There are many wonderful spots to vacation, but one place I would like to go is to New Jersey to see Deb. You may remember she came to see me a few weeks ago, and we had a great time. I’d love to go up for the weekend, and whisk her away to a New Jersey bed and breakfast for some quality girl time. She could show me her favorite beach, and we could eat good food, and drink wine and give ourselves a manicure.

Do you remember when I put all those buttons in my sidebar there, showing the social networking sites I had joined? It looked like a lot, huh? Well………I’m not the only one who likes the social networking ya’ll. Please meet Navtej Kohli, Navtej Kohli, Navtej Kohli, Navtej Kohli, and also Navtej Kohli. And you thought I was busy on the internets!

I posted a while back on the environment, and what steps we as a family take to do our part to protect it. They aren’t large things, but they are easy to do, and cost effective. And no one tells me what to do about them, it’s my choice. But I am one person, and my actions don’t really have a significant impact on the environment.

On the other hand, businesses really don’t have a lot of choice. Their actions do have a significant impact on the environment, and therefore on our health, so the government tells them what standards they must meet to lessen that impact. Some companies are using EHS compliance software to keep track of the measures they’ve implemented.

I imagine EHS compliance software is like many other things that business have to have: they may not like it, and we may all wish it wasn’t needful, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. And if it helps businesses protect my health, and that of my family, then I reckon it’s a good thing.

worked on laundry: check
game cabinet: check
entertainment center: good start
and that took 2 hours

For this I got the spiral iron and another “foundational garment”. I think I’ll start on the face stuff tomorrow 😉 Or, you know, maybe this afternoon.

Am I boring you with all this talk about my hair and face? I don’t mean to, really. It just seems appropriate in this blog that is all about me to blog about what’s really going on in my head. It seems that I have spent a couple of decades forgetting that I am a girl, that I like girly things, as if that somehow made me less, or as if I wasn’t worth honestly evaluating what my own needs are. Now I am trying to correct that.

I’m enjoying the new stuff (what I’ve earned of it so far, LOL) and I’m also finding out more about various skin care products. One line I’ve seen is the Dremu products. The specialize in anti-aging products, and while I don’t mind my age one bit, I will tell you that once you do get this age….you can’t help looking, ykwim?

Oprah says their eye cream is 5 star stuff, and that woman never ages, so she must know what she’s talking about. And they have a product called Deception that is supposed to make wrinkles disappear instantly. It has emu oil in it, and I have a friend who swears by that stuff.

Now, as I posted earlier my primary aging concern is not my face. Unfortunately for me, they don’t have a product guaranteed to return my boobs to their rightful state. But everything they do have comes with a 60 day money back guarantee.

I posted the other day about a drug rehab program that I had some rather serious issues with, so i thought I would follow up on that by talking about the suboxone treatment programs offered by Meditox. Suboxone is an opiate antagonist, so that you can get off opiate based pain-killers without suffering from physical withdrawal.

Meditox takes it a bit further than just the physical though. They offer one on one case management, therapy and even aftercare recommendations. They help treat the whole addiction, yet you don’t have to check out of life to kick the drugs. And unlike some outfits that will treat you over the phone, they do require you to go to on of their offices to initiate treatment. You only have to go once, and they have offices in Florida, California, Texas or Illinois. Full treatment generally lasts six weeks, and a Meditox team member is available 24/7 during treatment.

Here’s a quick quote from their site:

The Meditox Method is different from other treatment programs because it is individually modified for each patient, taking into consideration not only their medical history, but their personal issues as well. It is a holistic, bio-psycho-social approach. This is not cookie-cutter medicine. The Meditox Method is a program created to suit the needs of the individual – one patient at a time.

I think that attitude of treating patients as individuals, with different emotional and mental needs is what enables their patients to break the cycle of addiction.

I was looking at a website today that flies in the face of everything I have ever learned about treating addiction. I’m quoting the Stone Hawk site directly, and they say, “Graduates of the program do not go to weekly meetings, as that would only serve as a crutch keeping them from fully recovering. As such, a graduate is not considered to be recovering, as the graduate has already fully recovered.” Just above that, the site says that the “student is there to learn about what it takes to be free of drug addiction and alcoholism; not to be treated for a disease or an illness.” Now, I’m not really sure what to make of all that.

I’ve always considered that meetings with others who’ve recovered from addictions would help keep an addict from returning to drug use in times of turmoil. My understanding was that accountability and support were key to successfully beating drug abuse and were the cornerstones of drug treatment. This is a totally different approach to anything I’ve seen before. While the facility is staffed by medical doctors and certified counselors, along with registered nurses, I’m thinking that drug abuse is much, much more than a physical condition.

It seems to me that…….well, there are many things to be addicted to. Some are addicted to drugs or alcohol, while others are addicted to porn or cutting. But I’m pretty sure in my own mind that the issues that drive the addictions are the same mentally and emotionally and that if you treat the addiction without treating the source of the addiction, then how can you expect long term success?

Two dogs have taken up residence in my front yard. They stand there barking at passers-by and generally making nuisances of themselves. It’s plum aggravating, I tell ya! Even more aggravating is the fact that the two dogs that belong in my back yard have gone missing. Oh wait, it’s the same set of dogs.

You know, I poo-poohed my cousin when he told me Rocky could chew his way out of a chain link kennel. Hahaha, I said. Yeah, right, I said. Joke’s on me, ya’ll. I’ve plugged holes and repaired fence, and they still get out. I’m hopeful that DH can rig a better repair this weekend, because frankly, until I can get them contained, how to kill fleas is the least of my worries. Those are aggravating to be sure, but it’s tick season now, and there are woods nearby, and what dog can resist that? There are ways to kill fleas naturally, but ticks carry nasty diseases.

The neighbors are getting pretty ill about it, too, and I really can’t say I blame them. Sigh. Any ideas out there in blogland for dealing with canine houdinis?