Gift wrap

Oh, the things we come out of blog retirement for, right?

I just thought this was fun. I've been playing around with wrapping gifts with things from around the house. Found some fun ideas online, so I tried two with some gifts I needed to wrap. I'm sure I'll have plenty more practice time this December!

Here's a grocery bag for wrapping, with two different colors of yarn woven together. Easy peasy!



And this one I really loved! I used that old standby, newspaper, to wrap the gift. And then dressed it up with some bows made out of pages from magazines. I followed these directions, except I added a third 9" strip. They're a little time consuming...maybe 10 minutes to make each bow. But so pretty!



I guess I got a little carried away...the kids kept asking me to make more bows. They were picking pages for me to use!





Last year I experimented with using fabric to wrap gifts. I think it looks incredible, but ultimately decided that unless you're giving it to someone crafty who will reuse the fabric, it's too wasteful once you run out your scrap fabric pile. Not to mention too expensive to buy fabric to wrap every gift!






That's just fabric knotted around boxes. I just cut the fabric...didn't even finish any edges or anything!

Anyone have any eco-friendly, upcycled, or reusable gift wrapping ideas? 'Tis the season!

Where I've been, and Change the World Wednesdays

I don't want to stop blogging...there are just other things I seem to be doing more. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking I should be doing x, y, and z.

But, I definitely don't want to stop blogging. So, what have I been up to? Life. You know how it goes, three kids, running hither and yon, having fun.

I've started writing for my town's Patch site. A weekly cooking column about recipes using local food. So I've been LOVING that.

I've been getting more serious about editing my novel. I'm about half way through a serious read-through/edit, then I'm going to let TK read it so he can be my sounding board about some areas of weakness and areas of potential re-write. And I still have three alternate endings blocked out, so unless I'm planning a choose-you-own-adventure book, I'm going to have to make a decision.

N-man and B-man are finishing up kindergarten, which is exciting and unbelievable. Z-man is almost two, and is enjoying the terrible twos to their fullest. He's very advanced, not even waiting until he turns two. He also has a speech delay, just like big bros did, and we've started down the Early Intervention road again, which has its pros and cons. Tomorrow we have a follow-up ear check to decide if he should get tubes or not.

You see, life. Regular stuff that keeps me laughing and running and smiling.

So that's where I've been. Howdy, y'all!

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Most of why I wanted to get back on my blog was to post about Change the World Wednesday. I've written about it many times before, and I'll just say again how much I love the weekly challenges to become a little more environmentally friendly and aware. Here's this week's challenge:

This week, make your coffee or tea at home. Getting coffee/tea out every day not only costs a lot but also generates a lot of waste. Make it at home instead. And don't forget ... both coffee grounds and tea leaves are great in the compost bin.

Or ...

If you don't drink these beverages or always drink them at home, choose one other food or beverage, which you typically buy at either a restaurant or grocery store, and make it yourself at home. And, of course, we'd like to hear all about it!

I wrote about how I broke the coffee habit back in November 2009. Wow, it's surprising that it's been so long! It's still going great. I'd say I get coffee out maybe once or twice a month now, instead of 4 or 5 times a week. Quite a change! And we're still using organic milk (I'd originally given up buying coffee out so we could afford organic milk).

I guess it's been a year and a half, but I hardly think of it anymore. There's very little draw to go out for coffee, unless I'm meeting someone or have really been running around all day without stop. And those are the times I don't feel guilty about treating myself :)

Want to play along? Head over to Reduce Footprints blog!

Never Let it Be Said I Don't Win Anything

We went yesterday to a Green Living Fair, which was great--really informative about a whole slew of topics.

Anyway, while we were there we bought a few raffle tickets to support the organization. I didn't think much of it...just wanted to help out. Imagine my surprise when we got a phone call to say we'd won one of the prizes! I never win anything! The weekend away, the jewelry...what could it be?

The bacteria to add to your septic tank. Yes, that's right, I won poop-eating bacteria. I know, you all want to be me, right?

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Green tip: Styrofoam recycling is pretty rare in curbside recycling (anyone able to recycle styrofoam in their town?). But, look around to see if there are any styrofoam recyclers in your area. For example, in Eastern Massachusetts, ReFoamIt holds styrofoam recycling events. I'd been saving my styrofoam for about 9 months (we try not to buy things with styrofoam, but still, in 9 months we'd filled a few grocery bags).

Wrapping with fabric

In an effort to reduce paper waste, I decided this winter to try wrapping presents with fabric (called furoshiki).

Here's a picture of my mom's birthday present:



I also wrapped all the teacher gifts for N-man and B-man's teachers/specialists:






I wrapped a number more, but these turned out the best, probably because of perfectly easy box shape of these gifts.

What's my final call?

Pros:

• Pretty! Don't these just look so special and interesting?
• Surprisingly easy! There are plenty of sites online that give directions. I especially liked this one. You can even find youtube videos.
• No paper waste. Fabric can be easily reused.

Cons:

• Fabric is far more expensive than gift wrap.
• I bought some flannel fabric because 1) it was half-off and 2) it had super-cute kid-friendly designs. I can use it, but it's not nearly as easy as the thin, silkier fabrics. You'll notice none of the pictures here are with flannel wraps!
• While fabric can be easily reused for crafts (or for wrapping future presents), you never know if the person who receives the gift will end up reusing it, or if it'll just end up in the trash like wrapping paper would have.

So I guess in the end I'm still kind of up in the air about this one. What do you think?

NaNoWriMo, I miss you!

Do you see how I'm not apologizing for my lackluster posting schedule? Come on, 1 post a month? Geez, even if I don't post again in November, I've now officially doubled my monthly posting. You're welcome.

