My chemical free house (a reminder why it is so)

So much for my chemical free house, the other day the toilet would not flush, and it seemed so stuck that my ordinary toilet cleaner nor a stick found in the woods would do the job. And what did I do? I consulted a helpful worker at the nearest hardware store and came home with a harsh chemical which was supposed to clear it all. Let me spare you the details and lets just say it didn’t. So what did work? A plunger….it was that simple. The worst thing is the house smelled so badly of the chemical for days and the toilet still does a bit even though I have thoroughly cleaned it several time and had the window open for days too. So did I learn my lesson? You bet!

If you have missed previous post about chemical free house, then in short its about having cleaning agents, dishwasher liquid, hand soap, shampoo, laundry detergents, toothpaste, toilet cleaner and so forth that does not contain chemicals. Its not good for you, for your family and especially for your children. Most supermarkets now stock Method, Seven Generation and other chemical free alternatives so start buying them instead. Actually since I switched to this stuff I react to the harsh smells and perfumes of the old stuff a lot more, because now, I can actually smell it since I am not surrounded by it.

To travel and be healthy

My husband and I went on a road trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. It takes 8 hours each way and we had two nights stay in a hotel. My God it is so hard to travel and keep up a healthy lifestyle. I had packed the car with healthy snacks (carrots, nuts, raisins, patties), lunch (rice pasta salad), drinks (water, organic applejuice, organic ricemilk bricks) and organic grapes, apples and bananas. All we needed to do was stop to use the restroom (saved us a lot of money too). But once we got to Niagara and checked inn – it all started. To begin with the soap, shampoo and rinse is all full of chemicals – they had kindly provided a make-up remover wipes but this one was actually worst case scenario of what not to use if you want to take care of you and potentially a baby too. I had brought our own organic stuff to avoid using theirs. (See the picture of the ingredients of the makeup wipes).

Next came breakfast which was complementary and consisted of mini packs of cereal (all of them were full of sugar), yogurt (full of sugar), 4 kinds of cake, french toast, sugar substitute for real juice and coffee/tea. Erhm none of which I can eat/drink without getting a serious tummy ache and a sugar rush followed by going sugar cold (ie. getting really grumpy). I had to dig into my stash from home which meant less for the road back. We did find an organic roadside local veggie vendor so we topped up with organic cherry tomatoes and felt great about supporting local Canadian organic farmers. But why is it that one cannot get a proper breakfast or lunch anywhere? Yes we could have had plenty of fried up stuff, but we found no place who served fresh fruit smoothies or healthy choices of breakfast. Lunch was equally difficult however we found a Caribbean restaurant which served wonderful healthy food (Caribbeans cook with healthy oils and only uses fresh ingredients – their fruit punches are fab too!). At least its easier with dinner as you have more healthy choices to make.

I just wish there existed a chain of healthy foods..imagine, fresh fruit smoothies (only from fruit – no sugar or concentrate), organic fruits and vegetables, salads, healthy sandwiches and healthy snacks all from local organic vendors!? Yummy I feel hungry just thinking about all that delicious food together in one place.

Chemical workout

I just came back from the gym, and its a nice gym which I like going to. BUT every single time a customer has used the machines they spray them soaking wet in chemicals and dry them of a bit. Result: rash and itchy skin on me. To tell you the truth I would rather sit in their sweat than get such a big exposure to chemicals all the time. Why is it that I cannot go to the gym without having to breathe in and get chemicals on me? I did write to the management, but they replied that they would check with the Department of Health and they for sure will not tell everyone to stop using chemicals. How can they when the country depends on factories to make them, and the jobs they provide. It will take a very long time for everyone to realize that we need to go green to save ourselves and the environment. I just wish companies like my gym could see that without having to consult the government. All they need is to look at my sore red skin to realize that those chemicals should not be used!

How will everyone deal with my organic baby hopes?

I have already set up an organic baby registry on Amazon, and I am not even pregnant. Amazon by the way now has a Green Shopping department (love it!). But can I really expect friends and family to respect my wishes for baby to be organic and green? No, right? But then what, how will I be able not to favour the organic toys for baby before they can reach out for them themselves. And can I even ask friends and family at all to buy organic for baby? I guess I will deal with it when I come to it, but I really do not know how. Worst thing is, that my husband works for a toy company and so we would be able to have a lot of toys for a good price – but do I want to? Not really. Am I too much you may ask? Well I am the only one in the family with asthma and allergy. I am the only one who suffers for constant stomach pains. I do think it is because I used to many chemicals and ate wrong, when I was younger. Because I grew up in a beautiful suburb with our house placed between a big lake and the forest. No factories or big roads nearby. No fields spraying chemicals. I must be something I introduced to my lifestyle (later moved to London, England for many years surrounded by heavy traffic and ate wrong, used a lot of makeup and creams). So no, i don’t think I am too much. There must be a reason why so many cannot get children, why so many suffer from asthma, allergies, cancer, diabetes (even kids), rashes, illnesses of all sorts that we did not see 40 years ago. If I can be alt least sure that I do not inflict any of this on my child as long as it is in my hands then why would I not? And if food and environment turnes out not to be the ones causeing it, well at least I was rather safe than sorry.

I am so not perfect

I try to be green and organic I say…but;

I still subscribe to magazines, although I know that they kill trees to make them even though I recycle them I still feel bad. And actually I don’t really use them the way I used to. Back “then” I would se some make up or a new cream and feel like I should go buy it immediately. Now I know that there are chemicals in them, so I will not buy it anyway. And its not like I can afford the clothes they show anyway either.

However there are tendencies that some magazines are trying to put someorganic alternatives in there, like when I received American Baby last week, I thought to myself; “why bother receive it when they only put same old non organic, non green stuff in there” and I was actually surprised by a good article and quite a few organic alternatives. So American Baby stays. I will not be re-signing with Cosmopolitan though (ha what sex tips can they teach me anyway, now we so energetically started baby project we are on top of that one…erhm you know what I mean).

First one

I am Danish, so why is this blog in english? Well, most Danes understand english and few Americans understand Danish, so I suppose this way my friends, and new readers can follow from both sides of the ocean.

And welcome to you! I hope you will be around for a while.