Oooh Baby Green Living, Recipes and Parenting Ideas

Dirty Shopping Malls and Carts

2011-11-20T12:02:00.000-06:00

I don't do Black Friday. Dirty shopping malls and carts are just not my thing especially when there's a nasty stomach bug going around; a good friend is puking and pooping clear water as I type. But I also don't like to get up at daylight and rush out the door only to dodge elbows of crazed shoppers trying to get at that (probably one or two at the most in stock) "teaser" product before somebody else does.

The crowds suck but the main reason I do my dead level best to avoid shopping malls during cold and flu season is to avoid becoming infected with every virus making its rounds. When it comes to malls and shopping centers; if you build them and throw out a few hot products tagged with super cheap prices they will come. And by "they" I mean staph infections, flu viruses and lots of other really nasty germs left all over the place and NO Virginia, not just the unflushed toilets in the restrooms. Those little buggers are everywhere.

What is the most germy, nasty spot in the public bathroom? Well, you may be surprised to learn it's not the commode; experts say it's the sink!

When you think about it it makes sense. What do people touch right after they go to the toilet or change the baby's diaper? Those germy hands touch the faucets that probably get washed once a day at best leaving some of the worst strains of bacteria to grow. The sinks and faucets are both damp and dirty which translate into spa-like conditions for a germ where they can thrive unhindered and be spread to each and every unsuspecting visitor.

And if you were counting on germicidal soaps to save you, you should be aware that a large percentage of handwashing soap from the dispensers that they tested contained high levels of bacteria! WTH!

It's still your best bet to scrub your hands after using the bathroom for the time it takes you to sing "Happy Birthday". However, in light of these discoveries, you might consider packing a travel size of your own brand of eco-friendly, chemical-free hand soap in your purse or diaper bag so that you don't carry the germs from the dirty shopping malls and carts home with you.

5 Uses for Breast Milk (Beyond Feeding Babies)

2011-11-16T12:48:00.000-06:00

For those of you who produce enough breast milk to spare, here are 5 Uses for Breast Milk beyond feeding babies that are being tossed about on the web which, of course, means that the information may or may not be accurate and I am to be held harmless if you try one of the ideas out only to find that it doesn't work.

People are saying that you can use breast milk to:

1. smooth your skin? Word is that a generous squirt or two of liquid gold (what we call breast milk around my house) will moisturize and eliminate ashy-ness leaving your skin smooth as silk. This seems like a huge waste of good milk to me, but if you find yourself without lotion on a day when you need it; it's worth a shot.

2. Heal minor scrapes, cuts and scratches. I've heard that cosmetic or medical grade sugar over a wound will help it to heal and I suppose there could be sugar or some natural antibiotic in the chemical composition of breast milk that works in a similar manner.

3. Control acne. Perhaps the same components that helps to heal minor wounds work on the inflammation of acne. It would feel weird to wash your face in milk of any kind, but I actually like the idea better than bathing my monthly breakouts in chemicals, don't you?

4. Calm conjunctivitis. Talk about unusual cures for pink eye! It's been written that a few drops will fix those red eyes right up after a sleepless night. I have to wonder if a mom up all night with a fussy baby accidentally splashes some in her eye to figure this one out.

5. Take the place of milk in some recipes. The substitution would most likely work best in dessert recipes since everyone I've ever known who sampled their baby's dinner said it tastes sweet.

I love the idea of
recycling baby stuff, household items and conservation of all resources so not wasting precious breast milk is right in my wheel house, but I'm not sure I've read anything that I want to try at the moment, have you?
If you have a tip that you would like to add to my list of 5 uses for breast milk or if you've tried one of the above suggestions, please feel free to tell us all about it using the comments section.

Recycling Crafts with Baby Food Jars

2011-10-30T11:54:00.003-05:00

Here's my list of 5 of the BEST recycling crafts with baby food jars EVER. After collecting hundreds (thousands?) of glass jars over the last few years, recycling them has become a personal challenge. There are lots of blogs that have posted ideas but some of them are super and some not so much. That's why I've started a top 10 list (ok, I've got 5 so far)!

My husband was always laughing and calling me a "hoarder" and the "jar lady" but he stopped laughing when he saw how much money we saved by decorating the jars and giving them as
baby shower gifts. My focus is primarily on the environmental benefits of keeping the empty jars out of the landfill but cheap gifts are pretty cool, too.

Now, here's my list that has many creative uses for baby food jars and where to go to find the instructions and tutorials.

Number One - Decorating the Empty Jars to Give as Gifts
Here's one that I've used over and over again. Don't let the jars decorated for Halloween throw you, just substitute ribbons in the baby's nursery colors. But they also make cool Halloween baby shower or party favors. I suppose that's why I keep going back to this project; it's versatile.

Number Two - Making Party Lanterns Out of Empty Glass Baby Food Jars
But speaking of parties, Here are some instructions for how to transform those empty jars into lanterns! Imagine strings of these twinkling lanterns at your next backyard barbecue or pool party. Sock some citronella candles in there for bug control and you're all set!

Number Three - Etching the Glass Jars
If you run out of parties and showers to decorate and make gifts for, go here to see how this crafty blog used a glass etching technique to transform the jars into spice containers!

Number Four - Make a Chandelier with Baby Food Jar Globes
Another of my favorites (that I have yet to get around to actually making) is this chandelier decorated with globes that are actually; you guessed it, baby food jars! I can just imagine my husband's eyeballs rolling in his head if I asked him to help me with this one.

Number Five - Make Magnificent Christmas Window Decorations
Being a mom who is never afraid to let her freak flag fly, I made a Christmas tree out of baby food jars to display in our window. I have plans to make either another tree so that I'll have a matching set or stars for the upstairs windows. Here
are the instructions for the tree that helped me use up all the jars that so many of my neighbors and friends left on my steps when you thought I wasn't home.

This one didn't make my list but it's cool all the same.

And last of all of the crafts with baby food jars is this one a space-age looking chair made with LOTS of jars. Not very practical, but cool looking and you use up lots of your stash!

Please feel free to add your own favorites to my list of the
5 BEST Recycling Crafts with Baby Food Jars. Now, let the
baby food jar recycling begin and don't forget to come back and share your pictures!

Cloth Diapering a Newborn

2011-08-18T10:31:00.020-05:00

We were all cloth diaper newbies at one time or another although cloth diapering a newborn comes as natural to me these days as brushing my teeth; I've been at it that often and that long. Sigh...many loads of laundry have passed since I took a crash course in cloth diapering 101. In fact, when I had my first baby I had quite a few boxes of disposables in my stash since I was still working full time and had read that using cloth diapers were not going to solve the planet's environmental problems.

Yes, I was all ready to wrap my baby girl's bottom in a disposable diaper until her sensitive skin that was already broken out in (what we believed to be at the time) eczema added diaper rash to the mix. At my wit's end, research convinced me that it would be wiser (and CHEAPER) to diaper with organic cotton.

QUESTIONS ABOUT CLOTH DIAPERING A NEWBORN
As a cloth diapering newbie, I had SO MANY questions about cloth diapers. Here's the short list stuff I wanted and needed to know:

What kind of cloth diaper should I buy?
What was the best brand of diaper
Where could I find deals on cloth diapers to ease the initial investment
How do you wash baby poop out of cloth diapers? Would I have to swish them in the (GAG) toilet bowl?
What kind of detergent is best to use when washing cloth diapers?

And I'm sure there were many, many more including a real dumb one; How do you secure the diaper on the baby? Do you still use those old-fashioned safety pins?

Yes, I was perhaps worse than a cloth diapering newbie; I was a cloth diapering IDIOT! You may be curious as to why I knew absolutely nothing about cloth diapering a newbown but you see, I never held a baby until I held my own. There were no babies in my family when I was a kid. The only babies I saw getting their diapers changed were on TV and the cameras tend to not do closeups of the business end of a diaper change so my early education in Cloth Diapering 101 was sketchy at best.

As you might imagine, making the jump from using disposable diapers to a full-on campaign of diapering with cloth was kind of scary. And then came the opinionated in-laws to throw a guilt trip on me.

Their rants covered everything from "Do you know how much all those cloth diapers are going to cost?" and "Who's going to wash all those diapers?" to "Are you turning into some kind of a fanatic?".

Their generation apparently believes that disposables are the best invention since sliced bread but what do they know? They are the geniuses that over-dosed us all on antibiotics which is most likely the reason my husband and daughter have MRSA!

So that YOU will not have to go through the torment that I did, I'm going to post a complete series of instructions to show you how to cloth diaper a newborn and share the answers to all of the questions that I had in very beginning. I was thinking of calling the series Cloth Diapering for Dummies but that's kind of insulting. My moms are NOT dummies so I'm calling it Claire's Cloth Diapering a Newborn 101 so stay tuned!

Water Saving Landscaping Ideas

2011-08-17T17:13:00.004-05:00

Water is for humans, not the yard especially during droughts! However, by using some of the water saving landscaping ideas on this page you may not have every blade of grass turn brown or lose all of your plants every summer.

One of the best ways to not be tempted to waste water watering your yard and plants in the landscape is to plant drought resistant plants. Learn more aabout xeriscaping, mulch all landscaped beds and plant native species.

To give you an idea of how much of our precious water supply is wasted outdoors; reports estimate that in the United States over half of residential water used is used to maintain landscape and lawns. That's pretty sad for a country that I believe to be one of the greatest on the planet!

One of the ways that we can make that number (and citizens of North America) look better is to religiously engage in xeriscaping. This practice can reduce use of water to maintain landscaping by as much as 50 to 75%.

What is Xeriscaping?

Xeriscaping is the name give to a style of landscaping specifically designed to save water. These methods are nothing new. In fact they have been used for centuries to grow food in areas prone to drought conditions. It finally dawned on some landscape designer that xeriscaping might be something of interest to the modern homeowner.

The benefits are many! Xeriscaping:

saves water
saves money
is low-maintenance

The drawbacks are truly not worthy of consideration but I will give you the main objections of those who hold back. Xeriscaping:

often involves (what some perceive to be) less attractive plants

There you have it; the only negative is that native plants are not as exciting as plant species that were never meant to be in drought stricken areas to begin with. People should not be planting ferns where cactus grow naturally; get it?

If you landscaped your lawn long before you heard of Xeriscaping, chances are that your bushes and plants are established and no longer require as much watering as they once did. Rather than dig everything up and start over, the next best thing is to mulch like your life depended on it! Don't laugh! Our lives DO depend on having enough fresh water to drink.

If you have any profound water saving landscaping ideas that you would like to share with readers of my green living blog, please drop them in the comments section! We would also appreciate tips on where we might see pictures of areas landscaped using native or drought resistant plants so post the address if you know of any that we should see!
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The Conservation of Water

2011-08-11T13:31:00.008-05:00

The subject of the importance of the conservation of water came up recently at a new parents meeting. I wasn’t prepared to field questions about how to conserve water since the meeting was about easy steps for having a green home and a chemical free, organic baby nursery.

But since we are smack dab in the middle of one of the hottest summers on records, with a record number of states suffering through either a full on drought or drought-like conditions I decided that there would be no harm in venturing slightly away from my notes (that had tips on reducing chemical exposure in the family home) to focus on current events. I’m posting some of the FAQs and tips I offered to the audience below.

What is conservation of water?
Water conservation is nothing more than saving water. There are many, may ways of doing so on both a large and small scale. Each and every person can do some small part from not wasting water by leaving the faucet running while you are brushing your teeth to the CEO of major corporations searching for ways to manufacture products with less water.

Why is it important that we conserve water? We have plenty! After all the earth is literally covered in ocean water.
Yeah, we have plenty of salt water, which should be great news for you if you are a fish. What we don’t have enough of is unpolluted, fresh water suitable for drinking by humans and we especially have very limited water resources during record heat waves.

Here are 5 easy ways to save water at home.

1. Dish washing techniques with the conservation of water in mind.

If you have a dishwasher fire it up and use it! The automatic dishwasher uses less water than washing dishes by hand. To be sure that you don’t counteract your savings, don’t use the extended, pot scrubber cycle unless it is necessary and do not pre-rinse.
If you hand wash, do NOT rinse the soap off each dish. As you wash, load each dish in a wire, in sink rack and use your sprayer or a pitcher of water to rinse them all at one time.

2. During a heat wave, it’s inadvisable to wash your car at all. Wash the windshield if you must, but let washing the body of the car wait until the water shortage is over. Even then, it’s best to use an automatic car wash over washing with a hose in your driveway. If you prefer the old-school method, install a sprayer on the end of your water hose that will shut off the flow of water when you don’t need it.

3. Getting clean without wasting water is so easy, just take shorter showers or keep the water level in your bathtub low. Showers feel so darn good it’s easy to fall into a habit of enjoying the spray for much longer than we should. To be sure you don’t stay too long in the stall, set an egg timer and step out when it dings. If you want to be really fancy, buy a special timer that sticks to the wall of your shower.
To give you an idea of how shaving those minutes off the length of your shower time pays off; consider that anywhere from 20-40 gallons of fresh water goes down the drain every 5 minutes. OUCH! When I think of how much water I’ve wasted, I feel so ashamed!

4. Water is for humanity not your yard.

I, personally, have a problem with people who water their yards any time much less when the conservation of water is so important. What’s more important, that we have water to drink or that they have a lawn like a golf course (chemicals and all but that’s another article).

5. Cover your swimming pool when you aren’t swimming in it!

Who knew that swimming pool cover was good for more than just keeping leaves and your neighbor’s Labrador out of the pool? Your pool cover keeps you from having to add water to your pool that was lost to evaporation. During times of low humidity or windy conditions, pop the pool cover on top.

Most of the tips for saving water in your home are virtually pain free other than the last one; dragging a pool cover around can be aggravating when you’re ready to go swimming. But even if there is no painless path towards the conservation of water, since we can’t live without it, it’s worthwhile to do what we can to be sure that there’s always a drink of water ready and waiting when we open the tap.

Teaching Kids About Green Living

2011-07-09T19:26:00.006-05:00

The first steps in teaching kids about green living and an eco-friendly lifestyle begins by getting them involved in household recycling. Telling children about recycling and actually letting them be active and see the benefits are two completely different things! You can talk till your blue about how vegetable peels and eggshells turn into black gold in the compost pile but when you take the time to walk them through the process from start to finish, chances are that you've just created a recycler for life!

Even a toddler can do a little recycling. It makes them feel like such a big, smart kid to know which bin to put the plastic, glass and/or paper items

Why should we start teaching them these practices early? Because if you raise them to automatically do these few small things, then they never have change they way they live and go through a transitional period. In other words, raise them in the way they should go.

Another important part of teaching kids about green living that can start very early in life is the introduction to proper eating. They may not understand exactly what it means when mommy and daddy say "We only eat organic" but learning not to eat sugary junk until we can teach them to identify the signature organic labels on food we buy from the grocery story is a great start.

There will be plenty of time later to fill them in on the facts of how organic foods are free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. It's my belief that our children deserve to be fed organics and to have a chemical free, green baby nursery and that this will most likely prevent issues down the road such as cancers and immediate problems like rashes and breathing problems.

After you have recycling and diet under control, it's time to talk about pollutants and harmful chemicals and how they much harm they can cause especially to small children and babies. Kids need to know that pesticides are poisons and they don't just harm bugs!

They should also know why we buy and use non-toxic cleaning products, cosmetics and personal care products like shampoos and soaps. It's up to us to be ever mindful of the ingredients that manufacturers sneak into the items that we bring into our homes. Why would these companies want to do this? Well, often it's about money and being more effective than Brand B. Often products that are the most natural, organic and animal cruelty-free cost a penny or two more to manufacture and caustic chemicals take less time to clean the oven. OK? The good news is that you can make many of the most effective natural cleaning products yourself from common baking soda, salt, lemon juice and vinegar!

Those are just a few steps to take in teaching kids about green living, the importance of maintaining a green home and and living an eco-friendly lifestyle. If we start them out early, we will have done our part to launch a new generation with respect for the environment.

HOW to CLEAN the WASHER with VINEGAR

2011-02-15T08:18:00.007-06:00

Guess what, we have to know how to clean the washer and dryer! Soapscum, limescale and lint are the enemy in the laundry area. I'm not ashamed to admit this came as a complete surprise to me. When we got our first home, we got all new appliances. They were so shiny and clean that I happily washed and dried many loads of laundry without ever so much as knocking the dust off the tops.

About a year passed before my husband finally got around to replacing the lightbulb in the laundry room (hey, don't judge him he had been sick!) casting light on lots of lint, dust and dirt that the dim light had camouflaged. The build up that had been taking place right before my eyes was shocking. I was appalled at how dusty, dirty and lint-y my beautiful machines had become. The guilt that I felt was more than you could imagine in light of my children's breathing problems.

After a moment of much-deserved self recrimination I set out to learn how to clean the washer and dryer, FAST! I'm not a lazy housewife (well, actually maybe a little lazy but my kids' asthma keeps me going) but my dusting, mopping and disinfecting routine had completely bypassed the laundry area. Well, that has now changed and I have become a pro at learning how to clean the washing machine drum, filter and all without using chemicals!

How to clean the washing machine with with vinegar:

Some household cleaning tips informed me that I should learn how to clean my washer with bleach but that went against my campaign for using only green household cleaning products. I try to use only non-toxic and environmentally friendly home cleaning solutions. I went in search of a cleaner to use besides household bleach and learned that my old friend, vinegar, would do the trick. Vinegar does a fine job of removing soap scum, limescale and just plain old dirt that floats to the top of the tub and sticks when combined with hot water and doesn't leave a bunch of nasty chemicals floating in the air of my green home. Some people claim that you can learn how to clean the washing machine with baking soda, but I haven't tried that method yet. If you know how to clean your washer with baking soda, please direct me to the instructions so I can give it a try.

1. Adjust the settings for a wash with HOT water. While the tub is filling add about a gallon of vinegar. You may be able to use less and get the job done but I was dealing with a significant amount of build up.

2. I let the washing machine run through the super cycle so that the acidic cleaning solution would have plenty of time to do its work.

•3 After the wash cycle was finished I took a wash cloth and wiped out the inside of the tub just so I could see if my green household cleaner had worked. And other than some crud around the top of the tub, everything looked great!

HOW TO CLEAN THE WASHING MACHINE EXTERIOR

Learning how to clean the washer with vinegar on the inside is just the first step of the cleaning process. I then started at the top and cleaned down the sides, front and back of the washer using one of my homemade cleaning products that I made from a recipe.

HOW TO CLEAN BEHIND THE WASHER and DRYER
Nobody sees it, but it just makes sense to go on and clean behind the washing machine and the dryer while you're at it. If you have a stackable washer and dryer, it's inadvisable to attempt to move it without help but you can use your vacuum cleaner tools to reach behind and beneath the stacked washing machine and dryer to do some good.

If you have the old-fashioned kind (like me), you can move the washer and dryer using casters (available at hardware and discount stores) but do not stretch the hoses attached to the dryer and washing machine too far! If you can't move the appliances far enough without stretching them, disconnect them. This is also a good time to inspect your washing machine hoses for cracks and bulges which indicates they need to be replaced.

While your appliances are out of the way, clean not only the floors but the lint from behind the dryer, the inside of the dryer hose and the dryer vent using your vacuum cleaner tools and brushes that will reach into the cracks. After you have removed as much as you can by brushing and vacuuming, wipe everything down with a clean cloth.

I wish I could tell you that you don't have to do this again for a very long time, but the truth is that the soapscum, lint and gunk with start to accumulate once again with the very next load of laundry that you run. Regular maintenance helps, but I can see that this process will have to be repeated at my house every six months or so.

GREEN NURSERY IDEAS

2011-01-26T07:58:00.012-06:00

These green nursery ideas are affordable and will give even low income families some tips on how to reduce their baby's exposure to toxic chemicals that tend to sneak inside our homes when we aren't looking. If there is one piece of information that I want you to get from this article it’s that when it comes to baby's room, green is always better in all your purchasing decisions.

ARE GREEN NURSERY IDEAS TOO EXPENSIVE?

It's true that some designer brands are playing the eco-friendly card in order to market their brand. However, there are many conscientious manufacturers that are working towards providing the average consumer with baby safe products available at your local discount store. Your responsibility is to refuse to buy items made from questionable materials.

PAINTING THE BABY’S NURSERY GREEN
Just so you know, while I love nurseries that have a green color scheme; what we are talking about here is eliminating dangerous toxins in your baby’s environment by using "Zero VOC" paints that have no volatile organic compounds. If you live in an older home please check to be sure that your baby will not be exposed to lead based paint that was used before this nasty stuff was taken off the market.

THE BEST NURSERY FLOORING

Our home had hardwood flooring when we move the info of course I didn’t replace it. And even though I have fond memories of wall-to-wall carpeting and miss it’s coziness and cushion, we only have small washable area rugs because the flame retardants and petrochemical stain repellents are not something that I would ever want in my house even if my babies didn't suffer from asthma.

SAFE BABY FURNITURE

The only thing that I have against buying cheap baby furniture is that it is often made of pressboard and plywood that may include toxic resins in its construction and cheap nursery furniture made from synthetic materials may compromise the air quality of my baby‘s room by off-gassing. Thankfully, my father is they would work for that builds natural wood furniture from reclaimed wood. For those of you who are not as fortunate I highly recommend giving your local woodworking guild a call to see if there is someone that would be willing to build your furniture to your eco-friendly specifications. I’m also a big fan of looking for stuff to recycle so if you can find good, used solid wood furniture to repaint with baby safe paint, go for it!

SAFE BABY BEDDING

Investing in organic cotton fabric to make your own crib set, buying a set of used organic baby bedding and an organic crib mattress are the best green nursery ideas ever! Your baby will spend most of his or her time snuggled in the crib that you provide and it just makes sense to be sure that there are no questionable chemicals coming from dyes or synthetic fabrics going into your baby’s lungs or being absorbed into your baby’s skin.

SAFE BABY TOYS

I realize that this article is primarily to provide green nursery ideas in terms of painting and decorating but what is a baby’s room without toys? Once I became educated regarding the dangers of BPA plastics, phthalates and other chemicals our kids’ toy box became almost empty. After the scare I decided that I would eliminate plastic toys from our household for awhile and started to make my own baby toys using 0rganic fabrics and my dad came up with some amazing homemade wooden toys that he made from reclaimed wood in his workshop. There are safer plastic toys available now, but if there is one thing that Thomas the tank engine toys , contaminated baby formula and BPA plastics remind us is that we should not let our guard down.

These green nursery ideas should put you on your way to keeping baby safe by improving the air quality in your home and reducing everyone’s exposure to toxic chemicals. Just because the immune systems of adults are stronger than an infant’s doesn‘t mean that chemicals in the home are OK . This is why it is important to check for hidden toxins no matter what the demographics of your home may be.

Our goal should be to ensure that all products that we bring into our home are eco-friendly and have the least amount of chemicals possible.
To achieve these goals we should look for stuff to recycle to reduce household waste, resist the frenzy of consumerism and buy fewer items and ALWAYS watch for organic tags and choose non-toxic products over items that are manufactured using chemicals that we are trying to avoid therefore putting pressure on the companies that want our business to develop more earth friendly merchandise.