Anyway, it's November. It's National Novel Writing Month. I love NaNoWriMo. I've done it twice now, and loved both experiences.

I'm not doing NaNo this month.

I'm kind of sad about that, though truthfully, with little Z-man still not sleeping through the night, and still not quite up to entertaining himself, I don't think it would be much fun to try to force in time to write a novel.

Plus, I have two novels from past years that I could work on.

What is it about writing novels that the goal, the expectation seems to be that you're writing for others, to publish and to share? If I spent a month writing a journal, I don't think I'd feel the same pressure to rewrite and let others read. Though oddly, here I am, sitting on two novels I'm not sure I want to share, but I write on a blog, essentially self-publishing a journal for all to see. Is it weird that I consider my fiction writing more personal than my blogging???

Anyway, anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? If so, what are you doing reading my blog? Get back to work!

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Green tip for the day: Use both sides of paper, including things like shopping lists. Just cross out the stuff you already bought and start a new list underneath it or on the other side.

The Hunger Games

About a month ago, I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I don't know what I was waiting for. YA book? Check. Dystopian novel? Check. You've just described my two very favorite classifications for books. I think I was just so disgusted by the Twilight series that I lost all faith that any other popular YA books would be any good.

But I'd heard so much about The Hunger Games, and then there I was, walking through Target one day when I'd just finished my last new book in the house, and happened to see The Hunger Games on an endcap. So I picked it up. And I'm glad I did.

The writing in the book is okay...a bit rocky at times, but it's really the story that grabs hold and pulls you along.

I was a little annoyed. A few times, I've read books and said "I could have written this." This was one of those books. Both novels I've written have been near-future dystopians. Both could have been YA novels. So as I'm reading, I kept kicking myself, saying "this could have been *my* book". But here's the thing: even if I had had this idea, I would have dismissed it as too derivative. The idea of the book kind of riffs off Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, with a healthy dose of Stephen King's The Long Walk and The Running Man and throws in a touch of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. I would have tossed out the idea in a minute.

So as an aspiring writer, I learned some very important lessons: 1) write a good story, and it really doesn't matter if it's derivative. I enjoyed all the stories I mentioned above. It should be no surprise that I liked this so much. 2) At least for readers like me, a strong engaging story is more important than perfect prose. That's very heartening as I struggle with writing "perfectly", though I find that I enjoy writing much more when I just let go and let the story flow rather than worrying about how well it's actually written.

Also, this trilogy has reignited my hope for YA fiction. I mean, so many people being in love with the Twilight series made me seriously worry for the future ;)

So if you haven't read it yet, get out there and get a copy of The Hunger Games. I really enjoyed the story--it's dark, bleak, and just the right hint of hope without being cloying or fake.

If you have read it, leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

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Green tip for the day: If you have kids and like to go out to eat, carry some crayons in your purse. Then turn down the crayons they give your kids--if you leave them, they just get thrown away! We only take new crayons when our old crayons get too broken or lost and we need new ones to replenish my purse-supply.

Snack bags and garden pickings

N-man and B-man start Kindergarten tomorrow. I'm finding it hard to believe, though I suspect that's normal.

Our district only has half day kindergarten, so I don't need to worry about lunches. But they do need to have a snack every day. I asked what they wanted for their snack the first day, and they chose strawberries and blueberries (N-man) and cottage cheese (B-man). Weirdos! Anyway, since both of those need an ice pack to stay cool, I decided to make the kids a reusable snack tote, something I had in mind for a while anyway.



Here it is. A pocket for an ice pack, a place to hold a fork or spoon, and room for a small reusable container. It was pretty easy to make, and if I actually knew how to use my sewing machine, I'm sure it would have been far quicker.



Here they are all folded up. I let the kids choose their fabrics/thread, so while it might not have been exactly the colors I would have put together, they're happy with it. B-man chose the stars, N-man chose the dots. The only other thing I might do is sew a quick napkin from the remaining fabrics. Probably not by tomorrow, though...we have plenty of cloth napkins that I can just stick inside.

I've written about zero-waste lunches before. I'd really like to try to continue to pack snacks that don't have any packaging. I also have a couple reusable sandwich bags that I bought, and I think I'll try to sew a few more in different sizes. Those are good for holding snacks like crackers or goldfish. I just needed something that could also hold an ice pack so I can pack cold snacks, too.

(If anyone is curious to make one, the big square is 14" and the pocket is 8.5" by 5.5", though your sizes would be dependent upon the size of your ice pack.)

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At the beginning of the summer, I posted about our raised bed garden. It's done okay...I've been plagued with horn worms (did a number on the tomatoes, though I managed to rescue a few of the plants), deer, I think (bye bye beans, bye bye many ripening tomatoes), and drought (um, that's my own fault for not watering...lost a few bean plants that the deer had missed, and my only squash plant).

But we've still been getting stuff. Earlier in the year, the lettuce and swiss chard did great...I was able to make a couple meals with those before the weather started getting too hot. We've been getting a few tomatoes here, a couple fairy tale eggplant there, a handful of lima beans, an onion or two; nothing overwhelming, and never enough to make a side dish alone but stuff I've thrown in with other veggies from our CSA. Yesterday, though, I picked the rest of the onions and carrots, plus we had a few more cherry tomatoes. Not the biggest haul on earth, but a pretty respectable one day harvest.



Yum! While I didn't get great harvests this year, I learned a lot. Once the tomatoes are done, I think I'm going to clean out the bed, plant a few squares of garlic this fall, and then plant some permanent squares of asparagus and rhubarb in the spring, for future years. And hopefully add another box (or two, or three!) to plant more veggies next year! Maybe I can even add some kind of fencing to keep out the deer. At the very least, I'll try some kind of deer-deterrent (besides our awesome neighbor across the street who yells at the deer every time she sees them munching on our garden :).

