Suncoast Scribe

I’ve written numerous articles about the dangers of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or what some call the “superbug”.

Today the reported that over 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections annually from a drug-resistant staph and that deaths caused by MRSA may actually exceed those caused by AIDS.

One of the sneakier characteristics of MRSA is that is it can be carried by perfectly healthy people. It tends to hang out on your skin and in your nose. The superbug used to be considered to be a risk only in hospitals and other healthcare settings. But, it has made its way out into the community. You can pick up MRSA on shopping cards, playground equipment, sports facilities, schools and daycare centers, …pretty much anywhere.

My daughter had several outbreaks of MRSA when she first started to attend her old pre-school. The infections started out as very small, red pimple-like sores on her torso. They would quickly grow larger and boil-like, coming to a head several times. They were hot to the touch and sensitive. Eventually, we would end up in the doctor’s office to have them drained. It was unpleasant and frightening.

MRSA can enter the bloodstream and attack the soft tissue. In fact, MRSA is said to be the culprit in the death yesterday of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.

Good hygiene can be the most important aspect of preventing infection. Wash your hands frequently and properly, especially after sneezing into your hand or picking your nose. Wash your hands after shopping and touching thing is public. Clean scrapes and cuts quickly. We use Staphaseptic (which you can get at any drugstore) instead of a typical antibiotic ointment, because MRSA powers right through ointments like Neosporin.

I’m just happy the medical community is finally taking the time to recognize the epidemic of MRSA in the community. The more we make this issue stay in the spotlight, the better we can all be equipped to fight it.

In an earlier post today, I talked about how Gigi is showing interest in both ballet and cheerleading. Being me, I immediately started mentally listing all of the things I will need to buy to get her set up for the dance classes. She will need very particular dance outfits depending on which I school I use for her lessons. Pee wee cheerleading also comes with a laundry list of items I need to buy for both her wardrobe and practice.

I just cannot stomach going out and buying everything in one fell swoop. I’m the type of person who makes a list and then shops around to find the best price for the best quality of each thing I need to purchase.

Anyway, that’s not really even what I wanted to blog about! I’ve been having some reservations about the whole cheerleading thing, so I’ve looking for alternative. I know Gigi wants to learn ballet, but her interest in cheerleading is due to the high energy level and the team dance style. There is a program out in the Midwest called Just for Kix (they are also a dancewear company). They have team dancing lessons, but I get the impression they aren’t specifically doing cheer for a sports team, as much as focusing on the issue of team dance. I want to find a similar program in my area, because while Gigi is this young, I’m not really all that interested in having to attend pee wee football games as much as just getting her involved in dance.

I know reading a cookbook can make you hungry, so I avoid picking one up when I’m feeling puckish or having cravings. I thought, though, that this new time travel series I started reading would be safe! Turns out the author must have a penchant for gourmet cooking, because the main character is a foodie of the highest quality. When the character is preparing a meal for himself, you could quite literally turn his descriptions into an accurate recipe. The measurements are included and even the cooking methods. It’s meticulous.

And, it makes me hungry when I read the book.

I just started Allen Appel’s Time After Time, which is the first in his “Pastmaster” series. I have books two and three in the series on order. I can only imagine that they will be just as fascinating, and jut as hunger-inspiring.

I’m looking over his personal website now and I am pleased to see he earned his B.A. at West Virginia University. Though I did not attend WVU, I lived in Morgantown for my job at a publishing house for several years and have quite an affinity for the area. It turns out that although the author was born in Pennsylvania, he was raised from the age of six onward in WV.

I love time travel fiction. It is my favorite genre. Appel’s writing is some of the best I have read in this arena, seriously. But, I’m actually disappointed to find he has not written a cookbook, though his wife has written some books on Mother to Daughter wisdom that include recipes.

We have several family members who have been living in Israel for going on a year now. They have not set up an international cell phone plan yet and for the most part we all communicate with them via e-mail.

The holidays, though, are a time of year that I find myself more in the mood to hear the voices of my family members, rather than just reading letters or e-mails. You cannot replicate the immediate response and sound of emotion in a live conversation.

