Innate Stainless Steel

Trying to avoid plastic can be a real challenge.  In my search for convenient options I found Innate.  They make a whole line of stainless steel items.  Everything from sippy cups and adult re-usable bottles to a very intriguing line of portable food containers.

I tried the Innate Me-Me cup and we are very pleased with it.  The lid is #5 polypropylene.   Children can graduate using the A-B-C modular drinking system as they get older so the cup can grow with them and you aren’t stuck buying another cup as soon as they outgrow the sippy spout.  The only cons I can think of is the little raised handle on top of the cup.  It is a slightly awkward design but nothing that would keep us from using the cup.

I also tried out the Commercial Drive.  It is one of the few insulated stainless steel containers that I have found.  They suggest you use the lid as a cup but the lid is very small.  They refer it to a “shot glass”.    You can drink straight out of the base, though that leaves you with an open cup.  Using this in the car might be a little unwieldy.  But if you want a small container to carry hot drinks or soup, then this would work well.  The quality is very good and it feels quite sturdy.

Product Review: Bio-bags

This is a guest review on the Bio-bags by Gina Ritter @ http://www.ginaritter.com

My husband and I were excited to receive BioBags for review. He and I are both quickly becoming garbage junkies. He describes the flora, fauna and insect life in our compost bin on a weekly basis, and I stare triumphantly at my never-full trash bin on garbage day. In fact, I’ve begun putting garbage out only twice a month to save a stop from the fossil fuel guzzling garbage truck.

BioBags are touted to be the “leading selling biodegradable and compostable bags in the world.” They’re also said to be “widely used by municipalities who have composting programs, such as the City of San Francisco, the City of Boulder (CO), the City of Columbus (OH) and several large communities throughout Europe.”

Fabulous. However, much as we love the thought of using them, you should know that they don’t fit the standard 13-gallon trash bin like other bags. We’ve yet to get one to fit the top of the bin and stay there. It’s more inconvenient when you have kids who don’t care to patiently move a folded in corner of bag before dropping their trash. These bags may fit a round trash bin better at the top (ours is rectangular), but they’re still shorter/smaller than your average 13 gallon bag.

Still, we’re happy using bags that are made from polymers derived from corn, which just so happens to be a huge industry in the United States and is therefore an annually renewable resource. No petroleum!

I thought for sure the bags would be thin and useless, but they’re really quite sturdy. I doubt they would hold up to glass and what-not, but your average garbage is no problem.

They should also be good for organic waste, since the bag will compost with the leaves or food. I haven’t yet tested whether they will indeed compost within 30-60 days as promised. I have no reason not to believe them; I just want to hoard what I have for myself in the kitchen since I shovel or bucket my scraps and yard waste into the outdoor bins instead.

Of course they’re more expensive than your typical petroleum-based garbage bag. But we change out the 13 gallon bag less than twice a week and the rest goes in our compost or recycling bin (which is twice the size of our trash bin). Were you living state where they recycle much less, you will need to choose between cost and conscience.

I’d give them 5 stars overall with a 4 star caveat due to fit.

Published in:  on January 31, 2010 at 12:42 PM Leave a Comment
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Mountain Buggy Strollers: Fire-retardant free

Could I have actually found another fire-retardant free stroller?  Indeed, it appears that I have.

I took quite a number of emails but they finally responded with this simple email.

My email:
Subject: materials question

Can you tell me if your strollers (ones sold in the US) are treated with
fire retardants? If so, which one is used?
Thank you!

Their response:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you – to answer your question, No they are not.  Only UK models require the fire retardant.

Published in:  on January 15, 2010 at 6:27 PM Leave a Comment
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Great news!

First I want to apologize for not blogging as much lately.

Now for the great news… I am 10 weeks pregnant.  I have been pretty sick and run down so I haven’t had much energy to write here.

Give me a couple more weeks and I should be back to more regular posting and I have a couple of giveaways coming up.

Published in:  on July 20, 2009 at 9:36 PM Leave a Comment

2009 Suncreen Guide

Environmental Working Group just released their 2009 Sunscreen Guide.

Published in:  on July 5, 2009 at 6:24 PM Leave a Comment
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Guyot Designs Giveaway Winner

According to Random.org the winner is #11.

