My box arrived today. Hubby took it down the basement until I got home and things were nice and cool when I opened it. Darrin packed his box FULL. I couldn't believe how much he was able to put into that box. Amazing!! Keep in mind he went with a patriotic theme beginning with a nice note that included a poem he wrote. Job well done too. centranthus alba Iris (All night long?) rain lilies ranunculus anemone orange trumpet vine, (I have always wanted one of these and although I discovered one along the side of the ditch this year, I want one by the house.) Gladiolas, red and yellow Horseradish, can't wait to read up on this and get it growing. Along with the plants was Bag of tootsie rolls Hand sanitizer Strawberry marshmallow cream lip balm 2 notepads with flowers on the front notepad with a bluebird on the front, (I use a lot of notepads) 2 packages of Jobes fertilizer spikes, one for flowers and one for vegies Patriotic cushie for my cans two small keychain flashlights, handy!! Seed baggies Lady bug magnets a two pack of lipbalm Blue dolphin windchime Pocket phillips screwdriver, (keeping this away from hubby) Squirrel pot hugger, cute Plant markers AND a crocheted patriotic butterfly pin, (I am sure this is another one of Elly's creations. Be sure to tell her thanks for me Darrin) Thanks for the wonderful, wonderful box. I am going to keep it all wet and get it in the ground on the weekend. The temperature is supposed to reach 102 tomorrow so there is no way I am planting these lovely things now just for them to cook out there. Dan, I had one of the best times in this swap. Thanks again for hosting it. You did a super job. Margo

I don't usually show up on the conversations side but for some reason, did tonight. Try and tell my dog that homeopathic is placebo or quackery. Its worked on his bladder stones. My experience with classic homeopathy started when I needed an alternative for my thyroid as all conventional medicine that I tried failed. I was unable to tolerate any form of thyroid gland. I tried Synthroid, Armour, Naturethroid. I read extensively about it and found a doctor who used synthroid in drops so that I could use just one watered down drop. I could not tolerate one drop. The tiniest amount of synthroid OR descicated thyroid made me feel thyrotoxic and drove my thyroid stimulating hormone down to hypo levels within only a couple of days on the meds. My finger nails were peeling off and a I had a host of other symptoms. My TSH without being on the hormone at one point, got up to 40. (VERY high). I was miserable. I had tried at that point with Western medicine for many years. I contacted a classic homeopathist. At that time my dog was having blood in his urine upon emptying his bladder when he would mark. Dr. Alan was willing to advise me on my dog. He suggested a particular remedy. My dog had the remedy, and the blood ceased that day. He was symptom free for the next three months. He did need the remedy again, and had more results upon taking it.( It later came back here and there and right now is much better when he takes glucosomine, because that helps with the mucus on the lining of the bladder.) Next I took my assigned remedy. With no other treatment, my TSH went from 40 down to about 5.9, then down to 3.9, then 2.9. It remained there for over a year, and when it went up a bit again, I went back to the doc and we tried another remedy or two. It was better, but not optimum, and so the doc and I agreed that would try Chinese medicine. I switched to an Asian doctor and am taking Chinese tea and getting results there. And as with valinsv, the least amount of money I spent on docs was for the homeopathic one. I have also had full blown flu instantly leave once upon taking a homeopathic remedy. A lot of people find that hard to believe because it is true that the original substance is not in that vial or sugar pill. It is the essence of it or the energy, or vibration that is there. I would totally use Western medicine for certain things that it is good for, but I am not married to it at all. Pharma has a lot at stake and pays big money to disprove vitamin studies and show that vite e is "bad for you", etc. They have PR men that figure out how to promote diseases so that you will except the "cure" that they are selling. My brother is a pathologist and does not believe in homeopathic, chiropractic, or most natural cures. He would not even try one chiropractic adjustment for his trigeminal neuralgia which had become excruciating. So he elected to have a risky surgery that went behind his brain. Thank God it was successful. But my chiropractor who practices Upper Cervical adjustments using a technique called Advanced Orthogonal, cured a patient of the excruciating pain associated with the ailment. The pain disappeared six weeks after the patient received his adjustment. My brother felt if would not work on him because he does not believe in that. However, when my mom fell on her face (86 years old) I took her to this chiro, and she is doing better than ever, and we put the walker away. Here is a link that might be useful: How to brand a disease and sell a cure

To anyone that can help- :) I have been struggling with some similar problems and has been going on with my kitten for months! I adopted a kitten who I new already had diarrhea ( I had no idea what I was getting myself into); day 3 I took him to the vet and he tested positive for Giarrdia began dozing Metronidazole and seperated from my other cats. He finished the dozing but diarrhea continued and thought we may have seen a tape worm segment. He didn't give a strong enough sample the second time but because Giarrdia is sometimes hard to get rid of he got another dose of metronidazole, plus pill for tapeworm, plus Panacur to help with any other worms and parasites. However, it has been January when I first got him and he is still in my bathroom with diahrrea. Negative for giardia but had to send in an $180 test of his diarrhea to sample for other bacterias and he turned out to have a strain of clostridium and has been treated for 3 out of 4 weeks but the only thing to have disappeared is the mucusy look still very runny. When we first got the first Giarrdia diagnosis we had him on a high fiber/bland prescription food and the last 2 weeks have tried some live cultured yogurt with his food (which was gradually changed to science diet kitten and grain free nibbles by natures balance). My vet is runnin out of ideas. Did I forget to mention he has been treated for ringworm for 2 months and they are finally going away but the diarrhea hasn't stopped. Any ideas that you or your vet come up with or anyone else would be helpful?!?!?? My husband and I have also tried over the counter product called bena-bac? Too soon to really consider food allergies. His last diarrhea looked heavier and grainy but still super loose.

Posted by kathsgrdn: "Crazy, unbelieveable...well, maybe not, they're taking over so many private companies. Kinda scary." The government is not 'taking over' the cereal company. ------------ The FDA has rules that say that a product, any food or drug product, cannot make any medical benefits claims regarding it's use, without proof and scientific studies to back it up. There is a procedure to follow to allow a product to be sold making claims for health benefits. Many companies have followed the criteria and are allowed to print the health benefits on their packaging. FDA stands for the Food and Drug Administration. They regulate all food and drug advertising and packaging - nothing new here. They regulate the safety of our food and drugs too. All they are saying is that Cheerios cannot advertise that it "lowers cholesterol" any more than they could advertise it to "grow hair" or "make you smarter" or "cure AIDS". The FDA is ordering them to stop advertising it as a cholesterol reducer or go through proper channels to scientifically prove that eating Cheerios really can lower cholesterol. (But it can't and everyone knows that.)