My Favorite Color is Green

When asked what my favorite color is, my response is always green. Red runs a close second, but green always wins.

This post isn't really about hue though. It's more about action.

Do you know that next Thursday (April 22) is Earth Day?

Well, it is.

I know some of you don't care. Some of you think Earth Day is a new age-y kind of thing. Some of you don't give a flip about being green or recycling or reducing your carbon footprint. And some of you think global warming is a bunch of hooey.

That's okay. We can agree to disagree.

Personally, it's all an issue of stewardship in my mind.

I want to take care of what I've been entrusted with whether it's my family, my income, or my planet.

So yeah, I'm green. And proud of it.

Here are a couple of cool things I've come across lately that I want to share along those lines.

I got new trail shoes last week. I used our REI dividend + 20% member's coupon to score a pair for a super sweet price. My new pair has biodegradable midsoles (awesome!) which made me wonder what happens to old athletic shoes when they end up in landfills. That question caused me to google all sorts of things, which led me to the Nike ReUSE A SHOE program. Nike takes almost all athletic shoes, breaks them down, and recycles them into surfaces for tracks and tennis courts and more!  Isn't that COOL? I'm taking my old shoes to the drop-off next time I head that direction, and I'm thinking of doing a shoe drive among friends! I'm so jazzed about this! (The Nike link above has all the info about what, where, and how.)

My local (free) recycling drop off center really let me down a few months ago when they stopped taking recyclables without warning! We've resorted to hauling our recycling down to the place we used to take it, but it's a 25 minute drive (one way) and we don't always have a reason to trek down that way. I've decided that I'm going to bite the bullet and actually PAY for curbside recycling. The monthly cost is not too much more than what I'm already paying, and the extra is probably the same difference as the gas it takes me to drive to the recycling center. My friend, Lisa, clinched the deal for me when she told me about a local company that is part of this national program that gives kickbacks for recycling. You get vouchers you can spend at different retailers based on the amount of recycling they collect from you. You can click the link and see if there is a partner in your area. If you're in Co Springs, the local company is WasteConnections. I haven't signed up yet, but it's on my list to do this month!

Lastly, have you seen the new SunChips bags? They're 100% biodegradable. Click this link and watch the short video under the compostable packaging tab. It is uber cool!!! (Thanks, Dana, for telling me about this!)

This stuff excites me. Peace out, peeps.

Recycled Thanks

I was downloading some pics from my camera last week and noticed a photo I intended to share here on the blog. You know how I'm always talking about Reduce/Reuse/Recycling? Yeah, well I found a way to scratch my consumer itch and recycle the speakers from our old ancient PC.

I'm dying to buy one of these iPod docks, but with upcoming birthdays and camp registration fees and a family that needs clothes and food I can't justify the price tag. I've started a savings fund for one, but until that fund grows a little more, THIS is my iPod dock.

Classy, huh?

I don't even care. I was able to pull the speakers out of the e-waste pile in the basement and put them to good use. Totally works for me! Y'all probably already know all about this little trick. If so, don't tell me. Let me believe that I'm incredibly resourceful. Thanks.

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I also just want to thank you guys for leaving me fun comments all the time. I am a terrible commenter on your blogs and it blows me away that you continue to comment here when I don't always return the love.

So thank you.

My google reader currently shows 457 unread posts. I'm determined to read every single one of them even if it takes me until June. Let's hope not. Because then I'd be reading 4570 posts. Sheesh.

Good Golly, Green Girl

Since I'm sitting here eating a bowl of (green) guacamole, I decided it was the perfect time to answer Amber's question from this post last week about me being green.

Amber wrote:

I knew you when you were an Arkansan. But I don't remember you being super into recycling and eating organic when you lived here. Has that been a change for your family since you moved? Or were you into that here and I just didn't know?

Okay, first a little background. Some of you might know Amber from her blog, Raising Rascals, but we're actually real life friends and went to church together when we lived in Arkansas.

When I was pregnant with Abbey, Amber was pregnant with her second son. She was due a week or two after me and had the nerve to have that baby BEFORE me. I haven't seen Amber since she was in Denver a couple of summers ago, but she returned to Arkansas after that trip and started a blog so now I feel like I get to keep up with her all the time. She's a great blogger and makes me laugh out loud quite often!

