Trish, Well, I hope they don't adopt that rule of charging for the bags. I get allot of groceries, because I have 4 people in my family, 5 before this. I would think that was outragious for that. I already paid for the groceries! But agree that is great to reuse bags too! we have one grocery store here near-by us, that does that, but don't shop there, but had a friend shop there & she'd take a bag or two to shop. That'd be bad fro me, because I'd have to take about 10 bags of my own at least! I mean recycling them is enough isnt' it? I think so at least! Its all very interesting hearing what other places, states do with everyday things though! Ya never know what will catch on! I mean to a certain extent, i like paper bags because they are allot easier to carry & would carry more, & won't break & are reusable too! We have too much of a throw away society nowadays! By the way Lynn, I'm glad to hear that your relative or friend, likes TracPhone, I know I do. I only used mine if we're going to be out & about, but do enjoy visiting with my friends long distance that way! But also use a regular phone too! But I like the fact of the double minutes! Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Trish" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:56:54 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [PD-LIFE] Hmmmmm Cotton Bags! I'm sitting here half wondering how far out some of you live from town...then realize, I'm in Nor Cal, where we're on the cutting edge of a lot of things. Technology is a big one. The other is green living. Ergo, we have had reusable shopping bags for years. Nearly every little shop offers a reusable bag of some sort, most offer a discount, rebate, or offer of a drawing for a give-away if you use your own bags. The City of San Francisco has been threatening to have stores CHARGE 25c for EACH bag to put your purchases into. I would really dislike seeing the bill for a big shopping trip to the market! One day I came home with 20 bags---it would be $5, just to take home my groceries? Makes me want to not shop so much, at least in SF. Good news is I'm not there. We have been reusing the plastic or paper bags from stores for as long as I can recall. I used to watch my Grand-daddy fold up the bags after a shopping trip and store them in the closet. It amazed me, until I realized about non-renewable, or less-renewable resources. The one thing I can say is---I have never had a reusable bag break, tear, rip or split on me and they have hundreds of other uses---holding choir books.... Trish On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 7:40 PM, Lynn Vondran <[email protected]> wrote: > WOW! That's a GREAT site, Mary! > Thanks! > Hugs! > Lynn > PS Have to get off for the night. Have wash to get finished yet. Have a > GREAT night everyone, and a good day tomorrow_don't know how much I will be > able to be on this week. > Mary wrote: > > Lynn, > > Check out this site: > > http://www.papermart.com/Index/index_retail_bag_reusable.htm > > There are many more on line if you just type in 'cloth shopping bags' or > > 'reusable shopping bags'. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Cathy, I think in this economy, the City is realizing it might just stop a lot of people from shopping, which would cut the tax base even further. I liken to it not having a shopping cart available at the market---nothing to put the groceries in, it will limit how much I can carry, limit how much I buy and limit how often I'll return to the store. We recycle the bags we get to a maximum, even putting a less than stellar bag inside another one in order to make it last longer, then putting in our recycling bin on trash day when it is no longer useful. A lot of places here stopped offering paper grocery bags with handles on them in order to push people to use plastic ones (or the cloth ones). Apparently, a number of folks have taken to asking for them to put a plastic one outside the paper one, in order to allow it to be carried, thereby, defeating the purpose of "saving a tree". I have complained loud and proud about the lack of paper bags with handles. I noticed today at the local market that they now have handled paper bags again. Yippie! Our local Trader Joe's has been offering all sorts of fun reuseable bags, encouraging folks to use them not only for shopping but other fun things. They run about 99c for basic cloth or oil-cloth type up to about $6 for a zippered insulated bag that keeps things warm or cold (not both at the same time). My problem is that I often forget to bring the bags in with me, but, I'm learning to remember! Trish On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Cathy And donald w raber < [email protected]> wrote: > Trish, > > Well, I hope they don't adopt that rule of charging for the bags. I > get allot of groceries, because I have 4 people in my family, 5 before this. > I would think that was outragious for that. I already paid