05/03/2016 09:45 AM EDT

As tattoos have become more popular, the number of people suffering from infections and other bad reactions has also increased.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

celebrating 10 victories for 10 year

05/03/2016 Nativegrl77

We are gathering to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. In honor of that milestone, we’ve been counting down ten victories for ten years of A Better Balance on our blog.

Over the past ten weeks our blog has featured ABB’s work:

spearheading the national push for paid sick leave and helping to enact the Earned Sick Time Act in New York City,
defending and enforcing family-friendly laws in court,
banning caregiver discrimination and advancing women’s equality and breastfeeding rights,
inaugurating and advancing the movement to promote fairness for pregnant workers, and helping to enact the NYC Pregnant Workers Fairness Act,
providing critical legal services and advice for workers through our Families @ Work Legal Clinic,
publishing Babygate, the first-of-its-kind guide for expecting and new parents about their workplace rights,
advancing the rights of working families in the southern United States,
leading LGBT organizing and advocacy for family-friendly policy reforms,
crafting solutions to the problem of abusive scheduling practices, and
championing paid family leave nationally, and securing the strongest paid family leave law in the country in New York State.

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

skin care products …. how about sleep water and good food

05/03/2016 Nativegrl77

Have you been getting digital product ads for Holiday events that are months away. I have and while I do love and buy products from certain sites, others are annoying offensive and you have to wonder how the FDA gave them the greenlight. Anyway, the ads in both print and digital have been focusing on women’s looks … how awful or our sagging skin or wrinkles … lest we talk about those aging spots oh and don’t stop there why not just lighten brighten and whiten your skin to make yourself look younger. Say what? I have admitted to having had a tough time with my skin when I was in my 20’s. I did not have acne in high school but moving to the city and indulging in food I had no idea existed … probably full of Tran’s fat and the environment forced me into doing time under the lights. I had allergy issues eczema and so on but the dermatologist was fantabulous. I did what I was told which is the most important thing during those years so my skin recovered, but the issues of wrinkles, lines and saggy parts of the face actually seem to be less when you go to sleep at a reasonable and consistent hour and to-be-honest water has and will always be our body’s savior. I have to admit, 2015 has been stressful, the heat, and working odd hours has a tendency to bring out wrinkling sagging in the neck area while the face is fine right now. I look at those commercials, scream then wonder if I should finally break down buy the anti-aging stuff. I actually decided to product test anti-aging wrinkle reducers’ in 2013 and did not feel the product I used made a difference. If you just test my advice for a month in 2013 let me know if you saw a big difference; by going to sleep earlier than usual, drink 2 liters of water, and eat right you will definitely see positive changes. I love coffee tea and prefer water mixed unless it’s seriously hot or cold then I will drink what I call “naked water” … they say try to drink half your body weight though getting advice from your friendly doc or nurse is a better suggestion. I try to drink 2 liters of liquids a day…. I do drink naked hot water. I stand by my statement in 2013. I also went back to using coconut oil, moisturizer/creams with high SPF, vitamin C, E and B5 least we talk about adding more fan time

~ Nativegrl77

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

President Obama just BLASTED the Citizens United decision:

Image 05/02/2016 Nativegrl77

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

“I have lost my life as I knew it”

05/02/2016 Nativegrl77

Petitioning Francis Collins

Increase Funding So We Can Find a Cure

Petition by Mary Gelpi

Covington, Louisiana

27,715

Supporters

Sign Mary’s petition

I am only 31, and yet, everyday things like taking a bath exhaust me. This is because I am one of millions of people worldwide who suffer from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), a complex, multisystemic illness that causes pain and disabling symptoms, specifically severe weakness and crippling fatigue. Before I became sick, I was able to travel in college, fall in love, enjoy SEC football and graduate. Now, just a trip to the grocery store can land me in bed for days. I take 25 pills a day just to manage the pain and symptoms of the illness. I have lost my life as I knew it. Those of us in the ME/CFS community are used to not being taken seriously. There are no FDA approved treatments or cures for the disease on the horizon, which is the result of a lack of funding for research. In the 2016 federal budget, only $5.4 million was allocated to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to research the disease. More than double that amount was spent on male-pattern baldness. We can do better. Please stand with me and the millions suffering with ME/CFS in demanding that the NIH increase the allocated funding for the research of this disease. In the last year, the NIH has announced that they planned to dramatically increase funding for ME/CFS. Annually in the past, they have given around $5 million in research grants–far from enough. This is a positive step, but we’ve been promised things before and let down time and again. I am respectfully asking the NIH to officially fulfill the promises they have made regarding ME/CFS, and to drastically up the funding allocated for research so we can finally find a cure, and at least possible treatment options in the meantime. For now, so many sick people have no where to turn to manage their illness. Many doctors are ill-informed, and often patients have to become their own doctors. I started this petition because people suffering from ME/CFS just want our lives back, and that will only happen with an effective treatment and eventual cure. With your signature, we can hold the NIH and congress accountable for taking our illness seriously and honoring our request to increase the NIH research budget to $100 million for ME/CFS funding. #WeCanDoBetter Let’s do it now.