Ode to the Thyroid Gland

 Thyroid...

It's been a few years since you found out I'll be with you the rest of your life.

I'm very slippery, I don't always show up when you test.

People around you can't see or hear me, but your body does. I can attack you anywhere and any way you choose. For example tingling or hand pain.

Remember when you had a lot of energy and had a blast! Well, sometimes I participate in: your energy, and I left you exhausted. I took a little of your memory and part of your concentration.

I can make you sleep for many hours, or I can cause insomnia. Make you tremble and feel cold or hot but for everyone else the temperature is normal.

I can make your feet and hands swell, your face and eyelids swell... I can make you feel very anxious and give you panic attacks.

I'm very complicated...

Do you remember the sudden mood change ? Yes, thats me... I can make you cry for no reason ... and get pissed off for no reason yes that’s me again.

I can make your hair fall out and make it very thin , dry and fragile, I can cause severe acne, cause dry skin, I have no limits or borders.

I will make you gain weight no matter what or how much you eat. Your diet becomes impossible to lose weight yes I take credit for that too.

Doing activities like walking or doing other exercises is a massive effort and really strains your body and you will never get me out of your body, 

You now have to take medication for the rest of your life or I’ll kill you.

I can make your cholesterol high and give you blood pressure problems, that's me!

Heart failure? Me! Elevated liver enzymes? Me! Got dental problems? Me too!

You feel tired..., and your family and friends will be tired of hearing again and again how tired you are". Yep that’s me doing all this too!They don't know that I remove part of the energy your body and mind that’s needed daily to perform normal activities. They will not understand why, this disease attacks your body from the tip of the hair to the tip of your toes , and that every cell and organ of your body requires the appropriate amount of thyroid hormones 

With love ♥ ️...

Your Hypothyroidism

Credit Rachel Ducker 

Wanted to share because this has got to be one of the most accurate descriptions of life with under active thyroid challenges! Every single one of the things she covered I have struggled with over the past 20 plus years! Including the challenge of regular tests not indicating an issue because I was on the low end of “normal” so the Family Dr initially didn’t believe it was my thyroid that was the problem. 

It was my oncologist after my hysterectomy that had to send her a note saying it was clear the her that my normal didn’t align with what the thyroid testing benchmark of normal was and that she saw a body struggling to heal from surgery because the thyroid wasn’t doing it’s part and recommended starting thyroid medication to support my recovery. 

So now when I have loved ones and friends who exhibit symptoms like above I am a strong advocate to PUSH their family Dr to not use the standard test alone to really look and listen to what are going on in their body! 

Be Healthy!  

Margaret 

Live, Laugh. Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Baked Balsamic Chicken

Tik Tok for the win - adding this one to the menu this week! 

3 chicken breast - partially sliced across 

Mix together in bowl:

• 2 tsp olive oil 
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
• 1 tbsp swerve brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp oregano 
• 1/2 tsp basil 
• 1/2 tsp salt & pepper to taste 
• 2 cloves garlic

Add chicken breast to marinate

Mixed following in baking dish 

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes 
• 1/2 Red onion sliced 
• 1 tbsp Oil and salt 

Mix together well

Layer chicken over top and drizzle with any remaining marinade 

Bake at 430F for 25 minutes 

Remove & Cover chicken

 with 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Return to over until cheese melted and bubbly.

Serve with a side salad 

Bon Appetite

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Professionalism in the age of Internet

 

Just wanted to share a PSA to remember it is important to be cautious about what we post on social media, about how we speak out on social media and so forth because under the CECE Code of Ethics and Standards for Practice we can all be held accountable for violating those standards by the College even when you are NOT AT WORK or engaged in your scope of practice - for example one of the CPL groups on Facebook where ECE often vent has over 14,000 members and you just do not know who is reading/watching or taking potential screenshots of the professionalism, conduct and potentially negative opinions of the field of the ECE within here. 

 

 

 

If you read the CECE newsletters there was a recent disciplinary actions filed against a member of the College for behavior that happened AFTER HOURS between two colleagues who had chosen to socialize outside of work and an altercation happened that ended up being reported to the College and the person was found in violation of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice and disciplined as a result.

