Not Your Average Nebulizer

Although I love my nebulizer dearly, if it were ever to mysteriously stop functioning, here are some cool alternatives....

The Speedster race car nebulizer

The Margo Moo Nebulizer with its own barn carrying case

A cute Teddy Bear Nebulizer

A Play with your Lego while nebulizing nebulizer. (but don't pull out those little tubes, and try to attach them to the Lego, or keep pushing the colorful buttons)

The Here Taxi nebulizer

Check them out here

I asked the children in the house for their opinion, and the red race car won out with 2 votes from the boys, while the girl thought the teddy bear should be our next nebulizer. Maybe we will get one after we get one of those peanut sniffing dogs.......

Meet the Southwest Airlines Peanut Bunny

With all this talk about peanuts on airlines, and Easter comming up, I thought I would share this cool stuff I found on my internet travels. Apparently to raise money last Easter a department at Southwest decided to dress up one of their employees as the Peanut Bunny. Apparently for $1.00 you could have your picture taken with this adorable creature. Wow, sign me up for this year!!!

But you know, this story is best told in the words of its own airline Southwest, in their blog
The Soutwest Airlines Blog, Nuts About Southwest in their fine entry Here Comes Peanut Cotton Tail





"The Provisioning Department at HDQ has recently formed its own Local Culture Committee* called The Peanuts Gang. (Why all the peanut references? Provisioning is the Team that stocks our planes with our famous peanuts!) All Local Culture Committees must come up with their own fundraising ideas to earn money to support their different events during the year; thus was born the Peanut Bunny.



What exactly is a Peanut Bunny, you ask? Picture a big papier mache peanut costume dressed up with big bunny ears and a big pink bow around its neck. Now picture one crazy Culture Ambassador and a Provisioning Auditor taking turns wearing that costume with a pink nose and painted-on whiskers hopping up and down the halls, visiting different departments, and posing for pictures with Employees, bringing smiles and laughter--and peanuts--along the way, and there you have the Provisioning Peanut Bunny"

Apparently future photo ops are in the works with Uncle Sam Peanut, Beach Beauty Bikini Peanut, and Peanut Claus! Great!!!

Dear Nebulizer....I Love You

Dear Nebulizer,

I just wanted to say... I love you.

I know, I know, you are not the most attractive looking package we have ever seen, but the difference you have made in our lives has been astounding. When you entered our home 5 months ago, I was unsure what to make of your little brown exterior with all those tubes, wires, and funny dragon mask. You were bulky to carry, and awkward to use. I resented that your motor like hum filled the room making it difficult to hear anything else, and that it took all to long for you to need to attach your dragon like mask to my sweet little hacking son.

Then, I thought you were a bad influence on us. In order to make my sweet little thing sit quietly with you plugged into the nearby electric socket, I was forced to bribe him with television and video games I would never have otherwise exposed him to. You brought the Playstation into our home far more often then I would ever have allowed before. Sometimes I felt like we spent half our day hanging out with you, smoke like air coming from the dragon mask the television lights flickering.

As I was filled with anger and annoyance at your intrusion into our lives, I came to a realization. Since you have come into our lives, we have avoided trips to the ER, and oral steroids. You have gotten us through many colds, flu's and late night coughing excursions. You have been there for us when we needed you most. You have helped us where others have failed. Liquid Albuteral, Puffers, Spacers, all had previously been unable to follow through when we needed them most. They let us down just when we were depending on them, and I felt betrayed by their promises. But alas, not you. I don't know what we would do without you, and I can not thank you enough.

So again, dear Nebulizer, I just wanted to say... I love you

If Food Allergies are Disabilities - Why is it OK to Ignore Them????

I am sure all 5 of you that read my blog are well aware that due to Northwest's merger with Delta, they are bringing back the evil peanut to their airline. Below are some of the great allergy blogs, etc that are trying to bring awareness to this issue.

Food Allergy Buzz post on the issue.

You Don't Need Nuts to Fly Facebook Page

Allergic Living's Campaign

The Nut Free Mom's Blog which has tons of great info, including a few posts about Northwest's return to the evil peanut.

