The Problem With Boobs

From what I can fathom breasts have just one purpose, to feed a baby. After they have performed that service, there is no other use for them. Men seem to like them and they do fill out a dress rather nicely, but otherwise they are obselete.

After the Majong Nazi had breast cancer in 2005 she went to have genetic testing and there is a risk that we have the BRCA1 gene which indicates a an 87% chance of developing breast cancer. After that my sister and I were considered to be high risk and we have been linked to hospital breast centres ever since.

Today I went for my annual mammogram, this always takes ages because every single time they tell me that I have very dense breasts and that they need to do an ultrasound. This time was a little different. I had my mammogram and then they came out and said that I had to have my right breast done again because they had, "seen something that could be something". I felt absolutely sick with fear as this breast was mammogramed again and I waited for more information.

In the waiting room there are two clusters of chairs, one cluster is where the chatty, friendly people sit and the other one is where the others, like me, sit. I just want to read my book and not make eye contact with anyone, but as I sat there reading the same sentence over and over the thought of moving to the chatty group did cross my mind.

Normally when I have my ultra sound a radiographer does it, this time a radiologist did it and the radiographer sat next to me making small talk while I craned my neck to look at the screen (after six breast ultrasounds, you know what your breast tissue looks like). He was keeping pretty quiet about the proceedings  and there were lots of photos taken of the top right side of my breast.  I asked him if everything was ok and he said he was going to get the consultant to also have a look.

By this time I was starting to shake with fear and imagine worst case scenarios in my head. Finally the consultant came and she repeated the whole process, also telling me that my breasts were complex and extremely dense. She pointed out the cysts that I know my breasts are full of and decided that one of them needed to be aspirated, but she also said that it didn't look like there was anything else there, but I needed an MRI to be sure.

I have had two other MRI's for my breasts before, so I am not too worried. The last time I had an MRI I actually fell asleep in the MRI machine, which they said was a first.

I then met with the doctor who is the general physician in the Breast Centre and we looked at times for my MRI in the next two months. While I was with her she asked me if I had considered having a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy (a preventative double mastectomy), which until then I hadn't considered. I know that for some women this is a very real course of action, check out Lindsay Avner at Bright Pink, who at the time was the youngest woman to have this operation. 

She told me it was something to think about.

Fortunatley I am going away for the next week, so will have lots of thinking time. When I'm not thinking I will be focussed on trying not to cry. My boobs may have served their biological purpose, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to give them up.

I write this post respectful of all people who have bigger dilemmas; are breast cancer sufferers; breast cancer survivors; or have lost someone to breast cancer.

Super Yummy Meatloaf

A friend of mine recommended Nigella Lawson's meatloaf to me a few years ago and the other night I finally got aroung to making it. I don't think I have ever eaten meatloaf before in my life, we certainly didn't grow up with it, which is suprising as mince in every other incarnation found its way to our dinner table. My only meatloaf references were from American television and that was enough for me to know that meatloaf was something I could probably do without for the rest of my life.

I am so glad I put my meatloaf prejudice to one side, because Nigella Lawson's meatloaf is super moist and tasty. We served it with cauliflower cheese and the two paired perfectly, also we just bought the heat and pour gravy which also worked.

Here is the recipe, anything involving five tablespoons of duck fat, or butter is a winner in my books. If you are wondering who Ed is, he is a literary agent and friends with Nigella (lucky him!). The recipe says one large roasting pan. but I did it in a log shaped cake tin.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 4 onions, 1 pound
• 5 tablespoons duck fat or butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (recommended: Lea and Perrins)
• 2 pounds ground beef, preferably organic
• 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
• 10 ounces (approx. 20 slices) bacon
• 1 large roasting pan

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and then boil 3 of the eggs for 7 minutes. Refresh them in cold water.

Peel and chop the onions, and heat the duck fat in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Cook the onions gently sprinkled with the salt, for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the onions are golden and catching in the fat. Remove to a bowl to cool.


