Ecostore USA Reveiw and $25 Gift Certificate Giveaway

Ecostore USA is a company that has taken the nasty chemicals out of household products using plant- and mineral-based ingredients. There are no toxic petrochemicals, no synthetic enzymes, no optical whiteners, no sodium lauryl sulphate, no phosphates, no chlorine, no ammonia, no Triethanolamine, Diethanolamine or Monoethanolamine, no parabens, no propylene glycol and no synthetic perfumes or dyes. Many of these things are know to cause cancer, mess with hormones and kill wild live. We put these poisons on our skin and bodies daily! Many of these items also can cause contact dermatitis, which this blogger is very sensitive to getting from a number of things. My friends tease me I am allergic to everything... I almost am!

So when I received my Laundry Liquid I had to try this. When I read the bottle and it said 3 to 5 Tablespoons of Laundry Liquid I thought no way! But the suds told me yep it was true. Ecostore found a way to make things super concentrated. They took out the filers. You use smaller amount and it last longer and works great. I have been using this for about 2 weeks and my clothes are so soft and I still have most of the bottle left!! It smells great, no strong smell, as a concentrated soap this was a surprise. This is things I notice being the sensitive skin person that is thinking I hope I don't rash out when trying new products. It works great without tearing up my skin. A winner in my book!!

I also got the Vanilla Shampoo. I have tired so many different shampoos it isn't funny. I started to use health food store shampoos after learning about the nasty chemicals and there effects years ago. I have baby fine hair; my hair feels thicker with these type of shampoos. But after trying the Vanilla Shampoo I was blown away. I use a pea size amount and my hair is so soft. It stays soft also. The soft feeling lasts without the slick feeling some shampoos can give you. I wear a hair claw clip to keep my hair up at work and many shampoos and conditioners can leave it slick soft that the claw slips down. But Vanilla Shampoo keep the strength and the softness!! This product is the one that isn't almost fill but that is 2 people are using it!! But we do have about half left and that good for the thick hair daughter to not use a hand full each time. Plus she doesn't really like the smell of most vanilla products. But this vanilla is mild and smells great. She even thinks so! It smells clean!


Last but not least I got the pet leave-in conditioner. With 2 cats that are long haired I wanted a detangle product. This worked great for Miss Fluffy girl who had some big snarls. I put it on her snarls and let it sit for a half a hour then combed threw. The bottle says 5 minutes but she wasn't really going to make it easy for me, she hates to be combed or fussed over. But I had a present side effect with this wonderful stuff. Psycho kitty; who is allergic to many things just like her owner, was rashed out from fleas and her flea meds. I started to put some on her to see if this would break her out, she began to rub on my hands on the side of her head. That is a miracle in itself. She will run and hide when anything medicine based is opened. She didn't have snarls but she did have a rash there from the flea spot treatment. I thought why not it can't hurt. What it did; was help! Her rash was looking better the next day, and she was in good spirits. Princess also had a rash on the back of her neck from fleas and the hot spot meds didn't help but this conditioner did... Those are the 2 cats that are not long hair. The dog he is a good boy he didn't mind getting the conditioner on after his bath. He is soft too!! These conditioner is a keeper for my animals.
Ecostore USA has FREE Shipping for ALL Orders of $25 Plus I am told that a holiday sale is coming up!! YEA!!

now available exclusively at Meijer stores throughout the Midwest

Win a $25 gift certificate


ways to win:
First go to the Ecostore site and look around. Leave a comment on what product or product line you would like to try.
Follow this blog (or remind me that you are a follower)


Winner will be picked by Random.org On November 30th 12:00 AM...... or around there!!

Good luck!

Today is America Recycles Day.

Thanks Mommy is Green . She blogged about today is America Recycles Day. Which is interesting because my city does have city wide recycling and tonight is trash and recycling night!! But no invents in my area. Oh well. I didn't get online til late due to the internet being down. I might not be able to go anywhere anyway.

We used to recycle and get paid per pound. Truth is that we still take our aluminum cans for pizza money. Many times on Eath Day they will give you a great deal.

Glass is the easiest to recycle. If you ever have seen a glass blower; the glass can easily be reheated and blown to many different shapes. Sad thing is that at work recycle plastic and paper but not glass. Glass jars can easily be reused and no worries about BPA.

Paper is another easily recycled item. Many young groups collect paper if your city doesn't have city wide recycling. Little things can make a big difference. Just recycling your Sunday Paper will save one tree!! Using recycled paper will also reduce air pollution 95%.

