GlassDharma glass straw review and GIVEAWAY!

I have a surprise for my amazing followers! I know some of you will remember a post I did a little while ago where I mentioned my love for Glass Dharma straws! Well, the makers of the original glass straw want to give YOU an opportunity to own and love one as much as I do- for FREE!

As I mentioned in my first post about this amazing glass straw- handmade in the United States- I've had mine for almost 3 years now! They have withstood being carried in my purse, dropped in the floor (although I don't recommend doing it on purpose), tossed by the kids, moved to 3 different dwellings while we were stationed at Fort Bragg, and not a single ONE has cracked, broken, or chipped! And if it had? Guess what! Their Lifetime Guarantee Against Breakage would have handled the replacement!

Bear in mind that they are not unbreakable, just guaranteed! Glass Dharma wants it's customers to be completely satisfied with their products, so if you're not 100% satisfied, they want to know and they want to correct it! If your straw breaks, they want to know and they want to fix it- or replace it! Now, THAT is customer service as it should be.

I believe that all of us here are planet-friendly people, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized just how huge a problem plastic straw waste is! Imagine just how many of those things end up trashed every year!? How could something so small be an issue?

According to Glass Dharma's website, in 2008, McDonalds ALONE claimed to serve 52 MILLION meals a day. How many of those do you imagine included a drink with a plastic straw? One little straw is no biggie, but tens of MILLIONS of straws being trashed every day (from only one company!) easily becomes the straw that broke the camel's ecological back! What an environmental disaster (waste created) and biological disaster (chemicals leached from the plastic)! Using glass straws from Glass Dharma is the perfect way to completely avoid contributing to the problem.

I was sent a box of straws- one Beautiful Bends (super cool bent straw), one Simple Elegance (the kind I've had 3 of for almost 3 years and loved!), one green Decorative Dots (a long one), and one amber Decorative Dots (a short one). Also included was a hemp carrying sleeve (natural hemp) and two cleaning brushes, which I will tell you makes cleaning them a breeze.

The Beautiful Bends straw is 9.5mm wide and 9" long, retailing for $8.50. The bend makes it perfect for use in a taller glass and I actually used mine while I was online researching the effects of plastic straws on the environment! It hung over the side of my glass slightly, so I never had to take my eyes off of the screen to ensure that I wasn't about to knock my glass off of the dining room table. Even if you're not a lazy sipper like me, they just look absolutely beautiful in a glass! 

The Simple Elegance straws come in a variety of lengths and widths. As the most cost effective straw, they are fantastic to have on hand for use by the entire family. Their simplicity makes them ridiculously easy to clean- and I truly think that my drinks just taste better when I drink them through a glass straw- these are perfect for the minimalist! I have taken to keeping mine in the fridge- talk about refreshing! While I usually don't drink hot drinks, thus keeping my straws in the fridge, they are perfectly suited for cold OR hot drinks, so use them in everything without worry of damaging them. They were made to be used!

The Decorative Dots straws are so neat! Doing this review was the first time I'd seen one of them, even though I've been lusting after them since I bought my first  set of straws. I love how fun they look and what's impressive to me is that there is no paint to make me concerned and no fading to take away from the beauty of your straw. The dots are colored glass (that come in blue, red, green, or amber), the same glass as the straws, which means that they are made of borosilicate glass, the strongest commercially available glass! The tall Decorative Dots straws are stunning and the shorter straws are now my first choice for my kids. They're strong, beautiful, and the colored dots make them perfect for color coding- no more mixing up the kid's cups!

I have been carrying my straw in my purse wrapped haphazardly in a cloth napkin for dining out, so I was really excited to try the hemp carrying sleeve! I was instantly hooked on the look and texture of the sleeve- it just looks environmentally responsible! I was sent the natural hemp sleeve (that retails for $12.00) to try out and that is definitely the one I would have ordered for myself. The fabric swatch, pictured below, gives you an idea of the color options you have if you're interested in a sleeve that isn't the natural hemp color- purple dawn, ocean blue, deep moss, and black pearl (that retail for $15.00 each). Regardless of the color, you can choose from 3 sizes to get the best fit for your straw!

