Dirty Chopsticks sold are not thrifty!
I am all for recycling and saving money but this whole story about China selling dirty chop sticks is going too far! How disgusting?!?!?!?! Evidently, the guy sold about half a million dirty, unsanitized chopsticks. He made quite a bit of money but how does this happen in today’s society? Aren’t there regualtions? I find the article fascinating as China “lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export. Imports are generally carefully scrutinized.” Seems to me that they can take care of their own but just want to sell us anything we are dumb enough to buy. My fault for assuming our imports are being tested for sanitation and safety.
I did feel sorry for the owner of the manufacturing plant that made all the toys that were recalled. Just owning up to a mistake would have made me happy. The owner decided he felt so bad that he killed himself. As a parent, I understand the frustration of not knowing what is safe to let my kids play with. I have Dora plates that my Turkey Butt loves to eat from and am wondering whether to let her continue using but it isn’t worth killing yourself over. I feel sorry that he didn’t have enough faith in himself to pick up the pieces.
I heard about the dirty chopsticks today, but I haven’t heard about the guy who killed himself. That is sad. I’m sure he was under a lot of stress and scrutiny.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HOME DECORATING
How important is it? Ask designer Terry Grahl and she’ll tell you that interior decorating is not just about what’s pretty and posh and pampering for those who can indulge themselves.
Terry recently donated six months of her time and talent, making over the communal bedroom in a homeless shelter where 30 battered women and their children can live for a year while they are being counseled, educated, and trained for a new career.
As she tells it now, Terry “knew when I walked into Grace Center of Hope, I was not just here to decorate, I was here to heal broken spirits.”
The bedroom cried out, “Save me!” Terry says. The dreary color and the worn, stained bed clothes “reminded me of how (the women’s) souls must feel,” she recalls.
With some $200,000 in donated funds and furnishings from the community, Terry changed out the old “prison-like” beds and used nursing home bedspreads and pillows, added night stands and lights so the women could read in bed, and transformed the space into a bedroom which would remind each woman every day that “I am precious. I am worthy. I am not a victim. I have the power to stop the torch of abuse from being passed on to my children.”
The designer’s efforts inspired a story in the local newspaper, which, in turn, inspired an artist (Gred Bugala, http://www.Gregg-Art.com) to translate Terry’s vision of hope and promise into a colorful wall-to-wall mural. Not coincidentally, it also inspired donations of hard-goods necessities, like air conditioners, washers and dryers, and baby cribs.
Says the designer, “The women’s reactions were priceless-they told me that (the new decor) made them feel worthy and proud.” (See more at http://www.terrysenchantedcottage.com.) It was, she says, the “transformation of not just a room, but the lives of many women.”
Bottom line: the beauty of good design is obviously much more than surface deep.
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of “Hampton Style” and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. Please send your questions to her at Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190, or online at copleysd@copleynews.com.
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