Jack & Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of ...Red #40?? (JAK Version)

For the past two months or so, every time I scold my son, make an unwelcome suggestion (clean your room?) or...speak pretty much anything out loud or breathe, he asks 'Who crapped in your cornflakes?'.  Talk about beating a dead horse!  AND...I don't even like cornflakes.

I've been spending some time at my kid's school helping out in classes, shortly after school starts in the morning.  I've noticed a lot of 'behavior' that is puzzling to me.  Given that these are 6-10 year old children I'm dealing with, expecting perfection is certainly unreasonable.  Though, I find myself expecting much more than I am seeing...

I know there are a lot of legitimate cases of ADD/ADHD, but I also know that there are a lot more that could be helped by simple dietary changes and eliminating certain things from the home environment.  As I was sitting there with a couple of kids, I started thinking...I wonder what these kids had for breakfast today...?  I wonder how many of these kids eat crap at home...?  How many had Froot Loops, Pop-Tarts, or something equally artificial and disgusting for breakfast...?  How many brought a Lunchable today (or every day!), or drink Hi-C or Capri-Sun or some other 'juice'?

Is someone crapping in their cornflakes?

Just to clarify:
ADD: A term given to the condition of children, teenagers or adults when they show poor attention, impulsiveness or unexplained emotional outbursts in normal day to day activities.
ADHD: A term used to describe children, teenagers or adults who have low attention span, exhibit high levels of distractability, are chronically disorganized and are in “perpetual motion”.




According to one source, the average attention span of a child age 6-8 is 15-20 minutes, and age 9-12 is 30-45 minutes.  Now, I am 37 years old and I doubt I have a 30-45 minute attention span.  A more reasonable source says to add 2 minutes to a child's age, and start there.

Taking the above into consideration:  3 to 10% of school aged children get diagnosed as ADHD every year.  That's a ton of kids!  Most of them go on to be treated with drugs that have both minor and serious side effects, like loss of appetite, insomnia, mood swings, suicidal thoughts and psychotic behavior. Neither of my children have ADD or ADHD, so I haven't been in that position, but just thinking about what could possibly happen is frightening.  I, as a parent, would certainly try everything in my power in order to avoid something that would cause these side effects, and if doing something as simple as dietary changes and natural cleaning products could significantly change my child's need for drugs, you better believe I would be ON IT.

Traits commonly observed with ADD/ADHD:
Inattention: easily distracted, can’t complete tasks, does not listen.
Impulsivity: acts without thinking, does not wait his turn, goes from activity to activity without organizing or completing anything.
Hyperactivity: can’t sit still, fidgety, bothers others, always on the go – “perpetual motion”.
Emotionally Unstable: social loner, angry outbursts for no reason, often involved in conflicts or fights, poor response to discipline.

A lot of people may not realize how significant of an impact that food ingredients and chemical exposure have on so many aspects of our lives! Food allergies don't just cause hives or rashes, but can cause behaviors that may fall under the heading of ADD/ADHD, as can exposure to things like bleach or ammonia.  An average child consumes over 10 pounds of food additives per year.  TEN POUNDS!  Of toxins, chemicals, artificial ingredients and colors and preservatives and who knows what else.  Crap. Garbage.  Disgust-o-rama.


Here are some of the conditions that have possible links just to food dyes in particular:

• Cancer, including brain tumors
• Asthma and allergies
• Behavior problems, ADD, ADHD
• Decreased cognitive function and lowered IQ

How many products do you have in your home, that your children consume, that include food dyes?

I bet it's more than you think.

There have been studies upon studies done about this...I'm not just some radical fruitcake treehugger making stuff up.  One recent study by the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics analyzed 15 other studies of the effect of artificial food colors and preservatives on hyperactivity, and found that 28% of the children (who had previously been diagnosed as ADHD) tested had increased hyperactivity after consuming artificial colors and preservatives.  And that's just testing for those two items, not any of the other usual suspects.  Another study took children who had NOT been diagnosed with anything and removed artificial colors and preservatives from their diets for 8 weeks.  At the end of the 8 weeks, the children were given a juice beverage containing some combination of food colorings and sodium benzoate (a preservative).  The results were clear in that the amount of artificial food colors and preservatives found in a typical child's diet is enough to trigger hyperactivity in many of those children.


Studies have also been done regarding chemical exposure.  Typical household cleaning products contain a plethora of dangerous chemicals.  But...they sell them at the grocery store, they must be safe.  Right?!  NO.  Chemical companies don't care if they are making you sick.  They get away with it legally for many reasons that would take me another whole blog to tell you about.

Here are some of the conditions that have possible links just to bleach and ammonia:

• Cancer, neurological disorders, weakened immune system, autoimmune disorders
• Asthma and allergies
• Infertility and miscarriage
  
• Behavior problems, ADD, ADHD, mental retardation
• Decreased cognitive function and lowered IQ 
• Alteration of hormones, endocrine disruption

How many cleaning products do you have in your home that include bleach or ammonia, not to mention the hundreds of other toxic chemicals?!

I bet it's more than you think!

If your child shows signs of ADD/ADHD, there are a number of areas to address:
*Clearly, diet and nutrition:  If you feed your kid sh*t, they're gonna act like sh*t.  Cut out the processed foods, preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, even sugar-free/artificially sweetened items.  Have your child tested for food allergies, including gluten.  Consider nutritional supplements, especially Omegas. 
*In relation to food and diet; bowel health:  Get a ton more fiber into their diet, and definitely add a probiotic.
*Remove toxins from the home.  Replace your cleaners with non-toxic choices.  Choose better laundry detergents and fabric softeners.  You and your children could be wearing chemical residue-laden clothing all day and sleeping in it (think about your sheets!) at night.  You are absorbing chemicals into your skin.   *Consider an air purifier.
*See if hypoglycemia is an issue.
*Eye and ear disorders and psychological wellness can also be investigated.