for the > groceries! But agree that is great to reuse bags too! we have one grocery > store here near-by us, that does that, but don't shop there, but had a > friend shop there & she'd take a bag or two to shop. That'd be bad fro me, > because I'd have to take about 10 bags of my own at least! I mean recycling > them is enough isnt' it? I think so at least! > Its all very interesting hearing what other places, states do with > everyday things though! Ya never know what will catch on! I mean to a > certain extent, i like paper bags because they are allot easier to carry & > would carry more, & won't break & are reusable too! We have too much of a > throw away society nowadays! > By the way Lynn, I'm glad to hear that your relative or friend, likes > TracPhone, I know I do. I only used mine if we're going to be out & about, > but do enjoy visiting with my friends long distance that way! But also use a > regular phone too! But I like the fact of the double minutes! Cathy > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Trish" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:56:54 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [PD-LIFE] Hmmmmm Cotton Bags! > > I'm sitting here half wondering how far out some of you live from > town...then realize, I'm in Nor Cal, where we're on the cutting edge of a > lot of things. Technology is a big one. The other is green living. Ergo, we > have had reusable shopping bags for years. Nearly every little shop offers > a > reusable bag of some sort, most offer a discount, rebate, or offer of a > drawing for a give-away if you use your own bags. The City of San Francisco > has been threatening to have stores CHARGE 25c for EACH bag to put your > purchases into. I would really dislike seeing the bill for a big shopping > trip to the market! One day I came home with 20 bags---it would be $5, just > to take home my groceries? Makes me want to not shop so much, at least in > SF. Good news is I'm not there. > > We have been reusing the plastic or paper bags from stores for as long as I > can recall. I used to watch my Grand-daddy fold up the bags after a > shopping > trip and store them in the closet. It amazed me, until I realized about > non-renewable, or less-renewable resources. > > The one thing I can say is---I have never had a reusable bag break, tear, > rip or split on me and they have hundreds of other uses---holding choir > books.... > > Trish > > > > > > On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 7:40 PM, Lynn Vondran <[email protected]> wrote: > > > WOW! That's a GREAT site, Mary! > > Thanks! > > Hugs! > > Lynn > > PS Have to get off for the night. Have wash to get finished yet. Have > a > > GREAT night everyone, and a good day tomorrow_don't know how much I will > be > > able to be on this week. > > Mary wrote: > > > Lynn, > > > Check out this site: > > > http://www.papermart.com/Index/index_retail_bag_reusable.htm > > > There are many more on line if you just type in 'cloth shopping bags' > or > > > 'reusable shopping bags'. > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi Trish, and All who don't know, I will try to explain my Chemical Sensitive Severe Asthma in a very short way. My problem goes way beyond finding the bags, and remembering to use them_because if I found any I COULD use, you better believe I would remember to use them, since bags are the number one thing on my mind when we go shopping. Weird, huh :o) Most folks think of what they need to buy. No, I think of what the store is going to smell like, what people will have on, and what the products or bags smell like. I can't go shopping more than once or twice a month because of this CSSA, and the instant swelling I go through, also. See, I swell up so much that I look like I gain about 40 to 60 lbs within minutes of exposure to certain things in the air. Scented smells from people, the air around me, etc. soak in through my skin and stay there. Over-exposure could cause death. So, I must give my body a time to recuperate from each lengthy exposure, or I could go into the mini-anaphylactic shocks I was experiencing, according to my doctor, more than 2 times a week, if not every day (before I knew what I had) for over 20 years, the last 17 being very bad. I never knew what they were that I was having, or I would have tried to stay away from the stuff as much as possible way before I began to stay away in 2006. I found all of this out when I had to get an excuse to get me out of Federal Jury Duty in 2007. This is why I have to be very careful what I buy in all meanings of the word buy :o) I now know what bags everyone is talking about. There are all different kinds. I have seen them hanging around Wal-mart at times_which is one of the only stores I CAN go into, and even that store gets to me. I DID sniff one of the bags out a while ago, but couldn't buy it, because it had the scent of whatever they put into products that triggers my