Monday, April 2, 2012

The one where I photograph an ad for Target

Because I chose sewing over the laundry on Friday, Saturday became Laundry Day. And I cleaned a little. I feel like the cleaning is never ending and I usually just give up. The dust bunnies will still be there tomorrow.

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All last week, Allie had been asking if we could eat dinner out at the same restaurant where we gathered for Uncle Ed's birthday party. Every. Single. Day. We decided to treat the girls to lunch on Saturday. Hey, no complaints from me.

(Anna)

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(Em)

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Here and there, Allie had been complaining of a tummy ache. I thought she was just hungry. After she ate her meal, she announced that she felt like she was going to throw up. I told Rich that as soon as I went to the bathroom, I would bring her out to the van to wait for him to pay the bill. The last thing I wanted was for her to puke all over the restaurant. Three minutes later, she was inhaling ice cream.

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And just as fine as can be. Notice how she was sitting with Rich. I told him that she could puke all over him.

(Anna)

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We aren't big eaters so we ordered a large cheese pizza ($10) and one kid's meal (chicken tenders) for all to share. The girls had ice cream too. We even had leftovers to bring home.

We stopped at Target on our way home for a few items. I was looking for some kind of organic or all natural shampoo for the girls and failed. The store didn't have a great selection to begin with and when the bottle says "99.8% Natural" but the list of ingredients has a whole lot of non-natural items, how do I know that this is really 99.8% natural? Especially when one of these companies was just listed as having an all natural lipstick with a very high level of lead.

I gave up and told Rich I don't know who to believe anymore. Is this all just a media hype? A marketing ploy? Do I pay 5 times as much for shampoo because it is supposed to be free of cancer causing agents? I also said to Rich that it seems like every week, there is some new story of something else that is now found to be cancer causing.

And wouldn't you know that as I was enjoying a Cadbury Creme Egg the very next day, I happened to see that the #1 search on Yahoo was "Is sugar toxic?" I clicked on it and two minutes later, shut it down. I just could not go there.

(I write this not to start a debate but to note what I consider to be a current event. When the girls read this 20+ years from now, I wonder what they will think.)

Target ad photos

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I love how Anna is mocking Elaine's dance moves (think Seinfeld.)

Waiting for Daddy...

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Convenience store slushie = should have gotten an Icee at Target

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(She only had a sip. Or three.)

13 comments:

Wendy said...

Loved your post (as always) and loved the Target ads! The girls are too cute :)

Wendy said...
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Allison said...

Take a look at "California Baby" brand for shampoo. They have it at Target by the baby shampoo/soap stuff. I'm not sure if it's truly considered organic, but it's advertised as "all natural" and is free of dyes/perfumes. I have used it and it works great(I have a super sensitive scalp). I also have a friend who is allergic to dyes/perfumes and uses it. It's not cheap, but you don't have to use near as much as you do with the super cheap stuff. Hope this helps!!

Stef said...

My boss really likes "FairyTales" for her 6 year old. http://www.fairytaleshaircare.com/index.php
Its all natural and the regular bottles (not their special lice-shampoo combo packs) run around $9.

Laura said...

Your kids are so funny. I love how they were posing for the Target photos. And I'm pleased to add that I think I can FINALLY tell all three apart!!

Kate said...

Most of the time we wash our hair with baking soda and condition with (very diluted) apple cider vinegar which is cheap and safe. The transition can be hard for adults but is much easier for kids.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30337386/ns/health-skin_and_beauty/t/ditching-shampoo-dirty-little-beauty-secret/#.T3r0-THlN6E

When we need something a little stronger (like after a day at the beach) I like the Earth Mama Angel Baby products.

stee said...

well...lead is all natural so if a company is labeling things as all natural then there is nothing false about using lead.

Keep in mind too that just because something is all natural doesn't mean it is good for hair or skin. There are lots of natural ingredients which cause irritation and there is some research that says that inflammation can cause misguided cell production.

here are some shampoos recommended by the Cosmetics Cop/Beautypedia based on the ingredients used
http://www.beautypedia.com/search.aspx?k=shampoo&st=1%2c2%2c3%2c4&rid=1%2c2%2c3%2c4%2c5%2c6%2c7%2c8

Anonymous said...

Fairytales!! It's a lice-repellant as well as "natural", so perfect for kindergarten next year.

James said...

Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database has a very easy to navigate list of safe products. And if you really want to get all smartened up about it, they give details about every ingredient you can imagine.

They also publish a review of sunscreens.

If I recall correctly, many of the products have a link to Amazon, too.

Sarah said...

Thanks for the links and recommendations. And @stee said, you were right. Lead is natural but not everything natural is good for you.

Whole Foods is a bit of a drive. They aren't too popular around here, oddly enough.

katylux said...

I like Yes to Carrots for my kids. It's fairly cheap on Amazon, and it just feels better than using Johnson and Johnson crap. I've never thought the list of ingredients was too scary, just based off comparisons!

Anonymous said...

In the Target ad photo, isn't the one mocking Elaine's dance moves Allie and not Anna? Just curious to see if I'm right. :)

Anonymous said...

In the photo is Allie Emily Anna from left to right.