Timelies all!

Heading to Atlanta(well, the area near the airport) tomorrow for a con. First con of the year!

Does engaged count?

Well, it's betrothed, which is very close, and nobody apparently gave Joseph the stink-eye while he travelled with his about-to-pop betrothed.

The 10% failure rate. Ugh. What irks me even more than that is if someone promised me a 90% chance of winning the lottery everytime I played, I'd be thrilled. 10% = not perfect of course, but good lord, better than your odds of 50% otherwise!

People in general seem to have no ideas what odds and percentages mean, which is one reason for popularity of lotteries. What's really sad is when that leads to really bad decisions. A friend's sister was diagnosed when I was, but refused to take tamoxifen because it may triple the chance of uterine cancer. That's true. About 2% of tamoxifen users are diagnosed with uterine cancer, as opposed to about .6% of women in general. Tamoxifen appears to reduce the rate of breast cancer recurrence by up to 50%. There's absolutely no contest. And yes, she did have a recurrence.

Among the tamoxifen users, 17, or 1.9 percent, developed endometrial cancer compared to only four, or 0.6 percent, of those who didn't use tamoxifen.

So I come home from yet another day from hell and discover I forgot to give MK his shot this morning. TODAY=ALL FAIL.

At least for me.

ita, I hope you find a comfy position soon.

bonny-

Has your friend opening the shop heard about the new law which says that retailers cannot sell any children's item (including clothing) that has not been tested for lead? Right now this includes used items and handmade items (which is how I know about it) and even garage sales. They have tentatively voted to make an exception for clothing of natural fibers.

See story here:

[link]

Thanks for the offer of help, Burrell. I think I'm going to have to wait this one out.

Sophia, thanks for the link. I will pass it along.

He DOES know about the lead ruling because his sister in law has an 8000 square foot kid's shop in Connecticut somewhere and is giving him great advice.

He mentioned this issue when he was touring me around the new (he's refurbishing it) space and showed me all the cool green materials he's using for the build out. Seriously. He bought some gorgeous secondhand fixtures that were originally made from renewable materials. He's reusing AND recycling all at once.

He's so giddy, it's charming to see. He'll do a great job, do terrific service to the community and have a business that is perfectly timed and perfectly located.

I could not be prouder or happier for him.

According to an email I just got from my favorite local used kids' clothing store, there has been a last-minute amendment that excludes second-hand retailers:

"Sellers of used children's products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards."

If you want to read the entire update go to: >[link]

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I knew a girl in college who was very religious and did not believe in premarital sex. She and her ministry major boyfriend seemed to have some control issues, however. When I found out they were having sex, I asked her if she was using some form of birth control. She told me no. I flipped. I was like, "Why don't you just get some condoms and have them in your purse??"

Her response? Because then it's premeditating sin and that's just wrong. They needed to stop sinning/having sex instead of planning to sin.

My head exploded and they had a baby about 10 months later.

Oh, just because it wasn't said explicitly earlier, apparently the odds of getting pregnant when having unprotected sex on a day at random are less than 3%. [link] Of course, if you're doing it regularly, you have a better shot of hitting a fertile day.