Winter Preparations

Determined not to freeze to death like I did last year, I have spent most of this year planning for this winter's cold weather. First step on my list was to remove the old, fiberglass heating ducts as well as the Freon-filled heater and air conditioner that has made me sick for the last eight winters. It's been such a nice feeling to have the crawlspace cleared of all those toxic materials.

Next I had cadet heaters installed in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and office. I already had two cadet heaters in the bedrooms upstairs, so that's a total of SIX! Although it's not nearly close to freezing outside, we've had a few mornings when the temperatures dipped a little low and I could hardly wait to try them out. Within minutes the rooms were toasty. This is a huge difference as the old, creepy heating system would take at least an hour to warm up the house before I would feel a difference. I have lots of hope for a toasty winter! It'll be interesting to see what happens with my electric bill. With heat this efficient, I have high (unrealistic) hopes heating costs will be lower than they've ever been.


The next step in the plan was to buy warm, comfortable, organic bedding. I was tired of cheap, formaldehyde-soaked sheets so I splurged and bought organic jersey sheets. Although they arrived with silicon gel packs to prevent mildew in transportation and storage, after six washings they now smell fine and they are soft and so very comfortable.

The final step in the plan was to purchase an organic, wool-stuffed comforter. This has been a dream of mine for many years, but cost prohibitive. Last winter when it got really cold, I used my old polyester sleeping bag on top all my blankets, comforter, and sheets for warmth. So I headed back to Holy Lamb Organics to find out about discounted merchandise.

I love this company. It's located in an old, remodeled turn-of-the-century grocery store and all the original wood counters, shelves and hardwood floors are still there. There is a sign on the door stating it is a fragrance-free facility and asking people to refrain from the stink. My kind of business!

They make their comforter shells from organic cotton and they had fabric with flaws offered at a discount. I informed the salesperson of my concerns with packing chemicals and my not-so-good experience with the organic sheets from one of their suppliers. In order to alleviate my worries, she actually went into their stockroom, retrieved a queen-sized comforter shell and let me smell it. When I deemed it safe by exclaiming it smells natural, like a plant (cotton!?), she put my name on it.

Then I had a choice between thin, medium or thick wool filling. She asked if I slept hot or cold. I said, "Oh, God...Have you ever had a hot flash?" I told her I used to sleep cold, but that's not a guarantee. Last winter I fantasized about the thickest comforter possible, but now during a hot summer day, I waffled. I ended up ordering the medium thickness as I was worried the thicker comforter would never fit in any washing machine, let alone mine.

They HAND SEW these comforters together. I wish I would have taken photos of the tables with the fabric pieces. I watched one comforter-maker climb inside the shell to strategically place the wool batting. There was something very organic watching people hand-create something. The downside to hand-made, organic items is they don't come cheap. I kept chanting to myself, This WILL add joy to my life!!!  An organic, wool-filled, hand-made comforter is definitely a luxurious item.

While shopping online I found most of the organic, wool comforters needed to be dry cleaned. Eeeww! I have seen dry cleaners who advertise they are "organic", but I don't know what that means. Holy Lamb Organic comforters may be washed, but they give specific directions on HOW to wash them and make no guarantees. Their ultimate advice is to cover them with a duvet and avoid washing them if possible.



 

It's definitely beautiful, soft and fluffy. One thing I didn't expect is it smells like WOOL, a oily, sheep-y smell. I only smelled the shell before ordering, not the insides. It smells like the vitamin D capsules I used to use for moisturizer before the side effects started. Lanolin has never been a problem for me, nor wool, so I assumed the glycerin in the capsules were the cause of my discomfort.  I intend to cover the comforter with a cotton, flannel duvet so I'm hoping it'll seal it. Or maybe with time it'll offgas. With MCS, there is always a risk with trying out new products. It could be a very expensive, money-wasting experiment OR it could be incredibly joyous. Right now I am very hopeful!

UPDATES:  Good lord, this comforter is the best purchase I've made in a long, long time! I placed a duvet cover over it and that could be why I haven't smelled the wool. The wool is amazingly heat regulating. I love it!

Self-Gifting: NEW Organic Sheets!

My crusade toward cheerfulness and a healthy, non-depressed attitude continues although I must confess with great exuberancy, I'm feeling wonderful! Self-gifting works! So do the doses of positive energy I seek and randomly encounter daily.

