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Love This: Lifefactory Glass Food Containers and Water Bottles
Now that’s what I call high quality H2O!

-Bobby Boucher, The Waterboy

Note: this post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click through to Amazon I get a small % of any resulting sales. If you’d prefer not to use those links, you can check out the full Lifefactory line on their site.

I work out 4-6 times a week. Maverick comes with me 3-4 of those times. Cassidy has soccer practice and games. We drink a LOT of water in this house: during workouts, and in between.

At home, we use the CamelBak Relay Pitcher I was sent on behalf of the Fitness Magazine FitBlog event to filter our hard well water (I should really write a separate post about that, we love it). But on the go, I have one true love and that is Lifefactory glass water bottles.

Why? There are a couple of reasons:
- I’m convinced stainless steel and reusable plastic water bottles retain some taste from the dishwasher or from dish soap. It can be helped by using special cleaning tabs (or you can use something like Efferdent) but I’d be using those all. the. time.
- I don’t like that I can’t see inside stainless steel bottles to make sure they’re not building up funk inside.
- Glass bottles, by contrast, can go into the dishwasher and come out clean— no extra step.
- There’s none of the “do they or don’t they?” concerns about chemicals leaching like you have with plastic bottles.
- Glass is infinitely recyclable.
- Lifefactory glass bottles are clothed in a silicone sleeve so they’re super sturdy (we’ve had ours for years now and trust me, they’ve taken some abuse), don’t leak even a little bit so I am comfortable tossing in my gymbag or a kids’ backpack, and come in a bunch of fun colors.
I scanned back through some of my Instagram and Facebook posts and easily came up with proof that my Lifefactory bottles rarely leave my side:

No joke, this pic used to be on some of my business cards

You get the idea. I prefer the flat cap that screws on & off easily; it’s widemouthed so I can add ice cubes or protein powder. But they also sell with a flipcap or a straw cap.

Well, I just discovered that Lifefactory now has food storage containers! We already use Pyrex glass containers for our leftovers, but I’ve never used them for packing lunches because I was afraid they’d get broken. These come in 1, 2, and 4 cup sizes and the smaller ones would be PERFECT for kid lunchboxes.

These may seem expensive out of the gate, but I know I’m forever replacing plastic tupperware, especially small ones. The lids fall onto the dishwasher bottom and get mangled, they crack, and pretty much the first time anyone uses it to hold onions or anything with red sauce it’s done for.

Lifefactory also has water or wine glasses (depending on the day you’ve had. With different color sleeves, you’ve never take someone else’s glass by accident again!) and baby bottles (4 and 9 oz), as well as silicone teethers. The baby bottles are made from thermal shock resistant borosilicate glass, so they can transition safely from freezer to boiling water. You can also buy sippy caps or flat caps for these bottles, so they’ll get years and years of use! Cass has a 9oz bottle with a flat cap and it fits into her lunchbox (it’s the only bottle Jeff will let me use to pack milk in his lunch on PB&J days).

Now, I’m really hoping that you don’t need to be sold on the idea of reusables in general. Plastic doesn’t go away, and reusables divert a ton of waste from landfills. They also alleviate a lot of concerns about chemicals released when plastics break down over time.

So any reusable is better than none. But IMHO, Lifefactory is the best. Who do you like?
September 1, 2014
Me Time and My TV Boyfriends
After nourishment, shelter and companionship,
stories are the thing we need most in the world.

― Philip Pullman

Let’s get those disclosures out of the way: I’m a member of the Netflix Stream Team. This is a sponsored post. I didn’t take this photo of Benedict. This guy did and I’m using under the permissions of Creative Commons.

If you follow me on Instagram or are friends with me on Facebook, you know I spend a lot of time at CrossFit Riverfront.

You know I work a lot and seem to have more tech issues than the average bear.

You see me with the kids— going places, doing stuff, having fun. Usually.

On Friday and Saturday nights though, I need some me time to retain my sanity. I detach fully from work. I try to slow my brain down and rest my body.

And yeah, I indulge a bit. Because most of what ails you can be fixed with a glass of wine, a bag of sour cream and onion chips and a good story.

Because frankly, if mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy.

I’m into comfort TV. Aren’t we all? I like to watch and rewatch (and rewatch again), just like I love to reread. It’s like cozying up in an old tshirt and well-worn sweats. It’s hanging out with old friends.

You catch lines and happenings you didn’t before, parallels and little bits of foreshadowing that didn’t seem like much until after the fact. And with my favorite kinds of shows, you catch ALL KINDS of stuff you didn’t on the first go around simply because there’s so much to catch.

My favorite ME TIME TV TIME shows:
- Sherlock. ALL THREE SEASONS NOW AVAILABLE. If you haven’t watched them, please just stop reading now and click through.
- Doctor Who. Particularly pleasing because there are a lot of seasons. I warn you against binging too much at one time though, because that exponentially intensifies the feels.
- Breaking Bad. It’s awesome when a show totally lives up to the hype. Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston… treasures, every one.
- LOST. Enough years have gone by that I’m prepared to relive life on the island even though I know how disappointing it’s ultimately going to be. (Did you know Michael Keaton was supposed to play Jack, and be killed in the first episode?)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation. I took a class in college called Concepts of the Soul that mostly consisted of watching TNG episodes. As a result Data is my favorite, but I’ll always have a soft spot for Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
- The X-Files. One of the hottest couples in TV history, in my opinion. Very similar to Doctor Who in that there’s a strong overall story arc, but individual episodes are good (often outstanding) taken on their own.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000. I saw all of these a million times as a teenager. I blame this series for my inability to keep the snark down while watching shows and movies at home, which I’ve now passed down to my kids, making the watching of mediocre movies a fast-paced, interactive experience. (I’ve linked to Gamera because I feel if you have to watch just one, that’s the most important.)
- House. My favorite grump of a man.
I really NEED Netflix to add Friends to streaming. I’d probably spend a whole weekend binging on that trip down memory lane.

Looking at that list, you might think I’m really into sci-fi, but if I’m being honest a lot of the reason this list exists goes like this: Sherlock Holmes, the 10th Doctor, Sawyer, Jean-Luc Picard, Fox Mulder, Joel, Dr Gregory House. My TV boyfriends: the characters, not the actors. I have a serious emotional bond with each of them.

Eventually you have to start watching new episodes of new-to-you series, so I’ve caved to peer pressure and started Orange is the New Black. Other contenders, based on my FB stream, include Scandal, House of Cards, Game of Thrones (not currently on streaming) and The Walking Dead (not gonna happen, I don’t do zombies).

Now all you need is some sour cream and onion chips. For me, that means Herr’s and no substitutes. Not a chip person? I feel very badly for you, but this recipe for pizza popcorn might be up your alley. (Confession: I actually bought sour cream and onion seasoning from the bulk section of a local market to add to popcorn. Cass chose white cheddar seasoning. Don’t judge.)

Tell me your comfort shows, your TV boyfriends/girlfriends, and if applicable, the moment when Benedict Cumberbatch went from being an interesting actor to a panty-dropper of a heartthrob for you. I haven’t figured out my exact moment yet, but by golly I’ll keep watching these episodes of Sherlock until I do…
June 30, 2014
Wordless Wednesday: Mama Robins are Tough

I would have given anything to keep her little.

They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.

― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

Less than a month passed, from discovery of the robin’s eggs to keeping the dogs inside while the fledglings learned to fly.

Mama Robins have it tough, man. I know I wasn’t ready to see them fly the nest yet.

They get so big so fast….

** all photos taken by Jeff and texted to me to make me smile. I think. **

June 11, 2014