Tag Archives: cotton

Karim the Cross-Country Cat

It’s like many movies I watched growing up: The Austrian Times reports that a domesticated cat did what many invading armies have failed to do, travel 2,000 miles across Russia all on its own. Two years ago the owners of Karim, a gray house cat, moved from their home in Uzbekistan to Liska, Russia. They didn’t think Karim would handle such a long-distance move very well, so they made the devastating decision to leave Karim with their neighbors. But Karim’s owners didn’t just dump him off on the first people they could find to take him. To try to ease … Continue reading →

Removing Summer Stains

It’s summer, and that means it’s time for light-colored clothing and activities that cause lots of stains on that clothing. Think barbeques, biking, and rolling down grassy hills: all of these are activities that are bound to stain your clothes. How can you take care of your summer clothes so that they look good at the end of the summer as well. It’s time for barbeques and burgers, but the condiments can be disastrous for white shirts and pants. What do you do if you drop ketchup or barbeque sauce on a shirt? First, scrape of the sauce and run … Continue reading →

Is It Time for Mickey Mouse To Get a Facelift?

Can an icon still be an icon if its image changes? That’s the question Disney officials are asking themselves as they begin to consider a reinvention of Mickey Mouse. That’s right; the trademark mouse in Disney’s house might be getting a makeover. Disney executives are concerned that the younger generation doesn’t care about Mickey. In 2009 only 20% of Mickey’s $5 billion merchandise sales came from the United States. Consequently, the folks at Disney fear that Mickey is nothing more than a corporate mascot to American children, and that’s the issue they want to address. Other than saying considerations are … Continue reading →

Get Out in Nature to Boost Your Green

Yesterday was a great day for myself and my family. My husband took the day off of work for our anniversary, and we celebrated by getting way from the indoors. My oldest son still had to go to school, but we packed up the two younger kids and headed to our favorite botanical gardens/historical estate. Fall was in evidence everywhere. From the mums that decorated everything, such as the new electric trains display and the inside of the conservatory, to the pumpkin playground, where the kids could climb over straw bales and use wheelbarrows to cart pumpkins. As the sky … Continue reading →

Hemp Facts

Last week, I blogged about industrial hemp and how it was legal to import, but illegal for American farmers to grow because it is in the cannabis family, which also includes marijuana. I thought I’d list a few facts about hemp that I discovered at the Hemp Industries Association web page: – It is believed that the oldest hemp fabric found dates back to 8,000 BC. Two of our former presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson actually grew hemp. – It hasn’t always been illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. In fact, during World War II, the government subsidized … Continue reading →

Keep Those Baby Pounds and Other News

There are some interesting news stories about babies and mommies today. Here is a round up. Time Magazine is reporting that Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital released a study that suggests that ugly babies are harder to love, especially by their mothers. Men and women who were part of the study were given baby faces to view. Some babies were considered “pretty,” while others had facial irregularities, such as cleft lips or rashes. Study participants pressed one button allowed the faces to stay on the screen longer, while pressing another made them disappear more quickly. The results of the study showed that … Continue reading →

Three States Request Volunteer Ban of BPA in Baby Products

You gotta love Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware. In regard to protecting mothers and children, they have been doing a lot of progressive things, such as policies and laws on breast-feeding, maternity leave and more. And now, here they are again taking a proactive stance against the use of the chemical bisphenol A or BPA. This chemical has been linked to all sorts of health conditions in studies, from abnormal growth to heart disease. The Food & Drug Adminstration (FDA) has declared the chemical to be safe in these products, although they don’t seem confident in their conclusions. Critics say … Continue reading →

Extreme Makeover House Foreclosure

ABC’s Extreme Makeover television show is popular with viewers because it can really change people’s lives. The show works with local volunteers to rebuild homes for deserving families and even raise money to give them a way to maintain those homes. Sometimes money is even raised for other expenses to ensure that the family gets a good start in their new life. One such home, the largest ever built by the Extreme Makeover team is now facing foreclosure due to bad choices made by the family who received the home. Apparently, the home, which cost $450,000 to build was put … Continue reading →

Black Infant Mortality Gap

If you are a newborn black infant, your chances of survival to toddler-hood is less than if you are a newborn white infant. This is according to a study that was published in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. According to the research, which was conducted at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, rates for all infant deaths increased during the time frame of the study, not matter whether the babies where black or white, but the increase was greatest for babies who were black. The study looked an infant mortality rates for the years from 1995 … Continue reading →

What You Need to Know about Contaminated Tomatoes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about a salmonella outbreak related to tomatoes. Right now, the FDA does not know for sure where the contaminated tomatoes are coming from. As of the posting of this article, tomatoes from Florida and Mexico are NOT on the FDA’s safe list. Since mid-April, the FDA has received reports of 167 cases of salmonellosis associated with eating raw tomatoes. Twenty-three of those cases required hospitalization and one patient has died. Infections have occurred most often in New Mexico and Texas. The FDA issued the first warnings about contaminated tomatoes on … Continue reading →