Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

Even more reason to eat organic foods:

The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found.

The study has not yet linked the pesticide levels to specific foods, but other studies have shown peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, nectarines, strawberries and cherries are among those that most frequently have detectable levels of pesticides.

(via Americablog)

Bartholomew Bat - Alphabet Animal

B is for Bat. The next in the Alphabet Animals collection.

Artemis Aardvark

Now in my shop, Artemis Aardvark, first of the Alphabet Animals.

Tutu

Sophie's second dance class. This time, we came prepared with a tutu (that I made earlier in the week). And this time, she was less hesitant about the dance moves.

Here she is, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

Black, White, Red Valentine Heart

Made with felt, embroidery and satin ribbon. Hang it on your sweetie's door to profess your love. Now available at my etsy shop, mmmm, bazaar.

Thank Goodness

After her bath tonight, Sophie wanted to play in her room. I found her in there, naked, in front of her mirror. She had her arms raised above her head and was saying: "Yes! Yes!"

I asked her what she was doing and she said: "I saving the world!"

Edible Googly Eyes!

OMG. This is the most fantastic idea I've seen in a long time.

Edible Googly Eyes, people. Seriously. The possibilities are endless.

Life Changes

I've been meaning to write about all the changes we've made in our household but time and life get the better of me. It's a long list, so bear with me.

We're working towards building a healthier future for all of us. Most of the choices and changes lean towards a greener and more organic. I have to say, the more I research and read and hear, the more alarming it all gets. It's overwhelming and I feel like I'm just barely staying afloat.

This list is in no particular order.

Changes already implemented:

• Plastics: recycled my Nalgene bottle and bought a SIGG. Sophie also received a SIGG water bottle from my sister from Christmas. Although her first experience with the lid didn't work and she's hesitant to try it again. Baby steps. This is a step toward getting rid of all the plastic. We still have a lot of plastic IKEA dishes for Sophie that I need to replace.

  Also want to replace all the melamine because that isn't good for anyone, either. Most kids plates are melamine, so this is going to be hard. I'm looking for stainless steel or enameled tin sources, if you have any. Also, I just read that the lining in the aluminum(!) SIGG bottles is a secret and there is a possibility that your water could be leaching aluminum over time. Great. Just when I made that switch. I'll have to switch to Kleen Kanteen products or some other stainless steel container. Or just bring glass jugs.

  Also, I switched my travel coffee mug from one with a plastic liner to one that is stainless steel. Putting hot liquids into plastic seemed like a very bad idea. I also bring extra coffee with me in a glass jar with a lid.

  Oh, and I sold all our plastic tupperware containers at the tag sale this summer (Glad, Ziplock, etc.) and we bought some glass containers at IKEA. We need to get more of these because we only have two. And Aaron always has one with him at school. We need more for home for leftovers.

  And I finished up our plastic wrap and won't buy more. Haven't found a great alternative yet, though.

  I switched to natural, unbleached wax paper bags for carrying sandwiches, snacks. They're great, because I can put my veggie/fruit scraps in them from work (like banana peels and apple cores) and then just put the bag and the scraps in the composter.

• Composting! Received a composter for my birthday! It's in the backyard and we've been using biodegradable bags to collect egg shells and coffee grounds and vegetable scraps and dryer lint and paper towels (more on that later) and wax paper bags (more on this, too). I aim to buy another composter so that one can sit for a season and do it's work while we fill the other with new material. We plan on doing some container gardening this summer in our new yard and I cannot wait for Spring.

• Parabens: I threw out (I didn't know what I was supposed to do with them. Drain them down the sink? That seemed wrong. I didn't want to give them away because then I'm just passing the toxic chemicals on to someone else...) all of our personal care products that contained parabens. Methyl-, ethyl-, etc. Bad, bad, bad for you. Aaron still has one or two products he uses but as soon as they're empty, I'll switch him to something better. This one was tough. Pretty much everything I was using had parabens. I'll get more into this later regarding makeup, etc. I'm still looking for a good cleanser that is "safe" and will work on acne. I'm in the midst of a bad breakout and I'm not sure of the culprit. Stress? Check. Diet? Probably a bit. Products? Yes, probably, too.

