Archive for August, 2008

August 30, 2008 | Water

Nature Moms is giving away 2 reusable bottles - one for adults and one for kids. She’s got a great review up, and you can check it out here. Go visit her - it’s an awesome blog. But please don’t enter to win - you’ll weaken my chances of winning!

August 28, 2008 | Shopping

Well, when you have 3 kids below school age, washing bottles and sippy cups becomes a major part of day-to-day life. Questions like how clean the brush stays, where to store it, width of bristles ergonomic design - there’s no end to the frustrations of finding a good bottle brush. And with kid #1 we must have gone through 8-9 different brushes. And then - Eureka! - we stumbled onto the Deluxe Munchkin bottle and nipple brush (and no, they’re not paying me a cent to say any of this). It has lasted through 3 babies. 

It works great for most of our bottles. The only exception is the long narrow-necked bottles (like Mr. Brown’s, which we don’t use anymore since they’re BPA-laden).  The handle is long enough to reach down into standard, wide mouthed 9-oz bottles and 9-oz sippy cups. The nipple brush twists out of the handle and the bristles are sturdy enough to scrub with, but flexible to fit in tight spaces like the valve-holder in sippy cups. When you put the nipple brush back into the handle, there’s a nice suction cup at the bottom so that you can stand the brush up on the countertop or sink (for proper draining and air-drying - cutting down on bacteria and fungal growth). 

 

August 21, 2008 | Hiring help

“… but she came highly recommended,” “… she earned my total trust…”

We’ve heard it too many times. People look and look for a housekeeper they feel comfortable with. They get recommendations, use caution, maybe even do a background check. And then they hire someone and gives them keys to their house, invite the person into their life, and assume that respect and trust will be a two-way street.

It brings to mind a story from a few years ago. There was a housekeeper to the stars - she worked exclusively for celebrities and was presumably paid very well - and she was caught stealing from several of them. This is a referral-based community and she was trusted by a large number of people. Unfortunately her excuse was “I never stole from the nice celebrities.” In other words, those who weren’t ‘nice’ by her definition pushed her to steal from them. After many years of trusted service, she was found to have stolen from numerous celebrities.

There’s another type of theft appearing these days that’s even more worrisome. Home contractors, nannies, and housekeepers have been known to steal medications from their clients. At a time when prescription drugs are at a premium and healthcare costs are exorbitant, it’s no wonder that thieves have evolved into the drug trade business.

What can you do to protect yourself? Only hire insured, licensed companies. Sure, bonding sounds nice, but it’s rarely any help. What you need is general liability insurance, and you need to ask for proof of it. Any company worth working with will provide you with proof of insurance. Check out the consumer education section of the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International for more information about hiring a housekeeper. You’ll want to look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and the link to Locate a cleaning service will list any cleaning service in your area that’s a member of the organization. (Hint: we’re listed there too, as Gwinnett and North Fulton’s premiere green housekeepers.)

August 20, 2008 | Being Green

Are you in the process of switching to greener cleaners? The Green Guide, published by National Geographic, just published this article on how to get rid of the old chemicals you don’t want anymore. We don’t want them in our landfills or our waterways, so this is important. Head on over if you have any chemical-based cleaners you want out from under your sink.

August 6, 2008 | Kitchen, Food & drink, Bleach alternatives, Vinegar, Cleaning tips, Essential oils, Cleaning products

There’s nothing better than creating a home cooked meal from scratch, using the season’s finest and freshest to bring the most flavor to the table. But unless you’re a vegetarian you probably also have raw meat you’ll be chopping now and then, and potentially leaving dangerous germs on your chopping block.   Here’s what we suggest:

 

1. Use different cutting boards for different purposes. One for non-meats and cooked items only, one for fish, and one for raw red and white meat. This will keep you from cross contaminating, and even if a germ or two is spread from one meat to the next, you’re going to thoroughly cook the meat and sterilize that stray germ.
2. As the CDC recommends, soap and water is sufficient for most purposes, including hand washing and cleaning dishes and cutting boards. Hot, soapy water will do the trick for most kitchens. Just make sure you’re actually scrubbing and not just giving a cursory swipe. Alternatively, use your dishwasher and eco-friendly dishwashing detergent. The level of sustained heat in the dishwasher will kill most everything.
3. A two-step process involving a spray of hydrogen peroxide followed by a spray of vinegar, with each left to sit for 10 minutes will properly disinfect. The key though is leaving it to sit. Even the best product is useless if not used correctly.
4. Essential oil of lavender - about 20 drops to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle will disinfect quite well and leave your home smelling like spring year round! This is safe enough to spray directly on your kids’ toys and other food-prep surfaces, which makes it one of our favorites. In fact, studies show that essential oils may disinfect more effectively than phenol, which is what most disinfectants use today. Additionally, they don’t seem to contribute to the development of drug resistant strains of bugs like regular antibacterials do.
5. Microwave it! I’m serious. If you’re concerned that your cutting board may be compromised and if it’s wood, put it in the microwave a zap it for 10 minutes. Your cutting board will be clean, but use caution getting it out - depending on the type of wood and level of moisture present it could be hot. This doesn’t work on plastic cutting boards though, so don’t waste your time.

Thanks to Mollie over at One/Change for a few of those tips.  If you’re in the market for a new cutting board, opt for wood. New studies show that wood cutting boards don’t harbor bacteria the way plastic boards do. Due to the capillary of dry wood, microbes disappear below the surface where they die within a few hours. Plastic on the other hand allow microbes to sit on the surface where they can contaminate the next item. And please, avoid those “antibacterial” cutting boards like the plague - they’re treated with a pesticide and do you really want to introduce pesticides into your kitchen? Add in the fact that FDA is attacking the claims of the effectiveness of those pesticides, and it’s really not worth it.

August 1, 2008 | Cleaning tips

My first-born had a little issue with car sickness when she was a baby. It started right around the time we turned her carseat around to be forward-facing, and it continued about a year. During that time, I developed some creative solutions to cope with messiness on our outings.

1. Keep an ‘emergency box’ in the trunk - complete with clean clothes, a plastic bag for soiled clothes, a small bottle of water, and a packet of crackers. If your child is old enough keep a can of ginger ale there too.
2. Keep a cleaning kit in the trunk too - paper towels are easier than cleaning rags when you’re on the go; baby wipes, and a disinfectant that will fight odors - something with lavender or eucalyptus.
3. Line the floor and seat with towels just in case.
4. Every kid loves a lollipop. The preggo pops they sell at maternity stores have ginger in them and may help with non-pregnancy related nausea too.
5. Mine was too young, but older kids may benefit from the motion sickness wristbands.

The key to cleaning up the mess is getting to it quickly and using plenty of fresh air. Heat will accelerate the ’stinkifying’ so keep the car out of direct sun until it’s all well cleaned.