USED ERGO BABY CARRIERS

2010-12-28T11:11:00.007-06:00

Where can a mom find used Ergo baby carriers for sale? You can cruise Craigslist or Ebay to see what's available OR you can call 888-416-4888 weekdays between 8am and 4pm Hawaiian Standard Time to see what's currently for sale!
You see, I just learned about about a program where moms can buy gently used ERGO Baby carriers and SURPRISE; you can actually buy them from ERGObaby!

According to my contact at ERGObaby, the used Ergobaby carriers are in good to like-new condition and have been returned to the company for a variety of reasons and here is what I was told:

We always check, check and double-check the used carriers for safety, and never re-sell any carrier that shows signs of REAL wear-and-tear, only those requiring cosmetic alterations will be offered for sale.

Perhaps there is a small tear in the corner of the hood pocket that needs to be mended, a buckle needs to be replaced or maybe the mother-to-be got more than one baby carrier as a gift at her baby shower. At other times the color of the fabric may have faded a bit and the owner requested a replacement.

Your readers can find out more about our constantly changing inventory of Gently Used Ergo Baby carriers by calling us at 888-416-4888 weekdays between 8am and 4pm Hawaiian Standard Time. Our stock consists of all models, including our Organic carriers, Sport and Performance carriers and Standard carriers.

We also make donations of a significant number of baby carriers to local and international charities, to midwives, doulas, lending libraries, and organizations supporting babywearing and breastfeeding.

I was already a huge fan of ERGObaby and have been for years because of the quality of their products. But when I read about how the company is recycling used baby items in such a responsible and effective way they REALLY won me over. The discount prices of the carriers are usually between $75 and $105 and are available in a wide range of colors, Organic, Standard, Sport, and Performance designs. You can get more information by calling the number directly.

Oh, and before I forget; if you hurry and get your entry end before January 25, 2011 you might win a FREE Ergo baby carrier!

101 Things to Do with Used Wrapping Paper

2010-12-20T08:55:00.008-06:00

Help me to build a list of 101 things to do with used wrapping paper. As I was wadding up a pile of tiny scraps it hit me that there had to be something cool that we can do with pieces of colorful, Christmas gift wrap that is over say two square inches or so?

Awhile back I posted that my goal was to tell even the most reluctant consumer about stuff to recycle that won't take much of your time and effort. I admit that I haven't set the woods on fire but (patting myself on the back here) I have managed to post a few worthwhile tips for recycling stuff like our old tennis shoes and toys with links to organizations that accept these donations. And since lots of kids will be getting new athletic shoes and toys for Christmas, this information should help to keep the old ones from being tossed in the trash to be delivered to the local landfill.

Now, back to our list of 101 things to do with used wrapping paper. Most of us know many ways to use recycled Christmas cards in our crafts projects, but when I checked there aren't many tips on how to reuse old wrapping paper.

Have you found some wonderful way to use up a stash of old gift wrap? I really don't care if you recycle your wrapping paper by lining the cat litter box, to entertain the kids or to create paper mache Santa Claus figurines; please send me your ideas. If you hurry your tip will be the very first on my list of creative ways to recycle wrapping paper!

GREEN T-SHIRTS

2010-12-06T12:06:00.005-06:00

Vote for your favorite green t-shirts before tomorrow! If you stopped in looking for a mean, green St. Patrick's Day outfit, these t-shirts may not be your style. However, you are still invited to vote for your favorite to and have your say as to which of the shirts that you would like to see want to see Repower America supporters wear in 2011. They have narrowed the designs down to two choices.

While you are on their website, casting your vote, I would encourage you to sign up whether you are concerned about extreme climate changes, want to reduce your power bill or because you want to save the planet for future generations. It's crucial that all come together as soon as possible because the fossil fuel industry becoming bolder than ever and we must show that we are a united force that is standing strong for what is true and right.

WHAT IS TRUE?

The truth is actually very encouraging since the movement is going forward and already showing results. Electric utility companies and other corporations are reducing their emissions, we see more and more windmills and solar panels popping up from coast to coast and more auto shoppers are checking out the fuel-efficient vehicles over those big, ugly gas guzzlers.

Although momentum is building, there is a need for more supporters in order to get the message across loud and clear that we, the people, will not be denied a future with clean energy moving us forward.

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS

Repower America is rolling out a new, GREEN T-shirt designed exclusively for Repower America members and they need our votes to help pick the best one.

Please visit HERE AND vote for your favorite design by Tuesday at midnight.

And remember the solution for environmental problems is in your hands. NOW GO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE SHIRT!

HOW TO RECYCLE YOUR SHOES

2010-12-04T09:53:00.004-06:00

You really need to learn how to recycle your shoes if you're sitting crosslegged on the bed looking at this blog on your laptop and when you're done you have to kick your old tennis shoes out of the way to get to the kitchen or the bathroom. There are better ways of recycling those old shoes than using them (in their current form) as a lumpy area rug on your bedroom floor.

SHOE RECYCLING PROGRAMS

A remote location is no excuse for harboring a closet full of athletic shoes, dress shoes, baby shoes or any other kind of shoes for that matter since there are recycling programs for shoes all over the planet; I counted 11 in the good old United States on one page and others Peru, the UK and even a couple in Peru and New South Wales..how cool is that? You can read up on each program's mission to see that your old skids will be given a new life according to your wishes.

SHOE DONATION CHARITIES

Organizations like Souls4Souls (www.soles4souls.org/), Up and Running [www.upandrunning.co.uk], Recycled Runners [www.recycledrunners.com.au], or Eco-Cycle [www.ecocycle.org] are all excellent places to donate those shoes...BUT...if you aren't close enough to one of the recycling programs to drop them off on your way to work, don't ship those shoes! To donate your shoes locally a better "green" way to go since your method of delivery may have a smaller carbon footprint since you can walk over to the neighborhood church and give your shoes to their clothes closet. Volunteers at the church will deliver them to needy children who will be tickled to get new (to them) shoes that fit and keep their feet warm and dry.

What did you say? Your church doesn't have such a program to provide clothes and/or shoes to the needy? Well, why don't you hike your butt down there and devise a plan of action to remedy that and have the honor of making the first donation? You not only learn how to recycle your shoes, but teach others the finer points of charity while you're at it!

CHOP SHOPS FOR SHOES

You know how old cars that land in salvage yards get stripped for their usable parts before being shipped to metal recycling facilities? You can now do the same thing with your old shoes since there are parts that can be recycled assuming that they are no longer any good whole, of course.

The rubber of their soles can actually be recycled into a variety of products, the most common being flooring in athletic facilities where concrete and tile floors wreak havoc on athletes. The best known of these programs is the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe program, based in Wilsonville, Oregon. The Nike Reuse a Shoe program takes the donated shoes and grinds them down to recycle the rubber into flooring for indoor basketball courts, running tracks and tennis courts. Here's how to recycle your shoes using Nike's shoe recycling program. Just take as many as 10 pairs of your old athletic shoes to your local Nike store or your local recycling center.

Now that you know how to recycle your shoes, I know that you will want to take things to the next level and maybe start your own group shoe drive. However, I just read that they are currently not accepting any shoe drive applications, but that could change any day so visit the Nike shoe recycling website to get the current status if this is something that you would like to do.

Natural Ways to Keep From Catching a Cold

2010-12-01T17:29:00.003-06:00

You know that antibiotics don't cure colds, right? Well, did you know there are natural ways to keep from catching a cold? It's true that the occasional virus might slip through all safety measures, but it's certainly within our power to reduce the number of times that we are laid low by the common cold. And no I'm not a doctor and if you are sick or need medical advice, you should probably call one. Now, onto my practical tips that (in my humble opinion) have helped me to keep myself and my family from getting sick so often.

HANDWASHING is perhaps the most important and well publicized means of avoiding illnesses of all kinds.

KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM YOUR FACE! My mom is a stickler about not touching our faces (nose, eyes, mouths) with our hands. She says that when she was a kid they actually had a place on their report cards where they were graded on keeping their hands away from their faces! Since this is a favorite way for germs and viruses to enter our bodies, we probably should start teaching this rule to school children again!

DRINK A HOT BEVERAGE! I read where it's a good idea to drink a cup of something like tea as hot as you can stand it at least once a day to clean out the cooties from the back of your throat. It makes sense to me, so my kids all get a cup of hot green tea a day.

GARGLE WITH SALT WATER Another way to keep those germs to the curb that lurk in the back of our throats is to gargle with very warm salt water.

SWAB OUT THOSE NOSTRILS! Soak a Q-tip with salt water and swab out your nostrils once a day.

SKIP THE SUGARY SNACKS AND YES...EVEN JUICE! Sugar is not good for the immune system. Even a glass of orange juice has a negative effect on its germ fighting capabilities. Cold and flu season is especially not a good time to load up on cookies, candy and other bad carbohydrates for this reason.

VITAMINS Eat vitamin packed meals to give your body the weapons it needs to fight its way to good health should one of the nasty viruses break through our line of defense. If you don't get out in the sun, pay special attention that you are getting enough Vitamin D.

Those are my favorite, natural ways to keep from catching a cold. If I skipped any, would you please be so kind as to drop a comment and tell me your favorite ways to avoid catching a cold or flu?

HOW TO MAKE GREEN BEAN BUNDLES

2010-11-25T09:14:00.004-06:00

While the turkey's in the oven I wanted to tell you how to make green bean bundles the quick and EASY way! My husband and kids like this dish so much better than my green bean casserole that has cream of mushroom soup and Durkee's onions on top and say it's the best Christmas and Thanksgiving recipe ever...other than the cakes, pies, candy and other sweets, of course!

INGREDIENTS

2 cans of whole green beans (NOT STORE BRAND! IN MY EXPERIENCE, THE STORE BRAND HAS TOO MANY SHORT BEANS WHICH MAKES THEM VERY DIFFICULT TO BUNDLE)

1 pound of cheap but still good tasting bacon (TOP QUALITY BACON IS TOO THICK AND INFLEXIBLE MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO WRAP THE GREEN BEAN BUNDLES)

1/2 cup of chopped onion (optional)

3/4 cup of your favorite Italian salad dressing

INSTRUCTIONS - HOW TO MAKE GREEN BEAN BUNDLES THE QUICK AND EASY WAY!

Open both cans of beans, drain them, pour them into a bowl and set aside.

Remove the bacon from the package as a solid block. DO NOT SEPARATE THE PIECES YET! Cut the rectangle of bacon slices in half making each slice now about 4 or 5 inches long.

NOW..peel off one slice of bacon and lie it across the cupped, palm of your hand. Pick up a wad of green beans from the bowl (that makes a bundle about 1 1/2 inches across) and lie it across the slice of bacon in the palm of your hand.

Quickly pull one end of the slice of bacon over the top of the beans diagonally tucking the end underneath the green beans and then repeat with the other end of the slice of bacon thus forming the VOILA!!! bundle of green beans. Carefully place the bundle in a shallow, oven safe baking dish about 8X11 inches or thereabouts. You should put them in a dish that's attractive enough to put on the table is preferred since you won't want to be transferring the bundles from one dish to another after they are baked.

After you are done, drizzle the bundles with salad dressing taking care that the beans are seasoned. I like to make this a day ahead so that the beans and bacon marinate in the salad dressing but it is not essential.

Bake the dish of green bean bundles, uncovered, in an oven that has been preheated to 350° F for 10-15 minutes or until you can see things start to bubble a little and then turn on the broiler and broil them 4 or 5 inches from the heat for a couple of minutes or until bacon looks browned. Do NOT walk away from the oven during this step or you may be serving blackened beans and take it from me that nobody's going to buy your story that you were experimenting with the Cajun version.

That's my quick recipe for this dish. If I have time later, I'll write some instructions on how to make green bean bundles using fresh green beans rather than canned beans. If I don't get around to it, please don't sweat it because the only benefit to using fresh beans is that you can trim them in uniform lengths which I have to admit does make a lovely presentation. But when time is of the essence, this recipe works just fine and I have NEVER had anyone complain.

Sweet Potatoes and Peaches

2010-11-24T14:42:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes is a Sweet Potatoes and Peaches casserole that I adapted from a Southern Living recipe that was clipped from the magazine way back in 1979.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons of room temperature butter or oLeo
2 pounds of either softened or canned sweet potatoes (yams) drained
1 16 ounce can of sliced peaches drained
1 1/2 cups of miniature marshmallows

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium-size bowl combine the brown sugar, all-purpose flour and nutmeg. With a pastry cutter cut in your softened margarine or butter until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the pecans and set aside.

In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish arrange the sweet potatoes and peaches in a single layer alternating them in for the best presentation. After the sweet potatoes and peaches are in place, sprinkle them with the flour and sugar mix.

Bake covered with foil or a lid at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until slightly bubbly but do not allow to boil dry. Remove the casserole from the oven and sprinkle the peaches and yams with marshmallows. Return the dish uncovered to broil until the marshmallows are light brown.

This is an easy recipe that even beginner can manage unlike the candied sweet potato recipe and my southern sweet potato pie recipe that I shared earlier.

The biggest drawback to this sweet potato recipe is that I don't keep all of the ingredients on hand all the time especially not the nuts because of my girls' allergies.

So, if I don't plan ahead to buy pecans, marshmallows, brown sugar, and canned peaches and make sure that I add them to my grocery list ahead of time, this casserole just gets skipped. And what a shame that is, because the sweet potato peach casserole really adds a lot to any holiday menu. It looks good and even though old-fashioned, southern recipes that are covered in browned, melted marshmallows are made fun and the butt of many a joke; this sweet potato and peaches recipe is downright delicious!

Candied Sweet Potato Recipe

2010-11-18T13:30:00.005-06:00

This candied sweet potato recipe is one of the best I've ever put in my mouth! Being a southerner from birth and having had the pleasure of eating some of the finest southern recipes and soul food produced by some of the finest southern cooks who ever fired up a stove; I feel that my opinion should stand for something. This is an easy recipe with the most time consuming part of the preparation being the peeling and cutting of the sweet potatoes into thick slices.

MY GRANDMOTHER'S SOUTHERN CANDIED SWEET POTATO RECIPE
one(1) 12 inch cast iron skillet full of peeled sweet potato cut into slices about 1 inch thick (about 3 or 4 medium sweet potatoes should do it)

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of Blackburn syrup, dark Caro syrup or the pancake syrup of your choice
1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Combine the granulated sugar, the syrup and the oil and pour over the sliced sweet potatoes that you have layered in a well seasoned iron skillet. There should be enough liquid to eventually cover the potatoes after they "cook down" a little.

Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid and cook over low to low medium heat until the potatoes are tender. Check from time to time to be sure that the liquid is simmering and not bubbling at a full boil.

I apologize for not having more detailed instructions for this Candied Sweet Potato recipe but that's all I have at the moment. This is an OLD southern recipe that I just transcribed off of a piece of cardboard cereal box that was in my great-grandmother's recipe box...I suppose it would be more accurate to say I got it out of her recipe can since she kept all of her recipes inside an old blue and white lard can. This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes even though my grandmother says that the candied sweet potato recipe was more for an everyday meal than a special holiday recipe like her famous sweet potato pie recipe.

That being said, there are many more old southern recipes to come since I've just skimmed the surface of all the handwritten "receipts" that are in the can. Everyday or not, I plan for candied sweet potatoes to be part of my Thanksgiving menu. After making it myself, I should be able to give better instructions after the holidays which should eliminate some of the guesswork making it more suitable for beginners.

Sweet Potato Rice Pudding

2010-11-13T12:19:00.007-06:00

I prefer to use brown rice in the following sweet potato rice pudding recipe because that's all that I ever cook. However, if I found myself with some white rice leftover for one reason or another I would not hesitate to use it as a substitute even though it's less healthy than brown.

The same goes for using pumpkin rather than sweet potato puree. I'm a big fan of pumpkin bread, but sweet potato puree works better with this recipe PLUS I seem to always have enough homemade sweet potato puree in the refrigerator especially around the holidays. This is one of my favorite healthy holiday dessert recipes because it not only tastes and looks amazing but the cinnamon in it makes the house smell like Christmas! Oh...and it's EASY TO MAKE!

SWEET POTATO RICE PUDDING RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups cooked brown rice (warm is better so nuke your leftovers a second or two)
3 Cups 2% or less evaporated milk (plain 2% milks works but it's not as creamy)
1 Cup of Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Puree
3/4 Cup Honey
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all dry ingredients including salt if nobody at your house is on a low-sodium diet. Stir milk, honey and dry ingredients into the sweet potato or pumpkin puree brown rice mixing well. Bake in an oven set at 375 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from the oven, stir well and then refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving. Stay tuned for more healthy holiday recipes including some traditional favorites with a fresh, new spin!

SAFE DRY CLEANING

2010-11-13T08:42:00.004-06:00

With winter coming on and lots of wool jackets that need attention, finding safe dry cleaning methods for those sweaters and coats should be the goal of every green minded individual. Are home dry cleaning kits the answer? Or would it be just be better to buy clothing and fabrics that are washable using only biodegradable soap and water?

DOES DRY CLEANING CAUSE CANCER?

A few years back there seemed to be an epidemic of cancer among professional women in my town. Everyone pondered on what might have caused all of these ladies of a similar age to be suffering from this disease. While looking for connections and lifestyle or history, the one thing that popped out was that they all frequently wore business suits that of course had to make visits to the neighborhood dry cleaning service. How could they have known that by taking steps to keep their wardrobe looking good that they would be putting their health at risk? Of course, it never was and never will be proven that their cancers were caused by wearing clothes doused in dry cleaning solvents but I'm entitled to my opinion, right?

Shortly after this time, I can remember reading articles that warned people to let their clothes “air” all while before wearing them. The objective was to allow any remaining fumes from the dry cleaning solvent to dissipate to prevent overexposure. The solvent to which I am referring is called perchloroethylene (or perc for short) which has been linked to various health and environmental problems.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS GREEN DRY CLEANING?

How can busy professional people keep their fine fabrics and woolens looking clean and fresh without poisoning the environment as well as their own bodies? The first step would be to buy clothing that would allow you to exclusively use wet cleaning methods that combines biodegradable soap and water or liquid CO2 which is a non-toxic reusable form of carbon dioxide since these are the only methods that are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency as environmentally friendly alternatives to perc.

DRY CLEANING MYTHS

My family lived within a stone's throw of a neighborhood dry cleaning service when I was growing up. Long before safe dry cleaning was an issue, I can remember watching people who I considered to be very lucky to be able to afford to have their clothing professionally dry cleaned leaving with their nicely pressed clothes covered in plastic bags stamped with the dry cleaners logo. I can also remember thinking that the biggest danger from dry cleaning was suffocating from accidentally finding yourself with one of those plastic bags over your head! In fact, the warning was actually printed on the plastic bags if I remember correctly. Strangely enough, I can’t recall there being any warning printed on the plastic bags that that the clothes had been drenched in toxic chemicals. Go figure.

GREEN OVEN CLEANER

2010-11-07T08:08:00.003-06:00

It's only the first of November and already I'm seeing the need for a green oven cleaner recipe! After doing a few test runs of recipes that I want to spring on the family at Thanksgiving, there are a few boil overs already beginning to cake the bottom of my oven. And to be totally honest, there were already some caked on, baked on spots on the wire racks that I hoped nobody would notice.

But with the holidays coming up, there will be people taking a peek at what's cooking and now is the time to clean up my act and make like things are ALWAYS sparkling clean around here even when you and I know the truth.

Starting early on my holiday kitchen cleaning has its advantages; for one thing my homemade green oven cleaner is CHEAP! But it may take a little more time to work than some of the commercial oven cleaning products that you can buy. That may or may not be the case as I have never felt the need to explore other options but your grime may be different (read: more stubborn and hard to remove) than mine.

You can have faith that the recipe I'm about to give you has been tested by the best. It's a genuine bonafide Martha Stewart recipe with two (count them TWO!) common household ingrediants, baking soda and water, and that's what makes it one of the best green household cleaners EVER! It's non-toxic, CHEAP and HECK YEAH...IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM!

THE GREEN OVEN CLEANER RECIPE

All you have to do is measure out about a cup of baking soda and add a couple tablespoons of water at a time until you have a thick, spreadable paste.

CLEANING THE OVEN

Smear it on the inside surfaces of your oven taking care not to get it on the electric coils, the gas jets or to plug vent holes.

To keep the paste from drying out, you might consider covering it with some of those plastic shopping bags that you need to recycle. After you're satisified that all the gunk is covered in your homemade oven cleaning paste, let it sit overnight.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR OVEN RACKS

You can spot treat your metal racks if they only have a few spots here and there. For a full treatment it's best to remove them from the oven. I arrange mine on old sheets on the back patio, cover them in my non-toxic, green oven cleaner and let them sit over night. The next day I go over them with a cloth, hit the hard spots with a scrubby or steel wool and voila!! Sparkling, clean oven racks!

Sometime the next day, you can use an old credit card or a plastic spatula to remove the paste. WHATEVER YOU DO don't forget and stumble in the kitchen the next morning and preheat the oven to make cheese toast or bake biscuits. Take it from me that this is not a good plan and I know of what I speak.

TIP: This green oven cleaner works great but even though it's non-toxic and environmentally friendly...using it is still WORK! Martha Stewart says (and Lord knows she has some great ideas) that after we get it clean that we should line the bottom of the oven with foil to catch future boil overs. You are not supposed to line the oven racks because it will have a negative effect on the oven's heating process, but lining the bottom helps a lot!

If you try this homemade green oven cleaner and come up with any tips that we should know about, please drop a comment to give the rest of us a heads' up!

RECYCLED BABY STUFF

2010-11-03T08:10:00.003-05:00

There are so many recycled items popping up and recycled baby stuff like cardboard baby high chairs and eco-friendly cribs are certainly a step in the right direction. But it's important that in the rush to buy and use more products that are earth friendly we often overlook the less flashy, everyday stuff that we can recycle.

To be sure, it's always wise to do your research on what items are worth the time it takes to recycle them. Some things, in today's environment are just not cost effective no matter how dedicated we are to keeping piles of trash out of our landfills and reducing our footprint.

If you read my last post, you know that large families are under attack. I thought that I would start compiling a list of stuff to recycle associated with raising children so that parents with more than a few babies can do their part to be green and be more environmentally friendly. Some of the baby products on the list are pretty obvious but keep reading because there may be a few items that you haven't thought of recycling.

For instance, have you thought about recycling or do you use:

recycled baby clothes
recycled baby shower invitations, announcements and thank you cards
recycled baby diaper bags
cribs and nursery furniture
baby food jars
cloth baby diapers

It might take a little more effort to load your baby's bed and dresser up and deliver it to the Goodwill Store or anywhere new parents with few resources go to find free baby stuff rather than taking it to the dump. And it might take a few minutes more to rip those frayed cloth diapers into cleaning cloths than it would have to just toss them in the garbage. But when you think of using or passing forward recycled baby stuff as giving our kids the gift of a cleaner less cluttered world, it seems to make the time pass quicker and the work to be lighter.

EMBALMING IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

2010-10-22T16:24:00.003-05:00

People! Listen to me! Embalming is an environmental problem! Nobody wants to think about what happens to our bodies after death. I really get that. But if you really want to get creeped out, think about those harmful chemicals leaching into your water. That's right, dear friends...if you want to gag, read the article "Drinking Grandma and yes, the facts in the article are exactly as disgusting as you might imagine.

