As you are hopefully aware, it is (almost) April, the official sponsor of Earth Day. Of COURSE I'm going to dedicate a blog to it. You do realize who you're dealing with here, right?
*Ahem* In honor of Earth Day, I thought it would only be appropriate to dedicate a blog to the blue planet; home to one and all of you, my lovely readers. Since it is so early in the month, if you haven't already thought of something earth-friendly that you and your family will do for Earth Day, now is the time to come up with something. Why not? It's a good learning experience, and any changes you make are only going to better everyone's quality of life. Being the green goddess I am, I am going to make a few suggestions. PICK ONE AND DO IT. Ya, that's right, I'm gettin' bossy. Don't make me come over there....
1. Still using those cruddy toxic cleaners? Well hello, have I not mentioned Shaklee? Come on, get with the program. Shaklee's Get Clean line is fabulous, cheap, and the stuff works great. You'll never go back to your smelly, asthma-inducing, cancer-causing, skin-removing toxic crap again. It's eco-friendly, made with corn and coconut surfactants, and you can literally throw your dirty mop water out in the yard and your grass will be greener. Plus, Basic H2 was the first official Earth Day product! It biodegrades in 30 days, the wipes are compostable, and did you know that Shaklee was the first company to offset all carbon emissions? Just flippin' try it, already.
2. You know you've got Rot Pot envy. Get yourself a Rot Pot. Seriously folks, start a compost!! You can get one of those barrel-type composters that fit in any yard, and reap the benefits all year long. It cuts down on garbage, and those of you who pay for garbage stickers should appreciate that. Use the compost on your vegetable garden, and oh my, will you be glad you did it. My tomato plants get as tall as me!! It's easy, cheap (after the initial investment of the barrel), and worth it. My pile is free...just fenced in with chicken wire on the side of my yard.
3. Are you recycling? NO?! Get your building, neighborhood or town to start. You'll be everyone's hero, and who doesn't love a little hero-worship? It's the 2000's, after all, everyone should be recycling. It feels terrible to me to throw away, or see someone throw away, recyclable items. I can't handle it. I'm the kook digging in the garbage cans, taking home the recyclables so they don't end up in a landfill. If we (planet Earth) continue the way we are going, imagine what life will be like for our grandchildren! Full. Of. Garbage. Is that what you want for them? Ya, I didn't think so. There's an activist in all of us, now get out there and activate it!
4. Your community won't support recycling cause you live in the boonies? REUSE. Make some stuff and start a little business. I've seen some great businesses online where people are cleaning up selling things made from reused items. Mason jar chandeliers (very Pottery Barn!) go for a couple hundred bucks! Knitted items from grocery bags, felted yarn goods from thrift store sweaters, endless items made from old reclaimed wood. Get creative, it's a great outlet, and if you can make some dough doing it, kudos to you.
5. Did you know that if you measured and added up all the energy-escaping cracks in your home, it would on average add up to a hole 3 FEET in diameter?! The cold is still here and the inevitable summer heat is coming. It's never too early or too late to make your home more efficient. Quit being such a primadonna, lower your thermostat and put on a sweater! Fill those cracks in your home where cold air comes in or goes out, put in some new insulation, get some thermal shades. Check your water heater, furnace and chimney, and if you're due and able, replace those old appliances. If nothing else, you could be saving a boatload of money by keeping a tighter ship.
6. Buy local. Eat less meat. Support companies and buy products that support the environment, and don't fall for 'greenwashing'. Grow a vegetable garden. Use reusable bags. Turn off the dang lights. Only run your washer and dishwasher when full - a full dishwasher is more efficient than washing the equivalent amount by hand! Be conscious of how wasteful we all are.
I think that last one hits the nail on the head, don't you? BE CONSCIOUS. Pay attention to what you're doing, because in the long run it affects us all. I could go on and on, but you know what to do. We've only got one earth, and we better take care of it. Even if our generation doesn't reap the fruits of our labors, future generations will appreciate what we've done to preserve what we can. After all, what would we do without Earth?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Clock is Always Ticking
I've been MIA. No blog, no Facebook posts, no tweets. My web presence has been nil. Neglecting my email, voice mail (not like that's anything new), even snail mail. Why? I wish I had a fantastic reason like I've been visiting Portugal or working for world peace or feeding the hungry. Nothing like that, though as it turns out, it is pretty fantastic.
Well jeez Bonnie, what HAVE you been doing? I've been collecting.
That's what this post is about. Collecting. It isn't green or nutritious, and it isn't fit or eco-friendly. You can print it out and compost it when you're done reading if you want, but I really wouldn't want you to waste the paper.
This post is about time, and friends, and homework for parents. And collecting. Yes, collecting.