Naturally these solutions won't pertain to everyone.  It's not going to be quite so simple for every child who has been diagnosed as ADD or ADHD to be 'fixed' by what I've discussed above, but how many does it pertain to?

I'm willing to bet...its more than you think.

There is help beyond drugs.  A lot of doctors would have you believe that pharmaceuticals are the only option, but that is not the case at all.  Nutrition, diet and environment should be examined and appropriate changes made before resorting to drugs whenever possible, especially if those three steps solve or relieve the problem.  If a pharmaceutical is necessary, then it should be used in conjunction with other, natural solutions.  Could you imagine finding out that you had been drugging your child for a perceived problem, only to find out that their breakfast cereal (among other things) was causing the problem?!  Drug your child, so they can eat junk?  I think not.

I have heard many people say they don't care about food additives or ingredients, or whether they use chemicals in their homes.  I have seen a mom hand a kid a pill, then give them a can of soda and chips.  What?!  Noooooo!  Its easy to make better choices!!

Come on, we know better than this.  We can do better than this.  Make healthy changes!  Quit buying crappy cornflakes!  Start caring about what goes into and onto your body and what you bring into your home!  Your children (and their teachers!) will thank you!!

Interested in reading more about some of the studies I mentioned above?  Just aren't taking my word for it?!  Check it out, I did all the work.  You just have to click.  See how helpful I am?!

The Beginning of the End

'It' hasn't actually ended yet. What is 'it'?  My life, as it is now.  Read on.

It's been quite a few weeks since my last blog.  All the holiday frivolity and busyness takes up a lot of time, dontcha think?  Even if I wanted to blog (of course I wanted to blog) I was too occupied to hold on to, let alone nurture, a coherent thought that had nothing to do with wrapping paper or red and green sprinkles.

So now that I'm here, sitting in front of the Christmas tree I haven't taken down yet, I'm not really sure what to blog about.  I mean, there are a gazillion subjects I could easily write about, but trying to add that personal twist in is always a challenge.  I decided its finally time to come clean and describe how I came to be...well...me.  How did I get all chemical-paranoid and organically-freaky?  Inquiring minds want to know, right?  I'm hoping so.  This is the first part of an undetermined series of blogs, maybe 2 or 3.  We'll see.


Part I

This is essentially what we call in Shaklee 'My Two-Minute Story'.  When we do a presentation we start out with how we were introduced to healthy living and/or Shaklee products, etc etc.  This is more or less the story I tell.  It's true, by the way.  And it's probably not very funny.

A couple years ago, at about 15 weeks,  I had my 5th miscarriage.  When I came home from the hospital I was an absolute mess.  Besides being physically messed up, I was an emotional wreck.  I had the usual post-tragedy questions...why me?  Why again?  What is wrong with me?  Why can't anyone give me any answers?  WHAT the F*CK?

When you're in the state of mind that I was, you'll desperately search everywhere and anywhere for some closure.  So when your doctor doesn't know the answers, where do you turn?  The all-knowing internet, of course.   I did search after search, looking for information, looking for an answer, finding tons of information and answers that didn't apply to me.  Everyone else HAD an answer, but for me there was none.  I sat at my computer and cried.  Like...Every. Day.  I was told 'try not to think about it', or 'it was meant to be', and no matter how well meaning those words are, they don't help. At all.

One day one of my searches brought me to a website I still frequent - www.ewg.org.  It's the Environmental Working Group website, and it is just chock full of informational goodness about everything that has to do with health and environment and chemicals and their effects on your body and the planet and everything else you can possibly think of.  They even have a sister website - Skin Deep Cosmetics Database - where you can look up your existing products and find out just how bad they really are.  I read.  And I read.  I followed links, searched searches, keyed words.  And I learned SO MUCH.  I've blogged about a lot of what I learned, and am still learning every day, and if I talk to you in person there's no doubt that you've heard it from me over and over again.  I like to beat dead horses, okay?  If I was to start telling you the things that can happen to your body from the products that you use in your home and on your body, we would be here for DAYS.  The chemicals we are exposed to in our daily lives have such a huge impact on our health and our bodies in ways that may never even occur to us! 

Of course fertility is one of them. 

That first day I learned that one of the biggest offenders is household cleaning products.  We are in our homes more than anywhere else, and that is where the majority of our exposure comes from.  We breathe the air, wear the clothes, sleep on the sheets, eat off the dishes.  Within a day or two I had all of our toxic cleaners boxed up and stuffed in a corner of the garage.  I went to the store and replaced them with non-chlorine bleach, laundry detergent without certain ingredients, and $5 bottles of all-purpose cleaner.  It was all shiny and new, and I was ok with it for a while even though it wasn't the most effective stuff in the world. But I was dedicated, so I stuck with it.

Then I learned about body products, too.  Chemical-filled shampoos and soaps and lotions, oh my!  Our skin is the largest organ we have, and it's absorbent.  So when we slather it with chemicals (or sit in a bathtub that was cleaned with toxic chemicals!), those chemicals all get absorbed into us.   

WTF are they doing in there?  Nothing but trouble. 

I dumped all our Herbal Essences and Bath and Body Works and Zest and Lever into a bag and went shopping again and replaced all those items with 'all-natural' options.  I had been having a major skin issue around that time too, and every time I would shampoo my hair, the skin on my shoulders would absolutely be ON FIRE.  When I switched to the natural, non-perfumed, non-chemical stuff, the burning subsided.  Of course, that is a whole different blog you can look forward to about Candida.  (Just check out this list of symptoms!  Candida is horrendous.  Contact me for help on this one.)

Is chemical exposure responsible for my miscarriages?  Who knows.  I'm sure it could never be proven that that is specifically what caused them.  All the chlorine bleach, optical brighteners, preservatives, synthetic scents, and everything else I've been exposed to my whole life... could I have come out completely unscathed?  I doubt any of us have.  Maybe that's why today's cancer rate is 1 in 2.  Ya think? 

