Monday, September 22, 2008

China is killing their own now....

Why are we still importing ANYTHING from China? Why? I found juice boxes at Wal-mart a few months back and when I got them home I read the label and it said it *could* be imported from China or other various countries. Needless to say, I took them back to Wal-mart and got my $$$ back. Why is there a need to import juice from China? Why? I bet you $10 that every single item in the Dollar Store (dollar tree) is imported from China. The article below proves to me that the country is all about making a buck no matter the consequences. The Companies don't even care if they poison the children in their own country. It makes me boiling mad....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080922/ts_nm/china_milk_dc


By Chris Buckley Mon Sep 22, 9:44 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - The number of Chinese infants sick in hospital after drinking tainted milk formula doubled to nearly 13,000 and the country's top quality regulator resigned on Monday in the latest blight on the "made-in-China" brand.

Four deaths have been blamed on the toxic milk powder, which causes kidney stones and agonizing complications, and a string of Asian countries have banned or recalled Chinese milk products.
The official Xinhua news agency said in a brief statement that the country's quality chief, Li Changjiang, had quit in light of the case. "Li was the highest ranking official brought down so far by the dairy product contamination scandal," it said.

The Communist Party chief of Shijiazhuang, home to the Sanlu Group which is at the centre of the scandal, has also been fired, Xinhua said, the latest official to lose their job for mishandling the incident.

The government has blamed local officials for delays in reporting problems with the milk powder, and an investigation has found that Sanlu began receiving customer complaints about its milk powder as long ago as last December, Xinhua said.

"Sanlu did not report (the problem) either to the Shijiazhuang government or related authorities and did not take remedial action, causing the incident to expand even further," it said, citing the results of an official probe.

The Health Ministry said the number of children hospitalized due to the milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine rose from a previously announced total of 6,244 -- which included many who had left hospital -- to 12,892, including 104 who were in a serious condition.

More than 1,500 had already left hospital and nearly 40,000 with milder symptoms "received clinical treatment and advice" before going home. The ministry did not explain the sharp rise.

The jump to more than 54,000 affected children was announced late on Sunday, escalating a scandal that has again shaken trust in Chinese products after last year's scares over toxic and shoddy goods from toothpaste and drugs to pet food and toys.

Melamine, used in making plastics, has also been found in cartons of milk and some dairy exports, but no illnesses from those sources have been reported.

Medical experts said on Monday that, as well as causing kidney stones, melamine could potentially cause far more serious complications by crystallizing and then blocking tiny tubes in the kidneys.

DEEPER FAILINGS

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited hospitals in the national capital in a bid to reassure an anxious public. But he also said the outbreak of poisonings exposed deeper failings.

"Although the ordinary people are very understanding, as the government we feel very guilty," he said, according to Xinhua. "This event is a warning for all food safety."

He also vowed stiff penalties if the problem re-emerges.

China's food quality watchdog has said it found melamine in nearly 10 percent of milk and drinking yoghurt samples from three major dairy companies: Mengniu Dairy Co, the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and the Bright group.

Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk.

Past product safety scandals have exposed corruption, influence-peddling and lumbering, feuding bureaucracies overwhelmed by fragmented, cost-cutting producers. The milk scandal has shown a government campaign did not end those woes.

China's dairy producers faced a "crisis of confidence" that would need strong official steps to cure, said Lao Bing, manager of a Shanghai-based dairy investment company.

"Consumers will start rebuying in a month or two if they feel sure the government is undertaking a vigorous clean-up," he said. "Exports will take longer. This will have a major impact."

JUMPY EXPORT MARKETS, PANICKED PARENTS

Japan's Marudai Food Co. Ltd withdrew buns made with milk supplied by Yili. A spokesman for Japan's Nissin said that group had also recalled products with Chinese dairy ingredients.

The Japanese government has asked 90,000 companies to check if imports have been contaminated with melamine.

Other markets that have banned or recalled Chinese milk products include Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwan banned all mainland dairy products from Sunday.

Even White Rabbit Creamy Candy, a popular Chinese brand of milk sweet, was contaminated with melamine, Singapore and Malaysia have warned.

