Getting Rid of Bad Smells

Our home has just recovered from several days of the stomach flu.  All four of us had it to varying degrees of severity, but our one-year-old had the worst of it.  Sadness all around.  On Thursday, I was home with said one-year-old, and I happened to see Spencer from Little Green Men.  I tried not to say anything that would scare him out of having children himself, but did ask for his recommendation for getting a bad smell out of a carpet.

He gave me the usual advice about baking soda and a vacuum cleaner.  We’d done that with some effect, but needed something stronger.  He suggested we try a product called Bac Out, made by Biokleen.  He mentioned it could be found at Whole Foods, though I also found it later that afternoon at Yes Organic (of eating organic on a budget fame).  Biokleen alleges this product to be safe for birds, pets, and people, but not for bad smells.  Just what I was looking for.

It worked great.  It definitely made everyone sneeze just a little bit, and it left a lemony smell of its own, but our house no longer smells like the flu.  Luckily, the last couple days have been beautiful, so we’ve left all the windows open.  Feels like spring in DC to me.  Thanks, Spencer!  Any other suggestions for getting rid of bad smells, particularly those associated with a sick kid?

Yogurt Cheese- Tasty Alternative to Cream Cheese

As promised in the previous post about our family’s yogurt fixation, today’s post expands the topic. Both kids like helping with this one (as well as eating most the result). It’s so easy that it can be described in a single sentence:

Yogurt cheese is made by draining the whey from plain yogurt for about a day.

I’m serious. That’s it. Both kids love yogurt cheese, and it’s easy to make even if that first batch of yogurt didn’t turn out as expected, since store bought yogurt works fine. Now, of course there’s always a product that can make the whole process move along a little more smoothly, by holding the yogurt and catching the whey. In this case, it’s the Cuisipro Donvier yogurt cheese maker.

We got ours as a gift. But before we had it, we used a cloth diaper (not the fuzzi-bunz we’ve raved about elsewhere on the site, but rather like the ones our moms used on us).

If you’re using a diaper or hanky for your cheese cloth, just wet it with some super-hot, preferably sterile water, and stick it in a colander. Stick the colander in a lasagna tray, dump in some yogurt, and let it sit in the fridge for a day. Take it out and spread it on some bagels. Voila, you’ve made cheese!

Safe Sunscreen and Products

Now that spring has asserted itself, I’ve been thinking a lot about sunscreen and how to find something that protects my kids (and me!) from the sun, but isn’t full of endocrine disrupters and pthalates, usually hidden in products by the generic term “Fragrance”. Endocrine disrupters mess with your hormones and are particularly bad for boys’ reproductive systems. I’m not quite ready to sterilize my kids!

Anyway, my friend Jenny pointed me to a great website maintained by the Environmental Working Group, that tests all the different cosmetics, lotions and potions available in a store and tells you what’s in them. If you’re looking for a real eye-opener, check out the makeup section. Who knew that there was so much lead in lipstick?

I’m not necessarily against a company putting bad stuff in their products, that’s their choice. The problem for me is when I don’t know that there’s bad stuff in there. That’s not right. Websites and organizations like this really help regular people figure out exactly what it is that they are buying. Thanks Jenny!

Update: Jenny sent me a recommendation for a specific sunscreen, read it here.

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