Trying to Spring

Series: About: My Quirks

So, spring is desperately trying to give winter the ole' heave-ho down here and I, being a person who hates being the least bit chilly, am doing my best to help spring...spring...by spring cleaning.

Cleaning--especially deep cleaning--brings out the quirk in me, and so, here we go...

A while back, I started purging my kitchen of all things made in China. I had actually started before the big recall of practically all the toys in America, which was sometime in October??? So, I've been at it, on and off, for awhile.

It started with the cheap, painted, plastic cups my children drink from--all MADE in China. I decided I'd probably have to go glass (unless MADE in China) and just cross my fingers that the kids could keep from dropping and shattering, then stepping on shards of glass. I have found in my research however, that Tupperware is made in America, so I scour yard sales and thrift stores for it. So far, I've found three that were in good enough condition, and cheap enough. They're each a different size and color, which concerns me none the least, but I don't think I'll have to worry about possible lead. (Leaching plastic--well, that's another concern about which I'm "quirkin' ".)

Next, I started going through some of my plastic storage containers and throwing them away. I started buying glass storage containers but they're pricey and not very big. So, I'm starting to look at garage sales for the old glass refrigerator containers. I went into a Kmart for the first time in years last week, and to my surprise, the Martha Stewart line carries them--and in green, my fav color. Again, though, out of my price range unless I just have some extra cash laying around and nothing to spend it on--unlikely. BTW, all of the M.S. merchandise I looked at was MADE in U.S.A. Kudos to Martha!

If you feel comfortable buying plasticware, I've looked it over at the store and I think Gladware is MADE in U.S.A. but the Lock-Lock systems and Sterilite are both China-made, as are the Take-A-Long systems. I really like the Lock-Lock products sold at Target but I think I'm gonna have to purge it or just not freeze it or heat it in the micro--both of these actions, I've read, can cause plastics to leach into food. Ugh.

It's weird, I know, but I worry about plastic sandwich bags leaching into everything lunch, not to mention, how much post-consumer waste they probably generate. Since we'd been trying to slowly go "green," awhile back I had quit using plastic bags and instead bought all those little sandwich and chip containers that were reusable, for our lunchboxes...and with five kids taking approximately five baggies a day, five days a week, we alone were making the Ziploc company stockholders happy and my hubby work a second job :0) But then, when surveying my plastic supply, all those little containers were made you-know-where, so out they went especially b/c most of the week, my kids will take leftovers from dinner the night before to heat in the micro at school. Ahhh...leaching...at school...when they're trying to learn! We're back to Ziplocs for now, until I can find those Tupperware lunchboxes that everybody used to have in the 70's--then I'll still probably send little glass containers for reheating. Unfortunately, glass containers are not allowed in preschool lunchboxes. I sent Zac a small, glass cup awhile back and got a note sent home. Tsk, Tsk. (Nevermind your child being behind in school b/c his brain is saturated with lead, please whatever you do, don't send glass :)

I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting; it's a health-quirk thing but my Mom always said that Moms have a sixth sense and if something doesn't ring true to your sixth sense, go with your sense. I just can't shake that 'what if'... what if ten or twenty years down the road these things have been found to harm my kids? When something that's so simple to change could protect my child's health, I'm gonna change it, quirky or not.

Next time...is there lead in my glass? Is a BEEF hotdog really that different? What makes a turkey organic? Who eats bee pollen? Are those worms in my corn? Starbucks for your garden? Why does cleaning make me sick? Who put the hormones in my milk?

Quirks, all of them.