Congratulations, Scarlet Smith!

Published in:  on June 21, 2009 at 12:24 PM Comments (1)

Giveaway! Guyot Designs Standard 38 ounce stainless steel bottle!

Just comment here and you will be entered to win, no strings attached!

Same rules as last one, if you blog, twitter or Facebook this link let me know and you will be entered again.

You will LOVE this bottle!

This will close Friday at 5;00pm EST.  The winner will have one week to respond with their address, or I will move on to the next person.  Thanks!

Published in:  on June 15, 2009 at 11:54 AM Comments (19)
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Interesting take on Vaccine Injuries

Dr. Andrew Mouldin, a Canadian doctor, has concluded in his studies that vaccines cause micro-vascular strokes.

Here is the story.

This bit was requested after I posted this on Facebook.  I have edited and added links to back up what I was saying, but it will still seem a little disjointed since it was taken from separate comments.  Feel free to ask questions about where I got the information or anything else you would like to know.

All current vaccines list numerous possible side effects including death. The Vaccine Reaction Compensation Fund has paid out 1.8 BILLION dollars in the last decade or so, and that isn’t even scratching the surface of people injured.

If a Dr. refuses to diagnose a reaction as a vaccine reaction then it never hits the Vaccine Reaction report, unless a parent or guardian reports it. It is thought that less than 10% of reactions are ever reported. That does include deaths that are passed off as SIDS. (If you think you or your child have ever had a reaction this FAQ tells you how to report is yourself. )

If you are considering not vaccinating or haven’t vaccinated your child, you will hear the statement that, not being vaccinated causes deaths.  Actually, it is the disease that can cause the death, not the lack of vaccine. Vaccines are not 100% effective. Therefore, a child that is vaccinated can become ill or even die from the same disease that a child that isn’t vaccinated. Many of the vaccines being given now carry an efficacy rate as low as 30%.

I am not arguing that not being vaccinated carries no risk. I am simply stating that being vaccinated does carry a much much larger risk than the general population wants to believe.

The whole concept of injecting a disease into muscle, along with numerous toxic chemicals to build immunity to a disease that is caught through surface contact, also blows my mind. If a vaccine was introduced the same way that the original disease was, without the toxic chemicals, it would be much safer.

The number of required vaccines has skyrocketed in just one generation.  Why?

When I was little I was required to have 11 vaccines to be fully vaccinated by school age. Now, they require over 30 to be fully vaccinated by preschool. That is tripling the load on a child’s body and brain and it isn’t as spread out as it used to be.  The CDC has published a 34 page manual about vaccine contraindications.

Another aspect is that the blood/brain barrier in an infant isn’t fully developed until they are at least 6 months old. By that age, a fully vaccinated child would have at least 3 rounds of vaccines.  A baby’s immune system is not fully developed until around 6 months old.  A baby gets its antibodies from the placenta and from breast milk.   A baby doesn’t start producing its own antibodies at all until 2-3 months old.  Yet, the immunization schedule has 2 rounds of vaccines by then.  Why would they immunize a baby too young to even produce the antibodies that the vaccines are supposed to stimulate?

These vaccines are also grown and strained through animal or human tissue like monkey kidney tissue, chicken embryo, embryonic guinea pig cells, calf serum, human diploid cells (the dissected organs of aborted fetuses as in the case of rubella, hepatitis A, and chickenpox vaccines), among other startling ingredients.

Vaccines may have had some benefit but they are given credit for a reduction in diseases that they didn’t actually reduce. The industrialization of a country leads to more wealth and reduces slums. When the slums are eradicated, the disease numbers reduce dramatically without the vaccines being in play.This day and age, Vaccine manufacturers are ruled by the almighty dollar.  There was one manufacturer that discovered in Oct (2007, I believe, I am still looking for the link to the story) that a certain batch of vaccines were “hot”, causing illness and maybe even death.  The news story that I read this on, was talking about how wonderful this company was since they voluntarily recalled the bad batch of vaccines IN DECEMBER.   Do you see the problem I have with this?  They allowed those bad vaccines to be administered for TWO months before they did anything about it, yet, somehow they were still coming out as the good guy in the new story.