I'm on this rant because I went with a friend today to make arrangements for her grandmother today and that poor funeral director probably is praying right now that I won't be at the funeral for fear that I'll get up on my soap box against embalming. He tried to impress me (read: shut me up) by telling me that embalming fluids of today are a big improvement over the old arsenic based embalming fluids that were used until the early 1900s when they were eliminated not only because of harmful health effects (Knoefes & McGee, 2002) but because of their interference in investigations of cases where arsenic poisoning was suspected (Iserson, 1994). We probably overcame all the benefits of that decision by turning to the use of treated wood but that's another issue.

Just to prove that ALL embalming is an environmental problem, studies performed in
New York and Iowa found elevated levels of arsenic in the groundwater "downstream" of late-19th-century cemeteries. These same studies indicated that there were elevated levels of copper, zinc, and lead elements associated with the materials used to make caskets back in the day (Knoefes & McGee, 2002).

Despite these well-documented findings, embalming just to have delayed and open-casket funerals continues to be commonplace in America. The rather poor excuse that the funeral director (that I was browbeating according to my friend) cited for this practice is that in this day of longevity people don't come in contact with death in the same way as in the pre-embalming days when the women of the house were responsible for "laying out" the deceased and people would rather that our dead loved ones be more attractive so that our last memories of them would not be tainted with the harsh realities of death. To that, I say HOGWASH!

If you want to talk harsh realities, talk about embalming fluids in your drinking water and then get back to me on wanting people to look good after they pass on to the great beyond.

WHAT'S IN EMBALMING FLUID
Embalming is an environmental problem because the primary ingredient in most modern embalming fluids is formaldehyde and findings suggest that formaldehyde is harmful to public health and probably not a good thing to be pouring into our environment. Here's some math on how much of this toxic stuff we are dosing the earth with.

The average adult embalming requires roughly 3.5 gallons (Cook, 1999) and estimates from the National Funeral Director's Association are that two million Americans are embalmed each year. Ok, boys and girls that adds up to roughly seven million gallons of formaldehyde being deliberately placed in the soil each year.

Oh, and that's not the end of it; there are at least 42 other federally regulated "dangerous chemicals that are commonly used in embalming and body preparation (Iserson, 1994 all of which end up in the ground or being burned in a crematorium. AND, nobody knows how long it takes for formaldehyde to degrade or what damage it does in the meantime (Cook, 1999).

Now, you tell me if embalming is an environment problem or not.

IS HAVING KIDS SELFISH?

2010-10-18T11:45:00.003-05:00

I'll be the first one to say that it's hard to be selfish with a houseful of kids. But..is having kids selfish when considering the "human impact" of climate change? There are those who think that each family should have no more than one child because having children is an environmental problem.

John Guillebaud of the Optimum Population Trust based in London has indicated that he believes that parents that are having lots of kids are guilty of committing "eco-crimes" and is quoted as saying something to the effect that having one less child far exceeds any benefits gained from repeatedly turning off electric lights and other such energy saving efforts. Apparently each baby that is born is the equivalent of one airline flight after the other criss-crossing the planet. This made me wonder who did this reseach and came up with this rather vague comparison but I got the point.

Even Planned Parenthood appears to be on board and is plastering signs all over the place with the message, "The fewer the merrier."

As for me, I'm in the boat with Al Gore who also has three kids over the recommended number. He's taking a little bit of heat from the press who is accusing him of not practicing what he preaches and sending the message: Do as I say, not as I breed.
In his and Tipper's defense, they had their family long before global warming became an issue. But now that whopping, huge house they had....well, if I ever see him in person I will be asking him about that before I ask him whether or not it is selfish to have children. So, what do you think? Is having kids selfish? Does having more than one child make those of us who talk about living green hypocrites?

IS GREEN PARENTING OBSESSIVE PARENTING

2010-10-13T10:57:00.004-05:00

Is green parenting obsessive parenting in disguise? I hardly think so but there must be a virus of hate going around, because I've gotten some really snarky comments on a few of my posts that I made awhile back that indicated that I was being over protective and was obsessed with my daughter's illnesses and allergies. WTH?

I've heard instances where parents were attacked and criticized about the choices they made regarding breastfeeding in public, vaccinations, green living practices and yeah...even recycling! One has to believe that education is the answer to such biased thinking and ignorance but yet here we are in 2010 and getting bashed for believing the data that proves beyond a doubt that global warming is real, reports that there are islands of garbage floating in the ocean that exceed the size of some states and that the effects of the major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will take decades to overcome.

How anyone can find the time to bash the gay community and harass parents over trying to make a better world for their kids is mind boggling since there are so many bigger issues to get huffy about. Maybe haters are looking for easy targets and the big corporations are out of reach?

For the record:

I have had to wrestle with whether or not to vaccinate my daughters because, autism aside, they have severe egg allergies..so shoot me.

My husband and I co-sleep with our babies. Yes, it's hard to know when and how to stop co-sleeping but I wouldn't trade those nights snuggled with my infants in my arms knowing that they were safe and well for anything.

I breastfed each of my girls as long as I possibly could but there were times when I supplemented with store bought formula when I had to. It hurt at the time, but a mom does what she has to do.

I believe that organic foods are better for all of us and don't like plastic coming in contact with my food but when push came to shove I have been known to pop a frozen dinner in the microwave.

I have used both cloth and disposable diapers. I prefer organic cotton cloth diapering but there have been times when it was just easier to use disposables and I succumbed to temptation.

Do my choices make it sound like I'm an obsessed parent? When is green parenting obsessive parenting? When there is no flexibility and you sacrifice the peace and functionality of the family for the sake of sticking to a cause at all costs. That ain't me.

CARDBOARD BABY HIGH CHAIRS

2010-10-12T09:02:00.004-05:00

I'm really excited about finding and buying a couple of the cardboard baby high chairs I've been reading about! Nope, I'm not trying to sell the things and NOPE again, the cardboard cribs that were all the rage about a year ago didn't strike me as something to get all up in the air about. In fact, (other than they were made from recycled cardboard which is a better option than buying NEW nursery furniture for sure) they left me yawning because HO HUM we co-sleep with our babies.

But now, I can get behind reusable, portable baby high chair big time! I'll tell you a little bit about one that I'm thinking of buying in a minute. First, I want to tell you why a high chair made of cardboard is blowing my hair back much more than a cardboard crib other than the reason I listed earlier...oh, and no this is NOT a review in case the FTC wants to know. I've never used either product and would, in fact, like to hear from any of you who have opinions on the Belkiz Feedaway if you have experience or alternatives if you know of one that is better or cheap.

How many of you have taken your babies out to eat and ask for a high chair only to have a nasty, sticky wooden baby high chair delivered to your table? Not to mention that the safety harness was either missing, damaged or tied in knots? Well, this has happened to me often enough that I'm considering carrying my own high chairs (I have more than one baby) when we go out.

What do you think about this plan? Is it worth it to carry our own cardboard baby high chairs with us when we go out to eat to avoid using those less than clean ones in the restaurant? Or would you just rather stay home, use your own high chair and eat a hot dog because flat pack or not...it's just too much trouble?

I'm all for going green, baby, but there are times when doing without an item completely is preferable to dealing with the hassle if you know what I mean.

ARE GHOSTS REAL or NOT?

2010-10-07T12:29:00.004-05:00

Are ghosts real or not? Spooks and hauntings are a very popular subject in the South where I live. It seems that everybody I know has a favorite ghost story that they love to tell that will literally make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Listening to these ghost stories is particularly horrifying because this isn't one of those ghost hunters on television that's paid to dig up stories; these tales are being told by people that were raised to tell the truth just like you and me not dumb, toothless rednecks that believe they saw Sasquatch the last time they had too much to drink.

CREDIBILITY

When you are sitting on the porch in the gloaming of a crisp fall evening listening to somebody you've know all your life tell a story with their grandmother by their side corroborating the details, let me tell you that it’s easy to accept that ghosts are real...very real! To tell the truth, I have even had two or three experiences that were rather shocking. I can’t say that a spirit was responsible for the inexplicable events. But since the occurrences took place in a house where there had been several suicides and tragic deaths I just had to wonder why had never experienced anything like it anywhere else. These were not willo-the-wisps that I ran up on and if only I had had a camera! No, I was not drinking and I have conscientiously refrained from saying that the house was haunted for fear of being labeled as a kook!

SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS

How do I know that what I saw (and heard) were not natural like will-o'-the-wisps? Because I am very familiar with those spooky little flares of light that will make you want to run and stick your head under the covers even though you are well aware that they are a natural phenomenon. My granddaddy's farm had a swampy area just south of the barn and many nights when we were late milking the cows I had more than a few sightings of will-o-the-wisps on winter nights that were blacker than a city dweller can even imagine.

The nights in this part of the country are so black that you can stand with your eyes open and imagine that what you are feeling is what it’s like to be blind and when you see the flickering lights produced by decaying organic matter bouncing in and out between the cypress trees, you don’t forget what it looks like. Even when you know what they are, when the adult standing there with you says something to the tune of, "There goes the "corpse candles"." Who could blame a little girl for being scared out of her wits; scientific explanations be hanged!

For what it’s worth, they look nothing like bouncing orbs that are said to be lingering spirits that are filmed by ghost hunters on television.

So, I look forward to hearing your opinions...are ghosts real or not? Do you have a good ghost story to tell? I do, but you are going to have to wait until later to hear it. Right now, my girls' lunch takes priority over ghost stories.

GREEN HOME CLEANING SOLUTIONS

2010-10-06T14:15:00.003-05:00

Any list offering tips for green home cleaning solutions should involve more than recipes for green household cleaners. Not that chemical free toilet cleaners are not a step in the right direction but those of you still using paper products should be aware that paper products (paper towels, facial tissues, etc) made up 20.7 % of the municipal waste discarded in 2008. Yep, that year it was reported that there was 6,550,000 tons of paper and paperboard waste.

I got curious as to how much my own home was contributing to this problem so I decided to conduct an experiment (being as experiments are so cool and I needed something to write about in the worst way). What I did was direct hubby and the older girls to throw every facial tissue and paper towel into a special trash bin. They were so enthusiastic about being asked to participate that they actually asked if there was going to be a waste can next to the toilet! I thought about it and had to admit that collecting toilet paper would have given more accurate results but dismissed the thought as a little too gross.

Before the day was out my trash can was overflowing with wet wipes and tissues used to wipe runny noses much less paper towels that I used to clean the glass, kitchen and bathroom surfaces!

Wow, this really made me aware that I needed to bone up on my all around green home cleaning solutions and not just how to clean a toilet without toxic chemicals and this is the plan that I came up with.

toss the mop that has disposable mop heads and shop for one with a washable cover
stop using paper towels and invest in low lint microfiber cleaning cloths
stop using disposable scrub pads and buy scrubbing stones (that would probably be the only thing that will tackle those pesky toilet bowl rings anyway)

The results that I expect to see should come in the way of less money spent on disposables and a much emptier can on trash pickup day.

The unexpected amount of paper that I collected in such a short time was a reminder that even though I've made great strides toward making a green home for my family, there is much work to be done and that going green is an ongoing process.

Recycling Your Kids Halloween Trick or Treat Bag

2010-09-23T13:59:00.002-05:00

I promised you all some unusual stuff to recycle well how about recycling your kids Halloween Trick or Treat Bag? My oldest daughter has a cute stuffed pumpkin that my sister carried from house to house on Halloween when we were kids. My sister's only complaint was that she had to loop back to our house more often than she wanted to empty the pumpkin so she could go out and get more candy. Since my little girl is incapable of carrying large amounts (read: pounds) of candy it works just fine for her. This treat bag has been recycled more years than my dear sister would appreciate me typing in this article.

If your kids are older and capable of carrying as much as 25 pounds of loot at a pop might be interested in the earth friendly, reusable Chicobag that claims it can handle just that amount of candy. Some helpful person did the math and they concluded that that translates into as many as 781 snack sized KitKat Bars.

This green bag company has teamed up with the nonprofit organization, greenhalloween.org,, for its annual trick or treat bag contest.

Children age 13 and under can e-mail their own eco-friendly designs to Halloween "at" chicobag.com before November 5th for a chance to win. The winning design will be featured on next year's carrier's.

For more information on the contest or to buy this year's design please visit the website that inspired me to recommend recycling your kids Halloween trick or treat bag in the first place,chicobag.com. Who know that finding stuff to recycle would extend to finding recycling tips to include one of my favorite times of year, Trick-Or-Treat!

Drugs, Alcohol and Cell Phones

2010-09-14T17:52:00.003-05:00

Who knew we had to actually tell people not to drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol and cell phones? Why should there have to be laws telling people that they can't drive down the highway at 70 plus MPH texting? You would think that common sense would kick in on the nineth or tenth time they hit the soft shoulder, wouldn't you?

You have no idea how difficult it is for me to type without using every four letter word known to man because I just attended the funeral of the second friend that has died with texting as a cause of death. At the visitation someone made mention that he should have known better than to be paying more attention to sending messages than watching the road. Do you want to know what the trophy winning response was? "Well, there is no law against it in our state".

What the HELL!!! Do you really need to be told that you are going to be fined unless you act like you have good sense? Since when do we need Oprah to tell us to turn our car into a no cell phone zone before we put the damn phone down and drive!

Leave it to us to make a device that should be a lifesaver in emergencies into a killer ranked right up there with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

STUFF TO RECYCLE

2010-09-01T15:33:00.003-05:00

I was talking to my neighbor today and she said she never had stuff to recycle. I said, and I quote "WHAT"??? Not wanting to get on the bad side of my next door neighbor, but I bet her a ($100) that I could go through her garbage can and come up with a huge pile of recyclable garbage.

She didn't jump at my offer and whether or not she has a dead body in her dumpster that she needs to hide is between her and the law but it did prompt me to start making a list of stuff to recycle in case she happens by my blog.

EVERYDAY STUFF

Who doesn't get more than enough junk mail? I get stacks upons stacks of the stuff and even though I try to go through the proper channels to get my name taken off of lists. The special papers from local stores and the like still get put under my mulch to block weeds so nothing goes to waste.

Other items that we toss before thinking things through (that I'll bet you were hiding in your garbage can...you know who you are) are blown out flipflops, old VHS video tapes, prescription bottles and styrofoam shipping peanuts.

Here's more stuff on my list to recycle:

JEANS: If they are so threadbare they show my buttocks, I cut squares to use in crafts projects and then recycle the rest.

And there's more! You can recycle everything from your shredded bank statements to your old car tires. Even your old sheets and shower curtains can be given a second shot at usefulness if you are creative, resourceful and will allow somebody to advise you as to how best reduce the amount of household garbage that you throw into the landfills!

Here's a list of stuff to recycle that has 50 items that those who are not up to snuff on green living practices might toss in the garbage.

NATURAL MOSQUITO BITE RELIEF

2010-08-22T09:00:00.004-05:00

I have been experimenting with various remedies looking for natural mosquito bite relief. Where we live, the skeeters are so big we laugh about them. Only they are not funny at all when they bite and leave big, ugly swollen bumps on my little girls.

For those of you just surfing through, my daughter has MRSA and the sight of a red bump on her skin can mean something very serious and be a prediction of misery to come. Actually I'm usually relieved to ascertain that the irritation is just another bug bite rather than an indicator of a serious (and very dangerous) infection even though one can quickly lead to another if we're not careful.

I like to use natural remedies whenever I can so I am trying out this recipe for natural mosquito bite relief and if you haven't already got this tip in your handy little tool kit, here's the easy recipe:

All you have to do is take some oatmeal water and mix with plain yogurt
.

WHAT IS OATMEAL WATER
:
Yeah, I'd never heard this term either but what you do is wrap some oatmeal (plain, not the instant, sweetened kind) in a square of cheesecloth or clean muslin (I used a piece of old cotton sheet) and run cold water through it enough to get it good and soaked. Take the sopping wet package and squeeze the water out over a glass jar (you might use a plastic container, but I'm personally avoiding plastics these days) saving the liquid. Voila...you have oatmeal water.

Put your jar of oatmeal water in the refrigerator to keep it cold and ready to mix up with some yogurt and plaster on your mosquito bites to alleviate itching and inflammation.

This is not only a recipe for natural mosquito bite relief but a good remedy that you can make yourself to soothe sunburns. Natural remedies may not give results as fast, but many times they work just as well and (in my humble opinion) are better than treating mosquito bites by dousing ourselves in alcohol and hydrocortisone creams. PLUS, if your kids happen to lick the bite (hey...can you really say this won't happen?) it's chemical free, non toxic and the worst case scenario is that it doesn't taste good.

Other suggestions that I've read for natural mosquito bite relief are to apply

Slices of lime
Apple cider vinegar
Salt water
A taste of Epsom salts and water
Meat tenderizer

I haven't tried any of these natural mosquito bite treatments and have no idea if they will actually eliminate the swelling and itching or even if they are safe. One of the more outrageous treatments I saw was to cover mosquito bites in PINESOL which may or may not work, but the mere mention of this is virtually guaranteed to give those of us searching for natural remedies the heebie-jeebies!

GREEN ROOFING MATERIALS

2010-08-17T10:37:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know green roofing materials is not usually mom's domain. But when the roof is leaking whoever is available to stop the leak is the man (or woman) for the job around my house.

We had a little bit of a storm that tore our old shingles to the point of no return which made me start research green roofing options. Since our old roof is shot, looks like we will be working on our green home from the roof down rather than from the ground up, so bear with me.

When I questioned our roofing guy about earth friendly roofing materials, his reply was that his company does not plant gardens on roofs of houses and even if he did, our home would not support such a system. Well, ok, there went option number 1.

He went on to ask why would anybody in their right mind consider turning their roof into a lawn.

Well, Mr. Roofer Guy, here are a few reasons that plants should have a place on every available roof whenever possible.

1. Plants can provide insulation for the house. While retaining warmth inside of the house the environment stays cooler.

2. Plants soak up toxins like carbon dioxide and provide oxygen.

3. These green roofing materials effectively reduce noise pollution by creating a muffler or sound barrier.

4. A garden on the roof can provide fresh salads greens, fruits and vegetables. Gardening in the city can't exactly take place in the concrete of the sidewalk, now can it?

5. Plants are a feast for the eyes and a salve for the soul. Yeah, I know this isn't about reducing oil based roofing but you have to wonder if stressed out folks might benefit from a trip to their roof garden after a long day.

My mission to use green roofing materials for my house is not going to be anything fancy or fun that involves gardening. Light colored metal roofing is looking like the best (most affordable) choice for me in my current location.

But you can bet if I ever build another house, my roof is going to be more than just a moisture barrier; I'm going to tackle major environmental issues by gardening in the clouds!

TACKLING MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

2010-08-11T11:15:00.005-05:00

Tackling major environmental issues is beyond most of us and probably best left to the professionals which we should watch like hawks BTW. Jumping into fix oil spills and chemical leaks is certainly beyond the scope of my expertise (and my bank account). But I believe that we can take steps to conquer the areas that are under our control... and a great place to start is our own homes!

What I plan to do is do is post a series of ideas on easy ways to green your home and make it more environmentally friendly AND if you or your kids suffer from allergies (like my girls) I believe that we will see an improvement in those telltale runny noses and red, itchy eyes that tug on our heartstrings.

Just so you know, I'm going to be working right along with you. My plan is to not only provide tips for greening YOUR home but I'm going to be making improvements on mine. The first order of business is going to be the bedroom and then move on to other areas of the house.

Since my baby was born with so many allergies and breathing problems I've made the switch to green cleaning products and pesticides. But after reading how many ounces of dustmites can hide in pillows and bedding (not a major environmental issue but important to me especially when it affects my family's breathing) I have to believe that things need to be taken a step (or three or four) further.

I want to make every room in my home clean and green from the kitchen to the laundry room and everything in between. Forget spring cleaning, winter is when the house is airtight and we have no choice but to get one on one with allergens.

So, we are going to explore greening each room of the home, step by step. We may not be able to afford expensive stuff like installing solar panels but the little things that we do add up. Come back tomorrow (and every day after, pretty please?) to see my daily (if all goes well) tips for greening your home.

I'm not going to tackle the heavy lifting, just give some information on how to make
choices that, if we all participate, will not only have a positive environmental impact but help our kids not suffer from bedding allergies and the like.

As I walk you (and me) through the tips for greening your home I hope that we will learn together how to make decisions that used in conjunction with energy saving and recycling practices will leave a better world for our children.

Remember that our goals are to:

Recycle to limit waste
Save energy
Protect and preserve our natural resources
Avoid exposure to toxic chemicals and pesticides
Reduce allergens (This may or may not have something to do with major environmental issues but it's a personal goal worth exploring with you since so many of you also have babies with extreme allergies)

Blame for the Gulf Coast BP Oil Spill

2010-07-16T11:10:00.008-05:00

We recently visited the coast and was amazed at the many locals' unwillingness to pass blame for the Gulf Coast BP oil spill. I found this very surprising because that's pretty much the focus of the talking heads on the news shows that I've watched. Basically, they have been shouting about who did or didn't do this or that blaming everybody from President Obama right on down to the original contractors who built the well.

Speaking of the Prez, while we were down there I got to get a look at the Presidential motorcade via my review mirror! Out of respect, we pulled over and let them pass while thoughts were flying through my mind like "What would I do if they stopped to talk to me in order to get opinions from visitors to the area", etc. I would have loved to have been able to tell my grandchildren that I had the honor of speaking to the President of the United States, but there you go...it didn't happen.

Getting back to the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast, well, I chatted up as many people as would talk to me including people who live in the area to workers who were scooping up the tar balls.

The main concern of the workers (at the moment) was that they weren't keeping up. It was obvious that the amount of goop coming in was increasing and the residents are living in dread of the economic devastation and in fear of a hurricane. Visitors who have historically taken vacations in the area feel they are saying farewell to those wonderful oysters and shrimp and wondering if this will ever be considered the vacation spot that it was in its prime ever again.

As far as who is to blame for the Gulf Coast BP Oil spill, the locals don't say much about that. They don't want to think about the past, they just want the oil spewing geyser in the ocean to STOP! Maybe they are like me and know that big oil shouldn't shoulder all the blame, we have to raise our own hands and admit that our greedy consumption of oil and lack of concern for the environment has made us the guilty party.

On this trip, I bid the coast of my childhood a fond farewell and said a prayer that my girls would grow up to be more responsible than my generation has been and take going green to the next level. Hopefully, with God's blessing, our country can break free of our oil addiction and save the planet.

BAD SUNSCREEN INGREDIENTS

2010-07-11T11:16:00.003-05:00

Not surprisingly we are getting the news that sunscreen may be dangerous. There are several bad sunscreen ingredients, but the one that the powers that be are really taking a look at is oxybenzone which according to reports is found in more than half the sunscreens on the market.

The problem with this particular chemical is that is can be absorbed through the skin and when it does it just might cause allergic reactions and disrupt hormone function. Basically, this stuff (in my humble opinion) should not be used on ANYBODY but we should especially not be slathering it on our children or on ourselves if we happen to be pregnant.

But is oxybenzone the ONLY bad sunscreen ingredient hiding in our kids' sunscreens?
I, personally, was not surprised to learn that a large percentage of sunscreens have dangerous chemicals lurking in them.

WHAT'S A MOM TO DO?

We are told that sun blocking cream that have either zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are best but guess what? There's a chance that titanium and zinc could be toxic if absorbed into our kids bloodstream. So far there is no reason to believe that this danger could become reality but....well, how's that been working for us so far? Just when you start to get comfortable with a particular study's results, here comes one that refutes the previous study and cites a chemical as dangerous as all hell.