The reason she doesn't remember me being green when I lived there is because I wasn't. It's really only been in the last three or four years that I've moved from awareness to action.

[And can I just interrupt myself here and tell you that I believe there is a big difference between awareness and action. That whole Facebook/bra color "game" last week created awareness (more of breasts than breast cancer in my opinion) but I'd have loved to have seen it generate some action. If everyone who posted their bra color had donated $5 to breast cancer research THEN the game might have served a purpose. Same with the devastation in Haiti. We're all aware of the need, but why not let that awareness move us to action to do something about it. There is a HELP HAITI button over on my sidebar ----------------------------------> or you can click here.]

Okay, sorry, moving on.

I feel pretty strongly about being a good steward of our planet's resources. Being green for me means that we recycle everything we possibly can and I look for ways to reduce waste and re-use things before they get tossed in the trash or we buy something we don't necessarily need. I carry my own reusable grocery bags when I shop (keep them in your car so you always have them with you and write "Get Bags Out of Trunk" on your shopping list so you don't forget!) Before you toss the used spaghetti sauce jar, ask yourself if there is something you could store in it (I use lots those for craft supplies--beads, popsicle sticks, etc).

Recycling doesn't have to be hard. I have two or three cardboard boxes in my garage that I toss my recyclables in. I go out and sort everything once every couple of weeks (plastic, glass, aluminum, paper/cardboard/magazines) and load it up to drop at the recycling drop-off. I choose not to pay for curbside recycling but some companies that offer that service will give you the bins to sort it and others require no sorting at all which is super nice. You can check your yellow pages for a recycling center close to you.

Another part of being green involves using natural substances instead of harsh chemicals to clean things. This is an area I'm really trying to improve. I came across a blog several months ago that had some great green cleaning recipes. I tried the laundry detergent and didn't love it, but I absolutely LOVE the basic soft scrubber and the general all-purpose cleaner. You'll have to check out that recipe link, but if you use this almond flavored soap to make these cleaners then it will smell like you're baking cookies when you're really cleaning the bathroom.

As for eating healthy and organic. No, I haven't always been this way either.

About 25 minutes into our moving day trek from Arkansas to Colorado, our youngest child started throwing up. She continued for the two days it took us to drive here and she continued for half of the next day. It was awful.

She continued to have episodes like that when she'd get some sort of stomach virus which she seemed more prone to than my other two kiddos. After numerous trips to the ER and being hospitalized twice for dehydration when she was three and four years old, no doctor could tell me why she was getting so sick (vomiting every 15 minutes for 48 hours straight) and was unable to stop without the help of IV fluids. I took matters into my own hands and began to take a hard look at what she was eating. I couldn't figure out why it was happening, but I decided that nutrition was going to be my first line of defense.

Abbey had tubes put in her ears when she was 14 months old and until that point had numerous ear infections (like one every month) which our pediatrician treated with antibiotics. I speculated that her gut had been depleted of every ounce of healthy bacteria from antibiotic overload. I changed doctors at one point because I disagreed with the constant antibiotic treatment but I think the damage had already been done.

I got her on a good probiotic, a good multivitamin and supplements, and cut out all high fructose corn syrup and lots of other junk from her diet. That's probably when we started eating more and more organic foods because those seemed to be the ones that don't add the junk and fillers.

And you know what? It worked!!! She hasn't been super sick like that since we started all this. Hallelujah!

I started a new way of eating/living for Abbey but it spilled over into what the rest of us ate too. I really believe that nutrition and illness are related. I've told you before that sugar greatly compromises your immune system. Next time you get a cold or virus, think back over your diet the past few weeks and see if you can find a connection. With my own family, it's usually very evident.

But please don't think we're totally healthy all the time. We're not. I try very hard, but I get lazy sometimes and other times I just don't care. I know the right way to eat, but it's not always easy to get your kids to cooperate. I'm having a terrible time right now getting Abbey to eat good things. She loves junk. Craves junk. Wants junk. And throws a holy fit when I tell her no. It's been very hard getting back on track since Christmas with that kid. She's tough, but I can be tougher and she's finding that out the hard way these days.

So the very long answer to Amber's question is no, I haven't always been this way. And I've never been one for brevity either.

