat, food costs drop 28 cents, and for each 1% increase in calories gotten from sugar, you'll save seven cents. All of which helps at least partially explain why way too many people are eating junk, getting fat, and falling ill. It's a lot cheaper -- at least in the budgetary short term.

 

Homemade kale chips!

I see lots of kids on prescription medication. Probably way too many. It's the easy thing to do though, there's something "wrong" with your kid so a doctor writes a prescription. This is Western medicine. In a better system, in my opinion and of being treated by both Western and Eastern medicine, options would be given.
One of the things that really bothers me is the advertising of prescription drugs. Stuffy nose? With this med you will soon be prancing through a meadow like the lady on tv. Anti-depressant not working? Add an anti-psychotic! The following facts are from a non-profit organization addressing the marketing of prescription drugs:

Every $1.00 spent advertising prescription drugs is estimated to increase their retail sales by $4.20.

The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries where direct to consumer (DTC)advertising of prescription drugs is legal.

As of May, 2011, the average number of prescriptions for new drugs with DTC advertising is nine times greater than prescriptions for new drugs without DTC ads.

 

AMAZING! Yes, there are corn flakes in there.

This Monday I will be attending my first lobbying day at the state house. The topic is teen pregnancy/parenting. According to the website of the organization that is putting this together, we will "advocate to policymakers through speeches, videos, one-on-one meetings with legislators." I will not be giving a speech, at least I hope not, but am excited to take part in the event. As a therapist I have had plenty of experience in working with teen parents. Hopefully my experience will be helpful to any of the people that I get to talk to.
If you live in the Boston area, come join us!
March 5, 2012, 10:30 am - 1:00 pm
The Massachusetts State House, Great Hall and Grand Staircase

Good-bye toxins

 

 

 

 

For most of the last 7 years I have taken an anti-depressant. It started as a last ditch effort by a general practitioner. He just couldn't figure out why I had stomach pain every day. I sat in his office after many invasive tests and he told me that he didn't know what else to try. His thought was that it could be anxiety. He was the doctor and I was in pain. I went with it. I left the office with a prescription (when they still wrote them on paper), got into my car, and cried. The stigma overwhelmed me. Was I really that incapable of living my life? This and many other scary throughts raced through me. However, without the knowledge of other options, I did it.
At no time in the following few years that I was a patient of that doctor was the medicine discussed. Well, it was once, but only to raise the dose. He didn't think it was helping enough. Did he encourage me to see therapy? No. Did he discuss alternative threatment? No. Apparently the thought was once an SSRI user, always an SSRI user.
After moving to Boston I started therapy, but was still taking the medication. After a couple of years I decided that I didn't want to take it anymore. I met with a psychiatrist to dicuss weaning. He convinced me that his plan would safely rid me of these and everything would be fine. This was NOT the case. After following what I later learned was an extremely dangerous plan, I was med free. Med free, yes but also in crisis. I was experiencing a serious withdrawal with both emotional and physical symptoms. In consulting with my therapist we decided that I had no choice but to start taking medicine. However, I switched to something different. To do this I had to return to the psychiatrist. It was in this visit that I informed him of what his weaning plan did to me and how sick it had made me. He appologized and wrote me something new. How easy for him to do having not had to deal with it personally. I decided to not continue receiving "care" from him.
Fast forward to 2011. I took the entire year to SLOWLY wean myself down, spending months at a time between changes. It was also in 2011 that I began bi-weekly acupuncture visits. This therapy has completely changed me on so many levels-more on that later. When I was close to the final dose I began discussing a detox plan with my acupuncturist. Little did I know that this even existed! Auricular (ear) acupuncture is used to detox from any number of things: prescription drugs, illegal drugs, cigaretts, and even sugar consumption. My plan is to come every day for 2 weeks. I get 5 needles placed in ear ear and sit for about an hour. One day there was also a needle in my leg and shoulder. In addition to that there are press tacks that stay in for a few days (look like very small band-aids but have a needle in them, photos 2 & 3).
I have completed my first week. It's been really hard, but I know it would have been so much worse without the acupuncture help. No, the needles don't hurt =)

birthday

 

 

 

pickles + cool cups + strawberry shortcake (thank you Whole Foods!) = Sarah's 28th.

......and we're back

Not sure that anyone will actually read this, but I feel too strongly not to put this out there. Tonight I was on netflix searching through instant movies in the gay/lesbian section. While it is true that I am gay, it is rare that I enter this viewing category. In reading the reviews of a movie I found something that knocked the wind out of me. After a few legit reviews came this: gays will burn in hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 out of 126 members found this review helpful

I feel lucky to live my days in a place where I can openly be who I am. Here in Massachusetts, especially in Boston, there are plenty of rainbow flags and equality stickers plastered around. I have the legal right to marry. It makes me sad to think that there are still so many people that don't have that. I hope that in my lifetime, that changes.
I grew up not being discriminated against. Being white and raised by highly educated, successful people protected me away from that. After coming out in my mid twenties I quickly realized the reality of discrimination. It was clear to me in a way that it never could have been before. All of a sudden I was part of a group that was hated just because of the people they are attracted to. I was part of a group that in some parts of the world are killed just because of the people they are attracted to. That's pretty hard to swallow. I don't dwell on the people that think who I am is wrong. Then there are days like today, comments like this.
To counteract this show of outright hatred, I urge you to watch the following short clip. It shows that there are amazing people in the world standing up for me and people like me. I choose to think about people like this instead.