Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Dealing with Seasonal Allergies



10 simple steps for enjoying the 
great outdoors during allergy season



Wheezing, sneezing, coughing, blowing—it’s allergy season again! The biggest culprits are all types of pollen: weed pollens (especially ragweed), grass pollens (watch out for Johnson, Timothy, blue, orchard, Bermuda, and sweet vernal grasses), and tree pollens (hardwood deciduous trees such as birch, elm, oak, ash, alder, maple, and hazel can be rough on allergy sufferers).

So what’s a person to do when dealing with allergies but wanting to spend time outdoors this spring?

There’s no need to lock yourself in the house and avoid the great outdoors—everyone needs the sunshine and exercise. You can still get outside and have fun with a few precautions.

1--Avoid being outdoors in the early morning if you can (5:00 to 10:00 a.m.). Peak pollen production generally occurs at that time so outside activities are better for you later in the day.

2--Try wearing a painter’s mask if you are doing gardening or other outside work to provide you with a protective screen against airborne allergens.

3--When you come back inside, take a quick shower and change your clothes to remove pollens that may have settled on your hair or clothing outdoors.

4--Speaking of pollen clinging to fiber, avoid hanging your laundry outside during pollen season.

5--Recirculate your air supply in the car and in your home—set the car’s air conditioner to “recirculate” and at home, keep your windows closed and use the air conditioning (make sure to change your filters or clean them often).

6--Try planting trees on your property that won’t aggravate your allergies (see list of offenders above). Good choices are dogwood, fir, crepe myrtle, catalpa, or redwoods.

7--Keep your grass short.

8--Be attuned to your particular allergen’s schedule so you can be prepared. You can check your local allergy calendar by entering your zip code here -http://www.claritin.com/allergy-forecast/index.aspx.

9--The weather forecast affects local pollen levels. Pollen counts are usually highest on warm, breezy mornings and are low on cool, rainy days.

10--Watch the local weather forecast for pollen counts. If you have severe allergies, it’s best to avoid a lot of outdoor activity and exertion on high-pollen days.

On high-pollen days, it’s best to avoid strenuous exercise outside. That’s because the harder you exercise, the faster you breathe; this means you inhale more irritants and allergens. Choose something less stressful such as yoga or stretching exercises, even a slow walk.





Thursday, April 4, 2013

Specialty T-Shirts with Sensitive messages; Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free, Peanut-Free, etc...



With SensitiviTees™ you can make sure that other people are sensitive to your child’s needs—with a little bit of lighthearted fun mixed in! 

SensitiviTees™ is a unique line of clothing for babies, toddlers, children, and adults that convey something special about the wearer that can be very helpful for others to know about. 




Through whimsical artwork and colorful “be sensitive” messages, the SensitiviTees™ apparel line broadcasts your message and helps others be more understanding about potentially sensitive situations—from food allergies to new adoptions to breast cancer awareness. 



A look at our website, www.SensitiviTees.com, will show you why SensitiviTees™ 
is “the sharing caring clothing company.”

SensitiviTees™ grew out of our experiences dealing with our son’s food allergies, and our concerns about how to deal with this issue as he entered school; we were very nervous about a teacher or teacher’s aide not remembering about our son’s allergies since even our own family members forget! We understand from our own first-hand experience how hard it can be sometimes for parents to get the word out about a particular issue and hope that everyone around your children understands as well. 



As moms who care deeply about helping other people become more sensitive to our son’s allergies, we wanted to do everything possible to help him. Out of this concern came our solution and in July 2010, the SensitiviTees™ line of graphic apparel was born.

After developing our line of allergy-related sensitivity messages, we soon realized that the "be sensitive" message was applicable to other areas of life, such as adoption and same-sex parenting, so we added those designs to our SensitiviTees™ brand. In 2012 we added gluten-free to our line. Feel free to contact us at sensitivitees@gmail.com with your suggestion for other messages for our graphic shirts, dresses, and infant clothing and accessories.













You can purchase any of our designs (above) by logging on to our website: www.SensitiviTees.com 

Monday, April 1, 2013

Dairy Free Recipe Contest (deadline: Friday, May 17, 2013)

Dairy Free Recipe Contest brought to you by: Alisa Fleming, the founder of GoDairyFree.org.





The So Delicious® Dairy Free Recipe Contest



How to Enter:

1--Create a vegan recipe using one or more So Delicious® Dairy Free products.

2--Take a picture that showcases your creation.

3--To officially enter:

3a--For Bloggers:
Post the recipe and photo in a new post on your blog, announcing it as a So Delicious recipe contest entry and linking to their contest page.

Email them at sdrecipecontest@godairyfree.org with the post link and with your Pinterest account name. You will then be invited to pin your entries to the Official So Delicious Recipe Contest Board on Pinterest.

3b--For Non-Bloggers:
Email your recipe and photo to sdrecipecontest@godairyfree.org. We will post qualified recipes to www.GoDairyFree.org. We will then pin your entries to the Official So Delicious Recipe Contest Board on Pinterest. (anyone can follow it!)

4--The winner will be chosen via Pinterest “voting”. The recipe with the most “likes” will be selected as the Grand Prize Winner!

5--One runner-up will be selected via Pinterest “voting”, one will be chosen by Go Dairy Free and one by the So Delicious team, so it is anyone’s game!


The Grand Prize:
$500 to spend at Williams-Sonoma
Good in stores or online for shipment throughout the U.S. and Canada!

10 So Delicious® Dairy Free VIP Product Coupons
From ice cream to yogurt, enjoy ten of your favorites for free!

A Print Copy of SO Delightful!
Enjoy the new full color cookbook filled with So Delicious recipes!

Runner-Up Prizes:
Three Runner-ups will receive 5 So Delicious VIP Product Coupons and a Print Copy of SO Delightful!



Contest Rules and Unruliness:
Yes! You can enter more than one recipe. Up to five recipes are permitted per person.

Yes! You can enter a previously created recipe. For bloggers, simply create a new post adding the prior recipe and photo, and following the entry process above.

The recipe must contain at least one So Delicious® Dairy Free product.

The recipe must be vegan, though you don’t need to be vegan yourself to enter! It must be dairy-free, but we also request that it is free of any animal products, including meat, honey, and eggs.

The recipe must be your own. So Delicious® Dairy Free and Go Dairy Free/Fleming Marrs Inc. hold no liability for any submitted recipes that are plagiarized. Entrants are representing the recipes and photos as their own work, and will be liable if at any time, this is found to be false. So keep it honest people!

By entering this dairy-free recipe contest, you are giving rights to So Delicious® Dairy Free and Go Dairy Free/Fleming Marrs Inc. to republish your recipe and photo online.

All winning recipes will be featured.
All entrants must be residents of the U.S. or Canada.
All entries must be received for pinning no later than Friday, May 17, 2013. The voting will remain open through Thursday May 23, and the winners will be announced on Friday May 24, 2013, just in time for a deliciously dairy-free holiday weekend!