I need some advice (household stuff)

Can anyone out there recommend a decent dish drainer thingy that catches the water?

Here's my dilemma:
I have one of those old fashioned types of dish drainers. Rubbermaid stuff, you know?

I've tried a couple of the more modern, stylish ones, but there's always something I don't like about them. So, I go back to the old kind that we always had when I was growing up.

So here's the dilemma part. Rubbermaid makes an OK piece to hold the dishes, but the part that collects the water is made from such flimsy plastic these days that the edges bend down, causing the water to drip off onto the counter. Which annoys me.

Here's what I want in a dish drainer:
-big and sturdy enough to hold lots of dishes, especially pots and pans
-the water collector can drain into the sink (maybe I should be flexible about this one?)
-little thingies to hold the glasses outside of the rack
-a silverware holder
-must have a tray, as it has to go on the counter, as I don't have a double sink (still the original kitchen, yes, it needs to be remodeled, but not going to happen soon...)

I'm not crazy about Rubbermaid much at all anymore, anyway. Call me weird, but I also don't like all this "Microban" stuff that everyone is putting into every product nowadays. I don't understand why I would need something to kill bacteria on my dish drainer tray. I mean, the dishes I put in the drainer are clean, right? And the tray is just catching water, right? So, if my (clean) water has so much bacteria in it, then I really shouldn't be using it to clean my dishes or drink...?

Maybe it's time to branch out, be less picky, I don't know, but I'm tired of being annoyed by my dish drainer. Does somebody make one that's not annoying? I would love some suggestions if anyone has any. (I'm open to completely changing what I do, too.) Maybe I should get a new sink that has a built-in drainer...? Again, have to wait to redo the kitchen.... Alas!

I love spring

more baby stuff

Dee asked some questions about cloth diapers, and I thought I'd put this out there in case anyone else is thinking about this or knows someone who just had a baby.


I bought Bummis Super Whisper Wraps from somebody on the internet. I also got some nice, thick cloth diapers. I think I've bought them from two or three places so far. I can't keep track of them, either they go out of business or their websites just don't look familiar anymore.


I bought (unbleached) prefolds the last time from Zannadu, as they prewashed the unbleached diapers several times for me for an extra charge... it's 35 cents a diaper now. It was worth it for me. All that time, hot water, washing and drying. Really good customer service, and even though I had to wait (a little bit) longer to have the diapers washed, they were pretty fast nonetheless. And it looks like it's a flat-rate shipping fee, which is good when you're buying a lot, or the things are heavy. I would recommend this website for cloth diapers and such.

The next time I buy diapers, I'm going to look further into organic ones. I got so overwhelmed when I did the research. There are just so many options. How to choose "the best"? So many decisions: which diapers, which covers, which seller, bleached or unbleached, washed or unwashed, which size, how many????? This is one of my problems... I get so caught up in what the "best" idea, thing to do, etc., is that I end up feeling paralyzed. So, maybe there isn't a "best," or maybe there is, but what we ended up with was good, it works for us, and Baby still hasn't had diaper rash. Which is definitely a good thing. We could have done worse.

I need to buy more, and I just saw on the site that they're having a 5% discount until May 7... just enter SPRINGBREAK as the discount code.

is anyone else completely freaked out by this?

All this recent (to me, at least) news about bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles (and everything else) basically has totally freaked me out.

For those of you who don't know (yet) about bisphenol-A, it is a chemical which is added to plastics and as sealants on metal (and probably a lot of other things, too). The chemical industry tells us it's wonderful because it makes plastics resilient, clear, basically unbreakable, and it seals metals from foods, as in baby food jar lids. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here.

Evidently, a lot of people have been talking about and researching the negative effects of bisphenol-A for a while. I've been seeing these baby bottles made by BornFree at Whole Foods for a while, with signs on them saying they are free of bisphenol-A. I had no idea what BPA was then and, like a lot of new parents, didn't have a lot of time to research it.

Well, let me tell you, I've been researching. And the news is not good.

NOTE: DO NOT go to a website called bisphenol-a.org for unbiased info. Despite being a DOT ORG, they are actually run by the plastics industry. Other info which is against BPA may not be unbiased either, but at least it isn't the industry itself putting out the info. Remember how the cigarette companies insisted for decades that their research showed that cigarettes were fine for your health, maybe even good for you? And now it's clear that they were purposefully lying.

BPA mimics hormones and is known to disrupt hormone function as well as how chromosomes are sorted. There is evidence that, even at very low doses, it is linked to cancer, diabetes, reproductive development, hyperactivity, and lots of other health problems.

So, with everything else going on right now, we've been researching this BPA thing, calling companies, buying new things (good for the economy, right?) and trying to decide what exactly to get rid of.