I can't say that de-chemicalizing our lives has made a huge difference for ME, but I'm hoping that by keeping their chemical exposure as minimal as is possible, that MY children don't have to go through what I have had to.  That MY daughter doesn't have to deal with the heartbreak of losing baby after baby.  That MY son doesn't get cancer or a brain tumor or Parkinson's disease.  Considering the rate of exposure we all deal with from every direction, the least I can do is make sure they get as little as possible at home.  We are CONSTANTLY inundated with toxins in every shape and form...(don't even get me started on food!)  And if we have the choice we shouldn't have to live with them too. 

This is MY choice, and it is this knowledge and these experiences that have made me who I am today.


To be continued...

A Dirt Cheap Solution

Lately, no matter what I look at, it looks expensive to me.  Food, clothes, utilities, you name it.  I know it's not just my imagination that the cost of things are going up, especially in the food department, but I can usually overlook it at the grocery store by just not buying certain things.  As an example, I refuse to pay over $1.29 for an avocado.  I just can't do it.

A couple months ago my husband sent me an article titled 'That's pricey: 13 items that cost more, or will soon'.  They talk about gas, airfare, furniture (?!), fast food (oh. darn.), FLIPPIN' CHOCOLATE!!!  I guess expensive chocolate is good motivation for me to NOT buy it, but I still like having the option...

One of the items on that list is household products.  Now that's interesting, isn't it? *wink wink*  According to the article,

'Diapers, soap, toilet paper, toothpaste, trash bags and many other everyday items all have been targeted for price hikes as companies from Kimberly-Clark to Procter & Gamble to Colgate-Palmolive respond to rising ingredient costs' 

- and -

'The Consumer Price Index has climbed 2.7% in the past 12 months, according to government statistics released Friday. That’s the largest rise since 2009.  Price increases will continue in the months ahead...'

Well that sucks. I doubt I am the only one feeling the repercussions of rising costs, but I can happily say that the rising cost of cleaning products will NOT affect me.  Don't fall victim to this baloney!  If you've read my blog before, I make it pretty well known that I love Shaklee products.  I usually go on talking about how wonderful and green and safe they are, but have I mentioned how much money they save me?  I know some of you don't give a rats ass how green they are...if I had a dime for every time I heard 'I just love my bleach, I'll never give it up!'...well, you know the rest. 

 I just got the sale papers for a couple grocery stores,and one has Windex on sale 2/$5.  That's a 26 oz bottle for $2.50, for the record.

When I mix up a bottle of Shaklee H2 windows and mirrors cleaner it costs me less than 1 cent.  Yes, less than $.01 for a 16 oz bottle.  Hmmm...2 cents (for 32 oz, not 26!) vs. $2.50 for 26 oz?  Not a hard choice.  Suck on that, Windex. 

Before I was enlightened I bought Fantastic and Clorox Clean-Up, at about $2.39 a bottle.  Then when I greened up I was buying Seventh Generation for $4.79 or even GreenWorks (which is total greenwashing, I now know) for about $2.50.  These days, when I mix up the equivalent Shaklee H2 all-purpose cleaner it costs me .22 cents...a gallon. If I was better at math I would figure out how much that is per bottle, but I really stink at it.  Feel free to jump in, math people.

I've got more, of course I do.  But I will not go on and on because I don't think it's necessary.  You want to save money where ever you can, and so do I.  This is one of the things I do that saves A LOT.  Total bonus...you don't have to walk down the cleaning product or laundry aisle at the grocery store...it stinks so bad!  I walk through there once in a great while, and every time I do I sneeze from all the perfumes and chemicals.  Yuck!  But, that's a whole other blog...

Did I also mention that you can use H2 on anything that can get wet?  Ask yourself a question:  Does this sound like you?  'But ohhh, waaahhh, I need a different cleaner for my kitchen and waaahhhh what am I supposed to use in the bathroom or on the floooooor?'.  H2 gets used on everything.  It dusts furniture, removes soap scum, cleans kitchen counters, mops floors, washes dogs, washes children, degreases grease, de-pests plants, de-wrinkles clothes, deters mosquitoes on you and fleas from your pets, etc etc.  You can clean anything with this stuff, and throw your dirty water outside and it will make your grass greener and your roses rosier.  I even shoot fruit flies right out of the air with it, and don't tell me that doesn't sound like fun.  Drink it, bathe in it, do what you gotta do...just don't forget to tell your friends about it.   

And to answer your next question, yes it works.  You couldn't put 'Always Works' in your motto if it didn't always work.  That's false advertising, and the green folks at Shaklee look down their squeaky clean noses at stuff like that.

So here it is, folks.  The solution to saving money with cheaper cleaners is at your fingertips.  All the cleaning products in the Get Clean line are concentrated out the wazoo.  You use less, you spend less, you save money and you can buy more shoes.  Want to buy more shoes save money?  Start here.  Come to the Light Side.  Do it now!!!

Total Buzz Kill

This year at the beginning of the summer I instituted a rule:  Nothing with a screen between noon and 8 pm.

No t.v., no computer, no video games, no ipod.  Strangely enough, I kind of think the kids were excited about it in the beginning, this new rule that would really mix everything up.  Only at first did I have a little trouble enforcing the rule, and that was mostly because I would forget about it!  And of course now that the season is winding down and the late-summer boredom has set in, it is harder yet.  Regardless, the rule worked really well all summer, and I'll definitely do it again next year.  The kids played outside so much...like we used to when we were kids!  You know, before all this fancy schmancy hand-held technology.  HA!  We're old!

Because of my no-screen rule, all summer I was supplying constant ideas of new things they could do outside, or suggesting something to draw, make out of dough, paint (including objects), or construct out of other things.  We also spent a pretty decent amount of time at the beach.  Nothing like an endless amount of sand and water to really make a bunch of happy shorties.

That's a great thing about this area - how close we are to so many beaches.  And (amazingly) they're clean.  And not crowded!  Of course Lake Michigan water is body-numbing frigid most of the summer but hey, you get hot, you jump in, you cool off....quickly. What more can you ask for?

