Clean Smelling Paint

James is so good at reminding me of things. Some time ago he told me I should really write about our interior house paint, suggesting that it may have really been the first instance for my interest in health and ecology making a significant change in something that we bought. He's probably right.
We moved into our house about two years ago now. When we moved in, everything was painted the same light cream color, almost white but not quite. And I am a lover of color in my home. So I quickly went to work picking out swatches of color and posing them next to our furniture, artwork, and curtains to see if it would complement them. But I also looked a little into what type of paint that we should buy. I had heard or read recently about how the inside air of homes is often much more polluted than outside air, between 2 and 5 times more. Funnily enough, my memory was saying that it was nearer ten or fifteen times--what does this say about my home's stuffy air?! Glad I looked that up. Among the major contributors to indoor air pollution: paint.

Thus, before I bought gallons of stuff to slather all over our walls, I checked our options. Sadly, of course, the cheapest paints were high polluters. They not only contribute to poor air quality, but they also are more toxic for the environment in their production and when they have to be thrown away. Yet there were a number of companies that had begun to sell more lung-friendly options for just a little higher than their traditional lines. Home Depot has Freshaire paint, which has mostly soft toned colors. Kelly Moore had Enviro Cote (which I think I read was often used for hospitals--that means awesome colors, baby!). Then there's Mystic Paint, which I have only seen online.

In the end, we opted for Benjamin Moore Natura paint, which is a no-VOC paint that comes in most colors that the company offers. I loved that I was able to choose colors just as vibrant and rich (not an option with all the lines), but healthier for us. It was a bit more than BM's regular paints, but cheaper than their AURA paint, which I remember reading was the one that Obama used to paint a government building.

The amazing thing was that when we had a painting party and rolled it rapidly onto our walls, our house was not filled with fumes. Nobody got a paint headache, and in fact, we almost forgot that we were using a product that is typically odorous. Naturally we could smell something, but it just smelled clean. People commented on it.
Two years later, I'm so glad we did it. We spent more money, but it is not a frequent purchase, so I think that the long-term gain of healthier home air is completely worth it. Touch-up painting is not a big deal smell-wise; it doesn't make me feel the need to air out the house for a week. I feel confident that the paint on our walls, at least, is not putting toxic substances into our lungs. I'm hoping to redo our baseboard and window trim painting this year, and I'm planning to buy the same kind.
We also tried one Freshaire paint for our master bath, which we planned in a more sedate color palette We have liked it, too, though I think it required more coats to look as complete.
At some point we'll have to repaint our exterior... I wonder how the more environmentally friendly exterior paints stack up?

Gardening and creating beauty: theological reflections

Lately I've been spending a lot of time in the garden. I mean, a LOT. While B's napping, when James is home on the weekends, when there is something I can do with B strapped in the Ergo on my back... It has been a lot of hard work, a good chunk of solitude, and some food for thought. I've been trying to remember to pray more, and one day I found myself praying for the plants I was planting. At first I felt a bit silly. I mean seriously, God has plenty of very important things to work on and many more significant, life-altering prayer requests at any given moment. I almost apologized. But then I felt as if God reminded me... No... I am in the business of creating beauty. So this ragged edge of my yard that I was weeding and shoveling and amending and planting and mulching--this is God's kind of thing. So I started to pray for my plants a little differently. That they would be a source of hope and joy because their beauty would lift our souls. That they would not be a way that I would try to impress others or mundanely improve the value of my house, but that I would increasingly see my work in my own soil to be a way to join Jesus in his work of redeeming the weed patches of the world and making them fruitful gardens.
Now, this is not to say that I think that this will be the majority of my contribution to the world. But it's a small way that I can serve my family, and the people we invite into our home, because I am working to create more beauty to fill their lives. And my own.
This morning I was reminded of all this by an excerpt I read:
"As each one of us enters into the deeper places through contemplation, we come to see ourselves in our truest being, at the Source of our being in God. We come to see ourselves each moment coming forth from our Source, and not only ourselves but all others with us. By the intuition of the Spirit we come to know our solidarity with all being. This cannot but lead to compassion--compassion for our fellow humans who are one with us in our Source.... Moreover, we will know that oneness and compassion with the rest of creation that is the source of good stewardship and a true ecology." From M. Basil Pennington in Living with Apocalypse ed. by Tilden H. Edwards, in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God.
The quote was only secondarily about stewardship and ecology, (caring for people comes first!), but it resonated with me and reminded me of my blog. I think the best ecological action is founded on love of the God who made the world and desire to take care of things as he does. Otherwise it is so easy to fall into fear-based thinking about what our unsound ecology will do to the future, or to let being "greener" simply be another way of trying to outdo our neighbors with our self-regarding virtue. Neither of those is enough. I don't think they can or ought to sustain themselves for very long. They have no real life in them, and end when my fear shifts to something else or when I am not as impressively green as someone else. But if I find my life in Christ, and then can promote the life and well-being of others and of the creation, then I see no dead-ends. I think God will keep giving me energy and joy to care.

