Green things

Cute fabrics

2011-01-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

Black Friday Fabric Shopping

2010-11-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

Me and my helpers were up early on Black Friday to hit the fabric store and the great deals they had on flannel and fleece. The boys put themselves to bed to hang out with me early that morning. After three hours in the store they were beat and we went to breakfast at Atlanta Bread Company. The weather was getting nasty but we got out to Walmart to get our snaps. Good thing the crowd was gone and Walmart was easy to get in and out of. Now you have to check out our new pad selection. We got some great prints :)

I can't use my cute bags anymore!!

2010-11-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

An investigation by The Tampa Tribune, which is owned by WKRG's parent company Media General, found lead in bags purchased at Winn-Dixie, Publix, Walmart and Target.

TAMPA, Florida - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has opened an official probe into reusable grocery bags, following a Tampa Tribune report that found some highly decorated bags contained elevated levels of lead.

Some of the most decorated bags showed levels of lead that alarmed health advocates and could require special handling before ultimately being thrown out and put into landfills. Generally, plainer bags with no illustrations had almost no lead.

This week, officials from the FDA's food safety group started gathering information on tests of reusable grocery bags. And FDA spokespeople confirmed they're looking into the matter in response to a request from U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Schumer was among several politicians who raised alarm bells after the Tribune reported on the issue of lead in bags.

Also, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor called on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate the issue, and has called for hearings in the House of Representatives. Lead is considered a toxin, and can cause learning disabilities in children and fertility problems in adults.

FDA officials noted that they've looked into lead in consumer products before, and in July 2006 warned manufacturers and retailers that lead was showing up in children's lunchboxes that could contaminate food inside.

"By contrast there are not enough details yet available about the analysis performed on these shopping bags to determine whether there is any risk of food contamination," FDA spokesman Douglas Karas said. If substances used to color the outside of bags contained lead, Karas said there was "little to no likelihood" of migrating to food inside. Nevertheless, the FDA is starting to seek out more information, Karas said.

Tribune tests found elevated levels of lead in bags at Publix and Winn-Dixie. Following the Tribune reports, Winn-Dixie stopped selling any of their reusable bags, and pulled existing bags from the shelf as a precaution. (Other reusable bags such as hot/cold pack bags are still on sale.)

Publix officials say their bags comply with current federal laws, but are happy to offer refunds to customers with concernshttp://www.wkrg.com/consumer/article/fda-opens-investigation-into-reusable-grocery-bags/1202663/Nov-18-2010_3-23-pm/

Giveaway

2010-11-12T10:32:00.001-08:00

Check out our giveaway on our facebook page!!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Have a great and safe Halloween!!!!

Giveaway

2010-10-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Once we reach 400 fans on our facebook page we are doing a giveaway of our Pink Ribbon Pad. 39 more to go!!!!

Hello Kitty Pads

2010-10-20T07:50:00.001-07:00

I found some Hello Kitty fabric!!!

New Website!!

2010-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Check out the new website. I am so happy that it is done!! http://www.gentlecyclepads.com/

Cute fabrics

2010-10-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

This month we added a few more fabrics. Halloween, peace frogs, owls, and breast cancer awareness. Loved the owls and frogs so much that I added them to my facebook landing page. Check out our ebay and facebook store and fall in love with cloth pads.

Breast Cancer Awareness month!

2010-10-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I went to a dental seminar a few years ago. The man teaching the class was talking about how his wife had breast cancer. One man asked "what do you think caused it" He told the class he thought it may have been from plastic water bottles. She used them a lot and drove around with them in her car. I love that more information is coming out for people to know what plastics are doing to them. A few good tips to remember. Never reuse your plastic water bottles and Never keep them in a hot car and then drink from them. I am proud to say Gentle Cycle Pads does not contain any plastic like pul. Check out our Susan G. Komen for the Cure auctions on Ebay. This month we are putting up breast cancer awarness pads and 10% is going to the organization.