Since I've had plenty of experience with the Simple Elegance straws and there were two of the Decorative Dots straws, we tried out the amber Decorative Dots straw and the Beautiful Bends straw to let you know how they work and what we thought of them! Do you know what that means for you guys?! I have two straws and two cleaning brushes to give to you!

Up for grabs, we have two gift sets, courtesy of Glass Dharma.

Set one:
A green Decorative Dots straw that is 9.5mm wide and 9" long. This straw does not normally come with a cleaning brush, but for our giveaway, it will! The cleaning brushes normally retail for $5.00 each. The green dots are absolutely beautiful and as an added bonus, keeps that pesky straw from rolling off of the table! Retails for $9.00 each on their website. (A total value of $14.00)

Set two:
A Simple Elegance straw that is 12mm wide and 9" long, making it perfect for drinking smoothies, even ones with fantastic fruit pieces that normally get stuck in the straw or never make it in! This is the mac daddy of glass straws and we have really enjoyed ours over the years! This straw has a cleaning brush in it's box! Retails for $8.50 each on their website, plus the cleaning brush! (A total value of $13.50)

This is mine, yours is new in the box!

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to communicate with the incredible people at Glass Dharma while we were planning this blog posting and the giveaway! What an incredible company selling handmade products, all made in the U.S- even the sleeves and brushes!

To win one of the two gift sets, here is what you do:

Mandatory entry, include your name and email address in this comment:
- follow "Where am I?"

Extra entries, please leave 1 comment per entry:
- like "Glass Dharma on Facebook" and let them know how much we appreciate this giveaway!
- suggest something you'd like to see more of here at "Where am I?"
- suggest "Where am I?" to a friend (and/or create a blog or Facebook posting about this giveaway), having them follow and let me know YOU sent them!

All in all, you can have 4 entries each.
I will use random.org to choose a winner on Friday, May 20th!

"Sip the world, taste the difference."
(and Happy Winning!)

Who has pink and blue eggs?! WE DO!

On Monday, I went out to the chicken coop after lunch to take the chickens a treat- some stale bread!

I glanced into the nesting boxes, out of habit more than expectation, and what did I see?!

Our first egg! Courtesy of our "mutt" chicken, a grey hen named Paula Deen!

It's definitely tinted, almost pink! Pretty small, too.

And on Tuesday, I got another egg! Monday and Tuesdays eggs!

We also got another egg on Wednesday!

You guys that keep chickens were so right- once they start laying, they lay!

I also keep hearing that when one hen starts laying, it "encourages" other hens to start laying, so yesterday we started speculating as to which hens might start laying (since we have 5 that are old enough to lay) next!

This morning, I went out and there was our first BLUE egg!

And the layer was Keelin's big Araucana hen, Reeses!

Here are the eggs so far from this week!

Paula Deen is an afternoon layer (and I wrote this post around lunch time on Thursday), so my guess is that after I lay Jackson down for a nap there will be another pinkish egg waiting for me in the nesting box!

I feel SO relieved, you guys.

We spent money getting the coop ready, getting the hens, feeding all of the chickens-

It's like waiting for water to boil, waiting for them to start laying.

But now we know that we have two laying hens

and hopefully, the rest will follow :)

A quick garden update- so exciting!!!

Here is a garden update!

Quick and easy, but there just isn't much you can say about sprouts :)

It's itty bitty, but it's-

Kale!

Tater sprouts!

And these are BLUE potatoes!

Very cool.

A row of teeny cucumber plants!

These were planted from seeds straight into the soil, so I'm eager to see how their growth compares to those that we started in peat pots indoors!

One of 5 that the kids have enjoyed this week!