asthma. Now, you may think I'm extreme on this, but when you almost die from one day of being exposed just 3 times, in different ways, to the fumes of the day, you start to be very cautious as to where you go, and what you buy. November of 2006 was that day for me, when I walked into the nursing home, where I held story time for the residents every Saturday morning. They forgot to call me to let me know they had just cleaned the carpets the night before. I walked right into the stuff in the air. I cancelled story time, but had to tell my residents that I was okay before leaving, or they would have worried about me. Lots of them can't hear very well, and wouldn't have heard the announcement that I had cancelled. Some would have taken themselves up to the solarium and sat there waiting for me to come in. So, I HAD to go around to let them know. Then I went to my favorite Mennonite store, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by people who smelled like they just walked out of the dryer. I went home, laid down for the afternoon, to let my body calm down from the shock of it all. Felt better that evening, and asked my husband if he wanted to exchange the sticks we bought for each other, and shoot a few games of pool before dinner. When we unwrapped the cues, there was a powder that they use for shrink wrapping that spewed out into the air, and, not knowing it, caused a really bad thing to start in my lungs, we proceeded to shoot a couple games. By the time I got down to the last three balls I had to shoot before winning (I won both games :o) ), my breathing got worse, and worse. I grabbed my inhaler, went into the bathroom, while Mike covered the table, and took a dose of my inhaler. I looked in the mirror, and my face was already a very weird purple blue with large pink dots on it. I was all swollen up. I had actually seen different scenes of my life passing by in fast motion, and I asked God to let everyone I loved (including this list) know that I was okay, and thought of them on my way HOME. I didn't wait the entire time I was told to wait between doses, I just remember taking one more inhale, and then feeling the life flow back into me. The third inhale on the wrong inhaler brought me back. Mike wouldn't have found me in time, because I had gotten that way so many times, that it was just another attack for me. For many years, Mike had seen me grab my inhaler, and go into another room to take it. I go into another room, because obviously it is dangerous in the room I am in at the moment. I didn't have my emergency inhaler_I had a Primatene Mist inhaler_BAD GIRL_I should have had my emergency inhaler refilled. Now I keep my emergency inhaler with me all the time_and an EpiPen, but they expire so quickly that I don't get the EpiPen refilled unless I KNOW I am going to be in a really bad situation for a long time, like if I would have to go somewhere and stay there, besides home. I want to wait, to get a new prescription from the doctor, until this sick season is over, so I don't carry any germs home to Mike and the rest of the family_plus winter is bad for me to be sitting in a waiting room full of folks who use the products that set me off. Anyway, that's why I don't go shopping much, can't even step out of the house a lot of times, to potty Lexus, to do my gardening, or sit out to enjoy my gardens, because of the laundry being done at the apartments next door, wash being done at the house on the other side of us, or across the street, if the wind is blowing our way_OR, just people walking by out front, who marinate in the aromatic fumes of the day, which are so popular with most people around here. It's a long story to just explain WHY I have to be so careful, but I feel I have to educate folks on this, because it can happen to anyone, and there are so many of us out there, just trying to stay away from the stuff. They are JUST beGINning to research and find some of the dangerous things in our everyday products_which I am very thankful for_every little step may mean a longer life for many of us with this_and all of those who might get it someday. So, the bags, well, I might have to use paper, sorry folks, unless I can find material bags that don't smell. I could make my own, but would need to find light-weight material that didn't smell from being in the stores, or from being treated with fireproof or stain resistant chemicals. How do I buy new clothes? VERY seldom, and when I do, I have to wash them about 15 to 20 times before wearing them, and give a lot away, until I find something that I can finally add to my wardrobe. I gave up on making my own, because finding new material that doesn't smell is VERY hard. It's really complicated, Trish, hope this clears a few things up on my part with the bags :o) But, I will see what Mike says about getting some of those bags that I found at that site that Tracy, and I believe Mary sent to me. And then hope I don't have to just