MSG: the next TransFat?

(wow, three in one day? I guess that's to make up for my long absence!)

Josh and I were gradually eliminating MSG from our diets because it felt like a healthy thing to do. Then we discovered that, when he had no MSG, he had no headaches. This, after nearly daily bad headaches requiring Excedrin. So we decided it was not just a good idea, but it would be a lifestyle change.

Unfortunately, it's not just in Chinese food like most people (including me) believed. And it doesn't help to only look for MSG or monosodium glutamate in the ingredient lists. Food companies know that people are starting to realize it's not good for you, so they mask it with many other terms (you can see the lists here). Basically, most prepared foods are out of our diet now, including a lot of things we really enjoyed eating.

I'm starting to think it will go the way of trans fats over the next year or two, if the 700 Club, NewsMax and Mercola are any indication. And I'm excited to realize that we're actually ahead of the curve for once!
My only question is; will they try to get around it by putting in yeast extract and pretending leaving MSG off the label is sufficient? Or will people realize MSG by any other name still gives migraines??

We've been looking for "normal" foods that are still safe. So far here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:

Reece's Peanut Butter Cup
Hormel Natural Cold Cuts
Fritos
Most tortilla chips (not Doritos though...just the non-extra-flavored chips)
Anything from Outback Steakhouse
(Olive Garden looks fine too!)

We've found a lot of other things that look okay, when we're in the "nature's market" section of the supermarket. I'll be adding this to our website soon, and will update the list as we find more things Josh can eat, in case there are others who want to join us in our quest for health!

(by the way, I updated the website a week or so ago, and forgot to post about it here. Go check it out!)

Just because it's hard to believe

Here is Rebekah, at 6 1/2 months.

Jasmine 101

I haven't been writing much lately, partly because I didn't feel like there was much to say. "Jasmine's adorable, Bekah's practicing standing..." you can only say that so many times before it feels really boring.

But I was reading my friend Kimberly's blog about her life in China, and I realized that I'm learning a lot too. Maybe nothing like they are, but it's almost as interesting.

Jasmine's language and brain are a world of their own. She has a few words that all sound the same, and she doesn't know how to differentiate, though the has only one of them in mind.

For example, Dirty and Charity sound the same. She just keeps saying it until you figure out by context which she's talking about.

Much more frustrating is "sews." She meant "Cheerios" or some other cereal, but had one specific one in mind. She now says "Cheerios" so if she says sews, we know it means some other cereal.

The current one we're trying to figure out is la. La could mean Cinderella (she likes the last sound if the word is too big), Granola or umbrella. And you'd better know which one she wants.

The funniest thing about it is that she knows she calls them the same thing. Yesterday she asked for la and pointed to the tupperware of granola. Then when I was getting it for her and putting her in the high chair, she asked for la and pointed to the TV (and even suggested clicker so I knew how to turn it on!).

***

So Bekah isn't left out...
She now has standing completely mastered. She can get herself up to standing in the middle of the middle of the room with nothing to grab. She gets into a squat and then uses her adorably chubby quads to pull up to standing. If her balance is this good already, it's likely that she'll just pick up and start walking in the next couple weeks. If she's on Jasmine's timetable it will be September 20th (7 1/2 months on the nose) but I wouldn't be surprised if she beats that. And here I thought she'd be closer to the average in when she started doing things. The joke is on me!

Two Mobile Girls

Not only does Bekah crawl, quickly, but she pulls herself up to standing.

And she's gotten really good at doing this.

Saturday is childproofing day!!

Amazing Digi-Scrap Race: Halfway!

Ready for a bunch of layouts??

I think I wrote about the Amazing Digi-Scrap Race. To summarize in case I didn't, or in case you forgot, it's a 6-week contest. Twice a week, a digiscrapping website hosts a new challenge. The two layouts are due Sunday night, and everyone who finishes that week's challenges goes on to the next week. There were 198 teams (of 2 people each) at the start, and for most of the layouts both of us make separate layouts. Now that I've thoroughly confused absolutely everyone...

Week one.
First challenge: make a layout about a museum. One we've been to or want to see someday. And use the word "amazing" somewhere on the layout.

Second challenge: this was a toughy. We had to work together (which involved a bunch of emailing and Instant Messaging), and make a layout together about friends, using three pictures, something red, a flower and a doodle.

Week Two:
Challenge Three: make a layout using "Once Upon A Time," "If I were Queen of the world" or a third starter I (obviously) didn't choose.

Challenge Four: Make a layout with the word GOAL prominently on the page, and a big G.

Week Three
Challenge Five: Write a layout about someone who influenced your life, and really go into how they impacted you.
Challenge Six:
Only one of us had to do this one (I volunteered). It was to be a "messy" layout, using at least 15 different things, with no more than 2 things by any one designer. I am a bit of an overachiever, as usual, and ended up with things from 15 designers :)
You can see them all here (except the Friends one, which you can see here.)

Scraplifted!

I need to post the layouts I've done for the Amazing Digi Scrap Race, but I'll do that later. For now, I wanted to tell everyone my fun news!

I got a private message from someone on one of the forums where I post my layouts. She wanted permission to use this layout for the "scraplift challenge" for the month of August. (by the way, this layout also got Layout of the Day at TDC last fall, so I guess others like it too!)
What's a scraplift? It's a popular term in scrapbooking, not a bad thing in any way. People take a layout they like the look of and make it their own. They might make theirs totally different from the original, or it might be very similar. I've done some that you couldn't recognize the similarity, and others where it was very obvious where the inspiration came from. I love to scraplift because it's a great chance to try styles other than what I usually use.
Bekah's trying to eat the computer cord so I'd better end now.