• Grocery Bags: we bring reusable bags the majority of the time to the grocery store. I bought some nylon-like Trader Joe's bags (not the best, I know I should just make some canvas ones - see Future Changes below). I say majority of the time because there have been a few times when I'm out and about and I realize the bags are at home. Oy!

  I've made a few t-shirt bags but I'm trying to sell those (see the money below). We have significantly reduced the plastic bag pile we had in our house. Aaron really likes the plastic bags for cat litter and stinky poop diapers but now he's using the plastic bags from the bread we buy. We also save plastic bags from other things we buy. I'd like to reduce all of that, too, but plastic is everywhere!

  I also need to find an alternative for the plastic produce bags. I see people mentioning mesh bags, etc., so that is being added to the Future Changes section. I mostly attempt to buy loose fruit, veggies with no plastic produce bags but it can get unwieldy. I just wash all the produce when I get home. Reduce, reduce, reduce.

  UPDATE to remember later: tutorial for produce bags.

• Cat Litter and Waste: this goes back to the plastic bag issue. How to dispose of cat litter? We used to use the plastic grocery bags but that was so wasteful. I bought a box of (I forget the brand name) biodegradable dog poop bags. They are made from cornstarch and will (obvs.) biodegrade in the landfill. Plastic bags will just hold that cat litter forever. Aaron hates the dog poop bags because they are small-ish and we have two cats. So now I'm on litter duty most of the time because it was my choice to switch to these bags.

  The other recent change was to switch our cat litter to something biodegradable as well. After hearing great reviews, we switched to World's Best Cat Litter. I was worried how the cats would react because the time we switched to pine pellets was a disaster (Tabitha is quite finicky and she'll pee everywhere to show her displeasure). But they use it! With no issues! It helps that this litter looks and feels a lot like the other kind. And it clumps! Awesome. You can also flush it but our toilet upstairs sucks and I don't want to tempt fate. Also, how do you accomplish flushing? Do you carry it scoop by scoop to the bathroom? The logistics are not clear.

• Cleaning products: we're gradually switching to all-natural products. No more toxic chemicals that do more harm than good. Although now I'm reading "Organic Housekeeping" and the switching is going to happen much faster. For cleaning, I've been using a spray bottle with distilled white vinegar (made from grains) and water. It smells vinegar-y at first but the smell goes away when it dries. It works GREAT on the stone counter top in our kitchen. Everything else I used left streaks, but the vinegar cuts through all that and just leaves shine. For our toilet, we use a soy cleaner. That might switch, too.

• Electricity: in addition to switching as many light bulbs as we could to CFLs (some of the current lighting just doesn't work with the CFL bulbs, we put our tv, cable box, DVD player and VCR on a surge protector plug strip. A HUGE amount of electricity is sucked from these appliances even when they're off. We make a concerted effort to switch off the plug strip when we're done using the tv for the night and before we leave for the day. We also switch off the plug strip for the computer and all its accessories every night and before we leave for the day. Did you know that when your computer is off, it's still draining electricity? Nasty vampire. We've noticed a significant reduction in our electric bill from just these changes. Our electric bill is half what it was at our previous residence.

• Lead: we live in an old house. There is definitely lead paint on the premises and outside. We wet wipe down surfaces (should do this more), use the Method O-mop to wipe the floors (switched from the Swiffer because I can wash the microfiber pads on the O-mop and the other disposable pads can be composted. However, they can't be composted in our composter because it's not the right kind... The washable microfiber pads are good, though.) and take our shoes off as soon as we get home. I read somewhere that you can reduce your lead dust by about 60% by just taking your shoes off at the door. The chips outside need to be handled come springtime. The plan is to repaint the surfaces (little deck, railings) at the back of the house to contain the chips. And to plant a lot of plants around the perimeter of the house to stop Sophie from playing there. There are plants that actually help remove lead from your soil, so I'm looking into those. We're going to have our soil tested by the local university to see if it's safe to plant vegetables in containers in our yard. If there is a lot of lead in the spot we've targeted, then I need to put something under the containers to prevent the roots from going into the leaded soil.

  As far as lead in the house, we're going to work on Sophie's room first. We need to repaint it anyway, and the window sills will be part of that. We have encapsulating paint from when we did the floor on the sun porch.

