Yarn blossoms

I finally took the time to try crocheting flowers. I'd been wanting to do it for awhile, but never have the patience to study the patterns. It's a nice way to use up those little scraps of yarn, and you can use them to decorate lots of other projects. I'd like to glue some to hair clips for the little monkeys to wear! Here's where I found the basic directions:

http://applehead.typepad.com/applehead/crochet_flowers/index.html

10 days Soda-sober...with one small misstep...

That's right...yet another attempt at carbonation de-tox. Yet again, I decided that I am consuming way too much of the poisonous (high fructose corn syrup---google it) substance, and realize that limitations are not possible in my world. It's all or nothing (remember the disasterous and ineffective coffee de-tox of '05?) so it, apparently, must be nothing.

My strength has been surprisingly unwavering. Well, yesterday when I unwittingly ordered a cherry limeade at Sonic was the exception. Did you know those are fizzy? I pictured limes and cherries instead of lemons like in lemonade; NOPE! It's a suprisingly strong addiction for me, I find it difficult to focus on anything else when in the presence of the substance, it's draw is so strong and intoxicating. I think of how happy it will make me feel and the instant high of caffeine seeping into my bloodstream. Ahhh...I'm making my own mouth water!

But, I have to do this....for my childrens' sakes. One day, I will sit them down for the talk about addiction. "Don't even experiment with this stuff", I'll say, "It may taste good, but risking a lifetime enslavement is just not worth a few moments enjoyment. You just don't know what your own weakness will be: something like Mountain Dew can immediately bewitch your sense, or even the seemingly harmless Sprite could become your downfall!"

Until that talk, I'll try to walk the walk, and order more intelligently during Happy Hour at Sonic.

My name is Melaine....and I'm a Dr. Peppaholic.

Klean Kanteens with their annoying "kutesy" trademark

Update on the water bottle controversy. We decided to throw our financial caution to the wind and invest in a couple of Klean Kanteens for the girls. We got them the 12 oz. bottles with sippy adapters, so they use the regular old Avent soft-spouts. They look nice and the girls could immediately sense their value as I introduced them to their new “big girl cups”.
I noticed right away that the cups are very cool to the touch even without ice. So, I was pleased to discover that those old promotional can cozys fit them perfectly and also distinguish between which belongs to Red and which to Curly, although there will no doubt be confusion on that topic in the future. They might be a little large and heavy for a younger child to grasp, but at 19 months my girls don’t seem to struggle, and the design is functional in shape, allowing for little hands to grasp right under the mouth. They have been very easy to keep clean so far, although I’ve been washing by hand rather than the dishwasher. I really like that we can switch out the caps and they can use them forever....so I think we've found a winner here. We ordered a second set and I intend to get rid of all the old plastic sippies. Oh what a relief that will be!

Blogging in the dark

Yes, I am blogging at 1:51 AM, and don’t be silly, of course I didn’t stay up this late. I’d been asleep for hours when I was awakened by the sound of silence. Yes, I was actually in a deep sleep (even dreaming) and I knew before I sat up in bed exactly what was wrong. The power had gone out, taking my fans and sound machine with it. This was completely devastating for someone like me who is self-admittedly a white-noise addict. You see, quiet is far different from silence. Quiet is the peaceful, calm and repetitive drone of air flowing, whereas silence is so loud that a pin dropping could deafen you.
Originally, I started sleeping with these “tools” in order to mask the other sounds around me and combat my identity as a severely light sleeper. I bought my first sound machine when I was in my early teens. The white noise would cover the sound of the dog clicking around on the hardwood floor with his little nails, or my dad waking up early-early to go in to work, or my brother sleep-walking around the house, mumbling and tripping on stuff. Then the addiction set in and now I cannot even sleep in what most would consider a completely silent environment. In fact, like most addicts, I am not even satisfied with what I am currently using. I am always pondering the idea of more fans, bigger fans, or a better sound machine. I am convinced I could sleep better and have a higher quality of life if I could just lull myself into slumber with even more quiet and less silence.
So now, I am trying to log online to e-mail the power company after 18 minutes of this infernal silence. Then I realize even the internet doesn’t work in total absence of power. Rats!

Two little helpers

Over the last few days, while our internet was down, I was able to get a lot done around the house. Some random and desperately needed mini-cleaning and organization projects (the major ones are still being put off to a future unknown time of abundant boredom or intense motivation). All this is a little discouraging as it becomes more obvious how quickly things go from clean to dirty these days. Still I am left with a sense of satisfaction; and the ever-present feeling of guilt associated with spending to much time with the computer and not enough time with a mop, is temporarily abated.
The girls have been trying to “help” me by unloading the dishwasher (I may need to look into steel-toed shoes), pushing the laundry into the dryer (they particularly enjoy slamming it shut), and occasionally even putting a toy or two away. I’m catching a glimpse of how truly helpful they will be in a few years, and find myself imagining what wonderful little baby sitters they might be to a future child.
Ahhh…my always overly optimistic expectations of the future.