Take a look around your house

2010-09-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

In my house we always try to use products that don't contain a lot of harsh chemicals. Organic is something I look for on a package when I go to buy it. Its doesn't happen all the time. There are still tons of things that you cant buy that are organic, or when you can they cost so much you cant afford it. But I do think the more people buy organic the more companies will wake up and make our foods safer. Just like the fighting going on about salmon. People are waking up to what companies want to do to us.

Just in time for Halloween-Frankenfish

2010-09-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

The FDA wants to approve genetically modified salmon. Once approved consumers will not know. The company is urging that no labels be placed on the salmon so the public will not know the difference. The FDA does allow companies to not label modified food unless it is substantially different. Funny thing is they alter the fish by adding growth hormones.Take a look at the picture I do think that they are substantially different. The growth hormone causes the fish to grow a lot larger than the normal wild salmon. Not only do they grow bigger but the eat more. We do know that adding growth hormones to cows is something that the public does not want but now they want to add it to the fish we eat.Its amazing what we live in a country that allows this to happen.The fish should start showing up in grocery stores in two years. I have seen Shawn of the Dead. Maybe it wont be THAT bad :)

Would you like some BP oil with that Beach?

2010-09-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I live on the Gulf Coast. I can truthfully say that I am not a beach person. I am more of a walk on the beach in the morning or a dusk kind of girl. I do however love our Gulf beaches. They are beautiful or at least they use to be. I know that most of you have heard how BP is cleaning the beaches and how the oil has just went away(REALLY) This video shows what really is going on at the beach! It is scary when he asks "would you swim in the water" and really WOULD YOU!

Green Fundraiser

2010-09-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

I came across this website and thought it was the best thing ever. Checking out the prices of their products made me a believer! This guy has the greatest idea. Taking our trash and turning it into products that we can use again without them going into a landfill. We are using up are landfills! I know I do not want one anywhere near where I live. This is such a great fund raiser for schools. Think of all the trash they use!

2010-09-09T12:55:00.001-07:00

Green Cleaning with an Alabama touch!

2010-09-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

We are huge Alabama football fans in our home. I am not the kind of girl that makes for the kitchen to talk while a game is on! So when this commercial came on the other day I loved it! Nick Saban drops a little Debbie on the ground and eats it. The five second rule applies doesn't it? Well ,we all know it doesn't (Myth Busters cleared that one up). Our kitchen is one of the dirtiest places. Food falling on the ground for just a few seconds can make us ill. So I make sure I clean my kitchen ALOT! and with products I know will not make me sick in the long run. Our favorite on the list is Green Works from Clorox(I can find it any where) The others are simple ingredients that everyone has in their home. Vinegar and baking soda. 1 part vinegar and 1 part water makes an easy all purpose cleaner. Baking soda made into a paste cuts through dirt and grime. Our water ways are safer when we use green products and our families are saved from all of those nasty chemicals.

New video for website!

2010-08-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

STOP that dripping faucet!

2010-08-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks we have had to use one side of our faucet in our bathroom for everything. The only one that didnt leak was the hot side on my faucet(we have two sinks). My parents will be staying with the children for a week and we decided(or I should say I) that it needed to be fixed. A dripping faucet can waste 3 gallons a day. That adds up on the water bill! After watching tons of youtube videos, we took it apart and went to Lowe's.That saved $75 dollars on a plumber. The parts cost $6.00 for the three faucet replacement washer/springs.Years ago we would have just bought new faucet sets, we have grown.

Straw's last 400 years!!

2010-08-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

I was just reading about the pacific gyre, and how when you use a straw it last for 400 years! The pacific gyre is a pacific trash vortex. Its about the size of Texas but really they are not sure how big it is. They estimate that 80% of the garbage comes from land-based sources and 20%from ships. When all this plastic is dumped it begins to break down. These particles in turn effect our wildlife by putting these toxins into their bodies. This in turn hurts us when we consume the wild life that has been ingesting all of these particles. There are so many things you can do to cut out plastic. Start small,it may surprise you. Cloth bags, reusable non-plastic cups, and cloth pads. All of which cut down on getting plastic into our oceans. Let's keep toxins out of our water-ways and from entering our food chain. Watch this super cute video!!!!