Some links of interest:

Article written by Robert F Kennedy Jr

Another Article by Robert F Kennedy Jr

National Vaccine Information Center

Think Twice

Compilation thread on Mothering.com

The Vaccine Guide This is a fairly unbiased book about each vaccine and the disease.

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations, written by Stephanie Cave, MD

Published in:  on June 10, 2009 at 5:10 PM Comments (2)
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PVC-free Kiddie Pools

I have been searching for pools for 4 months now.  I really try to avoid plastic as much as possible but I haven’t found a glass or wooden pool. haha.

There are the #2 (polyethylene) pools at the local department stores but I wasn’t happy with them.  They seemed flimsy in some cases and way too expensive in others.  I did find one I liked but it had an elephant sprinkler in the middle that took up most of the pool.   The ones with slides would be great for an older child but a slide with no sides doesn’t bode well for a year and a half old little.

I was also looking for a pool that 2 toddlers could play in without drowning each other.   Another desire was one with a shade and even maybe one I could sit in with the little because, after all, who wants to sit in the sun in 90 degree weather watching someone else have fun in a pool?

The biggest requirement of all though, was that the pool be PVC-free.

I found that pool at Domestications.  It is on its way to me now, so I can’t give a review but I will add my opinion on it in the comments once we get it set up.

I also like the idea that the pool can be used as a sandbox, as well.   We have an unfinished basement and the idea of a sandbox in the basement for the really cold days this winter sounds like fun, although if I love the pool, I might have to buy a second one for future sandbox use.

The pool is made in India and the canopy is polyethylene like the pool.

Another, more expensive, type of pool that I found are stock tanks.  But since my little is too little to play independantly in deep water, I decided to wait.

I did find another pool company that offers polyethylene, but they seem to have disappeared on me.  If I find them again I will edit the link in.

Guyot Designs Goes Carbon Negative & Product Review

From their site:

Everything we do has an impact.

When you buy a product, you’re buying more than just that product. You’re buying and supporting everything that’s gone into that product — the good and the bad.

With C-Minus™ we’re taking a big bite out of the bad.

Buying a Guyot Designs C-Minus™ product is a vote of support for corporate, environmental and personal responsibility.

Display yours with pride knowing that each of our C-Minus™ products comes bundled with more than enough green house gas offsets to, well, offset the negative impact of their manufacture.

Beyond Carbon Neutral

C-minus is a departure from the current trend toward “carbon neutral”. We are taking it a step further by making our products carbon negative and we are giving you, our customers, full visibility into the process.

Detailed Verification

When we make a product within our C-Minus™ program it receives a unique serial number. You can use the serial number on our web site to find the specific sales transaction that purchased and retired the offsets. Search for the serial number on our site and you’ll have access to the transaction records, detailed verification reports, and the scientific assumptions that went into the generation of the offset.

The C-minus™ program was designed in conjunction with the Environmental Resources Trust (www.ert.net) a Washington, D.C. based 501c3 non-profit that provides rigorous evaluations of offset projects. Guyot Designs has purchased and retired offsets through ERT’s greenhouse registry.

Effective Solutions

For current C-Minus™ products we’ve purchased offsets from Commonwealth Resource Management which captures methane from old landfills to generate electricity. To learn more, click here.

I have to tell you that I love, love, love their stainless steel bottles.  They have a quart size.  They have a wide mouth.  The lids are tethered to the bottle.  They are sturdy without weighing 2 pounds.  The commuter fits into my stroller cup holders!  They are just perfect in every way!  I really tried to come up with something on the negative side to keep this a balanced review and I couldn’t.  I have gotten a couple of strange looks from my friends and family when I start raving about this bottle.  These bottles are perfect for anyone anywhere.   The do offer a handle that attaches to it but were out when I got mine, so I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

The squishy bowls are loved by my little.  He does everything from carry balls around in them, try to sit on them, to actually using them for eating.

The micro-bites carry a c-minus rating as well and are really good travel and camping utensils.   My set are going to live in my glove compartment and have already come in handy a time or two.

Their products are ethically made in China.  I haven’t been able to find a steel bottle that isn’t.

Published in:  on June 3, 2009 at 10:18 PM Comments (1)
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