Put the Worcestershire sauce and ground beef into a bowl, and when the onion mixture is not hot to the touch, add to the bowl and work everything together with your hands.


Add the remaining raw egg and mix again before finally adding the breadcrumbs.


Divide the mixture into 2, and in the pan, make the bottom half of the meatloaf by patting half the beef mixture into a flattish ovoid shape approximately 9 inches long. Peel and place the 3 hard-boiled eggs in a row down the middle of the meatloaf.


Shape the remaining mound over the top of the eggs and pat into a solid loaf shape. Compress the meatloaf to get rid of any holes, but don't overwork it.

Cover the meatloaf with slices of bacon, as if it were a terrine, tucking the bacon ends underneath the meatloaf as best you can to avoid its curling up as it cooks.


Bake for 1 hour, until the juices run clear and once it's out of the oven let the meatloaf rest for 15 minutes. This should make it easier to slice. When slicing, do it generously, so everyone gets some egg. Pour meat juices over as you serve or do what you will gravy-wise.

Its Fundraising Time :(

I hate that we live in a country where education is so undervalued by our government, whatever party happens to be in power. Teachers train four + years and have to fight for a 2% pay rise and schools are not given the funding that they need to make their schools fun and stimulating for our kids. Sadly schools have to resort to fundraising, even the most expensive schools ask parents and members of the community for contributions.

I remember the look of dread that passed over all of the mum's faces when on picking up our kids from pre-school they all emerged holding a giant box of Natural Confectionary fundraising lollies. Any kid who was beginning to doubt whether they liked school was at that time convinced that it was the best place ever. Some could barely carry the box, others then went on to meet their siblings, who also had boxes. All thought that the nice teacher had given them a giant box of lollies and that these lollies were for them!

The Department of Education has a very strict healthy eating policy, yet year after year they get away with sending their students home with unhealthy food, food banned on their policy, to raise funds. Of course we ate all of the lollies that were sent home with Riley, there is no way that we were going door knocking to sell the booty. It is annoying when little kids knock on your door selling you stuff that you don't want and of course you buy it because you feel sorry for them lugging their box of chocolates/lollies around the streets.

When we moved Riley to a private school and had to pay a fundraising levy each term, I felt that surely that would mean no fundraising. I was wrong. The fundraising there ranged from selling weedy looking plants from their garden under the guise of being flowers every Friday to an annual ball. Every single Friday Riley wanted to by a plant, every time we did buy one, it died.

Now we are back in the goverment system and its fundraising time again. There is a new look to fundraising, maybe its an old look, but I haven't seen it before. The fundraising is for a fun run, and I kid you not, the school has arranged it so that each class will be participating for a total of 10 minutes. Riley's class starts at 1.55 and finishes at 2.05 according to the schedule, this is pretty good for Riley as he's not much of a runner and will probably manage to meander two laps in that time. This fundraising system will really work for Riley because it really does not matter if they participate at all, it is just a pledge sheet (starting with $5), its the money that counts!

Riley's school has decided to use the Australian Fundraising company to help them with their fun run. Children receive a 'prize' for the money raised. "Prizes' range from a bendable pen and the like if you raise 10-19 dollars to an eBook reader and the like if you raise more than 500 dollars. According to the Australian Fundraising website, they take 30%-40% (+GST) of the profits raised. The brochure also contains tips for fundraising, like, "Phone distant friends and relations".

I have a problem with this form of fundraising for a number of reasons. Firstly, what about those kids whose parents either do not make much money, or don't help with the fundraising? I hate the thought of kids walking the streets asking strangers to sponsor them just so that they can get a cool toy. Secondly, if you are going to fundraise, I don't think kids should be given incentives, do they then need an incentive to clean their room, lay then table etc.? Thridly, I cannot understand why a school would be willing to lose 30-40% + GST of their profits by using a fundraising organisation.

My main problem is with the government though, why should schools have to fundraise?