How did your gardens grow this year?

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Green tip for the day: Of course I'm putting in another plug for zero-waste lunches and snacks.

What are your tips (or favorite products) for zero-waste lunches and snacks? I'm a fan of the little reusable glad or ziploc containers you can get at the grocery store. Perfect size for little guys! And, inexpensive so if they get lost at school, I don't have to worry. I looked at some metal containers, and the small sizes were upwards of $10 a piece! They're nice, but I think I'd worry my 5 year olds might misplace them.

Chocolate Chip Math and Terracycle

N-man and B-man can be so different. B-man is in love with all things math. Today, I gave him 7 chocolate chips. He immediately counts them, then picks one up to eat and says, "7-1=6". He eats the next after saying, "6-1=5". And he keeps going.

N-man looks at B-man, looks at his own chocolate chips, then says, "Seven minus one equals YUM!" and tosses a chip in his mouth.

They were both right...

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Green tip for the day:

Look for a local Terracycle drop off point. There are many different things that can be dropped off, depending on what "brigades" your local group has signed up for. For example, our terracycle group in town collects juice pouches, chip bags, used pens/markers, empty glue bottles, cereal liners, and a variety of other non-recyclable items.

Many schools organize terracycle brigades as they receive a couple cents for each piece of garbage collected so it's a good fundraiser as well as an opportunity to keep trash out of landfills. You don't need to have a kid in school, though. Call your local school and find out where the drop-off points are...there may be some in locations besides the school, such as the library or a local coffee shop. Or you may be able to bring your donations to the school office even if you don't have a child in the school.

The only thing I'm not too sure if I like is that I wonder if the terracycle brigades encourage people to buy more single-use products, since the packaging is collected and raises money for their school or other charitable organization. For example, do you think people are more likely to give their kids juice pouches rather than water or juice in a reusable container if they know they can upcycle their used pouches? What do you think?

Do you drop things off for a terracycle collection? If so, what are your favorite things to terracycle? I love the used marker and cereal bag collections, as those are things we definitely buy and used to have to toss in the trash.

He's always a surprise!

TK and I have been married 13 years, and together almost 18 years. But sometimes, he's still a mystery to me.

TK is an engineer, and well, for good reason engineers are not known for their fashion sense. To be honest, TK isn't bad--he irons his clothes, he tries to make sure they match, he dresses generally appropriately. He work attire is casual to business casual, so most days he's in khakis and a collared shirt. But this week he has a big presentation. He asked for my help to pick clothes.

He'd pulled out a tie and said that was what he wanted to wear. I reminded him last time he had a presentation that we'd determined he didn't have any shirts that would look good with the tie. His answer: "well that was in the winter. One of my short-sleeved shirts might work with it."

I was literally speechless for a good minute. Then I said, "You can't wear a tie with a short-sleeved shirt."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's hot out. What do you think people wear?"

"Long sleeved shirts."

"No," he insisted. I was forced to inform him that short-sleeved buttondown shirts are pretty geeky, but I let it go because 1) it's cute-geeky, and he pulls it off, and 2) it's pretty appropriate in engineering circles, or at least the engineering circles he runs in. But a short-sleeved buttondown with a tie was just too geeky. I couldn't let it go.

He wouldn't believe me. Convinced he was right, he said, "I'm checking online."

I wasn't worried one bit. Five minutes later he came back and said, "Okay, I'm convinced."

And he let me pick out a nice long sleeved shirt and tie.

I'm not super fashionable, but I could run a service for engineers to keep them at the engineering-geek level of attire rather than letting them flounder into the total-geek realm.

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Green tip for the day: Speaking of fashion, keep "green" in mind when shopping for clothes. Some ideas:

1. Buy clothes to last. Don't buy new clothes every season, even if you can afford it.
2. Look for eco-friendly and/or organic materials.
3. Pass your used clothes along: to friends or family, to a consignment store, to a charity, via freecycle or craigslist.
4. How crafty are you? Turn damaged or stained clothes into something new. Or just use them as rags.
5. Consider buying used clothes from a consignment store or place like Goodwill.

Any clothing-related green tips to share?

Poor Neglected Blog!

Oops, I did it again. I forgot to post. Yikes!

Well, it's not like I forgot. It's just every time I think of something to write, I'm not near the computer. The only time I really get uninterrupted computer time is when I'm up in the middle of the night feeding Z-man. And no one wants to read my incoherent 3 am ramblings.

Yesterday I jotted down some crazy notes every time a "oh, I could blog that idea" popped in my head.

Then I lost the paper.

Turns out "Organize my life" should probably be at the top of any list I write.

Luckily for you, I remember a few things. Also luckily for you, I forgot many. Turns out, it's a good thing I don't have a computer ready to record my every thought.

Here goes:

We were driving home from Long Island yesterday, and left during morning rush hour. Luckily, we could drive in the HOV lane. You know what the hardest part of driving in the HOV lane is? Not pointing and laughing at all the shmoes who aren't in the HOV lane.

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Much later in the drive, I was reading my list to TK. I said to him, "you know what's the hardest thing about driving in the HOV lane?" He answered, "Not laughing at the people in the lane next to you." There's a reason why I married him.

Then we both said, "I didn't want to mention it at the time because I didn't want to jinx the HOV lane." Everyone who commuted on the LIE yesterday can thank us that there wasn't an accident in the HOV lane.

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N-man randomly said, "Mom, do you know what's in an alien sandwich?" I thought it was the beginning of a joke. "No, what?" I asked. "Dead aliens," he replied, with a DUH tone in his voice. I'm still not sure if that was a joke or if just like a chicken sandwich is made from dead chicken, he was just generalizing that an alien sandwich would of course be made of dead alien.

