2010, Blue Velvet, and Friendships

Posted by Monica Stanton on January 10, 2010

Happy New Year!  It’s a great time for new hope and new dreams.  Out with the old, in with the new!

Personally, I started out the new year feeling ready to tackle anything.  Having spent most of the holidays away from home, I decided make a turkey dinner for my family of four with all the fixin’s on January 1st.

Our family tradition each Christmas season is to watch the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” with James Stewart (makes me teary each time).  We’d been so busy we hadn’t done it, and the first night of the year was a great night to do it.  With all the hustle and bustle behind us, we would have a quiet night at home.  I had been defrosting a half turkey in the frig the day prior, and all was a “go.”

A dear friend called me that morning and asked if I and my son were available for a day trip to the beautiful Santa Ynez valley with her five sons.  We decided to invite her and her six children, ages 4 – 17, to join us for dinner.  She was happy to accept, as her husband was out of state working, and we could celebrate the new year together.

I hung up the phone, pulled out the half turkey that had been defrosting since the day before, and quickly realized we would NEED MORE TURKEY!

I called the health food store, and the only organic whole turkeys they had were frozen.  They said they could start dripping cold water on it.  The butcher told me this is the fastest way to defrost a frozen turkey while it’s still wrapped up, faster than any other method.  “Sure,thanks,” I said, “that would be great!   I’ll be right over to pick it up.”

Eleven seats were set at the expanded dinner table, cranberry sauce made on the stove, giblet broth made for the organic stuffing.  As I continued to check on the turkey, I realized that perhaps I should have continued the “cold water” trick for defrosting rather than unwrapping it too soon.  It wasn’t defrosting as quickly as I anticipated, and it was getting late.

Well, the turkey took an extra 45 minutes to cook (should have kept it under the dripping water longer!), and my gracious friend eased my embarrassment by happily suggesting to have the first course of salad, start the movie while the turkey cooked longer, and then break for dinner.

It was a great night.  The boys had a fun laser tag time in the dark backyard, the patio Christmas lights and campfire, with two teen daughters and the little boys enjoying themselves, were beautiful. Dinner was delicious and we ended the movie sprawled about with blankets and pillows.

As the joyful, warmly bundled people on the screen finished singing “Auld Lang Syne” to their friend in need, George Bailey, I watched tearfully and savored the last few moments of a warm, angelic sleeping young boy on my lap.  My youngest is 13 years old, so this was a special treat.  My dear friend looked at me and thanked me for a lovely evening, and proceeded to get up with her sleeping angel when… “Huh…?  Why am I wet?” she asks me.  Then slowly, there was the realization that I, too, was wet, and our angelic sleeper had shared his warmth with us in a more literal way.  My two down sofa cushions with blue velvet covers were soaked in angel urine!

We were all so tired, and all my friend could do was laugh nervously, apologize, and offer to take them to the cleaners.  All I could do was think of how in the world I was going to solve this problem without the traditional chemical warfare.  I didn’t know if professional cleaners could be trusted to do things naturally.  I wish I had been more gracious in assuring my guest it would be okay, but I was also tired, and all I thought about was my friend should get her young children to bed, and boy, have I got a challenge ahead of me.

After our goody-byes, I wearily got online to look for solutions to cleaning the velvet cushion covers safely and naturally (ours is a beautiful deep blue).  Years ago we ruined my daughter’s beautiful velvet dress, and I could not afford to ruin my couch. “Velvet is delicate and can fade and shrink if washed in liquid – must be cleaned professionally,” was the online consensus.

First thing next morning I looked for a “green” professional cleaner.  I found one that answered their phone and appeared to answer my questions regarding petroleum chemicals, toxicity, and health needs satisfactorily.  “One week,” I was told.  They would be ready by January 8th, late afternoon – I needed them by the next morning 10 a.m.

Next: tackle the cushions.  One was really drenched and smelled terribly.  Well, my dear friend called that morning after and, after a night’s sleep, had recalled her experience with urine on mattresses.  She told me to spray the cushions with water and bury them in salt for 48 hours, which would draw out all the moisture.

So I went to a warehouse store and bought a 25 lb bag of salt.  It may sound simple, but finding the right container and having enough salt to “bury” two sofa cushion corners is challenging.  After attempting various approaches, quibbling and failing, my husband and I just covered the corners with a thick “crust” of the salt, and hoped for the best.

I waited two days, brushed off the salt, and then applied the same treatment with baking soda to further remove any trace of odor – per my friend’s experienced advice.   After three more days of waiting, I took my Kirby vacuum cleaner and gave them a super vacuuming using the main vacuum head and brush, not a hose extension.  I was pleased, and got an upper body workout at the same time (heavy vacuum cleaner, but my old faithful did the trick!)  No odor!  I can do this!

