I recently wrote about the Beaba Babycook over at Cool Mom Picks - it’s completely converted me to making my own baby food, something I never expected to do on more than an occasional basis. Now I steam and puree at least one batch every day.

Problem is, if Oliver doesn’t eat it all within the next 24 hours, I have to pitch the leftovers. Without all of those impossible-to-pronounce preservatives, the shelf life of baby food is pretty brief.

So when I had a chance to check out Qubies, I jumped at it. Aussie mum Alexandra Wardle created these ingenious freezer trays when she was faced with similar storage problems after whipping up batches of purees for her then-baby boy.

What makes them different - and better! - than the old style ice cube trays?

I’ll start by describing how to use them. Pour the puree into the polycarbonate base*, leaving a little room at the top. Place the silicone lid (which has divider flaps that partition the puree into 30 ml “cubes”) on top of the base. Seal one end, then the other, and then seal along both edges of the base toward the middle (like a Tupperware lid). Pop the whole thing in the freezer.

Once the puree is solidly frozen, remove the Qubie from the freezer, grasp with both hands (you might want to use a towel to keep your hands from freezing) and twist - just like you would do to loosen the cubes in an ice cube tray. Then peel back the silicone lid.

The pictures show the individual portions remaining in the base, but mine always stay adhered to the lid and the divider flaps. But they pop right out when I bend the silicone lid, and I put them right into a freezer bag and stick them right back in the freezer.

So they’re different - and better! - because they’re user-friendly, conveniently sized, and completely contain the puree while it’s being frozen.

I’ve used Qubies for vegetable and fruit purees for Oliver, and I’ve used them for sauces and marinades that Kyle has made - which was especially useful as we often end up tossing the excess after a meal since they don’t keep well in the refrigerator for more than a day or two.

They’re the perfect complement to the Babycook, and I’d highly recommend them. Check out Qubies at their website - www.qubies.com.au - they may take a while to ship, but I assure you they’re well worth the wait!

*Polycarbonate plastic contains BPA (Bisphenol A).

On the heels of my sprint triathlon last month, I insisted on taking a shot at the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure” here in Denver earlier this month. It was a family affair - all five of us rose at the crack of dawn to head downtown - and I ran in the women’s race at 7am, while Kyle ran in the coed race at 8:30am.

While I wasn’t running specifically in support of or in memory of anyone in particular, my favorite part of the day was reading the dedications pinned to the backs of other runners and walkers. Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, friends, and so many more - breast cancer has touched far too many people’s lives. We even found men wearing “survivor” tees.

But my second favorite part of the day? All that pink!

I confess, I love pink. Even in my punk rock days, pink was a staple in my wardrobe. What can I say - it’s flattering.

And since I love shopping too, October is a perfect month to get my pink on - and to feel good about doing it:

Aphrodisiac perfume - From Lumar of Beverly Hills, this scent combines white rose, tuberose, and amber. The perfume itself is pink, but more importantly, it smells delicious. A little aphrodisiac does everyone some good. Lumar will donate 10% of perfume sales in the month of October to the Libby Ross Foundation.

Cor facial soap - It may not be pink, but it’s made with silver - a natural anti-bacterial agent. It also includes a complex of Collagen, Sericin and Chitosan, which are absorbed by the skin via silica. I don’t understand it either, but it makes my face squeaky clean. Cor will donate 10% of online sales in the month of October to the Libby Ross Foundation.

KitchenAid: Cook for the Cure collection - I’m not much in the kitchen, but I love my pink KitchenAid stand mixer. Looks like I need to check out the rest of their pink products. Oh, and redecorate my kitchen. For each pink product purchased and registered at cookforthecure.com, KitchenAid will donate up to $50 to Susan G. Komen.

Philosophy: She Colors My Day line - I’ve got more brand loyalty to the Philosophy skin care line than any other. So it’s no wonder that it made me smile to see that they donate 100% (yes, you read that right) of net proceeds from sales of She Colors My Day products to the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund.

Zensual Asian Lychee Blossom candle - This candle isn’t pink either, but it’s incredibly fragrant and clean-burning. Every master bathroom can use a fragrant candle, especially one that won’t have me scrubbing smoke residue off the ceiling. Zensual’s making a very generous donation of 30% of proceeds from sales of the Asian Lychee Blossom line to the Libby Ross Foundation.

To look at my room as a child - or even my dorm room as a college student - you’d never believe that I could one day become an out-and-out neat freak.  I was a terrible slob, and not just in my own space.  I wasn’t particularly good at leaving the kitchen or bathroom clean either, much to my parents’ frustration.

But now, I love to have a clean house.  Perhaps I’m shallow or need to get another hobby, but I get immense satisfaction from relaxing after having cleaned up the place.  And I like to do it myself - cleaning services just aren’t as thorough as I am.

My favorite cleaning implement are paper towels.  I’d much rather use those than a pre-moistened wipe or sponge.  Granted, there are some places where they just don’t work - such as the inside of the toilet bowl or while scrubbing grout - but I haven’t found a better all-purpose cleaning tool yet.

So it’s not surprising that I was happy to check out a sample of Bounty paper towels (even though I’m a Viva devotee) and write a 100-word essay over at Bounty’s One Sheet Challenge.  One hundred words is not enough to express my love for paper towels and all the ways in which I use them, so I had to settle for describing the weekend morning post-waffle clean-up.  If I had been allotted a thousand words, I could have gone on and on about my obsessive need to wipe the kitchen counters at least three times a day, spot-cleaning spills on the kitchen floor because I hate dragging out the mop and bucket, wiping fingerprints and noseprints from the storm door, my never-ending battle with the soap scum on the glass shower door, and many many more.

But the most all-encompassing reason for my love of paper towels is that they minimize the spread of germs even without using anti-bacterial cleaners.  Because paper towels are disposable, unlike a kitchen sponge, they are used on a single occasion and discarded.  Therefore, germs don’t get a chance to multiply between uses.  If you do use a kitchen sponge for wiping your counters, you should put it in the microwave regularly to kill those remaining germs (but I’ll bet most people don’t do that).

If you go to the One Sheet Challenge and tell of your own love for paper towels, you could win all sorts of goodies - a year’s supply of Bounty paper towels, a kitchen appliance upgrade (worth $8K!), or an entire kitchen renovation (worth $30K!).  Personally, I’ve been dreaming of granite countertops, so I’m going for the grand prize myself.

But I certainly won’t balk if they want to send me cases and cases of paper towels instead.