NATURAL SUNSCREEN

After doing a search, I found lots of sunscreens that are marketed as NATURAL SUNSCREENS but I haven't had time to read all the reviews and to check if any of them have bad sunscreen ingredients hiding in the fine print.

HOW TO MAKE NATURAL SUNSCREEN

What I found more intriguing was information I found on the ingredients for natural sunscreen that I saw in some recipes!

For instance, did you know that Sesame oil resists 30 percent of UV rays and plain old olive oil, coconut oil, peanut oil and cottonseed oil block out about 20 percent?

HERE'S A RECIPE FOR NATURAL SUNSCREEN

Perhaps it's best to make your own sunscreen with none of the dangerous chemicals in it. Be aware that even some of the homemade sunscreen recipe have zinc oxide or titanium oxide mixed with almond oil and beeswax as their main. But I would prefer recipes that don't have ANY bad sunscreen ingredients in them because to me having a green and natural home means eliminating all the chemicals that I can.

COMMON SENSE

Do I believe that a homemade sunblock eliminating the bad sunscreen ingredients will completely prevent my babies' skin from blistering in the harsh UVA and UVB rays of the sun? Well, I haven't tested the recipe yet and I would never take a chance on letting my baby get a sunburn which I believe compromises her already less than super immune system. I DO use something that some people seem to avoid at all costs, COMMON SENSE which is one of the best natural sunscreens in my book!

To be smart we should:

Avoid direct sunshine
Go outdoors when the sun’s rays are not as strong before 10.30 am and after 3pm
Wear sun hats with wide brims
Wear protective sunglasses

To the Punk Who Almost Ran Over My Baby with a Car

2010-07-10T14:15:00.003-05:00

This is an open letter to the punk who almost ran over my baby with a car in our very own yard. Did you bother to stop to see that my baby girl who was standing right there in our own front yard when you squealed up into our driveway after doing a u-turn in the middle of the street? Would you have even cared if she was alive? I wonder.

I invited my nieces to drop in for a visit this afternoon because their mom had a bad headache and I thought that they might be a little tired of having to tiptoe around the house. Plus, I thought my sister might appreciate a little break from worrying what they were up to or that when she was able to hold her head up without pain that she would walk into the kitchen mess from hell….

I drove over to her house after sending a text message to the older of the two girls with the invitation. The cell hadn’t hit the table before it buzzed with a YIPPPEEEE message in return begging me to hurry and come over to pick them up! Surprisingly, they didn’t even ask what we were going to do in the way of entertainment.

After I washed the girls’ faces and checked to see if the youngest ones were dry (for the moment) we proceeded toward the car and I started buckling the little ones into their respective seats. My sister only lives a couple of miles from my house so I buzzed right on over to pick up our visitors.

Once I arrived, I wanted to check in on my sister without having to go through the car seat routine once again. I got my nieces to go ahead and get in the car to play “I Spy” or something else while I slipped into the invalid’s sick room to give her a kiss and tell her to feel better soon.

The day was pretty average until the punk who almost ran over my baby with a car entered my world. When we got home I pulled into our driveway, the girls helped me get all but the littlest one of our group out of the car and then I heard squealing, squalling tires and the girls screaming.

I spun around only to see your rapidly approaching vehicle speeding up the driveway and then if that were not bad enough, you wrenched the steering wheel to the right to do yet another u-turn in our driveway. Never mind the fact that my daughter was standing frozen, still as a statue in the yard.

I know that you saw kids running all over the place, but you never even hit the brakes. You just slammed the car in reverse and let the transmission take over which is amazing given the rate of speed you were traveling.

There was no look of alarm at what almost happened on your face and no apologetic look. My daughter came far too close to being a statistic and you seemed to be anything but sorry.

Just so you know, this letter is my way of letting it go. I’m sending it out there so that I won’t waste time being angry at you. Well, I’ve typed and spell checked and I’m still pretty steamed at you, the guy who will from this day forward be known as the punk.

I would like to believe, that you had just gotten dreadful news and that you had no choice but to play fast and loose with the lives of my and my sister’s children and that you weren’t just being a selfish self-centered little shit with no thought for anyone but yourself. I hope that you taken the time to say a prayer to thank God that He spared you from the worst that could have happened.

I know that you, the guilty party, will never read this but maybe someone who does will stop and think how to maintain control at all times and THINK! As it is, a careless jerk ruined our afternoon BUT if a child were killed or hurt it could have ruined many lives.

I apologize that this post had nothing to do with going green but I just had to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Here's a video that I would like to dedicate to the punk who almost ran over my baby with a car.

HOW TO MAKE COMPOST FOR LAZY GARDENERS

2010-06-25T17:15:00.005-05:00

After I saw how great coffee grounds work on my gardenias, I decided to learn how to make compost in a last ditch effort to save the rest of the landscaping that the previous owner of our home so thoughtfully took care of before she moved. I've read all these tutorials on how to compost and what you should or shouldn't throw in the pile but you see, I'm a really lazy gardener so I have been waiting for a book called "HOW TO COMPOST THE QUICK AND EASY WAY" or "COMPOSTING FOR LAZY PEOPLE" or here's another title I would have snatched off the book shelf "COMPOSTING FOR SLACKERS". You get the idea; I want an instruction manual for bone lazy folks such as myself.

What appeals to me about making compost is that it is a completely natural way to fertilize your shrubs, vegetable garden and flowers. It doesn't cost a penny to make however there is some work involved and that's the part I've been avoiding it all cost preferring to focus on ways to make a green home for my family that took less effort. Having picked most of the easier tasks involved with going green off of my to do list I found myself unavoidably faced with having to tackle learning how to make compost.

Since nobody else had written a book on how lazy folks can compost, I'm going to do it. Here goes nothing!

Compost only in the summer because everything will decompose quicker. This is no problem at all where I live because hundred degree days are pretty common.
Pile 25 parts of brown carbon rich organic material like straw, dried leaves or sawdust to one part nitrogen rich green material like dead plants, grass clippings etc. stirring it all up together very carefully.
it's recommended to shred all the stuff to speed up the composting process which is no problem with the grass clippings as they are already shredded. The instructions that I read recommended that you cut up watermelon rinds and any other big stuff but that's the part I consider to be way too time consuming (read: too much work).

My solution to this problem is to throw this stuff into a big black plastic garbage bag, put it in hot sunshine until it's cooked and then carefully walk over it crashing the contents before tossing it into the compost pile.
Water your compost pile until it's dampened
Stir the pile weekly

In a very short time you'll have boatloads of the gardener's version of black gold. In fact you may have so much that you will be tainted to share your bounty with your neighbors! But I say unless they came over to help me stir that compost pile they can fend for themselves!

Well, I might give them a bucket full or two, just enough to get them addicted and then maybe I can show them how to make compost and they can have their own compost pile.

ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING

2010-06-16T14:07:00.005-05:00

This post on eco friendly clothes drying is not about comparing Whirlpool to Maytag. It’s about the most energy efficient clothes dryer on the planet…the sun. To be sure, there are days when it’s raining or when fielding the latest health emergency or disaster around my house that I feel like dropping to my knees and sending up thanks to the Good Lord for my clothes dryer. But when I have time, I actually enjoy getting outdoors and communing with nature with a couple of clothespins stuck in my mouth.

When the weather is just right, laundry day is really not about saving the planet by practicing eco friendly clothes drying. Drying clothes in the sun is about a more easy, relaxed way of taking care of my family’s needs. You just can’t put an Energy Star rating on the anti-depressant benefits of stepping out the back door early in the morning knowing that later in the day you will fill your basket with fresh, sweet smelling clothes. On the rare day when the humidity is low, I can usually gather all three lines and have them folded and hung in the closets by lunch.

The only articles of clothing that I don’t like to line dry are our jeans. When hung on the clothesline to dry they feel too papery and rough and the worst case scenario is that I will have to iron them to remove wrinkles. Not having to heat up and use a steam iron makes the best case imaginable for shopping for the most energy efficient clothes dryer that is manmade!

IS ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING FOR EVERYBODY?
Regardless of where you live, you can dry at least part of your laundry in an environmentally friendly fashion. It's true that you have to have a back yard of some size to handle a clothesline. But if you have a postage stamp sized yard, you can get a retractable or an umbrella clothesline. These compact clothes dryers are cheap as can be and may be the best choice for city dwellers. We live in the country and have a big yard so I have the old fashioned kind of clothesline like my grandmother had which was a monster sized eco friendly clothes dryer if one ever existed!

Speaking of my grandmother's clothesline, she had special boards to put under the lines at the halfway mark so that heavy items wouldn’t make the whole load sag to the ground. The vision in my mind of her sheets, towels and granddaddy’s work clothes blowing in the breeze are one of my favorite childhood memories long before the phrase, eco friendly, had ever been coined.

MAGNOLIA BAY ALABAMA FIGHTING THE OIL SPILL

2010-06-10T10:58:00.003-05:00

I just heard about the efforts of the people of Magnolia Bay Alabama fighting the oil spill by taking things into their own hands. I hate to cry this early in the morning but the people of Magnolia Springs Alabama's efforts to keep their little piece of paradise from being covered in oil have cause me to shed tears and shred the better part of a box of Kleenex.

God bless these southerners who say enough is enough and are not willing to sit around waiting for the government to do something when they feel that there are steps that they can take themselves. Keeping oil from reaching every beach in the Gulf may be too big a job even for most determined Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida residents but by damn, these positive thinkers felt that blocking the narrow mouth of Weeks Bay might just be doable.

BP has all but been absent in the town of Magnolia Springs that is now being called "The Little Town That Could" on an ABC news video about their efforts to block oil from their bay. The company laid down a single line of boom that according to ABC was ripped to shreds within days so the residents of the area came up with their own plan of action to block the oil from reaching the bay themselves.

By their own admission, they are not engineers but just a group of people who love their home and are taking action based on a vision and putting to work nine long barges to keep the strong waves and currents from shredding several lines of boom located on both sides of the barges. Their hopes are that the barges will keep the barricades intact and keep the bay clean and clear.

The proper procedure for this would have been to wait for government approval but the citizens of Magnolia Bay felt the situation would not wait for them to wade through red tape or fill out whatever paperwork might be necessary to get permission. The Mayor of the Alabama town was quoted as saying that if they get in trouble, they will ask for forgiveness later.

As one might expect, renting barges is not cheap and money is said to be running out. My question is whether there might be abandoned barges (I've seen rusty old barges all my life pushed to the side in the port towns of Mississippi) can't be towed down to replace the more expensive rentals.

I'm sure that the citizens of Magnolia Bay did their homework and have done the best they can AND I ADMIRE YOU FOR IT but if somebody from a towing company stops by or maybe somebody who was involved in the rental process finds this post can you answer this question for me?

Meanwhile, at my mom's group this week one of the ladies asked that all of us boycott BP gas stations. I don't know if that will do much to help get the oil spill in the Gulf mopped up. For that matter even the "CAN DO" attitude of the people of Magnolia Bay Alabama fighting the oil spill may not be enough but this green mommy blogger LOVES YOU FOR TRYING! MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

NATURAL LABOR INDUCERS

2010-05-29T14:37:00.004-05:00

I heard about a few natural labor inducers that sound like fun ways to induce labor naturally at home. Before you kick up your heels and shout HOORAY, you should know that nothing's going to work if your cervix is not ripe and ready to rock and roll. HOWEVER, there are a few ways that may help ripen your cervix by softening it and making it efface and dilate.

VALID REASONS TO INDUCE LABOR

So, you're pregnant and want to get the show on the road! Wanting to deliver in time to go on a Christmas ski vacation or a rock concert are NOT good reasons to induce. You know that I'm NOT a medical professional, this blog is for entertainment only AND that you should always take the advice of a trusted medical professional rather than trusting somebody that slapped a blog up on the internet...like me...but here's a short list of reasons for your entertainment ONLY!

Mother's Health - If mom has heart problems, hypertension, a seizure disorder, cancer or any number of serious medical condition, induction may be necessary. That being said, lots of moms with medical conditions manage to give birth naturally. Whether or not induction is needed should be determined by the medical professional in charge.
Baby's Health - The doctor may feel the baby needs to be delivered ASAP

Before trying any of natural labor inducers or the fun ways to induce labor naturally that I teased you with, you should talk to your doctor to be sure that it's ok. But just for kicks, here are some natural ways to induce labor.

SEX
STIMULATING YOUR NIPPLES
LAUGHING

Here's an idea...if your OB/GYN says it's cool, you might talk your partner into having sex, stimulating your nipples all the while telling you funny jokes and kill three birds with one stone! How's that for multi-tasking? You might call them natural labor inducers but they sound like good old-fashioned fun to me!

NATURAL SKIN CARE TIPS

2010-05-25T11:48:00.003-05:00

I thought I would share my natural skin care tips that will help your skin to look its best even when you don't have money for expensive creams...like me. I don't have time for an elaborate treatment program. In fact, some days around lunch I have to stop and think if I've washed my face or not that day. YET...I get lots of compliments on my skin so I must be doing something right.

And what I came up with is that it has to be my diet that is very rich in good stuff that I try to focus on to boost my family's immune system. Evidently, there is an added bonus to fighting illnesses...your skin is smoother and looks healthy!

While other moms are spending a lot of money for exfoliates and moisturizers, I'm buying cherries, berries and veggies that I hope are helping me to beat wrinkles, acne and dry, flaky skin. Here are some fruits and vegetables that may help you fight illness and look super! Natural foods may be one of the best, cheap and most effective remedies for illnesses and I believe that working on our skin from the inside out is a very good idea.

Natural cures and treatments are always best in my book. And since we have to eat why not buy foods that are nutrient rich and have disease fighting properties. The right foods will not only cleanse and protect our bodies' immune system but they will produce beautiful skin and a clear complexion with less acne (hello...teenage boys and girls, are you listening?).

Here are some of the foods that I buy either to eat raw or to use in my healthy old fashioned recipes for my family. Why don't you give them a try and see how much they improve your skin. It's true that good food is not cheap, but if you break it down you will see that they cost a fraction of the price of even discount creams and lotions.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRINK

In my humble opinion, colas are evil. They pack on pounds and I have to believe that drinking out of a mudhole might be more healthy in the long run. Well, not really but drinking colas is something I don't promote. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of drinking fruit juices either because of sugar.

I prefer to drink water and green tea. I don't love the taste of green tea but it has been proven to reduce the damage of sunburns and overexposure to ultraviolet rays of the sun, which in turn reduces the risk of skin cancer.

As far as the benefits to your skin, green tea contains polyphenol which has recently been reported to reactivate dying skin cells. Holy Moly!!! That has to be one of the best natural skin care tips ever. This stuff might just be my own, personal Fountain of Youth.

IT'S FISHY BUT IT'S GOOD

I would eat tuna everyday but the mercury thing gives me pause. So, we eat a lot of sardines at my house. Yeah, we smell bad but our skin looks good. Probably because of the many, many essential fatty acides that protect our cell membranes healthy by keeping out harmful substances as well as allowing nutrients to enter cells and then leave carrying nasty waste products.

BERRY, BERRY NICE!

You know how you see some kids popping M&Ms and Skittles? Well, mine pop blueberries and strawberries. This is a good thing because of the antioxidants that attacks free radicals that can ruin skin cells.

Protecting our skin cells from disintegrating makes the skin look younger.

THAT WASCALLY WABBIT WAS WIGHT!

If Elmer Fudd ever manages to bag Bugs Bunny and shave him clean of hair, we will probably see an amazingly smooth and youthful hide! You see, carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, which is a nutrient that skin loves because Vitamin A is required for developing and maintaining skin cells.

These natural skin care tips are not very exciting but you don't have to mix up a recipe and wear goo all over your body to reap the rewards! Give them a try for a couple of months..your skin and your bank account should be showing marked improvement by then.

HOW TO STOP SCREAMING AT YOUR KIDS

2010-05-25T08:22:00.002-05:00

If you've started yelling, you need to know how to stop screaming at your kids. Yelling and screaming to get the kids' attention is a nasty habit that probably started one day when you were overwhelmed and too tired for positive parenting practices and then before long, it was your secret weapon aka nasty habit.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here. As the stress of taking care of a chronically ill child and then my husband started to take its toll...my voice started rising in lockstep. And it worked for a little while but then one day I realized I was turning into THAT mommy.

There was a mom like that in my neighborhood when I was a kid. It was the joke of the block. I can remember hearing this lady's loud, loud voice and the adults laughing and saying stuff like, "There goes Mrs. So and So on her evening rant". Why nobody actually tried to help is beyond me. The woman worked several jobs and had no husband, but if anyone did I was not aware of it.

Getting back to my own life, awhile back, I realized that my speaking voice when dealing with my older girls had risen to levels that probably could be heard next door. An echo that came back at me from across the valley tipped me off and a little voice whispered in my ear, "You need to learn how to stop screaming at your kids!"

Once I dedicated myself to keeping household's noise level to a low hum, I realized I didn't just need to lower my voice. I needed to take a look at where the yelling was coming from. It hit me that my nerves and emotions are shot from sheer overwork and exhaustion. The reason I have started to lose it with the children is because I am overworked and they have started to "take control" which is only natural since mommy appears to have lost hers. They have become powerful as a group in the face of my weakness.

I am going to have to turn the tide, regain control and win back my kids' respect and there is no time like the present. The loving family that I dreamed of and started out with is not going to slip through my fingers for one more minute. I am pledging to take control of my emotions and keep my cool.

Here are some ideas that I I'm putting to work today.

Stop feeling sorry for myself
Take an attitude of gratitude
Stay in the moment and don't drift into the past or future stressing about what could be or what might have been.
Take a little time for myself so that I'm rested and better equipped to handle things
Take a minute to calm myself before opening my mouth

I'm going to read some books on the subject of how to stop yelling at your kids and take the best tips to heart and chunk the rest. I am not going to be the village joke just because my life has not turned out just the way I planned it. My plan is to replace my stressed out chaotic reactions with calm reasoning.

Please pray for me and if you have any suggestions on how I can stay on track and start parenting my kids again rather than losing control and yelling at them I would love to hear from you.

MAKE YOUR CAR A NO PHONE ZONE

2010-05-14T14:47:00.003-05:00

Texting while driving is dangerous and downright dumb! Please, make your car a no phone zone for the safety of both my family and yours. I've watched more vehicles swerving and running off the road since texting began than I ever saw driving home from concerts at 2am in the morning! Does that mean that cell phones have made clean and sober drivers more dangerous than those that are driving drunk or high?
We may never hear the results of that study, but don't we expect more out of people who are NOT under the influence?

I've been a fan of banning TALKING on cell phones while driving for years. I actually thought that not texting while operating a moving vehicle should have been a no-brainer. Unfortunately, busy people with busy lives are choosing a very dangerous way of staying in touch with their offices and their loved ones.

Joining the fight to give you inspiration and tell you why and how to make your car a no phone zone became very personal to me not so long ago. A friend, texting on his cell phone, ran his front tire off the edge of the road and over-corrected into the next lane of traffic. Some bull-shit text cost this talented young man his life. The world is a sadder place without his music and his uplifting love of life. All because some bored friend felt the need to say, "Wut's up?".

Tell me, do you want to have been in the other lane when somebody jerks the wheel under similar circumstances? I don't...

PLEASE
When you get a call on your cell, let voicemail answer and call back later when you are not driving. If you are expecting an important call, pull over to check to see who called and listen to the message after you stop! When you are traveling let driving be your priority and don't succumb to distracted driving.

EDUCATE YOUR DRIVER'S ED PROGRAM
Contact your local high school (even if you don't have a teenage driver in the house) and ask if the instructor teaches a class on how to avoid being a distracted driver and if he tells his students NOT to talk or text while driving and make this a topic of one (or more!) of your parenting chats.

Please learn how to make your car a no phone zone and stick to it! I don't want to lose any more friends due to "death by texting". And if you're walking as part of your efforts in going green, you should know that more pedestrians are stepping off the curb and being hit by moving cars than ever before because of typing on their cell phones.

Common sense should tell you that if you are moving...NO TEXTING!

LIST OF GOALS for 2010

2010-05-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

I found a list of goals for 2010 yesterday that I made late in 2009. Yes, I was already thinking about insuring that this year would (just had to be!) better than the last few.

The idea for the list came about after reading a Guide to Setting Goals for 2010 and thinking...how the heck can someone tell ME what my personal goals should be? With a rather defiant attitude I found a notepad and started to scribble out a few goals, some easily attainable if I tried at all and others that were going to be a challenge.

For those who are interested, here's what I wrote.

Organize at least one closet -- This might seem too easy to some but you haven't seen my closets, right?
Lose 5 pounds with healthy exercise not by dieting
Check into going back to college and getting a degree in something that will be focused on green parenting like maybe becoming a family counselor or a lactation consultant
Read and Re-read the classics so my babies will be duly impressed when they have to read them in school and mommy knows all about them
Get a few chickens
Visit my elderly family members who are in the nursing home. I figure if I want my kids to visit me, I should set an example.

Is it lame that I only had time to write a list that fell short of 10 goals? I took a look at a list of goals for 2010 that I found on the net that had more than 30 one of which was to star in a movie! Frankly, this made me feel like cracking the paper on a chocolate bar and throwing up my hands in shame and dismay until I realized that more than half of my list of goals was geared toward doing something for the planet and for family rather than myself. It made me feel much better until I realized that we are now five months into 2010 and I haven't attained one single goal! So, my goal for today is to get started checking the first item on my list of goals for 2010...wish me luck!

Recycled Artwork

2010-05-04T14:21:00.005-05:00

Pay close attention while I tell you about how I found my recycled artwork because you are probably going to want to copy my idea! I love to buy old, previously loved items and give them new life. During my latest foray through the flea market, I picked up some old children’s storybooks that had seen better days. Actually, they were literally falling apart and my friends thought I was totally crazy at the time, but now they are so jealous of my recycled art!

Luckily, all of the other shoppers skipped over these wonderful Mother Goose books because their covers were so damaged and worn. I, myself, almost didn’t take the time to open them and see what was inside. But when I did, I found the most precious illustrations that after my recycling efforts, have a new life as my kids wall art!

What I did was to pick the books clean of all the pages that had frameable pictures on them. The results were delightful art prints that didn’t set me back a bundle. And I didn't even have to pay for framing. I don’t believe that I could have done better than the plain, wooden frames that I had bought at a thrift store awhile back.

A fancy, new (read: expensive) picture frame would have detracted from the beauty of the slightly aged pictures. To make them look just right I wanted to surround my recycled artwork with wood that was either reclaimed or that had been rescued from a second hand store and thankfully, the ones that I had on hand were just the right size.

I would have felt lousy tearing the old book apart if the binding had been in good shape. But as it was, the pages were coming loose from the spine and were headed for the landfill. What once was a beautiful book that when read by a loved one eased a sleepy child into dreamland was no longer suitable for its original purpose.

Should the book have been better taken care of, there is no way that I could have violated it even though I may not have wanted my teething babies to chew on it in fear that the book’s print may have contained lead. But as it was, I pulled off the ultimate recycling coup and my recycled artwork looks super in my kids’ room.

PAPER OR PLASTIC

2010-04-30T17:36:00.003-05:00

The next time you’re asked whether you would prefer paper or plastic, why not make an informed decision rather than just choosing paper because you think that might be more in keeping with going green. Do you ever wonder if banning plastic bags really has an impact on the building piles of plastic litter? Does choosing paper over plastic have it’s drawbacks as it leads to more deforestation?

