And here is a woman after my own heart.

And now I know what I'm having for lunch today.

Gong xi fa cai.

Realization

Teavana may have made me freak out yesterday, but Bodum has always been the one the rocks my world.

Discovery

I am completely freaking out.

The mall just opened one of these stores.

Sure, when the shock wears off I'll probably find it poser and overpriced, but for now, there's a place where I can get my tea stuff without having to go overseas.

Camomom and I once talked about opening up a sit-down teahouse in our spare time with our spare money, just for fun. We would do it if there were a market for it. Then I would see Teavana as the competition.

Today I am feeling...

... petulant.

January is...

(doo doo DOO!)

National Blood Donor Month!

Did you know that you can save lives just by sitting there and maybe eating a cookie and drinking some juice?

People roll their eyes when they hear the "save lives" bit, but it's true. I've seen it my very self. I've seen pale, ill children become pink and healthy before my eyes because nice people donated blood. And did you know? Your one donation of blood could save the life of an adult like you imagine, or it could save the lives of several little bitty babies. Yes, even babies need transfusions— fairly commonly in intensive care units.

What are you doing with your blood? Are you, like, using all of it? I happen to know for a medical fact that most of you have some to spare.

Come on, people. I donated my hair to Locks of Love in June and it STILL hasn't grown back. Gratifying as that was, I could have donated blood several times over by now (i.e. if I met the weight requirement).

I've devoted my career to healing kids. Coming to me are long hours, sleepless nights, stressful responsibilities of making sure children survive in the ICU every single night. I am going to be ordering blood transfusions and I need for there to be blood in the bank when that happens. The least you could do is fill out a form and eat a cookie to make sure it's there.

Yay, PuffinToad!

Good news

So here is a story on the Eschemo Survivor.

There are some major problems with the writing, the foremost being that they completely butchered Nora's last name, but it's super cool that my friend Dr. Nagaruk had the opportunity to tell a little bit of her story.

She's so awesome. I wish you could see her wedding photo better.

Donate, people. I am not allowed so I'm telling you to. Give blood and sign up for the bone marrow registry.

*Addendum: I e-mailed the news station and they have corrected their misspelling of Nora's last name. I think they had spelled it "Noranagruk" before. I found that pretty funny. Did they e-mail me back to thank me for pointing it out? Noooooo. In return for the no thanks, I will not tell them that the intro makes it sound as though more than 1,000 Alaskans were diagnosed with leukemia last month instead of just Susan Butcher, that her brother spells his name Wil, and that one shouldn't begin a sentence with a conjunction in professional writing. Thhbbbbbpt. :P

The tragedy of food allergy

I have to make the little good-bad-good sandwich with this post.

Ummm.... Thank God I'm not allergic to peanuts, so I can eat peanut butter as much as I please.

Okay. Now for the bad. Tonight I have discovered that I am allergic to (drumroll)...

Bleu cheese.

Well duh. With my severe mold allergy, how could I not expect this? A couple of bites of the stinky stuff (Roquefort, I think?) and my mouth was crawling with little itches. If I had eaten any more the little buggers would have crawled down into my throat and up into my ears. Shudder.

I'm also allergic to all melons. I am mildly allergic to nectarines (my favorite) and mangos, but that is controllable with medicines. I am allergic to uncooked pecans, walnuts, and dates.

Please no jokes about the dates. Let me make them myself. Wink, wink.

It's mildly tragic, that a would-be foodie such as myself would have oral allergies as well as lactose intolerance. I'm sure you really wanted to know these things.

I am not allergic to chocolate or wine. That's the good thing that ends this food allergy sandwich.

Good night.

Weak wasabi

So tell me what you think about wasabi.

Tonight's sushi dinner left me mildly unfulfilled, partially because I was still a little hungry after polishing off our platter. I couldn't figure out the other reason until just now: the wasabi was too weak.

