Today's Kool Idea: H2Glow Temperature Sensitive LED Faucet Light

We been having an ongoing challenge these days in The Daily Kool household. Our boys are at the age when we have to constantly remind them to wash their hands. It's not as if we are obsessive about cleanliness (well, maybe just a little). We do have rules, though. Washing hands after coming in from the outside, after meals and certainly after using the toilet shouldn't be too much to ask, right? Apparently, it just might be...at least for our boys. You should just hear some of the arguments and excuses coming out of our two little guys...everything from "My leg hurts and I can't stand by the sink" to "My hands aren't that sticky from the breakfast syrup." Our favorite of course, is the ever-popular "Hey, we stand up anyway...what's the big deal?" Imagine our embarrassment when our four year old proudly confessed to his grandmother how often he and his brother try to "trick us" into thinking that they've washed their hands (as if we didn't know). Seriously, they expend more energy trying to avoid washing their hands than it would just take to do it already. Sheesh!

Yesterday, we visited a friend that we hadn't seen in a while. She had just renovated her guest bathroom with a more modern motif. She opted for one of those glass sinks sitting on a pedestal and colorful mosaic tile along the walls. Perhaps the "koolest" feature however, was the H2Glow temperature sensitive LED faucet light she had installed. H2Glow works by illuminating the water as it comes out of the faucet. The water glows deep blue when it is safe to touch and automatically switches to red when it starts to get too hot. How great is this? H2Glow seems to be just what we need to help encourage our kids to wash their hands more often. Adults clearly think it's pretty terrific also (our friend doesn't even have children). We want it! We want it!

After doing a bunch of online research, H2Glow really seems to be the highest quality temperature sensitive LED faucet light available. This fully automatic gadget comes with the faucet attachment, two adaptors, batteries, a spare filter screen, water flow restrictor and a manual. We took a look online at the installation instructions, and they seem pretty easy and straightforward...just seven steps. We would anticipate our kids using a lot more water with the H2Glow (hey, that's kind of the point, right), so the built in flow-limiter takes a load off of our environmentally conscious (and thrifty) minds. Plus, not only has H2Glow received overwhelmingly glowing (we couldn't resist) reviews, but Sector Labs (the company who makes it) has a great reputation for ensuring customer satisfaction. We never know when we might have an issue, so a company who guarantees their products is a big draw, especially when we are ordering online.

We can truly envision our bathroom soon becoming the most popular room in the house with the H2Glow temperature sensitive LED faucet light. We love the safety element with this...what a great way to avoid burning little hands with scalding water! We must point out though, as parents, we would seriously caution our kids to always be careful and not to completely depend on it to determine how safe the water is to touch. We just love the entertainment value...H2Glow would definitely change the way we experience water every day. Just imagine how amazing the LED faucet light must look in the dark! Might be a nice addition to a kitchen faucet also. H2Glow is definitely one "kool" gadget we can't wait to get.

Subscribe to The Daily Kool by Email

Today's Kool Idea: FIJI Bottled Water

Okay, we admit it. We are not big water drinkers, and never have been. Trust us...we've given ourselves lectures time and time again about the importance of drinking the requisite eight glasses of water a day, but who are we kidding? We can barely choke down two glasses, and that's with living in hot and humid Florida. While we take responsibility for our irresponsibility just as much as the next person (yeah, right), we wholeheartedly blame the Coca Cola company for our lack of commitment to healthy drinking. How dare they make Coke taste so darn good? We have been obsessed with Coke (the real stuff, not that diet stuff) for as long as we can remember. Scoff all you want, but our Coca Cola addiction has caused a real problem in our household. Our kids are at the age when "do as I say, not as I do" doesn't hold water (had to get that pun in). It's our job as parents to teach our children healthy eating and drinking habits, and the best way to do this is by example. But, we really don't like water. We've tried it all...tap water, filtered water, bottled water (whew, there are a lot of brands out there!), cold water, room temperature water, water with lemon (and/or lime). No matter what we do, the results are the same...blah, blah, blah. Are we prime examples of mature and responsible adults or what?

A friend of ours introduced us to FIJI bottled water a few months ago. She claimed that FIJI water is seriously the best tasting water on the planet (her words, not ours). We always believed that the concept of bottled water is a bunch of marketing hype. Then again, what do we ignorant Coke drinkers know anyway? The FIJI water company claims that theirs is much healthier than other bottled waters, due mainly to their artesian aquifer, which is located at the very edge of a primitive rainforest, hundreds of miles away from the nearest continent. By definition, artesian water comes from a source deep within the earth, protected by layers of clay and rock. Of the top ten bottled waters sold in the United States, FIJI is the only water originating from an artesian source. There is no opening, not even a porthole to the surface. As a result, the water never comes into contact with the air, protecting it from environmental pollutants and other contamination.

One sip of FIJI bottled water, and we were hooked. And it wasn't just the really "kool" packaging, though we admit that the square bottle is pretty nifty. FIJI bottled water has a pure, clean and crisp taste. In other words, it has no flavor whatsoever...just the way it should be. This is truly a refreshing change from the plastic taint so common with other bottled water brands. Don't just take our word for it, though...we certainly didn't. We were curious enough to hold our own informal blind taste test at home with a group of The Daily Kool family members. We gave each of our testers a small cup of each of the following: FIJI, Evian, SmartWater, Zephyrhills, Aquafina and filtered water from the sink. To keep it as fair as possible, we kept all the water at room temperature...apparently (according to some experts), the colder the water, the harder it is to tell the difference. All but two of our testers picked FIJI as their absolute favorite. Our older son was torn between FIJI and Evian, but eventually chose the latter. Our father was the only one who couldn't tell the difference between any of them...we all looked at Dad like he was nuts (including our four year old).

We know, we know. If we were truly environmentally conscious, we wouldn't be drinking bottled water at all...we'd stick with the tap. But don't forget, although we do recycle everything that we can, we've been die-hard Coke drinkers until now anyway. Baby steps, people...baby steps. Don't get us wrong. We absolutely understand and appreciate the controversy surrounding the concept of bottled water, but at least the FIJI water company seems to be pretty committed to doing their part for the environment. They have partnered with Conservation International to become the first “carbon negative” product in the industry and to save the largest rainforest in Fiji. To achieve this, FIJI first accounts for the carbon footprint throughout the entire lifecycle of their products; then, through a combination of meaningful reductions and carbon-reducing land use and renewable energy projects, the production and sale of each bottle of FIJI water will actually result in a reduction of carbon in the atmosphere by 120% of the footprint. They are also reducing the amount of packaging in their products and leading the charge to expand recycling programs and incentives. The company has an entire site dedicated to educating consumers about FIJI Green.

Here's the bottom line...FIJI bottled water has helped us eliminate the need for Coca Cola in our home, therefore helping us adopt healthier drinking habits for ourselves, and therefore in our children. Sure, it's certainly one of the most expensive brands around, but sometimes the old adage "you get what you pay for" really holds true. FIJI bottled water is, in our opinion, the best tasting water out there. We just might decide to take advantage of their monthly delivery service with free shipping. FIJI bottled water has definitely helped our family keep properly hydrated during this particularly brutal Florida summer. Now that's a "kool" idea!

Subscribe to The Daily Kool by Email