THE PROBLEMS WITH PLASTIC BAGS

The very first run-in I ever had with plastic bags had little to do with green living. I was too young to remember my near death experience of suffocation by plastic but my mom gives the event credit for giving her a gray streak in her hair. The story goes that a small portion of a plastic cleaner bag blew across my face and stuck while I was riding in my baby car seat unbeknownst to my mother who was driving. She swears that she happened to glance in the rearview mirror and swerved to the roadside just in time to rescue me from becoming a plastic bag suffocation victim. The lesson learned is to not hang the dry cleaning anywhere near sleeping babies or kids of any age.

Beyond their tendency to suffocate kids, the plastic bag problem encompasses overflowing landfills, clogged sewers and ingestion of the stuff that refuses to biodegrade by animals, birds and marine life.

BANNING PLASTIC BAGS

There are a number of countries banning plastic bags outright and others are imposing taxes on their use. San Francisco, California is the first and only major city in America to pass a plastic bag ban.

ALTERNATIVES TO PAPER OR PLASTIC

Environmentalists are in favor of our using bags made of a biodegradable cornstarch-based plastic to customers who don’t have their own reusable canvas grocery bags. These bags have the same biodegradable characteristics and convenience of paper bags without contributing to deforestation.

ARE PAPER BAGS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

If plastic is banned will that just lead to more problems? It’s a fact that this could lead to increased deforestation but the good news is that most paper bags are now made from recycled materials not virgin wood. Plus, there is the additional benefit of paper’s biodegradability.

The truth is that there are issues surrounding the use of paper or plastic bags. For now, perhaps the best answer is to break out the old sewing machine and make some fabric shopping bags to use while the argument of paper vs. plastic rages on. And while you’re at it, make some for your friends who are devoted to green living. Mother Earth and future generations will be eternally grateful.

A TALE OF SELF SUFFICIENT LIVING

2010-04-29T10:12:00.006-05:00

The story I'm about to share proves that most peoples' idea of self sufficient living, just like recycling and going green, are much more grandiose than they have to be. Not that there is anything wrong with self-sufficiency or recycling on a large scale, it's just not that practical for most people without large farms with plenty of acreage.

My earliest example of a self-sufficient life came through the example set by a man who probably had no property at all much less enough farmland with pastures filled with homegrown livestock and land where he could grow his own vegetables. Bill’s way of life was simple and while it would probably not be appealing to everybody; it was effective.

Bill didn’t own a vehicle, and what money he raised he did by doing yard work. He didn’t own a vehicle and oddly enough didn’t even own a lawn mower (much less his own farm). When he cut your yard he did it with your family’s lawnmower.

He walked to work and spent his day going from house to house in our subdivision asking if anything needed done, setting a price and then taking care of business. This part of the process was just part of the equation in Bill’s style of self sufficient living.

Most afternoons, on his way out of the neighborhood, he would be carrying a sack filled with food and stuff that other people were letting go to waste (his words). While he was tending peoples’ yards, he would also gather poke salad for supper, plums, apples and in the fall he would stay after work to pick up pecans in what we called the "old hospital yard". The nuts that fell off those trees were no bigger than your thumbnail and everybody else considered shelling them to be way too much work for what little meat you got for your trouble.

In my opinion, this is a super example of how simple a self sufficient lifestyle can be. Self sufficiency doesn't have to be fancy, just making the best use of what is around us and not letting anything go to waste by recycling and a little bit of scavenging. The things we recycle help the environment and the items we find and make use of soothe our souls and lift our spirits.

And, yes, Bill was happy with his special brand of self sufficient living. In fact, he was probably more satisfied with his life than CEOs of major corporations who make millions of dollars a year will ever be.

IS MOTHER NATURE OUT OF CONTROL

2010-04-28T18:12:00.005-05:00

I have to ask you, "Is Mother Nature out of control?". After nearly getting our tushes handed to us in last weekend's tornadoes I'm thinking she's lost her rabid mind! The massive twister that rolled through the south was said at times to be up to 1.75 miles wide which is just about as wide a tornado as ever has been documented and that's saying something. Big funnel clouds are not rare in Mississippi but this was one for the books. One of the pictures I saw snapped in Yazoo City looked like something out of a sci-fi movie!

The weather channel people who, bless their hearts, struggled so valiantly in their efforts to correctly pronounce Yazoo much less a tongue twister (hate that word, twister) like Kosciusko did a great job of covering the misery and devastation that was left in this horrific storm's wake. They stated several times this was the worst storm since Katrina hit...people, that was only a couple of years ago!

Are we now to expect weather events that used to happen once in a lifetime on a regular basis? I can remember the old folks talking about Hurricane Camille back in 1969 and a tornado that came through so fast and unexpectedly in the late 1940s that it not only picked up train cars but neighborhood who were out playing ball and couldn't get home or take cover quickly enough.

My point being that these storms were so memorable because they were isolated events. These days, you might want to start a diary to keep track of all the major hurricanes, tornadoes and ice storms that you live through so you won't forget some of the important details when entertaining your grandchildren.

I have to wonder if we have just had a really bad spell of weather over the last decade and that things will calm down getting back to normal or after getting a taste of walking on the wild side is Mother Nature out of control and are there more tornadoes than there used to be?

I'm sure that the citizens of Weir and Yazoo City Mississippi still sifting through the wreckage hope that the old bat, Mom Nature, has one heck of a hangover after all she put everybody through last weekend. Beyond that, they are probably afraid to talk too bad about her for fear she'll get pissed off and come back and take another swing at us.

Meanwhile, this mother is wondering if everybody waited so late to start going green that the old broad will never forgive and forget.

And kudos to the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore for not only being there but actually pronouncing the names of the towns beautifully. I know that he was just doing his job but small consideration during such dreadful times can make a huge difference.

GREEN WEED KILLERS

2010-04-24T10:21:00.004-05:00

It’s time to break out the green weed killers because the cracks in our driveway are filling up with weeds! Am I heading out to the lawn and garden supply store for a buggy full of poisonous chemicals? Well, heck no because I have one of the best earth friendly weed killers right in my kitchen cabinet at home and vinegar is the cheapest thing going when it comes to killing weeds!

Chemical weed killers are not cheap but I wouldn’t use them even if they were giving them away for free! You may have already guessed my secret weed killing weapon; yes, I’m going to use plain, old garden variety vinegar to kill those weeds right in their tracks. It’s slower acting than the most common poison, Roundup, and you have to dump it on the plant a couple of times before you kill the roots, but using natural products over chemicals is worth a little extra time to me.

I would rather use green weed killers than chemicals that will first soak into the earth and then leach into our water supply, evaporate into the air we breathe and on and on. Everything we dump into the ground will eventually land on our doorstep so think about that the next time you take the quick and easy chemical method of weed killing when you could have killed those pesky weeds with something much less harmful to the planet. PLUS, I have a real problem with my kids playing on a lawn that has been doused with chemicals!

The only dangerous thing about using this green weed killer is that you have to protect the surrounding plants that you don’t want to kill. Pour to your heart’s contest on sidewalks and around fence lines but be careful around your flowers and any shrubs you want to keep because this green method of weed killing really works.
I have always used household vinegar that I buy in gallon containers but I have been told that there is such a thing as agricultural vinegar that is 20-30% acetic acid where the vinegar that I’ve been using (and it works just fine) is only 5%. Even though it’s much more acidic word is that it still is environmentally friendly. All you do is spray it on the pesky weeds and they shrivel up and die. However, I have not tried it myself and I understand it’s not EPA approved for use as an herbicide and can be difficult to find.

The weaker stuff is working just fine for me which is such an affirmation for my efforts in going green but if you have a resource for agricultural vinegar, would you please leave a comment telling us where to find it, how much it costs and how it worked for you?

GO GREEN TIPS

2010-04-23T12:09:00.003-05:00

GOING GREEN is not that hard. It's going green and STAYING green that's tough. I have some "GO GREEN TIPS" for homes and work that might help moms resist the urge to drift back into nasty environmentally UN friendly habits when stress on the job or in our daily lives makes going the extra mile for Mother Earth too time consuming or (horrors!) expensive.

Inside the home, there are two easy tips that if everybody would put to use would have a major impact on home energy savings and a reduction in our carbon footprint.

1. Wash your clothes in cold water

2. Stop the dishwasher before it goes into the dry cycle

You can manage either of these Go Green tips for your home by pushing a button!

That's the kind of energy saving, environmentally thing that is so very easy to do and if you're a busy mom, sometimes baby steps is the best we can do. The thing is that baby steps are just the beginning. I started out with the little things and then dedicated myself to learning and utilizing more green living practices along the way and that works for me! My current goal is to pass my desire to clean up the environment to my children so if you have some green parenting tips, please take a minute and share them.

Jennifer Lopez Body After Babies

2010-04-22T18:25:00.002-05:00

I've read so much speculation and so many comments about Jennifer Lopez body after babies that it made me all the more happy about my total lack of celebrity mom status. How awful it must be to think that the public at large is sitting around wondering about how flabby your belly is or how low your boobs are going to drop after breastfeeding.

Other than running across her name plastered on the front of magazines in the checkout line at the grocery and enjoying some of the movies she's starred in, I must make the confession that I haven't given Jennifer Lopez body after babies, before babies or otherwise much thought. However, after reading an article today with quotes from her on motherhood and her flabby tummy after having her twins; I am now one of her most devoted fans.

She was quoted as saying that when she got a peek at her flabby belly after giving birth she just laughed and said to her husband 'Look, baby! Isn't this crazy?' and that she just didn't care." Now THAT is, in my humble opinion, a celebrity mom with an attitude worthy of admiration!

TERRACYCLE PRODUCTS IN WALMART

2010-04-22T15:04:00.003-05:00

Here's a heads up to look for Terracyle products in Walmart from April 5 to April 29 coinciding with Earth Day! I just read that Terracycle will be keeping 60 products in every Wal-Mart across the United States during that time span and it would be a shame if anybody misses them!

If you're wondering what I find so exciting about this company, you should visit the Terracyle website and take a look at their garbage recycling process. Their claim to environmental fame is that they actually convert your household trash into products that are being sold at major retailers. And the day that there are Terracycle products in Walmart, well, that's a day to crow about!

HISTORY

The company was nine years ago by a Princeton graduate right out of business school and what they do is convert non-recyclable stuff like plastic potato chip bags and plastic bottles into items that are now being sold at big name stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart.

Not only is the company doing something to clean up the planet, but they actually pays consumers to send in their garbage or drop it off at one of their collection centers to be converted into usable items like children's toys, kitchen cutting boards. And they do all this using a very small amount of energy which is key to effective recycling and green living in my book!

Make a point to check out the Terracycle Products in Walmart and if you see a manager lurking around give him a big, hearty pat on the back for drawing attention to earth friendly companies and their products...now if they would only stock more organic foods.

How Do I Entertain My Newborn

2010-04-18T08:37:00.004-05:00

A neighbor recently asked me, "How do I entertain my newborn?" I suppose she had noticed my house bursting at the seams with babies and felt I had lots of experience with entertaining them to maintain my sanity. My response was, "How do you know she's bored?". Her crestfallen expression made me feel so bad and brought back memories of how lost I was at times with my first that I wanted to offer some assistance.

I had never given this much thought and when I did, I had to question how DO I entertain my newborn? After putting my mind to it I realized that I have got a few tricks up my sleeve for keeping a four month old (or thereabouts) occupied. Here are a few tips that have served me well during church services, in doctor's waiting rooms and at other times when I noticed that my babies were getting bored.

(1.)
At home, I simply talk to my infants, make the occasional silly face and then laugh with them. I take their bouncy seat, swing, playpen or high chair into the room where I'm working to give them a change of scenery and let them be a part of what I'm doing.

(2.)
How do I entertain my newborn at church? My little ones refused to stay in the nursery much to the dismay of those close to our family's pew. There are Sundays when it's just not worth the effort but on special occasions when watching church on television just won't do, I resort to quiet toys and making funny faces behind my hand so the minister won't get the idea that I'm mocking him.

After typing this post, I've come to the conclusion that entertaining a four month old baby will come naturally if you just relax and let it happen. Giggling, being silly and being in the moment is easy; it's thinking about it that makes it more complicated than it has to be.

How Often Should You Clean Your House

2010-04-14T09:27:00.003-05:00

After seeing me cleaning window screens a newlywed neighbor asked me how often should you clean your house. I pondered the question a minute and realized that I couldn't give her an answer because I clean some parts of my house more often than others.

The young bride (read: novice housekeeper) may been more interested in conversation than a cleaning schedule but as this may be a topic that lots of young wives and mothers might be interested in I made the following list. Please remember that I don't claim to be an expert on homemaking plus I probably clean the dusty parts of our family's home more than the average person because my babies have such severe asthma and allergies.

In other words I don't know the answer to how often should you clean your house because your circumstances may be completely different from mine.

How often should you clean your air ducts?
I clean my heat and air ducts monthly using my crevice tool because I see them as a major contributor of dust particles. If you have a good air filter, you could probably get away with cleaning them at the start of each season or a couple of times a year and don't forget to use green house cleaners!

How often should you clean your bathroom?

As you probably know, we've been fighting MRSA (staph infection) in my house so I clean mine after each family member takes a bath.

If you have no such problem, you could probably get away with cleaning your bathroom once or twice a week. To make weekly bathroom cleaning easier:

always crack a window or run the exhaust fan while showering to keep the bathroom from getting moldy
wipe down the sides of the tub or shower walls using a squeegee. This is important because removing hard water stains from glass shower doors is a pain in the ass!
toss the bar soap and use body wash
pour a cup of vinegar into the toilet once a week and let sit over night to break down hard water stains

How often should you clean your carpet?

This question is a no-brainer for me because I don't have carpet. Allergies and carpet don't mix. I have no rugs that can't be washed. As for others, it's still an easy to answer question; once a year or when it looks nasty. In my personal opinion carpet is nasty all the time even when it looks clean. If you don't believe me, hang around and take a peek underneath next your old carpet pad next time you have new wall to wall carpet installed. If that doesn't make you want to tile your floors nothing will, my friend.

That's just hitting the high points but it should give you some idea of how often should you clean your house as well as easy ways to keep it looking good in between scrubbings.

The Extreme Germophobe

2010-03-31T13:22:00.006-05:00

A friend just said that that dealing with MRSA has turned me into an extreme GERMAPHOBE! My response to this accusation was that I don't actually have germophobia which is condition that causes a person who is so obsessed with bacteria to sanitize their hourly but I do turn on water faucets with my elbow so I suppose one could call me a pseudo-germaphobe according to the definitions I've found in the dictionary.

The reason for her inaccurate remark was that I told her that I would never consider owning a jetted tub because unsanitary bathrooms are not an option for me. Cleaning and sanitizing a normal bathtub after two family members who have MRSA staph infections is quite challenging enough without having to worry about bacteria hiding deep within dark holes.

And don't tell me that this is not an issue because I once flipped the switch in a whirlpool bath at a luxurious bed and breakfast inn only to find black moldy flakes floating in my bath water. This was before I became the extreme germophobe that I am today or it probably would have cause a fainting spell.

Where I once lived for a soak in a Jacuzzi, I know know that without going the extra mile to disinfect it, a jetted tub is a haven for mold and bacteria. Those warm, damp pipes are a virtual playground for stuff that scares me silly.
A well maintained hot tub has enough chemicals to beat back the bacteria but bathtubs don't.

I learned how to clean a jetted tub in our previous home out of necessity but I truly never trusted it and while many say the way to do it is easy and inexpensive; I found that performing the procedure which involved Cascade dishwashing powder and bleach after each and every bath to be time consuming and to cost money that I didn't have to spend at the time not to mention that I find unnecessarily dumping more chemicals into the environment reprehensible.

Being the extreme germophobe and frugal mom that I have to be, please forgive me if whenever I see a jetted tub I look at it as extra work and a breeding ground for bacteria. I'm sorry if that rains on anyone's parade but when you are talking about avoiding contaminating yourselves and your kids with MRSA that could be life threatening whirlpool bathtubs are simply not worth it.
Oh yeah, and there's no way in hell that I would ever take a bath in a B&B, motel or even a 5 star hotel EVER!

And even when taking a shower I practice the following advice that my grandmother lived by way before staph came into my life:

An optimist cleans the bathtub after her bath.
A pessimist cleans the bathtub before her bath.
A lady cleans the bath tub both before and after her bath.

I hope that next time you visit that I have something more uplifting to talk about in the way of Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues rather than ranting about that the reasons that I should not be classified as an extreme germophobe because I am told that dealing with a germaphobe is not fun... now imagine that!

Am I a Helicopter Mom

2010-03-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

My goal for yesterday was to decide if I am a helicopter mom. I was forced to take a look at myself to see if all of the health problems and chronic illnesses in my household had caused me to cross the line from caring, attachment parenting into helicopter parenting? Am I guilty of hovering about throwing myself between my kids and the cruel world and therefore leaving them victims to stunted development?

I’m a pretty busy lady and it has taken a little longer for the latest buzz phrase to catch my attention. However, my sister (remember the one who lets her kids run wild?) pointedly brought up the term "helicopter parenting" that she heard on a CBS documentary that aired awhile back to me over the weekend. I believe that she is pointing the finger at me for being a "hyper-parent" who coddles her kids.

WHAT IS A HELICOPTER MOM

Other than the obvious assumption that the definition of a helicopter mommy is one that hovers, after doing a little research I have ascertained that this would be a neurotically overprotective mother but who is fearful of upsetting her children and overcompensates (read: spoils) in various areas of their lives.

Am I little guilty of hovering over my kids? I wish I could square my shoulders and say that I would never do such a thing. But the truth is that I’m just a tat guilty. I’m not guilty of spoiling them or trying to predict and fill their every desire but because of our circumstances I may be a little overcautious but please allow me to plead my case.

Forgive me if I cringe whenever we are at the playground (or any other uncontrolled environment) and your child who doesn’t know my baby has a life threatening peanut allergy offers my daughter a bite. And please be understanding when you call to invite my kids over for a play date if I ask if you have cats, dogs or birds because my baby has asthma.

Under normal circumstances, I would like to think that I’m not a helicopter mom. I don’t spoil my children with toys and clothes and do my best parent them without clinging or overprotecting. But when it comes to my babies’ safety, you had better just get out of the way because this aircraft has a flight plan that will rock your world and for this mission I refuse to apologize.

HOW TO STOP CO-SLEEPING

2010-02-19T14:11:00.003-06:00

I’m opening the floor for discussion on how to stop co-sleeping with my baby AND my older children. I’ve enjoyed a nice long run where my little ones slept within arms’ reach but as the size of my brood increases and the duration of hubby’s illness drags on, let’s say that co-sleeping with children and one infant is not that pleasurable or restful and I need help.

When this ball got rolling we never marked a date on the calendar setting a date for what age to stop co-sleeping. Frankly, I couldn’t think much past the desperate need for getting some sleep. Today, long after the ship has sailed I start to study up on how to stop co-sleeping and find that I should have conferred with my pediatrician about making a plan regarding my baby’s sleeping location. Oh, whatever..like my kids care what their doctor says.

After making light of involving a doctor in deciding when to stop co-sleeping, I do agree that I need a plan now that I can see that weaning time is drawing nigh. And after being sucker punched in the nose last night, I’m motivated but not sure how to stop co-sleeping without leaving my little ones feeling unwanted, unloved or abandoned. After checking into borrowing a portable crib for the little one, cost is no longer an issue. But do I need to move cots for the older children into the bedroom to ease the transition?

I was thinking something along the lines of gently moving the older children into the toddler beds after they go to sleep in our big bed and easing the baby into the travel crib. My husband called my idea “How to Stop Co-Sleeping for Sissies”. My response was that I prefer a gentle approach to parenting confident, independent children one baby step at a time.

Another reason that I’m working to make the transition as pain free and gradual as possible is because the idea of having to spend hours at a time rubbing little backs in the middle of the night because they woke up in a disoriented state is not appealing to me. Plus, I need some time to adjust to not being able to reach out and touch my girls to reassure myself that all is well during the night. Prolonged chronic illnesses and almost losing one can do that to a mom.

So, perhaps I should be asking for ideas on how to stop co-sleeping that are easy on both mother and child or any other parenting advice that you’d like to share I’m open to suggestions.

BEST GREEN BABY WIPES

2010-01-30T09:43:00.004-06:00

After a round with baby rash, I did a little research on the best green baby wipes. I've had concerns about the cheap store-bought brands for a long time. With my baby's sensitive skin, allergies and eczema I'm very particular about all products she comes in contact with and wipes appeared on my radar when I read that some brands have materials that have been bleached with chlorine and contain alcohol or other irritants that might cause diaper rash.

A few common brands are Huggies, Pampers and Luvs so I decided to see if I could find a list of ingredients for each and here's what I found:

PAMPERS BABY WIPES INGREDIENTS LIST

Pampers "One Ups" Ingredients List
Water
Propylene Glycol
Aloe Vera Gel
Sodium Coco PG Dimonium
Chloride Phosphate
Cetyl Hydroxyethylcellulose
Methylparaben
Propylparaben
2-Brono-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol
Fragrance

HUGGIES BABY WIPES INGREDIENTS

I couldn't find a list of Huggies Baby Wipes Ingredients but I found a statement on their FAQ that stated that they contain Vitamin E and natural Aloe Vera. No information on what else they had in them which I found kind of fishy...but I didn't actually go to the store and check out the container to see if their was more info on the label.

The reasons that I put Huggies and Pampers first on my list to review were price and the fact that Huggies Natural Care Wipes and Pampers Baby Fresh Wipes were mentioned in an article discussing the best baby wipes of the year. But after reading some of the baby wipes reviews, I am somewhat less than impressed.

So, moving on to the more expensive but highly rated brand, Bum Boosa Bamboo baby wipes. And when I tell you they are not cheap...believe me.
The cost averaged out to .07 cents per wipe (on the bumboosa website) even if you spring for the 960 count package! Who can afford that kind of money for each and every wiped face, hand or butt? I can't imagine paying that for the best green baby wipes on the planet!

I'm all for utilizing bamboo as a replacement for traditional fibers. From what I know, the theory behind its use is spot on. But when an eco-friendly product is so expensive that only the very wealthy could ever afford to use products made with it that's not so helpful.

Another thing that caught my attention with this brand (rated the best green baby wipe by many) is that some of the reviews reported an orange essential oil smell that was strong. The idea of a fragrant smell of oranges that might do a little to overpower the smell of baby poop is appealing to me but guess what? My youngest is allergic to oranges.

Here's a list of ingredients in Bumboosa Baby Wipes from their website:

• Purified Water (98%)
• Organic Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera leaf)
• Lavender Essential Oil from France)
• Sweet Orange Essential Oil (Brazilian no less but my babies are just as allergic)
• Tocopherol (Vitamin E) – Natural Preservative, Skin Softener
• Vegetable Glycerin – Soothes and cleanses skin (so does water)
• Potassium Sorbate Preservative – Preservative (Sorbate is the metabolized form of the sugar Sorbitol)
• Polysorbate 20 used as an Emulsifier
• Citric Acid pH a Stabilizer that provides stability (what the heck does that mean)

I admit a certain amount of frustration after gathering these facts and
I'm about to come to the conclusion that the best green baby wipes that will work with my budget are homemade from scraps of cotton flannel. I challenge the visitors to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to tell me how much more trouble can it be to pack moist flannel wipes in a ziploc or to store them dry and moisten them for use! As for myself, I feel kind of silly for obsessing over this issue when the best green baby wipes are right under our noses and even my five year old can sew a straight seam!