After hearing about this disturbing development, I thought I would start to do a little research into the past history of peanuts on airplanes. I remembered some sort of discussion about it from the good old days when I had no clue peanut allergies existed. (and probably thought those people who don't want peanuts on airplanes are crazy). Here is some of the interesting information I found.

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued instructions that all airlines were to declare at least three rows peanut free zones for all flights including any medically-diagnosed peanut-allergy sufferer. This was to bring policy in-line with the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act. Congress failed to grant financial support to enforce the directive and Newt Gingrich denounced the Clinton administration's anti-peanut attitude, but most airlines chose to comply anyhow. Some of them even began advertising their lower fat snack foods.

Mr. Peanut Goes to Court
Journal of Law and Health, Spring of 1999

"Recently, the Department of Transportation, "DOT," declared peanut allergy a "disability" under the Air Carrier Access Act,(1) a 1986 law that guarantees disabled passengers access to airliners, and which can be considered the air travel equivalent of the Americans With Disabilities Act, ("ADA.")(2) In doing so, the DOT sent letters to ten of the major airlines explaining that a medically diagnosed allergy to peanuts constitutes a "disability" under the Carrier Act.(3) Accordingly, the to DOT created "peanut-free zones" or "buffer zones," where peanuts would not be served, on commercial air flights in order to protect passengers who notify the airline in advance of their documented allergy to peanuts.(4)

In response, Congress, pressured by lobbyists for the peanut industry, attached a repealer to the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that prohibits the DOT from spending any money to implement "peanut free zones" and further requires the DOT to submit to Congress "a peer reviewed scientific study" which documents the severe allergic reactions before the DOT can once again move for "peanut free zones."(5) Even after Congress' response, the DOT is still recommending "buffer zones" on commercial flights; however, without funding, enforcement of the zones has become impossible.(6)"

Although I am not sure if this has changed over the past 10 or so years, it seems based on this that food allergies are considered a disability under Department of Transportation guidelines, so if you feel that you have been discriminated against due to your allergy, you have the right to (and should) file a complaint with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. You can find the form at

http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/forms.htm

Also, the below is from the website of the Department of Transportation, Consumer Protection Division

Passengers with Disabilities
The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires U.S. air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities. The Department of Transportation has a rule defining the rights of passengers and the obligations of air carriers under this law. The following is a summary of the main points of the DOT rule (Title 14 CFR, Part 382).
Prohibition of Discriminatory Practices
Carriers may not refuse transportation to people on the basis of disability. Airlines may exclude anyone from a flight if carrying the person would be inimical to the safety of the flight. If a carrier excludes a person with a disability on safety grounds, the carrier must provide a written explanation of the decision.Airlines may not require advance notice that a person with a disability is traveling. Carriers may require up to 48 hours’ advance notice for certain accommodations that require preparation time (e.g., respirator hook-up, transportation of an electric wheelchair on an aircraft with less than 60 seats).
Carriers may not limit the number of disabled persons on a flight.
Carriers may not require a person with a disability to travel with an attendant, except in certain limited circumstances specified in the rule. If a disabled passenger and the carrier disagree about the need for an attendant, the airline can require the attendant, but cannot charge for the transportation of the attendant.
Airlines may not keep anyone out of a seat on the basis of handicap, or require anyone to sit in a particular seat on the basis of handicap, except as an FAA safety rule requires. FAA's rule on exit row seating says that carriers may place in exit rows only persons who can perform a series of functions necessary in an emergency evacuation.

I don't know how relevant any of this is, but the ex-lawyer in me thought I would consolidate all sorts of info I have found on my travels through the Internet superhighway. I am curious to know if anyone has used this before to file some sort of disability complaint, especially if they were kicked off a plane.

But, enough for now, screaming sick children are calling me to sit with them while we are waiting for the benedryl to kick in.........

My Dilema......

So, here is my dilemma. Lets say we are eating out at one of those ever exciting fast food restaurants, that I consider somewhat safe for my sweet little food allergic children. We have all gotten our food and settled in at our table, eating away as only 3 sweet little children can. Then, you hear the words you have been dreading.........

Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom!!!!

