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No More Organic Milk at Starbucks
2008-01-24 01:37:00
So disappointed to hear that Starbucks is discontinuing their organic milk supply. I originally heard about this over at the United States of Motherhood. I thought for sure it wouldn't happen for another month or so, but no... As we ordered our drinks at a nearby Starbucks, I was promptly told they don't carry it at all anymore. To which I replied very politely, "Awh, I'm so sorry to hear that. This will probably be our last purchase here then." The barista totally understood as she buys organic milk for her kids. She was equally upset over the decision.*sigh*Not that we go to Starbucks THAT often, but it was nice to swing by on occasion and the girls love getting organic steamed milks that I sweeten with stevia. No more!Starbucks chose to do this because they're proud to have switched all regular milk to rBGH-free milk, they phased out the organic milk.................... you know because rBGH is the ONLY REASON to drink organic milk.*rolling eyes*Nevermind the fact that conven...
More About: Milk , Organic

Monica Lewinsky's X-Boyfriend's Wife for President
2008-01-19 17:10:00
ROTFLMAO Ugh, I definitely needed a good laugh this morning. :) LOVE THIS! Thanks to my wonderful uncle for emailing it to me. I'm not much of a bumper sticker person (except for my itty bitty republican elephant sticker), but boy do I want to display this somewhere! LOL
More About: President , Wife , Monica

Zevia!
2008-01-17 19:29:00
So as I was poking around at PCC the other day, I stumbled upon a new soda pop. I never buy soda pop, for many reasons. Most companies think pure cane sugar is a good sweetener in a natural soda, but it's still terrible for you. It still rots your teeth and the artificial carbonation (phosphoric acid) is horrible for your teeth, gums and digestion.This wonderful new product I found is called Zevia and it's made by a small company here in Seattle, WA. They make three flavors and all three are absolutely fantastic. Their cola flavor tastes like REAL cola, not diet cola. The orange flavor and lemon/lime twist flavor are both caffeine-free and also just as delicious. I'm sipping the lemon/lime right now. :)And here's why I like this product:No artificial sweeteners or preservatives. They use stevia and erythritol (sugar alcohol found in fruits & veggies) to sweeten their drinks.No phosphoric acid! This is what most cola companies use to give their drinks that carbonated zing, bu...

Lead-free bathtub toys
2007-12-29 17:36:00
If your kids are like mine, they love to bring ANY TOY you'll allow into the tub or shower. With all of the recent news on lead (and other potentially harmful chemicals), I stopped letting them bring "plastic" toys in the tub. Then I happened upon some really cute, SAFE toys designed just for bath use!They come in three different sets - I bought all three (hippo, frog, duck, ladybug, octopus, whale, turtle, bee & butterfly)! :) My little ones absolutely adore these! Even my FIVE year old! And they're so easy to clean - every time you wash your towels, you wash these too because they're made out of terry cloth.We also own this company's Tooth Fairy pillows that my girls love. It's a super soft, squishy pillow (about the size of an adult's hand) with a small pocket sewn onto the top for the child to store their tooth. :)
More About: Toys , Free , Lead

Is lead really in everything?
2007-12-15 21:54:00
My good friend over at ChewyMamas Unite just recently blogged about lead in artificial Christmas trees. To be completely honest, I hadn't even give it much thought at all until she mentioned it. *sigh* Apparently many artificial Christmas trees have lead in the PVC used to create the foilage as well as lead in the wires for the lights. Here's why:Lead is a flame retardantLead makes the plastic around the wires (lights, power cords, extension cords) flexibleLead helps the plastic retain its color better Unfortunately lead is toxic and can cause severe mental retardation. With all of the recent news on lead in kids toys, it's really brought to light the toxicity issue in general. People are paying a lot more attention to where their toys come from. Sadly everyone is mostly focused on just lead, because there are a lot more chemicals to be nervous about. But at least it's a start!We have an artificial Christmas tree. I thought it was the better choice several years ago - not cuttin...