The reality is that whether we individually agreed with it the College of ECE is something that MANY in the field, the AECEO membership and OCBCC and other early years advocates and so forth, have all advocated for DECADES to see happen - actively petitioning the government to help make it happen by changing the laws. creating new laws and providing start up funding to get it up and going as the first step in ECE being recognized as the professionals we are. Seriously as a new grad in 1990 this was the 'goal' talked about by professors and it took over 20 years from it to be an idea to be a reality - cause the change in our sector is SLOW.

Like it or not it is now been made a legal requirement under the Early Years Act to have a college that oversees and regulates the ECE sector so all the venting and complaining in the world is not going to charge the reality that the College is not going anywhere. So IMO we need to find a way to accept this as a professional requirement to practice now on top of the diploma and do our best to let the anger/negativity go because it honestly does not serve us - it creates a mindset of this field sucks where we stop remembering the things we love about the field and our WHY for entering it. 

 

 

IMO it also does not send the message to the public that may be reading our comments or overhearing us at Starbucks that we are ARE professionals who understand the importance of having a regulatory body to protect the PUBLIC, to build their trust and respect in knowing that there is an organization that oversees the profession and holds practitioners to a higher standard than was previously exhibited and can actually prevent someone from practicing entirely. The time where substandard ECE who managed to pass college but do not have the actual skills or motivation to thrive in the sector were able to just jump from centre to centre after being fired with no way to 'communicate' to future employers that they should NOT be practicing. Sadly police checks ar NOT ENOUGH because you can not belong in this field and still not have broken a law yet that would show up on one. Sadly even references are NOT enough because no one is going to leave the person who FIRED them as a reference and most organizations have a liabity rule where they will not disclose it anyway even if they did leave them as a reference. At the end of the day THAT is the role of the College - to protect the public from substandard ECE who managed to graduate with the diploma but should not be practicing and to raise the bar on professional conduct of those it regulates. The college was NEVER about what it could actually do for US but rather how we can show the PUBLIC that we are professionals with high standards of practice who are deserving of the respect and resources of other professionals doing similar work.

Sadly we still have a LONG way to go to actually accomplish that much of which is our own fault because not enough of us are standing proud to be a member of said regulated profession and as a result most of the public does not even KNOW nor CARE that we are regulated. At the end of the day IMO if we want to be better paid and have more buy in from the public to FUND that for us we need to be doing a better job of SHOWING them everything we actually have to DO to practice ECE. Ask any parent if teachers are regulated they KNOW about the Teacher's College. The same cannot be said for US :( 

 

 

 

I also know that many members, myself included, are frustrated by the cost of membership in relation to our low wages - a very valid concern and that is something we can actually work to advocate to change while still remaining professional about the College and its role in public safety. As members we VOTE on who is going to represent us on the Colleges Board - so vote for someone who is going to actively champion ways to reduce the cost of membership and create policy where membership is reduced if retired/on parental leave/ medical leave! Perhaps relocating outside of GTA to lower the enormous cost of rent and other expenses in that region is the first place to start ... living in a digital era with remote work and remote meetings there is NO reason that the College has to be located where it is and for the amount of money the College spends on RENT alone the College could BUY a property in a region of Ontario that has lower cost of living - heck they could partner with other early years to house some rental space and actually generate INCOME for the College to reinvest in keeping membership fees low and offering more to membership! 

 

 

The requirement of the CPL is not going away either that too so it is a waste of our time and energy trying to do away with it - it has been legislated right into the Early Years Act as a duty of the College to ensure as part of its regulation of the sector that professional development is ongoing and contains an annual self assessment component, goal setting and records of learning. Every regulated body HAS continual professional learning requirements built into their oversight mandate ... so while we cannot change THOSE things we can change what those things might look like! Members have been giving lots of professional feedback about the challenges of the current CPL process being used and some of it seeming redundant and time consuming on top of already busy lives of ECE - they have already made some ammendments in 2019 based on feedback and the last communication sent out indicated that they ARE still listening and are working on another revision to the process coming this Spring. 

 

 

Personally now that we have a membership account to log into I would LOVE to see them develop the CPL so that it can all be done VIA that membership account portal so that members donot need to stress about loosing their work or not being able to manage the formating with the downloaded copies and so forth - just create all the required components IN the membership section and record it there - and that way the College has easy access to randomly audit and there is no added expense or work to ECE called to audit having to figure out how to get their documentation either converted to digital to send via email or the cost of copying and shipping out their CPL! It is 2022 and we have 55,000 members paying $160 annually SURELY there should be money in the budget to hire a tech whiz to create a website program that could manage that! 

