Sunday, July 11, 2010

Tyranny of the Disposable (Giveaway)



Happy 4th of July week! The 4th of July is always the best weekend of they year in Minnesota. It is our reward for putting up with the never-ending, freezing, snowy winters. Glorious weather, cool refreshing lakes sparkling in the sunshine, fireworks lighting up the sky....small town celebrations (sand castle building contests, popsicle socials, bike parades behind the firetruck) at their finest.


I was all set to write my blog post themed on the 4th of July. Just as our Founding Father’s freed us from the tyranny of England’s rule I want to free my fellow soccer/baseball/chess club moms and dads from the Tyranny of the Snack. If you have young children involved in any activities, you know about the Tyranny of the Snack. A parenting phenomenon no one tells you about until after you are mired in it (Teletubbies, anyone?), is the snack. It is everywhere and it just won't go away. Apparantly, Somewhere Very Important, someone Very Important came up with this ridiculous rule that whenever two or more children are gathered together for any type of activity, said activity must conclude with a snack. Is there anything more unnecessary in our obesity-ridden culture than feeding a 6 year old a Ho-Ho at 8:30 at night after a soccer game? Followed by a HFCS, artificial-color laden drink? I HATE it and fight it and rail against and am always defeated by the other parents who say “All the other teams will be doing snack so we must as well.” If their child said "All the other kids are playing with matches, so I must as well" would they do it? And yet, I succumb. I hate myself for it and wonder what happend to the idealistic young adult I once was who protested apartheid and marched on Washington. THAT lady would fight this in ways more direct than a diaper blog and not back down but the mom I have become lets it slide and then hates herself later for doing it. Anyone who has let their child watch Sponge Bob knows the feeling.....


That is what I WAS going to rant and ramble about, until the great ladies of the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative whom I admire so very much, decided that this summer should be the season of Giveaways. Somehow, armed with that knowledge, I was able to tear myself off my soapbox and switch topics to....reusable menstrual products! Yes, a far cry from the Ding Dongs and Cheetos (why doesn’t anyone but me bring apples and bananas?) on which I was going to pen my screed.


So, reusable menstrual products. Free yourself from the Tyranny of the plastic tampon! Yippee! Fun, fun, fun. They don’t have quite the adorable and just too precious for words quality of their cloth diaper counterparts but they are just as important! If you make the decision to use cloth on your child (for environmental, financial or whatever other reason) why not use cloth for yourself? All the nasty chemicals and dangers found in sposies are present in tampons as well. The names have become all too familiar....Bleach. Dioxin. Toxic Shock Syndrome. Plastic. Why put them next to your skin or even inside your body? While disposable tampon applicators and pads are smaller, they fill landfills just the same as diapers and take the same time to decompose. In fact, the average child only uses diapers for 2.5 years. The average woman uses tampons and/or pads for 35-40 years....approximately 500 periods. At 5 tampons or pads a day for 5 days that is 12,500 chemical infused pieces of cotton and plastic next to our bodies and deposited in our landfills. Nasty.


We sell a lot of reusable menstrual products at Cottontail Baby and even more at our sister site, Mamaclothonline. We sell pads, cups, sponges and all the accoutrements that make them easy and fun to use (the Black Calaveras pad bag from Leslie's Boutique is one of my absolute MUST HAVES).



One of our favorites is the Fussybutt pad. Only someone as supremely cool, ironic and fun as Christy could come up with the name Fussybutt and her personality comes across in her pads. Christy hand dyes, crafts and sews each one of these pads and they are both extremely absorbent and absolutely beautiful. The pads, which come in five sizes (thong, liner, regular, long and Xlarge) are all organic bamboo fleece or organic bamboo velour with an organic wool jersey backing and organic cotton fleece soaker. Not the ugly chemical laden boring white disposable pads you find at Target. These come in gorgeous colors like turquoise with a lime backing or raspberry with purple backing. Stunning. Who knew something with such a high Ick Factor could be so attractive? Kinda makes you WANT to have your period (I said “kinda”). Plus, besides being beautiful, they are so comfortable and soft and just...dare I say it?...fun to wear.


As part of Giveaway Summer, we will give one Fussybutt pad and one Leslie's Wet Bag pad bag (winner can choose the size and color of pad and print of wet bag...approximately $40 value). The Giveaway ends on July 24, 2010 so enter early and enter often. There are several ways to enter:

  1. Follow the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative blog
  2. Join the Cottontail Baby mailing list
  3. Fan Cottontail Baby or Mamaclothonline on Facebook
  4. Leave a comment on this post indicating you did all that
  5. Double entry for those who link to the Cottontail Baby or Mamaclothonline web site in their comment

88 comments:

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  6. I am a fan of Cottontail Baby on FB

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  7. I joined the Cottontail Baby mailing list

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  8. I'm a fan of Mamaclothonline on FB

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  10. Joined the Cottontail Baby mailing list

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  13. I like Cottontail Baby on Facebook.
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  14. I like Cottontail Baby on Facebook.
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  15. Great post!
    I love Cottontail Baby and Mamaclothonline.com, and of course I'm a facebook fan :D

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  23. I follow your blog. Thank you for holding this give away :)

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  36. I follow the Coop blog!

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  37. I signed up for the Cottontails baby mailing list.

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  40. I joined the Cottontail Baby mailing list.
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  41. I "like" Cottontail Baby on FB.
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  42. I "like" Mamaclothonline on FB.
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  43. Signed up for CottonTail's newsletter.

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  44. THANKS to CottonTail and MamaCloth for doing this giveaway!!!

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  45. I follow the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative blog.

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  46. I joined the Cotton tail baby mailing list
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  47. Liked mamaclothonline on facebook

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  56. I follow this blog!
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  57. I signed up for the cottontail baby newsletter!
    BTW: LOVE these Fuzzibunz: http://www.cottontailbaby.com/category_57/FuzziBunz.htm :)
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  58. I linked to Cottontail Baby (above) for a second entry!
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  59. I'm a Fan of Cottontail Baby on FB!
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  60. I follow CDRC on facebook!

    Link: http://www.cottontailbaby.com/item_451/FussyButt-Organic-Cloth-Menstrual-Pads.htm

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  61. I follow CDRC on facebook!
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  62. I follow the blog.
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  63. Signed up for CottonTail mailing list.

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  64. Liked Cottontail babies on FB.

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  65. Liked MamaClothOnline on FB.

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  66. I completed the requirements and www.mamaclothonline.com (1)
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  68. I Follow the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative blog

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  69. I Fanned Cottontail Baby and Mamaclothonline on Facebook
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  71. I'm a fan of Cottontail Baby and Mamaclothonline on FB (Kacy Sandidge Ellis)

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  72. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  73. I like Mamaclothonline on FB -Abbie N
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  76. I like Mamacloth on FB (Karine Capobianco Traverse)
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  77. Joined Cottontail Baby Newsletter
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