I Can’t Remember

Since the end of March they’ve given me: two colds, a horrible virus(flu?), a sinus infection, tonsillitis, a fungal rash (don’t ask), and strep. Now I have mono, which isn’t their fault, since I caught it in grad school. It just reoccurs when your immune system has been beaten into submission by something else.

The good news is that the children haven’t really been slowed down by any of these things–although they make me tired just watching them run around.

Which all brings me, in a round about way, to thinking about “Healthy Homes.” (Since I’m the only one sick, and all the asthma and allergy-ridden ones are all fine, my house is at least healthy, right?)

A “Healthy Home” is not a germ-free one. Normally. There are germs everywhere. Only a few make us ill, so trying to “kill all the germs” is inefficient.
Besides anything that can “kill all the germs” isn’t good for us usually.
Bleach, for instance, will “kill all the germs” but it also kills the indoor air quality and has been linked to cancer, which kills us.

After crawling out of bed from my latest illness, I have cleaned every time.
And since not everyone has gotten ill, and I haven’t been re-infected with the same thing (always something new–aren’t they running out yet?), I must have done a good job.
But no bleach, no ammonia, no non-Earth-friendly cleaners.

The sheets and towels are washed in hot water, and I’ve added Vinegar to the rinse cycle for added germ-killing. The countertops, kitchen table, desk, etc have all been wiped down with an eco-friendly surface cleaner. The phone, doorknobs, sink handles, and light switches have been wiped down also. And the toilet and shower cleaned.

Wait, didn’t I just say that a “Healthy Home” isn’t germ-free and we shouldn’t try to kill all the germs?

What’s the difference?
The difference is that had I used bleach yesterday, it would still be working on the germs and my children today. The safer cleaners worked on the existing germs–some of which I knew were harmful since I had just been ill–but did not stay around.
Safe cleaners are safe for you to come into contact with (no gloves needed) and are safe for the environment by not being an endemic enviro-cide.

Germicide, fungicide, pesticide?
“-icide” means it’s deadly.
So don’t use any of those things if you want a “Healthy Home.”

Technorati Tags: clean, germs, healthy home, ill, sick, sterilize

In honor of Earth Day this year, I’m going to begin a series of posts on Things We Don’t Have to Throw Away.

Used to be, people didn’t throw away much. Honestly, Middens (ancient trash heaps) contain small animal bones, tiny bits of broken pottery, and a carbon layer that was originally spoiled food and fire ashes. That’s all that was thrown away! Everything else was used, fixed, reused, fixed again and again, re-purposed, and on and on. Even hundred years ago, people didn’t throw much away. City dumps contained coal ashes, dead horses, and spoiled food.

What do we throw away today? Everything! That couch that we no longer like the fabric, last year’s clothes, newspapers, knick-knacks, broken toys, old appliances. The list goes on and on.
Giving stuff to charity and recycling helps a lot.
But even the most conscientious of us take throwing away thing for granted.

So here’s my “outside the box” list of things we don’t really need to throw away (click on name to read about alternatives!):

Disposable Razors–the item that started the throw away craze!
Paper Towels
Plastic Bags
Home Office Paper
Cotton Swabs
Coffee Filters and Disposable Cups
Facial Tissues
Disposable Toothbrushes
Water Bottles
Feminine Products

Technorati Tags: disposable, eco, environment, recycling, reuse, reuseable

“Black Thursday” was a day when the stock market crashed, millions of millions were lost, and people’s retirement funds and even some of their lives were ruined. So gee, why is the biggest shopping day of the year called “Black Friday”? Feel free to draw the parallels here.

For those of you who haven’t spent your paycheck through next July but still want to, consider gifts that might help the world, or at least hurt less.

First, see my suggestions about green holiday gifts.

And consider these ideas:

Heifer International buys cute little farm animals for cute little impoverished children around the world, helping them and their families get out of poverty. You buy an flock of ducks for a kid in China for $20 (which provide pest control for rice fields and a source of protein and income from eggs) and give it in honor of your sister-in-law, and she gets less junk to dust and that good feeling you get when you help others, as well as a cute mental picture of some cute kid trying to keep track of ducks in a rice paddy. There are animals and gifts of all sizes, all the way up to the $5000 Ark that provides 15 , you guessed it, pairs of animals.