I look around in horror, since I am the only adult with the three small children. I remember almost like in a slow motion horror movie how I asked each one directly when we first arrived whether or not they needed to go potty. Their voices are slowly drawn out as each says nnnnnnnnoooooooooooo, and shakes their heads side to side.

So, what are my choices....

1) try to get the child who needs to go potty to wait until everyone is done, risking accident and yucky mess

2) trek all three children to the bathroom, and leave our half eaten meal on the table, risking the one time the cleaning people are actually on the ball, and come back to a clean fresh table devoid of food. (yes, this has happened to me, and I was forced to buy three more meals to appease the traumatized children)

3) pack all the food up and take it with you to the bathroom with the three sweet little children. (yuck)

4)try and find some other reasonably sane looking people near you, and embarrassingly explain that you need to take your children to the bathroom, and ask them to please watch your food for you while you are gone, alerting any suddenly competent cleaning personnel not to throw away your food.

I am sure you are holding your breath, trying to guess which solution I used. After looking around and not seeing any reasonable sane people nearby, I decided to risk packing up three children and running to the bathroom as fast as we could in the hopes our food would be there when we returned. Lucky for us, there were no cleaning people at work today, and our food was waiting for us upon our return, just as we left it. Whew!!!

I am thinking of making up little cards in the future to leave on the tables to alert people that we will return shortly. I could print them up in vibrant colors, and many languages, and design them so they could pop up tall so everyone could see them. I think I may have to look into that in all my free time......

Always Know Your Target Audience When Selling a Product!!!

"For every kid out there with peanut allergies, these erasers are for you. No more peanut deprivation! Just don’t eat them…Bag of five erasers"

(Yes, this is the actual wording used to advertise these cool erasers)

You can buy them here. They are $5.50 for a bag of 5 erasers.

We Are Back From Our Trip and I Hate Pixos!!!

Whew!!! We finally made it back from our road trip to visit the relations, and I am still trying to recover. I spent all day yesterday doing laundry, and trying to unpack everything I could find. We celebrated Michael and Natalie's birthday again, with the grandparents, and have even more gifts then we did before.


(Just as an informative note, if you have three 4-6 year old children, do not, and I repeat do not let someone give them Pixos for their birthday!!! I am a bitter tired person who is very annoyed at sticking little balls into dots to try and make designs since their children are not able. Then, you get to do scientific experiments to discover if little escaped Pixos balls can be removed from wood floors and furniture once they have gotten wet, and someone has pressed them down..... So if anyone is interested in a free set of leftover Pixos please let me know!!!))



Our school district has somehow declared this week President's Week, and given everyone the entire week off. (When in the world did Presidents Day become a week off in February? Didn't they just get back from the Winter Holiday Break, and are soon going on the Spring Break???)This means I need to entertain the little people again tomorrow, and all weekend before sending them back off to school. I know some people cry and miss their children terribly when they go to school. I on the other hand cry when they are out of school. Three children so close in age means three times the energy, excitement, fighting and destruction. I always look back now, and wonder if my parents got excited when they were able to ship me back to school after a vacation.



Just in case you were wondering, here are some highlights from our trip.



We had a fun filled day at Disneyland that only included one breakdown when Conor saw a person dressed as Buzz Light Year walk by.



A comment from a stupid relative,

Stupid Relative, "Have you heard of the Salmonella scare with peanuts??? Isn't it terrible?"

Me, "Yes, it is , but thankfully that is something we do not have to worry about with Conor's peanut allergy"

Stupid Relative, "Yes, but people can get really sick from Salmonella"

Me, " People can get really sick and die from peanut allergies"

Stupid Relative, "Can you imagine if someone who ate peanuts tainted with Salmonella was also allergic to peanuts.....That would be really bad."

Me, "uh...yea"



You can eat at McDonalds 8 times in 4 days.



Grandpa
"Well of course everything at McDonalds is safe. You let him eat there don't you?"
Me, "Uh, no, the peanuts that come with the sundae's are not safe..."


After deciding I hated Pixos, I did a little research to discover that the company was actually called Aqua Dots, and the original annoying dot things were actually coated in something that turns into the date rape drug when ingested. Apparently there was a huge recall, and they are supposed to be safe now (but unfortunately are still incredibly annoying)

And of course, spending quality time with the grandparents.