Steamed.

...and I don't mean me, for once! I said I would sing praises of things for a few blogs, so here I go again.

Steam... powerful stuff. And so can anything really clean better? It kills pretty much anything. In my search for chemical-free cleaning, I thought these new steam mops that use nothing but WATER to clean might be worth checking. Always one for a bargain, I ran to Big Lots the minute I saw the Dirt Devil Steam Mop at a good price. We snagged the last one. I tried it out immediately. What's better is my husband also tried it out immediately! I'm not the most diligent house-cleaner. My floors get away from me every so often. OK, all the time. But just one pass with this steam mop over my kitchen linoleum had me hooked.

And it's just water. No chemicals, no smell, no residue, nothing to worry about my cats walking through or smelling, easy, quick-drying... I can't say enough. I'm done! No more spending money on cleaning stuff for the floors. (Although when I do want to use anything, it's always Better Life's Simply Floored - now THAT smells great and no harm) No more plastic containers that hold the cleaning stuff.  No more contributing to the Gyres for no good reason. (And no, cleaning supplies are NOT a good reason.) (No, no they are not. Did you not just read what I said about steam doing a better job??)

I say it over and over... I do not need my home to smell like fake pine tree courtesy of chemicals, I do not need to anti-bacterialize myself out of existence, I do not need bleach or ammonia or even fake lemon. I like my clean to smell like NOTHING at all. And if steam is killing things I want killed anyway...

This is a no-brainer for me! Unfortunately, that's what we Greenies run into a lot out there... no brains.

But seriously. This is a cool thing and I recommend it or any brand you choose. They are simple machines that should last a long time with minimal care, and NO MORE BUYING all that other stuff. Win-win sitch.

Duped by DuPont

Non-stick cookware. Revolution of the 20th Century, right? Makes life so easy. So convenient.

For the sake of this conversation, we're going to completely put aside the FACT that Teflon is actually hazardous to human health. That should actually be common knowledge. Unfortunately, we know all too well that knowledge is rarely common. But we are putting that aside. Just type the word "Teflon" in Google, and you'll immediately get results about the dangers.

That aside. We had non-stick stuff, and of course I wanted to go greener in our cookware. Sure, I would love the super-beautiful enameled stuff, a whole big set of it, but it's a little cost-prohibitive. So we started getting regular good old cast iron, nothing fancy, one piece at a time. My husband immediately fell in love with them and takes care of them very well. Better than I, in fact. I admit, I was a little intimidated to start cooking with them myself. "Stuff sticks so bad!" I thought. "Such a mess!" I thought. Then, I cooked an egg.

These pans have been lovingly seasoned the proper way, and I used a touch of butter, which I used in Teflon pans anyway. To my complete surprise, there was NO sticking. Clean-up is not difficult. And the food tastes better and is healthier. I got to thinking, WHY have we turned away from this? Because it's heavy? (Oh boo hoo, we could all use a little more of a freakin' workout, people.) Because it's a pain to clean? (Nope, we're just that lazy.) Because it's a little INCONVENIENT? Bingo. It's not, but that's the bill of goods we were sold. We were told this is what we wanted and what we NEEDED because we are so so busy and oh after all cast iron is SUCH a hassle.

BUT IT'S NOT!!! But we were so easily led astray! We fell for DuPont's marketing for no real good reason whatsoever. They don't care about our time. They don't care about our health. They want profit. Of course they do. And that's all they want. They do not give one good gash darn that you have easier clean-up.

Let's open our eyes!!! Let's stop falling for this crap!!!  

Meanwhile, we are building a nice set of cast iron cookware that we will NEVER have to replace. Oh. look, saving money in the long run, and not adding to the garbage on the planet. How often do we have to replace non-stick? Too often. Oh... and now, we cannot use plastic spatulas etc... bamboo and good old-fashioned metal work nicely. Less plastic for everyone. Good side-effect I had not seen coming.

Accentuate the Positive

Wait, has someone taken over my page?? LOL

For December and the holidays, I want to focus on some good things. Not to say I won't still snark out from time to time, but ya know. Gotta throw some good in there too.

So for my next few posts, I'm going to talk about what is working for me, and hope that, by sharing, it might work for you too! Got things to share? Please do!

The one I'll sart with is what I promised back in my lipstick post. I got my little lip "stain" gloss whatever you wish to call it. I do love it. All pure ingredients, nice color, makes my lips soft, and comes in a little metal tin. I found it on etsy.com, on t.w.i.nk. beauty. http://www.etsy.com/people/twinkbeauty?ref=ls_profile I so totally agree with what they say: If you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't put it on your skin. TRUE!!!!! So I love my lip stuff from them and will go back for more. I was a touch disappointed that, to promote their other items, they ssent along some product in little plastic bags. I appreciate the thought, but... you see what I mean?

Of course, another GREAT shop on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/5seed Can I say enough good about my friend Yancy? No!!! She's awesome!

OK, now if you haven't come up with some BRILLIANT gift ideas here, you're hopeless. LOL Listen in to my radio show on http://newdissidentradio.com/good_green_witch.html on the 12/4 show for some great green gift ideas. Michelle GreenQueen Carroll and I will be discussing.

See? Happy happy!

Ugh. :)