Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sunscreen

I've been trying to sift through all the info on sunscreen to come up with the best solution for my family.  I am the type of person that wants to find one product and stick to it, it is all about streamlining the process.  I have been avoiding the ordinary sunscreens due to the concern over estrogenic active ingredients.  Although it is my understanding that with testing on adults although found in their urine and blood, it didn't appear to affect their overall testosterone or estrogen levels.  But when i think about putting that on my babies... it is scary!  They have three times the relative surface area of an adult.  In addition, I have been concerned about nanoparticles and their ability to permeate the skin and body tissues, making their way into the blood stream.  There just doesn't seem to be enough information on them yet.  I just read this Scientific American article through the EWG's website,  http://www.ewg.org/node/27745.  I found it very interesting.   Also EWG's cosmeticdatabase.com  has some great recommendations... actually for all skincare.  But, these can all get pretty pricey, especially when i consider how much we go through.  We just recently found Jason's Sunbrellas Mineral Sunscreen on sale at Whole Foods and really like it.  But it would be expensive otherwise.  So I would be curious for some feedback on this issue and to know what others use.  Thanks!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Hives

My daughter has been breaking out in hives at different times for the last 6 days.  Not sure why... I am going to take her to the doctor this week, but i was wondering if anyone knew of any natural solutions for soothing hives.  I hate that i have had to give her so much benadryl!  

Friday, May 22, 2009

sharing, caring, designing


i stole the title for this post from our friends dave & patty's blog: . dave's sister jessica just won a student design award at the International Home and Housewares Show this year for her "community" bread maker. it's such a cool concept integrating ideas of community and sustainable living. read about it here.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Allergies...

Does anyone know of any natural remedies for fighting outdoor allergies?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Recycling old clothing...

do you know of anywhere I can recycle old clothes (mostly t-shirts and such that are too worn for donating)? I have to think there is some sort of textiles recycling somewhere, but I haven't found anything yet. 

Monica

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Thanks Jenny...


So we built our first compost bin/pile.  Thanks Jenny for the great article.  If you haven't read it Jenny wrote a very informative article for "beginner composters",  http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1323.  
We split some grasses from my mother and planted them around so as they grow they may hide a little so as to not "offend" my neighbors.  It is right by their back patio!  Having fun!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cleaning Recipies

All you need is baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, mineral oil, and liquid dish washing soap ..
See http://www.thrifty-mom.com/houseclean/cleaningrecipes1.htm

Friday, May 1, 2009

Easy way to remove ticks...

This method is great because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to the tweezers between toes, in the middle of the head full of hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15- 20). The tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time this person used it and it's much less traumatic for the person (or pet).

wherein i talk about toilet paper

while having a mildly popular blog/journal whatever this thing is, one might assume that in real life i am just as outgoing, forthcoming, whatever other adjective you might apply here. true and not true. naturally im going to be much more outspoken about things that in real life i would shy away from unless provoked and i felt safe doing so. i am not one of those people who browbeats people with ideas. wholly useless are such tactics of convincing. walking the walk, now that is how to get things done. here i will stress that i am a constant work in progress and by no means claim that i "walk the walk" in every aspect. whoah no.

it starts simply enough with an interest in environmentalism, conservation, what have you, and then some years later you're sitting in your cabin off the grid thinking gee, that happened rather unexpectedly. that really sums me up. had i no children i wished to socialize, community i felt wedded to, husband who's job necessitated a reasonable commute i could see me living in that cabin off the grid. well so long as i had wireless internet so i could still play scrabble online. lol. it just happens so slow that that i dont even think of some of the stuff that we do in our every day lives as (these are real words people have used to describe such things) "primitive", "weird", "radical", "brave", or "gross". much less powerful words have been used too but those are the ones that i seriously scratch my head at. maybe radical applies. for i do feel that growing your own food, taking charge of your health and well being, etc is a radical idea.

crunchy chicken did a challenge, and has been for some time now, about using cloth toilet paper in lieu of traditional paper. i felt a little silly signing up because we already do this and have for about 2 years now (an approximate monetary savings of about $400!) but i really wanted to throw my weight behind a positive thing. here are some stats that really blew my mind from her site.

According to Charmin, consumers on average use 8.6 sheets per trip to the bathroom. That's a total of 57 sheets per day and an annual total of 20,805 sheets. There are 230 million adults in the U.S., each averaging a roll and a half per week. Since each roll of toilet paper averages about .5 a pound of paper, that's about 40 pounds of TP per year.

That equals 4,600,000 tons of TP used each year. And that's just from adults. To take the calculation even further, if all U.S. adults used only Charmin toilet paper or the like (aka "virgin fiber" with 0% recycled content or post-consumer waste), the environmental cost is approximately (not including the issues with Dioxin):

- 78.2 million trees
- 1.35 million tons of air pollution
- 32 trillion gallons of water
- 2.1 trillion gallons of oil
- 18.75 trillion Kilowatt hours of energy


also dont be afraid to come to my house and be forced to wipe like a dirty hippy. (though we encourage it!) we keep a roll for guests in the bathroom at all times.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth is something I discovered when we thought we brought home 'bed bugs' about a year, ago from a trip. This amazing product is put into our food to rid our flour, etc, from parasites. It is also called 'fossil shell flour' and is safe to put in food (make sure you get food grade). This is put into animals food all the time to keep flies away and parasites away. We ALL have parasites in us from food, etc. This is also a great plant insecticide! It can be bought with a pump that sifts it unto the plant.    It can also be taken with water as a parasite cleanse! 
google it and read all about it! It is amazing!
Cheers! Rosie