Stevia Deal is back

This deal was gone the last few months and I was so bummed! But its baaaaaaack!




Get a twin pack of Sweetleaf Stevia (the only brand I use) on Amazon for only $19.95 with free shipping. AND if you subscribe to get it delivered every 1, 3, or 6 months, it drops to $25.95! You can always go back and cancel that subscription if you want to. Thats only $13 per 4oz bottle!!!! The 2oz bottle sells for that at all our local stores. Its like Buy One, Get One Free!

LINK

Organic Wear Mascara

HERE is a rebate form for Physicians Formula Organic Wear Mascara. Its worth $9.95, which is the retail price so you get it for free!

From their site:

100% Free of Harsh Chemicals, Synthetic Preservatives, Parabens, Clumping,
Smudging, Flaking, Fibers & Dyes.

Its also 100% recyclable (thumbs up!)
Its at least better than regular mascara and its FREE!

Raw Milk

You may have heard of people drinking raw milk and wondered why on earth someone would want to do that with all of our modern technology to make it "clean" and "healthy".

Here is an article on the health benefits of drinking milk raw i.e. the way God intended *Wink wink*)

We were able to get some frozen at one point but it isnt the same reconstituted :(. But Monday we will get our first fresh raw milk and I am SO excited. Its from a local dairyman who runs a certified raw dairy. This means that the government comes and regularly tests the milk. He also takes the milk to get tested himself, to be sure it is safe.

Basically milk right out of the cow is full of good healthy bacteria and the enzymes needed to digest it properly (because God is smart). When its pasteurized and homeogized (sp?) that kills any bad bacteria but also kills all the good bacteria, good enzymes, vitamins, etc. It basically makes a dead, hard-to-digest product, far from what God originally created it to be.

Interestingly, many people who are allergic/intolerant to store-bought milk, can drink raw milk.

A little tidbit from a fiesty writer who I enjoyed reading:

It's also rather amazing the amount of energy the state will spend tryingto put the clamps on people who have a couple of cows or a small herd of dairygoats. It's legal to drink milk from your own cow, so farmers began to sellshares of a cow to people who could then pick up "their" milk from "their"cow. But the state swooped in and put a stop to it,

If the government put this kind of effort into mass-produced peanuts, five people might still be alive.source: Swallow peanuts, but choke on raw milk

Its still ILLEGAL to sell raw milk in many states - this is almost as absurd as the states in which its illegal to have a homebirth or practice midwifery outside of a hosptial...dont even get me started!!!! Here it TX they can only sell it to you if you go and get it yourself. Thankfully Im not hooked up with an awesome lady who goes down every other Monday and gets it for everyone and then I just have to pick it up at her house nearby. Im so excited to try it!!!

Also, even at $7/gallon, we will save money over buying the Caleb and JJ almond milk! and thats the same price as organic milk at Costco :)

Lead in Crockpots and Plates

Ive heard little bits around the internet about crockpots having lead. This has always concerned me since I use my crockpot often. Well we are thinking of buying a second one for when we have big crowds so I finally buckled down and researched it.

You probably know that NO level of lead is safe. The FDA has a maximum level of lead allowable in the glaze in the crockpot (which is higher than zero - thanks again FDA). The danger of the leaching comes when the crockpot is heated up - and then the lead goes right into your food. things like this are SUCH no-brainers and yet so many experts just wonder why our country and our children are so increasingly sick :(

you can check out THIS article form a reporter who found very dangerous levels of lead leaching from a womans crockpot

From what I could dig up

For sure have lead: Rival and Crockpot brands

Supposedly dont: Westbend, GE and Hamilton Beach

I have a Rival :( I personally think this is a serious enough issue to warrant getting rid of it and getting something that I know is safe. I have some emails in to the other companies to verify that they do NOT use lead in their glaze. Will update!

I also found this really neat report from testing plates. Unbelievably, many are HIGH in lead (outrageous!!!!!). Click HERE for that report. Thankfully the Corelle the kids use is safe.

Soap Nuts!!!!!!