I have found that I'm not the best time-manager, but I'm working on it. Making schedules, planning my days, setting aside time to do the stuff I need to be doing to move onward and upward. It's definitely helping! My business coach recommended that I make a daily schedule for myself, down to the hour, for the things I have to get done or want to do get done. An hour here for this, two hours there for that, and I am more productive than ever. THAT, my friends, is for the things I can anticipate and control. Sometimes stuff comes up that we have to address, and I find that I fall into this black hole of time-sucking frenzy.
One of my biggest time consumers recently has been 'The Kenosha Project'. My son is in third grade, and apparently every third grader in the Kenosha area gets to do this project. There are a few options of different types of projects the kids can choose from but by far the most popular one is to tour the area, taking pictures and gathering information, and then put the report together in scrapbook form. Unfortunately, driving around town is not something a 3rd grader can do on their own.
At first I really resented that this project had the requirements that it did because of the time involved. This is the kind of stuff I fondly refer to as 'parent homework'. We were provided with a list of places to go to, and spent 2 whole days and part of another just driving around town from place to place. (That's not including the time to put the report together! Hours!) We visited museums, memorials, statues, and signs. Found inscriptions and gravestones, got stickers and collected clues. Somewhere along the way it started turning into more of a scavenger hunt than an assignment. We worked as a little team to beat the clock. It was fun, and it was quality time. Sure, it was educational, but the education part of it kind of took a back seat to the experience itself. Taking silly pictures of my kid strategically placed to look like he is holding up the Jelly Belly jelly bean, or stopping at a long-time local drive-in for cheeseburgers and root beer floats - the boy even bought us lunch! We ended up having a great time together, collecting memories and experiences I will treasure and relive every time I open that scrapbook or revisit one of the many area sites.
Inevitably, the time came to put the report together. I'm not a scrapbooker, nor am I exceptionally creative where visual arts are concerned, so needless to say my plan wasn't beautiful. The boy is certainly no help in this department...he doesn't even like to do his regular homework, let alone some gorgeous scrapbook that takes hours if not days to put together.
My plan - what would have ultimately ended up as a total disgrace to the experience - was construction paper, hand-written descriptions, a picture, glue, hole punch, yarn, done. If we happened to pick up anything else on the way, we could include that too. Brochures, booklets, souvenirs of any kind. Glue it on the paper, tie the papers together, and call it a report. It's the information that's important, right? Ya, so NOT.
In the thick of putting this report together I told my friend about what I was having the boy do. She has a 4th and a 5th grader, and two Kenosha reports already under her belt. Throw in a little scrapbooking, and we have ourselves one talented friend. She must have been cringing at my description, and I'm sure her hands shook as she texted me to bring the stuff over - she would help. NOW. That tone came through text loud and clear.
Lucky for me she has a touch of craft-supply-hoarding, so she was well prepared with punch-out paper letters in every color of the rainbow and every font. Little decorative stickers, glue pens, and tabs to put on the back of the pictures, an awesome binder that the pages came out of, background paper, even a little tool to round out edges, fancy scissors. I was definitely out of my element, and basically just followed her directions. We spent hours of cropping, measuring, matching colors and making layouts, gluey fingers and eyestrain, it came together. Needless to say, thanks to her the report turned out great, and time spent with a friend is always good. More collecting.
But let me tell you, he better get an A++ cause damn it I'm 36 and I can do the work of a 3rd grader well, thank you very much.
We all like to be rewarded or recognized for time spent and a job well done just as much as the next guy. But as parents, or small business owners, or housewives, or any combination thereof, our rewards can be a little different. Our kid gets a good grade or a 1st place and its a reward for us too, no doubt. But what about all the time spent driving people around, sitting through sports practice and games, grocery shopping and errand running? I reward myself with backed up laundry and a dirty kitchen floor. But it's ok, cause in the end its all for the greater good.
This past weekend was spent going to and from Pennsylvania for a taekwondo tournament. Nine hours there, nine hours back. Out of 5 kids there were half-dozen 1st places, twice as many 2nds, 3rds and 4ths, good sportsmanship and support, hours of conversation and silliness. A long drive? Yes. But the collection of memories and experiences from this weekend was well worth it.
I promise to manage my time better so I can help myself too, because it's all really a big circle, isn't it? We help ourselves and therefore help them, and by helping them we help ourselves. We collect joy from their successes, and hugs and snuggles and tears from their not-so-successes. We get satisfaction from our own accomplishments, and when we've accomplished what we planned we feel better about the time we've spent and have more to offer them when it's their time.
I promise to stop and think about the experience and what we've all reaped from it before I complain about how much time it took. Time flies by us, but we really need to stop and look at what we've collected along the way, cause the collection is really the whole point.
Well jeez Bonnie, what HAVE you been doing? I've been collecting.