Oxfarm International has a similar program called “Oxfarm Unwrapped” because “Choosing gifts for some people can be quite an ordeal” Isn’t that the truth! You can plant 50 trees for $30, or provide school uniforms for needy kids for $20, or sheep for families for $45–and that’s just in the U.S.

Give donations in people’s names to charities.
Book lover? Try Room to Read. Animal lover? Donate to the Humane Society or buy a gift through their site. Nature lover? Donate to the Sierra Club or buy a fabulous gift from the National Wildlife Federation.
Be creative, everyone loves something.

Or pledge to Buy Handmade.
Or Buy Local, Organic, Fair Made.

Whatever you do, avoid the mall. Those people are just trying to ruin you and the earth.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, enviro, gift ideas, holiday, shopping

So, I saw this great widget: it was a money system for kids with different places to put their money: “Save, Spend, and Share.” The “toy” had won numerous awards! So I thought I’d shell out some money to buy a cheap plastic/waxed cardboard thingy in order to teach my children the value of money…
OK, maybe not such a great idea when I put it that way…
How about the made-in-china divided piggy bank? No?

Oh wait, how about I frugally have the children help me make a divided-bank system for themselves. Kids love crafts, and that way they have a chance to really invest some effort and thought into the process.

Basically, you will need three containers (I used 14 oz. yogurt tubs with lids, but margarine tubs would also be great.)
Then have the child label and decorate each one with “Share”, “Save”, and “Spend.”
Have them draw pictures on the container about what each term means to them.
Cut slits in the top to put them money in.
Tada! Pat yourself on the back for saving the cost + S & H of that award-winning “toy.”

Give them an allowance that is easily divisible by 3. (Cut them some slack–they’re kids!)
Have them deposit one third into each container when they get their allowance.

They get to pick how they waste…er…”spend” the money in the “Spend” container.

Discuss with them a goal to “Save” for, and come up with an agreed-upon goal.

The “Share” money should go into the collection plate every week, or should be put in an envelope and mailed off to the charity of their choice at least once a month (if it’s already been “shared”, there’s less of a temptation to “borrow” from the “Share” container.) If your place of worship has envelopes, use them so your child will get a reciept at the end of the year. Seeing how much they’ve shared will make them feel good about themselves and may encourage them to share more. If you mail it off to a charity of their choice every month, keep track for them, and tell them in January how much they donated.

Don’t keep track of their spending–ask them if they can remember what they spent it on. That’ll be a learning experience.

Living in the burbs of Houston, I was surprised to see a Houston toad this morning. I’m almost positive it was one, and not a cricket toad, because it had a stripe down the center of it’s back.

The Houston toad is endangered. But I remember when it was more common.

When I was a child, one of my favorite critters was this tiny little toad. We’d see what seemed like millions of them near the church grounds and in our favorite park. “Please, please, mom, can we take a couple home? We’ll set them loose in the backyard!” “No,” my mother would say. “But everyone else’s mom let’s them!” we would proclaim. “No they don’t,” she would answer.

Well, maybe they did.
I still look for them in the places I used to go as a child. At my old church I see the children and wonder why none of them are crouched around puddles at the trees’ edge, muddying their Sunday best like I used to do. I catch myself seeking out puddles in the park, puddles that are empty.

Until today, I hadn’t seen the little toads in any of these places in a long time, because the Houston Toad is now endangered. I just looked in a puddle in the park near the elementary school out of habit, and there it was at the puddle’s edge!

Perhaps pesticides and other causes made them endangered? Surely this is true. I can attest that it is also true that none of these little toads survived to this day in my friends’ parents backyards. Even the ones who lived in the country and didn’t have lawns to spray. Even the ones who lived just a few streets over from the park. The separating of different toad colonies by roads is now listed as one of the causes for it’s endangerment. Separating individuals from the rest in order to keep them in one’s own backyard could not have helped.