give them away. We've gone through thousands of dollars to find products we can use. I keep a list, because I have found in this wonderful Internet world we live in today, that there ARE many, many folks like me out there, and if I can save someone money on trying products out, I will by sending them my list. I should just include that list in THE MANUAL someday. The only thing is, the list changes, as manufacturers "NEW and IMPROVE" products. They take something that is perfectly good, and make it that I have to go searching for another product. Can't tell you how many times this has happened over the years. Anyway, that's a short tidbit about my everyday life :o) As I said before, I can't even eat other people's cooking, because of the dish soap they use and don't get off their dishes, or the cleaning products they use, that soak into their food products in their cabinets. Hugs from Columbia!!! Sorry for the long, long post_but I figured if someone doesn't want to read it, they can just delete it. :o) Lynn Trish wrote: > Cathy, > > I think in this economy, the City is realizing it might just stop a lot of > people from shopping, which would cut the tax base even further. I liken > to > it not having a shopping cart available at the market---nothing to put the > groceries in, it will limit how much I can carry, limit how much I buy and > limit how often I'll return to the store. > > We recycle the bags we get to a maximum, even putting a less than stellar > bag inside another one in order to make it last longer, then putting in > our > recycling bin on trash day when it is no longer useful. > > A lot of places here stopped offering paper grocery bags with handles on > them in order to push people to use plastic ones (or the cloth ones). > Apparently, a number of folks have taken to asking for them to put a > plastic > one outside the paper one, in order to allow it to be carried, thereby, > defeating the purpose of "saving a tree". I have complained loud and proud > about the lack of paper bags with handles. I noticed today at the local > market that they now have handled paper bags again. Yippie! > > Our local Trader Joe's has been offering all sorts of fun reuseable bags, > encouraging folks to use them not only for shopping but other fun things. > They run about 99c for basic cloth or oil-cloth type up to about $6 for a > zippered insulated bag that keeps things warm or cold (not both at the > same > time). My problem is that I often forget to bring the bags in with me, > but, > I'm learning to remember!

Lynn, have you tried chiropractic care and/or acupuncture? A friend was nearly as badly reactive as you are and finally did a last ditch effort to find *something* to help her breathing, short of living in a bubble. The acupuncture really has helped her function. I know chiropractic care has helped my asthma significantly, to the point that the mold in our sanctuary really doesn't bother me much anymore, except when I am sick or have other things that compromise my lungs. Before I went to the chiro, before I saw my friend's change from her acupuncture, I was the biggest skeptic about the seemingly "hocus pocus" of the two medicines. However, I'm walking today--not in a wheelchair, with multiple surgeries that traditional medicine said was my only option, all because of regular chiropractic care. And to the bags---Trader Joe's has cloth bags, that except for the printing, I believe are all cloth and should not have any treatment to them that should bother you---but I'm not up on all the allergens. Trish On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 9:06 AM, Lynn Vondran <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Trish, and All who don't know, > I will try to explain my Chemical Sensitive Severe Asthma in a very short > way. > My problem goes way beyond finding the bags, and remembering to use > them_because if I found any I COULD use, you better believe I would > remember > to use them, since bags are the number one thing on my mind when we go > shopping. Weird, huh :o) Most folks think of what they need to buy. No, > I > think of what the store is going to smell like, what people will have on, > and what the products or bags smell like. > I can't go shopping more than once or twice a month because of this CSSA, > and the instant swelling I go through, also. See, I swell up so much that > I > look like I gain about 40 to 60 lbs within minutes of exposure to certain > things in the air. Scented smells from people, the air around me, etc. > soak > in through my skin and stay there. Over-exposure could cause death. So, I > must give my body a time to recuperate from each lengthy exposure, or I > could go into the mini-anaphylactic shocks I was experiencing, according to > my doctor, more than 2 times a week, if not every day (before I knew what I > had) for over 20 years, the last 17 being very bad. I never knew what they > were that I was having, or