GREEN PARENTING TIPS

2010-01-27T19:03:00.004-06:00

When I started this blog I wanted to focus on sharing green parenting tips. My goal was to turn the lot of you into eco-friendly parents in 10 Easy Steps or less. As so many of you know, it’s easy to run to the end of the thread of your subject and be jerked backwards only to fall on your butt. Why I thought I could give advice to others at a time when I was completely overwhelmed with parenting a very sick child is beyond me. In between emergencies, I did manage to offer some advice but I feel I must apologize for those days when I ventured off the course or didn't post at all.

The reason I feel so very guilty for neglecting my duties here is perhaps because
I can look back into my own childhood and see where no care whatsoever was given to isolating me and my sisters (and to be fair the other kids I knew) from pesticides or noxious fumes blowing out of a nearby factory. I tend to blame overexposure to chemicals for a healthy portion of my troubles in life. Granted I have been guilty of meandering off the course with the occasional recipe and rant but I am still driven to not only improve the air quality and the environment of my own home but to help guide others with as many green parenting tips as I can churn out.

Some of the posts I’ve made in this blog were made when my daughter was very sick and it gave me a place to vent my fears and share my pain. I was tempted to go back and delete old posts whose content is no longer relevant or start a new blog altogether and delete this one that displays my struggle to stay on topic.

These days my husband is the sickest one of the bunch and is engaged in a battle with staph which hopefully he will win. I look forward to the day that I can write about how the posts that I made during that health crisis are no longer important. On that note, I believe that I'll keep this blog intact, because moms still leave comments about what they are going through with their child’s peanut allergy, asthma or MRSA plus someday I would like for my girls to be able to read what mommy said about their early lives and to know that I was more focused on them at times than I was on posting green parenting tips on Oooh Baby Green Living and Parenting Ideas.

Parenting Independent Children

2010-01-24T17:56:00.003-06:00

I can tell you from experience that parenting independent children is more of a challenge than raising people pleasers. I have a few of each so I know of what I speak. After studying nature versus nurture in school, I thought I had it all figured out until I had kids of my own. After venturing forth into the hands-on experience of actual child rearing, my thinking is that each baby comes here pre-programmed and while some behaviors can be tempered the basic character of a child is hard wired.

My daughters all have different temperaments. Two are shy and eager to please and the other two are rowdy, outspoken and at times, bull headed. I'm here to tell you that parenting independent children is a challenge. I believe that all of my girls are capable of being self sufficient and doing wonderful things in their lifetime even though the odds have been stacked heavily against two of them with chronic illnesses.

Oddly enough the one who has suffered the most is showing the strongest leadership capabilities. She is the one who calls the shots for the group's activities each day. Even though she is not the oldest or the strongest she has won the respect and admiration of the other three by handling herself with dignity that amazes even me.
Watching my girls take care of things because they have decided that I must be tired from taking care of their sick dad (which if you've visited Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues you know about our recent trials and tribulations) or have a lot going on makes me feel like an expert on parenting independent children or at least at giving birth to them.

A Step Forward and Two Back

2010-01-13T11:26:00.005-06:00

Battling illness in my house follows a pattern, a step forward and two back or maybe it's three but who's counting, right? I haven't posted much on MRSA wound healing or our battle with staph lately. It's like I've been avoiding the pink elephant in the room that you hope will go away if you ignore it.

The step forward that I mentioned was that the worst of the wounds finally closed. You know you've taken a step forward when the wound care doctor and nurses join for a group cheer some with tears in their eyes and others threatening to tear their shoulders out of the socket patting themselves on the back for having the knowledge and skill to manage the gaping holes. The worst of the wounds now has a paper thin layer of skin joining the sides that is so fragile that it can't be soaked in a tub or scratched if it itches for fear of tearing it.

I hate not to leave our progress report on a completely positive note but yesterday another "bump" or "pimple" was found right alongside the previously mentioned "wonder wound". It's the new year and that means that the insurance deductible starts all over again PLUS the 20% that we have to pay even once that is met.

We were so hoping that we would have a reprieve from treatments and to catch up on old doctor and hospital bills and avoid bankruptcy. We are going to call the wound care clinic and see if they will just call in a prescription to see if a round of antibiotics will zap the bump without having to schedule an appointment.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take an attitude of gratitude and be thankful that we have had a step forward and that we are going to blast our way past the two back. Thanks for the well wishes and uplifting comments that have been left for us on Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues and I hope that you will keep us in your prayers.

GREEN HOUSE CLEANERS

2009-12-31T10:40:00.003-06:00

The best Christmas present ever is causing me problems! Researching green house cleaners (actually house cleaning services not the products) has now been added to my VERY long "to do" list. I'm ashamed to say that I knuckled and bumped it to the top. I did so out of selfishness and more than a healthy dose of the need for assistance in digging through the after holiday clutter and confusion.

Before my awakening to the dangers of household cleaning products I might have called the first commercial cleaning service with an impressive ad in the yellow pages. But now I want to know more about what will be left behind after my merry little helpers leave my home.

Here are some questions that I plan to ask all of the green house cleaners that I call.

Does your company use commercial chemical free products or do you make your own out of baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and the like? If you buy your green cleaning
products can you give me the name of the company?
Are you bonded? I don't have a lot of valuable stuff but I like to know I'm covered because once upon a time (pre-babies) I had a decorator that dropped a hammer on my brand new Kohler toilet while hanging pictures and found out the hard way that she was not insured.
Do you hire workers or are your cleaning professionals co-owners of the company? I like the idea of the owner polishing my furniture.
Will the green house cleaners who visit my home have GREEN cards and speak English? I would prefer that there be no illegals in my house and I want to be able to communicate my needs as we go, if you please.
What kind of vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner filters do you use? If it's not HEPA, it's not happening in my house.
What do you charge and do you do windows? Even though I won't be paying the green house cleaning crew for several visits, I want to know that once I'm fully and completely addicted to having help that I can afford to keep it coming.

I'm just starting the process of interviewing green house cleaners and I have to make my phonecalls during naptime so it could take awhile but right off the bat I'm pleased to report that there are quite a few household and commercial cleaning services that advertise that their cleaning products are environmentally safe and chemical free.

That's encouraging, but we all know that talk's cheap and they are going to have to prove their claims to me before I let them in the door. If you have questions about who gets the job of becoming my environmentally friendly house cleaners, I'll probably be posting about them on Family Recipes, Babies and Green Parenting Issues in the next few weeks.

Where to Donate Used Stuffed Animals

2009-12-27T10:01:00.004-06:00

I'm on a house cleaning mission and wondering where to donate used stuffed animals? After what will be forever remembered as the Christmas asthma attack of 2009, I've dedicated every free moment to ferreting out every possible irritant and allergy trigger in the house including all but the kids' most beloved plush toys that are worth all the trouble it takes to keep them dust mite free. I always try to recycle my kids' toys after Christmas, but this year I'm especially focused.

I know I could take the whole kit and kaboodle and leave them in the Salvation Army dumpster, but by conducting a little research I have found some answers to the question of where to donate used stuffed animals where they will do the most good.

Here are a few places that I'm going to locate and contact to see if will accept these toys or if they don't they might know of where to donate stuffed animals for children in need.

SAFE (Stuffed Animals For Emergencies) is at the top of my list if I can locate a chapter near us. A friend told me that this organization collects new as well as used toys and stuffed animals. If I can find one, this is the answer to my prayers because the volunteers take care of distributing the items to children's homes, hospitals and emergency organizations like fire, ambulance and rescue services where the items are used to comfort children. The SAFE website is stuffedanimalsforemergencies.org.
Homeless shelters are next on my list of where to donate used stuffed animals.

Where to donate used stuffed animals. by state:

ARIZONA - CALIFORNIA - OHIO

If you live in Arizona, California and Ohio you might want to check out Project Night Night. This organization creates and donates tote bags for homeless children ages 0-10 that contain a blanket, a book and a stuffed animal. At this time, their website says they only have drop-off locations in those three states, but we can only pray that they expand.

FLORIDA

Floridian families can contact Mushy Mates to donate their used stuffed animals to foster children and other needy kids. This non-profit group is based in Florida but helps children in all states and I've also heard that they accept donations from all 50 states but I'm unclear as to the process. Maybe somebody can respond and help us out with some details?

Mushy Mates works with case workers to get the toys to the foster children. You can also donate money as well as toys to any of their local foster care agencies, family homeless shelters or battered women's shelters and it's probably a good idea to mention the Mushy Mates' charity by name. If you have questions, you can contact Mushy Mates by email at MushyMates at MushyMates.com.

If you have any more tips on where to donate used stuffed animals, please return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues and share them.

Is My Baby Allergic to Dogs

2009-12-26T12:59:00.003-06:00

I have never stopped to wonder is my baby allergic to dogs because her allergies included all the common irritants like peanuts, cat hair and dairy. Her allergist never mentioned a dog allergy so I assumed that this was the one animal oriented area that we may have gotten lucky.

However, we learned over the holidays that this was not to be. As I look back the last post was made while I had images of creating a lovely holiday meal dancing in my head. Sick of leftover turkey, my goal was to come up with dishes with a fresh, new taste, something that the whole family would enjoy and that would not trigger any of the kids' many allergies.

Then, while neck deep in recipes printed off the internet one of our college friends came to visit with a new puppy in tow. Needless to say that the girls went crazy over the cute little guy. I was letting them all visit and entertain each other when my friend comes rushing into the kitchen asking is my baby allergic to dogs.

I could tell she was excited and when I saw my little one, I knew we were in a bit of trouble. Her face was red and her breathing indicated she might be in for an asthma attack. Thanks to quick treatment with her meds, all quieted down. But you can bet that I'm scheduling an appointment with her allergy specialist to see for sure is my baby allergic to dogs or was there a chemical or perhaps grass on the dog's hair that triggered the allergic reaction.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see if it was flea powder or dog hair that created these symptoms.

Christmas Menu Ideas

2009-12-18T10:26:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody, I'm open to some new and interesting Christmas menu ideas if you happen to have any lying around. I made a huge pan of southern cornbread dressing using my family's traditional recipe for Thanksgiving with all the usual trimmings including a large cheesecake for those who don't fully appreciate sweet potato pie or banana pudding.

Plus, we had enough turkey to feed our large group, have turkey sandwiches for a week and then boil it for a big pot of turkey carcass soup. My nieces and nephews cringe at the word "carcass" so if you have any suggestions for renaming my favorite leftover turkey recipe I will consider them.

My problem is that after eating one creative leftover turkey recipe after another for several weeks, the idea of baking another one so soon is not so appealing to me and my husband actually turned a lovely shade of green awhile ago when I mentioned it. His Christmas menu idea is to buy rib eye steaks, potatoes and salad fixings and let that be it; he even offered to be the cook! Whoa, now that's hard to resist but I can feel all my ancestors in the background threatening to haunt me if I'm lazy enough to cave.

We are not big fans of ham around here so I need Holiday recipes that don't use ham and Christmas menu ideas that will keep both my living and departed family members happy!

Parenting Styles

2009-11-29T08:57:00.003-06:00

I had an excellent opportunity to get a good look at my siblings parenting styles over Thanksgiving and I'm certain that I'll get another taste during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. I'm one to resist spewing parenting advice to others for the simple reason that no matter what the kids do at home, there is really no way of knowing what they will do when they are in public.

Long story short, Thursday night I broke my own rule of not becoming involved. No, one of the cousins did not whack one of my girls on the head or try to sneak peanuts to my baby with a severe peanut allergy. The little darling disrespected my mom's home.

I didn't lose control and even managed not to criticize my sister's severely relaxed parenting style but I just could not keep my mouth shut. She was raised in the same house as I was with the same values and to see her let her child get away with a level of destructive behavior that we never would have been caught dead practicing under the darkest cover of darkness or under a cloak of anonymity, much less in the middle of a family gathering in full daylight was just too much.

To give you some background, mom has had the same living room furniture all my life. On her birthday we pooled our resources and bought her a new set of end tables and a coffee table challenging dad to buy a sofa, chair and loveseat which he did. Thursday was her day to show the completed room off and you could tell that she was so very proud.

I reminded my girls to mind their manners and keep food at the table and to play outside as did all of my brothers and sisters EXCEPT for the one who believes in a loose and indulgent style of parenting. Things started out alright and then her little boy got rowdy and thought it was a good idea to stand on the coffee table, jump on the new sofa and break a lamp. After each incident, the expected admonishment never arrived.

Finally, after the lamp crashed to the floor. I took matters into my own hands and told the little boy to get outside with the other children and pulled my sister aside to give her a piece of my mind. She proceeded to give me a rundown of her preferred style of child-rearing and how she wanted her child to have freedom to make his own choices to build his self-esteem. Parenting styles and self esteem be hanged, that was my mother's house and I shared a piece of my mind and shared a little unappreciated advice with her on how to discipline her son.

Was I wrong in the way I handled the situation? I would appreciate it if those of you who visit Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues would give me a little advice before the family Christmas get-together.

Thanksgiving Time Savers

2009-11-27T11:27:00.004-06:00

One of the best Thanksgiving time savers that I put to work yesterday (and the day before) would make my great-grandmother's head spin backwards. Yeah, I was raised to believe that it was a sin or at the very least something to be embarrassed about if the can opener came into play at any time during the preparation of the holiday feast.

The rest of the year, the dancing glove was the enemy but on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter canned goods were left in the cabinet or better yet, the grocery store. The exception was, of course, something that you had canned yourself in a Mason jar.

This year, with all of the stress and extra workload in keeping the house disinfected so that everybody won't get MRSA that doesn't already have it, I bit the bullet and took a few shortcuts. And I have to tell you that of all the heretofore forbidden Thanksgiving time savers, canned chicken broth was the absolute BEST!

Led to believe that the taste of canned broth was easily detected when compared to homemade, I had never experimented with it. Under the gun this year, I forgot to buy a hen and simmer it to have my broth ready to make the dressing and gravy. After a quick and surreptitious dash to the grocery before lunch, six cans of Sweet Sue saved the day. The empty cans were bagged, hidden and buried in the dumpster and NOBODY said a thing about any of the recipes having a slightly "off" flavor.

Not having to make room in the refrigerator to store the homemade broth alone probably saved me an hour! That may not sound like much but on a busy holiday, every hour counts.

I would be curious to know if you discovered any Thanksgiving time savers that you might want to share. As for me, you can bet that I've got six more cans of this stuff on my grocery list to have on hand for Christmas. Am I proud that I jumped in and did what I had to do to make Thanksgiving dinner a success? You bet I am! Am I going to tell my grandmother what I did? Well, no. In fact, the canned broth is written in code on my grocery list and I plan to hide the cans in the trunk of the car. Will I be found out? You will have to return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see more Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday time savers and to see if anybody outs me.

FAMILY TRADITIONS

2009-11-19T12:34:00.003-06:00

Digging through my recipe box, what I have in my hands is a box of family traditions. Some of the cards are so stained that I can hardly read them but because the instructions and ingredients are in my grandmother’s handwriting, the thought that someday I will have no choice but to discard them breaks my heart. Each creased and dog-eared rectangle is soaked in memories.

And with each passing day, I appreciate more and more the importance of family traditions. It gives me pause to think what part of our lives that my girls are storing away in their minds that will be remembered in their adult lives. Somehow I know that what might strike them as memorable and important may not be the things that I regard as profound. I can already tell that from talking to my niece who is slightly older than my oldest daughter. I will ask her if she remembers this or that day that is crystal clear in my mind’s eye only to find that she has no recollection of the events whatsoever.

What I am counting on is that as my baby girls get older and find themselves in difficult or upsetting circumstances that they will have comforting memories of a stable childhood to bring them comfort. What I’m doing to foster these memories is keeping variety to a minimum especially when it comes to the holidays. My basic Thanksgiving and Christmas menu will always include certain dishes with a few experimental dishes on the side because I believe that repetition is the key to family traditions.

My sister and I have a standing joke about how every year until we left home mom and dad decorated shoeboxes with aluminum foil to hold oranges, apples and nuts supposedly left by Santa. It worries me that my girls will remember this coming Christmas as the one when dad was so sick and mom was worn out and worried. This thought has put my wheels in motion to focus on building fun holiday family traditions that will overshadow their dad’s current health crisis.

Before the season get in full swing, I’m organizing my favorite family recipes and making a list of fun holiday traditions from my own childhood that I want my daughters to enjoy. I’m not going to put a lot of pressure on myself to decorate the house like I’m trying to win “Home of the Year” or buy tickets to every holiday production within a 100 mile radius but I am going to do my best to keep it fun and keep Christ in Christmas. And I am not going to repeat my mother’s mistake of forcing Christmas stuff on my girls. One funny memory I have is mom telling us to get ourselves dressed and get in the car before we completely ruined everything and that we were going to LOVE the Nutcracker whether we liked it or not!

Come back later to see my list of Fun Holiday Family Tradtions that I come up with and please feel free to leave some suggestions for me in case I come up short.

SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE

2009-11-07T11:33:00.007-06:00

My family sweet potato pie recipe is soul food at its best. It's delicious, nutritious (so long as you don't mind sugar with your Vitamin A) and sitting down for a slice with your loved ones or even all by yourself with a good cup of coffee is definitely good for the soul.

Southern Sweet Potato Pie Video.

Just to let you know this is a truly SOUTHERN style recipe. It's not fluffy but firm. I use Pet evaporated milk not condensed milk and i am not sure why anybody would want to make it any other way. I'm sure there are other recipes that are delicious but if I tried to change a single ingredient or do something like add pecans or walnuts, I expect that I would have a redneck rebellion on my hands.

MY SOUTHERN SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE
10 cups thinly sliced sweet potatos
1/2 stick of butter or Blue Bonnet Margarine
2/3 cup plain white flour
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 tsp of ground nutmeg
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Pet Evaporated Milk (or however much it takes to make the mixture the same consistency as cake batter)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 deep dish pie shells (unbaked)

Cover sliced sweet potatos with water in a large boiler. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook till potatos are soft which should take about 45 minutes give or take a few. Before you remove from the fire, take a test slice and mash to be sure it is "mashable" without leaving lumps. When soft and ready, drain well in a colander and return potatos to the large boiler.

Mash margarine and potatos together till margarine is melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the Pet milk until blended. (if you were looking for condensed milk you are looking for something other than my family sweet potato pie recipe, my friend).

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon mixing well. Pour this mixture on top of potato mixture and mix till well blended. Add one egg at a time mixing well after each. Last of all add the vanilla and stir.

Pour everything into 2 unbaked, deep dish pie shells.

Bake about 1 hour in a preheated 350 degree oven until the centers are firm.

PIE BAKING TIPS:
To keep the entire sweet potato pie recipe from ending up on the bottom of a hot oven and ruining your day, I put the filled pie shells on baking sheets and not directly on the oven racks.

To keep the edges of the pie shell from getting burned, I put strips of aluminum foil around the edges before I load the pies in the oven.

This is an OLD SOUTHERN FAMILY sweet potato pie recipe. Before my great grandmother passed away I made her give me approximate measurements for the ingredients and instructions. I am still amazed at how consistent her pies were considering that she never used a recipe book and did all of her baking on a wood stove.

I'm going to share more soul food recipes that I'm thinking of including on my Thanksgiving dinner menu, so y'all come back now!

Wound Care

2009-11-07T11:12:00.005-06:00

We are still making trips back and forth to the hospital for wound care for E's MRSA. Blood was drawn yesterday and the white blood count is too high still for the poor guy to be taken off the antibiotic drip. I'm not sure what the plan is at this point because according to the doctor he was hoping for a much better response by now. This is confusing to me because I had read a report that MRSA actually kills white blood cells so I'm making a note to ask the doctor about this.

The huge wounds left from the incisions that were made when the boils, carbuncles or abscesses (wound care nurses have called them all of the above, so I'm not sure which he had or if he had all three) were lanced are still very sore but are slowly closing.

The largest wound was 8 inches in length and 3 inches deep after surgery. This woun care for this one has been a nightmare. Keeping a dressing on it is a challenge and not surprisingly, it is extremely painful. Yesterday, as part of the treatment the nurser used a scalpel to cut the sides so that she could start to pull the sides of the incision together for it to heal. She then put steri-strips on it to pull it closed. Needless to say this was a very painful visit and E was exhausted and went straight to bed when we got him home.

SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS

2009-10-31T12:50:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to post that after a long haul, the swine flu symptoms are on the decline around my house. Another happy dance that I'm willing to do is in celebration of the fact that for some odd reason that I'm the only one in the family that got sick.

One of the comments that I got was from a visitor who asked me how I knew that I had the swine flu and not your garden variety seasonal flu virus. The answer to that question is that I do not know for certain because as bad as I felt, I never felt the need to visit the emergency room or for that matter to even contact our doctor for antiviral medications. The reasons that I suspected H1N1 was because I had gotten my regular flu shot weeks earlier.

If I had gotten sick a few weeks earlier, the first thing I would have done would have been to call my doctor to get a prescription for tamiflu. But do you remember my post on how to remove a tick last month? Well, while talking to a medical professional about that I squeezed in some questions about whether or not to get the swine flu vaccine should it become available AND I did my best to talk him into prescribing Tamiflu ahead of the game which failed. He said that unless the seasonal or swine flu symptoms became severe that he would not use the antivirals.
He seemed knowledgeable on the subject so I weathered it out. I ran fever for several consecutive days but here I am now none the worse for wear.

Dear hubby on the other hand has had it tough with the MRSA but I'll be back later with the latest information on that and thanks to all of you that are praying for his recovery.

SWINE FLU and MRSA

2009-10-25T12:11:00.003-05:00

I’m here to tell you that the swine flu and MRSA infections are a painful match. My family is exhausted and while I feel that every day brings me a little relief from the symptoms, there are moments when I feel that I’m about to relapse...big time.

Of all times for the only adult male in the house to have a full blown MRSA episode this is not a great time and perhaps one of the worst. To give you some background that illness has kept me from sharing, the man of the house has had a little accident that has left him with some cuts and scrapes which at first seemed to be no big deal.

Moms who have been with me for awhile know that my baby (who has asthma and food allergies) got MRSA during a hospital stay. Well, a few days after daddy’s minor accident it is now clear that those abscesses, that we are all too familiar with, are starting to pop up in practically every place that he was scratched. One of them in particular is very painful and nasty, so I see rounds of antibiotics for our family in the future as a preventative measure.

Meanwhile, I’m on about day 5 of the swine flu and weak as a kitten with a houseful of kids and a sick man with a staph infection. The universe is being terribly unfair to dish out a case of the swine flu and MRSA in one single dose. More later, I’m off to scrape up some recipes made from as many anti-viral foods as I can find in the cabinets.

DO YOU THINK THERE IS TOO MUCH VIOLENCE ON TV

2009-10-19T09:41:00.002-05:00

I just got off the phone with a mom who asked me, "Do you think there is too much violence on TV?" Would you like to know what my knee jerk reaction to this question was? Well, since you asked so nicely I will tell you that I almost replied that there was nothing BUT violence on television.

The only reason that I bit my tongue and tempered my remarks was that I realized that I would be wrong because there is some excellent kids' programming available. Sure, some of it is terrible and sets a very poor example for children. And the fact that "Reading Rainbows" has been cancelled hacked me off to no end. But there are a few shows that I let the kids watch.

