His Allergy, His Life

Have you ever walked into a school classroom or a day camp and noticed one of these signs?

That's my son they're talking about. Well, it's him and usually at least 1 or 2 other kids in the class. In my daughter's class there was 4 kids out of 22 with anaphylactic allergies. It's something that is becoming more common and more talked about and yet I still see people who don't understand how serious it really is.

My son is allergic to Tree Nuts. More specifically he's allergic to pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts and pine nuts. I know, who would have thought pine nuts?! It means he can't eat Nutella, he can never eat pesto sauce, he can't try some of my favourite dishes from the local Indian or Thai restaurants, nor many types of chocolates or ice creams due to cross contamination.

What happens if he comes into contact with his allergy? He goes into anaphylactic shock. The doctors have told us that within minutes (possibly seconds) of his next exposure to any of those nuts means his face and throat will swell to the point where he won't be able to breathe. He will have abdominal pain, a fall in blood pressure and possibly fluid in his lungs. The symptoms are endless. Based on his last exposure, watching his little face swell beyond recognition, it's simply something that we never, ever want to happen again.

What does he need to live after exposure? An ambulance to get him to a hospital. He carries an EpiPen but that will only help to open his airways for 10 - 20 minutes so it's essential he gets immediate medical attention. I had someone ask me if he would need help administering it. YES, he's 4, of course he'll need help but even older kids would need help because they'll likely be in a panic because they can't breathe.

Basically what I'm asking is if you see the above sign, or one like it stating someone has an allergy, please take a moment to ask the instructors what the allergy is. Sometimes you don't have to do anything but sometimes making a few slight modifications on a lunch or snack you would normally send along could mean saving the life of someone like my little Ham.

Is There an App For That?

A while back I was in a meeting and was talking to some other women about keeping our schedules straight. As a joke I started talking about building an app that would take my daughter's school schedule/appointments/special days/library book due dates and it would automatically put it into my phone calendar. The women went nuts with their excitement about this idea and kept talking about how great it would be and that I should develop it.

I was stunned. What no one realized is that I was joking. I had only made the comment in jest because I thought it was crazy that I was too busy to take the time to do it myself. Already the school uses a system to email us each time they make an update of information which includes all the above info. It's convenient and helpful and yet it's still not good enough. I need something EASIER. Isn't that kinda sad?

While I understand that there's many useful apps I also know that many are not necessary. I should make my daughter's schooling enough of a priority that I can take a few moments to check out the email I was sent and put the information in my calendar. It allows me that time to make sure the information actually registers in my mind.

So, though I love social media and technology I also need to take a step back and make sure I'm not getting wrapped up in the hype of making things easier. Instead I need to make sure I'm taking the time to sometimes go the longer route in ensuring my priorities stay a priority.

My Live List

Twice over the past couple weeks I've had people ask me what was on my bucket list. The first time I said I didn't have one and the second time I went into a little more detail about why I don't have one. Basically I think the term is depressing. I understand why people use it and that it can help spur people on to do fun/amazing things in their lives. Now this is JUST me but I find it depressing to think about what I want to do before I die, like it's a giant hourglass and I quickly need to accomplish things before it runs out.

Instead I propose we all have a Live List. Things that help us to live our lives to the fullest every moment we get a chance to. Put skydiving down on that list because you want to LIVE the experience of free-falling, not because you want to cross it off on a list before you die. And then go back and do another dive because you want to re-LIVE that feeling!

To some I'm sure you don't see the difference between a bucket list and a live list but to me it's all in the way it's thought about. When I was much younger and people asked me where I wanted to travel to most in my life I used to say 'I want to see the Sphinx before anymore of its face falls off or it won't be how I picture it', not 'I want to see the Sphinx before I die'. Or when I learned to scuba dive it wasn't because it was on my list of things to accomplish, it was because I wanted to see what life looked like at the bottom of the ocean and to feel the sensation of loosing control over my environment. Basically I want to LIVE these experiences and make them a part of who I am today. I want them to help mold me into a different person who sees and appreciates the world in a different way.

Part of my live list has always been to see as much of the world as I possibly can. I love learning about new cultures and always feel like I bring away so much from each trip.  The other main part of my live list is to volunteer as much as I can for as many charities as I can. Each charity I encounter I learn something new and feel like someone touches my heart in a new way.

My list isn't as easy to write out as a bucket list but instead feels like an ongoing group of things that help drive me to learn and grow in new ways. Next up for me? I'm going to LIVE this birthday to the fullest with cupcakes, yes...plural ;)

April & May Book Reviews

Once again I'm behind in posting my book reviews. But then again I haven't really posted anything of late so it's not a surprise!