Scrappy Stockings
2007-11-29 04:12:00
We have always had a mix of Christmas stockings. A couple of standard red and white fuzzy ones, some knit ones picked up at a drugstore that looked semi-handmade. I had one handmade several years ago, but unfortunately it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.I've become addicted to this wonderful website called Etsy.com where everything is handmade. I've met some of the nicest people from this website and the products have been fantastic. My latest purchase was a set of new Christmas stockings for the whole family. I chose this "envivronmentally friendly" seller because she uses scraps to make her products and the end result is an extremely unique item! Huge green thumbs up from me!Spongetta (The Land of the Misfit Fabric) gets her materials from lots of different sources, such as a local seamstress who does alterations for bridal salons, discontinued upholstery samples from a furniture store, thrift stores, yard sales and rescues from the back of fabric stores. All of these mater...
More About: Stockings

Greening your house - CFL bulbs
2007-11-11 03:31:00
It feels so good to make this small change in our house. We just replaced every recessed light in our entire house with CFL's (compact fluorescent lamps) today. Home Depot has a whole section dedicated to CFL's and Puget Sound Energy has $3 coupons PER BULB!!!So if you buy a two-pack, use TWO coupons, saving $6. Woo hoo! Since we bought mostly small and large flood lights (for the recessed cans) which are sold in 2-packs, this was a fantastic savings! We also bought CFL's for our master bathroom's vanity strip of lights... Fluorescent lighting and makeup typically don't mesh well so we'll see how that goes... :) The 4-pack for standard light bulbs (like lamps & things) had a separate 4-pack coupon that was different from the others.
More About: House , Greening , Bulbs

Sea Salt - Iodine
2007-11-09 23:48:00
A while back, I wrote a post on Sea Salt . Make sure to read that one first since this post won't go into the details of why it's so good for you.While on vacation in the midwest, we almost bought some sea salt for hubby's grandmother... But we decided against it when we realized that was probably her main source of iodine since she very rarely eats fish or seaweed and who knows if she takes a good quality daily multi. At a MINIMUM, people should get 50 mcg of iodine per day. Recommended is 120-150mcg for proper thyroid function (improper thyroid function causes an enlarged thyroid - goitre). Worldwide it’s the #1 cause of mental retardation in children.We don't worry about that in our household for several reasons. First, we take an extremely healthy liquid multi that contains 160mcg (106%) of iodine, cultivated from 9 different types of seaweed. We also eat fish at least once a week, either cooked or in the form of sushi with seaweed.With everyone’s current “fear of saltâ...

More competition for Whole "Paycheck" Foods, Publix Supermarkets
2007-09-26 16:54:00
I knew this would begin to happen. Do you remember Boston Market and how everyone thought they were the best thing ever for hot family style foods? Then the grocery stores realized they could easily remodel and provide areas in their stores for the same purpose, which killed BM's market share. The shares tanked and they ended up closing most of their stores after over expansion.I love Whole Foods , Wild Oats, PCC, etc, but I'm sure you have noticed can very expensive to buy Organic from Whole Foods. In addition, Whole Foods and Wild Oats were two of the only national chains and for a while, were able to command higher prices. While there expansion has not been as aggressive as Boston Market, I think Whole Foods may have taken their situation for granted. I've told Ferbit that it's only a matter of time before the supermarkets begin to expand their organic sections. Plus, smaller stores like Trader Joes will begin to carry more organic foods to enter this hot market. I'm sure jit...
More About: Competition , Supermarkets

Moooooooo
2007-09-22 18:32:00
Many people who know I'm into nutrition automatically assume everything I buy is organic. Which is not the case. Buying local is way more important than buying organic. Milk is a perfect example.We buy raw milk that the girls and I drink and then hubby buys pasteurized milk for himself. It's not that he doesn't love raw milk, but it's so extremely expensive, we try to keep a mix. We also buy half-n-half for our coffee. But we don't buy organic - raw or pasteurized.Sadly, Horizon Organic (owned by Dean Foods) is the largest producer of organic milk. Notice their products are ULTRA-pasteurized? It's because their "organic" cows are being treated about as well as their non-organic cousins. They get a smidge more room and are fed organic grains, but they're still smashed into miles of open warehouses, stepping in their own rivers of poo, breathing in heavy amounts of ammonia (sad attempts to keep the place clean and cover the feces stench). Many of the animals are sick (from be...

Being a Parent: Update
2007-09-10 03:30:00
This is an update to my earlier post on Being a Parent . And I've really got a good update too! :)My little sweetie has been working SO HARD for the past two weeks on improving her behavior. The magnets have been a huge success and every morning she picks out a new one. The first week, she had four fantastic days, but permanently lost her magnet the other three. This past week, she's kept all seven (lost it, but re-earned it a few times)! As extra incentive, my mom promised her a REAL PEDICURE if she made it the whole week. :)So here's the photo my mom snapped of her earlier today getting her pedicure (sitting in a spa massage chair) at a little nail salon nearby. She used her cell phone so the quality isn't so great, but it's really cute. My mom said she intently watched EVERYTHING the woman did - filing, lotion, massage, painting, etc. She picked out purple polish and then they painted two little white flowers with rhinestones on her big toes.The German immersion pro...
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A moment to remember Jennifer Dunn
2007-09-06 18:45:00
So sad to hear Jennifer Dunn passed away yesterday from a sudden blood clot. Feel free to read the Fox News article for more details. My prayers are with her family.
More About: Moment