That's what this post is about. Collecting. It isn't green or nutritious, and it isn't fit or eco-friendly. You can print it out and compost it when you're done reading if you want, but I really wouldn't want you to waste the paper.
This post is about time, and friends, and homework for parents. And collecting. Yes, collecting.
I have found that I'm not the best time-manager, but I'm working on it. Making schedules, planning my days, setting aside time to do the stuff I need to be doing to move onward and upward. It's definitely helping! My business coach recommended that I make a daily schedule for myself, down to the hour, for the things I have to get done or want to do get done. An hour here for this, two hours there for that, and I am more productive than ever. THAT, my friends, is for the things I can anticipate and control. Sometimes stuff comes up that we have to address, and I find that I fall into this black hole of time-sucking frenzy.
One of my biggest time consumers recently has been 'The Kenosha Project'. My son is in third grade, and apparently every third grader in the Kenosha area gets to do this project. There are a few options of different types of projects the kids can choose from but by far the most popular one is to tour the area, taking pictures and gathering information, and then put the report together in scrapbook form. Unfortunately, driving around town is not something a 3rd grader can do on their own.
At first I really resented that this project had the requirements that it did because of the time involved. This is the kind of stuff I fondly refer to as 'parent homework'. We were provided with a list of places to go to, and spent 2 whole days and part of another just driving around town from place to place. (That's not including the time to put the report together! Hours!) We visited museums, memorials, statues, and signs. Found inscriptions and gravestones, got stickers and collected clues. Somewhere along the way it started turning into more of a scavenger hunt than an assignment. We worked as a little team to beat the clock. It was fun, and it was quality time. Sure, it was educational, but the education part of it kind of took a back seat to the experience itself. Taking silly pictures of my kid strategically placed to look like he is holding up the Jelly Belly jelly bean, or stopping at a long-time local drive-in for cheeseburgers and root beer floats - the boy even bought us lunch! We ended up having a great time together, collecting memories and experiences I will treasure and relive every time I open that scrapbook or revisit one of the many area sites.
Inevitably, the time came to put the report together. I'm not a scrapbooker, nor am I exceptionally creative where visual arts are concerned, so needless to say my plan wasn't beautiful. The boy is certainly no help in this department...he doesn't even like to do his regular homework, let alone some gorgeous scrapbook that takes hours if not days to put together.
My plan - what would have ultimately ended up as a total disgrace to the experience - was construction paper, hand-written descriptions, a picture, glue, hole punch, yarn, done. If we happened to pick up anything else on the way, we could include that too. Brochures, booklets, souvenirs of any kind. Glue it on the paper, tie the papers together, and call it a report. It's the information that's important, right? Ya, so NOT.
In the thick of putting this report together I told my friend about what I was having the boy do. She has a 4th and a 5th grader, and two Kenosha reports already under her belt. Throw in a little scrapbooking, and we have ourselves one talented friend. She must have been cringing at my description, and I'm sure her hands shook as she texted me to bring the stuff over - she would help. NOW. That tone came through text loud and clear.
Lucky for me she has a touch of craft-supply-hoarding, so she was well prepared with punch-out paper letters in every color of the rainbow and every font. Little decorative stickers, glue pens, and tabs to put on the back of the pictures, an awesome binder that the pages came out of, background paper, even a little tool to round out edges, fancy scissors. I was definitely out of my element, and basically just followed her directions. We spent hours of cropping, measuring, matching colors and making layouts, gluey fingers and eyestrain, it came together. Needless to say, thanks to her the report turned out great, and time spent with a friend is always good. More collecting.
But let me tell you, he better get an A++ cause damn it I'm 36 and I can do the work of a 3rd grader well, thank you very much.
We all like to be rewarded or recognized for time spent and a job well done just as much as the next guy. But as parents, or small business owners, or housewives, or any combination thereof, our rewards can be a little different. Our kid gets a good grade or a 1st place and its a reward for us too, no doubt. But what about all the time spent driving people around, sitting through sports practice and games, grocery shopping and errand running? I reward myself with backed up laundry and a dirty kitchen floor. But it's ok, cause in the end its all for the greater good.
This past weekend was spent going to and from Pennsylvania for a taekwondo tournament. Nine hours there, nine hours back. Out of 5 kids there were half-dozen 1st places, twice as many 2nds, 3rds and 4ths, good sportsmanship and support, hours of conversation and silliness. A long drive? Yes. But the collection of memories and experiences from this weekend was well worth it.
I promise to manage my time better so I can help myself too, because it's all really a big circle, isn't it? We help ourselves and therefore help them, and by helping them we help ourselves. We collect joy from their successes, and hugs and snuggles and tears from their not-so-successes. We get satisfaction from our own accomplishments, and when we've accomplished what we planned we feel better about the time we've spent and have more to offer them when it's their time.
