What's in there anyway?
From the time I was 10-18 years old, I became accustomed to the taste of Southern Pennsylvania's well water. My adopted father had to have it tested annually proving it was good and we all enjoyed the taste of well...that tasteless clean well water!
After turning 18, I was more than motivated to move out of the country to the suburbs! My new town had an AMAZING library (that I miss soooo incredibly much now), a Staples, Chinese restaurants, and a gym, nail & hair salons all within 5 driving minutes, YAY! I was the happiest 18 year old receptionist EVER!! But, I had also acquired 'borough water' in this new town. I put that in notations, because most of the locals would bitterly shutter when the tap water was brought up in conversation. Everyone in the community received the same monthly newsletter...including the urgent notice of high contaminants in our tap water that was found and their oh so fast action to take care of bleaching it out weeks later.
Subconsciously, I began avoiding water before I was aware of what was in my city water. It had a bad taste, and I was constantly having to use Lime Away on my apartment's brand new shower head, faucets, toilet, all because of the calcium buildup. The (clean) water left pink stains and slime on my white dish drying rack. To make it worse, that wasn't the only places the calcium built up on, but in my Kidney's! Within the 6 years I had lived in that town water...I had produced 14 Kidney Stones!!! This was when I was a very HEALTHY young woman, taking vitamins, going to the gym. I never drank coffee or Turkey Hill Tea (known high kidney stone local drink). After my first year I had constant back pain, and abdominal pain - especially after I ate or drank ANYTHING. When my pain was finally discovered as a confirmed kidney stone, they did an emergency Lithotripsy because of the massive size. Neither my Urologist nor primary care doctor could figure out why I continued producing the same calcium stones. All the doctors, and all the ER trips for pain management in-between all had the same words - Kidney Stones are at an All Time High! But no one knew why...
Since then, I've been a fanatic of FILTERING my tap water - no matter where I live. Especially after giving birth to my second child and was told that we both had high levels of lead poisoning, and now my family is in it's 11th year of living with Autism. We all live and learn. I've learned to filter our water, it's very important to me to give the best to my family. (Oh, and since I've left that town, and drink only filtered water, I've been STONE FREE for several years!).
In our kitchen, I keep a filtered water pitcher place beside our fridge.
Filters remove chlorine that's added to disinfect the water and so it can taste better. I've been through several name brand filtering pitchers. In my best AA group voice ~ 'Hi I'm Tanya, and I'm a clutz. But I've been clutz free for the past hour!' Seriously, the cell phone I have now, is indestructible! Another topic for another day though...
Anyways, with all the activities I have my 3 boys in, we are always on the go. So, I would take the extra time to fill the water pitcher, then their own little water container. Repeat the process. Wait for the filter to refill and work it's magic. Pour. Refill. Pour. Refill. Oh, then one for mom!
I recently went to buy new filter refills. Then I noticed these Brita singles on the tippy top shelf. They were covered in dust, but curiosity got to me. Before I knew it I was climbing and reaching and dropping the whole narrow thin cardboard box on my oldest son for these little gems. After a moment of us laughing about them scattering like bowling pins through the isle, we collected the rest while having our own little laugh. Of course the store had a sign to ask for assistance for top shelf. Why don't they just put step stools in each isle? But in this department, finding assistance is like finding Jesus in Hell! Not gonna happen! And this was like that little God Wink to me ~ I knew this would be a great product, and would make my life a little easier. So, I got 3 for the boys to give it a go. And it's going GREAT!!!
You can click on the Amazon link below to order a set of 2
These little magic bottles have saved me so much time, and peace of mind. I'm always looking for ways to go green, and detest buying water bottles to add to our landfills. But what I was the most worried about was with these bottles was how LONG will it take to filter that water? Especially when in sports they only have a brief moment to grab a drink when they needed it fast. Kinda like when you watch a pot of water waiting for it to boil, and it suddenly takes forever! The water supply does deliver great, and it tastes great! And I love that my kids LOVE water.
Just cause I'm a cool mom with cool husband that when I said I wanted a small vinyl cutter for crafts, he won me over with 'a bigger is better' wink. So we got one and put it to use as often as we can. I was tickled to give each kiddo their own customized bottle. Usually, quality vinyl will stick to any smooth flat surface. Theses bottles are not flat and squeezable. (Dishwasher safe too, but I haven't gone there yet). Sadly, a couple letters are coming off Kingston's bottle already. But to be honest, I'm not sure if it's the user, the use, or the contour of the bottle...but the K and I in his name are starting to go at the top already, and it's only been through 9 outings since I put it on. Maybe a sharpie at the bottom will suffice?
*Side note* In case you didn't already know, your body absorbs more toxins in the shower than anywhere else since your pores are open! I know whole house filtration units are VERY pricey, but depending on your quality of water, it may be worth the investment.
For more information on public drinking and ground water and more, I found a site to look to for some answers.
*I was not paid by any companies mentioned in this post. My story and review 100% mine and product opinion.
If you have any other water suggestions or resources, please share in comments below. Thank you in advance for your participation!
No comments:
Post a Comment