Strange Machines

After a long day of cleaning, cooking, and rearranging furniture which pleases everyone, I finally put Bear down for a nap and still feeling buzzed came online.

I’ve been briskly removing plastics from our home and after reading this post Caution: These seven household items may feminize baby boys, I am grateful that I have been keeping Bear away from these phthalate-full items.

This means:

1. No more nail polish

I had to remind my mom, who loves getting her pedicure done. I’ve never enjoyed it, nor having a layer of smelling paint on my fingers and toes so it never has been a problem. These days I keep my nails very short so smell doesn’t accumulate there (I change my cat poo pans, cook, etc) and it helps me type faster on my phone.

2. Kitchen plastics

We have switched to stainless steel and cast iron for a while now and I daresay the food tastes better. Plus there is the 5 minute massage I give my cast iron pan after every meal which seems to soothe the both of us. The microwave may need a new home now. It hasn’t been used in months.

3. Vinyl (PVC) toys

We don’t have that many soft plastic toys anymore and Bear never was much a fan of putting them in his mouth. I do worry about the paint on his die cast cars though, which he carries around all the time.

4. Paints

We’re not doing any painting in the near future so we’re okay. There are non-VOC options now though, as well as this neat thing called SoyCrete if we ever want to stain our concrete floor.

Meanwhile, that means no more oil painting for now. Not that I have the time to do that anyway.

5. Fragrance

Since I have never worn perfume, I don’t worry too much about this. I do have to look for fragrance in our every day items though. But since we switched to organic skincare and soap, careful reading of the label has helped us stay clear of it as far as possible.

6. Vinyl

Since we moved to this place, we haven’t had to use a shower curtain because the shower stall is glass. A ton of other things are made of vinyl, aka PVC, so I have stopped buying cheap shoes, cheap bags, and anything labelled PVC.

Come to think of it, I have stopped buying, period.

7. Air fresheners

Yup, even the fragrance-free ones have fragrance, to mask the chemicals that make the stuff. I’ve taken to airing the house or buying house plants to make the place smell better.

So far so good. But there’s always room for improvement. I really would like grandchildren.