Eating them as fast as they ripen...

and I have yet to taste one ;)

Keelin playing in the leaky hose, post strawberry eatage!

Jackson showing off his strawberry!

Tim, I thought you were watering the GARDEN?!

Butchering- (Warning:sensitive in nature WITH a few pictures)

Tim and I decided when we got our first group of Cornish Rock chicks back in March, we would butcher them around the end of April, beginning of May. It is best to butcher this particular breed between 8-10 weeks.

We had planned to butcher our chickens on Saturday, but my grandfather's passing meant that Saturday was family time, so it was decided that we would do it Sunday. Tim and I were running some errands that afternoon (picking up some baby items from a friend- thanks, Carol!), so I thought we weren't going to do it until Tim asked me if we were going to go ahead and butcher when we got home.

I immediately felt a bit lightheaded. I have been a purchaser of humanely raised/butchered meats with the feeling all along that I should probably be doing it myself. Personally, I feel that if you cannot get neck deep in the process of raising and killing an animal, you should probably not eat an animal. Lettuce doesn't feel pain when it's chopped for a salad. I knew that this was going to be the moment of truth for me. Could I actually go through with killing a chicken that I held in my hand when it was a week old, fed and watered daily, scratched it's neck while it sat on my lap in the sun?


The answer is yes. I can. And I did. But it was hard and a day later, I am still feeling a bit shaken up, but I think that is a positive sign. When I can take a life without being at least slightly disturbed by it, I will have lost a part of my humanity, so the goal is to become more human, more feeling, throughout this process.

This is a brief overview of how things happened. I'm not going to go too far into detail, but be fairly warned that there are some pictures that some might be sensitive to some below.

First, we decided which chickens were going to be butchered. We decided to start out with one, just to see how things went and maybe do another if it went well.. We put her in a box along with a couple of the chickens she was raised with to help her feel calm.

The box was given to us when we purchased the grown Araucana chickens about a month ago.

You see Jackson in the picture and he was home (and awake) when we did this. We set him up to where he couldn't see the process but we could see him- with some of our newer chicks to play with and he had a great time, never a clue what we were doing.

This is not a chicken that was butchered. She's alive and happy, but this is what our meat chickens look like at butchering age.

In all, we butchered two chickens yesterday.

The first, we used a chopping block and I really didn't like it.

I know that the chicken was instantly killed and that it didn't suffer, but it felt a bit barbaric to me.

The second chicken, we used a method that I was interested in trying after being a bit startled by using a chopping block. For chicken #2, I broke her neck cleanly to kill her and then proceeded to go through the process of removing the blood from the carcass and getting the meat to a useable state.

Instead of plucking the feathers, we chose to use a popular method and skin the chicken. We don't cook chicken with the skin on, anyway, so why not just remove it before freezing or cooking?

It was fairly simple, to my surprise!

The above photo is me skinning the chicken that I killed. From killing her to putting the ready to eat or preserve parts in an ice bath took about 20 minutes.

Here are the parts of chicken #1.

Chicken #2 was left whole after the entrails had been removed.

Here is chicken #2, my chicken, dressed and baked with potatoes and onions.

Here is chicken #1, packaged to be frozen for later use. The parts you can see here are leg quarters.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this whole process.

I adore my chickens, but we do eat chicken.

I'm not going to have the capabilities and resources to raise my own animals for food and NOT do it, but continue to eat animal products-

even though it was difficult for me.

Removing ourselves from the process of raising and killing animals is what has caused the incredibly sick growth of the factory farming industry.

We want someone to do it for us.

We want boneless and skinless delivered to us, wrapping in pleasant packaging.

We want clean hands.

I no longer have clean hands.

I raised and butchered my own animals for meat.

Like I said before, I have mixed feelings about it.

I will do it again- butcher.

I will do it again- purchase animals for the sole purpose of becoming food for my family.

