Of fainting and PETA

If you have been reading here for awhile, then you know that I try to give blood every time it is conveinent. Today was like any other blood-letting day. Generally, after this practice, I feel great! ready to run a marathom (ok, no. not really) but at least indulge in some lighthearted horseplay. I am generally on the edge of my seat ready to dash out of the bloodmobile before the required 15 minutes of donut eating and juice drinking is over.

Today was differnt. Today was darker. (oooh). After the Phlebotomist leaned on my needle for a couple of seconds then pushed it in before taking it out ("jeez! what are you doing?" screamed I, in my head) and after I soaked through a gauze pad (that's never happened before either) I took stock of my feelings and headed over to the "cantina". Things started to sound a bit muffled. As I poured my apple juice, and choose my Nutter Butters (come on, you know you love them. Maybe you just like to say Nutter Butter. It's fun, its silly, it's peanutbuttery) I started to feel a little woozy. I mentioned to the guy who was sitting there that I didn't feel right. I sat down. I took a bite of my cookie which tasted, well, tasteless. I remember Jef n Jer rambling on and laughing on the radio. (I'm a Dave Shelly and Chainsaw girl, but whatever. And if you don't live in the greater San Diego area, you have no idea what I am talking about and I am sorry. But DSC. Funny shit) I remember slowly laying back against the seat and window. And then I started dreaming.

I'm not sure how long I was out, but once I figured out that I was dreaming, and that I wasn't in a place where I should be dreaming like my couch, floor, or (oh heaven on earth) my bed, I woke up. And also realized that I had passed out with my mouth open. totally embarassing. I mean, if i'm going to faint, can't I look all pretty like in the movies? All delicate and venerable? I wouldn't be surprised if I snored. As I woke up, I heard the guy say he thought there was something wrong with me, and the nurses rushed me back to a bed where they made me drink Gatorade and told me I was dehydrated. They put ice behind my neck and I broke out into a cold sweat.

I almost passed out again in the lunch room, and I felt funny the rest of the day. I slept for 2 hours when I got home. Not that it's abnormal for me to take a good long nap, but this time, I felt like if i didn't take a nap, I was in big trouble. I still feel a little off. Seester, no one at work understood when I announced that I was feeling wooz-ee in a bad French accent. sigh.

Speaking of my Seester (who has resumed her blogging so you should go visit her. He blog is lonely and needs some love.) has suggested that I add my company to the PETA Cruelty Free list. I'm all about not animal testing. The bird? Dosn't need a bath. Neither do the fish. I don't think that bunnies need to wear eyeliner. I don't have a bunny, but when I did, he didn't wear mascara. I am in support of being on thier list because it is good advertisement for me and there are no intentional animal products in my soap.

But it is homeade. and I have pets. I have yet to discover any animals in my soap, and if you remember, I threw out the whole batch when the dog peed on my soap.(I still like saying that because it's funny. I could just be suffering from loss of blood)

Here's my thing with PETA. There is no middle ground. I am a middle ground kind of girl. Do I think it's ok to be cruel to animals? No. Do I wear fur? Nope. But I do wear leather. And I eat cows. So do I work with wool. My home is swimming in wool. While I would like to say that all of my wool comes from small farms where they love thier sheepies like members of the family, I can't. Some of it is. I will work harder to buy more that is. But the truth is, unless they are deliberately mistreating thiere animals, I don't have a problem with the wool industry. PETA would have us all in plant fibers.

They do really neat things in a lot of ways. And I undestand that thier stance is ALL animal byproducts are bad. But a vegetarian lifestyle is not for everyone. And I think that in some cases, they eggagerate a bit. And I don't know if I am animal free enough to be represented by them. I am thinking about it. I have not yet downloaded their cruelty free promise. It would be fun to put that cute little bunny on my packaging. I would be proud to do so.

But what about when I start offering my yarns for sale? Or felted soap? (felted soap has wool wrapped around it so it's scrubby.)

I looked closer at their requirements while I was writing this, and I find that they don't seem that bad. They aren't asking me to be vegan, unless I want to be, all they want is to know whether I test on non human animals. Since the answer is no, I think I will take my Seester's advice (when has she ever given me bad advice, really?) But I might have to take care of that tomorrow, I need to go eat something. and all this water is making me uh, well, you know.