At the weekend, a three-year-old Hong Kong girl was found to have a kidney stone after drinking a milk product tainted by melamine, making her the territory's first suspected victim.

But the biggest worry remains in China.

Sanlu, the nation's biggest maker of infant milk powder, knew about the problem but did not disclose it publicly for at least a month throughout August, when Beijing hosted the Olympics, officials have said.

The revelation brought a surge of panicky parents and children to hospitals, and the government has promised free treatment for stricken children. But some parents said they worried about costs and long-term complications.

Zhou Zhijun, from south China's Hunan province, said she took her wailing, increasingly thin daughter to hospitals at least three times from June to late August before doctors diagnosed a kidney stone.

"All those visits and checks cost 20,000 yuan ($2,900), and I still don't know who will pay for that," she said, adding that her 15-month-old baby had drunk Sanlu milk powder. "Also what if there are complications and problems later? Who'll pay for that?"

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said despairing farmers were dumping milk and killing cattle after companies stopped buying their supplies. It promised subsidies to help farmers.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Naoto Okamura in Tokyo and Kevin Lim in Singapore; Editing by Paul Tait)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I don't care

This is what Mason wrote on a piece of paper tonight during church when he was being bad. He insisted on sitting with me tonight in church rather than going to children's church. He was sooooo naughty that I wanted to take him out back and switch him real good, ha ha! I wrote him a note on a piece of paper and told him to stop making noises with the pen, the paper, kicking his foot etc. Well he didn't stop so I wrote him another note telling him that he was in big trouble when we got home. His reply ~ "I don't care." Well that was a Bam, in your face mama, I don't care. So on our way to the car I am scolding him and he keeps insisting that he was sorry and he couldn't help that he was bad in church... but oh, I reminded him- yes you could help it, because you wrote me a note saying that you didn't care if you were in trouble, therefore you choose to suffer the consequences. Ha ha ha, we are riding down the rode listening to a Rita Springer CD and he tells me- "put the CD on the song "changing me" because I need to change myself and not get in trouble." Yep Mason you are exactly right, you definitely need some changing in the attitude and listening to your mom department. Now I am on my way upstairs to remind him that he doesn't care if he is in trouble......

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The cow bell

Need a good laugh? This is a belly roller. My crazy husband showed me this video today and I peed in my pants....




More Cowbell - Click here for the most popular videos

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Ohhhh the things you find

in your childs poop that they managed to swallow when you weren't looking. I swear some days I think I need shock therapy on my brain. It doesn't think right anymore and some days I crack myself up at the things I thought I heard, things I thought I read, or things I thought I saw... and about 2 seconds after the crazy thing pops in my head I realize whoooaaah Nellie, good thing you looked twice!

So tonight Ashlyn is MIA for a few minutes and oohhhh my gosh what she can do in 2 minutes. I go through the house yelling, Ashlyn where are you? I get upstairs ..I don't see her in her room, Mason's or Spenser's. As I am entering my bedroom (it is dark) I see her standing in my bathroom door. There is a just a little light behind her and I see her hands are black and she is wiping them profusely with a towel. My first thought is "where did she get that black hair color from"?? What was that Traci? Black hair color? Nobody in this house uses black hair color... geeezzz. Oh my, then the smell hits me and I know exactly what the black tint is on her hands, her face and her school uniform shirt. Pooooooooooooooooooooooooop. Oh my, what cracks me up (besides the black hair color thought) is that she is trying sooo hard to get that poop off of her hands with a towel. She is on a mission let me tell ya, as she hastily wipes her hands off. Before I enter the room I am screaming " Miiiiiiiiiike huuuuuurrrrry up here". I enter the bathroom and not only is she covered in poop, but so is the bathtub, the toilet seat and the floor. One little girl should not be able to produce so much poop.... but well, she did! At first I am so mad at her, but thankfully I quickly realize that she had pooped and tried to wipe herself. I imagine that the more she wiped the worse her situation became... poor girl she did try! Mike grabs her and throws her in the tub and takes care of her, I am left on bathroom doody, I mean duty. As I am cleaning away I see something in the poop that looks like a rolled up dollar bill and I am thinking what??? where did she get a rolled up dollar bill from and how did she swallow that? Well of course with further inspection I realize that it is not a rolled up dollar bill, but it is small pieces of rolled up newspaper!! Crap! How did that happen? What really sucks (besides bathroom duty) is the fact that she has been very sneeky lately and has been caught almost every day putting bad things in her mouth again. Today I pulled a wet, soggy baby wipe from her mouth, Sunday it was a big ol' honking piece of pizza crust that she managed to swallow ~~ whole~~ let me tell ya. She was standing there gagging and honest to Pete, I gagged her and pulled out a 4 inch long piece of pizza crust. I thought there for a while that she was doing soooo good about not putting bad things in her mouth. We are going backwards again and to be honest, it DOES scare the crap outta me. I pray for protection over her and that she stops this behavior. I am constantly chasing her down to pull stuff out of her mouth. I am sure that her guardian angel has been working overtime, and I pray please Lord, let this scary, bad behavior stop. Please help her to realize that the things she puts in her mouth can harm her. I love my poopie girl sooooooo much and the thought of her being harmed scares me to no end. Please Ashy, you can have any snack you want, but lay off of the paper products and the foot long pizza crust. :(