Hand in hand

The twins get absolutely giddy when riding in the car. They squeal and giggle and kick their feet in hysterical anticipation of our trip to Target or to eat at Moes on Tuesday nights (kids eat free). (Those are the main two places we take them on weeknights, which is when they seem to be in the best mood). A few evenings ago we stopped by Dicks Sporting Goods to check on BPA-free water bottles (the selection turned out to be limited to a few Camelback bottles in the camping section). On the way into the store, Craig and I each had one of the girls by the hand, and they were bounding along in between the two of us, when they reached out and grasped hands. As they walked toward the store holding hands, I was overjoyed to see that adorable sister-bond. It was a milestone for me, a sign of their growing up into children that will learn to lean on each other, support one another and love one another. It was a moment I had pictured from the moment I first heard, “there are two in there”; and seeing it was just as thrilling as I had imagined. It is moments like these that make all the diapers and laundry and dishes seem irrelevant. And I can just be thankful for the blessing that is---twins.

BPA is giving me an anxiety attack...

http://gardenaut.blogspot.com/2008/05/bpa-free-water-bottle-showdown.html

Not that those are all that rare. If anyone hasn't heard about this, just google "BPA" (Bisphenol A) and you will be overwhelmed with confusing and frightening info. If you'd rather remain blissfully ignorant and continue to drink out of your Nalgene bottle, then please DO NOT continue reading this entry.

Apparently, some kinds of plastic are ok, so aren't. This involves a rather complicated and not always applicable number system you can try to find on the bottom of the bottles or cups. I've decided the simplest and least stressful option for me is to try to eliminate all plastic, however slow this process may be. After reading tons of stuff and simply trying to find something A) safe and B) relatively inexpensive for me and kids to drink out of, I found a few possible options:

http://www.kleankanteen.com/

These are probably my first choice quality-wise, with no ambiguity about their ingredients and highly recommended from consumers. Stainless Steel, pure and simple. Unfortunately, they are expensive from $15-$20 each and possibly involve extra accessories (sippy lids for the kids). However, from what I can tell they do accomodate Avent lids which is a good thing, however you still need to purchase the "sippy adapter" which will run another $4 or so. I am trusting at this point that the Avent sippys I have are safe according to what I have read. By the way, these Klean Kanteen seem to be selling out all over the internet, but I still have a lot of trouble getting past the "K" spelling. I HATE when people do that.

www.mysigg.com/

These are undoubtedly the coolest and prettiest that I saw and seem to have a huge following of dedicated users. However, I found just a little too much controversy about the lining to be completely sold on this option. Just too ambiguous for me to buy for the kids (although the patterns are SO cute) since the manufacterer refuses to reveal the specifics of the liner while still maintaining it is completely safe. These will still run about $20 each anyway.



Those first two options were easy to find and are both very popular. Now, here are the ones that required a little hunting and, for all their apparent virtue, unfortunately have less reviews to determine long-term quality and customer satisfaction. But...money-wise, they deserve a closer look!

https://www.ecousable.com/store/store.php

These are also stainless steel with NO inner liner and come in really cute patterns. I was excited when I saw them because they seem to have the pros of both Klean Kanteen and Sigg bottles, and their own fabulous pro of being only $10-$13! They also carry "wrapz" (again "cute" spelling that drives me nuts) to insulate, grip, and further personalize the bottles for only $2.50. Each bottle includes a clip to carry it, which is a nice feature. My main concern is when looking it up I found virtually NO customer reviews, (presumably because the product is new). Also, the company seems to carry only

http://www.newwaveenviro.com/

These are also stainless steel, come in different sizes and are reasonably priced at $10. I did read a few complaints on Amazon about the painted outside wearing off. Then there were other fans who had never had the problem. My response would be to purchase the solid stainless steel to avoid this possible issue. They also offer a 12 oz cup that looks identical to the small Klean Kanteen for kids, but without the option of sippy cup. I am trying to determine via e-mail to the company whether the sippy lids might still be compatibleThe reviews on Amazon were not as positive as those for Kleen Kanteen, however I'd rather buy two $10 bottles then one $20 so that I will have a back-up on at all times. I found these on clearance online for even less, and will send the link in anyone is interested. . The icing on the cake (for some people anyway) is these were recently featured on Oprah during Earth Week. I expect her only endorse quality products, so I'd definitely be willing to take the plunge.