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Why are pizza and bagels so much better in NY? Seriously, how hard can it be to make good pizza and bagels? Why hasn't any other place figured it out? I guess it's like Buffalo and chicken wings. Awesome wings in Buffalo, but I wouldn't even bother getting them anywhere else. Are there other regional foods like this, that are only perfected in one area?

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Well that was random. I probably should have saved up all those awesome ideas for separate blog posts. *sniff sniff* Do I smell sarcasm?

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Green tip for the day: Plant an herb garden. Tomorrow's Earth Day...the perfect day to plant something. Even if you have a black thumb--most herbs grow easily with little TLC required. Even if you have no room--herbs grow great in pots, indoors or outdoors.

Fresh herbs are so lovely to use. And think of all the packaging you can save...at least by us, I can only find small quantities of herbs in plastic clam shells.

Here's a quickie favorite way to use up herbs when you've got a lot: soften some butter, then mix in a bunch of your favorite herbs. Then use it on crackers, bread, pasta, for sauteeing veggies, over corn. Put the herbed butter in small containers and freeze it and you can have herbed butter all year long!

If you've already got an herb garden (or have one planned), what's in it?

Another twin moment

We were just playing a guessing game with letters. It was N-man's turn. He said, "I'm thinking of something that starts with the letter N."

We all made a few wrong guesses, then N-man gave a further clue: "It's something you celebrate at night."

B-man yelled out almost immediately, "Halloween!"

"Yes!" Nate said.

We did let both kids know that Halloween starts with an H. I wonder what they think Hanukkah starts with...

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A still-not-well well update: We had our well repaired today, so the first step is done. A water sample has been taken, and results will be ready in 1 or 2 days, depending on how backed up the lab is. If by some miracle it's bacteria-free, we can start using the water. If, as is probably the case, it's contaminated, they'll have to put in chemicals to kill the bacteria. That takes 24 hours, plus a while to clear all the chemicals out. Either way, we're in the home stretch and should have usable water by the end of the week, or the beginning of next week at the latest.

I love clean water. I miss clean water. I think next time we chose a charity to donate to, it's going to be for a clean water fund or well fund. This has been pretty eye opening. I knew it would be inconvenient to live without running water, but I didn't know quite how inconvenient it would be.

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Green tip for the day: Be thankful for your water, and think of a way you can conserve water today! I'd love to hear your water conservation tips in the comments. It can be as simple as "turn off the faucets while brushing teeth" or the like!

Well...

When we moved, we went from city water to well water. Something neither TK nor I were super excited about, but most of the towns we were looking in, that was the only option. Neither of us had well water growing up, so we've been slowly learning about wells since we moved.

We're about to get a crash course.

I'm sure it's not news to anyone to hear there's been lots of flooding throughout New England this past weekend. Half of my friends' facebook status updates have been about flooded basements. While our sump pump has been running CONSTANTLY, and we spent 24 hours with our backup sump pump kicking in (and ringing the backup alarm nonstop), our basement managed to stay dry. Yay!

Then yesterday afternoon I noticed our tap water was coming in slightly discolored. It got worse the more I ran the water trying to clear it. TK changed the water filter...no help there. Parts of our yard are flooded, including the area around our well. While the well is capped, we suspect the well might have flooded. Which means the well might be contaminated. Which means we can't use the water.

TK's taking the day off today. We're going to try to find a hardware store that still has a pump in stock so we can try to pump out the yard near the well. We're going to call the well service company. We're going to get our water tested.

I started researching on google, and I had to stop. It was as bad as relying on Dr. Google when I have a runny nose. I have no idea how bad this is, but I saw on one of the first hits that it can take MONTHS to get the well back to usable condition. I'm trying not to freak out. As I started out saying, we know pretty much nothing about wells, so I'm not even trying to diagnose this one ourselves. Hopefully we'll get okay news about all this...

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So, I already miss running water. No shower today, have to brush teeth with bottled water, can't drink tap water (my main beverage of choice), can't do dishes, can't run laundry. Still can flush the toilet, though, so I guess that's the one good thing since we technically still do have running water.

You'd think, for one minute, "Oh, can't use the water! What a great chance to learn some really great water conservation techniques." Well, you might think that for a minute while you were desperately searching for the upside.

Here, so far, are all of the horrifying anti-green results of the unusable water:

• had to buy gallons of water to use for things like tooth brushing, drinking, washing, and cooking. Me, buying bottled water! Ugh!
  
• had to buy disposable diapers since I can't do laundry for the cloth diapers (yes, if this is a long term problem, I'll have to find a laundromat. Since I have to do diaper laundry every other day, this will be a HUGE drag).
• bought purell to disinfect hands.
• I suspect we'll be eating out more as it's a pain to cook (not to mention, can't wash dishes with this water). I am making corned beef and cabbage tonight, though. Can't keep this Irish-American gal down! I've got it in the slow cooker with Guinness instead of water :)
  
• I'm going to have to go out and buy disposable plates, cups, and silverware. Ick, I hate paper plates. I hate paper cups. I hate plastic forks. But again with the "can't do dishes", we're quickly going to run out of real plates, cups, and dishes.
• I'm going to have to go back to paper napkins and paper towels, because of the "no laundry" thing.
  

Hopefully, we'll find out today if we can at least boil water to use it. My problem now is that besides the worry of the water being unsafe, it's also very dirty. I mean, I can boil it to kill any germs, but that doesn't get rid of the dirt so I still can't use it. Can I? I certainly can't drink it! But even if we could use boiled water to wash dishes, that would be a huge help. Hopefully we'll be able to get a professional out today to service the well and give us some information about all this. And hopefully, the news will be better than I fear. I tend to overworry about things. Fingers crossed that this is one of those times.