Please, PLEASE leave wildlife where they are. Even if it seems like there are a million of them. Even if they’re only a toad.

The Houston Zoo is now breeding the Houston Toad in a effort to repopulate them, and surprisingly, Bastop’s State Park is said to have a population of them. (Surprising to me, ’cause I always thought that they weren’t found much outside the middle of town!)

Kids love them because of their small size. (Only 1/2 inch long!) This morning I pointed the one I saw out to a child and her mother, telling them what I thought it was. The mother was interested in the fact that it might be an endangered animal.
The little girl wasn’t listening; she was utterly fascinated by the tiny little toad.
Some things never change…

Here is a link that might be useful: Houston Toad

Remember birthday parties when you were a kid? Do you also remember all the bags of trash your dad carried out to the curb that evening? How about all the toys you never played with? Or all those cheap party favors and decorations that soon ended up broken and in the trash?

For our own kids, we can do better!

First off, find out what your kid really wants (and what you think he will play with!) and tell people if they ask. Don’t let her ask for the cool toy—she can borrow that from her friends (they’ll all have it!) And make sure your child knows that love is not measured in money or stuff.

Whew!

Now comes the easy part: The Party.

Invitations can be 100% recycled, charity, or both. Green Field Paper Co. has recycled and tree-free cards, as well as “Grow-a-Note” cards that have seeds embedded in them: you plant the initiation and it grows flowers! M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Children’s Art Project has cards designed by children cancer patients. All the proceeds go back into the program. Use one of their note cards for a unique invitation.

Party themes can be eco-friendly. Progressive Kid has several “Party in a Box” options to choose from, including “Ocean Steward” and “Music Party.” The boxes are inexpensive ($6), so get one and build your party around it. Or buy one for each child and the party is planned, bought, and done! Proceeds from some of these go to different charities.

Decorations should be reuseable. Buy a birthday flag to hang up outside instead of balloons. Get a table cloth to use at every birthday party. Your kids will cherish the memory of the “birthday table.” Do not use disposable plates! Or if you do, use recycled paper plates and compost them after the party. Hang up a retro and reuseable “Pin-the-tail” donkey in a prominent spot: if that doesn’t say birthday party, what does?

Food can be healthy and still a treat. Organic is better for the kids and the environment. Snacks like cheese cubes, fresh fruit, raisins, and graham crackers will be gobbled up as quickly as chips and cookies. And always remember when selecting snacks: less packaging=less waste=more healthy(fresh)!

Goodie bags are usually an environmental crime: plastic bags (suffocation hazards for your kids and wildlife, too) filled with cheap little plastic “toys” (choking hazards, easily broken and soon tossed in the landfill, made in China by child labor) and chocolate (too much sugar and caffeine, made by exploiting poor families.) What a waste! Have your child decorate brown paper (recycled) lunch sacks. Fill them up together with art supplies , stickers, and a small wooden toy or kite. Magic Cabin has some great little wooden toys, kites, and party favors. Or how about environmentally friendly crayons like Prang’s soybean crayons or Stockmar’s beeswax crayons (available at Nuno Organic or Hazel Nut Kids.))

There’s no reason that your child’s party has to be an environmental disaster! You can have the coolest birthday party on the block and still be responsible!

For more ideas, see also Eco Friendly Birthday Party by Nature Moms.

I would boycott!

At least that’s what I thought I would do if my kid had one of these…before I had kids of course.

Celebrating “Graduation” for Kindergarten, or fifth grade, or preschool, or 9th, or whatever is RIDICULOUS!!!
Way to celebrate mediocrity and to deemphasize the real rites of passage in our society.
High school graduation symbolizes the entrance into adulthood and the workforce; college graduation symbolizes the step up to management from worker bee. These are important, life-altering step! And of course we celebrate them!

But the kindergarten graduation? Aaaack! I hate the whole concept!
Am I going? You betcha!!

Why?
Because my kids are more important than a concept. If everybody else’s mother shows up and I don’t, my kid won’t think it’s because the “concept” stinks, she’ll think it’s because mama doesn’t care as much as everyone else’s mother.
And I care enough to go–even if it is stupid!