Since we've lived here, our family has unofficially chosen one particular beach as our favorite, and we go there more than any of the other area beaches.  It's a Lake Michigan beach, and most of the summer it was fantastic.  There's a little 'pool' area that's warmer than the lake, a little stream from the pool into the lake, tons of cool rocks and fossils to collect, bigger rocks for climbing, lots of beach glass hunting for me, and the sand is pretty fine and light.  It's a great spot.

Except for the second half of August.  Oh Goodness.

We've visited this beach twice in the past two weeks, and ended up running out of there after only about a half an hour, chased out by those nasty little biting black flies.  I've experienced this quite a bit, in quite a few places around Wisconsin.  I'm sure it happens other places but I just don't know about it.  Is it the lake?  The sand?  Obviously they wait until the end of the summer to appear...but why?  And why do they have to follow you and bite you and make it so dang miserable that you have to leave?!  My friend told me yesterday that it hurts when they bite you because they are literally ripping off a chunk of your skin.  Awesome.

Where we live we also have big-time mosquito issues.  Wisconsin doesn't spray, so we have to take it into our own hands.  Luckily, Shaklee H2 works great as a natural repellent for your body, but we do go through our share of Off and have even stooped to spray the yard because it was just so hard to be outside without it.  Yes, I know.  Bad chemicals.  But what's the alternative?  Don't go outside?  I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Since I compost and we eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, I often have a lot of fruit flies in the kitchen.  Naturally there are ants, and once in a while some moth or other weird freaky bug comes wandering in to die a most hideous death at the hands (or paws) of my cats. 

What's an eco-friendly mom to do?  Spray the crap out of everything with chemicals and hope for the best?  Well, maybe. But not until I get so fed up there's no other choice!  Until then, I try to control it all as greenly and as safely as I can.

Here are just a few things I have found and used:
A little bowl of apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap mixed in lures those pesky fruit flies to a liquidy death.  Works great.
Repel mosquitoes safely with H2 wipes or all-purpose formula sprayed on.
You can even spray fruit flies right out of the air with the H2 all-purpose. It's kind of fun!
If you know where the ants are coming in, pour some cornmeal around and the greedy little bastards will snatch it up and take it back to the nest where all their greedy little bastard friends will eat it.  Unfortunately for them, they can't digest it, so it swells up inside their disgusting little bodies and the greedy little bastards burst.  Whoopee!
I've also heard that drawing a chalk line works cause the ants won't walk across it, and sprinkling baby powder around for the same reason.

These solutions are all fine and good, but I'm out of apple cider vinegar, and I don't know where my ants are coming in...they just appear in the middle of a blank wall, the little teleporting freaks!  This spring my super-efficient and green friend Libby gave me this awesome bug-zapping contraption.  Looks just like a tennis racket, but has a little electrical charge that zaps any of those rotten little fliers right out of the air.  WHAT FUN.  When we first got it, we would literally go seek out the bugs, like turn on the porch light and wait beneath it.  We sure are easily entertained, but in all seriousness this thing is awesome.  No chemicals!  I even got a couple ants with it even though they weren't flying.  Oh, and the crackle it makes when you get a bug is oh so satisfying...

Of course all good things must come to an end, and the good bug-zapping tennis racket unfortunately came to an end.  When something is that much fun, it is irresistible to the shorter people that are always hanging around, and you know how badly they treat their toys?  Ya, same story.  So now what?

Well...I have a spider.  He moved in over the kitchen sink the weekend we were out of town, and I've left him there for 2 weeks now.  He's caught ants and fruit flies and who knows what else...it's hard to tell what the little mummies might have started off as.  I am one of those people who really do NOT like spiders.  There are some crazies who catch them in their house and set them free outside.  Crazies!!  Not me.  I usually smash them, spray them, electrocute them, flush them, whatever.  Their demise is my comfort.

But not this time.  This little daddy long-legs is my friend and I like it.  I even put a chunk of overripe banana under his web to attract the fruit flies so he wouldn't move away!  Yep, I just keep getting nuttier and nuttier over here.

At any rate, my new friend certainly doesn't help with what's going on out in the yard or at the beach, but bugs are allowed to be outside, I suppose.  Next year I will get a new bug-zapping tennis racket to take everywhere with me!  In the meantime, just call me spider mom!

Gettin' Schooled

Ahhh...four of my favorite words are floating around constantly in conversations, commercials, even sales flyers - Back To School Time.  Just typing and reading it gives me warm fuzzy feelings.  Our district doesn't start until September 1, so we are still a week and a half away.  That's ok though, it's good.  I have 8 more days (not counting weekends) to enjoy some last minute summer activities and having my kids home with me all day.  But who's counting?

This summer has been great though it sure went fast, but all in all I give it four stars.  We did some traveling, celebrated the wedding of my husband's brother, spent time at the beach, my kids played with their friends, etc. etc.  What more can you ask for?  Only that eventually school will start again...and it will.  It is upon us, in a mere 8 days.  8...more...days...

Like death and taxes, sort of... every year it comes time for school supply shopping.  This is an especially joyous occasion for the children.  After a season of freedom and fun in the sun, there is nothing they would prefer to do than the combination of thinking about school starting and shopping.  It's quite the dynamic duo, don't you think?

    Shopping
+  Going back to school
=  Not very fun for anyone

Every year we get the good old supply list to follow and shop till every item on the list is accounted for;  ziplocs (2 sizes), pencil boxes, non-marking gym shoes, dry erase markers (low-odor only!), 3-prong 2-pocket folders in 4 different colors (plastic lasts longer!), etc.  One of the items that appears on the list every year that really burns my ass is those pesky wet wipes.  I've had lists that called out specific brand names of disinfecting wipes, though to the school's credit in the last couple years the brand names have been left off.