Riley has circled a number of 'prizes' he would like, sadly he has circled nothing in the $29 -$79 range which is where we will end up as we are not going to ring distant friends or relations, and we are not pounding the pavement.

Oil Pulling

I am always keen to try something new in the name of a healthier me. In the past I have bought myself an ionic foot bath, tried pilates, been to a health retreat and I have a vibradisc. When someone posted about oil pulling on facebook last night I wanted to know what they were talking about. After my google search, I decided to try it.

Oil pulling claims the following: “total cures of head-aches, bronchitis, tooth pain, thrombosis, eczema, ulcers and diseases of stomach, intestines, heart, blood, kidney, liver, lungs and women’s diseases. It heals diseases of nerves, paralysis, and encephalitis. It prevents the growth of malignant tumors, cuts and heals them. Chronic sleeplessness is cured.”

Oilpulling Method Step by Step from www.oilpulling.com with corrections.

Step1:

First thing in the morning on an empty stomach and before drinking any liquids (including water), pour exactly one tablespoon of sunflower or sesame oil (or whatever oil you have chosen) into your mouth. We don't recommend doing this process at any other time. Children can also do this with less quantity of oil provided they have control and practice not to swallow the oil.

Step 2:
Swish the oil around in your mouth without swallowing it. Move it around in your mouth and through your teeth, as if it was mouthwash (don't tilt your head back to gargle though). You'll find that the oil will start to get watery as your saliva mixes with it. Keep swishing. If your jaw muscles get sore while swishing, you're putting too much into it. Relax your jaw muscles and use your tongue to help move the liquid around the inside of your mouth. When you do this correctly, you'll feel very comfortable. Pretty soon.

There is no right way or wrong way to swish and pull oil. Don't focus on doing it right. Do it with very natural movement. Do this gently, not vigorously, in a relaxed way for about 20 minutes.
If you have the unbearable urge to swallow and If it becomes too unpleasant, spit out and try again. It can be a bit unpleasant at first when you’re not used to it, but soon won’t be bothersome at all, just like brushing your teeth.

When the oil has become saturated with the toxins it has pulled out, it may become whitish and a thinner, milky consistency, depending on the type of oil used. Each time you oil pull, it can take a different amount of time to get to that point, so 20 minutes is a general rule of thumb, but you can experiment with this.

If you spit out before 20 minutes. start again, the process is to make the oil swish enough time in your mouth so that it becomes a white thick substance which is a indication of process completion.

Step3:

As the end of the oil pulling session approaches, Spit the oil out, then rinse the mouth with warm salt water (just use normal table salt). Salt water rinsing isn’t absolutely necessary, but is very helpful as an antimicrobial and to soothe any inflammation and proven to be effective in rinsing out any toxins which may be left out in the mouth.

You can do oil pulling every morning if you like, or several times a week. Because the oil pulling method can be detoxifying, you might want to take a break sometimes. One immediate benefit everyone gets is, whiter teeth, clean mouth . There’s no rule about frequency - judge according to your own experience.

Understand that this process works better in the morning. Don't try to do this any time of the day. If for some reason it is absolutely not possible for you to pratice this method in the morning, you can do this on an empty stomach at any time of the day. An empty stomach means the food is digested completely. Ideally after three or four hours of you taking any food.

So this morning I had a tablespoon of EVOO, my first impulse was to gag, but witnin a few seconds as I furiosly swished, the oil did mix with my saliva and became watery. I set my phone's timer to 20 minutes and started gettiing ready for the day. At one point my jaw did start to get sore, so I relaxed my swishing. My gag reflex did respond again though and I had to spit the mixture out. I managed to last 8 minutes, but it felt longer.

Once I spat the mixture out I really did think I was going to vomit, but after my husband yelled at me for retching in the kitchen sink, I gargled with salty water and felt fine.

The thing is, my mouth felt amazing after the oil pulling, the cleanest it has ever felt. It felt so amazing I nearly forgot to brush my teeth. The amazing mouth feel stayed with me all day and I swear my teeth looked whiter, until I had a glass of red tonight.

