Ants on a log…

The holidays can easily seem overwhelming.  As a mother of two small children I know how challenging it can sometimes be to keep a patient and cheerful attitude when your list of chores is longer than Santa's list of good little girls and boys.  However, I encountered a brief moment of that good-mom feeling when choosing for the children a healthy snack paired with a lively song over the less eco-friendly option of tossing them a kid sized package of some  processed health food imposter. 

"The ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah... the ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah... the ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to play his drum, and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out, of the rain...the ants go marching two by two hoorah, hoorah..."  I sang while decorating peanut butter slathered celery with little ant-raisins.  They both lit up like tree angels and never questioned the green-ness of the celery. 

To continue the song, just make sure the little ant always does something that rhymes with the number you're on.  Maybe the song has traditional words, but I'm sure whatever you and your kids come up with will be more fun!

Make your own Waldorf play kitchen

This being the season of gift giving, I'd love to share with you some of my favorite eco-friendly gift ideas.  My son's are getting a wood play kitchen like the very wholesome looking ones in the waldorf style toy catalogs.  However, to save money and just for fun, I'm making it myself from mostly reclaimed materials.

First, I've used an old cutting board for the stove top.  I just turned on the burner of the stove (electric) on high and burned burner shapes on the cutting board by holding it upside down and pressing it on the burner for a few seconds.  Then I placed that on top of an old night stand and voila! instant stove top.  Next I attached a piece of wood cut to the shape of the front of the night stand w/ cabinet door hinges. You can also cut a little window out and add a small handle of some sort.

For the sink I used another piece of old furniture, an old tvstand and cut out a hole in the top to place a stainless steel bowl for the sink, then I cut a wooden dowl to the general shape of a spout and added two small drawer pulls for sink knobs.  Last, I used peel and stick floor tile for the "counter top" and put it all around the sink.  It's really cool!  Honestly, I spent less than $50 on this endeavor and it was a lot of fun to make.  I can't wait to give it to them at Christmas!

Welcome to the birth!

Halo Earth loving shoppers,
Welcome to Eve's Ecopinions. Each week I will be posting a wealth of information on the products that I use and buy for my family.   When your kid needs a new pair of shoes, do you think about the children who might have been exploited in making them?  When purchase a water bottle, do you wonder what kind of chemicals might leached into your drink?  When it's time for a new winter coat, would you support a company that gives back to the planet?  Do you wish there were more fashionable organic clothes?  Do you wonder if any being's were harmed in the making of your cosmetics?  Would you love to buy beauty products that come highly recommended by someone with obsessively high standards?   If you are like me, you care about the impact of the items bring into your home.  This blog is for you, welcome!
 
In addition to my daily rant, there will be a summary and product rating at the end of each post for those who wish to get straight to the point.  Each product will be rated on quality, performance, material composition, sustainability in manufacturing, packaging, recycling ability, and company values such as social responsibility.  
 
Let's get started!  My favorite gift to give this year, for every birthday, parents day and just because, has been received with much gratitude and enjoyment.  It all started when I was pursuing a website called "life without plastic .com" and become informed of the contaminants in the plastics we use everyday.  This site also has a very informative section on the numbers of plastics and what they mean.  Basically, the lower the number the softer the plastic. This is why most cities readily recycle 1 and 2 plastics only.  The higher the number, the harder the plastic.   These higher number plastics have been the most popular for reusable drinking bottles until recently when the news hit that they contain a toxic chemical called BPA.  You all hear the news, so I won't go on about it here.  Follow this link for more info: (don't have link yet) 
 
So, after reading that site and realizing that it's possible that there are chemicals in plastics whose affects are still unknown, I indiscrimatly threw out all of the plastics in our home.  Including the double wall plastic monkey cup with the floating bananas in the wall that I just bought for my 3 year old that very day.  Amazingly though, he is used to such radical behaviour from his Mama and totally understood when I said "Sorry honey, but it might have bad chemicals in it."  He's a cool kid.  People still look at us weird when they overhear him in the store asking "Mommy, was this made in China?" 
 
Now, how would we stay hydrated in the global warming induced, scorching hot summer sun without our reverse-osmosis-filtered-water filled polycarbonate bottles?? My son's favorite sippy cups were on the BPA recall list!  I was in a panic!  Then, I visited the eco-shoppers urban heaven: Park and Vine store in Cincinnati, Oh.  There were water bottles made of stainless steel and in all sizes!  However, I couldn't get over the price or the thought of drinking sun warmed water after just a few hours leaving my bottle in the car while shopping.  I was even enticed by SIGG bottles with their cute characters and option of various drinking spouts. Even being endorsed by Julia Robers on Oprah though, wasn't enough to make me get over my suspicion of those mysterious liners that are intended to protect you from the aluminum.  Whew!  What's a concerned and thirsty eco-mamma to do?
 

Then, the answer.  After minutes of online searching, I found it: Thermos brand Hydration Bottles! Vacuum sealed double wall insulation, stainless steel interior and out, even the plastic spout and lid are BPA free.  At the time these handsome bottles could only be found at Walgreens, but now Target sells them in 2 sizes and colors.  For those of you who avoid florecent lights at all costs, yours can be found at Amazon . com at the following link:   I bought one for me and one for my husband.   I also discovered another little wonder, the child's version: Thermos Funtainer.  Like the adult bottles, these 12 oz bottles are vacuum sealed and keep their drinks cold all day.  I love these little wonders so much that I have purchased 4 so far.  Well, also because the four year old and one year old have dropped/thrown them so many times that the lids have all broken off.  These would be perfect for kids who are old enough to hold on to things.  For babies Thermos also makes a stainless steel, double wall insulated, no-spill sippy cup!  It's called Foogo by Thermos which I also bought and loved but passed on to my neighbor's drink-tossing one year old because my baby prefers to drink from a straw. 
 
So far I've given away Thermos Brand hydration bottles to 4 of my family members and heres the feedback:  

Eco Product Rating Thermos brand Hydration Bottle Quality Performance Material Composition Sustainability in manufacturing unknown Packaging Recyclability Company Values

For quality and performance, these bottles are tops!  As for the broken plastic caps, it would be nice if the company offered replacement parts (the sell the replacement straw, not the caps) however, my boys are still young and the Funtainer bottles are intened for school age children.  The Foogo sippy cups would have been a better option for them as they are virtually indestructable.  Also, Thermos has recently changed the packaging for the Foogo sippy cups from the plastic encasing to a recyclable paper box.  (Props Thermos!) The Hydration Bottle and Funtainer have no packaging at all!