Join the Retweet Club!

With your hosts:

@Syrana, @Marirene74, and @HaveSippy

The Rules:

1 – The first rule about the Retweet Club is to talk about the Retweet Club.

2 – Tweet the last entry on the spreadsheet (copy and paste!) – The first spot will always be about the RT Club post!

3 – Choose any post you want that’s family friendly!

4 – Add your tweet to be retweeted – typed AS you want it tweeted (refer to the first spot for an example).  Please make sure it is only 140 characters.

5 – Use bit.ly or tinyurl to shorten your post links.

6 – You can retweet more than one and post more than one request.  We ask that you retweet one for each that you post.  We will randomly tweet off the list too.

Optional – You can follow the hosts and send us a tweet telling us you are part of the #RTClub and we’ll follow you back!

If you’d like the code to post the listing on your blog, please contact me and I’ll send it to you.

**PLEASE NOTE** It takes about 5 minutes for the spreadsheet on this post to update with your submission. To see the spreadsheet and confirm your information was recorded you may CLICK HERE.

There are about 80,000 chemicals in the marketplace today – more than enough to make parents who are concerned about chemicals pull out their hair. Simplify and pay attention to just 3 ways your child might be exposed.

1) What goes in the mouth. Choose clean food and drinks, and pay special attention to the plastics that go in the mouth, especially those used to store, heat, or serve food and drinks. Chemicals in the plastics can leach out and enter your child. Notice the recycling symbols on the bottoms of many plastics. Opt for symbols 1, 2, 4, or 5. Or choose brands like BornFree, where the entire line of toddler sippy cups, pacifiers, baby bottles and plastic water bottles are free from BPA, phthalates and PVC. Or skip plastic, and go with something like glass or stainless steel.

2) What goes on the skin. Chemicals in lotions and creams can be absorbed through the skin. We read the ingredients on food; it’s time to learn to read ingredient lists on skin products as well, and choose those you trust. Sunscreen is a great place to start. I prefer sunscreens that rely on minerals, like zinc or titanium, rather than relying on chemicals that might act as hormones in the body.

3) What goes in the nose. Clean air may seem overwhelming. After all, you don’t have much control over other people’s exhaust pipes and smokestacks. But the air that matters most is the air in your own home, where your child sleeps at night. Indoor air is usually more polluted than outdoor air, so you can often make a big difference just by opening the windows. Replace cleaning products that have harsh fumes or artificial fragrances (anything that says, “Use in a Well-Ventilated Space” probably isn’t good for your child). And you might consider houseplants or an air filter to help clean your air.

Dr. Greene is the author of Raising Baby Green, Feeding Baby Green, and is a consulting pediatrician for BornFree.

This was a guest post, no compensation was received for this post.  

These were pictures BEFORE the river crested- so it got higher, but by that point, we were down in it hardcore, and didn’t get any pictures.  3 straight days with no sleep, and still….

I will post a few more pics tomorrow, of the cleanup.  I’m really, really tired now. 

I want to thank you guys for all your emails, comments, tweets, and FB comments of support and prayers at this difficult time.  And Closer to Lucy, who took over my page while I was cleaning up sludge and sorting out belongings- that was really sweet, thank you, even if you did invade my page   😛 

You guys are amazing, and thank you for being so sweet.  It’s nice to read all these encouraging messages when I get up from rolling around in sewage.  You can’t know what it means to me, thank you a million times. 

Peace and love, and see you tomorrow.
~Samantha

Please follow your hosts- we will follow you back! 🙂 Follow as many others as you would like, and please follow back those who follow you. This is great for everyone! 🙂

Pictures from the morning of Day 2 of Irene….our street. 
Can anyone say “Venice”? 

Photos from Day 1 of the flood- before it got bad.  Boats in the street, and cars halfway under, and that is BEFORE it got bad.  I will post more as I can.  It’s really bad here- we lost a lot.  I’m super scared about what else we will find- we are pumping the last of the sewage and water out now, and my driveway and street are already full of lost items, belongings, furniture….I made videos from the days I was not able to post, and THANK YOU to Pam for posting an update for me.  Things are really, really bad here, I am shocked and kind of numb, and some of my friends and neighbors lost just about everything. 

We all had no power, internet, water, etc this whole time, no ability to use a bathroom, still have no gas, no power to half the house, and the smell is UNREAL.  It’s like living in a gas station bathroom. 
I didn’t upload anything yet- as you can tell, I have not had much time on my hands.  Thanks for your patience, and I will update you as much as I can. 

Tomorrow I will try to get more up, some photos and video from all the rest.  Thanks for bearing with me right now, I am super scattered and I know this is not the usual direction of the site- but I will get back to normal as soon as I can, and will try to get some fun things up for you all soon.  Sorry, ya’ll.
I hope none of  you are going through any of this crazy.  Peace and love.  And sorry for this weird post. 

This is Pam, one of Samantha’s bloggy friends. She asked me to update everyone.  Having just talked to her on the phone,  it is devastating.  Sam has lost her power, her internet, and  her gas.  The flood waters have covered the finished basement of her home, leaving it filled with raw sewage. They have lost so many possessions and may lose their home as well because of the damage.  She is not sure when she will be able to post regularly again. It may be up to two weeks.

Sam will be posting videos and pictures of the devastation when she is able.  In the meantime, please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.