Monday, September 8, 2008

Birthday pictures!

Okay kids, line up and let me smack you
around with this sword. (she shoulda been a boy)



ohhhh Happy Birthday to me!


I love Hannie Montannie


What??? You don't want to taste it?


Wearing her birthday cake and ice cream!



The party wouldn't have been
a party without some
DRAMA!!!

















Saturday, September 6, 2008

I want a Cricut!!!

ooh ooh ooh I want one of these!!

It's a Cricut Expressions.
This thing does it all.
Scrapbooking
Vinyl Lettering
School Projects
The list goes on and on!
The Cricut Expressions is the craft fanatics must-have!
And, here is YOUR chance to win one. Yep.
Just go and visit the link below and read the directions for your chance to win one!!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Busy, busy, busy



I cannot BELIEVE that I have not sat down to post about my Angel Ashlyn's birthday this year. I feel like I have been running non-stop for about 3 weeks straight. With school starting back, a list of errands a mile long and my house looking like a cyclone came through here... I have not had time to stop and write about Princess A. My dear, sweetest of peas turned 9 on Sunday and honestly it is just too hard to believe. She only has this year and next year at her elementary school and they will be shipping her off to middle school. Can I object to that? Can I let her play hookie for part of the year and they will just HAVE to hold her back?? This is my plan ha ha ha! Ms. Messer thinks I am joking, but we shall see!!!

My girlie came into this world 9 short years ago. Can you tell that I am having a hard time believing she is really 9 already? I cannot help it, but it just doesn't seem real. Where has the time gone? Looking back to her birth I swear I wish I could have done the first several years over. I wouldn't have worried so much about what she couldn't do and would have focused more on what she could do. I wish that I had recognized earlier that she was having infantile spasms (seizures) so that they could have been gone sooner. Maybe she would be able to more now if she hadn't suffered from them so long. I do know that God has taught me patience when it comes to her progressing. She didn't walk until two months before her 5th birthday... so that means, heck she has only been walking for 4 years now...even though it seems like she has been walking forever!! She has come sooooo far from that tee tiny baby with the long mohawk and pudgy arms and legs, to the beautiful, young lady (yeah right -she is rough as a cob) who charms everyone that she can. She will win an oscar one day with that TOTALLY fake cry that comes out of nowhere and disappears as fast as it came on!! Drama Mama! She is a faker let me tell ya. She can go all day at home and not pee in her pants, but you let her walk into that classroom at school, (acting like she doesn't know where the bathroom is) take one look around and see how fast she can pee in her pants...hussie girl...I just don't get it!

So Miss Ashy, I just want you to know that I love you with every cell in my body. You are the breath in my lungs and the beat in my heart! I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world, including any little snot nosed girls that don't sport that extra 21st chromosome like you! You are the cream of the crop sister And don't you forget it- that God made you in his image too!!! Thank you for 9 wonderful years of your life!
Love~ Mommy

Birthday party pictures to show up next week!