Mosquito Control - Gotta love Mother Nature
2007-09-04 07:11:00
Thought I'd give everyone an interesting update... The mosquito craziness is gone! It was the weirdest thing ever, but also quite fascinating. Because of all the little babies flying everywhere, it attracted more dragonflies. We always get a lot of dragonflies, but suddenly there were tons. There were also a lot more of those hover-flies (the ones that look like bees). Both predators absolutely DEVOURED my out-of-hand mosquito population!So I actually have FEWER mosquitos now than I've had in previous years. WEIRD!:)
More About: Nature , Love , Mother Nature , Mother , Control

Book Recommendations on Amazon.com
2007-09-02 19:14:00
I've added a new section to my sidebar that's really fun. Amazon has an Associates program that I signed up for so I can personally recommend books (and products) and get credit when people click and purchase them from here. Yay!So listed in my sidebar are nutritional, political and homeschool books that I highly recommend. The homeschool books will change to what we're currently working on. The politcal and nutritional books will just continue to build. :)Enjoy!
More About: Book

Natural Deoderants SUCK!
2007-09-01 21:35:00
Ok, someone please explain HOW natural deoderants are supposed to work. I've tried several of them with very little success. I keep reverting back to my old, toxic standby. :-(I've tried the Crystal rock (the one you have to wet), the Crystal roll-on and Avalon Organics lavender deodorant. Those are the only three I've tried. I'd like to try Weleda's version next, but I'm hesitatant to throw my money away on another product that doesn't work.Does it work similar to my post on sunburns??? That maybe better nutrition causes less body odor? Because I can be very careful about what I eat when I know I'm going to be in the sun all day (so as not to get sunburned), but deodorant is a whole different issue... If this is the case and nutrition does impact odor, then the only way to NOT STINK is to eat perfect 24/7??? Just a theory...If I'm missing another huge part of the natural deodorant effectiveness, please share. For those of you who DO use natural deodorants, what brand do yo...
More About: Natural , Suck

Bartuna Salad
2007-08-29 22:31:00
Bartuna = Beans + Artichokes + Tuna *wink*2 cans tuna1 can black beans1 can artichoke hearts in watergarlic powder (to taste)sea salt (to taste)2-3 T mayonaiseCombine all ingredients and serve with bread as a sandwich or in a bowl as is. I buy Whole Foods tongel tuna because it's extremely low in mercury (0.02 I believe). I also buy mayo from the refrigerated section because it's made with raw eggs. Both of my little ones fight for the first spoonful of this salad. :)
More About: Salad

Being a Parent
2007-08-27 06:19:00
I think one of the hardest things about being a parent is the fear of failure. My mom said the most brilliant thing to me the other day: "No one holds their tiny newborn in their arms and says, 'I can't wait to screw up your life.'" :) Most parents want to raise their children to be loving, caring, confident and happy adults. It's the raising part that's tough! :)As a homeschooling mom, I believe children "should" be socialized by their parents. Most specifically, ME because I'm with them the majority of the time. The rest of their socialization comes from their dad, close family, close friends, daily outings to the store with me, swimming lessons and their German school (which they adore). I have more people say to me, "Well that's great they're in German school so they can get socialization skills." And I think that's absolutely backwards. I just politely agree and change the subject. :) I enrolled them for the language experience. I didn't do it to socialize them. I mea...
More About: Parent

Immune System lesson for a 4-year-old
2007-08-22 16:58:00
My 4-year-old (almost 5, actually) learned a good lesson today about how nutrition impacts her immune system - dramatically. LOL As I'm typing this, she's standing here reading what I'm typing saying (with a smirky smile), "Don't blog about me, Mommy!" :) But her experience makes such a fantastic example that I can't help myself.Over the weekend, she caught some sort of little sniffle. Nothing major, just a slight cough/stuffy nose. We've been letting it run its course, knowing full well her immune system would take care of it. Until hubby decides to bring home leftovers (from a work thing) white-flour cheese ravoli and meatballs covered in sauce (that most likely contained sugar or HFCS). I warned her ahead of time that eating junk would probably make her cold worse. :) But hey, she's FOUR. :)So she ate it, all the while I'm glaring at hubby for even bringing it home in the first place. Then a few hours later, he gave her some MORE because she was hungry again. I would have...
More About: System , Immune System , Lesson , Year

