Avoiding pinkness

In an effort to avoid pinkification (and take a break from blogging), I ran away and joined the circus. No, actually my husband's family had a big family reunion on the coast of Oregon - a place we had never been. It was a lot of fun and a nice get away to avoid over pinkification. I didn't mean to take a break from blogging but I had some technical issues as well.

It worked in the sense that we were off line and avoiding pink. But it was not without its ups and downs.

First I was very efficient and packed two empty reusable water bottles. And I left the better one one the plane. Second, I left the one of a kind charger for my tablet in the hotel in Portland where we were spending the first and last nights. By the end of our second day, my feet were hurting from RA so much I had to stay off them more for the rest of the trip. And our spare water bottle appeared to have sprung a leak.

It was a great time catching up with relatives and enjoying the Oregon coast. We even saw seals, sea lions, and whales. We did not see many signs of pink. To be fair we were in a small town and avoided the areas with chain stores. It was only when we ventured near them, were we assaulted by pink. Then on our last night, Sunday, we watched the Patriots destroy the Chiefs while wearing pink gloves, pink shoes, pink socks, pink towels, pink ribbons on their helmets, etc. I am not sure if the pink weakened the Chiefs but we were happy to see the Patriots win.

While watching the game, my husband suggested that instead of manufacturing all that pink crap (particularly if in some factory overseas), that all NFL players should donate 1 day's pay to breast cancer research instead. 32 teams times 53 players = 1696. Average salary is $1.9 million or a total of $3,222,400,000. So one hour's salary would be $368,864 or a day's salary would be $8,852,747. A tidy sum indeed. Why don't they just donate that directly and we can skip all that pink?

But I digress. We did successfully avoid pink by avoiding chain stores and chain restaurants. We also didn't watch a lot of television.

The views were from our windows at the Elizabeth Street Inn, Newport, OR. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Risk factors????

Now what the hell am I supposed to do? Look at the length of this list of risk factors for breast cancer!!!!!!!!!

These are the established risks: Being female, age, family history, genetics, personal history of breast cancer,  radiation to chest/face before age 30, certain breast changes, race/ethnicity, being overweight, pregnancy history, breast feeding, menstrual history, using HRT, drinking alcohol, having dense breasts, lack of exercise, and smoking.

Then there are the emerging risks that they are just starting to realize their importance.... (Or but wait, there's more!): Low Vitamin D Levels, Light Exposure at Night, DES (Diethylstilbestrol) Exposure, Eating Unhealthy Food, Exposure to Chemicals in Cosmetics, Exposure to Chemicals in Food, Exposure to Chemicals for Lawns and Gardens, Exposure to Chemicals in Plastic, Exposure to Chemicals in Sunscreen, Exposure to Chemicals in Water, and/or Exposure to Chemicals When Food Is Grilled/Prepared. 

How the hell am I supposed to avoid them? That's it. I am moving to live under a rock!

A day to myself

Even though I work part time, I seldom have days to myself. I usually am running all over with volunteer work, errands, doctors appointments and whatever. I did stay home on Wednesday this week but that doesn't count. There was a blizzard and I couldn't go anywhere. And my husband was home so I spent time with  him. Not that there is anything wrong with spending time with him but it wasn't a day to myself.

Today I dropped my husband off at work because the car is being worked on. Now I am up early and have time to do the things aI want. I will go to the gym on my own schedule. I will deal with the garage and the car repair and I will pick up my husband later. But for most of the day I am here, by  myself - well with the cat - to do what I want.

Next week I believe I have three days with doctor appointments. And I have to get to work four days because of the blizzard day this week. I am not looking forward to next week.


But that is next week and I'll stick with this week first. I will enjoy reading the paper with my feet up and sipping tea. And focus on me for the day. Although I am really in avoidance of next week.

Avoiding pinkness

In an effort to avoid pinkification (and take a break from blogging), I ran away and joined the circus. No, actually my husband's family had a big family reunion on the coast of Oregon - a place we had never been. It was a lot of fun and a nice get away to avoid over pinkification. I didn't mean to take a break from blogging but I had some technical issues as well.

It worked in the sense that we were off line and avoiding pink. But it was not without its ups and downs.

First I was very efficient and packed two empty reusable water bottles. And I left the better one one the plane. Second, I left the one of a kind charger for my tablet in the hotel in Portland where we were spending the first and last nights. By the end of our second day, my feet were hurting from RA so much I had to stay off them more for the rest of the trip. And our spare water bottle appeared to have sprung a leak.

It was a great time catching up with relatives and enjoying the Oregon coast. We even saw seals, sea lions, and whales. We did not see many signs of pink. To be fair we were in a small town and avoided the areas with chain stores. It was only when we ventured near them, were we assaulted by pink. Then on our last night, Sunday, we watched the Patriots destroy the Chiefs while wearing pink gloves, pink shoes, pink socks, pink towels, pink ribbons on their helmets, etc. I am not sure if the pink weakened the Chiefs but we were happy to see the Patriots win.

While watching the game, my husband suggested that instead of manufacturing all that pink crap (particularly if in some factory overseas), that all NFL players should donate 1 day's pay to breast cancer research instead. 32 teams times 53 players = 1696. Average salary is $1.9 million or a total of $3,222,400,000. So one hour's salary would be $368,864 or a day's salary would be $8,852,747. A tidy sum indeed. Why don't they just donate that directly and we can skip all that pink?

But I digress. We did successfully avoid pink by avoiding chain stores and chain restaurants. We also didn't watch a lot of television.

The views were from our windows at the Elizabeth Street Inn, Newport, OR. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Risk factors????

Now what the hell am I supposed to do? Look at the length of this list of risk factors for breast cancer!!!!!!!!!

These are the established risks: Being female, age, family history, genetics, personal history of breast cancer,  radiation to chest/face before age 30, certain breast changes, race/ethnicity, being overweight, pregnancy history, breast feeding, menstrual history, using HRT, drinking alcohol, having dense breasts, lack of exercise, and smoking.

Then there are the emerging risks that they are just starting to realize their importance.... (Or but wait, there's more!): Low Vitamin D Levels, Light Exposure at Night, DES (Diethylstilbestrol) Exposure, Eating Unhealthy Food, Exposure to Chemicals in Cosmetics, Exposure to Chemicals in Food, Exposure to Chemicals for Lawns and Gardens, Exposure to Chemicals in Plastic, Exposure to Chemicals in Sunscreen, Exposure to Chemicals in Water, and/or Exposure to Chemicals When Food Is Grilled/Prepared. 

How the hell am I supposed to avoid them? That's it. I am moving to live under a rock!