Bee-Eazy Reusable Bag Buzz

Make your Own Smoothie Snowman

  

Materials:  scraps of craft foam or felt, permament black, red markers, glue or gluestick, smoothie containers

Cut a black circle of craft foam approx 3'' across and cut a hole in the center just a tiny bit smaller than the top of the smoothie container.  The craft foam will stretch when you slide over the brim of the container.  This piece is put on the container to look like the brim of a hat.  Use a black permanent marker to color the top of the container to finish the hat look.  Draw eyes and a mouth with marker.  I used a red permanent marker to draw some buttons.  Use up scraps of craft foam or felt to make the carrot nose and scarf that can be glued directly to the bottle.  

Check out the Mom Tried It Site for more fun winter ideas

Another good reason to wash your hands...

Science News 12.4.10

French scientists recently published three alarming new studies on how Bisphenol-A enters the human body.

Their research supports the idea that BPA can pass through the skin with relative ease. One study focused on about 400 pregnant Cincinnati residents, and found that those with the highest levels of BPA worked as cashiers. Cashiers handle receipts, and many receipts that do not use ink to print contain BPA.

In order to confirm this, the researchers took several live skin samples from pig and human subjects, and then brushed the dry skin samples with varying amounts of BPA. Three days later, more than half of the endocrine-disrupting chemical had been absorbed.

Read more on the study at Science News.

BPA exposure may lead to pregnancy difficulties

Discovery 12.2.10

A study published this month in Environmental Health Perspectives focuses on the affect endocrine-disrupting chemical(and popular water bottle/receipt additive) Bisphenol-A has on the reproductive abilities of mammals over the course of their lifetime. While the study focused on mice, researchers believe the results may lead to further concern for humans in contact with the ubiquitous substance.

The study involved allowing a selection of female mice to become pregnant. At that point, the pregnant mice were separated and given BPA-containing solutions. The concentration of BPA in these solutions ranged from miniscule amounts to a mouse-sized version of the human dose. A control group was given none.

These different groups of mice were then allowed to continue breeding throughout their lifespan to see how the amount of BPA would affect their ability to breed.

Within four months, litters of those given the BPA solution had shrank by 25%, and the frequency of pregnancies was also notably lower.

Read more about it at Discovery.