Today I bought new organic sheets! Some of you may wonder why I'm so excited? I've been fantasizing about this splurge for at least three years. Most of my sheets are at least four years old and some are not aging well with holes from where I stapled them up on the doorways to seal off heated areas in my heatless house. The last new sheet set I bought was at a garage sale. They were still in the package, king size, bright red (which does not match anything in my bedroom), flannel, but only $3. Other than the color, I love them. I only had to wash them a few times and I'm not sure why they didn't smell much with all that red dye, but they are thick, soft and high quality. Prior to that I bought a brand new cheap set at the local department store. So cheap after my normal 15 washings to get all the nasty chemical treatments off the fabric, they were so thin they lasted barely another year. Very disappointing.

I had high hopes for real, quality-made, organic sheets. I really wasn't excited about spending nearly three times the amount for a set of sheets, but I had given up on finding non-toxic styles that might be affordable. There is an online company that makes natural wool mattresses and bedding located in a town nearby. I like being able to go into a place and smell the products rather than chance ordering something online that might not work. This company often has discount products that were measured wrong or had some minor flaw. Their store is very non-toxic located in an old ex-hardware store from the 1930s with natural wood floors and the old style counter tops still intact. You can watch the employees hand-construct the comforters and mattresses on huge tables. There is something very earthy and traditional about seeing someone actually hand-make something. It's a great space.

They didn't have much discounted as it was in between seasons, but the woman found me two sets of queen size sheets, one dark navy blue and one ivory. I wanted flannel, but all they had was jersey which is still 100% cotton but woven to be stretchy. Flannel is sometimes thicker, but I checked their flannel sheets and they felt the same. They were 30% off. I like to avoid dark colors because of the dyes, and I really prefer to avoid whites so I can avoid having to use bleach when the fabric discolors with age and looks permanently dirty. My bed is ivory as is my quilt so I opted for the ivory anyway.

 

I asked about treatments and the woman claimed there were none. All organic. But then she looked at me quizzically and told me another chemically sensitive customer had problems with the cotton sheets. She wasn't sure why and suggested maybe the woman was sensitive to cotton, but she advised a sniff test first. So I slid the set out of the package and stuck my nose in the fabric. No smell. I was satisfied.

I got home and eagerly removed the plastic wrap only then realized the set was encased in a drawstring bag which I thought was cute and classy. You don't find such quality packaging with cheap sheets made in China. As I unfolded the sheets, I could smell something chemical. Hmmm...not strong, but definitely chemical and definitely not something I'd want to sleep on. As I registered the toxicity, a little packet of silica gel tucked into the folds fell onto the floor.

Silica gel. Damn. WHY would a manufacturer of organic fabrics pack their products with toxic chemicals? It makes absolutely NO SENSE to me! Yes, I know it's used to keep products from mildewing in storage and these packets are used even in packaging supplements and other food-based items. I also know everyone (the powers-that-be) considers silica to be non-toxic. Well, besides it can irritate your skin and lungs AND causes cancer, but those things don't count, right?

I don't know if what I was smelling was from the silica or some other treatment. The sheets are really soft so it could be sizing. I ended up washing the set in hot water, non-toxic detergent, and vinegar FIVE times and that seemed to do the trick. I guess five times is better than fifteen times. I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping it would be like my organic, but ugly nightshirt: no smell whatsoever and comfortable. I don't understand their reasoning.

 

Oh, whatever! They are SO beautiful!

Hopefully all that beauty won't suffocate me when I try to sleep on them tonight!

 

UPDATE: After I wrote this post I emailed the organic store to let them know of my displeasure. As you can see on the above post, I didn't name names because I didn't/don't want to discourage organic products, I just want them to be held accountable. The store customer service specialist emailed back promptly, apologized, and thanked me for the information claiming customer input was appreciated. I was satisfied because I do think it's a really good company. About a half hour later she emailed again. In the meantime she had contacted the company who makes the sheets to let them know of my complaint and told me to send the information on the tags...along with my address. They are going to send me a whole new set of sheets!!!!! FREE! WHOA!! It pays to be proactive. I emailed the information back, but also asked if they had planned to rectify the situation. No response.

UPDATE: After a month I had begun to wonder if they were specially growing the organic cotton for my new sheets! Eventually they did arrive sans silica gel packets and sans STINK! They did have a very faint smell, kind of a mix of burlap and...hamburgers...? It was as if someone ate their lunch around them. Not a bad smell, just a food or cooking smell. Definitely non-toxic. I washed them once just because. It's good to know this company can be non-toxic.

Thanks for the free sheets!!