April

1. Devil In The White City - Erik Larson:  I really enjoyed this book. It was a good way to learn about two stories that were intertwined about the World Fair and about a serial killer. I learned a great deal about the Fair and about the genius architects who put it on. Amazing piece of history that I knew nothing about!

2. Big Fish - Daniel Wallace:  Now I should state that this is one of my all time favourite movies. The character of the father reminds me so much of how my Grandfather used to tell us stories that the movie made me sob uncontrollably. Now the book was sweet but so much shorter and leaves one with an unfinished feeling. Still, it was a nice little story that everyone could enjoy.

3. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe: HAHA! Just reread my notes on the book and it simply says 'long winded'. I found the book to go into such great detail at times that I found myself skipping lines (which I hate doing). It was one of my 501 books so it had to get crossed off.

4. Behind The Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo: I really enjoyed this book but was shocked when I got to the end and finally realized it's non-fiction! The books follows the lives of several people who live in a shanty town near the Mumbai airport. It's truly incredible to realize how different their lives are from ours and how corrupt their government can be.

5. A Cold Day in Paradise - Steve Hamilton: I decided to read more from this artist after I so thoroughly enjoyed his book The Lock Artist. This story follows an ex-police officer who has turned private investigator and gets mixed up investigating a murder that turns personal. It still has the twists and turns you expect his writing to have but it does not compare to The Lock Artist.


May

1. The Bone Cage - Angie Abdou: I found this to be an interesting read based on the lives of two Olympic hopefuls. I grew up with a girl trying to make it on the Olympic swim team so remember her LIVING at the pool mornings, evenings, and weekends. The story follows a swimmer and wrestler as they train and compete and still try to have lives in between. A decent read from an Albertan author.

2. Gods of Gotham - Lyndsay Faye: This is the story of the conception of the New York Police Department. That alone may not make it sound exciting but it's focuses on their struggle to gain respect and acknowledgement all the while trying to solve the murders of Catholic children. I enjoyed the book and thought it told of an interesting time in history. I do enjoy books that take some fact and build a good piece of fiction around it.

3. Deadlocked - Charlaine Harris: What can I say? It's typical Sookie. I feel obligated to read this series until it finishes but at this point I'm getting tired of the characters and a storyline that really doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Charlaine needs to wrap this series up already.

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth: This is a very Hunger Games-ish series so it's no surprise at it's success. I found it to be very enjoyable with some original ideas. This will be a very popular series that I can definitely see becoming a movie down the road. It is set in the future where people, at age 16,  need to choose factions to live in and lead their life according to the rules/beliefs of that faction. It means possibly leaving your family behind as well as everything you learned/believed as a child. Needless to say there's going to be issues with this type of way of running a society as not all factions are going to get along and you follow the main character as she uncovers a major plot to undo some of the factions. Read it!

5. Insurgent - Veronica Roth: This is the 2nd book in the series. I don't want to give up anything in case you haven't read the 1st one so I'll just say you continue on following the character and her fights and discoveries at the fall of their society as they know it.

6. Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K LeGuin: This story is a classic sci-fi book that was on our 501 list. It's an interesting look at the future where many plants have formed a huge collective agreement and send out emissaries to work with new plants on joining their agreement to trade information, ideas, items, etc. This is about one emissary sent to a planet and his attempts to get the leaders of that planet to listen to his offer or partnership. He's met with many struggles in attempting to deal with people that struggle to believe he is what he says. There's many original ideas and concepts to the book that make it worth a read.

7. The Forgotten Affairs of Youth - Alexander McCall Smith: Now I really enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's books but I'm finding the Isabel Dalhousie series to be getting a tad boring. He's starting to use the books to get so philosophical that I'm finding it dry. The books used to introduce more exciting characters but he seems to have phased those out in favour of long-winded philosophical discussions. I may just have to put this series to bed.

The Land Of Half Written Blog Posts

The other day I realized how long it had been since I posted something and as I opened my blog I was immediately faced with a blog post that was about 90% written that I never published. It just needed an ending and a picture attached. That's it and yet I never got around to finishing it.

After viewing that I started to scroll through my posts and realized for every 10 posts I've published I have at least 1 post unpublished. Some I just decided they would stir up a litte too much dust for my liking and figured it wasn't worth the post; I didn't want to argue with anyone that may be opposed to my thoughts. Others I just lost momentum so decided to sit on it and then never found that momentum again. Some I simply forgot I even started!

Do you have any unfinished posts sitting waiting to be finished? Or do you always complete the posts you start?

What I've Learned From Blogging

Have you ever sat back and wondered what lessons you've learned from blogging? I've learned a few things I though I'd share:

1. You're Never Going To Please Everyone - most people will enjoy and appreciate your writing style or the things you have to say, or possibly just be indifferent to it. But there will always be someone who doesn't agree or like what you have to say. You have to learn that if you're going to put yourself out there publicly you need to take the good with the bad.