We started to recycle when Miss Animal Rights was little and her grandparents gave her a subscription to Ranger Rick. I read to her about recycling and how it would save the animals home. She cried we hav eto save the animals homes!! So we started tor recycle. She got her grandparent to recycle. They too used the money for pizza or ice cream parties for her. That was years ago!

Let not forget to recycle things like our cell phones, inkjet cartridges and many other things. We drop off our dead cell phones at Petsmart store to help animals. But there is a site online that you can donate your dead cell phone to help people in need (many times victims of domestic violence) called Secure the Call . Just download and print this label and send them your phone or inkjet cartridges.

TerraCycle is another place to send your recyclables to and they will make something new! Drink pouch backpacks and tote bags are many things you will find there. Find out how to send them your empty glue sticks, glue bottles, drink pouches, chip bags and more!

Black Tea and Green Tea

I have been trying to cut down on my pop drinking. I used to drink 2 or 3 cans a day. Plus I really don't drink very much water. I don't like the taste of water. I know water isn't suppose to have a taste and I do live in the city. So I have been drinking more tea. I mix green and black tea.

We have heard that green tea is a anti-oxidant that is good to drink for our health but the same is said about black tea! Fact is that green tea is just slightly higher in anti-oxidants! Green tea fights bacterial infections and black tea fight viruses. Cover all the bases for things that way. It is cough and cold season.

Benefits I learn about both black and green teas:

caffeine isn't overstimulating to the heart
increases concentration
raises the HDL cholesterol levels (that the good kind)
relieve diarrhea
Fights tooth decay
Helps open airways for asthmatics
Raises your metabolism rates to aid in weigh loss
Reduces Stress

Plus they believe and are doing studies on the affects of both teas on cancer cells. They are believed to help blood clots from forming to cause strokes and heart attacks. Help suppresses the Cox-2 gene that triggers inflammation, says research at Rutgers. This they believe will help arthritis.
Not too shabby, for a cup of tea.

Vampires in my home!!

Shriek!! There are vampires in our homes! Yes it true, Most home have more than one! Spooky vampires waiting to .... ..... .... drink your ..... energy! 30% of all energy use is for the vampires in our home. In the United States alone that is lost is around 4 billion dollars a year to these monsters. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Stand By power table shows the biggest offenders. It's called vampire energy loss.
So wooden stakes and holly water will not work on these vampires. But surge protectors, unplugging the item and the energy star will!! Unplug that TV in the spare bedroom, the DVD player if you don't use it very often, and unplug the cell phone, camcorder, or camera chargers; for they are still using energy even after being turned off.

Plasma TV a big Count Dracula vampire will cost if it was in stand-by mode only $160 a year. Computers $34. VCR $10 might not seems like much but it will start adding up!

Ok granted something does eat some energy when turned off but can cause problems when you plug it back in, so that is the time (when replacing them) you look for a Energy Star Product. The computer might not be a good item to unplug but the monitor and speaker system are the bigger robber of energy on stand-by. So these items can be on one surge protector to turn off after use.

If you have some young ones that would like to help with the hunt of the vampires check out Energy Hogs.Org site they have a great check list to help you hunt out the vampires lurking around..... and help to keep them from sucking you dry!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone................

Cereals and Ads killing our kids?

Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity just released a report that states “The worst cereals are being marketed very heavily to children.” Your preschool children can see on average 642 cereal commercials in one year! Now if you look at the boxes there are saying like Now made with whole grains and healthier! But look on the back and see that they could be as high as 50% sugar by weight. Healthy? With 50% Sugar? That equals the nutritional equivalent of a glazed doughnut. For many of these cereals have 12 or more grams of sugar per serving

The Food and Drug Administration is planing to have standard to labeling. Truth in labeling. That a cereal high is sugar can not be labeled as healthily. Sad thing is the commercials and the little ones wanting the sugar filled cereal will not end. Marking it with a big check mark and labeling in healthier is just another marketing ploy. Yes it is true that the cereals are healthier than before because the sugar dropped 3½ to 3 teaspoons a serving on average. Healthier but not healthy. But it also fact that kids that eat these cereals also eat 2 bowls. That's like eating 2 glazed donuts! Those cereals that we add sugar to will equal less sugar then the cereals with sugar and they still eat less. Win win situation!

Web MD posted the following as the best cereals. They add that served with milk and a piece of fruit you have a balanced breakfast,

• Cheerios (General Mills), with just 1 gram of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and 190 milligrams of sodium.
• Kix (General Mills), with 3 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and 210 milligrams of sodium.
• Life (Quaker Oats), with 6 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber, and 160 milligrams of sodium.
• Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills), with 9 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber, and 190 milligrams of sodium.