I would have tried to stay away from the stuff > as > much as possible way before I began to stay away in 2006. I found all of > this out when I had to get an excuse to get me out of Federal Jury Duty in > 2007. > This is why I have to be very careful what I buy in all meanings of the > word > buy :o) > I now know what bags everyone is talking about. There are all different > kinds. I have seen them hanging around Wal-mart at times_which is one of > the only stores I CAN go into, and even that store gets to me. I DID sniff > one of the bags out a while ago, but couldn't buy it, because it had the > scent of whatever they put into products that triggers my asthma. > Now, you may think I'm extreme on this, but when you almost die from one > day > of being exposed just 3 times, in different ways, to the fumes of the day, > you start to be very cautious as to where you go, and what you buy. > November of 2006 was that day for me, when I walked into the nursing home, > where I held story time for the residents every Saturday morning. They > forgot to call me to let me know they had just cleaned the carpets the > night > before. I walked right into the stuff in the air. I cancelled story time, > but had to tell my residents that I was okay before leaving, or they would > have worried about me. Lots of them can't hear very well, and wouldn't > have > heard the announcement that I had cancelled. Some would have taken > themselves up to the solarium and sat there waiting for me to come in. So, > I HAD to go around to let them know. Then I went to my favorite Mennonite > store, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by people who smelled like they > just walked out of the dryer. I went home, laid down for the afternoon, to > let my body calm down from the shock of it all. Felt better that evening, > and asked my husband if he wanted to exchange the sticks we bought for each > other, and shoot a few games of pool before dinner. When we unwrapped the > cues, there was a powder that they use for shrink wrapping that spewed out > into the air, and, not knowing it, caused a really bad thing to start in my > lungs, we proceeded to shoot a couple games. By the time I got down to the > last three balls I had to shoot before winning (I won both games :o) ), my > breathing got worse, and worse. I grabbed my inhaler, went into the > bathroom, while Mike covered the table, and took a dose of my inhaler. I > looked in the mirror, and my face was already a very weird purple blue with > large pink dots on it. I was all swollen up. I had actually seen > different scenes of my life passing by in fast motion, and I asked God to > let everyone I loved (including this list) know that I was okay, and > thought > of them on my way HOME. I didn't wait the entire time I was told to wait > between doses, I just remember taking one more inhale, and then feeling the > life flow back into me. The third inhale on the wrong inhaler brought me > back. Mike wouldn't have found me in time, because I had gotten that way > so > many times, that it was just another attack for me. For many years, Mike > had seen me grab my inhaler, and go into another room to take it. I go > into > another room, because obviously it is dangerous in the room I am in at the > moment. I didn't have my emergency inhaler_I had a Primatene Mist > inhaler_BAD GIRL_I should have had my emergency inhaler refilled. Now I > keep my emergency inhaler with me all the time_and an EpiPen, but they > expire so quickly that I don't get the EpiPen refilled unless I KNOW I am > going to be in a really bad situation for a long time, like if I would have > to go somewhere and stay there, besides home. I want to wait, to get a new > prescription from the doctor, until this sick season is over, so I don't > carry any germs home to Mike and the rest of the family_plus winter is bad > for me to be sitting in a waiting room full of folks who use the products > that set me off. > Anyway, that's why I don't go shopping much, can't even step out of the > house a lot of times, to potty Lexus, to do my gardening, or sit out to > enjoy my gardens, because of the laundry being done at the apartments next > door, wash being done at the house on the other side of us, or across the > street, if the wind is blowing our way_OR, just people walking by out > front, > who marinate in the aromatic fumes of the day, which are so popular with > most people around here. > It's a long story to just explain WHY I have to be so careful, but I feel I > have to educate folks on this, because it can happen to anyone, and there > are so many of us out there, just trying to stay away from the stuff. They > are JUST beGINning to research and find some of the dangerous things in our > everyday products_which I am very thankful for_every little step may mean a > longer life for many of us with this_and all of those who might get it > someday. So, the bags, well, I might have to