January 8th.  I went to the “green” cleaners to pick up the covers.  I almost walk out the door, but decide to inspect them first.  One still smells like urine.  An “expert” comes out from the back room, confirms the problem, and tells me it is best to treat urine with liquid cleaning.  “Why didn’t you advise me of this when I dropped the covers off?” I ask.  “Well, liquid cleaning might fade or shrink velvet,” is the reply.

Okay, so we’re back to “The covers still smell like urine.”  “What do you suggest?” I ask them, as I so want my “green” cleaners to have a proven and safe cleaning solution.  “Well, we have this deodorizing spray that works very well, and it will dry by the time you get home.”  “Is it natural?” I ask.  “Yes, it’s really good,” I am assured more than once.  I again explain that we have health concerns and fumes and chemicals are not something we can tolerate in my home.  “It is very good and will be dry by the time you get home,” he assures me.

So I decide to have them spray both, so they look the same. They return from the back room with  the sprayed covers, and to my dismay, they are soaked and have this overpowering perfume.  “They just don’t get it,” I think to myself.  “This world is so steeped in chemicals, they just don’t get it.”  Did you know that an article in Popular Science last fall stated that your chance of inhaling a gas released inside the home is 1,000 times greater than if it were released outdoors?  And these chemicals can be a threat to your wellness.  Phthalates, for example, are  used often with synthetic fragrances and are big health hazard.

Gingerly carrying the wet items to the car, I lay plastic in the back of my van, open all the windows so the smell doesn’t permeate my car upholstery, and drive home wondering why I trusted in these people.  I place the covers outside on patio chairs, as they are not yet dry, and the odor is overpoweringly toxic it gives me a headache.

My friend calls, and when I tell her about this final hurdle which seems to have destroyed all prior attempts to keeping this cleaning job natural and healthy, she says, “Oh no!  That stuff just sticks to your furniture.  It’s disgusting, and won’t come off.  Cover it with baking soda overnight and vacuum it in the morning.”

Well, my wonderful husband had just finished making us a nice steak dinner (organic, grass-fed, yes we love our beef once a week), and our hungry family was settling in to have dinner and a movie together.  I just spent $32 at the cleaners, a week of disarray on my couch, and my covers still smell like urine.  I have to go to the warehouse store and get more baking soda now, not later, because I have business guests arriving in the morning!  Okay.  I can do this and still keep a positive attitude.  Remember, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

My headache returns just from carrying the covers to the garage.  I left the smell of a warm dinner and got in my car, managing to get only a little – not a lot – grumpy.  I drove to the store, got 12 lbs. of baking soda, prepared a table in the garage, covered all cover panels with baking soda (can I buy stock for Arm and Hammer?) and postponed the family movie.  It still meant I was up until 1:30 a.m. prepping for our brunch and business meeting just a few hours later.  If my cushions are covered by a blanket, so what?  My guests will understand.

Well, today is January 9th.  My hubby left early in the morning for the bakery and brunch last minute items.  I get up at 8:00 a.m. and dust off the covers as best I can, pull out my 13 year old Kirby vacuum cleaner and go over each cover.  Then I cover the cushions with them and vacuum some more.  The baking soda mess is still in the garage……tomorrow.  I sweep and mop the living room floor from the mess.  Cushion are back on the couch by 9:15 a.m.  All the while I wonder if I can get my $32 back…

Our guests arrive and my dear friend is among them.  She sits on the couch.  “I don’t smell a thing, Monica!”  YES!

We have a great brunch meeting, and I’m tired and content.  After they leave, I jump into bed and take a lovely two hour nap.  I mean, Lusciously Lovely….

As I blog, my darling daughter has prepared a spaghetti dinner with salad, the table is set, the movie is ready to go, and I’m hungry.  As I digest my delicious meal I happily recline onto the “clean” cushions to finish the night’s entertainment.  As the aliens discuss peace treaties on screen…could it be?…Yes, I’m lying in a clowd of perfume, that headache-producing synthetic fragrance… the cushion covers need to come off again for a longer baking soda bath…  I can do this…

If I could re-do my New Year Day dinner, would I change a thing?  Well, maybe the turkey thawing part and the cleaners.  But I now have this memory that will bond our friendship even deeper, and we will be able to laugh about it for years.  Plus a sense of accomplishment that I’d cleaned the cushions back to a natural and safe, comfy clean.

The little sleeping angel owed me one anyway.  Just a few nights prior I’d come over to his home for a similar dinner/movie night.  When the boys answered the door, I gleefully said, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” and proceeded to tell them I had a bag of gifts and fireworks.  Well, I was only kidding, but this precious little boy had run into the kitchen, and I overheard his small voice tell his mama that we were going to have fireworks.  I felt terrible!  So it was payback time.

