FTC News

A little something to share from Seventh Generation today:

We're thrilled to report on the new guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency is now regulating the use of certain key terms on product labels, in order to rein in suspect environmental claims. Here's the rundown:

General environmental benefit claims (i.e. "eco-safe," "environmentally-friendly," etc.) now have to be substantiated with concrete reasons that address likely consumer interpretations of the claim. For example, an "ecologically-sensitive" cleaner would have to explain that this means it creates no toxic fumes, won't harm living things when used, or won't pollute water supplies when rinsed down the drain.

Biodegradable now means that a product is backed with solid scientific evidence it will completely break down into elements found in nature within a reasonably short time frame following customary disposal methods. If, for example, the product is typically going to end up in a landfill, it must quickly and completely decompose into natural substances under those specific conditions.

Compostable can refer to only those products or materials that break down rapidly in a typical home compost pile into soil-conditioning materials you can safely use in your garden. If the product will compost only in a commercial facility maintaining strict conditions, that qualifier should be mentioned. If it won't do either of these things, you can't call it compostable.

Recyclable finally means what it should: that the entire product or package can be processed through an established recycling program. If the item isn't one that recyclers will actually accept, it can't be declared recyclable. If your product or package contains a mix of recyclable and non-recyclable components, you have to say so.

Recycled content can only refer to materials that would have otherwise been thrown away but instead have been rescued for reuse either during manufacturing (pre-consumer) or after consumer use (post-consumer). Companies must be able to substantiate the implied contention that any pre-consumer materials would not have been recycled anyway. And unless the entire product or package is made from recycled content, an explanation must be provided.

Source reduction claims must be explained. You can't say your product creates "10% less waste" or is "10% less toxic" without specifying what it's being compared with.
Refillable means that there is an official system in place to collect and reuse the container or that the manufacturer sells a bulk size of the same product, which can be used to fill the refillable container.

Ozone-friendly claims or suggestions can only be made for products that are a) 100% free of any and all substances recognized by the Clean Air Act or the EPA as ozone-killers and b) contain no substances (like VOCs) that create ozone at ground level. This means you can't say your product "contains no CFCs" if it uses HCFCs instead because HCFCs can also harm ozone.

Makena Jade ~ Freshman 2011

I stopped buying school pictures of Makena a few years back. I'd much rather take pictures of her. (And I know how much she enjoys posing for me.)

We've been lucky these past few days in Oregon; it's been gorgeous. The leaves are changing, the sun is out and it's somewhat warm. So, I took Makena to the park by the library for a few pictures after school. We had just come from guitar practice, so I wanted a few pictures with Gladys, her guitar, as well.

I wanted a few pictures in some leaves, and by the pond. The ducks thought we were there to feed them and kept sneaking up behind me.

Like I said, gorgeous day.

This girl needs a bubble

That "girl" would be me. And, as my sister pointed out, that "bubble" would need to be a sparkling clean one.

I've slowly come to face the fact that the older I get, the clumsier I get. And, this is not a good thing people. This does not 'get better with age' because my body doesn't want to heal like it should.

Just a couple of years ago, I slipped and twisted my ankle. Then, because I was stubborn, I ended up fracturing my ankle and then getting tendinitis. This put me in a walking boot for 18 weeks.

Shortly after getting out of the boot, I broke my toe. This brought crutches to my life. I.Hate.Crutches.

I seem to constantly be walking in to walls. I drop things on my feet all the time. I cut myself. I pull muscles. It's never ending.

Then, last month, I was trying to move Jamie's older motorcycle out of my way. It has been in the driveway ever since the new motorcycle moved in to the garage. And believe me when I say this "I will NEVER, EVER try to move a motorcycle again." Those things are heavy!!! So heavy that I had to call The Hulk in me to get it back up. That was between sheer panic that Jamie would come home and yell at me, and the huge welt forming on my calf where the bike hit me. (I did get the bike back up without completely blowing a vein in my neck.)

And wouldn't you know it, just a couple of weeks ago I tripped out in the garage. Tripped! But the long story is...

There is so much s*it in the garage because the Viper and new motorcycle are out there. And nothing, I mean nothing, is allowed to be near them. I was trying to carefully move stuff out of the garage so that I could get to the paint brushes hiding behind piles of other crap. ** As I turned around, the handle of the wagon fell over, causing me to trip. And because my quick-thinking-mind knew that if I landed on his Viper I would be in A LOT of trouble, I threw myself the other way. Unfortunately, this only landed me on the new motorcycle. To be more exact, this landed my chest on the tail light of it and then directly to the garage floor on my knees.

I quickly had bruises and scratches to match the welt still growing on my calf from just the week before. There wasn't a bruise on my chest, only a lot of pain. Like I couldn't bend over without feeling like my heart was going to explode. Deep breaths, nope...none of those the last couple of weeks! And sneezing, could just about kill me at this point.

Fast forward to today. After almost 3 weeks of pain, lots of ibuprofen and a talk with Jamie, I called the doctor. To sum it all up, I didn't end up breaking the ribs, just internally bruising myself. (And possibly a shaking head from the doctor.) I'm supposed to see a chiropractor on Monday to 'adjust' some things in my shoulder to hopefully allow my chest to heal correctly in 3 - 6 more weeks. 3 - 6 more weeks...sigh...

In the mean time, we'll head up to the lake and get some work done. I'll try to be careful. I'll try not to work my left side too much. I'll try to just heal. And then I'll continue the search for my sparkling clean bubble.

**SIDE NOTE: I should point out that Jamie 'cleaned' the garage to fit in his new toys. This only means that the stuff that is supposed to be in a garage just got piled on top of other stuff. And all of this stuff has to be kept far away from the toys. So a messy garage became even worse. I see now that this is all Jamie's fault.

Makena's 15th!

REWIND TO AUGUST

We had friends/family over to celebrate Makena's 15th Birthday! As always, Makena received several great gifts. And we always like to have everyone over to the house to just catch up.

Because Makena isn't much of a "cake-and-frosting girl", I made her a chocolate, chocolate cake.

The wind wasn't cooperating that day, so we had to relight the candles a few times.

Then we got it!

And Makena made her wish.

Then on Monday, I took Makena, Hailee and Hayley to The Enchanted Forest. Because I'm a cool mom, I didn't bring my camera. But, I did sneak a few cell phone pictures in.

We love you Pook ~ Happy 15th Birthday!!!

Finding pumpkins with the Flahertys

Because we aren't able to join everyone at the pumpkin patch this year, we were invited to go with the Flahertys during their family time yesterday. We met them out at Baggenstos Farms.

The girls, and Jamie, played for a bit before we headed out to find pumpkins.

A tractor takes you out to the patch.

Jason found a big pumpkin for himself.

Then the girls helped Jamie find his.

Then Kallie found hers.

And our pile grew.

Because Makena wasn't able to go with us, the girls found the perfect pumpkin for her.

Thanks for letting us join you at the pumpkin patch this year!! We're going to miss joining in the Saturday tradition.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Pumpkin Patch 2008