For now, I'm trying to cut myself a break about how eco-unfriendly I'm having to be now, and focusing on making the best choices available given the situation. Time to test out the recycled unbleached paper products!
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Anyone know anything about wells? Anyone ever deal with a contaminated well?

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In the "whoa, irony" department, last week's Change the World Wednesday was about using less water, letting the tap only run a trickle. I'd been trying that out this week, until all this happened. It's amazing how much water you can waste just by letting the tap run full speed! So that was a good, easy tip last week to just run it a trickle. Of course now I'm alternating between running the taps full out trying to get the water to clear and keeping them totally turned off...

This week's challenge is:

This week, make use of returnable/reusable containers at the market. If your store takes back bottles (or any other containers), return them. If bulk shopping is available, reuse the bag/container for your next purchase. If you buy veggies and use the store's produce bags, keep the bags and reuse them on your next trip.

I try not to buy drinks that come in returnable containers as they're normally soda and/or single-serving drinks, so I don't often use the store's bottle return. None of our local grocery stores have a bulk section (an annoyance for another post), so I don't get to use any reusable bulk containers.

Veggies and fruit I've written about before. A lot of times, you don't even need a bag at all. I do carry plastic produce bags in my purse to reuse. I also recently got a couple reusable mesh produce bags, which I think is ultimately the way I'll go. Oddly, though, I'm having trouble remembering to bring them with me. I have to get a workable plan in place. I don't know how I can remember my reusable grocery bags and forget the produce bags, but somehow I manage!

I've finally discovered my superpower

I was with the kids, brushing teeth before bedtime. N-man once again cracked me up with his random randomness. I love how his mind works! Here's the conversation we had:

N-man, out of nowhere and completely unrelated to anything we'd been talking about: Mommy, you've got MAGIC in you!

Me: Oh boy! Thanks! What kind of magic?

N-man: Silliness!

Very astute, my fine fellow!

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Green tip for the day: Rhonda had left a comment the other day on my post about shampoo asking about conditioner. I don't use much conditioner, but have been experimenting with using diluted apple cider vinegar as a conditioner. It works surprisingly well...my hair ends up really soft. I'm not a big fan of the smell, though. The smell does rinse out...I don't smell it all day. The jury's still out for me on the vinegar-as-conditioner thing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for environmentally-friendly conditioner?

Antibiotics rule! Antibacterials don't.

N-man and B-man came down with strep throat this week, and scarlet fever.

No surprise, a few days later, I was at the doctor. Strep throat for me too. Wow, that hurts!

Anyway, we're all on antibiotics. The boys are much, much better, and I'm well on my way. How awesome are antibiotics? You hear "scarlet fever" and think of some wicked terrible disease. Turns out it's quite easily treatable and no big deal as long as you get on antibiotics. Who knew?

This got me thinking about one of my pet peeves: the overuse of antibacterial products. I think people are starting to understand why it's dangerous to overuse antibiotics. But what I can't understand is why supermarkets (and to a lesser degree, toy stores) are filled with antibacterial products. Unless someone in the house is immune-compromised, why does anyone need it? Just like with antibiotics, antibacterial products can create resistant strains of bacteria. Here's a good article from the CDC.

It seems to me that companies who sell antibacterial products are really being irresponsible, relying on fear-mongering and misinformation.

Not to mention, triclosan, one of the most commonly used antibacterials, pollutes the water supply and may have potentially dangerous health consequences (check this for more info).

What do you think of things like antibacterial soap or products impregnated with antibacterials? Do you use them in your house? If so, are you aware of the risks? My theory is that most people who buy them think it's a good thing that will protect their family and don't realize they are contributing to the rise of "superbugs", polluting the environment, and potentially contributing to health problems. Now there would be some good truth in advertising: "buy our antibacterial soap! It probably won't help you, but it will screw up the world!"

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Green tip for the day: Unless there's an extremely compelling reason (i.e., an immune compromised family member), just say no to Microban products and cleaners containing antibacterials.

As always, do your own research and/or talk to your doctor if you have any concerns. The internet is filled with nutjobs making wild claims about the dangers of this or that. I tried to include links that contained actual scientific research rather than someone just screaming "antibacterials will kill us alllllllll!" I am not a scientist. However, I do find the research compelling enough that we don't use antibacterial products. Says the person who has a house full of strep throat :)

Hey, who's in charge of updating this thing?

Oh! I guess it's me! Kind of fell down on the job there, didn't I?

Things have been...normal. The sleep deprivation was kicking my butt, and just when I thought I couldn't possibly take it any more, Z-man started sleeping through the night. Sometimes. Five nights so far, out of the last seven. Hey, I'll take it. It was enough to make me feel human again instead of zombie.

We went to New Jersey for my nephew's bar mitzvah. I can hardly believe I have a nephew that old! It was very nice.

Plus, every time we go to New Jersey, it reminds me how much I love Massachusetts. No offense, New Jersey! You just...aren't my cup of tea, let's say. It was nice to get a reminder about how lucky we are to live in the perfect place for us. I hope everyone in New Jersey feels like they live in the perfect place, too.

Our computer died. I'm limping along now on a SLOW mini we got free from the cable company when we signed a 2 year contract. I'm really glad we have it as I don't know what I'd do totally cut off from the internet, but I really miss a grown-up computer.

So that's it. We'll see if I can get posts up more frequently!

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Bonus funny from N-man, that my facebook friends already saw in my status update: Out of nowhere he said the other day, "I have more ideas than my brain has space." I know how you feel, buddy!

And here's a bonus funny from B-man, that my facebook friends haven't seen yet: yesterday B-man called out to me from the bathroom, "Mommy!" I was worried something was wrong, so I hurried it. He held up his hand and said excitedly, "my thumb is shorter than my pinkie!" Okey dokey!