Use Less Plastic from TakePart on Vimeo.

Blog Hop Friday!

2010-08-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

Its so fun looking for other like minded Blogs.

No Perfume day Aug.13th

2010-08-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

I just read a great article about fragrance. The amount of toxic chemicals in our everyday products is mind blowing,my perfume is killing me apparently. I do not wash my clothes in those smelly detergents. Really who wants to smell like Gain and Chanel at the same time, NOT SEXY! I have a ton of natural detergent to go through. My next investment I think will be soap nuts. They are everywhere on the Internet and the reviews sound good. All natural and organic.

Reason's to get a Cup!

2010-08-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Handmade lunch bag

2010-08-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

This was my attempt to make a lunch bag for Landon. I think it turned out pretty good. The only thing I would change is I didn't use black thread.I got the smaller stainless steel water bottle at walmart for $2.50. The total spent $3.00 for the lunch bag(our walmart is remodeling and had a clearance) and bottle! Next project- snack bags.

Cut your carbon footprint!

2010-07-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

This was a great show. The lady from Crunchy Chicken the blog was on (She has great hair and has a great blog post about shampoo) she talked about switching from tampons to the diva cup.It was shocking to know that a women goes through a dump trucks worth of pads and tampons in her life. The show also talked about other things to reduce your carbon footprint. You can watch the video by clicking on the screen and it will play.

Mission: Sustainable from Rose Thornton on Vimeo.

SaveTheWhalesNow.org

2010-07-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Scary Stuff!

2010-07-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Back to School

2010-07-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

Today I had to grab a few more back to school items. I was so happy to find that most of the school supplies are eco-friendly. The pencils are non-rainforest sustained wood. The composition notebook, and folders are made from sustainably managed forests. The glue, markers, and etc.. are all non-toxic. There are many more products out there that do not have such labels so make sure to check the back of your products to see what they are doing for our environment.

Our garden update

2010-07-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Signs of life in the garden. The kids are really happy about this!

Cute new things added to etsy

2010-07-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

I am now offering nursing pads at my etsy shop! They are perfect for shower gifts for that eco-friendly or bargain hunting friend. You just throw them in the wash and use them over and over!

Produce Bags

2010-07-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

I sat down today and made some reusable produce bags. I always try to have my cloth bags when I go to the store but always have had to use the smaller plastic bags for my produce. These were pretty simple to make. I saw a tutorial on one. I really don't follow direction very well from one of those things, so I just tried it myself without following the instructions.I think they came out pretty good! I may try and put some up in my etsy shop.Although I need to test them out in the real world first.

Green Dentist

2010-07-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today I had a great day! I went and temped at a new dentist office I had never been in before. It was a great office and beautiful. The people there were wonderful to work with and helpful. You see I have never worked in an office that was paperless! Paperless is a wonderful thing. Everything is done on computers from charting to x-rays. If I messed up an x-ray none of that run it through a machine that has tons of chemicals and throw it away. Its showed up on the screen and I just pushed a button. No more little pieces of plastic! It was great. Not to mention less radiation for the patient.If you guys need a dentist in your area check to see if they are paperless you will be glad you did. The staff is much nicer when they don't have to be shut in a smelly darkroom :)

Water bottles

2010-06-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Had to make a quick run to walmart and get some fabric for a birthday gift. While checking out Nick and I noticed some stainless steel water bottles for $1.00 and they are BPA free! As it says on the tag refillable bottles cut back on the waste of 38 billion single-use water bottles that clog our landfills each year. Not to mention what the plastic leaches out when they get hot. The only drawback to the stainless steel bottles is they are not dishwasher safe.

New pads

2010-06-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is a new design that I have been working on. They are a lot longer 11"x 3 1/2". These will be up in my etsy shop.

Cloth napkins

2010-06-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

In my house you will find no paper towels or a paper towel holder. I found that I was going through so many and the cost was adding up. We found these really great microfiber cloth towels that are perfect for cleaning spills and because they are microfiber they work perfect on the windows with out the streaking. I now have had it with napkins! I find that we go through a ton of them just to eat dinner. So I bought some fabric for 99 cents and made some cute cloth napkins. Right now I have just made us girls our napkins the guys are next!They are so simple to make and think of the money I will save in paper napkins. Not to mention the amount of trees my family is going save.