 

 

Basically it comes down the the serentiy prayer "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." we need to try our best to focus our energy on the things we CAN realistically change!

 

You only get one childhood. Lets make sure it is full of magic, nature and discovery! 

 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Chicken Caprese Casserole

 Drop me a 💗 if you’re a menu planner too? 

Now that the home childcare is closed I am not nearly as anal about it like Monday we are having this but I do sit down each Sunday to plan the 7 family dinners we will be having than I cook whatever I feel like from that list on any given day. 

Menu planning is especially important for me right now because Paul is still doing all the in person shopping since I can’t keep the mask in long enough to do a full shop so I need to make sure I have added everything I am gonna need cause he doesn’t have the same intuition to have his memory jogged in the aisle that we need something I forgot to put on the list - so if it’s not on the list he’s likely not to get it. Heck thanks to supply issues these days  sometimes even if it’s on the list he’s not likely to get it all …. like apparently slim pickings in the frozen veggie aisle poor Alex is getting so sick of salad as a side cause Paul can’t find some frozen veggies to toss his way 🙁 

If the pandemic had reinforced any skills it’s definitely the ability to learn to accept the things you can’t control and pivot as required to adapt! 

It was a slow lesson for me but I am getting there! 

 

Thankfully he just got home and found everything I needed to try this chicken caprese casserole recipe this week except the fresh Basil but I can add a drop of basil essential oil to compensate and add some spinach chopped for colour! With the no frozen veggies to be found I’ll figure out a side dish! I think air-fried asparagus might go nice!  

Bon Appetite 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Attention all Nail Addicts

I can’t be the only one who gets excited by new product releases from my favourite brands!

Dropping tomorrow at 2pm are the following GelMoment goodies!

Not sure what I love more the new colour or the mug being used to model it!

Get Glowing is simply stunning! 

Seriously it’s just so shiny! 

I also love that it can not only stand on its own but also gonna bet it will be stunning as a top coat over coloured polish! 

Check out the Valentines Day specials - perfect for making self care a priority! 

Where are the bath lovers at??? 

Want to make sure you get pampered this February? Show yourself some love with this

VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL!

With purchase of this bundle Valentine’s Day Bundle, you save 40% on our NEW BodySpa Towel Wrap!

Valentine’s Day Bundle includes:

 1 BodySpa Euphoria Eucalyptus & Peppermint Bath Salt (120g)

1 BodySpa Euphoria Grapefruit & Rosemary Bath Salt (120g)

1 BodySpa or FaceSpa Coffee Scrub (choice)

1 BodySpa Body Scrub (choice)

1 BodySpa Eclipse Radiance Gel

1 BodySpa Towel Wrap

Comes with EXCLUSIVE Gift Sleeve, only available through this offer. 

Valid from January 23rd at 2 PM ET through February 14th, 2022.

Find it in the Specials & New Releases section of our website. Also available in the BodySpa category.

PRICES of Bundle with 40% Savings on the BodySpa Towel Wrap:

$72.30 USD, $89.00 CAD, $101.10 AUD

I don’t know about you but for me nothing feels better than stepping out of the shower into a nice wrap around towel that says where it should while I am doing my hair and occasional make up routine! 

I haven’t seen it in person yet but when with my big extra fluffy forefront the  57.5 inches should do to wrap around 🤣

NEW: BodySpa Towel Wrap

Up your spa game with this luxurious BodySpa Towel Wrap! We are so excited to announce our newest addition to the BodySpa collection: an ultra-absorbent 100% cotton wrap-around towel. Complete with an adjustable velcro closure to secure the towel to your body, freeing your hands so that you can busy yourself elsewhere while the towel does its job for you.

Available at 2:00 PM ET January 23rd, 2022.

Find it in the Specials & New Releases section of our website. Also available in the BodySpa category.

PRICES: $28.00 USD, $35.00 CAD, $41.00 AUD

100% COTTON

28.5” L X 57.5” W

Care Instructions:

Machine wash in Cold Water

Do Not Bleach – Use a Non-Chlorine Bleach If Necessary

Tumble Dry Low

Do Not Iron

 

Be As Bold as your GelMoment

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

*post contains affiliate links