Tomorrow I'm trying seame oil and if that doesn't work I will try coconut oil. I think that I will be more determined to keep the oil in for 20 minutes now that I know how amazing it makes my mouth feel after the fact.

Our Science Experiment

Nothing deep or profound here, just a record of the science project that Riley and I did yesterday. I love his new teacher, every Thursday he comes home with a fun little science project that can be done at home, this week it was colouring flowers.

I'm sure you have all seen blue roses at Coles and thought what the? I have and now I know.

Take a flower.

Put enough food colouring in a glass so that the base of the stem can rest in it.

Wait...

We added red food colouring to this white rose and within 30 minutes the flower had a tinge of pink and in one hour was quite pink.

We picked another one and put in it green to soak. This morning we had a bright green and a bright pink flower!

It doesn't work on carrots, but someone had to test it anyway.

There is an environmental message in this, our plants suck up the toxins in our gardens, so avoid using chemical fertilsers and pest control for your flower's sake.

My Midlife Crisis

Finally I have a label for the way I have been feeling lately, which is different to say the least. At first I thought I was really depressed, then insane, but I think I'm just having a midlife crisis. I am a qualified english teacher and am more than halfway through my Masters in Career Development. Last year I thought I might want to be an early childhood teacher and did some extra study in that area. I have worked in education for most of my adult life, but for most of this year I have just not been satisfied with teaching and I was resenting having to go to school to earn a living.

I looked over my transferable skills, like I was taught in my career studies, and I found I had lots of transferable skills, but most of them transfered to some type of job in education, one skill stood out as different and that was cleaning. Anyone who has been to my house knows that sits between barely clean and pig sty, pig sty more often than not. Therefore, when I decided to take this year off teaching to start a cleaning business I got a few raised eyebrows.

I have been cleaning houses for about two months now and am about to employ some casual staff and I love it. Its not perfect, this week I had a really sore back, so couldn't work for a day which meant no money earnt that day either. I also end up looking like a sweaty pig at the end of each day and some people talk to me like I am stupid, but I can live with these things. I will be hiring staff, so when I am unwell or away they can continue with my jobs. I have a nice warm shower, so being a sweaty pig is temporary. I know that I am not stupid.

I sound like a madwoman (maybe its the midlife crisis), but I get so much pleasure out of cleaning other people's houses. When I clean my mind is complely blank, completely, and that is a rare and beautiful thing. Previously and when I'm not cleaning my mind is a buzz and that gets tiring. I don't exercise, or meditate, I find it hard to just sit. If I am sitting down, I am either reading, writing or thinking. Cleaning has become meditation for me and I love it. I think I'm the happiest in myself that I have been since before I had Riley.

I am embracing my midlife crisis, I wish I had more money so I could go the whole hog and buy myself a convertable and really enjoy it!

Wow, you have a Baby, Part 2.

I caught up with a friend of mine last week who had a baby a few months ago. It was not the first time I had caught up with her and met her little girl, it was the third time, but it was the same as the first time. All we talked about was her baby, how wonderful she was, how beautiful she was, how clever she was. Now I like babies, I even had one of my own and I know that it is a new and exciting journey when you have a baby. A baby changes everything, you begin to look at the world differently and things that were once important are no longer and vise versa.

I really enjoy talking about parenthood and will happily discuss feeding, sleeping, birthing, you name it. If you are my friend, I will cheer at your child's milestones and love them, but I expect the same in return. The first couiple of times when you ignore my child I will forgive you because you are probably sleep deprived and in wonderous awe of your new life, but after that I expect you to show some interest in my life, to speak to my son.

Just because a child is the centre of a parent's universe, some parents expect them to be the centre of everyone's universe and that is just not the case. No child could be cuter, funnier, more interesting than your own. So, congratulations to all those new mumys and daddys out there, your life is about to change in the best way possible, but just remember that many have gone before you.