Wasabi was meant to have a kick. It supposedly has all kinds of properties. No, don't say it... "oh, yeah! It clears out my sinuses." Har-dee-har-har. Ugh. Everybody says that without really knowing what it means. But I digress. To wasabi have been attributed properties most miraculous, from the antibacterial to the aphrodisiac to the anticarcinogenic. I don't know if I believe them (yeah, yeah, isothiocyanates, bla bla bla), but I do know wasabi is supposed to have flavor. A good flavor, not just a strong painful sensation.

Please, no stories about how once you tried wasabi and you were surprised and it made tears come out of your eyes. Yawn. Tell me something novel. Something, I don't know, interesting. Go ahead. I challenge you.

In the meantime, I'll keep on grousing about the weak wasabi substitute we got served tonight.

Good to hear

Radio program.

Resolution

I've changed my mind. Tonight this idea popped into my head and won't go away. Even though I generally do not make New Year's resolutions, I'm inspired to make one because this year (so far) has been one of such hope and gratitude. Every day this year, preferably in the morning, I will choose something that I am thankful for and express my gratitude, and think on that throughout each day.

Since I'm behind, here are my first four things in retrospect:
1/1: for hugs from new friends.
1/2: for possibilities and potential for change.
1/3: for the gift of a remarkably easy work day on 1/2.
1/4: for my friend Sarah because she's so cool.

Now, I may or may not choose to share these publicly. And these things may be profound, or they may be quite shallow. I may choose to repeat things as well. Just so you know. Listen to me, setting rules for myself. I am daunted by the idea of finding 365 things to be thankful for. We'll see how it goes. Wish me well!

Addendum: I'll be keeping track here.
Addendum 2: Wow, what bad writing this was the first time around! I can't believe it. It's fixed now. Forgive me.

Pediatrician recommended

Do you have a child?

Does your child spend more of the night awake than you do? (Ahem! CKirkough!)

That's not right.

Here's a book recommended by pediatricians across the country.

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, by Richard Ferber, MD.

I haven't read the whole thing myself, I admit that. The Ferber method, however, is approved and endorsed by many pediatricians who are parents as well. Not being one of those (i.e. a parent), I must give advice accompanied by the disclaimer, "Consider the source."

No, Ferber did not pay me to plug his book. It's just that sleep-deprived parents ought to know this stuff.

Does your baby cry A LOT? Learn the 5 S's of the calm infant.

1. Swaddling-- really tight!
2. Side-- put your baby on his/her side. This used to be Stomach but that S correlates with SIDS*.
3. Shushing-- like it sounds. But really loud and long. SHHHHHHHH!
4. Swinging-- in your arms, kinda jiggly-like.
5. Sucking-- pacifiers are called that for a reason. They bring peace!

You could figure out how to do these things on your own (or from me), or you could drop some money on The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, MD. I'd recommend learning how to do these things and just getting your baby quiet without the book unless you really want to spend your precious time reading about why this guy thinks these things work. I mean really. If it works and it's not drugs, do we really care why?

And no, I do not support drugging your toddlers with Benadryl every night before bedtime. That sort of trick should only be used by skilled pediatricians sitting next to naughty children on airplane trips.

*SIDS = Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Please do not put your infant on his/her tummy to sleep before he/she can push up with both arms and lift and control the head! Back or side only!

Resolve

It's a carpet cleaner.

It's also what everyone lacks, as made evident by the fact that people consider New Year's resolutions to be largely a joke.

We at the Prickly Pineapple do not make New Year's resolutions, so today's question is not "what are your resolutions?" Rather, we want to know what you think of New Year's resolutions. Do you make them? Do you make them to break them? Do you actually try to keep them? Do you make fake resolutions, like "I will not be a cocaine mule in 2006" just because you know you can keep them? (It's just an example, and yes, I have known folks who do that. Make fake resolutions that is, not swallow balloons full of cocaine and transport them for pay.) Is there anyone whose resolution does not involve losing weight or getting in better shape?

Just wondering.