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Green tip for the day: Consider switching to a shampoo bar. Great on so many levels: no plastic container, smaller so it's easier to ship, no weird chemicals get added to the water supply (or your hair). I've been using Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint bar. It's less harsh than regular shampoo so it did take a few weeks for me to step up to using it full-time. I started out switching between regular shampoo and the bar every other day, then every 2 days, then shampoo only once a week. TK and I have both been using the bar full-time since January 1. I think my hair looks much better and healthier as a bonus. Plus, the bar is much cheaper than shampoo in the long run. I paid $5.99 for it, which is a bit more than I'd pay for a bottle of shampoo. But, we got this bar at the end of November, and it's only about half done. I'd have already used 2 bottles of shampoo by now! Store the bar in a closed travel soap dish so that it stays dry and lasts longer.

It was hard for me to find a shampoo bar. I finally located this one at Whole Foods. Let me know if anyone knows of any other stores that carry them! (Of course you can always find them online, too).

Well, I guess if you have a good excuse...

I just reminded N-man he needed to clear his lunch dishes from the table. His response, very upbeat and happy, "Sure Mommy! I just need to save the world first!"

Then he ran away with a dun dun DA sound effect.

I wonder if Superman ever has to clear the table!

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We started baby Z-man on rice cereal this past weekend. Both big boys love to help feed him. Today all four of us needed baths after feeding Z-man! I remember solid foods being messy with the twins, but adding 2 four-year-olds into the mix ups the mess dramatically.

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Green tip for the day: As we're coming up on Valentine's Day, I'm going to go with my own little pet peeve: flowers. Aside from any environmental issues, let me be the first to admit that I've never really understood the desire to celebrate happy occasions by watching something beautiful die. I've always thought flowers were at worst rather depressing and at best a waste of money. But to each their own...I've even bought flowers in the past for people who I know would enjoy them.

In the past few years, though, I've been hearing more and more about the flower industry. They are heavy users of fertilizers and pesticides. They're flown in daily from around the world--not a lot of local flowers available in Boston in February! Basically, they're not very eco-friendly. Coincidentally, there's an article up about flowers on the Green Lifestyle blog today, too, so pop on over for more in depth info. I guess I'm not the only one with Valentine's Day on the brain!

But what if you really want flowers? Here are some alternate suggestions:

• Get a potted plant, preferably locally-grown. At least a potted plant will live and be enjoyed for a long time, instead of just a week or so for cut flowers.
• Give a gift certificate to a local nursery to buy flowers to plant in the garden come spring.
• Build or buy a window box to fill with flowers in the spring.
• Give a kitchen garden of pots of favorite herbs.
• Give flower or vegetable seeds.
• Give a framed photograph of flowers.
• Turn pages of magazines, tissue paper, or other scrap paper into paper flowers. There are tons of instructions available online, and it would be a fun activity to do with kids.
  
• Some CSAs offer flower shares, where you can pick flowers all summer long at a farm. Investigate to see if you can find one nearby. (Note: I don't know of any locally that you can purchase without being a member of the regular CSA. But it never hurts to ask!)
• If you absolutely feel like Valentine's Day can't possibly be complete without cut flowers, look around for some eco-friendly flower options. You can find organic flowers, fair-trade flowers, and/or VeriFlora certified flowers.

And before I get labeled the grinch who stole Valentine's day, let me leave you with a really funny quote from the 30 Rock season 4 green week episode. If you don't watch 30 Rock, well, let me assure you it's hilarious. And here's just a little taste of why:

Jack: I love the earth. I have these blossoms flown in every morning from Sri Lanka on a private jet. That's the definition of green. And yet they force us to do more... more sacrifices. Why? For the children. What have children ever done for us?
Kenneth: Well, they make our shoes and wallets.

Stove/oven/microwave-free food prep

This week's Change the World Wednesday challenge over at Reduce Footprints was spurred by a green tip from my blog! Pretty neat, huh? Thanks, Small Footprints! Anyway, the challenge this week was:

This week, "plan an oven- and stove-free day, and no cheating and going out to eat! Have sandwiches, cut up fruit, veggies with dip, leftovers from a previous dinner that you can heat in the microwave**. Plan ahead and make a pasta salad you can eat cold for a few days. Have hummus, feta cheese, and spinach on a pita or wrap. There are tons of healthy, delicious meals you can have without having to turn on the stove! As an added plus, many of the meals are quick and easy to prepare!"

**I'd like to bump up What A Card's challenge ... how about including microwave-free, as well.

I thought I'd give some quick background on where this challenge came from. A few months ago, I filled out an online survey on National Grid's site about electricity usage. After you're done, it comes back with a ton of suggestions for conserving energy. Many were fairly obvious, and things I already do, like using a programmable thermostat. Some things were "we can't afford to do that" or "we're saving money to do that" items. But some were things I never thought of. Two of the recommendations were: "Cut weekly oven use in half by baking multiple dishes at the same time: potential savings per year of 292 lbs of CO2" and "Use the microwave instead of the oven: potential savings per year of 1752 lbs of CO2".

I cook a lot. I'm a stay at home mom, and I cook with my kids. Sometimes I'll make three hot meals a day. For dinner, I often have the oven *and* stove going. I love to cook, and I'm still going to do it, but this has made me more aware of my electricity usage related to food. I've been making an effort to reduce my oven and stove usage when possible. For example, I've found that instead of grilled cheese on the stove (which probably takes about 10 minutes), I can make open-faced toasted cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven (about 1 minute). So, this not only saves electricity, it also saves time, not to mention is healthier since it's not cooked in butter. I know that's not a no-electricity meal, but I've been looking for opportunities like this to reduce electricity usage.