New Year, new car...

I haven't had as much time for blogging as I would have wished recently. Instead, I've been spending a lot of time online gathering information and ideas for getting a new (to us) car. Our New Year's Day was a little more exciting, though a little less fun, than we had hoped. We were in a car accident. We are all okay. In fact, Beckett came out with not even a bruise. I had and still have some lingering whiplash--not in my neck, but in my upper back. James has a sore shoulder. It was kind of crazy, and only about a mile from our house, on a surface street. A lady was coming around a curve... and she didn't turn. She ploughed into us. Our car was totaled. We made a visit to the ER.
But I'm getting off my real subject. We're all okay. But we need a car now, and I'm even more committed to having something safe for us. We're looking at a few different options, with the help of a few of my favorite online resources... Edmunds for car reviews. I especially like the true cost to own feature, which estimates the cost of gas, depreciation, maintenance, etc. for the first five years. Kelley Blue book for checking the prices that people are asking for private sales of used cars. Carfax for getting the history of a specific vehicle and recommendations for how close that vehicle should be to the blue book price. Oh, and I almost forgot: Safercar to look up the government five star safety ratings on any given vehicle. I just wish they had a search feature where you could search by number of stars--I had to put together my own list of all the used car models that are five stars for front and side impacts. I wish they could have done it for me. (The new 2011 rating system is different, with an overall rating now, also. But even then, I don't think there is a way to search for only the five star, or five and four star vehicles.)  And even after all these resources, it's still a crazy decision, with so many variables, at least for people who don't just have 20,000 to drop here and there. :)
So wish me luck!

Getting ready for a First Christmas

It's an odd thing, but I usually feel inspired to write when I am otherwise also busy. I get into my hyper-production mode, and it becomes another thing I want to do. This week, I'm getting ready for Christmas: Baby's first, and my second one as the host for my family's side of the festivities. I have a few guiding principles: keep it fun (not all fancy and stressful), keep it simple (in terms of gifts, especially for the kids, but also for the adults, who have most of what we need or want), eat well (a good time to pull out favorites), and don't forget the God who's behind it all.

To keep it fun, we potluck. This year, my mother-in-law is even doing the main dish, which leaves me sooo much more freedom to work around the baby and still get sleep. I'm doing several different items, and each other family member is bringing (or has brought, in the case of my mom and her MANY beverage options!) a contribution to the menu. This year we went with a French theme, but I'm veering toward the simple items for my stuff. We're having a provencal soup (can we say I love my crockpot?), and simple salad (seriously, I think it has 4 items), and a mousse for dessert (I can make it the day before). For appetizers, I'm setting out crudites (which are essentially overnight marinated cold veggies), some baked brie with apples and bread, and chocolate truffles my mom brought already. I love it already, and I can't wait to taste it all. And fortunately, my hubbie will be my sous chef, as he is expert in all things chopping and prepping. Now...what to serve my little one?

To keep it simple, we're continuing our new tradition of an adult secret Santa. Everyone buys one gift for one other adult... And even then, it can be so hard to figure out what to get! We are blessed with such abundance... and we really don't need to go overboard getting more things. I even like that this curbs my own greed. When I start to think of a list of all sorts of unnecessaries that I would like, I remember that even with James' gifts (we do a little nuclear family exchange separately) and my in-laws family Christmas, I'm not getting much. And that's good! If I really need it, I will buy it, or save for it. Or I'll remember that the things that matter most aren't bought to begin with.

