Pandora, Pandora!

I have yet one more thing to say about Tis' the Season and then I'll be quiet.  Well, okay, maybe two things but one for now.  It's about giving gifts to our children. Parents with more than one child, moms in particular,  always try to keep the total dollar amount spent on our children even, especially at Christmas.  Christmas is the one gift giving moment that it's easy to compare gifts, one sibling to the other. 

If one child asks for a "big" gift, and we decide to buy it, and the other child didn't have a "big" gift on their radar then they get enough smaller gifts to equal the bigger gift.  This year that is what happened.  By "big" gift I mean expensive.  It may also be big in size but it's always expensive.  My son wanted an PS3.  Those aren't cheap so that was his "big" gift.  My daughter, on the other hand, didn't have "big" items on her list.  She had 2 or 3 medium sized items.  His "big" gift was $350.00, not including games and another controller.  We decided that because he wanted it so much we,  along with his grandma and aunt,  would go in on it.  It also wasn't just a gaming system, he would also have to have another controller and a game.  What would a game system be without a game?  Our part in that gift was roughly $250.  


At first glance the most expensive thing on her list was a Vera Bradley purse.  The purse would be roughly $45.00.  After I bought the purse and some other things to try and equal things out, I saw that she had Pandora on her list.  Now I wasn't that familiar with Pandora.  I did know it's popular and kind of expensive.  My daughter talked about it a lot. While out Christmas shopping I decided to go into this boutique.  The shop sold baby and toddler clothes plus some jewelry, namely Brighton and Pandora. I still had to get my daughter about $50.00 worth of something to "make it even." I decided to check out Pandora.  


There was tray after tray of goodies all varying in size and color.  So many different charms that my eyes were beginning to glaze over. Actually I think there is something in those trays that hypnotizes you.  I began to get sucked in.  I had to do something so I took my eyes off of the trays and opened up a Pandora catalog that was sitting on the counter.


  I don't know if this is a common thing but the trays of Pandora jewelry I was looking at did not let you know how much the items were. The catalog, however, did tell you.  Seeing the prices of the various pieces was all it took to snap me out of it.  Holy Cow!!  I had no idea.  That could have been her "big" gift but now it was too late. The necklace alone was $78.00.  Then I thought, "Well, I could get her just the bracelet without a charm."  I thought she would like the necklace better though so I decided against it. 


 As I turned around to tell my husband my discovery, sheepishly telling him that I had made a mistake,  what to my wondering eyes did appear but an assortment of Brighton to brighten the year.  I had no idea!!  Brighton carries jewelry that looks like Pandora for almost half of the cost.  "Big" gift issue was an issue no longer.  I picked out a necklace and a charm to go with it. Yeah!!!  I was proud of myself but in the back of my mind Pandora kept singing out to me, "You made a mistake!"  "You made a grave mistake!" In my moment of self-absorption,  I tucked that thought away.  

That thought returned December 25, 2010 around 5:30.  I heard the kids stirring.  They emptied their stockings and we waited until 7 before the battle of the Christmas wrap began. One after another after another gift was unwrapped.  Then came "the gift."  She unwrapped it with careful abandon, took it out of the Brighton tin and looked up at me.  She knew.  She knew it wasn't Pandora.  She just said," Oh."  That was enough for me.  That's when I began to beat myself up.  I should have just bitten the bullet and bought the Pandora but I didn't.  Yikes, what have I done.




In the end it was all okay and she forgave me.  I know it sounds like she's spoiled.  She really rarely asks for anything and when she does it isn't much.  She's a good girl.  All she wanted was Pandora.  Well, she does have a birthday in about 6 months :0)

Medical Breakthroughs?

There has been talk in the medical community for a few years regarding red yeast rice. Red yeast rice has been found to lower cholesterol yet it is a supplement that you can buy over-the-counter. Well, right now you can buy it over-the-counter.  Currently the FDA is trying to decide whether or not this cholesterol lowering agent should be classified as a drug.  The dispute stems from a legal and industrial stand point.


 Red yeast rice has been used in China for over 1,000 years to improve circulation, as a digestive aid as well as a preservative, spice and a food coloring.  Red yeast rice is a product of yeast grown on rice.  It has naturally occurring statins. Statins are used in the prescription Mevacor, among others,  to lower cholesterol.  These lovastatin drugs were originally derived from a type of red yeast and can only be obtained through a prescription.


  In 2007 the FDA banned red yeast rice supplements that contained lovastatin. Was this because of a fear that if it wasn't regulated that people would be harmed?  I don't know but it does seem rather suspect. There are studies suggesting that it is safe because of the longterm use in Asian countries.  The FDA would like to reclassify red yeast rice as a prescription drug but in the same breath declares that red yeast rice without the beneficial amounts of lovastatin do nothing to lower cholesterol.  Maybe that would justify the price increase.  


Interestingly enough you can buy a 30 day supply of red yeast rice for less than $30.  How much do you think it would cost to fill a prescription for Mevacor?  Roughly a 30 day supply would cost around $80.  A 30 day supply of Altoprev , depending on the mg, can cost as much as $239.99, which is quite a difference.  You could request a prescription for Lovastatin, the generic, for close to the same cost of red yeast rice supplement but how often do you think a doctor writes a prescription for Lovastatin? Even if they did lower the cost of the prescription, think about how many cholesterol lowering drugs are out in the market? How many prescriptions would be written and at what cost? 


In 2007 150 million prescriptions were filled for lovastatin drugs. In 2009 lovastatin prescriptions amounted to $14.3 billion dollars in sales. Lipitor was a top seller coming in at $7.5 billion.  This is according to Consumer Reports.  An incredible amount of money to be made on something that has been around since 800 AD.  Banning oyster mushrooms is probably right around the corner.  Oyster mushrooms contain as much as 2.8% statin.  Where do we draw the line?