2. Perception - you may think you're coming across one way when in fact you are coming off totally different than how you intended. This somewhat goes hand in hand with #1. I find it's good to write a post and then just sit on it for a day or two...or sometimes more. It gives you a chance to reread and maybe try to see how you may be coming across.

3. Everyone Writes For Different Reasons - some people try to make a business out of it, some people just write for the sake of writing. Whatever your reasons you have to remember what is important to you and stay true to yourself. In the end it's still you you're representing.

4. It's Probably Been Written Before - since blogs have allowed everyone to post their thoughts publically you need to realize that whatever you're writing has probably been written before. Not the exact thing you've written but a version of it. So I've learned not to get offended if someone says 'I just wrote something like that' because chances are someone wrote something similar before them as well. Think of it like recipes, no one really starts from scratch, they start with a base and make it their own.

5. Try To Remember It's Supposed To Be Fun - if there comes a time when you don't feel like writing, then don't. I think if you ever feel like it's becoming a chore then step away and start writing again when you feel like you miss it.

What things have you learned from blogging?

March Book Reviews

Because I went on a kid-less holiday I was able to read a few more books that usual this month, yay! Some I liked, some...not so much. Here's my reviews:

1. Barney's Version - Mordecai Richler.  This is one of our book club selections that's also on the 501 Must Read list. It took me a few pages to get into the story but once I was into it, I was really into it. You follow the life of Barney and it jumps back and forth through his life. He leads a terribly interesting life mixed with murder charges, 3 wives, risky career choices, and some amusing friends. I found the book to be entertaining throughout and you really learn to like the curmudgeon of a lead character. Enjoyable!

2. When We Were Friends - Elizabeth Joy Arnold.  I picked this read up because it was on sale. Sometimes you win these and sometimes you don't, I'd say this was a 'don't'.  The story is about a woman who reconnects with a friend, turned enemy, from highschool. Shortly after reconnecting the friend asks her to protect her child for her but then tells the police her child was abducted. The whole situation is incredibly fake and sadly it just goes from fake situation to even more incredibly fake situations. The worst is the fake, too easy ending. Skip it.

3. The Cat's Table - Michael Ondaatje. This is the story of a boy being sent on a large ship to England for his studies. It's his tales of being stuck at the 'Cat's Table' which is considered the furthest away from the Captain's Table, therefore the lowest of the low. There are 2 other boys around his same age so the book follows their adventures on the ship. The book is decent but there's nothing terribly memorable about it. The ending feels unresolved, which are usually the books that drive me nuts.

4. Before I Go To Sleep - SJ Watson. I read this book over the span of 2 days because it was well written and timed to keep you interested. It is about a woman who suffers a condition where whenever she falls asleep and then wakes up she doesn't remember anything from her life for the past 15 or so years, A doctor tells her to start writing down what she experiences each day so the book is you reading how each morning she realizes she's married, older than she thinks she is, etc. but she adds some details each day to what she finds out. The book is a mystery so you know there's a twist in there somewhere and I'll admit that I didn't quite figure it out until closer to the end.

5. The Descendants - Kaui Hart Hemmings. Most people have already probably seen the movie so I won't really give a big description of the story. Instead I'll just say that I actually found that this was probably much closer to a real family than to many other books or movies I've seen. The kids are real kids, a little messed up and confused. The dad is a real dad, a little disengaged from the family and the mom is someone who doesn't seem comfortable in her role as a mom. The way the dad struggles to deal with his wife in the hospital and the responsibility of 2 kids seems to be just how I'd imagine most men would react, a little shock and awe moment. Worth a read in my opinion.

6. Fifty Shades of Grey - EL James. Here's what I wrote in my book summary "HATED IT". Yep, that's all I wrote.  This book started as fan fiction. If you're not familiar with fan fiction it's basically when a fan of another author/novel (in this case Twilight) takes the characters and rewrites them in a slightly different way. I believe this is the the first time a piece of fan fiction has been published rather that just made available on the internet. It should have stayed as simply fan fiction. There's SO MUCH wrong with this book it would take me a whole page to rant and rave about how much I hated it. It's fake. Fake. Fake. Fake. On top of that the dialoge seems to be written by a 15 year old girl and the sex scenes by a 50 year old man. This book makes Twilight look like a Pulitzer prize winner. Arg. I have to stop there. It already is making me mad just writing this. When there's SO MANY wonderful books out there I want to burn things like this and hand people the 501 Must Read Book list and say 'pick one, they're 100 times better!!'