Some of My Favorite Things

Added at 10:53 pm: I should mention that if you go to my right bar, to Places I'd Like You to Know, you'll find several great links re: health, wellness and being green.

I was talking to some friends of mine the other day and we started talking about cleaning products. Yes, you missed a highly intellectual, scintillating conversation! But it did get to the interesting issue of the toxins that we have gotten used to using - or been convinced we need. What is it that you are smelling, touching, tasting, lathering that enter your (and your children's) bloodstream and into our groundwater and then into our drinking water back into our bellies instead of our kitchen counter? Do we have to use toxic sprays and "miracle" erasers that leave behind unknown residues? What ever happened to using good ole soap and water? Remember Ivory? 99 and 44/100 pure, it said. So, here are my favorite, earth-friendly, brain-friendly, bank-account friendly products that I love. LOVE. So, in honor of Earth Week:

Burt's Bees Products

I started using the Baby Bee line when Boo was . . . a baby. I didn't like the idea of questionable ingredients in the supposedly baby-friendly products getting into my baby's blood stream. And into his brain.

Then, I started using the adult lotions, too and found the Sensitive Skin one the best.Almost every lotion out there has "parabens." Though not scientifically linked to cancer, globs of them have been found in women's breast tissue. Cancerous or not, it's no picnic finding lumps of unknown globules in your booby.

At first, I wasn't thrilled with the fragrance because I was used to the artificial petroleum-based fragrances in conventional products. It's ironic to me now, that I had to get used to smells that God created for us. Now, I love the way they smell. I love the way they work, too.

The $9.99 price tag put me off a little at first, but I realized quickly it is well worth every drop. Plus, at CVS, you can save up points and use the coupons. I haven't used all the products but these three I am devoted to: Soothingly Sensitive lotion, the Baby Bee lotion and Royal Jelly Day Cream. I haven't been very impressed with their soaps (shampoo, shower gels) because they don't lather up enough for me.

I love Burt's Bees because in my mind, they have the highest overall score because they have a wide-ranging line, are readily accessible [I can get much of the product line at CVS and Giant, and the full line at the health-food store,] are reasonably priced and have a well-balanced philosophy. They were recently bought by Clorox, and I, like many others, were concerned about lowered quality, but I've decided what I need to watch out for is other Clorox items that they will try to sell-off as "green" or "natural" while they still contain plenty of toxins.


I was at a dinner for an area preservation group and got a sample of the all-purpose cleaner. I love the smell of citrus. If you don't, give these products a whiff anyway, because like I said above, the smells from natural oils is different than the artificial petroleum-based smells.

I love the laundry, dish, dishwasher and hand soaps as well as the all-purpose cleaner. I haven't tried anything else but I'm sure it'll be worth trying. I love the laundry soap because it really works great for me. I love the smell of the hand soap and it works just great. The dish soap? I have to say it doesn't seem to have the lasting power of, say, Dawn, but I am willing to compromise a little for what I get in return. Same with the all-purpose. I can usually find them at my regular grocery store.

Nicole, over at A Mommy's Musings, is having a great Sun & Earth giveaway so check out her blog before the 30th!***

If there's something that's really tough to get out, I may need to use another product, but I've still decreased the toxin level in my home. That is my goal: REDUCTION. I can't rid the world nor can I adjust my life enough to become toxin-free, but I'm going to do my best.

Dr. Bronner's Products

This guy - Dr. Bronner - a real guy - dead, but real - has got to have the wierdest philosophy /religion. And he tells you about it on each bottle of his pure vegetable-based castille soap. I found this by chance while browsing at the health food store for a non-toxic soap. I had been reading about all the crap that are in soaps and wanted to reduce putting crap in our bloodstreams and crap in our streams.

Look, I know just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe. I mean, arsenic is natural, isn't it? But look at the ingredients to the Tea Tree soap:

Water, saponified organic coconut, olive, jojoba and hemp oils, tea tree extract, citric acid and viitamin E.

That's it. No, I didn't miss any ingredients. No preservatives, no fragrances, no parabens.

Hubs uses the Tea Tree and Boo uses the Almond. The Tea Tree has enough of the naturally anti-bacterial tea tree oil to really make an impact on HH's cleanliness. You will notice a difference in your, um, "aura," shall we say, after a stressful day, or after a baseball game, having used the tea tree soap.

I have to warn you, it takes some getting used to. It is very thin because they don't use any stuff to make it "rich and creamy." But don't be fooled - it is as effective and probably more long-lasting than the chemical-laden creamy stuff you're used to. Creamy and lathery don't equal Clean. The chemicals that make the product lather is not a cleansing product. You have to get used to pumping just a little bit onto your hands and then - watch it just stretch and stretch and stretch.

It's eaier being green these days!

. . . brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things! La-la laaa laaa, mmm-hm hmmm-mm. . . .

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