Toxic Necessities?
2007-08-22 16:00:00
As much as I try to buy non-toxic products, it makes me cringe to purposefully buy a product that is full of chemicals. I mean, I know I bought toxic products for years, but I've been making a conscious choice in the past two years to look for natural alternatives.Last week, I fell down our deck stairs and really banged myself up. Hardwood is really slick when wet and I skidded down six steps on my tailbone and forearms. Ouch... It was a really bad fall, which totally threw my neck and back out. I had my very first experience with a chiropractor, which has helped tremendously but I'm still in a lot of pain. I absolutely cannot sleep at night and wake up in sheer pain every hour or so. Ugh... Luckily my wonderful husband has been working from home and helping me take it easy. The lack of sleep is so exhausting that I went out and bought a Tempur Pedic pillow. OMG, it's sooooooooooo smelly from the manufacturing process! It even has a sticker on it that reads, "Tempur ma...
More About: Toxic

Non-toxic Products
2007-08-17 20:11:00
This is a list of non-toxic products and items recommended in Mercola's latest book. I'm posting this list more for myself so it's available online. I keep going to the store and then I forget what brand to look for! Especially the air quality house plants. :) As much as I like Method products, they're not totally non-toxic. They're environmentally friendly, but they do contain sulfates and other ingredients I'd rather not put on or in my body. I think they definitely have a great niche though - many people who buy toxic products would be wise to switch to Method. It's a good alternative to mainstream. But in my quest to become more green, I'm finding myself looking for something crunchier (Chewy-Mama defines the crunchy/chewy lifestyle quite well). So enjoy my list! Mecola's latest book is AWESOME! Thoughts on any of these products would be greatly appreciated! :)Cleaners:EcoverEarthriteBon AmiHomemade - 2 cups borax powder, 2 T distilled white vinegar or lemon juice, 3 dr...
More About: Products , Toxic

Organic Hemp Shoes - Too Cute
2007-08-11 18:46:00
Ok, how adorable are these??? And the price is awesome!
More About: Cute , Shoes , Organic , Hemp

Do you know what's in your pet's food?
2007-08-07 17:00:00
We have just recently switched our two cats to Wellness brand soft cat food. I considered doing this last year, but was too overwhelmed by all of the dietary changes I was already making in our own diets. BABY STEPS! :)But I finally got around to researching pet food and I'm glad I did. Did you know it's not uncommon for the protein in pet food to come from euthanized pets (HELLO? pentobarbital withstands very high heat...)??? Did you know roadkill is ground into pet food? Yes, wild animals eat roadkill (including wild cats and dogs), but that is different compared to what manufacturers DO to the roadkill before it's ground into pet food. Did you know pets weren't meant to eat grain? Did you know animal diabetes is on the rise right along with human diabetes? For the SAME REASONS too! Here's a great article on what goes into pet food.From what I've researched (haven't done gobs of research, just some), cats don't typically need any carbs at all in their diet. They're primar...
More About: Food

Green Carpet Cleaning
2007-08-06 17:03:00
So excited! We've hired a local "green" carpet cleaning company called Alpine Specialty Cleaning .They should be here in about an hour and I'll be sure to report how they did on our horrible, builder-grade, white carpets. *sigh* Previous owners put in new carpet to sell the home... grrr... It's that situation where you ask yourself, "Why replace brand new carpet, even though it's crappy carpet?"This company uses BioKleen products as well as another green, botanical product to clean the floors. :)
More About: Green , Carpet

Where Do You Blog
2007-08-06 04:12:00
United States of Motherhood recently posted about where she blogs. Her post had more to do with flowers, but I liked seeing where she does most (notice I said MOST, not all, LOL) of her blogging. Incidentally, this particular blog was written in the um... on the pot... but MOST of her blogs are written at her kitchen table overlooking her garden. So I thought it would be fun to show where most of my brilliant, neurotic blogs happen as well. :)I usually sit at our kitchen table, looking out at my deck and part of my yard. :) I have a perfect view of the girls playing in the back yard (they usually stay on this side because it's shady), my hosta garden, bamboo, two of my hummingbird feeders and most of my annual impatiens, freesia and hanging baskets. It's peaceful. :)
More About: Blog