What I have in mind is to get my Christmas shopping done a little early for my relatives. I’m going to set them up with an international phone card that they can use when they have time to make calls. By purchasing pre-paid time, you can take advantage of bulk pricing and take the time to find the best deals available. For example, PhoneCardsAvenue has inexpensive international phone cards as well as a 3% cash back rebate program. By shopping around like this, I can get more minutes for my money.

Of course, I could just send my family some of the good old American food products they have been missing over in Israel, but I’m feeling a little selfish. I would rather just hear their voices.

When I was growing up, I was interested in reading and writing, soccer, music and very long walks and bike rides in the woods surrounding our neighborhood. I grew up in Civil War Battleground territory, so there were always old chimneys, covered bridges and such scattered in the woods very close to our home. When new developments went in, we would all go out with dad and his metal detector and look for buttons, as well as arrow heads, bullets, and other exciting finds.

All of this is to say that my daughter is already developing very different interests than I had as a young girl. She is in swimming lessons right now, but she is asking about both ballet and cheerleading. Cheerleading! Yikes. That is so far from what I was as a kid. I’m quite sure I never felt interested in cheerleading and I had very little respect for the cheerleaders at my school. But, if this is what Gigi really thinks she wants to do, I have always vowed I will support her in her interests, rather than pushing my interests onto her.

I have no idea where to even begin to look for information on peewee cheerleading in my area. I don’t know anyone who has kids involved, so that makes it harder. If I had my way, I would have her in highland dance classes and involved in music.

I’m not quite as bold as I used to be when I was younger.

I tend to do my shopping during the day now. I don’t go on nighttime walks in neighborhoods I don’t know very well. In general, I am more leery of strangers. There are just too many incidents of women being attacked, even during the day.

Now that I am a single again, I do most of my errands alone or with my daughter. I am trying to instill in Gigi a sense of WHY I like to get in and out of the car as quickly as possible. Why I like to park near a store doors and under good light. Why we don’t just go meandering off into the dark.

I’m not a gun person. I just as soon not own one. On the other hand, I do want to have something with me that I can use if I need to defend myself. Florida is groovy, in that it is legal to carry certain non-lethal self-defense items like pepper spray, mace and some stun guns. Because of that, I am now the proud owner of a Stun Master ‘Hot Shot’ Stun Gun. It’s a small device that requires direct contact in order to work, but in the event that I am being bodily attacked, I can use it to render the attacker helpless for long enough to get away. I like the idea of leaving the creep sitting on the ground drooling while I have the time to go find help.

Now, I would test it for you, my dear readers, but I’m pretty sure finding a willing subject is going to be impossible. So, I will just show you how easy to carry the stun gun is. It looks like a pager or maybe a garage door opener. Some cell phones fold up to about the size of the Hot Shot, so basically it’s just as convenient to tote around as your phone. We all do that anyway. Here is how it looks in your hand:

It puts off 975,000 volts so if you can make contact for just half a second, you will be able to startle an attacker and maybe even cause some muscle contractions. 1-2 seconds will cause some spasms and a dazed mental state. If you can contact for 3-5 seconds, then the assailant will become confused, disoriented and lose both balance and muscle control. It’s not a permanent state, so the stun gun is pretty much ensuring you can have the time you need to get away. You’re not using deadly force, but you’re probably saving your own life.

The stun gun comes from Security Solutions, an online provider of self defense products. They’ve got pretty much anything you could ask for: stun guns, pepper spray, mace, home protection products, child safety devices, and even a FREE newsletter you can sign up for that provides life-saving tips. Go ahead and sign up for that newsletter first thing when you check out the site, so you don’t forget.

Florida Info:
790.01 Carrying concealed weapons: (4) It is not a violation of this section for a person to carry for purposes of lawful self-defense, in a concealed manner: (b) a nonlethal stun gun or remote stun gun or other nonlethal electric weapon or device which does not fire a dart or projectile and is designed solely for defensive purposes. Section 790.053 Open carrying of weapons (2) a person may openly carry, for purposes of lawful self-defense: (b) a nonlethal stun gun or remote stun gun or other nonlethal electric weapon or device which does not fire a dart or projectile and is designed solely for defensive purposes.  