  The basement is also an area of concern. Our long-term goal is to finish the basement so we can all use it. The walls seem to be painted with lead and we need to take them down. How to do it so as not to spread lead dust and chips everywhere? Also, it looks like the linoleum-like tile on the floor is asbestos tile. We need to cover all that up (recommended rather than trying to pry it all up) and then dry wall, possibly, and paint.

• Personal Care and Beauty Products: as mentioned above, removed all the paraben-containing yucky ones. That got rid of all my Neutrogena, L'Oreal, Almay, Cetaphil (cleanser), etc. Ugh. So, where to start to replace them? I start by going to Skin Deep and looking for safe products. And then I make a list and try to find the "safe" products either online (drugstore.com has a lot of them) or at the local coop. It's frightening when you start looking up your current products. CANCER! Toxic! BAD! I'm still looking for a good foundation that is not-as-toxic as what I was using. I have bad skin. Acne scars, chicken pox scars, pimples, etc. I can't go without makeup. Yet.

  I stopped putting product in my hair. I shampoo only a couple times (or less) a week and condition the ends of my hair every day. Sometimes I leave a bit of conditioner in there and then dry my hair. The frizzies are mostly controlled. I'm letting my control issues over the frizziness go. I have curly hair - it's going to be frizzy! I pin it off my face and try to make it look intentional and then I get on with my day. I may go back to really short hair again.

  I stopped dying my hair altogether. Let the gray hair come. I'm okay with it now. And besides, I prefer to think of it as pin-striped, anyway.

  I stopped using nail polish. I have not found a single nail polish that isn't toxic. I keep my nails short and clean and I buff them occasionally.

  I switched to a non-aluminum crystal deodorant. It works pretty well. There are days when I'm less than perfectly flower-fresh, but it's mostly contained. I don't mind it; Aaron doesn't mind it; Sophie doesn't know the difference. If I really need to not stink for a long time I'll use Aaron's bad deodorant. And then I feel very guilty about it.

  I wear sunscreen every day as my moisturizer and I'm still looking for a safer alternative. I was using my favorite Neutrogena dry-touch SPF 50 but it's bad, bad, bad, very toxic, bad. I was sad to get rid of it. Please, someone make a non-toxic sunscreen that isn't like putting white wax on my face. Thanks.

  I switched to a non-fluoride toothpaste for me and one for Sophie. Aaron doesn't believe the research that fluoride is bad for you and that calcium actually works better. So he continues to use the other brand. Our dentist even confirmed for him that they recommend no fluoride for kids until they are at least 6. I wonder why that is? I've been using Jason toothpaste for the past 4 or 5 months and I just had the best dentist visit in a long time. I take calcium along with a multi-vitamin.

• Organic foods: apples, grapes, berries, milk (don't buy a lot of milk, anyway), chicken, carrots, potatoes, and peanut butter. Others when we can. I didn't realize that peanut butter was one of the foods highly recommended to switch to organic. Apparently peanut farms use a lot of pesticides and other yuckiness when growing their crops. We buy grind-your-own organic peanut butter at the local coop. It smells FANTASTIC when it's grinding. Yes, it's more expensive, but there is no added sugar or salt or trans fats. Just pure peanuts.

• Recycling: we already recycle paper and boxes and glass and cans and plastic but I've been working on recycling other things as well. Gifts for Christmas were made with mostly recycled cloth. I've been reading more about not just recycling but re-using. Getting a glass cutter to turn bottles into glasses and vases. Using the plastic containers that make it into the house for the sowing of plants and vegetables. I plan on winter sowing some seeds in those containers. Other ideas?
  

I'll put the money stuff in another post. Thumbnail version: we're on a strict budget to get rid of our credit card debt.

I feel like there is so much more, but this is a start.

