SPRING FLOWERS

I do love Spring! These are some Forget Me Nots from my folks' front garden. Forget Me Nots are some of my favorite flowers!

Here are some Grape Hyacinths, also from my folks' front garden. My daughter and one of my nieces batted their little eyelashes at my dad yesterday and the result was my dad giving the girls some Grape Hyacinths to take home. They are so pretty!

I've no idea what these (below) are. It's a tree that is fairly common in metro Vancouver. It tends to bloom the same time as the cherry trees, but the petals are much larger and a completely different shape. They add to to the lovely pink around here though. You can't poo poo the pink!

NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS

I bought some Smarties for Weeb's class for Valentine's Day. They are nut safe which is a HUGE selling point, for me and my family, and I wouldn't have bought them, otherwise.

So as Weeb and I tested a couple of boxes today (I use the word 'tested' and the word 'couple' rather loosely here), I notice the box of red and pink candy coated chocolatey goodness says: NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS.

Really?

There is NOTHING artificial in the bright red and pink candy coloring?

The side of the box says *NON-ARTIFICIAL COLORS ARE PREPARED FROM NATURAL SOURCES. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.SMARTIES.CA.

So I did.

And they weren't kidding.

Not that I'm THAT concerned about natural vs. unnatural. Obviously the more natural the better, but if I were THAT concerned, I probably wouldn't be reaching for a little box or two (again, a loose translation of the chocolate slaughter that occurred) of candy coated chocolate.

I really wanted to make fun of the idea that something this bright and red / pink could be made from anything, naturally. But since I can't, I'm going to just say thanks for making these little gems nut safe and thanks for using the nut safe label on the package! Now, could you please also put the nut safe label on the little boxes so when my daughter gets Valentine / Halloween treats, I don't have to toss them due to uncertainty. Happy nibbling!

FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WALK

Sophierella is one of Weeb's online friends. She is 3 years old and has severe food allergies, similar to Weeb's.

Her family is doing a walk for the AFAA (Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association) of Minnesota.

http://www.firstgiving.com/teamsophierella

American research will help Canadians, too!

If you can, please donate a few bucks to very good people walking for a very good cause!

WOMAN WITH PEANUT ALLERGY FORCED OFF OF PLANE

I saw a news story today that sparked interest. It was about a woman who was forced to take another flight because of an allergy to peanuts. She'd asked the stewardesses not to serve peanuts for a snack and they refused and asked her to take another flight.

Normally I'd be enraged by this, because having a young daughter with a severe allergy to nuts automatically puts me on the side of the allergic. However, from the news article, this woman was a bit of an idiot. But obviously I don't know HER side of the story.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/02/26/calgary-woman-peanutallergy.html

Here are my comments regarding the article. I would say I was shocked at the other comments, but I'm not. People are STILL very ignorant regarding allergies. For my daughter, I will do my best to educate as many as I can as to WHY peanut allergies are more dangerous than other food allergies.

This woman needs to give her head a shake and make special arrangements BEFORE getting on a plane next time! To expect the airline to make changes last minute is absurd. What the airline did to her (though unfortunate) is exactly what she did to them in the first place!

Her stupidity aside, there are a lot of ignorant comments here. I was ignorant in regards to allergies once, too (and now I have a loved one with allergies and have been educated on the matter).

Peanuts are not your regular allergen. What makes peanuts different is that it takes A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF PEANUT PROTEIN FOR A BIG BAD REACTION compared to other foods where you typically need a large amount of protein for a large reaction. Being in the same room is enough for some people to have a deathly reaction. Touching Something that someone who has eaten peanuts has touched can cause a fatal reaction in many peanut allergic people. With peanuts, it is not a matter of just don't eat them.

I can't imagine any of you (including the ignorant or self important) want to have a hand in somebody's suffering or death. It's not like they are suffering severe allergies because they made bad choices in life.

And lady, next time, call ahead, because YOU have to be responsible for your allergies BEFORE you expect others to be! I hope you were smart enough to have a couple of EpiPens with you, or did you expect the airline to deal with that, too?

There was an article I read a year or so ago about a severely peanut allergic woman who was trying to sue Starbucks because some tool behind the counter told her that a yogurt parfait (with granola) that they were selling didn't have nuts. The label did not indicate nuts. It's infuriating that the label did not have a warning, but any peanut allergic person SHOULD know NOT to eat something that MIGHT have been made in a plant that also uses peanuts. Any peanut allergic person should also know not to trust the high-school kid behind the counter at Starbucks OR trust labels! Anything with granola should be a big red flag! AND, and this is a BIG AND, any severely peanut allergic person SHOULD CARRY AN EPI PEN! She wasn't. Hey lady, I want to sue YOU because you're an idiot.

This article is 100% PEANUT & TREE NUT FREE! Written by a loony, but not a nut!