You know keeping kids from sugar sweet stuff is the hardest thing to do, but some of the cereals that Web MD found as good are:

• General Mills: Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams Honey Graham, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, Reese’s Puffs.
• Kellogg: Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size, Frosted Flakes Gold, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Krispies, and Frosted Flakes Reduced Sugar.
• Post: Fruity Pebbles, Honey-Comb, Cocoa Pebbles.

I was lucky my daughter doesn't like really sweet sugary cereals. She likes Cheerios dry, Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size, and Apha Bits dry. Two out of three isn't to bad.

I got a Bamboo Cutting Board!

My dad found me a bamboo cutting board at Marc's Discount store. Bamboo the is eco-friendly stuff that many green gurus have been telling us about. Bamboo really isn't a tree it is a grass. It has sustainably because it grows quickly and is stronger than most woods making it last longer. Very little water is absorbed by bamboo keeping it from shirking and warping, Some species can grow as fast as a foot a day. Go Bamboo!

So then I think wow I have t get on line do a search on how to care for my new cutting board. Ok not the first thing, that was to get rid of the nasty old one. Sad thing is that I have thrown it away many times but the kids get it out soak it and tell me "it's ok now I soaked it" But it still gives me the ebee gebees.. Use the glass one! The glass one now is the meat cutting board. They thought that it is too big, so I had to find a small cutting board...... Dad was witness to his daughter's out cry plus his granddaughters rolling eye balls and found a nice one for the peace offering to the ladies of this house. He does love all the ladies in this house.... We Love him... Poor man caught in between a rock and a hard place as he would say!! Plus the board was $1.99.

What I learned:

Hand wash with mild detergent
Once a month and before first use wipe with food-grade mineral oil.
Use hydrogen peroxide or vinegar to sanitize
Bee wax to keep nice looking


Hand washing the board with your dish-washing liquid is your best bet. Use a gentle rubbing motion. Do NOT soak or use dishwasher.
When applying the food grade mineral oil heat on low heat or microwave for 30 seconds. Apply generously as more is better than not enough. What the board needs it will soak in. Let sit for about 25 minutes. Wipe with clean cloth to remove extra. Now I read that Martha Steward uses organic olive oil on hers. BUT I didn't find anything on her site. I really don't want to use mineral oil because it is a petroleum by-product ... I have read beeswax, walnut, almond or coconut oil will work. So beeswax might win for my new board. This was the biggest search for a sub for mineral oil.

3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Kept in a spray bottle to sanitize the board fast. After sanitizing, rinse with hot water. Dry your board and dry upright. Keep dry between uses. Bacteria grows with moisture.

Getting Ready for Halloween

I love Halloween! The costumes, the candy, and the parties that make Halloween my favorite holiday of all. But how can a green momma make this eco-friendly? I have thought and fought this for many years.

The costume is the most fun thing for a small child. It also can be the biggest fight. See rows and rows of plastic I want that costumes at the big stores is my biggest fight. I hated those things when I was a kid. The mask would get all gross from me breathing in to the mask. The plastic would feel weird and shift making it hard to walk. So not because I was green it was because I had girls that hated the feel of labels in their clothes let alone the seams on the socks. I would make costumes from old clothes and adding some wonderful accessories.

We had princesses with fancy dress that they didn't like to wear to school because they were too puffy. Add some necklaces and a crown that we made from a headband or got from the dollar store. Now being jeans and t-shirt people, we had hippies with this outfit very easily. One daughter loved ballet so she was a ballerina. She wore her Tu-Tu, tights and leotard and became a ballerina. Cowgirls was easy too. A flannel shirt from Dad and jeans with a cowboy hat. They got to carry a rope and a play gun. A black cat was a favorite costume. I made ears from black fuzzy material. Very easy to do. Cut triangles from the back and pink for the inside. Sew together leaving the bottom open. Stuff with fiberfill. Sew bottoms to a heavy plastic hair headband the type with a open end. Sew the bottom of this tight to the hair band.......... She get to wear black sweat pants and a black sweatshirt. Ta Da. She was also a dog one year with long ears but that was something her grandparent found for her at the store....

I have my favorite too. I fall back on being a gypsy! I wear a flowing top with a big skirt add a shawl. Add a bunch of necklaces and I become a gypsy. I really like the bohemian look to this day. So it isn't to hard for me to pull this off. I can't wear a shirt or a head-cover. So I am going to wear a pair of black pants and flowing shirt I got from Good Will.