Stinkerpants

Glass Water Bottles

November 17, 2009 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Household & Every day Stuff!

My husband and friends all seem to think I’m a total freak of nature, just because of my slightly abnormal water receptacle.  Yes, it’s true: it’s not your average water bottle, but it is superior in so many ways, people.  Seriously.

So here’s the deal: I have a tendency to be a bit of a klutz.   I am constantly knocking things over, which is why it’s good for me to drink out of a water bottle–otherwise, I end up with water all over my desk, the couch, or myself.

I used to use a Nalgene or simply refill old bottles.  Bad idea–we’ve all heard about the risks of BPA (although Nalgene now makes BPA-free bottles).  Because Y is pretty aware of environmental and health risks associated with chemicals (we’re both hippies, but he also happens to frequent digg.com), he knew a long time ago that we shouldn’t be using plastic bottles.

So he ran out and bought us some BPA-free metal bottles from Klean Kanteen.  I hated them, though.  I know I’m going to sound like a lazy SOB, but I hate how long it takes to unscrew the cap!  Plus, I am convinced that the water tastes kind of like tin (Y insists that I made that up, but what does he know?!  He adds three drops of mint extract to his water, which would mask the tin taste anyway!).

My solution was to find a glass water bottle.  Glass is safe to drink out of, and I’m absolutely convinced that water tastes better out of glass than any other type of container.  So I did some research.

I fell in love with these beautiful glass water bottles, made by an Italian company.  They look plastic, but they’re actually glass!

Unfortunately, I’ve seen these in person, and the glass is pretty thin.  I was paranoid that I’d break it–after all, these ain’t cheap.

Then I discovered the Love Bottle, made here in San Francisco.  At first I wasn’t too wild about these because they aren’t exactly my style, but they’ve been coming out with more styles recently.  They also have plain bottles.

I found the bottle of my dreams, though, in a surprising place: Ikea!  These glass water bottles are big (meaning I don’t have to refill it five times a day) and they’re thick (meaning I’m more likely to break the tile in the kitchen than the bottle itself–not that I’ve tried it).  And on top of that, they are cheap.  At $2.99 each, I bought four, just in case one of my family members wanted one.

Unfortunately they all think I’m crazy.  They claim my bottle is “too heavy” and “breakable.”  I say they’re jealous.  My water tastes way better than theirs.

Backyard Chickens: Not Exactly Easy, per se

November 16, 2009 in Urban Hippies • Backyard Chickens

A couple of weeks ago, my friend N over at Two Chicks Nest sent me an article she found in the NY Times about backyard chickens. You don’t have to read it.  Instead, the article can pretty much be summarized with the following:

The Bay Area is unmatched in its embrace of the urban backyard chicken trend. But raising chickens, which promises delicious, untainted eggs and instant membership in the local food movement, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Chickens, it turns out, have issues.

They get diseases with odd names, like pasty butt and the fowl plague. Rats and raccoons appear out of nowhere. Hens suddenly stop laying eggs or never produce them at all. Crowing roosters disturb neighbors.

The problems get worse. Unwanted urban chickens are showing up at local animal shelters. Even in the best of circumstances, chickens die at alarming rates.

This, without a doubt, has been our EXACT experience raising chickens.  See the two lovely ladies in the photo above?  That’s Buttercup and Dahlia.  Dahlia, the chicken on the right, died last month.  She was one of my very favorite chickens, and she died out of the middle of nowhere.  And she’s not the only one.

You may recall that I’ve shared the deaths of a couple of chickens with you guys; after that, it might seem like everything’s been peachy.  But the sad truth is this: since we started this endeavor, we’ve had ten chickens.  And we only have five left.  Yes, that’s right.  We’ve lost half of our flock.  Rest in peace, Lily, Petunia, Marigold, Daisy, and Dahlia.

The truth is, there’s really no way to tell if a chicken is sick before it’s too late.  We’ve rushed 3 of 5 chickens to the vet, only to be told that nothing can be done.  Right now, out of our five chickens, only one is laying us eggs.  Two chickens are molting (and we’re unclear when they’ll start laying us eggs again), one of them randomly stopped laying, and the other one has never laid an egg in her entire chicken life.

