Eco-friendly tips

I keep hearing reports on NPR about BPA and all the harm it causes i.e., diabetes, heart disease, etc... so I decided we're not supporting BPA anymore. I am giving the old hand-me-down sippy cups to Goodwill and buying a BPA-free one for CB. He still doesn't drink water or juice or anything from it but he likes to play with it and someday he will. I'm very tempted to buy a stainless steel one, but for now the near $20 price tag is keeping me from doing that. I'm also getting rid of our Rubbermaid storage containers and am replacing them with glass. They have some cool ones here and here.

The second tip is probably obvious to most but for some reason I had never thought of it. When I am going to give Boozie a bath I always let the water run until it gets warm and then start filling the tub. The other day I thought, "why don't I just plug the tub right when I turn the water on and then when it gets hot it will just mix in the tub and be warm without wasting any?" So I did that and told T and he said "ya, I always do that". And he thought everyone did that. Maybe everyone does but me. But I'm glad I'm on the bandwagon now, too.

The one I'm having a problem with is a nonstick pan. I keep reading that Teflon is carcinogenic so I'm looking for a safe nonstick pan but haven't had any luck.


Boozie after bathtime

Korto + YouTube

Yesterday was a great day. The morning was the Susan G Komen Race which I love running in every year. This year, Little Rock was officially the largest race in the nation with 46,000 women participants! It was crazy but fun. After the race there are always tons of activities around town like discounts at stores, lunches, etc... One of the things was a meet and greet with Korto Momolu from Project Runway. It was at this fabulous store called Box Turtle that has all kinds of home decor, clothes, jewelry, and other stuff from local artists and smallish names. I went and got to talk to Korto and take a picture with her. She was so cool and now I can't wait for the PR Finale. Most of her collection that was for sale was super expensive (like $550 for a purse, $450 for a dress) but they were selling these cool tshirts for $25. So I bought one. The problem is they didn't have my size so I bought the next size up thinking it'd be fine. I tried it on today and it's a tent. Boo. It's so cool. So I thought, I bet I can alter this somehow to make it smaller. So I type in "t-shirt alteration" into google and what do you know, there are like 20+ YouTube videos on how to make my "large, boxy" t into a fab fitted t. I'm just amazed at how many things are on YouTube. This one video was a chick in her bathroom with her sewing maching because they "don't have a kitchen table and the bathroom counter is the only large flat space for her to work". Some other chick made one with lacing up the sides. Not really my style. But there were a few easy ways to make it fit better. Can't wait to get started.

3, 2, 1... Blastoff!

While driving home from work this morning I heard yet another unbelievable story on NPR. This dude is the son of an astronaut and he makes video games. He's made millions of dollars and so, in this recessed on-the-verge-of-depression economy, he finds nothing better to do with 30 million dollars than to pay the Russian Space Agency for a trip to space. I guess I'm more on the socialist end of the spectrum because I find this absolutely unbelievable. But I guess this is America, the land of opportunity, and so from hard work sometimes comes tons of money with which one may do what he pleases.

Other wealthy space visitors? Dennis Tito (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Mark Shuttleworth (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Gregory Olson (Entrepreneur Scientist- paid $20 mill), Anousheh Ansari (Businesswoman- paid $21 mill, Charles Simonyi (created Microsoft Word & Excel- paid $25 mill). And yes, Lance Bass of N'Sync wanted to fly and had it planned and was trained, but he failed to produce the $20 mill so he didn't get to.

And in case you have an extra $30 mill lying around and also wanted to do this, flights are sold out through 2009!
If you want to read more, check out Anousheh's blog on the experience.

Purple

Who does Boozie love? Cougs or Utes? The verdict is...




He bleeds purple. And yes, T is dying over the Coug gear.


Oh yes, and he also loves those Hogs. Woo Pig Sooie.

10-year

BDogg & Mike are getting ready to have a baby in a few weeks so he got to practice with CB

BDogg sent me some pics from the 10-year reunion so due to many requests, I thought I'd post some. We didn't take many at the actual event, but we should have. I picture a Nelson Reunion picture would have been totally fab. Oh well. There's always the 20-year. :)

Getting ready is always the most fun part!

Chipmunk Cheeks

My sister just posted this pic of Boozie and a comment about how he's storing nuts for winter. It reminded me of two hilarious stories that happened recently. One was when we were in North Carolina for the Annual BBQ. It was Owie's first time meeting CB and with his darling little lisp he said, "Emy, Chuck-th chubby". We still quote it and laugh about it today. Yeth Owie, Chuck ith chubby.

Second story: The other day T was out running errands for work and one of his errands was to find a pink tie. I told him that we were going to be at TJ Maxx in a bit and he said he'd meet us there to look for his pink tie. Boozie was in the sling and I was just wandering around making sure no screamin deals were passing me up. T arrived and came over to us to say hello. "What's in his mouth?" he asked. "Nothing should be," I said, a little alarmed as I imagined what he grabbed from a shelf at TJ Maxx and put in his mouth. "Yes, there's something green in there." We pried open his mouth and found a pea. I started laughing. It was what I had fed him for lunch about 2 hours earlier and apparently, he was storing it for a snack for later. So in case you were wondering what he's storing in those chubby little cheeks, it's peas. He's such a funny little chipmunk.

Tainted Milk

I was driving home from work the other morning and heard the most outrageous NPR report ever. Apparently in China the dairies test the milk from smaller dairies to see if it meets their standards and then they'll buy it. The standards are protein content, vitamin content, etc... The standards are very high and almost impossible to meet, dairy farmers claimed. So for years dairies have been adulterating the milk so it would pass the inspection and so they would get paid more for it. Some of the additives discovered are formaldehyde (!), fat powder, antibiotics (!!), whey powder, etc... Unbelievable. Tens of thousands of kids have gotten sick from the milk. Surprisingly, ingesting formaldehyde would make one sick. I wonder if that ever happens in the States. Hurray for soy milk.