life as i know it...

Pretty, pretty pictures...

Following my post about my cousin Tara's wedding, you can see a preview of their pictures on their photographer, Nate Gates' blog. As you can see, the hiking was well worth it!

Posted in: Newfoundland on July 29, 2008 2 comments

Monday's post on Z Recommends talks about car seat rentals with Advantage Rent-a-car, and the unclean, unsafe seats they have been found to offer their customers. Reading the post made me so mad, because it brought up memories of a horrible experience we had with a car seat rental.

After our experience and reading the comments from other readers of the post, I strongly urge you to always bring your child's car seat when you travel. Don't rely on rental companies to keep your kids safe!

Here's our story:

We had a very bad experience with renting a car seat at Hertz, and I hope we never have to rent a car seat again. We now have a Radian folding car seat that we bring with us when we travel.

We flew into Hamilton, Ontario and drove into Toronto last summer. We rented a car from Hertz because of a recommendation by CAA and the promise of having an infant seat provided at no charge and having it installed by "special trained personnel". In addition to the installation, CAA touts the "safety, security and convenience", and says that "Hertz field personnel have been extensively trained on the proper installation, cleaning and inspection of the car seats and will install the seats in the vehicle".

HA!!!! Our experience contradicted all of that!

We reserved our infant seat weeks ahead of time, and when we picked up the rental, we were given a car seat to install ourselves. The employee wouldn't install it for us, and she didn't have an instruction manual. My husband mentioned to the clerk that their website said that the seat would be installed by trained personnel. She said that she had taken the course for installation but said she wanted nothing to do with it. She said that she didn't want to end up in court if we got in an accident!

She (and Hertz corporate, when we later contacted them) said that they would be changing the website information shortly, but they still haven't changed their policies.

And even worse than all of that, the seat was FILTHY. I've never seen a car seat so dirty. There was rust all over the bottom of the seat and some in the car base as well. Who knows how damaged it was! We didn't feel safe using the seat for our baby, so we asked for a replacement, and were told that there were no other car seats. The employee also refused to call another location to reserve a seat for us to pick up.

Thankfully, when we drove to the Toronto airport location the next day, they gave us a brand new car seat with an instruction manual (which we again had to install ourselves), but that didn't make up for the inexcusable service and condition of the original car seat, which we had to use, driving for an hour on Canada's busiest highway!

My advice: BRING YOUR OWN CAR SEAT WHEN YOU TRAVEL.

Update:
I've been quoted on BlogHer! Read more car seat horror stories on Mir Kamin's post: Think twice before renting a car seat for your child.

Update:
I also posed the question: What about taxis?

And check out 2 posts from the woman who started the blogs buzzing about this topic:

Danger for Rent: Car Rental Agency Puts Infant At Risk. She took photos of the damaged seat she received. I wish we had thought to take photos of the seat Hertz gave us!

and

Safety Tips for Renting a Car Seat

Posted in: baby, kids, travel on 52 comments

Time flies!

Oh my goodness, the summer has been a whirlwind! Lazy days with no plans have been interspersed with traveling and many family events, and it's hard to believe it's almost August already!

A few highlights:

Claire is becoming quite the traveler. She's losing her shyness (well, the burst-into-tears shyness, she still has the I'm-going-to-hide-behind-Mummy's-legs shyness), and she's getting quite used to sleeping in a playpen in various locations.
I was a bridesmaid in my cousin Tara's wedding in Newfoundland earlier this month. It was beautiful, and we all had a good time. The photographer had us trekking up steep rocky hills (he's obviously never had to do that in in high heels!) but the photographs should be amazing. I can't wait to see them! It made Hubby and I think of our wedding (almost 4 years ago, wow!), and how much fun we had having so many people we love together in one spot. We had a fantastic photographer too, and you can see some of our photos on his website.
Our Newfoundland trip was crazy busy. I love visiting, but I'd love to have some downtime on our trips, and actually do some sightseeing. Little Miss was sick for a few days while we were gone too, so that was tough. Poor thing!
Our vegetable garden is growing like crazy, and we have already had a crop of broccoli and lettuce. Peas, green beans, carrots, squash, tomatoes, peppers and sweet potato are on the way! Mmmmmm.......
We finally put a clothesline outside. Sheets are drying in the wind as I type.
My friend Nancy and I took our little girls strawberry picking a few weeks ago. I think the picture speaks for itself:

I hope you're enjoying your summer, too!