It's when I go searching for something for my husband and me to watch after the kids go to bed that I can give a definite affirmative answer to the question "Do you think there is too much violence on TV?" Because where adult programming is concerned you have a choice of goofy sitcoms, crime shows, talk shows or reality (oh please) television. Oh yes, and my husband's favorite, sports which I place in the "violent" category much to his dismay.

I have come to the conclusion that if you want to watch something uplifting to clear your head before bedtime, you are just out of luck! Murder, mangled bodies and mayhem do not a bedtime story make.

Every mom I talk to has the same complaint so why is this stuff still being crammed down our throats? I want to know what demographic likes to go to bed with visions of corpses dancing in their heads?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see what kind of answers I get to the question.

PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE with CANNED PUMPKIN

2009-10-17T12:34:00.008-05:00

I would rather use pumpkin that I process myself but I have kept a pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin handy for those times when I need to whip up a batch and don't have any pumpkins around.

J CLAIRE'S PUNKIN BREAD
3 cups of sifted plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 cup Crisco or 2 sticks of margarine
1 tsp of baking soda
2 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
(1) 1 pound can of pumpkin

Line two small coffee cans with waxed paper without poking holes in the paper or leaving seams where your bread batter can leak through.

Sift the flower, salt, baking power, baking soda and spices together.

Cream Crisco or your softened sticks of margarine gradually adding sugar as you cream till fluffy.

Add one egg at a time to sugar mixture beating well after each.

Stir in vanilla flavoring.

Add dry ingredients to the creamed sugar mixture alternately with dollops of canned pumpkin beating after each addition.

Stir in chopped nuts. You can use pecans or walnuts in your pumpkin bread recipe but I can't have either because of baby's allergy to tree nuts.

Pour equal amounts into each wax paper lined coffee can or a wax paper lined bundt cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.

I might catch some flack from my visitors for posting this recipe for several reasons, like the fact that my bread has LOTS of calories, using canned pumpkin instead of fresh and for saying that I use a coffee can as a cake pan. I will address these issues in order:

I already explained why this easy bread recipe calls for canned pumpkin. It's handy and a timesaver and I believe the vitamin benefits are the same as fresh but don't quote me on that.
This bread is not low calorie and I'm not trying to pass it off as such. It's a guilty pleasure that should be limited unless you want to move up to the next clothing size.
My mom always made her pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin baked in two small coffee cans that had been greased and lined with wax paper. It was fun and I don't believe it presents any possible health problems.

RECYCLING BABY STUFF

2009-10-08T10:04:00.003-05:00

I’m all for recycling baby stuff not only to keep the landfills from spilling over but to save money. Not willing to be penny rich and pound poor or spend a dime to save a nickel or vice versa, I bought quality baby clothes and shoes for my first daughter in gender neutral (well most of the time) styles.

Knowing that there would be more little ones coming down the pike (odd name for a vagina, right?) and that I could reap huge financial benefits by using these items to dress, feed and entertain more than one newborn. Some of my efforts were more rewarding than others, but for the most part I was very successful in saving lots of money especially on items necessary for baby’s first year in the nursery.

Here are some ideas for recycling baby stuff that worked best for me. Of course the amount of your savings may vary depending on the sex of your babies and how far apart they were born.

RECYCLING TIPS
1.Save those gowns and footed sleepers. You can never have too many to change into after a spit up or a diaper failure. Stains don’t matter and the cotton fabric gets softer and more comfortable with each trip through the laundry.

2.My girls’ used crib shoes and socks still look brand new even after being worn by three babies. If you know how much soft soled leather baby shoes cost you know that this is a very good example of saving money by recycling baby stuff. One caution that I would add is to be sure that you store them in a dry place between births as I lost a couple of pairs to mold (or was it mildew) when I put them in a cardboard box on the floor of the closet.

3.Strollers and baby beds are expensive and big money savers so long as you keep up with recalls. I actually came out alright by selling mine and buying newer models used for my second and third baby when storage space at my house was scarce. I didn’t feel guilty because by buying used, I was still recycling baby stuff and keeping it out of the junkyard.

BABY STUFF THAT MIGHT NOT BE WORTH RECYCLING
1.Stained outfits were a real downer for me (other than sleepwear). I had more fun shopping yard sales for used baby clothes that were in good shape and friends gave me some free baby stuff that had never been used at all that they had lying around that was too good to throw away but that didn't fit their child.

2.My nursery decorations for each girl were not expensive, but I wanted fresh, new bedding and decorative items rather than crumpled stuff out of a trunk.

3.Check the date on your infant car seats as most car seats are considered unusable six years past the date of manufacture. Once again, keep updated on car seat safety recalls.

Those are just a few tips on recycling baby stuff and if you have some frugal and earth friendly ideas of your own to share please leave them in the comments section on Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues so that we all can do our part in improving our environment.

CHEMICAL FREE BABY PRODUCTS

2009-09-29T13:02:00.002-05:00

Seeing a mom use anything BUT chemical free baby products and household cleaners is something I can get really worked up about. I can hardly believe my eyes when I go to another mom’s house and see poisonous chemicals in the bathroom and under the sinks.

So what if you have reliable cabinet door locks to keep baby from taking a swig right out of the bottle when you put the products within reach every time you clean the house? When harsh cleaners are used to clean the toilet there a risk of poisoning the thirsty family dog as well as the toddler who thinks the potty is a small and easily accessed bathtub. To avoid this situation in your home, do some research on using chemical free, natural toilet cleaners!

I’ve been exposed to my fair share of chemicals in my lifetime as most of us have. When I think of how much crap I’ve breathed into my lungs when helping clean the house on Saturdays it scares me to no end. I’m determined that my daughters are going to have a better start in life and know better than to release nasty chemicals into our water supply and to use natural household cleaners and natural pesticides whenever possible. Now is the time for the world to stand up and take notice that using natural based household cleaners and chemical free baby products is better for everyone.

I started out using chemical free baby products but I still see more than a few moms hanging on to brand names filled with stuff that (in my opinion) adults much less babies should never be exposed to. There are many green, chemical free baby products samples giveaways and lots of information posted on why fewer chemicals are better and it is our responsibility as parents to make the right decisions!

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find more opinionated rants about the need to go green in our homes.

HOW TO REMOVE A TICK FROM A PERSON

2009-09-27T15:55:00.003-05:00

We had an incident yesterday that required me to refresh myself on how to remove ticks from a human. Dear hubby had gone out in the field to dump some grass clippings and apparently picked up an unwanted hitchhiker and before I would commit to helping him out, I went in search of the best method of removing ticks. Here are some tick removal tips.

HOW TO REMOVE A TICK

Clean the area with rubbing alcohol and then with clean tweezers grab the tick as close to where it has attached itself to the skin as possible.
If you don’t have tweezers handy, avoid handling the tick with your bare hands. Once you have a good hold, pull it straight out of the skin with a firm, steady motion WITHOUT SQUEEZING THE TICK’S BODY. Crushing the critter’s bulbous little body will cause it to regurgitate its stomach’s disease causing contents. And friend, if there is anything more disgusting in this world than tick puke I can’t name it.
Once you have removed and destroyed the tick, go over the area once again with rubbing alcohol and when dry, dab on some bacitracin ointment. Our doctor says bacitracin (available without prescription) is better than Neosporin.

I have one suggestion on how to teach your kids how to remove ticks from a human being; let them practice on the family dog. Growing up in the country, I had to remove ticks from dogs all the time that they picked up running through the woods and I got really good at it. For all practical purposes knowing how to remove a tick from a human is the same as knowing how to remove ticks from dogs except for the fact that my daddy’s hunting dogs were nowhere near as squeamish as my husband!

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see if my patient feels that I did a good job or if (God forbid) the spot gets infected.

WHAT KIND OF YEAST TO MAKE WINE

2009-09-26T18:17:00.004-05:00

I just accidentally deleted or rejected a comment asking what kind of yeast to make wine muscadine wine to be exact. I don't know if the would-be winemaker will check back here to get the answer to his or her winemaking question but just in case I wanted to leave a reply.

I'm told that you could use the same yeast that you might use to make bread, but the taste would be terrible but to be clear I've never tried it so I can't say. I would advise that you use specifically cultured yeast for winemaking. And that is a perfect example of things I wish that had been asked of the old folks before they passed on. I would have loved to be able to ask what kind of yeast was used to make muscadine wine in those days. I doubt seriously that my great-great grandmother had access to special ingredients; so what DID she use? My guess would be that in the old days they grew their own special cultures or just allowed the muscadines to ferment naturally without using yeast cultures.

As far as what what kind of yeast to make wine that we would use today, I have seen Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast recommended by people who say that it works great and is very cheap to use. If you don't have a home brewing supply store in your area, you can order it online. The only problem there is that I'm told most wine yeasts should be refrigerated until used and I'm not sure how that could be guaranteed in the mail.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues if you have questions and I'll try to answer them.

BABY TREE FROG HALLOWEEN COSTUME GIVEAWAY

2009-09-25T11:57:00.000-05:00

To draw attention to the shrinking habitat of the red eyed tree frog, I’m having a Baby frog Halloween costume giveaway contest! These bug eyed frogs have kind of become the poster child for saving the rain forests of the world if you have seen many posters advertising the need for action. This may be because their eyes make them look horrified and the organizations behind this very worthwhile movement know that WE SHOULD BE HORRIFIED that these priceless treasures are being destroyed at an alarming rate of speed.

There is another contest taking place that you can reach by following the link above that allows you to choose your own costume (if you win) from ANYTIMECOSTUMES.COM if dressing your baby like a tree frog is not what you had in mind for baby’s first time out Trick or Treating.

**GIVEAWAY RULES**

**MANDANTORY FOR 1 ENTRY**
– Comment on what you feel can or should be done to slow the destruction of the rainforest. Don’t forget to leave your contact information so that I can get in touch if you are the winner.

**ADDITIONAL ENTRIES**
– GET 2 ADDITIONAL ENTRIES BY FOLLOWING MY BLOG!

The winner of the free baby frog Halloween costume giveaway will be drawn on October 15th at Midnight and announced the following day. I will contact you and give the winner 2 days to contact me with shipping information. If the winner fails to contact me within this time frame, another winner will be drawn.

Just so you know, I won the costume that will be the prize in my blog’s baby frog Halloween costume giveaway and there was a no return or exchange policy attached to the freebie. When it didn’t fit my little one I was disappointed at first and then I had the idea of turning lemons into lemonade by offering another mom a free baby Halloween costume AND using the cute baby tree frog costume as an opportunity to talk about the disappearing rainforest.

FYI the red eyed frog is not considered to be an endangered species YET. But where will they go when the rainforest is gone?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to see more giveaways that give me a chance to rant and rave about the lack of attention being paid to the environment.

MUSCADINE WINE RECIPE

2009-09-22T10:26:00.001-05:00

NO PESTICIDES USED!

Hubby said I should share our old-fashioned, southern muscadine wine recipe after I told him that I had posted Gran's muscadine cobbler recipe. I was reluctant to do so not because of its secret ingrediants or because it's acidic and you have to acquire a taste for it. I didn't post it because all of the kids would have been in big trouble if we had ever so much as whispered out loud that somebody in the family had made wine or anything alcoholic.

This recipe for muscadine wine will produce a sweet version. If you want your wine to have more kick to it, some people add vodka.

OLD FASHIONED MUSCADINE WINE RECIPE

8 quarts of muscadine Grapes
8 pounds of granulated sugar
4 quarts of warm spring water (un-chlorinated)
1 package of dry yeast

Wash the muscadines and then one by one, mash the grapes in your fingers.

Pour the sugar in the warm water and stir still dissolved. Dip out a small amount in a cup and dissolve the yeast and pour it back into the main mixture.

Pour the liquid over the mashed muscadines.

Stir the muscadine mixture every day for a week.

Strain into a crock or churn that can be sealed and let sit for six weeks.

Strain mixture again and put in jars with the lids screwed on very loosely for the first few days (about 3) so that there's no chance of the jars exploding (ask me how I know!).

Tighten the jar lids and store in the cellar or a cool place.

A LITTLE BIT OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
The south, as I'm sure you know from watching old timey movies, has a reputation for making moonshine whiskey. But what you might not know is that for every man who had a still and made "shine" there was probably a wife who sang in the choir every Sunday that may have helped in the process to raise a little money to feed her children. The enterprise was necessary but shameful at the time and in the south, if you had relatives who made whiskey it is not something that is discussed.

The one and only reason that my grandmother shared her muscadine wine recipe with me is because she believed in its medicinal properties. And as muscadine grapes contain as much if not more resveratrol than grapes, it seems that she was right.

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find more of my family's favorite recipes.

NATURAL WAY TO KILL FIRE ANTS

2009-09-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I needed a natural way to kill fire ants, preferably without the use of chemicals. After all the rain I could look out over the yard and see ant mounds everywhere! Before you recommend that I pick up some fire ant poison at the discount store I feel that I should remind you that I have four little girls who play in this same yard where those mounds have popped up like mushrooms and I don't like the idea of their running through chemical pesticide residue in their bare feet.

I knew from the start that their extermination would be a delicate balancing act. Fire ant stings could be deadly to my youngest and I will protect her at all cost but I don't want my babies exposed to pesticides in order to do so. What I needed was a fire ant mound destroyer that would leave no poisonous residue once the job was done. Because not only have they built mounds out in the yard but there are piles of ant dirt right next to the patio where we spend a lot of time as a family. These suckers have to go and if at all possible I was determined to make it happen using the most natural means available to me.

In my search of a natural way to kill fire ants, I came across some suggestions that seemed reasonable and some...not so much. And then there was one that looked like it would be downright fun! Would you care to guess which method I decided to try first? Being such a fan of family fun and all, you just had to know I'd choose the lighthearted way of bug extermination.

I'm going to use baking soda and vinegar to kill these red devil fire ants.

A NATURAL WAY TO KILL FIRE ANTS

The instructions I found said to pour baking soda all over the mound and poke as much as possible deep into the mound using a stick. EXTREME CAUTION is necessary to avoid attacking ants while you are poking soda into their mound. In fact, I recommend wearing tall, rubber boots for protection. I tried a skinny, wooden dowel rod first but ended up using my backup which was a straightened wire coat hanger but your experience may vary depending on your soil.

After the baking soda was in place the next step was to pour a gallon of vinegar over the mound making sure that it comes into contact with the soda to facilitate the desired reaction. That mound started to crackle and fizz like crazy. I saw dead fire ants everywhere. It seems that your elementary school science project would have done better to educate us on a natural way to kill fire ants without chemicals rather than be just a lame volcano spewing on the table for a minute. Did this kill the fire ant queen or will the mounds pop back up again?

Return to Family Recipes, Babies and Parenting Issues to find out!

MUSCADINE PIE RECIPE

2009-09-15T16:05:00.003-05:00

My grandmother's muscadine pie recipe may be the most delicious way I know to get your daily allotment of the trendy, anti-aging flavonoid known as resveratrol. Who would have dreamed that muscadines, or scuppernongs as we always called them, are supposed to be loaded with the same stuff that has red wine flying off the shelves of your local liquor store! Another added benefit of this pie is that I know that the muscadines I pick myself have never been treated with any pesticides!

MUSCADINE PIE

4 pounds ripe scuppernongs (muscadine grapes)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or plain white flour)
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Teaspoon of Lemon Juice

1 Recipe of your favorite double crust pie crust

Wash the scuppernongs then pull the hulls off off the pulp over a bowl to save the juice.

Pour the hulls, half of the saved juice in a heavy boiler and cook till tender. If the hulls are tough, it could take a while.

In a separate container, combine the remaining juice and the pulp until the seeds come loose, stirring constantly. Then run this mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds.

In a large pot, combine pulp mixture and hull mixture and stir until mixed.

Remove 2 cups (freeze leftovers for later or make another pie) with sugar, cornstarch, butter and lemon juice stirring well.

Pour into a pie plate lined with crust, top with remaining portion of crust. Trim and seal the edges. Flute the edges and cut slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees or until crust is brown.

As for me, I don’t like the taste of wine. Fermented beverages of any kind have never held much appeal for me. I’ve tried it and not only did I fail to appreciate the bouquet and flavor; the stuff makes me sleepy and gives me a headache. Dessert has yet to produce those side effects so I think I’ll stick with getting my flavonoids the old fashioned way.

Lucky for me that this old, southern muscadine pie recipe has (reportedly) many times the amount of resveratrol than is supposed to be packed in a bottle of Bordeaux. And I can cook it for a fraction of the price unless you count the time that I spend picking them off the vine and the time I’ll be scratching the redbug bites after the fact. Why do I always forget to spray before I head out the door to the woods with bucket in hand?

Return to Muscadine Pie Recipes to find more easy dessert recipes using old fashioned ingredients.

MAMA'S QUICK RECIPE FOR PEAR COBBLER

2009-09-11T11:13:00.003-05:00

I call this Mama’s Quick recipe for pear cobbler because this was the dessert that was served when fresh pears were coming in by the bushel basket full and quick family meals were to be expected. After the crops were in and jars of canned fruit were lining the shelves, when a more relaxed pace fell in place we could look forward to pastries that took more time to produce. Another good thing about these pears is that I know they have never been treated with pesticide.

MAMA’S QUICK RECIPE FOR PEAR COBBLER

2 cups of peeled, sliced fresh pears 2 cups of sugar (1 ½ if using canned pears)
4 ounces of unsalted butter
¾ cup of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sweet milk
1 whole egg

Pour 1 cup of sugar over sliced pears in a bowl and set aside (if using canned pears, half the sugar and use a little syrup out of the jar). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt your butter in a 2 qt oven proof baking dish either by placing dish in the oven or microwaving for a few seconds.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the rest of your dry ingredients including spices and salt (less a half cup of sugar if you chose to use canned pears) and mix well.

Beat the egg and sweet milk together with a spoon, pour over the dry ingredients and blend until a batter forms. Pour this batter over the butter that you melted WITHOUT STIRRING. Then pour your pears including syrup on top of your butter and batter, AGAIN WITHOUT STIRRING.

Bake your preheated oven for about an hour at 325 watching to see when batter (which has now miraculously risen to form the top crust) begins to brown.

Most cooks would leave it at this, but Mama would brush the top of the crust lightly with butter and sprinkle it with sugar which gave it better flavor. In my traditional southern home, more butter and sugar were added to practically every recipe.

Pies with rolled pastry were more time consuming than Mama’s quick recipe for pear cobbler and more visually showy but it would be impossible to find fault with the sweet, buttery filling of this easy pear dessert no matter whether what!

Return to Oooh Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to find more frugal southern recipes that include fresh fruit and produce.

PEAR HONEY RECIPE with PINEAPPLE

2009-09-08T11:44:00.001-05:00

From as early as I can remember, August was the month mama made her pear honey recipe with pineapple. My favorite pear tree, the one that my daddy planted the day I was born, could be depended on to deliver many bushels of firm cooking pears around the first of August and this treat was just one of the many delightful dishes made from its bountiful harvest.

MAMA’S PEAR HONEY RECIPE with PINEAPPLE

12 cups of firm, peeled, sliced pears
12 cups of white sugar
1 (20 oz) can of crushed pineapple undrained
1 washed, thinly sliced lemon including the peel

After you wash the pears and cut them up, keep them covered in cold water until you have twelve cups. Drain the water from the pears and run them through the coarse blade of your food processor or thinly slice them. Put pears and sugar in a large pot and heat over very low heat (to give the juice a chance) stirring occasionally and don’t worry about crushing the pears. Simmer until the pears are cooked clear (I’m not going to put a time here because pears in different stages of ripeness take different amounts of time to get the right honey- like consistency) stir in the crushed pineapple and lemon and cook 5 to 10 minutes more. Pour the Pear Honey recipe with pineapple into hot, sterilized jars and seal. The results should be 6 to 8 pints of a delicious treat that is wonderful on a hot biscuit and makes an attractive gift.

Tips:
1. Some cooks drop a cherry in each jar for a little added color if you want to dress it up to give as a gift

2. If you have some over ripe pears. Half the amount of sugar recommended for crisp pears

3. Try using Pear Honey on your kids peanut butter sandwiches instead of jelly

Some cooks use pineapple juice instead of crushed pineapple in their recipe. But Mama’s pear honey recipe with pineapple just tasted better to me, had a better texture and was easy to make with less cooking time than when juice was substituted. There were times when frugal cooking was a necessity that the juice from a can of sliced pineapple was substituted for the crushed pineapple. Many reading this may be thinking that a can of crushed pineapple is so cheap that they could not imagine altering the taste and appearance of the pear honey recipe to save a dollar. And I pray that those ladies never have the need to watch every cent like our family had to when times were bad.

FAMILY PEAR RECIPES

2009-09-07T15:43:00.000-05:00

I have more favorite pear recipes than for apple, peaches or most any other fruit. The reason for this might be that my daddy thought of an old family tradition to commemorate the birth of his baby girl. He headed right out to that pretty, field right beyond the pasture and planted a pear tree. Actually, he planted a bunch of pear trees, but I always knew which one he planted on the day I was born because he pointed it out to me regularly every time we took a walk in that direction. So, we have always had lots of canned pears on hand.

But that’s not the only reason my childhood memories are packed with every kind of pear recipe from pear cobbler to Pear Butter most of which were cooked for our family by my grandmother who says that she did her best to duplicate her mother’s recipes in spite of the fact that the only directions she was ever able to pry out of her was, "Oh, I throw in a little of this and a little of that and never have used a measuring cup or spoon".

I do not want my girls in the very distant future to have to guess at how I made their favorite old fashioned southern pear recipes like Pear Honey with Pineapple, pear preserves and mama's famous recipe for pear cobbler. My plans are to leave them with detailed recipes so that long after I’m gone they can enjoy natural goodies that they had when they were at home.

At the moment I’m looking at a bushel basket full of pears that need peeling. But right after I get through canning them I’m going to start typing out all those old fashioned, family pear recipes and if you make it back to Oh Baby Green Living, Family and Parenting Issues I'll share them with you and yours. There are lots of pear recipes on the net, but I may have a few old southern recipes that you might like better.

HOW TO TIE A TIE THE QUICK AND EASY WAY

2009-09-06T09:55:00.000-05:00

With my family consisting largely of females one might wonder why I’d need to know how to tie a tie. Over the past few years I have devoted a world of time to learning how to make baby girls’ hair bows and embellishing hair bands and barrettes with doodads and decorations. However, learning how to tie a necktie knot fell further on my to do list with every baby girl that popped out of the oven, so to speak but as we know life can throw you a curve when you least expect it and, no pun intended, tie you in knots.

At one of the birthday celebrations that my devoted husband attended with two of our daughters yesterday he volunteered to catch the littlest kids and be sure they had good footing in the blow up pool at the bottom of the big blue monster slide. To make a long story short, one of the kids flew down that slide like a rocket and dear husband jammed two of his fingers trying to catch the child. The hostess fetched a bag of ice and iced the swollen fingers immediately but hubby arrived home with throbbing digits that resembled stuffed sausages. Among all the other things I had to take care of due to his debilitated hand, I was informed if he was going to go to church with the family this morning, I had to learn how to tie a tie because there was no way that he could do it himself and as he is an usher, my husband always wears a suit and tie to Sunday services.