I've spent enough time at the school in past years to see that most parents are still supplying the classrooms with disinfecting wipes, and I've spied with my own two eyes a teacher lining up the kids and handing them each their own Lysol wipe to wipe their hands with.  Gah!!

Some time ago while researching this whole issue, a friend of mine contacted Clorox regarding their products being on school supply lists, and the correct usage of disinfecting wipes specifically in a school setting.  Clorox responded (in writing, no less) that the correct usage of a disinfecting wipe is thus:  Wipe once with a clean wipe to remove any actual, visible dirt and discard that wipe;  Get a fresh wipe and re-wipe the same surface to disinfect.  For anyone not counting, that's a two-wipe process.  Clorox went on to say that their wipes should only be used while wearing protective gloves, and are ONLY for use by adults.  That's adults, not children. 

Since he started kindergarten my son has only been taking wipes to school that have been approved by ME.  (I've done my homework and I'd like to think I'm some what of an authority on the subject, so this isn't just based on my opinions or what I'd like to sell you.)  I've informed all of the teachers that either of my children have had that they are not allowed to touch any of those toxic disinfecting wipes...it is bad enough that they are used by other children, and on the desks after school hours and the kids are touching the residue and breathing in the fumes all day long.  But, as one parent I can only do so much to protect my own children when they are in a group setting.  Without seeming like that crazy mom whose kids live in a bubble, anyway.

Some time ago, I watched part of a documentary or news show about a woman who refused to touch anything without having a disinfecting wipe in her hand first.  She'd even grab her mail with a wipe!  It was so out of control that a doctor told her that within the next five years she would most likely be diagnosed with some sort of cancer, as well as numerous other potential health problems that come from absorbing toxic chemicals, specifically through the skin. I searched long and hard for the specific article, but could not find it.  Rest assured, there are a lot of crazies out there with similar problems.  Just Google it if you want to read more.

What I'm saying here folks, is that if we ALL supply our schools with safer alternatives then ALL our children will be in a healthier environment for 8 hours a day.  Chemical exposure and fumes can be responsible for a lot of different problems like attention and behavior, and in schools any interruption in the learning process is very unwelcome.  So why are these chemicals still allowed in schools?  There was an experiment done with some children and a handwriting test.  Tested before and after inhaling chlorine bleach fumes, the children showed serious effects from the fumes that our kids most likely breathe in every day at school.  One child tested wasn't even capable of writing his own name after exposure.  Is this what we want for OUR children?  I think not.

Naturally I'm going to recommend Shaklee's H2 wipes, because I know they are safe and proven.  They are non-toxic, biodegradable, and pH balanced to the skin.  Shaklee's Germ Off wipes are the safest disinfecting wipe on the market, and are also biodegradable.  My kids will be taking one container of each with them to school on the first day...with their names written on the top and instructions to the teacher that these are the ONLY wipes my children are allowed to use.

I can only hope that more and more parents see the big picture and supply our schools (and our HOMES for that matter) with the safest, non-toxic cleaning products possible.  So many people are still under the impression that if it's available at the grocery store, it must be safe.  This is so far from the truth, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I think about how misinformed the American public is.  Chemical companies don't care if they are poisoning you, folks.  And neither does the FDA.  Not sure if I can say who said this, but here is the quote anyway:  "People assume that it’s on the shelf it’s been tested, it’s safe. And you can’t make that assumption all the time. You can’t. Not with the regulatory framework we have in place."  Read the full article here, and more here, and a bunch about children's health here.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

We need to protect our own.  Start NOW.


P.S.  For those of you who cry on the first day of school...buck up, huh?!  Wipe your tears...it's not like they won't be back in 8 hours.  Enjoy!

Enough with the Blind Eye!

For argument's sake, let's say that you read my last blog.  Let's say that you never buy food items from China because you were already aware of their many contaminations and other food issues.  Awesome!  Good for you, it's a step in the right direction.

Now let's say that you were at the grocery today and bought Ecuadorian bananas, mangoes from Costa Rica, and clementines from Chile.  Make yourself a mental picture of the workers who farm in those countries and harvested your newly acquired produce. Quaint, isn't it?  Straw hats, donkeys, Juan Valdez.

Now picture this:  thousands of Latin American families devastated by the pesticides and herbicides used to grow that pretty produce that now sits in your fruit bowl.  Atrocious sicknesses, infertility and sterility, cancer, paralysis, skin infections, headaches, lung damage, nose bleeds, and loss of sight to name a few.  Chemicals made by companies like Dow, Bayer and DuPont and used by companies like Dole and Monsanto.  Those companies then refuse to compensate the injured workers and their families and deny the existence of any problems.  American workers have also been affected by these chemicals and their injury claims denied!

No way can I sit back and eat my perfectly yellow banana and pretend this isn't going on.  Once you learn that the food you are eating has these chemicals on it, or that the people responsible for bringing it to you are dying for it, it's impossible to turn a blind eye to it. Twenty-five percent of the world's pesticides are used in third world countries and it this is where over 99% of pesticide related deaths occur.  Is this supposed to be ok?

 Today I read an article about this subject that came to me in a newsletter from a site called Natural News.  For the record - the article really pissed me off.  If you don't subscribe to the site already I highly recommend that you do so.  The headline caught my eye because of the blog I wrote the other day, and the subject has been on my mind.  The fact that this is going on all over the world and these American companies are taking such advantage of other countries well and truly offends me.  This isn't a case of another country poisoning their own soil because of their own lax policies.  This is American companies employing farmers and workers, producing food for export to Americans, and leaving their people sick and their homelands polluted for years to come.  It's so wrong.   

If we all needed another reason to buy organic and buy local (as if!), well there it is.  Read the article for yourself and look up the chemicals mentioned (try Wikipedia or EWG).  I did.  I also got the 'clementines from Chile' reference from my own fruit bowl.  I bought those clementines at my local Target, and let me tell you how I won't be doing that again.  