Posted in: on July 23, 2008 0 comments

Trying a "hybrid" diaper

Hubby and I have been using disposable diapers on Claire since she was born, but we keep tossing around the idea of trying cloth diapers. Mainly, it's the "ick factor" and the fact that we can't keep up with our current load of laundry that has kept us with disposables.

We alternate between Huggies and Seventh Generation, which we buy on trips to Maine (they're almost double the price in Fredericton!). When Hubby went on a camping trip in Maine this past weekend, he came home with a couple of boxes of gDiapers to try out.

gDiapers are a pretty great idea. They have the comfort and look of cloth diapers, but are almost as convenient as disposables. The (cute!) cloth pants have a flushable absorbent liner inside, so, provided you don't have a finicky toilet, you need not have a smelly diaper pail!

We started using them this afternoon, and the first two went pretty well! They were easy to use, and the first one flushed well. The second one had a minor clog, but I think that was my fault. No leaks so far, even with a dirty diaper, and so far I'm impressed! We'll see how it goes from here on in. We may need to make a trip to Maine to get some more!

Posted in: on July 04, 2008 4 comments

Happy Canada Day!

Ahh... the simple joy of a child having fun... :)

Posted in: on July 01, 2008 0 comments

Winnie the Pooh around the world

This is fantastic! A Russian interpretation of Winnie The Pooh and the Honey Tree (Link):

Contrast with the Disney version (Link):

Posted in: on June 24, 2008 0 comments

The 350 Challenge

I read about The 350 Challenge on IzzyMom's blog, and noticed that Treehugger has also posted about it. It's a neat program, and really simple.

All you need to do is post the 350 Challenge badge on your website or blog, then send them a message, and Brighter Planet will offset 350 pounds of carbon in your name. That's the equivalent of turning off 100 lightbulbs for a day, or going two full weeks without using your car!

They're aiming to get at least 350 bloggers to post the badge, so spread the word. It's a small way to show your support for action to prevent climate change. It may be just a "drop in the bucket", but every bit makes a difference!

Other easy things you can do:

Carry your own water bottle instead of buying single-use bottles
Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins, and rags to clean up spills instead of paper towels
Bring reusable bags to the grocery store. We use a miscellaneous collection acquired over years of going to conferences, but I really like the Compliments (Sobeys) and President's Choice (Superstore/Loblaws) grocery bags - you can fit a lot in them!
Replace your lightbulbs with CFL bulbs, which last longer and use less energy. Remember to bring burnt-out bulbs to your hazardous waste depot, or to a Home Depot CFL recycling bin
Buy local food as much as possible. You'll be supporting your local economy, and getting fresh food that doesn't have to travel thousands of miles to get to your table! Our latest Atlantic Canadian discovery is the Speerville Flour Mill in New Brunswick, which makes and sells flour, cereal, oils, pasta and a bunch of household products, and a lot of it is also organic! We didn't realize until recently, but their products are sold in most of the large grocery stores here.

There you go! And for some interesting reading, check out Treehugger, Nature Moms blog, Z Recommends and Green Mom Finds.

Posted in: climate change, environment, household on June 04, 2008 0 comments

My life in points:

I've been out of the loop lately, so here's an update on life in my little corner of the world! I'll have something more profound to share at another time!

Spring is here, and I can feel summer in the air. Claire and I spend a lot of time outdoors, running in the grass and picking dandelions. And her nose is healing after a tumble on the sidewalk!
Nan's funeral was sad, but really beautiful at the same time. There were a lot of songs, tributes and messages, and even a video of her singing last summer. She would have liked it. I'm going to miss her!
More job reassignment at work! I'm sticking with "consultant" on my business card - I've had so many changes in job title already!
I love love love my DVD recorder!
I bought myself a sewing machine, and made a bunch of cloth napkins (we try not to use paper napkins anymore), and a pair of legwarmers for Claire. So easy! (or sew easy, if you want to be really corny!)