That being said, I am feeling no grief over it, no guilt. I raised these chickens from fluffy butt chicks that were less than a week old. They were loved on, well cared for, treated with as much dignity and respect as any of the other 32 chickens we have living in our backyard. There is no difference between the way our pet dogs are treated and our pet chickens are treated and our meat chickens are treated.

My mixed feelings come from my own personal thoughts about being an omnivore.

I have had SO many people tell me that what I have done is disgusting.

Cruel.

Inhumane.

And it was none of those things.

It was clean, humane, and done with respect.

And the people criticizing me are people that would never consider eating farm fresh food, because knowing where the animals come from is too close for comfort. Factory farms are preferrable to them over what we do here at our home.

To each his or her own. I am not passing judgement on another person's convictions and/or eating habits. We all must live as we feel we must, but this is part of my growing process, part of our home becoming a homestead- a place that can sustain us.

And I hope that sharing this part of my journey with you didn't offend.

I tried to provide fair warning from the beginning.

But if you were offended, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to shock or disturb, but merely to share my experience and educate.

50 followers!!!

It's official! We have 50 followers over here at Where am I?

Why is this such a huge deal to me?
Because I had NO followers around two months ago!!
You guys inspire and encourage me- so, thank you!

Coming soon:
- The HUGELY amazing review that I promised. The items are in the mail on their way to me now and I am having the hardest time keeping to myself what it is that I was given the opportunity to give away to you guys!

- A couple of giveaways, courtesy of me! I will announce my first one within the next couple of days!

Thank you, everyone, for making my ramblings feel worthwhile!

My happy-

A few photos that just make me smile!

My niece and my daughter, running at the park.

Photo by Tim, of course.

Keelin swinging last fall!

Betcha can't guess who took this one?

Yep, Tim.

1yr old Jackson on Mommy & Daddy's bed.

So precious.

Photo by Daddy.

My husband learning to knit in the preschool pickup line!

Super AMAZING cell phone picture by me ;)

Have you added my button yet?

Let me know if you decide to add my button to your blog.

I'd like to thank you!

A bunch of photos- playin catch up!

A few photos  that needed to be shown, but I still don't have the energy to write a whole post about.

We buried my grandfather yesterday, then Tim and I went to Raleigh, NC to watch my opera singing mom perform in Faust. Love that Tim enjoyed his first opera performance, even though it was 3 hours long and completely in French! Can't wait to see her in Carmen this fall!

A snapshot from our hallway- the wreath on the right is a creation by Anna of Blissful Whimsy.

On her blog is a better photo of our beautiful wreath! I went to our local India Market (the first Friday of every month) specifically to try to snag this wreath. I also have a pair of her stunning earrings and will be featuring a set of them on my blog as one of my giveaways once we hit 50 followers!

Jackson decided to dress himself AND color on himself with fabric markers.

Yay for 2yr olds!

My husband, Tim (bottom), and my little brother, Daniel (top), trying to wrestle our new fridge up the front steps. To get it through the front door, we had to remove the storm door AND the big wooden door. Even then, we were concerned.

We got this gorgeous stainless steel fridge from a scratch and dent appliance store for less than 1/3 of the original cost- and it only had one teeny dent in a place that isn't even visible to the naked eye. What luck!

A handmade toy for Baby Finn that I found at consignment. It's arms and legs are made with hand sewn yo-yos. I loved the concept!

A preciously loved wool sleep sack for Finn, bought from another mom! Can't wait to put him in these!

Wipes that I made for a friend! They're 8"x8", some are appliqued, and all in all there were almost 4 dozen of them. Needless to say, my sewing machine is getting a well-deserved break from sewing for a while :)

My 22 week belly shot. I LOVE the pants I'm wearing. They're men's XL sweats that I got at a yard sale when I was pregnant with Keelin- I've worn them through all 3 of my pregnancies as the best sleep pants in the universe! Can't even be ashamed of something that comfortable!