So yes, we are having problems, and there have been times when I think to myself, “this is too hard. I don’t want to do this again.”  But those are usually times right after a chicken has died, or when one chicken (::cough cough:: Rosarita ::cough cough::) is squawking louder than I’ve ever heard anything squawk before.

This is not to say that we regret raising chickens–not by any means.

Raising chickens has been incredibly rewarding.  I have a whole new respect for birds now, and an even more heightened awareness of the suffering chickens experience while being raised for meat and eggs.  Each one of these chickens has a personality–they’re cute, they’re funny and they’re totally sweet.  And as Y said, I’d rather live 6 months in our backyard than a lifetime in a factory farm, that’s for sure.

A few things we have decided on:

• We think raising chicks is a really educational experience that would be great for kids.  However, if we need more chickens before we have kids, we will not be raising them from chicks.  When you raise them from little bitty babies and then they die, it’s that much harder.
• Five chickens are enough for us.  There’s really no need to have more than that.
• The eggs are absolutely, 100% worth it.  First off, we know that we aren’t contributing to the horrors of animal torture (and seriously, that’s what it is), and secondly, fresh eggs are delicious.  I shared some with my friend Cara, and she said she couldn’t believe what a difference they made.  Y made us Crème brûlée over the weekend, and it was amazing.

I’m definitely not saying that backyard chickenry sucks, and I’m not warning against it.  However, we were under the impression that raising chickens was “easy” and “impossible to screw up.”  And to some extent, that’s true:  after all, none of our chickens have died as a result of our screwing up.  But really, when you have to bury half of your backyard chickens, you’re probably not going to be using the word “easy,” whether it was your fault or not.

Featured! The Examiner, Broke-Ass Bride and Elizabeth Anne Designs

November 15, 2009 in Blog • Press

This past week has been mighty eventful press-wise for Stinkerpants Designs!

I was really excited to get an email from the awesome Moya Stone, who wrote about an event for an animal rescue that I created invitations for (more on that this week!).

Right after that, I discovered that I’d actually been featured on the Examiner.com website late last month for my “Will You be my Bridesmaid?” cards!  Sweet!!

Also last month, Dana from Brokeass Bride did a write-up on me, which was really sweet.

But to make it even sweeter, she also put the awesome post up on Elizabeth Anne Designs!  And then in the “posts you may like” area, I noticed that the lovely Kasia made a little mention of my Bridesmaid cards back in October.

I am obviously beyond flattered and excited!  Thanks you guys!!

Expanding my Business

November 9, 2009 in Running A Business • Running Stinkerpants

Over the past few months, I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching and business plan writing, and I’ve decided that it’s time to make some changes in my business.

Specifically, it’s time to expand. I need to create products that are not custom so that my husband and I don’t have to live in a cardboard box down by the river. I’m only partially kidding (haha).

I’ve been blogging here for about two years, and I’ve really come to value your opinions and feedback. I’m hoping you guys can help me out: what would you like to see Stinkerpants do next? It doesn’t have to be wedding-related: anything you can think of. I’m looking for specific items to pursue, not just generally “kid’s products,” you know? If I use your idea, you’ll be the first to get whatever it is, I promise.

Any ideas? A billion thanks for helping me to build my business, both in the past and in the future. I really appreciate all of you, lurkers and commenters alike. :) Thank you.

Holiday Cards for S & H!

November 5, 2009 in Moving, Holiday & Announcements

Last year was the first year I did custom holiday cards for clients, and I had a great time drawing Christmas trees and santa hats!

I’ve never been one for holiday cards myself–I’m admittedly much too lazy to put together a newsletter like my hilarious friend Kathy (maybe I could pay her to do one for me?)–and I figured that people would be bored to get a photo and nothing else.

After doing holiday cards like these last year, though, I’ve changed my mind:

S & H bought their first house a couple of years ago, so I drew them in front of it.  And of course, their adorable kitty Lola!  S said that her family loved the cards, which are more unique than your average Christmas card.

I’ll be doing Chrismukkah cards to send out to our friends and family this year, featuring our whole family: dog, cats, chickens, etc.  I’m excited!