Not only that, but as I was helping wash the dishes at my friends’ home that night, I’d chipped her beautiful turkey salad bowl. She graciously told me her bowl looked more antique-y.  And she was infinitely gracious when the turkey wasn’t cooked on time.  Now you see why I wanted to clean the cushions myself rather than have her take care of them.

I’ll let you know how the cushions come out.  In the meantime, keep working through those hard, awkward moments with your friends and family, as that’s what brings deeper relationships and joy into your life later on.  As my friend once told me with the words embroidered onto a pillow, “A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself.”

Happy New Year, and God Bless You!

Monica

Can Household Chemicals Hinder Learning?

Posted by Monica Stanton on October 20, 2009

Below is a great story I came across by Amy Kise, that clearly illustrates how children’s learning can be affected by the chemicals in our homes.

A toxic-free environment is best for learning.

The Shaklee Difference in My Home

Being a concerned mother of nearly four, I do care about the wellness of my family and the toxins in my home.  But this concern has taken different action over the past years.  When I had my first baby, I gave cleaning products a great deal of thought and tried to make as many as I could using earth friendly ingredients and recipes I found online.  Then, after the arrival of my second baby, I needed convenience and so I tried some of the green cleaners found at health food stores.  This was expensive so at times I had to just use the chemicals that choke you in the cleaning aisles of grocery stores.  And finally, after my third baby, I needed maximum convenience and minimum price.  So I started to use Clorox wipes, among other things.  (I have to be honest, even though I hate to admit it.)

Unfortunately, I was doing more harm than good.  A friend of mine suggested I watch “Toxic Brew,” a news segment produced by a Canadian news station.  (This can still be seen online at http://theglobalsuccessteam.net.)  After watching this, the reality of what I was bringing into my home began to dawn on me.

Only a month or so later, I heard of the work of Dr. Doris Rapp, who researches the effects of harmful chemicals on children’s health.  (You can find her books, including Is This Your Child’s World? at www.amazon.com.)  In one of her studies, she tested the effect of bleach on six-year-olds’ handwriting.  I looked at the printed results, and was amazed at the evidence.  Before a bottle of bleach was opened, students wrote their names fairly well.  Then, with just an opened bottle of bleach in the room and the fumes wafting through the air, the children wrote their names dramatically different.  Some wrote messy, some too small to read, and one even wrote backwards.

Being the devil’s advocate that I am, I thought:  “Well, they just printed up the worst case scenarios.  Certainly it wouldn’t affect my kids this way.”  So, I determined to do the same test at home.  I didn’t tell my kids what I was doing.  I only told them to write as neatly as they could.  They printed their names on a sheet of paper.   Then, I told them to hold up their papers while I wiped the table off with a Clorox wipe.  As soon as it was dry enough, I had them put their papers down and write their names again.  I was shocked!  My daughter’s writing was visibly messier; instead of letters being tight and connected, they were loopy and crooked.  My son was completely distracted by something while he was writing his name!  (This is uncharacteristic of him.  He has no attention difficulties.)  When he realized that he was talking about something else, he stopped mid-sentence and said: “Wait, I’m supposed to be writing my name.”  The next letter he wrote was upside-down (which my son had never done before).  I took it to the next level and had my children move to another room where there were no Clorox fumes.  They wrote their names again and proved that without being under the influence they could write just as neat as the first time.  I could clearly see that the chemicals were affecting both writing ability and focus.

My children are homeschooled and we do chores every morning before school starts.  Since they have direct exposure to cleaners, I was burdened by thoughts of how the cleaning chemicals were affecting them in other ways.  To make a long story shorter, I promised myself from that time on that I would not subject my children’s minds to danger again, not to mention their lungs and skin.  And I am very pleased with the alternatives that Shaklee Get Clean offers!  These are very powerful, environmentally friendly, cost-effective cleaning products that contain no toxic chemicals and no dangerous fumes! What more was I looking for?  I have totally clean, residue-free dishes; totally clean, irritation-free clothes; and totally clean, fume-free chore time!  I LOVE IT and I want to spread the word so that every mom can give her children the priceless gift of a toxin-free home.

Amy Ellen Kise, Jefferson, GA

See “Lower the Chemical Burden in Your Home” blog for more information on toxic household chemicals.   Or click here to learn more about the great products Amy Kise (and we) use.

Note:  To get the word “Natural” on a product label, the law requires only 15% natural ingredients.  The products we use are in the upper 80% to almost 100% — the best that over 50 years of green chemistry has to offer for effectiveness and safety.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to see a chart showing this information as well as one which compares the cost of using mainstream and other green cleaning products (at Walmart prices) with these wonderful, enzyme-based cleaners.  You will be amazed that safe and effective doesn’t have to be expensive, but will actually SAVE you money, as well as your health!