So, here are some ideas I've had of meals to prepare without electricity:

Breakfast
Cereal
Fresh fruit
Granola bars
Yogurt
Baked goods that you cook the night before while you're already using the oven for dinner. For example, muffins, sweet breads, scones, etc.

Lunch
Sandwiches
Wraps
Fresh fruit
Raw veggies and dip
Salad
Cold pasta salad
Cole slaw
Cheese and crackers

Dinner
Same stuff as lunch

Here's what I made for dinner:



There's baba ganoush, ful medammes, and pita bread that we got at the farmers' market from Samira's Homemade. (As an aside for any locals reading this, that baba ganoush was the best packaged baba ganoush I've ever had!). I made a garbanzo bean salad on the side: 1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed, a handful of diced tomatoes, juice and zest from half a lemon, and salt to taste (I used Borsari seasoned salt). It's best to let it marinate in the fridge overnight. We also had a simple salad of things we picked up at the farmers' market: spinach, arugula, grape tomatoes, with a few croutons and my favorite dressing, Cindy's Kitchen Wild Maine Blueberry. It was all delightful!

So what do you think, do you have any other meal ideas that don't require cooking?

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Green tip for the day: I'll leave you with another weird one from the National Grid recommendations: substitute buffalo for beef once per month for a potential yearly savings of 91 lbs of CO2. We don't eat much beef, and what we do eat I can source locally. I don't believe there's any local (to Massachusetts) buffalo, so I kind of wonder if the transportation would offset any CO2 reduction. But, I thought this was an interesting one, and I've heard buffalo is healthier than beef anyway, so I'll probably try swapping it from time to time.

Oh, and I guess a second tip is to check out the website for your electric or gas provider and see if they offer any energy-reduction tips. I found these pretty useful!

New England, You're My Home

Jules, one of my co-writers at How Does Your Garden Grow recently turned me on to a blog that gathers together New England bloggers. All my fellow New England bloggers, you might want to check out the new button on my sidebar!

Anyway, today they're celebrating their 1 year anniversary (can you say "late to the party"? Oh well, I'm only a year late), and people are blogging about why New England is special to them.

I'm a transplant to the area. I grew up in Buffalo, a lovely place, but after college, I wanted to get out an explore a little. TK, my then boyfriend, now husband, was accepted to grad school in Georgia, so we decided to move to Atlanta. Georgia is also a lovely place, but after a year or so, it was clear that neither of us wanted to spend our lives there. I desperately missed winter; I complained bitterly about the unreasonable heat. I didn't find Atlanta to be pretty. The architecture was heavy on the 70's concrete and 90's McMansions, nothing like the surprising beauty of Buffalo architecture. There was no beautiful fall season where all the leaves were riotously colorful. Don't get me wrong--we lived there for 5 years, and enjoyed a lot of things about the area. But when TK graduated, I especially knew I wanted to move elsewhere. And I campaigned for the East Coast, DC or further north, where we could have some winter, and be closer to our families. Luckily, his favorite job offer was from a company in the Boston area. So in 2001, we were Boston-bound.

Pretty much as soon as we got here, I knew we were home. It just felt...right. We've got Boston, a great city, near enough to visit when we feel the need to explore an urban center. There are four BEAUTIFUL seasons: winter! Snow, snow, snow! Is there anything more beautiful than the clean white coating on the ground after a storm? And the trees when they're covered in snow! The cold air that feels so lovely to breathe...really wakes you up! I missed winter so much in Atlanta. Sure, by February or March I'm ready for spring--who isn't? But I'll never willingly give up winter again. Spring and summer are also beautiful here. We usually have a couple of days here and there of "too hot", but most days are temperate and comfortable. I don't have to hide inside all summer like I did in Atlanta! And autumn...what is there to say? Everyone knows there's nowhere more beautiful for fall leaves. Absolutely breathtaking!

And the Bah-ston accent--wicked hilarious! It makes me smile every time I hear it. Though I probably shouldn't talk about accents. I don't know what's wrong with my voice, but I've spent my whole life, including growing up in Buffalo, being asked where my accent was from. Just the other day someone asked me if I was from Wisconsin!

Ice cream stands all over the place--you've got to trust an area with a zillion ice cream stands. Believe me, I've lived in in other places, and you just don't have quite the plethora of ice cream choices.

Tons of museums, historical sites, parks: the greater Boston area is a fun place to explore, both for kids and adults. Beautiful beaches, touristy towns like Salem and Rockport that are so fun.

We've been here almost 9 years. A few months ago, we moved out to the boonies. We're kind of on the border now between the Boston 'burbs and Central Mass (or at least a lot closer to central Mass than we were before!) It's a whole new area for us to explore, and has more of that "small New England town" feel to the area. We still love the area--it's definitely home for us!

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I should also add, as I'm getting some new New England area visitors, that I write for a group blog focused on all the wonderful local food choices in New England. It's primarily a recipe site, so head on over to How Does Your Garden Grow if you're looking for some yummy in season recipes. We're always looking for new writers, so if you live in New England, have a passion for eating locally produced and grown foods and are interested in adding to the site, leave me a comment!

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I'm also editing to add a related green tip for the day: consider a local vacation next time you're looking to get away. Even better, consider a staycation as that will save even more gas and you won't have the need to stay in a hotel. No matter where you live, or how long you've lived there, I'm sure there are new places to discover and old favorites to revisit within an hour or two of your home!

Bejeweled Bl-addiction

I play a fair amount of Bejeweled Blitz on facebook. I'm not that good, but with 1 minute games and two kids who like to watch me play, I'd say I get in 5 or 10 games most days.