If you think that your government and governmental agencies are protecting you, wake up.  Open your eyes and watch what you're putting into your mouth.  Not sure why you should avoid pesticides and herbicides in the first place?  Explore here, and here.  Need more proof?  Find it here, here, here.  Support your local farmers, grow your own, and buy organic!  Support companies that are doing the right thing. You're making the world better for everyone by doing so!

The Good, The Bad and The Gelatinous

As the growing season starts and so many good little gardeners are outside planting seeds for vegetables and assessing fruit trees and bushes, the question of organic vs. non-organic seems to be at the forefront of a lot of discussions.  Organic vs. non-organic has become a pretty mainstream topic, and although there are all sorts of articles and t.v. shows and blurbs on the news (or blogs!) there are still so many who question what to do.

Organic is too expensive, say some.  It's worth it, say others.  You may be somewhere in between.  I am.  I would prefer to buy all organic and I wish I could afford $8 strawberries, but it's just not realistic. You may have heard of the 'Dirty Dozen'...the worst fruits and vegetables to buy non-organic.  If not, you can see it here.

If you're one of those good little gardeners who grow their own...good for you!  I wish I was a better gardener.  I really like it...I mean even the flowers, vegetables, all of it, but I have a major brown thumb.  I plant, and they inevitably die a dried up, withered death.  I can't even keep a houseplant alive.  There are some garden items that seem to take care of themselves, which is nice.  Strawberries, raspberries, some herbs.  The fruit trees just need occasional trimming, no biggie.  Rhubarb.  They just grow and grow.  If it's really low-maintenance and I can't screw it up too much, it's alright by me.  Or should I say, it's relatively safe FROM me.

I do like to be out there in the garden digging holes and planting, laying it all out, pulling weeds, etc.  But really I think my worst issue is the bugs.  As soon as the mosquitoes are in full swing, the spiders are as big as your hand, and the fliers have no concept of personal space...I'm outty.  I'm done.  No spray (though H2 wipes work pretty well) can fix it, I just can't tolerate the bugs. 

Last weekend I took the boy to the nursery and shopped around in the pouring rain.  That was fun.  While there, I noticed some vegetable plants, I think these particular ones were patio tomatoes, planted in this weird clear gel stuff.  After my initial recoil, my first thought was to wonder if the inside of the tomato turns out as gelatinous as the stuff it's growing in.  Yuckedy yuck!  I still don't know what that gel is (yes of course I Googled it), or despite some website claims - how non-toxic and biodegradable it is.  I just can't see myself being comfortable eating a vegetable that I picked off a plant grown in the same type of gel that a baby pees on in their diapers night and day.  What...?  Doesn't that sound delicious?

Finding this abomination inspired me to post a poll on my Facebook page:  Would you knowingly eat a vegetable grown in that water-retaining gel stuff?  I mean, maybe I'm overreacting and it's the best eco-friendly, organic enabling, water-conserving goo there has ever been!  Aside from my favorite hecklers who answer so many of my nutritional-type posts with just simply 'Bacon!' - you know who you are - I only got two serious answers.  The first answer was basically a resounding 'Oh hellll no!', and the other...the other was a little disturbing.  (Sorry babe, if you're reading this I don't mean to pick on you).  The answer was; 'No. That is why I do not want to know.'.  This baffles me.  Being so conscious of chemicals, and I fully acknowledge that not everyone is like me, this is something I think about with every vegetable I pick up.  Sometimes I will not buy an item at all if I don't like the looks of it and if organic is too expensive.  And I don't mean I skip it cause it's not pretty enough.  I mean, it's too damn pretty or the packaging looks...too...happy.  I don't know. 

Moving on.  

The other day a headline really caught my eye...when 'exploding' and 'watermelons' are in the same sentence...I mean, come on.  Like that doesn't sound fun?  I had to click it and see what was up.  I learned that a whole bunch of watermelon crops being grown in China were ruined because the melons exploded.  Exploded!  Awesome!!  No, no, forget I said that.  Not awesome.  The reason they exploded was because the Chinese farmers used some sort of growth chemical (forchlorfenuron) that caused the watermelons to grow so quickly that thousands of them burst right out there in those Chinese fields.  *Side note:  As it turns out, that same chemical is approved for use in the U.S. for grapes, raisins, and kiwi fruit, and is toxic to honey bees.  Just so you know.  And wouldn't you rather know?


In this day and age of 8 & 9 year olds getting their periods, I would certainly rather know whether my fruits and vegetables (or milk or meat or whatever) have been treated with some growth-inducing crapola.  You eat it, and it's in you.  This isn't confined to what I talked about above, either.  Pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, chemicals of every shape and form.  Ever heard this one...? -->  You are what you eat.


Now that we know what Chinese farmers did to their watermelons to make more money, do you wonder what they're doing in all aspects of food production?  I do.  China is infamous for pollution, ground contamination, poor practices in food production.  Arsenic in soy sauce, borax in pork, melamine in milk, and pharmaceuticals in water and earth.  Their lenient policies in these areas make them very successful producers.  And a lot of stuff comes out of China.  

One of those things I found not too long ago that really really bothers me is Capri Sun....because apparently we don't have enough apples here in the U.S. to make our own juice boxes...?   So we're even buying juice from China.  Why?

Because it's cheap and kids dig it.  Kids like it because it tastes good.  How can something taste so good, and be loaded with so much shit?  Sugar and artificial flavors in juice.  Why?  The real thing is great!  Sweet, refreshing, good for you.  It may not be blue or come in a fancy little pouch, but the kids drink it all the same. 


Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Chinese or importing other stuff from there.  But food?  I mean, freaking APPLE JUICE?  Obviously some things only grow in certain places, but I'm not talking about those.  Let's buy local, folks.  Or grow your own. Enough with the Chinese Capri Sun!  Get it together out there.  