Monica Stanton

(805) 967-8061  (310)487-6522

mpstanton@verizon.net

Hope for a Chemically-Laden World

Posted by Monica Stanton on October 5, 2009

In March of 2006 our family was caught by surprise when our 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with a kidney disease, “a bad pathology of unknown cause and unknown cure.”

It was a scary and traumatic time, as the illness stole our daughter’s beauty, self-confidence, and strength. While my husband and I tried to find a natural doctor to help her, we didn’t find one we felt we could trust.  Everyone seemed to be guessing.  My daughter’s condition was serious, as she leaked blood and protein into her urine and her body began to swell.  We followed the medical doctors’ prescription drug recommendations, but they have scary side effects and were not “kicking in” as hoped.  Meanwhile, blood test results worsened over time.  We felt hopeless.

We have always used natural supplements from health food stores and natural doctors.  But with this condition, the answers I was getting from the natural doctors and health food store clerks were inadequate.  I wanted to know why they recommended such and such supplement, and the answers lacked the proof and solid science I sought.  It felt like we were playing a marketing guessing game, relying on claims that came from anywhere. I did not want to do that with my daughter who needed real help quickly.

We searched state- and nation-wide for a natural doctor whom we could trust. Many phone calls and visits and four months later we found, through a friend of a friend, a biochemist and clinical nutritionist in Oregon.  He performed several tests and found evidence in our daughter’s body of high levels of organophosphate pesticides and environmental pollutants, including xylene, benzene, phthalates, styrene, etc.  I was in shock as it was explained to me that many of these chemicals are in the products in your home and in your everyday environment.

He put our daughter on a therapeutic program using a specific system of safe natural cleansing and nutritional supplements.  The goal was to use pure and powerful nutritional supplements to detoxify our daughter and make her so strong and healthy she would no longer need the drugs.  Our daughter was little and hated taking the supplements. She had difficulty swallowing the pills, but we battled it out, explained, taught, and persevered.

Our biochemist doctor also encouraged to use safe but effective plant-based cleaning products from the same company to lower the chemical burden in our home, as well as implement other lifestyle and dietary changes.  I immediately thought I would have a dirty home, as the “green” cleaning products I had used in the past just did not work.  Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.  In fact, for two administrations now these same cleaning products are being used in the White House and the U.S. Naval Observatory, where our U.S. Vice President lives! How’s that for passing muster?!

Our clinical nutritionist predicted, after gradually getting our daughter on an immune system supplement, that her urine would look more normal in one to two weeks.  I was told that this total immune booster was formulated by the scientist who co-discovered interferon, which is now used to help AIDS and cancer patients boost their immune systems. This scientist saw the side effects and wanted a botanical supplement that would help a body make its own interferon. After 40 years of research, he found a botanical formulation that works. I was doubtful, but after twelve days we happened to have our routine monthly medical lab tests, and a few days later received a call from our medical doctors with the good news of “Your daughter is getting better!”  This was the first time in five months that we had received any good news!  In the meantime, we saw in our daughter’s face and body an amazing reduction of swelling from the steroids she was on, and her color returned.  None of the drug doses were different.  We were overwhelmed, encouraged, and grateful!  Our friends and family saw her transformation and were amazed!

After a four-month period, when our daughter became more stable and stronger, I embarked on a crusade to tell others about the need to protect themselves and their families.  I wanted to warn them about today’s chemical world, and what they could do in their own homes to keep their families healthy.

Today, our daughter’s nephrologists (kidney specialist) continues to lower and eliminate prescription medications.  We are down from five drugs to two, and our goal is to reach zero.  The doctor tells us she feels she has played a very small role in our daughter’s improvement, and that what we are doing at home, although she does not understand it, is truly helping.

Recent tests done by our biochemist show our daughter is out of the toxic levels in environmental pollutants.  Her beauty has been restored and her strength increasing — even though her body is doing double-duty with puberty and fighting disease at the same time.  Our biochemist told us that if she had been diagnosed before puberty, her body could focus more on healing rather than building a woman’s body and would heal more quickly.  We understand, and patiently and hopefully wait for her body to take its course.

It has been hard work and a long, sometimes “inconvenient” road, but we learned about and embrace the natural approach to health through good choices, adequate rest, proper exercise, fresh and healthful meals, and using only safe, pure and scientifically sound natural cleaning and nutritional supplements – it is so worthwhile! This mother and daughter have moved from fear and helplessness to empowerment through knowledge.  And I would like to pass on the information we continue to learn to anyone looking for natural solutions for wellness.  There is hope, and there is a better future for you.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRODUCTS THAT HAVE BROUGHT HEALTH TO OUR FAMILY, CLICK HERE.