I am **so** excited to share my new discovery!

If you dont know how toxic fabric softener is read THIS.

We use cloth diapers most of the time with the baby. Because our city has really hard water we've had issues with detergent build-up even with the "right" detergents for cloth diapers. That led to me to looking for something more natural and thats how I found....

Soap Nuts!

They actually arent nuts but the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree. They contain saponin, a natural cleaner used for thousands of years to clean clothes, just like the plants used by Native Americans for washing.

I ordered some to try and I LOVE them!!!!! They totally removed the residue and got them CLEAN. Same with our clothes. And you dont need fabric softener at all with these!!!! In fact, we had some hand-me-downs for Jayna that had a strong fabric softener smell. I am very allergic to it and I have had clothes before that I couldnt get it out of, no matter how many times I washed them.....but the soap nuts got it out!

The residue from regular laundry detergent (even the "free" varieties) is what makes the clothes stiff and creats a need for the softener in the first place! Soap nuts dont leave a residue.

And they can be turned into a powder or liquid and used for a ton of cool things, for example.....
- shampoo (im excited to try this!)
- cleaning jewelry
- washing pets
- natural pesticide/mosquito repellent
- natural windo cleaner
- dishwashing "soap" (excited about this too!!!)

Click HERE to see the site that Ive found to have the best prices. I just ordered a huge bag to use all the time! You can try a sample for 1 cent plus shipping. I may even buy some wholesale to sell if I continue to be as impressed as I am!

Carters Tagless Clothes

I remember that my daughter always had a light rash on her upper back. I remember bathing her and wondering if she was allergic to something she was eating, or I was eating, etc. It turns out that this is a VERY common problem. Many moms have gone to their Drs only to be told its excema and given a cream for it. But its NOT excema....its a reaction to the chemicals they are using to stamp on "tags" in tagless baby clothes. Some babies have severe reactions (warning: graphic picts) similar to chemical burns :(

Stepping back from all the details I have to just say that this is something that never even crossed my mind (and im much more paranoid and suspicious than most after what ive learned about other products)! I always thought that organic clothing was over -the-top and not necessary. If I could afford it Id ditch everything we have and buy all new, organic clothes for all the kids (and especially our 8wk old!). The new baby has a light rash there too. He has some of the Carters shirts with the longer, white tag and I wont put them on him anymore (even though they are the cutests and fit the best of all his onesies). A lot of his other clothes are tagless too unfortunately.

It just makes me so sad :(

Nearly all baby clothes are tagless now. These stamps are reportedly made with materials containing phythlates and formaldehyde. YUCK! Its criminal. That junk is sitting on their skin all day and leaching into their body. Its so, so wrong.

You can bet that any clothes I buy from now on will have good 'ole fashioned tags. I read online that BabiesRUs' brand of clothes still have the real thing.

You can read more on Z Recommends . Carters is accepting postage-paid returns of their tagless clothing and the address info is there. I may take them up on that offer....

Soapopular

Its been a LONG time (2 months!) since I posted.....our fourth blessing is here and keeping me busy with other things :)

but I wanted to share one of my favorite new products.....I know that we shouldnt over-sanitize ourselves because that can lead to more issues. I do believe that theory is correct and I never buy antibacterial soap for the house. BUT there are definitely times when soap and water arent convenient but I just cant stomach what may be on my childrens hands - like after playing at the park, after they crawl on the floor at the store looking for pennies (please let that phase end soon!), coming out of church, etc.

I hated using Purell because of the alcohol and mostly because of the fragrance. blech. I saw a test done on TV of a new product called SOAPOPULAR and was very excited to find it at our WalMart!

Its alcohol and fragrance-free. It doesnt stink and doesnt dry your skin. It lasts much longer than purell so it costs less. The foam also doesnt slide off the kids hands as soon as they turn them to rub them together! I love it - especially with a newborn in the house. I use it a lot and my hands feel soft and clean!

If you go to THEIR SITE you can even get a free sample. If you are kind of a germ-phobe like me, you have to check this out!