FUTURE CHANGES:
- change out our vinyl shower curtain for something cotton or hemp
- make cloth napkins and stop buying paper towels
- make cloth rags and stop buying paper towels
- make cloth shopping totes for the house
- find plates and cups to replace all of Sophie's plastic and melamine stuff
- find safe makeup that doesn't make me break out
- make my own safe face cleanser?
- potty train Sophie and get rid of all the disposables
- next kid (no, I'm not pregnant) will use cloth diapers
- buy a drying rack for clothes to reduce the amount we use our dryer
- alternative to plastic produce bags
- plant lead remediating plants around the house
- paint Sophie's room to contain lead
- paint little deck off kitchen and railing to contain lead
- vacuum (with HEPA filters) the paint chips outside the house and inside the basement
- finalize switch to all natural, non-toxic cleaning products
- buy second composter
- construct container gardens for vegetables
- switch dimmable can lights in kitchen to CFLs
- buy HEPA shop-vac to deal with lead dust and paint
- buy bottle cutter to make bottles into glasses and vases

Once Upon a Time

This weekend saw the start of story time. Anything that was remotely book-like got the "once upon a time" reading treatment. My business card, Aaron's wallet, a card from Erin. (That she explains to us every time she reads it - "oh no! the monkeys are going to make a mess! Steve!")

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sophie." With many funny endings. Yesterday Sophie was a rabbit who liked to lick and lick. Today there was a walrus.

I'll translate:

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sophie. Her someone named a mom. And her said "How do you do? Sophia."

"...little girl named Sophie. Who got a walrus. Said: Aaah! Then Sophie's mommy said: Baaaah!"

Stuffed Cat!

I'm working on a new design - what do you think?

I like her whiskers and eyes. Something different. Much more a female kitty than the others. Available at mmmm, bazaar

Stuffed Bunny!

Big, huggable bunny now for sale in my etsy shop. Handcrafted from felt and cotton using my own design. His face is embroidered and there is a cute little heart tattoo embroidered on his tush.

As Sophie says: "Oh, his tush!"

She desperately wants one so now I'm off to make one of her own.

You be the toast

Sophie loves pretending and role play. Many hours are spent play-acting events from her days and also pretending to be other people.

"You be the baby and I'll be the mom." "You be the dad and I'll be the baby." (when she's the dad, she talks in a really low voice. It's adorable.) "Let's go to work. Get in the car. Seat belt. Click!"

Today, there was a shift in the winds. Instead of "You be the baby", etc., she told me:

"You be the toast." (we were sitting by her play kitchen)

"How can I be the toast?" I sort of sat up straight and made a funny face.

"No, you lay down on the ground." And then she pulled out the bread tray that came with the play bread and said: "No, you lay down on this."

So, I was toast. I lay down on the bread tray and she cut me (gently) in pieces with the play knife and put butter and cheese on me. And then she ate me. "Chomp! Chomp!"

Second Christmas

We're home from Second Christmas and it was fun to be together again. The little kids get along so well and Sophie is exhausted from her whirling dervish weekend.

Here, at last, are some of the gifts I made.

[if you click on the photos, most of them have links to the sewing tutorials.]

Little soft balls for my one-year-old nephew:

Coffee cozies for my sisters and brother-in-law:

Crayon Roll for my 2.5-year-old nephew:

Rolled up:

Artsy clutch for my (almost) 7-year-old niece:

Simple tote with photos of her grandkids printed onto the fabric for my mom:

Another variation on the simple tote for my sister:

And you may have already seen the monkey for my other nephew. I also made a felt banana to go with it:

And last, but not least, a stick for the littlest nephew. His mom was joking that he loved sticks and so I made him a "safe" stick:

There was also fudge, hand-drawn stationery for my nephew, hand-made drawing pads for my niece, several t-shirt bags, and chocolate-dipped marshmallows.

Now I'm off to finish a present for ANOTHER niece who's turning two next week!

TMI - The COUGH

The Cough is still here. I managed to get an appointment on Thursday and basically paid $20 to have her tell me to wait it out. It's a post-nasal drip cough and my lungs sounded fine. I should email her if I run a fever or start coughing up anything.

I took Friday off because I was just so sore and cranky and tired. She recommended Mucinex DM, but I didn't pick any up on the way home from the appointment because I had to pee and with all the coughing, having to pee spells disaster for me.

After having a child, my, um, muscles don't stem the flow very well when I'm overcome with a hacking cough. It's been quite unpleasant on more than a few occasions.

