With Blizzard Jonas finally behind us, I can actually see pieces of grass in the front yard again. What’s Blizzard Jonas, you ask? Well, for the very few of you that weren’t actually affected, it was a recent snowstorm of gargantuan proportion.
When it was all said and done, it had dumped almost three feet of powdery goodness onto our neighborhood. Grocery store shelves were decimated, schools were closed for the entire week, neighbors were helping neighbors – it was THAT kind of storm.
The concept that something as simple as water had wreaked such havoc on an entire coastal seaboard seemed incomprehensible. We went from being trapped inside of our house for 5 days, to braving local flooding and washed out roads.
It’s been almost a month, with temperatures as high as 56 degrees and the snow is still here. It’s still in my front yard. Just because ‘the big storm’ is OVER, doesn’t mean that the cold weather isn’t still hanging around. The wind is cold, the air is dry, our humidifiers are working overtime, but I’m personally taking advantage of these last few weeks, to stay warm and try out a slew of different homemade soup recipes until my wife strangles me.
A short while ago, I wrote a piece about how Jen and I are constantly making a concerted effort to trim our bills or find a more cost-efficient lifestyle. This included utilizing a water filter that was sent to me by PUR. If you don’t care to click back and read it, the end result was us canceling our home delivery of 5-gallon water bottles and saving over $600 a year.
With my ‘soup season’ in full swing, a few of the kids are now old enough and curious enough to want to help me in the kitchen. A few months ago, I wasn’t absolutely comfortable with Ava or Charlie accessing the hot water from the upright dispenser, if they could even do it at all (child safety latch). It was also set away from where I was cooking and I’d have to leave what I was doing to check in and assist them.
What I’ve noticed since installing the filter, is that the kids can put on an apron and stand on a stool right next to me, fill measuring cups with water or larger vessels for my soup stock with little trouble. It’s high enough that Mason can’t get to it and Ava & Charlie enjoy and exude confidence, having the responsibility of helping dad make dinner.
With the flip of a switch, they can adjust the filter from purified drinking water to a full burst of tap water, to rinse our utensils or even wash the bowls. I FINALLY HAVE SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE DISHES.
Even with the fun we’re having, I think it’s important that the kid’s understand that water is a valuable commodity. We take advantage of the fact that we have a surplus of this liquid gold – take baths at our leisure, spray each other with the house in the summertime and even occasionally flush the toilet too excessively.
They aren’t yet old enough to understand the crisis that unfolded a few months ago in Flint, Michigan. Aside from camping for days on end in remote locations, never have I had to face the POTENTIAL difficulty of not being able to grab a cup and pour, to have to consider that my water might have so many contaminants in it, that it could inspire kidney issues in my own body or even worse, have cognitive repercussions in my tiny children.
When I last checked in on my friends at PUR to offer them some feedback on the kitchen filter that my kids think is a fun toy, it took a few days to hear back. I’d come to find out that they were on the ground in The Great Lakes State and to date, have donated approximately $1 million worth of PUR product (Faucet Mount Systems & Replacement Filters) to the folks in Flint – which I find pretty darn amazing.
It’s not often that you get to partner with someone who realizes the importance of the things we’re putting in our bodies. The filter we have, eliminates 72 contaminants from our tap water – the same filter is removing lead from our friends and neighbors next to Lake Huron. To read more about PUR or consider installing them in your own house, visit their website for more information.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a sponsored post in conjunction with PUR, however, the soup and the money saved is all mine.
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