Eating well... kind of covered in the one earlier. Just because I'm not gonna kill myself over the food doesn't mean it won't taste good. :)

As for remembering God... we don't have many established corporate traditions. That's kind of funny to me. J and I have usually gone to our church's Christmas Eve service (sometimes on Christmas Eve's eve!) And I usually read some of the Scriptures about Christ's birth for myself, and sometimes with James. But I've been thinking more about how I want this to be an intentional part of our celebration, too. That especially comes into focus when I contemplate how the patterns we set now will be how B will experience Christmas as he grows up. This is only his first Christmas, and he probably won't remember it except through pictures. But I hope that when he looks back in his twenties, he'll remember that our family celebrated Jesus at Christmas, not just presents or even family. So, I think it would work to have one of the family read the Christmas story just before dinner, when everyone is seated together. Now I'm wondering if I'll use a kids' book to make it simpler for them, or if we'll go with the regular Bible story. But altogether, I'm hoping for something that allows us all to go a bit deeper together into the way the real First Christmas changed the world.

Does anyone else have good spiritual traditions their family shares for Christmas?

But I have to end with a funny anecdote I heard at work... A woman was telling her son, now about 2 and 1/2, about Jesus' birth, and he listened through the whole thing as she explained that all of the Christmas celebrations developed to celebrate his birth. Once she was done, she asked if he understood a little more about Christmas, and he said, really thoughtfully, "I think so. So.... I'm Jesus?"

My current addictions

Trader Joe's pumpkin bread muffins. We just cooked our third box in as many weeks. They are easy, delicious, so cozy for the holidays. Having fresh muffins lying around is wonderful for snacking when I get up with Beckett in the morning, or when the day is busy and I don't have a break yet for a meal. I haven't looked too closely at the nutrition information on it... Not yet.

The Zero Waste Home blog. My sister in law referred me to it in a blog comment, and now I'm hooked! I'm fascinated by how people can change their way of life with dedicated effort and some thoughtfulness. Today I was intrigued to find in a back post that the blogger and her family are churchgoers. I was curious about the role that plays in their eco-consciousness... And I am definitely inspired to think about how I can get beyond thinking that I am caring for the creation when I merely divert my trash to the recycle bin.

Pumpkin pie from scratch. I mean, roasted the pumpkin, rolled and pinched the crust... If I could churn my own butter, that would be the next step closer. :) But the recipe had a variation for honey instead of sugar, and oh my goodness I'm in love. It tastes so much better to me! This recipes a keeper.

Brothers and Sisters in syndication. In spite of the fact that it keeps playing repeat episodes with the wrong titles (can someone not work a DVD player at the station???), I love watching this show and getting the back story from the old episodes. James says its a soap opera at night time, but I don't see him leaving the room. :)

Printing pictures of my cute boy. This is so un-eco friendly of me... Picture paper is not recyclable. And he probably will not want all these shots someday. But I do! I might have to get another job just to finance my picture habit.

Watching Friends at bedtime. In bed. It's a terrible habit. I started it when I was having trouble sleeping when I was pregnant. Beckett is almost 8 months. I won't try to figure out how many times we've watched through all 10 seasons. I keep telling myself that soon I will just read before bed again. New Year's?

Scramble on my phone, or on facebook. It's just such a good game! I can play Boggle all by myself, anytime I have a free minute!

These are my Sunday night confessions.
And now it is time for bed. I'm such a parent. It's 9:30.