And after some miscommunication with Aaron, I didn't start taking the Mucinex until Friday afternoon. Still, it seemed to help lessen the coughing even though it's an expectorant. (side note: doesn't expectorant sound like someone who's pregnant?)

Anyhoo, it's still here. I'm now coughing up lovely thick green and yellow yuckiness (mmmm, tasty) and yet no fever. I'm waiting it out a bit. I'm hoping it blows over.

And to top it all off, I feel like now I'm coming down with a cold. Itchy throat, the works. Sweet!

AND, Sophie just started coughing a bit, too. Yay!

This weekend is Second Christmas with my family. We're all finally together for stockings and kid presents and then also three birthdays. I'm still attempting to make everything but I forgot about the birthdays and I didn't plan on being sick. Ugh. I've sewed up a lot of lovely little presents and plan on making fudge and one or two other goodies but I may have to break down and buy some more stocking fillers. I'm happy with the gifts and have been taking photos but I can't post anything until after the weekend as my sisters and my mom read my site occasionally and their surprises would be spoiled.

It will be quite the relief to be finished because this whole experience has strengthened my confidence in my sewing skills and I have a lot of ideas of things to sell on Etsy.

Stay Tuned.

Checking in for Aaron news? He's taking Judo over the winter break in addition to teaching a Calculus class at the university. He's mighty sore from the Judo; his ribs and back and arms hurt. He's taking two classes a week. Last night, he accidentally chipped a woman's tooth. He likes the class despite the pain. (and I like the uniform: hubba hubba)

Update: Aaron thinks this reads as though he's proud of chipping her tooth. This could not be farther from the truth. He's very upset about it. Her husband and kids were there to witness and it was truly an accident.

Plantable Paper

I love this idea: paper that is embedded with wildflower seeds. Use the paper for cards and letters and envelopes (etc., etc.) and then the recipient can plant it after receiving!

They also sell holiday cards and wedding invitations and gift tags and many other great products. Very pretty and good for the environment.

Karma Barf

Let this be a lesson to you: don't laugh about nephews being hit with a stomach bug else your beautiful daughter will soon be covered in barf in the backseat of the car. Approximately 15 minutes after said laughing.

Sophie: "Uh. I burped up my crackers and raisins. Yucky."

Erika: "Aaron, find the first exit! It's okay, Sophie, it's okay. FIRST EXIT AARON! She's still barfing! It's okay, Sophie, it's okay."

We finally pull into a parking lot somewhere in Connecticut. I carefully remove Sophie from her seat by keeping her in a sitting position in order to keep most of the barf in her lap until she is outside the car. Luckily, we had a car full of clothes, etc., since we were heading to my sister's for the weekend. Aaron takes over cleaning the car seat because he knows that I wouldn't be able to handle it without barfing myself.

Aaron: "I need gloves and water. Stat!"

The silver lining: she seems to be cured of her raisin addiction for the time being.

Snowstorm

(click on photo for more info)

We drove home from my sister's family's house yesterday. The weather report (the last one I read) on Saturday called for about 3 inches on Sunday. I guess we should have read or checked the weather again yesterday because we got another 12 inches. Luckily, one of our lovely neighbors snowblowed (snowblew?) the entrance to our driveway after the monster plows did their usual mass plowing. There was still 12 inches in our driveway for Aaron to shovel early, early, early this morning.

I have no idea what the total snowfall is around here at the moment. I'm estimating at least 3 feet so far this winter. You can't even see the stop sign at the corner because of the piles. It's crazy. I knew it was going to be a rough winter. Tonight is supposed to be very cold (-15°F wind chill factor) and then next week hit almost 60. Maybe we'll lose a lot of the piles? A bummer for the snow-loving folks, but hopefully a break for us. Our driveway is getting more and more narrow with each storm. There is just nowhere to put the snow.

In other news, I still have a bad cough and I'm exhausted. My back and stomach hurt from all the coughing and it's starting to piss me off. I called my doctor's office today but the first appointment they have is for Monday. I hope it's gone by then and I don't need the appointment. I went to bed with Sophie last night (around 7:30) and I'm still tired.

I have so much to do to get ready for Second Christmas (still attempting to make everyone's presents) and it's a packed schedule. I did not plan on sickness.