Help! Mosquitoes are taking over!
2007-07-26 16:56:00
We just had twenty cubic yards of bark dust and garden soil delivered the other day. Along with the bark dust came hundreds and hundreds of baby mosquitoes. OMG the horror... I already despise our existing mosquito population... but now hundreds upon hundreds of new residents????? I have at last 10-15 bits on me right now. My natural repellent is helpful, but was no match for THAT MANY at once. *sigh* They're so small that they can fit through our screens so I couldn't even cool off the house last night (we don't have A/C). I had to wake up at 5:30 this morning to cool it off while the little winged vampires were sleeping. I did some research last night on natural repellent/exterminator products and found a really interesting one. It's called Mosquito Barrier and it's made with some super-duper strong garlic juice that disolves their exoskeleton and kills the larvae. Anyone have any experience with this product??? I read their testimonials and none were from Washington state. S...
More About: Taking , Mosquitoes

Are All Eggs the Same?
2007-03-15 15:51:00
This is a follow-up post to "??? Free-range, organic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, pasture-fed, vegetarian-fed, fertile, natural EGGS ??? which I posted some months ago. I still stand there in the grocery store trying to figure to figure out which eggs were produced by animals who get to eat bugs. LOL But in my Body Ecology Diet newsletter this morning, they answered my question. :)Organic. Organic chickens eat feed and grains that were not grown with pesticides. The animals are not given hormones or antibiotics, but "organic" on the label does not tell us if the chickens were able to exercise, nor does it tell us what they were fed.Free range vs. Cage free.Free-range chickens usually have a covered shelter and access to an outside scratch yard. They are pasture-fed and can get worms and bugs, which is the ideal feed for health and strong immunity.Cage free chickens do not live in cages but typically live inside a hen house without access to the outdoors.Vegetarian eggs are not ne...
More About: Eggs , Same

The Great Global Warming Swindle
2007-03-13 00:05:00
Thanks to my brother for sending this video to me. Enjoy! 1 hour 15 minutes
More About: Global Warming , Wind , Great , War , Global

Michael Savage - Healing Children Naturally
2007-03-11 09:38:00
Yay! Michael Savage (a.k.a. Michael A. Weiner) just published a new book titled "Healing Children Natural ly" that comes out the end of March/early April! Michael is not only a fantastic political guru (I subscribe to his podcast!), but he is also an expert in nutrition, following most of the principles that I follow. Politics and Nutrition in one book! I can't WAIT to order it!http://www.savage-productions.com/heal ing_kids_naturally_covers.htmlAnd since I'm on the topic of books...The Global Warming book great, but it's SOOOOOOOO BORING. While I totally understand that side of the issue (that global warming is natural, nothing to get worked up over and happens every 1500 years), does the book have to be so DRY? OMG... I usually read in bed before going to sleep and can barely make it through an entire page without nodding off. So maybe it'll be a while before I post another Global Warming blog - who knows when I'll finish that book! But I do love what I've read so far - love t...
More About: Rally

Sprouted Grain Cereal???
2007-02-26 23:21:00
Too cool!!!!!And how ironic that I just posted about how much I hate traditional cereal in my last blog. I was at PCC today and much to my surprise, they carry Food For Life, Sprouted Grain cold cereal! I've bought this company's cinnamon raisin sprouted bread before and it's wonderful, but I had no idea they made cereal.I have tried making sprouted cereal myself here at home and it turned out so-so. I sprouted some bulgar in a bowl of plain kefir for 24 hours and then slowly baked it. Then I added in some coconut shreds, Rapadura and raisins. It was ok, but it was a little chewey rather than crunchy because my oven can't heat it at a low enough temperature. It needs to bake, but not much above dehydration temperature.Anyway, back to the point of this post. Because the grains are sprouted, all of their nutrients are available and they're much easier to digest. Remember, sprouting grains neutralizes phytates and enzyme inhibitors that naturally occur in all grains. So I bought a...
More About: Rain , Real , Route , Cereal

Why I hate Cheerios - even the organic versions...
2007-02-22 18:33:00
Or any other dry, mass-market cereal product out there.Over the past few years since my little ones were born, I've been criticized (sometimes openly, sometimes silent eye rolls) for not feeding them Cheer ios. Especially as babies since "every mother" gives their babies Cheerios as a first finger food, right? Well, every mother except me. Yes, I know. I'm a bit of a freak. :)*sigh*WARNING: My next paragraph may be very offensive because every parent tries to do their best and how we nourish our children is a touchy subject. Even I have fed my little ones cereal on occasion because it's easy (no one is perfect and I don't pretend to be), but I do try to avoid cereal just like I do candy and refined foods (aka, junk foods). You have been forewarned. This is MY OPINION and this is MY BLOG. *wink*My original reason, before knowing much about nutrition, was the simple fact that they're empty calories. It's a sad way to amuse and distract a small child while adults do someth...
More About: Hate , Hat , Organic , Sion