Thinking he was just trying to play hooky from church I stayed up after everyone else had gone to bed thinking that I would head him off at the pass and surprise him with my amazing ability to tie his tie in a perfect knot. Imagine my surprise to find that there are more than a few knots that are used for this purpose and I didn’t have a clue which one I needed to learn. What was the difference in a half-Windsor and a plain Windsor? Or did he use the Shelby also known as the Pratt? What I needed was to find the easiest way possible to get us (hopefully) through one tying so I did a search for the EASIEST way to tie a tie and found that I was not the only person that need help in learning how to tie a tie as there are not only colored pictures and diagrams with instructions but (God bless them) videos teaching us the fine art of tying a gentleman’s necktie in many, many ways. For simplicity’s sake I decided on the half-Windsor knot because the steps seemed to me to be the easiest.

About an hour ago, I laid out hubby’s shirt and tie like I always do and when he came out of the shower, he paused when he saw the familiar scene wondering how this was going to work. Before he could ask any questions, I said, "When you’re ready for your tie, I’ll take care of it for you". He hasn’t gotten around to asking me how or when I learned how to tie a tie so for now it’s our little secret and just one of those things you do for family.

Return to Oooh Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to see if he ever asks me whose tie I tied before his because I know that it will bug him until he asks.

QUALITY FAMILY TIME

2009-09-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

I'm having trouble figuring out how to squeeze in quality family time this holiday weekend. I was not aware that September was a big baby delivery month but if the number of birthday parties that my kids were in invited to attend today alone, there must have been a premature ice storm or something four or five years ago if you catch my drift.

With such a busy schedule and dear daddy taking half the kids in one direction with mommy (yours truly) heading in the other with the remainder of our little crew in tow I had to ponder if trying to attend every get together was the best plan. The girls were so tired that they took a short, unsatisfying nap in the car on the way home and are now half-heartedly splashing in the bath while I'm heating spaghetti sauce and boiling noodles for supper.

Tomorrow we are going to have some quality family time, together, as a unit barring some unseen disaster. My goal is to pull the plug on the television and the football games (sorry, Honey) and to turn on the telephone. Mom, dad and the kids are going to play and laugh and spend some time making memories.

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to see if I make good on my promise.

OLD MAN SLAPS CHILD IN WALMART

2009-09-03T10:42:00.001-05:00

Ok, it's one of those mornings when baby is fussy but you have to go to the store and an old man walks up and slaps your child in Walmart. Not exactly a great way to kick off the day. This might seem like a fictional report of a friend's bad dream or perhaps a nightmare of your own. However, this scenario played itself out in a Walmart store in Georgia.

A 61 year old guy named Roger Stephens apparently got enough of a little 2 year old girl's crying and (alledgedly) told her to shut the child up or he would do it.

As kids are so prone to do, the little girl kept crying which reportedly prompted Stephens to make good on his threat. It was reported that he (as gran used to say) rared back and slapped her not once but four times. He then had the brass to tell her mom, who was no doubt standing there gaping in shock, "See, I told you I could (or would?) shut her up". To quote Whoopie Goldberg, "WHAT THE HELL"?!

To follow up, Mr. Stephens was picked up, arrested and charged on Monday on a first degree cruelty to children charge. Before his arrest (or perhaps because of the impending?) he apologized to the mother for slapping her little girl. My questions is what kind of man slaps a child in Walmart or anywhere for that matter?

I tried to get a mental picture of my husband slapping one of our girls and I couldn't. We just don't discipline our children in that way. The image of anybody hitting a child in the face or anywhere is appalling to me because. It's my belief that violence never solves anything but creates bigger problems for the long haul. I'm not a fan of violence, but you better know that any man who slaps my child in Walmart or anywhere else better be expecting it. This peaceful mama would break out a big can of ass whipping like you wouldn't believe!

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues

THE I PLEDGE VIDEO - HOW SHOULD WE FEEL?

2009-09-03T10:29:00.000-05:00

Frankly, I can’t say how I feel about the I PLEDGE video until I study it and give it a lot of thought. There is more work to do for a parent than to analyze the actual content of the video. First, let me go on the record as saying that I don’t like the idea of political messages being directed at my children while they are at school.

The question was brought up at a play date this morning whether or not the video had a political agenda. I'm not usually concerned with politics but I like to be informed on current events so I figured I had better check out some of the opinions on the I Pledge video posted by people who are more involved and intelligent than yours truly.
My findings were that President Obama’s speech seemed to be standard political fare asking the viewers to be more patriotic, responsible and helpful in nature. Then the celebrities are seen making pledges about how they plan to support the president and do their part in helping the world and that’s where the film became problematic and at times kind of goofy.

Some of the celebrity pledges shown in the I Pledge video concerned helping out in food banks, being more cheerful and helping the elderly population which I can jump on board with in a big way. And then there was the pledge not to shoot the bird to our fellow travelers on the roads which is a small contribution to world peace, but I’m not sure I want my kids to hear about adults giving the finger at school as I exercise restraint when I’m driving to keep them innocent as long as possible.

And then there are the more leading pledges that leave me scratching my head namely the one about the celeb promoting stem cell research and selling their old gas burner to buy a more fuel efficient hybrid. For one thing most kids know very little if anything about stem cell research and beyond being told they can’t use the car could not possibly care less about fuel efficient transportation.
Many pledges, such as supporting local food banks, smiling more, and caring for the elderly are not controversial. But other pledges, such as "to never give anyone the finger when I’m driving again", "to sell my obnoxious car and buy a hybrid" and to advance stem cell research some say cross the line. The question at hand is not whether these pledges or statements are harmful, because most of the stuff that I’ve read was in the I Pledge video is pretty mundane stuff other than the subject of stem cell research. The bigger issue is whether the children should be politically influenced at school.

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to see what ladies in my neighborhood think about this video being shown in public schools.

Swine Flu, Babies and Asthma

2009-09-02T18:42:00.000-05:00

The word is that Swine flu and asthma is a nasty combination. But then every illness is further complicated when breathing problems exist. The numbers of reported cases of confirmed cases are increasing with every newspaper that hits my driveway. And my anxiety is spreading through my body faster than the virus is mutating because I have children who are in the high risk group that have allergies and can't take the regular flu vaccine much less the H1N1 vaccination.

It depends on how I’m feeling at the moment but I’m waffling between being worried about the actual illness and what might happen if one of my girls catches it which would be bad enough under any set of circumstances but even more so given their existing breathing problems and fear of the girls being a guinea pig. The reports that this vaccine has not been put to the test and could possibly be more dangerous than the swine flu in and of itself.

What’s a mother to do when put between a rock and a hard place? Should I roll the dice, keep my fingers crossed and pray that the H1N1 bypasses our family or trust the medical talking heads and put these little souls in line to get a vaccination that some doctors are on record as stating that in their opinions the swine flu vaccine is not ready for use in humans?

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to find out whether we decide to vaccinate or not.

Dear Kid Saturday - My Hyper Tired Baby

2009-08-29T17:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Cass, my poor, sweet, hyper tired baby,

I should have known when I had to wake you up earlier than usual this morning that today was not going to be the day that we would win the "Peaceful, Organized Family" award. Did the absence of carbs that were kept to a bare minimum at breakfast make you feel deprived? You seemed to enjoy the turkey bacon and scrambled eggs so much that missing a bowl of your favorite cereal should not have been an issue. My hopes were that what I cooked would stabilize your and your sisters' energy levels so that our day would be easy going and pleasant even with the shortage of sleep last night. But lack of energy has not been your problem today has it?

I'm so very sorry that you are having a difficult time enjoying your day. Your sisters are honestly not trying to be aggravating, at least no more than usual. And you should know better than expect me to allow you to break rules just because you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. You know that all rules are there for a reason and a bad mood is no excuse to rethink or to bend them.

Maybe after naptime, my hyper tired baby will be in a better humor and I will see your sunny smile once again. My apologies for passing on my genetic predisposition towards grumpiness due to lack of sleep. I wish I could tell you that you will outgrow it but your mommy never has. This is just another one of those instances where we must learn to play the hand we've been dealt. And there will be an earlier than usual bedtime tonight.

Love, Mommy

HOW TO CLEAN GLASS SHOWER DOORS

2009-08-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

Can somebody please tell me how to clean glass shower doors the quick and easy way? If you can share a tip or two and tell me how to KEEP them from getting covered in spots caused by hard water that would be ever so helpful as well.

The story behind my dilemma goes like this. A few months ago we went house shopping and after looking at over a hundred or so homes on the market we narrowed it down and bought a home that had many positive features (which you will probably get to hear about in the coming days, months or even years as the mortgage stretches before me for quite a way) one of which was the very roomy custom glass shower.

There are shower heads coming at you every which way (I’ll probably need advice on how to clean a clogged shower head before too long) and it was so modern looking with three walls of white (manmade) marble and one long wall of, at the time of purchase, squeaky clean glass. A few wash jobs later, I now see that I better learn how to clean glass shower doors FAST or they are going to look like an old coffee pot pretty quick.

I had some spray cleaner but my mom tells me that she heard it will pit the glass, so I barely escaped doing some irreparable damage by the skin of my teeth. Always believing it’s best to use recipes for green household cleaners and pesticides whenever possible, I’m going to start with vinegar and go from there. I’m off to fill my trusty spray bottle I will keep you posted on how the vinegar does on cutting the build-up using a soft cloth.

Meanwhile, if any of you have ideas on how to clean glass shower doors without scratching them and how to keep them from getting water spots immediately after said cleaning will you please return to hit the comments section below and help me out?

KIDS and SPORTS INJURIES

2009-08-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

Kids and sports injuries have always fit like a hand in glove. In my neighborhood there is always a child getting hit by a ball, breaking an arm at football practice or spraining an ankle. As the mother of four girls who love to play cheerleader and tumble, the news that school gym injuries are jumping in numbers gives me cause for concern. The reason given for the increase is that schools are pushing kids to get up off their butts and get some exercise in an effort to DECREASE the numbers of obese children. And I’m all for getting kids off the couch and away from too much television not to mention preventing them from wearing out their little hands playing video games but get a load of these numbers and wait for it because there’s a shocker in the numbers.

In a recent study the numbers from a study on kids and sports injuries from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (is that a mouthful?) were the big tip off. For the period that covered eleven years, over four hundred thousand kids were injured during PE (physical education or Phys ed as we used to call it in the dark ages) and taken for treatment at the emergency room. This number increased 150% over the course of the study. The largest number of injuries was associated with six school activities. Not surprisingly, the usual contact sports were culprits. Of course, football and basketball are on the list and I would have been amazed if they were absent. And there were a few of the less physical sports on the list like soccer, gymnastics and volleyball. But then, hold on… RUNNING is on the list.

I ran junior high track and then went on to high school so I paid my dues as did many of my friends and frankly I can’t remember an injury or sprain that couldn’t be iced down on the spot with the athlete sent limping to the sidelines to rest up. My question is this, have kids gotten so out of shape that they can’t even run without having to hit the ER?

Please leave your comments or experiences regarding Parenting Kids and Sports Injuries before my oldest leaves for kindergarten!

BIRD DROPPINGS – DISEASE, HEALTH RISKS and AGGRAVATION

2009-07-15T13:16:00.000-05:00

I love birds but the feeling that I had while having to clean up bird droppings off my back doorstep this morning was about as far from love and affection as one chick could get. The problem is that recently birds have taken a liking to the portion of our patio that is covered. They regard the ceiling fans as their own personal merry go round as you can see from the pictures. This is bad enough as they are pooping all over the patio floor as well as the fan’s blades but the worst of the situation is that they have built a nest on top of the audio speakers that are unfortunately mounted directly above the back door to our house and the pile of bird poop on the steps is getting bigger by the minute.

The whole time I’m removing the poop I’m recounting all that I know about bird droppings, disease and health risks that might I might be exposing myself to. It struck me that by having to remove the droppings that I was probably sending no telling what kind of microbes into the air (and breathing them into my lungs) by stirring the mess up to get it swept up and in some cases where it was still fresh, scooped up.

And did I mention the swooping and pecking problem? It’s not enough that the birds have turned my patio into their personal toilet, first they started dive bombing us if we wanted to go into the backyard. To show respect to what I thought might be nesting season, I relocated the kids’ playtime to the front yard and they followed us there. Now the little buggers are attacking the windows of our home whenever they spot any movement indoors.

Can anyone tell me how to rid myself of these aggressive little suckers? We can’t enjoy our home and need to send the bird droppings, the disease, health risks and the aggravation down the road. Please help, I’m beginning to feel like I’m living in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and with my kids’ allergies and existing illnesses it’s not something I want to deal with. Please leave your suggestions on how to lesson my exposure to hostile birds and bird droppings in the comment form on Oooh Baby Parenting and Family Issues.

ASTHMA IN CHILDREN

2009-07-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

Why I was so dumb to think that asthma in children had become an illness of the past much the same as polio and red measles would strike me as funny except that dealing with asthma is anything but fun. My older brother had asthma as a child but I was too little to remember anything about it except that my mother accused my father of being the cause of it because he smoked his pipe in the house.

As you can imagine, when my daughter starting presenting symptoms of asthma, the most noticeable being a persistent cough at night it came as a shock. Of course, that was before I did my homework and found that asthma in children was not only alive and well but very common in babies with allergies and eczema which made my infant a prime candidate for RAD (reactive airway disease which is a fancy, modern name for asthma) in spite of my diligent reading of vacuum cleaner reviews to see which models got the best consumer product ratings and reviews .

Her uncontrolled (and misdiagnosed) allergies early on made it impossible to manage her asthma symptoms and along with her MRSA and frequent upper respiratory infections kept me on edge to the point of exhaustion. I’m glad to report that as she has gotten older and her allergy triggers have been pinpointed, treatment has gotten more effective.

And the support network for parents with a child who suffers from this condition is fantastic! There are online screening quizzes to help parents identify the symptoms of asthma in children and information on asthma treatments for children so that you will be well educated and prepared to discuss whether or not your baby’s allergies and asthma symptoms with your doctor during your next visit.

HOW TO CLEAN A TOILET

2009-06-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

Modern homemakers don’t just need to know how to clean a toilet. They should educate themselves as to the environmentally friendly way to clean tough toilet stains that won’t unnecessarily pollute our water supply or accidentally poison the family pet or even worse, the kids! I'm not the only person whose baby has mistaken the commode for a water park, am I?

TANK CLEANERS

Tank cleaners that come in the form of tablets or hanging capsules were all the rage for awhile. The belief was that if you properly cleaned the reservoir tank that those stubborn toilet rings would never show up in the first place. Now we know that this is wrong thinking in that we found out that this was not the magic cure it was held up to be. Plus, if you had a dog or a cat that enjoyed a refreshing drink from the commode from time to time we realized that toilet cleaner did little to enhance this experience. Even if you don’t have an animal to worry with, why do we think it is a good thing to pour an unending supply of chemicals in our water? We should be more concerned with REMOVING chemicals from water rather than dumping more in.

HOW TO CLEAN A TOILET THE GREEN WAY

The facts are that there is no magic cleaner or tip that I can share with you for how to clean your toilet while never having to go into the bathroom. I CAN tell you how to clean the commode and never get your hands dirty; wear gloves! Ok, I know that was cruel but let’s get real.

NO HARSH CHEMICALS NECESSARY

Cleaning the toilet is an unpleasant task that takes some elbow grease and a cleaner helps. But chemical toilet cleaners are not part of how to clean a toilet in a safe, green and environmentally friendly fashion.

DISINFECTING

Did you know that plain soap and water do a very good job of killing germs? The only problem here is that pesky ring in the toilet bowl. That is a little harder to get rid of so here are some safe toilet cleaners that might make the job a little easier.

(1. Reduce the water level in the bowl and sprinkle it liberally with baking soda. Dash some (cheap) vinegar in the bowl and scrub with one of those green scrub pads or the toilet brush of your choice.

(2. Take one cup of Borax and add enough lemon juice or vinegar to make a paste. (I prefer lemon juice for its safe bleaching properties) Smear the recipe on that ugly toilet bowl ring and let it sit for two hours then scrub.

(3. Drop two denture cleaning tablets in the bowl when you go to bed at night. Scrub the bowl first thing the next morning.

So, that is how to clean a toilet without poisoning the family pet or our planet. If you use any of our green household cleaner recipes, please come back and give us a review as to how they performed.

Return to Home and Baby Parenting and Family Issues to find more tips on how to clean a toilet and green household cleaner recipes.

INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS IMPROVEMENTS

2009-06-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

Recently there has been an increased focus of national attention on the improvement of industrial environmental standards. As the USA attempts to rebuild its economy, we must be focused on not only restoring industry, but restore it in such a way that is not environmentally destructive. Perhaps the economic slowdown could give us an opportunity to improve all aspects of industry, including hazards among workers in their place of work and the health hazards affecting citizens residing in the surrounding areas that in the past were all too common.

What many do not realize is that not only does the health of our planet earth depend on improved industrial environmental standards, but the health of humans as well. The far reaching health complications caused by irresponsible industrial practices can essentially be divided into two categories, namely the direct and the indirect.

DIRECT

Direct health conditions have been documents to be on the rise as a direct result of the use of fossil fuels. A perfect example of this may be the increased asthmas rates in areas with high smog indices. Even the mildest case of asthma can deteriorate respiratory capacity over time and leave breathing seriously diminished with unimproved air quality. The continuous release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere has shown to increase ultraviolet light exposure by lowering our filtered sunlight. And as we are aware, this same ultraviolet light has been conclusively linked to skin cancer. It should come as no surprise that skin cancer cases in countries like South Africa and Australia, where the atmosphere is most affected is much higher than in other areas of our planet.

INDIRECT

Indirect industrial health consequences include those which can be attributed to old industrial infrastructure, including toxin exposure to employees. Workers in oil refineries, for instance, have been proven to have a much higher chance of developing mesothelioma, which is a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure, than those fortunate enough to work in cleaner industries. Even though asbestos was banned in the 1970s for most uses there are several refineries and factories that continue to use equipment manufactured in the pre-ban years which expose workers to cancer causing asbestos fibers.
We see then, that there is a clear advantage to improvement of industrial environmental standards, implementation of sustainable energy policies and healthier environmental attitudes for the health of the planet and of the world’s population.

Return to Oooh Baby Green Living and Parenting Ideas to read more about the need for improvement of industrial environmental standards.

Dangers of Baby Slings

2009-04-27T15:14:00.000-05:00

I am announcing my intentions to ignore the dangers of baby slings that I have seen mentioned in various consumer reports recently. Being a cautious person by nature, I take each and every study that comes out very seriously and have the utmost respect for the integrity of said reports and the professionals who oversee and conduct them. However, this time I’m taking a few grains of salt with the results of the baby sling report.

For those who are considering this valuable attachment parenting device, the study states that in a time frame of the past five years there have been at least four babies who died from being carried in baby slings. And there are even more reported incidences of injuries to babies’ heads, skull fractures and bruises and contusions.

Most of the problems occurred when the babies tumbled out of the sling. To that, I have to reply that I have carried three (soon to be four) newborns in ring slings and have not had one fall out of the carrier yet! I do not jog, cook or do aerobics while carrying an infant in a sling. The moments are rare when my arms have not been wrapped around my babies when they are inside the sling carrier or wrap. It is my opinion that perhaps the dangers of baby slings have more to do with learning the lack of skill and common sense of the user than the danger of using a sling.

The study goes on to say that there are no safety standards for baby slings and I agree that since many moms believe it's alright to make your own baby sling using free patterns that they find on the internet that there is room for error. But again, in my opinion, that fact alone doesn’t make them dangerous.

The truth is that any squirming baby can wiggle out of your arms if you are not careful. I’m not telling anybody to take risks when parenting their babies. But, a little common sense goes a long way when assessing the dangers of baby slings.

By all means pick a safe baby carrier with a good track record and before you put your baby in any stroller, carrier or swing; learn how to use the thing. The same dangers of baby slings apply to any kind of baby gear, gadget or seat. Practice with a baby doll, read the owner’s manual and learn how to use the belts, straps and restraints before using the product with a real infant. And perhaps the best advice I can give to new mothers is to never allow yourself to become distracted by anything when caring for your baby. Make a solemn vow to not let anything short of a nuclear explosion pull your attention away because in my experience, the little sweethearts know the exact moment that you are not watching and will take that opportunity to injure themselves or their siblings. And nothing is worth sacrificing the safety of your precious child.

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting and Environmental Issues to see more of my opinions on expert studies.

OPINIONS ON HOUSEHOLD NECESSITIES POLL

2009-04-27T08:31:00.000-05:00

I saw a story about how American families’ opinions of what they considered to be basic household necessities had change significantly since the year 2006. The report seemed to focus on appliances and a few h not so necessary household items atellite television and microwaves, not the bare essentials.

Some of the report’s findings were encouraging to me as they indicated a rise in green living practices. As an example, 16% (or somewhere close to that number) of the people polled said they didn’t’ consider clothes dryers to a necessity. This number is considerably higher than the number reported in 2006.

The most disturbing and probably misleading number was associated with dishwashers. The number of people who consider dishwashers to be unimportant rose significantly. People, the reason dishwashers have fallen off of the list of household necessities is not because of a rise in green living practices and above all it does not indicate that family members have suddenly taken a shine to washing and drying dishes the old fashioned way.

What this finding may indicate is the amount of junk and fast food that families are eating. If you shop for meals at the local drive-through restaurant, there’s no need to wash the dishes or the environmentally unfriendly Styrofoam containers. I admit to feeling a tingle of excitement over the number of moms hanging their organic cotton baby diapers on an outdoor clothesline, but the thought of losing the happy chuckle of the dishwasher filled with dirty dishes after a home cooked family dinner is disturbing.

Return to Oooh Baby Family, Parenting and Environmental Issues to see more opinionated rants and raves from Claire.

THE GOOD SIDE OF RECESSION

2009-03-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

Don’t attack me when I tell you that there is a good side of a recession. And no, I’m not one of the executives of AIG that got a huge bonus for poor performance. I’m just a frugal stay at home mother who has watched families buy carloads of unnecessary stuff that was bought on credit for years and who is now watching those same people drowning in debt with a FOR SALE or a FORECLOSED sign in the front yard of their homes.

The upside of hard times is that it brings out the "we can do it" attitude that makes America such a great place. Excess has made us fat, lazy and according to the rest of the world, very difficult to love and respect. Oh, and let’s not ignore that many resorted to less than admirable tactics to mound up cash to float their unrealistic, wasteful lifestyles. I wonder if this is the reason that I hear some say that we needed a recession?

Whether it was needed or not, there are difficult times ahead. Anybody who thinks that the economy is going to be fixed overnight is delusional or may be privy to a method of debt reduction that probably would not hold up under close legal scrutiny. For those of us who like to live on the right side of the law, difficult times call for tightening the belt, trimming the fat and working on a frugal household budget or under the worst of conditions, asking for assistance.

One good side of recession is not only the fact that an economic slowdown might give our planet a much needed cooling off period, but that many libraries are reporting a 30 percent and better increase in their book circulation and an approximate 20 percent increase in patrons overall. Nobody wants to lose a job, their home or be without sufficient food and clothing. But when searching for positives in a sea of negative news the fact that our children may be reading more might produce a generation of kids who are competitive in the world’s job market of the future and if we had to suffer a recession to get the job done maybe we will have learned a valuable lesson.

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting and Environmental Issues for more comments on the positive side of recessions.