Beckett's first Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Beckett's first Thanksgiving day. By the time he was in bed for the evening, I was feeling the poignancy of the day... Firsts are rather amazing things. They only happen that one time, and the responses that a person has cannot be reproduced. We just have to treasure what we can remember. It is strange to think that for each of us, so many of our firsts are not remembered by us, but by those who love us and watched as we grew.
Beckett won't remember that we spent yesterday with my family (in our alternating Thanksgiving Day tradition with James' family) at the house where I lived from 7 years old on. He won't remember that he was a bit overwhelmed by the hubbub produced by two doting grandparents, four aunts and uncles, two parents, three other cousins, between 2 and 6 dogs (depending on how many were currently shut up in a room), many cooking activities, and the parade on TV. He'll have no memory of how he and his cousin Freddy both showed up in striped collared shirts with pullover sweater vests, looking ready for a photo shoot. He won't recall that he ate homemade chicken and apples baby food alongside his multigrain cereal, and that he too had his own version of pumpkin pie made from some of the fresh pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, and a little ginger. B won't relive playing with his cousins on the floor, or how he loved giving a few baby kisses to his oldest cousin, Jade. He will not be able to think back fondly of how my dad, his grandpa, was eager to hold him and give him "horsey rides" on his knee.
But all these sweet and funny moments will be filed in a little corner of my mind. My favorite part was seeing him sitting for his first meal at my mom and dad's table with my side of his extended family. It is rare enough that he gets to eat with both James and I with his early bedtime, so this was an exciting opportunity. He sat between James and I, and we both fed him his food. He was too excited for more than a five minute nap while we were there, and by the end of the day he was tired and needing to stay close to me to be calm. But he was sweet and curious and enjoying our family. And me... these days, with my sweet husband and my darling baby, I felt like the most blessed woman in the world.

"There's a Beckett on my face"

Kids do the darndest things, an old saying goes. One of Beckett's favorite funny things lately involves applying his mouth to my cheek or my chin or along my jawline. Sometimes he just tongues me a little. Sometimes he bites down with his two little teeth (not the most comfortable feeling...) And sometimes he starts sucking. On my chin. I think it's actually his form of kissing right now. But it has become quite a game for us. It tickles, and my view is of his big eyes and the top of his head is so funny that it makes me laugh a lot. I've taken to doing a fake scream--a rather mild and quiet "Ahhh," and then I say, "There's a Beckett on my face!" And we both laugh. I don't know that this will be a long-lasting game, but he's been doing it for about a month now. We'll see how long I can handle the biting part. :)
It makes me glad I've given extra thought since he was born into what I am willing to put on my skin. I feel pretty good knowing that my bare minerals makeup has a very low number rating on the Environmental Working Group's cosmetics database. The database is one of the favorite new online tools I've found to help me evaluate products that I use every day. It's not infallible: sometimes I have looked up products that should probably have a lower hazard rating because the labels specifically rule out contaminants that the rating system is still including in its factoring. But overall it is extremely helpful, especially when it comes to avoiding a few of the ingredients that seem to be the worst offenders. Like parabens and phthalates, both of which are commonly used in beauty products.
Parabens are apparently used as a sort of antimicrobial ingredient, so that products last longer. Phthalates are used in fragrance cocktails, nail polishes, and a host of other things, and they help to preserve the fragrance. I don't know that I've read what they are meant to do in the other products. But they are also used in some kinds of plastics. Now, there are several different kinds of parabens and phthalates, and they each have varying levels of toxicity. But none are really very good. Some contribute to cancer, some can change hormones, some can damage organ systems. Here's a look at one, for example: dibutyl phthalate. It has the highest toxicity rating on the database. And it's in nail polishes. (Turns out most nail polishes are pretty awful health-wise.) But other types of phthalates are used in lotions, washes, and many other things... without ever appearing on the label because they are part of the fragrance blend that companies can conceal to keep them proprietary. Parabens are a bit more straightforward, and are usually listed among ingredients.
For people concerned about increasing exposure to toxic chemicals, parabens and phthalates are some of the top on the list to avoid. One of my favorite new sites, Healthy Child, Healthy World, lists them among a few other ingredients to avoid in personal care products if you want to minimize your own exposure. Now, it's not as if your one favorite lotion with methylparaben is going to get you in your sleep. But, the problem is a lifetime of exposure to not one but maybe 20 or 30 or 40 products that all have these ingredients. When I looked through my bathroom and shower, I found many. For instance: my body wash... a couple of lotions. My chapstick (which is actually ubiquitous in my house, so that I can use it all the time.)

Fortunately, there are some good products out there that are made paraben free and phthalate free. I found some new soap for the shower, and new lotion. And guess what: they still smell pretty nice, and they still get me clean and soft.

And, what's even better... they will hopefully not interfere with a long and healthy life for either me or my little skin-sucking baby boy. Maybe his whole world won't be safe to put in his mouth, but I'd like it if just my chin could be.
What about you...? Are there any products you've ever been concerned about putting on yourself, or your child coming into contact with?