Well, they're coming out with new features, and I'm finding it SUPER addicting. I mean, I'll play the entire 30 minutes I'm feeding Zach! I'm still not very good, but I've been playing so much, I "see" games in my head as I'm trying to fall asleep.

TK and I had just turned out the lights last night, and I said to him, "Oh no! I just made a mistake on the bejeweled blitz game I'm playing in my head!"

He burst out laughing. He's color-blind, and therefore really can't play Bejeweled Blitz so he doesn't understand the addiction. The only thing I could think to compare it to was tetris. Back in the day, he'd play tetris endlessly so I reminded him how you'd see boards of that in your head after you'd played for a while.

His response, "Yeah, I know what you mean. But I never make mistakes in the boards I play in my head!"

So what's your vote? Is it weird that even in my head, I'm not a great bejeweled blitz player? Or are you still hung up on how weird it is that I'm playing bejeweled in my head as I try to fall asleep?

Fess up...are you a bejeweled blitz fan?

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Green tip for the day:

Use the backs of envelopes you receive to write your shopping lists, or whatever else you need scratch paper for. I've tried to minimize our junk mail and change as many bills as possible to paperless, but it still seems like we get at least one envelope a day. Rather than just recycling them, I figure I can get one more use as a shopping list, or a list of meal ideas for the week, or just as drawing paper for the kids.

SOLE food

This week I'm participating once again in Reduce Footprints' Change the World Wednesday. The challenge this past week was:

This week, for seven whole days, read food labels and refuse to buy anything containing the following:

• Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils
• High fructose corn syrup
• Artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives
• Bleached or bromated flour
• Any ingredients that you aren't familiar with and/or can't pronounce

Following "food rules" has become somewhat trendy, thanks largely to Michael Pollan in my opinion. I'm still a fan of his "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." advice. The Change the World Wednesday challenge rules this week really fall under the "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" umbrella, which I've been trying to do anyway as it just seems like a logical way to eat.

Anyway, this week's challenge is one I think is really important. Thanks, if we're being perfectly honest here, to my son's food allergies, I've become an avid label reader. (Yay, food allergies! See, it's not all bad. In my experience, people with food allergies in the family tend to eat more deliberately, and often healthier. I know our transition to a healthier diet was spurred in a large part by B-man's allergies!)

I think everyone should spend at least a week reading food labels. It can be an eye opening experience! Find out what those weird ingredients are, what they're made of, how they're manufactured.

While I love this week's challenge, I think those rules are covered by trying to eat SOLE food, which has been my aim. SOLE stands for Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical. No, there's no way to eat a 100% SOLE diet, or at least, no way for ME to do it. I'm sure someone could! But I'm all about the babysteps, so I try to hit at least one of those 4 points as often as I can. If you eat SOLE food, you're pretty much guaranteed to be following the rules of this week's challenge.

So what do those things mean? Here's some brief points:

Sustainable: food that is grown in a sustainable manner. For example, not a monoculture that saps the soil, not reliant on chemical fertilizers. Basically, farmed and produced in a manner that isn't actively destroying the planet. This is harder than you'd think.

Organic: The most well-known and defined of all the points, so I'm not going into much detail. However, I will say it's the least important to me. Many small farms can't afford organic certification. Both CSA's I've belonged to grow food organically but do not have organic certification. I'm also not completely opposed to IPM practices and buy quite a bit of locally grown IPM produce in the summer.

Local: Again, pretty well-known, and certainly well-discussed here and on the local New England blog I write for. I love there to be a relationship between me and a farmer; to actually see where my food is being produced. And even when that's not possible, a local food choice saves food-miles--the distance food is shipped. Eating locally also means eating in season, and let's be honest: in season food just tastes better. So really, that's no hardship. But, I'll never be a full-time locavore. I like coffee, and lemons, and chocolate. Bananas and avocado. Unless we move to Florida or Southern California, which we won't, I'm never going to be 100% local.

Ethical: This is what I actually think is the most important point, and at least for me, the most overlooked. How is our food produced? Are the workers subjected to dangerous conditions in slaughterhouses? Are they paid a living wage? Are the farmers applying excessive fertilizer that is running off into the ocean? Are the animals being treated humanely (even if you're not a big animal-rights activist, it's hard to ignore this after having seen Food, Inc.)? Do the fishing practices destroy the ocean floor? Are the rain forests being destroyed to clear land for the product you're buying? These are just a few of the ethical considerations raised. By trying to adhere to the S, O, and L, you eliminate many of these issues, but certainly not all.

Anyway, I don't have any answers. Just things I've been thinking about. And don't think for one second I'm claiming to be perfect, or passing judgment on those who can't or don't eat this way. I don't want to be hypocritical, but I've had to stop using my inability to commit 100% as an excuse. No, I'm not prepared, either time-wise or money-wise or food-choice-wise to eat a totally SOLE diet. However, this is another one of my small steps. Even one SOLE ingredient a meal is a good start. And I've found that as I become more cognizant of these issues, and try new types of food and new sources of food, it becomes easier and easier. My cupboards and refrigerator become stocked with better choices, and my repertoire of meals expands to include many in season, local choices.

Thank, Small Footprints, for another interesting, thought-provoking challenge!

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Green tip for the day: plan an oven- and stove-free day, and no cheating and going out to eat! Have sandwiches, cut up fruit, veggies with dip, leftovers from a previous dinner that you can heat in the microwave. Plan ahead and make a pasta salad you can eat cold for a few days. Have hummus, feta cheese, and spinach on a pita or wrap. There are tons of healthy, delicious meals you can have without having to turn on the stove! As an added plus, many of the meals are quick and easy to prepare! Have an idea for an energy-saving, no-stove/oven meal? Leave a comment!