No excuses, either.  I'm lucky to have a yard big enough for fruit trees and a garden, but I've also knocked on peoples doors to see if they were going to use the zillion apples hanging off the 7 trees in their yard, or the mulberries the birds are feasting on, or the pears hanging neglected.  Join your local freecycle!  There are constantly people posting free vegetables, fruit, whatever.  Make friends with your green-thumbed neighbor!  If they are supplying you with zucchini and green beans, suck it up and pretend to like them.  It's all out there, and it doesn't have to be from the other side of the world.


Be careful what you eat, what you buy, what you put in and on your body.  I can't say it enough.  Be aware and be knowledgeable.  And if you get an overwhelming desire for exploding items, for goodness sakes, the 4th of July is just around the corner! 

Bursting Bubbles and Raining on Parades

Did you ever see that SNL skit that is set up like a commercial for high fructose corn syrup?  If you haven't, enjoy it here.  It's hilarious and I definitely got a good laugh out of it at the end, but I have to be honest when I say that in the beginning when the party-host mom starts going off on the other woman, I started to sweat.

It made me anxious cause that's totally me, I'm the one who's always telling people what they're doing wrong and I often wonder what people think when they see me coming.

"What's she going to tell us we're doing wrong, this time?  Hide your snack foods and drinks folks, cause here she comes!" 

All people want to do is enjoy their cup of coffee with Italian Sweet Cream Coffeemate in peace, and here I come to tell them that it's going to give them heart disease.  Sure it tastes good and provides relaxation and enjoyment, but how can anyone relax and enjoy something that is so unhealthy?  And how does one keep one's mouth shut when apparently others are not aware of the contents of what they are consuming?  It's a different story if they are fully aware and don't care and eat/drink it anyway.  Then it's their problem.  They might get a raised eyebrow and a tsk tsk from me but if they know what they're doing, they're on their own. 

So this is my dilemma.  Do I want to be that person to always tell people that...Coffeemate is massively hydrogenated, Slim Fast is garbage in a can, Vitamin Water is no better than soda, or that daily multivitamin they are taking is no better than swallowing one of your kids Littlest Pet Shop pieces?

No, I don't always want to be the one.  But who else is going to tell them?  Are they better off living in ignorance?  Some people would say yes, live and let live.

I kept my mouth shut about something once and later on when the person found out what bad ingredients were in it, she asked me why I didn't say anything.  Because I'm always the bearer of bad news, and it's not always a fun position.  When I get a good reaction and someone is actually grateful for the information I've shared, then I feel good about it and it's worth the risk of putting myself out there.  But I have been in the position where I've been asked 'what am I doing wrong, now?' with no shortage of attitude.  Like THAT wouldn't make someone uncomfortable!

I'm not trying to be a know-it-all, I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad.  I do it because I care.  So, that said, if you want to hear what you're doing wrong...you know where to come! 

The Ghosts of Products Past

As I am sure many of you did, I grew up with bleach, ammonia, Tide, Downy, Mr. Bubble, and Twinkies.  Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies were the best, and who can forget your mom's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda, chock full of artificial sweeteners and who knows what else.  Remember getting the first Equal gumballs in the newspaper insert?  I do, and I ate the first one (and I still don't like aspartame).  The tub got scrubbed with the worst of the worst cleaners, and then we soaked up the residue in our baths.  Baby powder fights, weird concoctions of lotions to slather on, bare hands touching chemicals of all kinds.  To compound my chemical exposure, when I was a teenager I got a job at a pet store.  Every day, I would go in and bleach the heck out of the puppy kennels...with bare hands, inhaling the fumes.  But we all turned out ok, didn't we?

Ok, let's not actually answer that.

The first green products I learned about were for cleaning.  One day I was bleaching my kitchen floor...the next day I was packing up all the toxic stuff and sending it off to the garage.  I started using Seventh Generation, Method, Green Works, and a few others.  They were expensive and not usually effective, but I was dedicated to using green products and stuck with them.  (This was before I discovered Shaklee).

Very shortly after my cleaning product revelation came my enlightenment about personal products.  I packed up all our Pantene, Bath & Body Works, Johnson's and whatnot, and offered the fuller bottles to my mom and sister.  What they didn't absorb (no pun intended) got squirted into the garbage or the toilet, and the bottle recycled.  Ya, seriously, I stood there and emptied each bottle so I could recycle it.  Who DOES that?  Anyway, I was left with a few items I couldn't get rid of 'just in case' and of course I get stuff now and then that I'll never use...whether by gift or freebie or whatever.  These unusables get stashed away and forgotten.

In my quest to replace everything we ever use anywhere, there was definitely a trial and error process.  There have been numerous natural products that have not worked out, and end up sitting in a cabinet or closet.  Just because it's natural or non-toxic doesn't mean it's going to work or be the right product for us.  The Beebs and I found that out the hard way.  After a very scary incident with an allergic reaction to the 'Fragrance' in a Burt's Bees baby wash (97.3% natural!), and a very humorous incident (I wasn't the one laughing) with a face wash/lotion for me where I ended up looking like I had lobster-red sunburn on my face, I realized that not everything from the health food store is going to automatically be the right product. 

So the question is:  Where do your abandoned products go?

Well, I suppose we can call it the product graveyard.  I've definitely got one and to my husband's chagrin it is in the garage.  A big old cardboard box full of Windex, bleach, wipes, bathroom cleaners, kitchen cleaners, floor cleaners and more; all full of the type of chemicals that I do NOT allow in my house anymore.  Pretty much all my Shaklee cohorts have a similar box in their garage.  And those personal products...?  Lucky for me I've got a little extra storage space in the bathroom closet.  I'll never use that paraben-laden sunscreen on the kids, or the lotions, or makeup, or hair products, but there it sits.  I don't even use perfume, though I have half-dozen bottles of it sitting in the closet.

Crazy, you say?  I'll admit to a little crazy.  But the thing is...I've done a lot of research on this stuff.  I might seem paranoid or over-the-top to some, and others might say they are way too attached to their signature fragrance or mascara or favorite bathroom cleaner to ever give it up.  Fine.  I'm not trying to convince you to give up what you love.  Do what you want.  But be informed about what it is you are bringing into your home or putting on your body, especially if you have kids at home. I could use this opportunity to tell you how great and green and non-toxic everything Shaklee makes is and how that's mostly what we use now, but me selling you better products is not the point here. 