The Girly Things free hair bows site is getting bigger and bigger. I have been able to make updates almost weekly of late. This past weekend, I uploaded free instructions for Loopy Surround-a-Bows, How to Line a French Barrette, and How to Fluff a Bow. These are fantastic step-by-step tutorials, complete with fantastic color photos. It’s never been so easy to make cute hair accessories.

We’ve got instructions coming down the pike for wipe case covers, braided headbands, and a couple of other exciting designs. Stay Tuned.

I have put together time capsules on several occasions. We did one when I was in elementary school I do not remember who was supposed to open it and I still wonder if the contents are on display at the school, or still buried deep in the group.

My sister and I made one and put it in a hole in the yard of our childhood home. I guess it will only be found if someone decides to dig a garden or plant a new tree.

Along with a group of friends, I put together a time capsule that we put into the side of a hill in Morgantown, WV in 1995. Someone was supposed to have removed it two years back, but I never did hear anything about it. I haven’t lived there for a while now, so I can’t do it.

Time capsules are fun to pout together, but you usually have to have a plan in place so that someone knows when to dig it up and that it’s even there at all. ?

Times are changing, though. Welcome to the age of virtual time capsules! The 100 Year Website has a novel idea.

You gather together all your pictures, video and audio clips, thoughts and writings in a virtual time capsule. You don’t have to be computer savvy; they have a Wizard to take you through the whole process in a simple, step by step process. Once you activate your capsule, you can add content to it for the next 365 days.

Then, the capsule’s contents are ready to be viewed for the next 100 years. You can leave it open for everyone to see, password protect it for your chosen few, or virtually bury it until a date up to 100 years from now. You can even choose an option to have a certificate representing your capsule send to you in an attractive metal tube. That helps if you feel the real need to actually bury something in the dirt in your backyard.

Their unique archiving system at http://www.the100yearwebsite.com/ is what allows them to offer the guarantee that your capsule will be there in 100 years. Your files are kept in duplicate and backed up regularly.

I think this is one of those unique gift ideas that makes a great impression when you have no idea what else to give someone. It’s charming and memorable and completely customizable.

I really enjoy home made ice cream, and if that is not an option I prefer Breyers. It is the closest you can find on the market to plain old-fashioned churned ice cream. When you make a basic batch of ice cream, it will typically be as simple as sugar, vanilla, milk and cream. Or, you can cook a custard base and add the milk. Either way, the ingredients are minimal.

Tonight I took Gigi, along with my sister and nephew, to Baskin Robbins to have a quasi ice cream party. She was not able to attend the ice cream party at school, because it was for the students who met the unreasonably high selling goal for their fundraiser. I still felt like Gigi deserved some ice cream, so we just made our own party.

Even armed with a fistful of half-off coupons, the four of us still spent over $7. That could have bought a couple of gallons of Breyers, especially if it was on sale. In the end, I wish we HAD just grabbed a gallon of the good stuff and stayed at home.

Ice creams that are full of artificial flavor and weird thickeners just taste bad to me. I ate it and afterwards I just felt sick and heavy in my stomach. It was definitely NOT calories well spent.

The basics — that is what ice cream should be about.

I’ve long been a believer that the travel industry has fully moved to the internet. Most people do not walk into boutique travel agencies that have storefronts in the downtown area anymore. You log onto the net and find the agency that can negotiate the best price and the best service – all from the comfort of your office chair.

I am also a total convert when it comes to the concept of renting apartments or villas for vacations instead of boring hotel rooms. Why stay in one cramped room when you can usually find a full condo, apartment or house for about the same price? You just have to know where to look.

You want to find an agency that specializes in villa and apartment vacation rentals, like Holiday-Velvet.com. So, when you are traveling to somewhere like Spain, you can find comfortable, unique Barcelona apartments and spend more time enjoying the infamous sunsets and the slow-cooked decadence of Catalan dishes. Stroll the narrow streets of Barri Gotic and sit down to savor a snack of pa amb tomàquet.

I am well-rested when I have the space and comfort of an apartment. Have you ever come home from a vacation only to find you are more stressed and tired than before you left? It has a lot to do with all of the things you give up when you decide to stay for nights on end in a tiny hotel room. One vacation, I rented a 4-bedroom pool home with two living areas and a fully stocked kitchen, washer/dryer and massive entertainment system for less than a hotel room per night. Now, THAT is a vacation.