i love all these photos that i see on so many blogs and in magazines with the beautiful distressed paint on old or old looking furniture but it makes me very concerned. i'm all about saving the old but want to make sure that it is done safely. i worry so much about kids and adults being around potential chipping and dusting lead paint. lead poisoning is too common and very scary.

if you live in a house built before 1978 or purchase painted furniture that you believe has been painted before 1978 you should assume that it has lead paint and take these precautions.

first try to find someone to come and test your house for lead paint. It costs a few hundred dollars but it's so worth the money. the man that came to our house did swab testing and sent the dust samples to a lab. he also took some paint chips and also sent them to a lab. he did soil samples, sent them to a lab and water samples also to make sure there was no lead in our pipes. he also had this gun that he could point at painted areas and tell us if they had lead paint. this was amazing. i had him check several of our dressers that i was unsure of their age. he was really a wealth of information. we were really lucky to have someone who was so passionate about helping people find all the lead in their house and help them control the impact.

this website seems to have very good information. self help, inc. lead abatement program this website also seems to have good information on home lead testing from the minnesota department of healthhere are the risk factors for lead poisoning from the mayo clinic here are some of the complications that can arise from lead poisoning from the mayo clinic

here are some other tips that our lead inspector gave us:

lead is usually released in location where you have chipping paint or where to painted surfaces rub. so windows and doors and painted drawers are especially vulnerable. we had some windows in our old house that were near where are daughter played that we chose to never open for this reason.

have your children tested annually. our inspector has been working very closely with a pediatrician in our area and he told us that the government acceptable level is anything under 10 micrograms (a microgram is one-millionth of a gram) in a deciliter (1/2 cup) of blood b can cause damage over time, especially in children. he let us know that they keep moving the number down, he believes that very soon it will be moved to 5 and his belief is that is where it really should be.

he also let us know that when having kids tested it was best to have the blood sample come from their arm if possible. sometimes it is hard to get a clear reading from a blood draw from a finger.

children and pregnant women should not be in the house when you are working on the lead abatement.

you must always do the cleanup with soap and water. we would often clean our work space several times with soap and water (changing the soap and water often) to make sure that we were getting all of the lead dust.

never dry sand any paint that has lead or chance of lead, always wet sand there are these great sanding sponges that we use all the time and wear a hepa filtered mask~we purchased a few respriators they weren't real expensive, considering we have been working on the house for 3 years we would have spent a fortune in dust masks without the same protection or comfort.

always vacuum with a hepa filter.

lead dust is heavy and falls rather quickly. this is good to know that it isn't like drywall dust that takes a long time to settle. i'm not sure how long you need to wait to do clean up, but not as long as with drywall dust.

we had a window seat where are daughter played that had lead paint on it, our inspector suggested that we paint over it again to cover the lead and then also cover that with contact paper so that we would not have any paint chipping.

our inspector noted that we had paint in our basement. His suggestion was that we never have our daughter down there and that we have specific shoes that we wore down there and left them out of our living space.

one thing that our pediatrician suggested is that you should never use hot water from the tap for cooking because if you do have any lead in your pipes it would come out with the hot water vs. the cold.

sorry to welcome some of you to our world of lead neuroses. i really felt that i needed to share my information. i am not a lead specialist. please contact a professional and/or consult the links that i have included for more information. my list is just a suggestion of some additional precautions that you might take when considering lead abatement in your home. lead poisoning is very scary and serious. please take time to make sure that your family is safe.

hope this helps raise your awareness.

be well.

ocean beach, san francisco 2005 - balancing with the rhythm of the ocean

i've been trying to get settled with myself for quite some time now. days go by and i am losing track.

it is funny how life moves different than your expected. this is by no means a complaint. i love my life and my amazing husband and spunky daughter bring more joy to my days than i ever could have imagined. i love being in my hometown and being close to our family. but i cannot grasp how fast time is going. it sounds really cliche but seriously...way too fast. i feel like it is slipping away. so frightening.

i have several ideas that i have been trying to work through but timing is always a challenge for me. i was thinking about the structure of my day and how i am having trouble getting in a rhythm. i have been getting into bed early lately and getting to the gym before my sweets awake. so i feel like i am getting a good foundation going now but the rest has not fallen into place yet still having many non-starter days.

my dear friend and teacher marisa from creative thursday had a great post last week about time as a state of mind and life as yours to design. this is a great video that she created i hope that you check it out. it really resonated with me. i feel busy all the time but doing what exactly? marisa really helped me find some clarity, i am working on some reprogramming. i am choosing to "design my life" so that i make time to create what i want. thank you my friend! powerful insight again!

then yesterday sarah jane tweeted about simplicity hoping this will remind me to stay in the present.

lastly this morning i found a post from heather at shivaya naturals about serenity this was a really powerful post that spoke to me about embracing all of who you are and finding the finding the balance within without trying to mask or deny your challenges.

so i am starting a new week NOW!

designing my life

simply while remaining present

embracing who i am and finding the balance and serenity.

thank you for your inspiration today marisa, sarah jane and heather. it is so wonderful to find all of this insight just when you need it. be well. monday is a great day to start fresh!

sunshine and happiness.

i was beginning to have hot flashes again about 3 months ago and thought that i might be starting menopause. i went to see my midwife and a fertility specialist dr. john queenan, that i had gone to see before i started chemo in 2005.

in 2005 we were afraid that the chemo might knock out my ovaries so we wanted to harvest some eggs before i began chemo. there was not enough time to do the harvest before i started chemo because they really wanted me to get started. so they gave me a drug to put me into menopause to protect my ovaries. so when i went to see dr. queenan 2 months ago he told me that i was probably not creating any eggs anymore. i was still holding out some hope. i went to see dr. henry hess who is a gyn that specializes in hormone balance. i met with him to review my blood work today. the good news is that my thyroid, cholesterol, testosterone and adrenal glands are all very normal. estrogen on the other hand. not so much. i had a bone scan before chemo, but he thinks that my bones may be equal to those of a 52 year old. i turned 40 last week so this is concerning.

so we move on. i am going to be starting some new herbs and refocus on yoga, exercise and diet. the good news is that he believes that i can eat more tofu. i had cut back to a few times a week. he thinks i would be fine to eat it every day.

i am trying not to feel really sad about not having another baby. i am so fortunate to be here and healthy and to be home with my wonderful girl and an amazing supportive husband. we have a wonderful life. really, really amazing actually it is going to change from what i thought that it would be, but we will be having different adventures now and continue to be positive and joyful.

enjoy every minute.