Cloth Bags

2010-06-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went shopping at a Winn Dixie that I am not use to going to. I always try to remember my cloth bags and keep them in the back of my car. When I went to pull out my bags I noticed that I had one Winn Dixie bag and a bunch of Wal-Mart bags. I was so glad that I had just read an article by Ann Landers that said don't be ashamed to bring in other bags from other stores. She went on to say that if you have to buy each stores bags that your not doing the environment any good. So with that in my head I took the lone Winn Dixie bag and all those Wal-Mart bags into the store. Of course the check out boy couldn't help but point out the big blue bags but I just smiled.Next week I just might bring my target bags :)

Pads on Ebay

2010-06-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have listed a few pad auctions on my ebay site!

Painting

2010-06-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

Being off has made me want to redo my entire house. So I started with a few rooms of paint. At Lowes I came across these eco-friendly products. My paint which doesn't have any of the fumes and my biodegradable tray that breaks down in a few days. They had tons of earth friendly products.

Perdido Beach

2010-06-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

After sitting for 4 hours in the dental convention, I finally got a break. A dear friend of mine and I walked on the pier to take a look at the ocean. There was a line of red oil catchers that didn't look as though they were keeping anything out. Fearing we would get sand in our shoes that wouldn't come off for days we stayed off the beach. As we were walking back to our class my friend pointed out stations set up to get the oil off your feet. How sad that we can wash it off our feet but the fish and birds cant do the same.

The class was really great but I won't bore you with the fun we had in an Oral Pathology class, but I tell you Dr. Svirsky makes it fun as the name of the course was "You are the Object of My Infection" He is a really great speaker and same as last year they do encourage everyone to drink organic milk and use chicken that is free range.

Growing Garden

2010-06-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Our garden is growing, the little bean sprouts are showing their heads. Landon said they might touch the sky. We had a huge laugh about giant beans falling from the sky. Friday is my trip to the beach for the dental convention. I am kind of sad to see the ocean. They said there is a"stay out of the water" advisory. Even though I don't swim in the ocean, I will miss putting my toes in the water.

Backyard Garden

2010-06-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Nick, Landon, and I had a great time planting our new backyard garden. I ordered it from LTD about a month ago and finally had time to get it set up in our yard. We planted beans, tomatoes, squash, okra(for Landon) and carrots. We didn't have enough of room though for the watermelon seeds, I guess we will just have to find a bigger place for those. Walmart has great buys on its organic soil.

Toxic Childhood

2010-06-04T13:50:00.001-07:00

Last night Landon and I crawled up in the bed and watched a special on CNN called Toxic Childhood. It was really informative and made me think about some of things that I have in my home. I only use green products to clean with but I didn't think of all the plastic I had in my cupboards. This weekend I am going to purge my cabinets and look for glass containers for anything I need to store food. I remember a few years ago going to a dental convention and one of the speakers spoke about using plastic water bottles. He felt that it was one cause of his spouses breast cancer. I now see that mainstream America is finally seeing the light on the thousands of chemicals we use in everyday products. WWW.CNN.com.

Landfills

2010-06-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

An estimated 12 billion sanitary pads and 7 billion tampons are dumped into the environment each year. I wish I had of known this when I was younger. Who knows how much waste I put in those landfills myself. I love knowing now that with using my LadyCup and reusable pads that I am doing my part to help. I personally love the LadyCup it comes in lots of colors http://www.ladycup.eu/

Strawberries and Crazy Stripes

2010-05-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

Two new designs added today. They are going up on my ebay store and etsy.

Facebook

2010-05-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Finally got a chance to sit down and get my facebook site in order. I am really happy with how everything turned out. I just sent out invitations. I think I am off to a good start.

Blog Redesign

2010-05-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

To celebrate my new blog redesign I am posting a give away for two cute new pads. One is light and the other a medium. I want to say a thank you to Simplee Stated Designs and my brother in law for the logo.