This is what I've come up with so far:


Avent bottles - DO contain BPA; they should be avoided. Supposedly, BPA leaches out at a higher rate if the plastic is heated (as in a dishwasher) or if harsh detergents are used on it (as in a dishwasher). I'm guessing that I'm not the only parent who has put baby bottles in the dishwasher thinking that they'll be more sanitary that way. They are working on a non-BPA bottle and will send out a free sample to you if you call them to complain (1-800-542-8368).


Earth's Best organic baby food - the metal lids contain BPA. So much for buying organic because it's better for my baby. And he liked it, too. :-( The cereals in boxes, though, are OK.


Nalgene bottles are apparently bad, too. Which is too bad, because I love my Nalgene bottles. However, Nalgene says they're phasing out BPA bottles within the next few months, and they already have a BPA-free alternative on the market, called their "Everyday" line.


Powdered baby formula is almost always packed in containers that has BPA, at least in the metal tops and bottoms. Some companies also use BPA in the cardboard on the sides of the containers, too. Similac says that their individual packets do NOT contain BPA. (However, you'll be throwing away a lot more trash with this option, but maybe it's worth it.) Although surprisingly, when I checked in the grocery store, it did not appear to be more expensive. And the organic formula does not appear to come in the individual packets. Again, it's ironic that the organic option comes with extra chemicals (no extra charge!! sorry for the sick humor). They also said that the already-prepared liquid has BPA on the lid part, but not in the bottle. If you know of a formula that doesn't have BPA, let me know! The organic stuff from Earth's Best supposedly has even more BPA than the Similac, although I forgot to ask those folks about formula when I was on the phone with them.

In general, plastics with the numbers 3, 6, or 7 on the bottom (in the little recycle symbol) should be avoided. Some #7 materials (which just indicates "other" plastic) are OK, for instance, if it is a combination of #1 and #2, it will be marked as #7. Plastics marked with #1,2,4,5 should be OK for contact with food.

Now for the good news:
The Canadian government ROCKS!! - I have another post coming up with details on this one.


I've already changed to BornFree baby bottles, mostly glass bottles.


Earth's Best organic cereals are in boxes that have no BPA.

I'm making baby food for now, organic, fresh, home-made, BPA-free. Love the pressure cooker.

gotta love having time off

So this is one of the things that I've been "working" on the past couple of days...

I noticed that FreeRice seemed to have added some new levels as well as new vocab words. So I decided I would beat my previous high level of 50. I got all the way to 55! Woo-hoo! Yup, I'm proud of myself.

I also saw in the options that you can have it remember your level and the number of grains you've "donated" via their website. So, even though this doesn't include my earlier attempts, you can see I've been spending way too much of B's naptime playing FreeRice.



Hey, at least I'm doing something good while goofing off.

Which reminds me...

Here's another way I started goofing off occasionally: The ESP Game.

Basically, the computer matches you with an anonymous partner, and you get a set amount of time to agree on words to describe photos. I read about this in a Smithsonian magazine article about young innovators. The magazine was interesting... something like 25 people under 25 who are changing the world (don't quote me on the exact title, but you get the gist).

It's set up as a game, but the people who "play" it are basically doing a task to help all internet users: cataloging the internet's photos/images. The article said that people who play get "attached" to their partners, which seemed weird to me at first, I mean, how can you get attached to someone that you can't actually communicate with, don't know their name/username/nothing. All you are doing is typing in words to describe photos. But I will say this: some people are much better partners than others. Funny, it's obvious when you change partners: some people will hit pass immediately for every picture (annoying!), others will try for a while, sometimes I get a partner who really thinks like me, and we get lots of bonus points.

OK, I feel kind of nerdy, but it's fun. And it keeps me off the street.

still worried, but kind of moving on

Yes, I guess I'm still worried (see the other entry), but really, there's nothing I can do about it. Except stop blogging, I guess. Or start a new blog. Ugh, that sounds so tiring. I wonder if this person even realizes what happened. My guess is... she must. But she hasn't said anything about my slip-up. So I don't know if she's just trying to be polite and pretend nothing happened. Or if she actually didn't notice.

OK, moving on. (Well, maybe not really, as I would still like some reassurance....)

worried

So yesterday I was working. Thinking-type of work, at home, on the computer, not like heavy physical labor or dangerous-type stuff. Since I was on the computer, I was kind of goofing off at the same time. But since I was working and goofing off simultaneously, I guess I wasn't focusing as closely as I should have been (probably on either).

And so, I did something really stupid that I wouldn't ordinarily have done (at least I hope not). I put myself in kind of a vulnerable position with someone who I don't really know all that well, and now I'm really worried that this person might do something that is not so nice. Well, maybe this person wouldn't do that, and I hope not, because I'd like to think that I know this person well enough to say that, but quite honestly, I don't. I didn't realize it right away, but I realized shortly thereafter, and I can't believe I would be so stupid.

So I was sick with worry last night and into today. There's really nothing I can do about it, at this point, as what I've done is irreversible. I wish, though, that I had some reassurance that things would be OK. I'm still worried.