TreeHugger

(This post is dedicated to Debbie and Lisa, two friends that delight in calling me names such as TreeHugger).

You Know You're a TreeHugger If...

• You become giddy with joy when you realize that a recycling center has opened 2 miles down the road and they take ALL the recyclables which you've previously been hauling to the recycling center 20 miles away. (For those of you who've asked: we do have curbside recycling but I personally think it's ridiculous to have to pay for it.)
• You get a big grin on your face when you walk into your local natural grocer and see the "We Are A Bagless Store" sign on the door. (They really won't give you a bag, but they will encourage you to buy one of theirs or they'll offer you a box).
• You cringe when you buy pre-packaged snacks and juice for your Brownie troop after you've worked so hard to teach them to reduce, reuse, recycle. (We mix our own juice for them and we pour their snack into containers/cups that we reuse/wash every week but we bought "portable" snacks for our end of the year party/field trip yesterday).
• You pull recyclables out of other people's trash or bring stuff home from church, school, and Brownies to put in your own recycling bin. (I know ya'll think I'm crazy, but I can't stand to see it get thrown away.)(I'm going on a field trip with Sarah's class today and threw an extra plastic bag in my backpack for recyclables).
• You tell your husband that you want a composting system (this one) for your birthday. And you look away when you see him start to roll his eyes.

Yeah, I'm an eco-friendly girl. Have been for awhile now. And I'm proud of it. C'mon people, I live in Colorado--who wouldn't want to protect all this natural beauty?

Wait! Don't Throw That Away!

If you know me at all, you know that I'm very much into recycling. It is something easy we can all do and it makes a huge impact.

Along with recycling come the ideas of reducing and reusing. I'm always trying to think how I might be able to re-purpose items that are typically thrown away. (You'd be surprised at how many ways I can re-use a cereal box!)

Last spring I came across a blog post with instructions for making your own shrinky dinks using #6 plastic. We've made them half a dozen times since and it's GREAT fun. Click here for the tutorial!

#6 plastic is most commonly used in deli packaging. Strawberry containers and lettuce clamshells are items I routinely save for this craft. I recently happened upon a gold mine of #6 plastic at the girls' elementary school. Every day, the cafeteria serves salad as a lunch option. The top of the salad box is perfect for shrinky dinks. I try to remember on days I'm at school over the lunch period to go in with my scissors and cut the tops off of the containers (that would otherwise get thrown away *cringe*). Here are a few that I had leftover from a Brownie craft last fall.

I thought about writing out the Shrinky Dink instructions for you--complete with pictures--but this tutorial is great, so why ruin a good thing?

Here are a few of the Shrinky Dinks we made this morning. (LOVED having the day off from school!)My kids like to make tags for their backpacks, charms for bracelets, and other imaginative designs.

We used this idea with Abbey's Brownie troop last fall and made simple bracelets as part of our Art-to-Wear try it and were able to reinforce the "use resources wisely" part of the Girl Scout law.

Another great craft idea that re-purposes something you'd ordinarily throw away are these fun rings.
You use the pull-tabs from half-n-half cartons (or lemonade). The ring part slips over your finger and you decorate the top of the tab. We've used glue and glitter, beads, rhinestones, markers, and feathers to make our rings. The possibilities are endless. I would advise tacky glue if you're using beads or rhinestones as they tend to be heavy.

Have fun!!!!!!!

Frugal Friday: Going Paperless

My friend, Joanne, mentioned that she's going to begin Frugal Friday posts. I love that idea. In fact, I just read what she posted today about shopping from the pantry.

I have a frugal tip to share today too. 

I haven't bought paper towels in years. I also try not to buy paper plates (that's harder), and if I had enough cloth napkins (something I'm hoping to make more of soon), I'd go totally paperless. Well, except for toilet paper.

I save money by not buying those things constantly and do our environment a huge favor as well. 

Think about it. What do you use paper towels for that you can't use a dishtowel or rag for instead? And paper plates? It just takes a little more effort to wash a real one. 

I'm also excited to check in with my an update on my  no-spend challenge this week. I did much better. I'll post that tomorrow because I'm sending the laptop to work again with John. My kids have a half day of school (3.5 day weekend!!!) and I have a big list to tackle before they get home!