use paper, sorry folks, > unless > I can find material bags that don't smell. I could make my own, but would > need to find light-weight material that didn't smell from being in the > stores, or from being treated with fireproof or stain resistant chemicals. > How do I buy new clothes? VERY seldom, and when I do, I have to wash them > about 15 to 20 times before wearing them, and give a lot away, until I find > something that I can finally add to my wardrobe. I gave up on making my > own, because finding new material that doesn't smell is VERY hard. > It's really complicated, Trish, hope this clears a few things up on my part > with the bags :o) But, I will see what Mike says about getting some of > those bags that I found at that site that Tracy, and I believe Mary sent to > me. And then hope I don't have to just give them away. > We've gone through thousands of dollars to find products we can use. I > keep > a list, because I have found in this wonderful Internet world we live in > today, that there ARE many, many folks like me out there, and if I can save > someone money on trying products out, I will by sending them my list. I > should just include that list in THE MANUAL someday. The only thing is, > the > list changes, as manufacturers "NEW and IMPROVE" products. They take > something that is perfectly good, and make it that I have to go searching > for another product. Can't tell you how many times this has happened over > the years. > Anyway, that's a short tidbit about my everyday life :o) > As I said before, I can't even eat other people's cooking, because of the > dish soap they use and don't get off their dishes, or the cleaning products > they use, that soak into their food products in their cabinets. > Hugs from Columbia!!! > Sorry for the long, long post_but I figured if someone doesn't want to read > it, they can just delete it. > :o) > Lynn > > Trish wrote: > > Cathy, > > > > I think in this economy, the City is realizing it might just stop a lot > of > > people from shopping, which would cut the tax base even further. I liken > > to > > it not having a shopping cart available at the market---nothing to put > the > > groceries in, it will limit how much I can carry, limit how much I buy > and > > limit how often I'll return to the store. > > > > We recycle the bags we get to a maximum, even putting a less than stellar > > bag inside another one in order to make it last longer, then putting in > > our > > recycling bin on trash day when it is no longer useful. > > > > A lot of places here stopped offering paper grocery bags with handles on > > them in order to push people to use plastic ones (or the cloth ones). > > Apparently, a number of folks have taken to asking for them to put a > > plastic > > one outside the paper one, in order to allow it to be carried, thereby, > > defeating the purpose of "saving a tree". I have complained loud and > proud > > about the lack of paper bags with handles. I noticed today at the local > > market that they now have handled paper bags again. Yippie! > > > > Our local Trader Joe's has been offering all sorts of fun reuseable bags, > > encouraging folks to use them not only for shopping but other fun things. > > They run about 99c for basic cloth or oil-cloth type up to about $6 for a > > zippered insulated bag that keeps things warm or cold (not both at the > > same > > time). My problem is that I often forget to bring the bags in with me, > > but, > > I'm learning to remember! > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi Cathy, Yes, they are really liking them. They said that they got rid of their long distance carrier, since they got them. Said it's cheaper for them. It won't be cheaper for us, to use the TracPhone, because we each make an hour long distance call each week_Mike to his parents, and me to my "Aunt" Becky. So, we would have to buy 200 minutes every week and a half. My sister-in-law just got her DSL, and will be online in a few days. I will have to figure out how to hook it up for her. I've never done this before, so I might be asking for some help, from you laptop users, once the modem and spliter get here. I read the manual, but sometimes I don't think they are speaking in English. I should have gotten a Vista Dummie book_hmm, come to think of it, I believe Mike did get me one. Guess I better go to my office and look in the corner to see exactly what he got for me. I usually read my Windows Vista book. Well, better get back to my work. Keeping an eye on you all :o) LOL!!! Hugs from warming up in Columbia!???? Maybe I'm typing too fast, and causing a heat wave in the borough :o) :o) Lynn Cathy wrote: > By the way Lynn, I'm glad to hear that your relative or friend, > likes TracPhone, I know I do. I only used mine if we're going to be out & > about, but do enjoy visiting with my friends long distance that way! But > also use a regular phone too! But I like the fact of the double minutes! > Cathy