In the last two weeks, my family has:
1. Moved and put most of our furniture in storage in our new town
2. Had a vehicle totaled in an accident caused by the winter weather
3. Had to locate the dogs since they were spooked so bad by being in said accident and ran away
4. Gotten the flu (all three of us, ugh)
5. Had to have Trogdor's neck stitched up because he managed to rip it open on something
Stressful much? I'm praying that next week isn't nearly as exciting.
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As a side note, I want to vent for just a moment about American work culture.
My boss is a single woman with no children. Because my flu, and then Spence's, went beyond the weekend, I ended up having to call in sick both Monday and Tuesday. In all honesty, I needed to take Wednesday off as well.
I called in on Sunday night for Monday so my boss would know ahead of time and could possibly even get a sub early. I was obviously sick. I was almost incoherent and could barely speak; this was not me skipping out on work. I started feeling a bit better on Monday, but at the same time Spencer spiked a big fever indicating he had come down with it as well. I called on Monday, before 2:00, to let her know I would need to be out Tuesday as well.
The attitude I got! Ouch! I am not one to miss a ton of days. In fact, including the two I missed this week, I've been out 5.5 days all semester. I don't feel that is excessive at all, especially considering last year I was sent to a conference about one day a month from October to April.
Why is it that Americans are so obsessed with work? Why does it have to be something that consumes all? I want work to be something I do for money and nothing more. I want to leave work at work and not drag it home.
Europeans get amazing benefits and are encouraged to take time off. Many, if not most, European countries give their employees 30 vacation days a year. Americans get half that if they have an amazing job. Millions get no vacation time at all.
Its unfortunate and makes for stressed out people.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Going Organic
After the news that the FDA said milk and meat from cloned livestock were safe for human consumption, I decided that my family needed to take the plunge and move from the more commercially available foods to those of an organic nature.
I've always felt that organics were better than your regular everyday food. Can it really be good for us to have pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics floating around in our systems all the time? But organic food is more expensive, even cost prohibitive for some.
This ruling by the FDA made me take a closer look at the expense of organics. I went to my local organic market, Wild Oats (recently bought out by Whole Foods), and did a little cost analysis of things I typically buy. The pre-cut and packaged pineapple was only $1 more, the vanilla I needed for baking was only around $0.75 more. The milk (around $3 a gallon at Kroger as opposed to $3 for a half gallon of Horizion Organic) and chicken ($10 for a bag of boneless, skinless breasts at Kroger vs. $7 for 2 organic, free range boneless, skinless breasts) were typically several dollars more. Most people believe that these areas (the milk and meat) are the two where most of the "nasties" come over, so it makes sense to me that it would be more expensive to produce these things "nasty-free."
The FDA has also said that the meat and milk of clone offspring have probably already been put into stores because they were "lost track of." Excuses, excuses.
Regardless, I wouldn't mind these things being marketed if they would just consent to label them. The same goes for the genetically modified produce, which I'm also uncomfortable with. Label them and I won't complain. I also won't buy them.
I've always felt that organics were better than your regular everyday food. Can it really be good for us to have pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics floating around in our systems all the time? But organic food is more expensive, even cost prohibitive for some.
This ruling by the FDA made me take a closer look at the expense of organics. I went to my local organic market, Wild Oats (recently bought out by Whole Foods), and did a little cost analysis of things I typically buy. The pre-cut and packaged pineapple was only $1 more, the vanilla I needed for baking was only around $0.75 more. The milk (around $3 a gallon at Kroger as opposed to $3 for a half gallon of Horizion Organic) and chicken ($10 for a bag of boneless, skinless breasts at Kroger vs. $7 for 2 organic, free range boneless, skinless breasts) were typically several dollars more. Most people believe that these areas (the milk and meat) are the two where most of the "nasties" come over, so it makes sense to me that it would be more expensive to produce these things "nasty-free."
The FDA has also said that the meat and milk of clone offspring have probably already been put into stores because they were "lost track of." Excuses, excuses.
Regardless, I wouldn't mind these things being marketed if they would just consent to label them. The same goes for the genetically modified produce, which I'm also uncomfortable with. Label them and I won't complain. I also won't buy them.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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