All new plastic this week:

• Plastic baggie from Chinese herbs. At the recommendation of a friend, I visited a Chinese doctor last week (Dr. Ou on Grand Avenue ^[1]) who performed acupuncture and massage and sent me home with a baggie of herb tea to drink twice a day. I guess I was so amped from the treatment that I didn’t even think to hand back the baggie (as I would have done.) I also didn’t think to ask him what was actually in the tea packets, and as there was a language barrier, I’m not sure he could have told me in English. Isn’t it odd how most of us are extremely careful about what we put in our bodies and yet some of us will take “natural” remedies on faith or the advice of our friends?

  Some Ayurvedic medicines have been found to contain lead ^[2]. Other herbal remedies are toxic ^[3] in and of themselves. Here’s a list of toxic Chinese herbs ^[4]. But since I don’t know what was in my tea, I can’t know if it was completely safe or not.

  So what do you guys think? Would you take an herbal remedy without knowing what’s in it? I confess, I drank the tea all week, and I did start to feel better. Although, today the crappy cruddy feeling seems to be back. But that might just be lack of sleep. Oh, how I wish there were a miracle remedy for THAT problem!

• 2 plastic envelope windows. Safeco Insurance and Financial West Group. Isn’t it sad enough that my tiny IRA is sinking lower and lower each month? Do I have to get the news mixed with plastic?
• Plastic wrapper from around a box of new checks. Someday checks will be obsolete, right? This is the first new batch I’ve bought in over five years! And to tell you the truth, with the rain we’ve been having, I was grateful for the plastic wrap around the box.
• Plastic blister pack of night light bulbs. Using up the last incandescent night light bulb. We’ll be switching to our new LED night light ^[5] when this one burns out. Yes, the LED is made from plastic, but supposedly it will last way longer.