The point is simply:  When you've come to your senses and learned enough about the ill-effects chemicals can have on your family's health, and you replace all your bad stuff with good stuff, there is a solution for all those unused products!  And it's not that you have to stand at your garbage can squirting out six bottles of Johnson's baby lotion!

The easiest and most economical way to get rid of these chemicals is to use them up.  Then you can recycle the bottle and be done with it.  If you don't want to do that, and I don't blame you for not, read on.

Toxic products can't actually be recycled, per se.  Disposing of chemicals improperly can cause a lot of environmental problems like soil and water contamination...check out what happens from chemical runoff.  You can take your stuff to a hazardous waste collection facility, or most communities often host events for gathering all the unwanted products...and some even do it year-round.  Contact your village or your local solid waste or sanitation department to find out when and where you can take yours.  Hopefully there isn't some dude in each town with a garage full of cardboard boxes...

For anyone who didn't notice the first time...let me point out that these products are considered hazardous waste!  If they have to be taken to a hazardous waste collection facility to be disposed of...why are you using them in your home?!?!

To find out what products are bad, check out this awesome glossary, or visit EWG and Cosmetics Database. To get the green and non-toxic products that you now know are much better for you, go here. My intention is to educate you about healthier products so you can make better choices.  If your choices include Shaklee, great.  If not, that's ok too.  I am just as happy hearing that you learned something here and will stop using the toxic chemicals you've read about!!

Getting the Axe

A few years ago when I found out about dangerous chemicals in the home, aside from cleaning products, one of the first things I changed was the personal products we were using - shampoo, soap, lotions, etc.  I was surfing one day and came across a website you've probably heard of by now - Environmental Working Group or EWG.  These folks are fantastic and both their main and sister websites (Skin Deep Cosmetics Database) are so full of information, you could spend days just reading and reading.  Which, I did.  I read so much, used the database to search for the products I had at home to see their safety levels, read about which ingredients to avoid, etc.  I armed myself with knowledge that I have been using ever since.

I am careful when I shop for products that go on our bodies, because as safe as so many products may seem...they are not.  There are ingredients that cause cancer, endocrine disruption, asthma, allergies, reproductive toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation...I mean, WHAT???  These are popular grocery and department store brands!!  I don't want that stuff on me, let alone MY KIDS.  So, I became the soap nazi.  No chemicals for you! 

I've held onto this for quite a few years now...since Alex was probably 2, and he's 9 now.  So...he's 9 now.  Becoming independent, wanting to do what his friends do, following trends, and all that good stuff.  One of the things some of his friends do is use this oh-so-manly product called Axe.  I'm sure you've seen the fascinating commercials - a guy turns to chocolate and the girls eat him, and of course the 'clean balls' one.  If you haven't...feel free to youtube it, I'll wait here.

So there we are at the grocery store, and the boy wants to 'go smell Axe'.  I don't mind humoring him once in a while, so no biggie, we'll go smell Axe.  My first course of action is to read the label.  Upon picking up the bottle and turning it over, the first thing I notice is the Recommended Usage.  It has this nice little diagram done in the spirit of 'later, rinse, repeat'.  Axe's label basically says 'shower, and the girls will be on you like white on rice'.  But, not in so many words.  Check it out sometime.  I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. Alex looked a little hurt, like I was digging at him personally.  Moving on to the ingredient label, I didn't immediately see any of the red flag ingredients I commonly look for, which was VERY surprising.  'Fragrance' is always a concern, and of course that is practically the #1 ingredient.  Ok that's an exaggeration, but it should be...I mean, have you smelled this stuff?  I have and let me tell you, I started sneezing right there in the Man Aisle of Woodman's.  VERY potent stuff.

Naturally, there is no way I am going to buy this garbage and bring it into our house to pollute his little body...not to mention my indoor air quality.  I do NOT want my little boy to smell like 'a hunk of man candy'.  Completely inappropriate and unnecessary!  I think at this point he is under the impression that because he got me into the aisle, we will be taking home one of these offensive bottles of poison.  HA!  No way!

As we are lightly arguing about it, a man about my dad's age comes and stands in front of us at the Axe display, and starts smelling the different scents.  Alex grabs his favorite and throws it in the cart, then in true character informs me that the last item we need to get is Ding Dongs.  I inform him (and indirectly the man in the aisle) that if he uses this Axe garbage, he is going to smell like a ding dong.  His resolve to buy the product does not waver, but the man turns around laughing, puts the bottle of Axe back on the shelf and walks away!  Yay, one point for Bonnie!!

To make a long story short, Axe came home with us that day.  I know, I know, it is completely the opposite of everything I normally do and buy and believe in and everything else.  Once in a while I give in to the puppy-dog eyes and the lower lip and the please please please I'll do anything you want I'll clean my room every day and scoop the litter box and anything else please please PLEASE.  Well, not only does the boy use Axe every day, but dear husband (the traitor!) uses it too. As my dad would say, they walk around smelling like a couple of French Who-ers.

It's a funny thing, this resistance I get.  I'm only trying to do the best for them and keep them safe.  GOSH.  Why can't they just conform and not want the bad stuff?!  I don't know.  Maybe a couple more brainwashing sessions are in order (I got the boy to go Vegan for about two weeks once!).  Something has to be done though, cause one day I will set him loose on the rest of the world and hope he makes the right choices.

Someday he will have a family with kids who may resist him, and I will have to remind him of the time he got rebellious and resistant and used Axe body spray as air freshener in his room, then called out 'HA, MOM!  Now my room is HYDROGENATED!!'


*Shameless Shaklee plug:  Shaklee has a full line of SAFE products, including skin care, hair care, and body products.  Check it out Shaklee Personal Products

www.ewg.org