Takes 2 seconds. Please answer. Am debating over this.

BUT WOULD YOU FOLLOW ME?

Oh Dr. Seuss. You gave me such awesome memories.

Ahem.

This time around, for my trip next week, I am packing light. L-I-G-H-T.

Essentials (am wearing 1 outfit on the plane)

• Walking shoes with supports (fugg being cute I’ll probably never see you people again)
• 7 pairs of underwear
• 3 pairs of socks
• Cute comfortable, stretchy pants
• 2 Comfortable tops
• 1 Sweater
• 1 Pashmina (Scarf)
• 1 Light Jacket (am thinking NO on this one, it will get warmer)

Electronics

• Digital camera + cables for it
• iPod + Headphones
• HP Mini Netbook + cable (may not take it)
• Cellphone + Cord (you just never know)

UPDATE:

Am taking the HP Mini Netbook.

We managed to score an AWESOME deal at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago for only $10/USD more per night (taxes included) than Motel 6.

Free wireless? (CHECK. Am bringing Netbook)

Hot hotel room?

Great view?

Located downtown?

HERE WE COME!

Check out what it looks like in one of the regular Hard Rock Hotel rooms. OH I AM SO EXCITED!

Toiletries

• Facial cleanser
• Contact lens solution + Case
• Glasses
• Lip Balm

Other

• Umbrella
• Sunglasses

Sounds pretty light, right? *nervous*

I carried way too much last time (1 backpack, 1 carryall). It may not seem like a lot, but I was hoping for just a backpack’s worth.

Source: Post Secret, Sunday April 5th

I don’t believe that parents can be blamed for everything.

They certainly played a part, but they weren’t the ones who forced him to do whatever he wanted to do to get sentenced 30 to life.

My parents sucked and still suck at handling money.

I could have said “that’s the way I was raised“, and gave up on trying to care about having enough for retirement so I wouldn’t burden my future kids.

Instead, I did something about it because of my situation, and because I know that blaming your parents is the easy way out.

Naturally, no one wants to choose the hardest way out of the mess that has been created around them but it doesn’t make it right to choose the easy way out.

You can say “I don’t think so” and use your past as motivation or you can resign yourself to what you feel has been destined as your fate.

I tried to comment and sympathize about your blogger not saving your blogroll and freaking out on you, but…. I CANNOT COMMENT!

I tried clicking on Post Comment and it won’t work

FYI.

There are no two ways around it, because all of our normal bleaches are bad for the environment. Original bleach, chlorine bleaches… what have you.

They used to say that chlorine bleaches were ‘safe’ because they’re used in swimming pools, and even in our drinking water, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. (It gives me nasty bugged out red eyes)

Hell, people thought white lead for their faces in the past was safe! And now we know better!

So here’s what I found out:

I heard that Lemon Juice is a good stain remover, and a bleaching agent.

So I did an experiment..

Lemon Juice
I tried squeezing 2 lemons into a tub and using it instead of detergent to wash my whites on hot, and it got the stains out, but the stains were dirt, not blood or anything, and it certainly didn’t bleach as much as bleach would.

However, REGULAR bleach should be avoided at ALL COSTS.

Regular bleach is one of the most toxic chemicals for the environment, and it causes many health problems. Plus, I hate how it sloshes around in the tub and bleaches spots on everything.

The other thing is that there are bleaches out there that use chlorine and claim to be better, but is still not better for the environment.

I did more research and found this out:

Manufacturers and independent scientists agree that household bleach does pose a significant threat to the environment although use of chlorine by paper mills and plastics manufacturers has wrought significant damage to the Earth’s animals, ozone layer, water and air.

This Jekyll-and-Hyde story revolves around chlorine’s peculiar nature. Chlorine does not appear in the environment in raw form; it is born when a salt molecule is split with electricity.

Concern over chlorine usually emanates from widespread publicity about the 1 1,000 or so compounds that result when chlorine reacts with substances that contain carbon, creating what are known as organochlorines, or chlorinated organics.

Environmentalists say organochlorines are persistent, toxic, damaging to the ozone layer and sometimes carcinogenic, using DDT and dioxin as examples.

Dioxin is best known for its presence in Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant used during the Vietnam War. Both chemical manufacturers and paper manufacturers say the threat posed by organochlorines is overestimated.

Source: The Dirt on Bleach

So what you can do, is find something that doesn’t have chlorine in it, or original bleach… but even then, you have to do a lot of research into that bleach to make sure it’s really better than a chlorine bleach and isn’t a faux green bleach.

BUT THERE IS HOPE!

I found this bleach on WWF (World Wildlife Fund), and it says it’s made from hydrogen peroxide.

This bleach has no chlorine, no phosphates, and no optical brighteners, dyes or fragrances.

It is non-toxic to the environment, degradable and safe for septic tanks and grey water systems.

This bleach is made from hydrogen peroxide which naturally degrades to oxygen and water, oxygen bleach stabiliser and deionised water.

Safe to use for laundry, drains etc.

And for the stores, apparently Vim Thick Bleach is another example of a hydrogen-peroxide based bleach, but I don’t know if it doesn’t have phosphates, fragrances, dyes or optical brighteners:

But FB, isn’t bleach bad for the environment?
Vim thick bleach is safe, both for people and the environment, when used properly. In use, it is broken down rapidly, almost entirely into common salt and oxygen (or water). 

Bleach is only inactivated rapidly if it meets large amounts of organic matter, such as you’d find in a sewer. So, importantly for assessing environmental impact, no intact bleach molecules would ever reach the external environment in normal use.

Here’s the Source

CONCLUSION?

Buy a bleach made out of hydrogen peroxide. And buy one that does not have: phosphates, chlorine, fragrances, phosphates, optical brighteners (a load of crock) or dyes.

This will be hard, but if you do your research into the ingredients of each product, it should be better than regular or chlorine bleach, even if it’s more expensive.