I promise to stop and think about the experience and what we've all reaped from it before I complain about how much time it took. Time flies by us, but we really need to stop and look at what we've collected along the way, cause the collection is really the whole point.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Ghosts of Products Past
As I am sure many of you did, I grew up with bleach, ammonia, Tide, Downy, Mr. Bubble, and Twinkies. Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies were the best, and who can forget your mom's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda, chock full of artificial sweeteners and who knows what else. Remember getting the first Equal gumballs in the newspaper insert? I do, and I ate the first one (and I still don't like aspartame). The tub got scrubbed with the worst of the worst cleaners, and then we soaked up the residue in our baths. Baby powder fights, weird concoctions of lotions to slather on, bare hands touching chemicals of all kinds. To compound my chemical exposure, when I was a teenager I got a job at a pet store. Every day, I would go in and bleach the heck out of the puppy kennels...with bare hands, inhaling the fumes. But we all turned out ok, didn't we?
Ok, let's not actually answer that.
The first green products I learned about were for cleaning. One day I was bleaching my kitchen floor...the next day I was packing up all the toxic stuff and sending it off to the garage. I started using Seventh Generation, Method, Green Works, and a few others. They were expensive and not usually effective, but I was dedicated to using green products and stuck with them. (This was before I discovered Shaklee).
Very shortly after my cleaning product revelation came my enlightenment about personal products. I packed up all our Pantene, Bath & Body Works, Johnson's and whatnot, and offered the fuller bottles to my mom and sister. What they didn't absorb (no pun intended) got squirted into the garbage or the toilet, and the bottle recycled. Ya, seriously, I stood there and emptied each bottle so I could recycle it. Who DOES that? Anyway, I was left with a few items I couldn't get rid of 'just in case' and of course I get stuff now and then that I'll never use...whether by gift or freebie or whatever. These unusables get stashed away and forgotten.
In my quest to replace everything we ever use anywhere, there was definitely a trial and error process. There have been numerous natural products that have not worked out, and end up sitting in a cabinet or closet. Just because it's natural or non-toxic doesn't mean it's going to work or be the right product for us. The Beebs and I found that out the hard way. After a very scary incident with an allergic reaction to the 'Fragrance' in a Burt's Bees baby wash (97.3% natural!), and a very humorous incident (I wasn't the one laughing) with a face wash/lotion for me where I ended up looking like I had lobster-red sunburn on my face, I realized that not everything from the health food store is going to automatically be the right product.
So the question is: Where do your abandoned products go?
Well, I suppose we can call it the product graveyard. I've definitely got one and to my husband's chagrin it is in the garage. A big old cardboard box full of Windex, bleach, wipes, bathroom cleaners, kitchen cleaners, floor cleaners and more; all full of the type of chemicals that I do NOT allow in my house anymore. Pretty much all my Shaklee cohorts have a similar box in their garage. And those personal products...? Lucky for me I've got a little extra storage space in the bathroom closet. I'll never use that paraben-laden sunscreen on the kids, or the lotions, or makeup, or hair products, but there it sits. I don't even use perfume, though I have half-dozen bottles of it sitting in the closet.
Crazy, you say? I'll admit to a little crazy. But the thing is...I've done a lot of research on this stuff. I might seem paranoid or over-the-top to some, and others might say they are way too attached to their signature fragrance or mascara or favorite bathroom cleaner to ever give it up. Fine. I'm not trying to convince you to give up what you love. Do what you want. But be informed about what it is you are bringing into your home or putting on your body, especially if you have kids at home. I could use this opportunity to tell you how great and green and non-toxic everything Shaklee makes is and how that's mostly what we use now, but me selling you better products is not the point here.
The point is simply: When you've come to your senses and learned enough about the ill-effects chemicals can have on your family's health, and you replace all your bad stuff with good stuff, there is a solution for all those unused products! And it's not that you have to stand at your garbage can squirting out six bottles of Johnson's baby lotion!
The easiest and most economical way to get rid of these chemicals is to use them up. Then you can recycle the bottle and be done with it. If you don't want to do that, and I don't blame you for not, read on.
Toxic products can't actually be recycled, per se. Disposing of chemicals improperly can cause a lot of environmental problems like soil and water contamination...check out what happens from chemical runoff. You can take your stuff to a hazardous waste collection facility, or most communities often host events for gathering all the unwanted products...and some even do it year-round. Contact your village or your local solid waste or sanitation department to find out when and where you can take yours. Hopefully there isn't some dude in each town with a garage full of cardboard boxes...
For anyone who didn't notice the first time...let me point out that these products are considered hazardous waste! If they have to be taken to a hazardous waste collection facility to be disposed of...why are you using them in your home?!?!
To find out what products are bad, check out this awesome glossary, or visit EWG and Cosmetics Database. To get the green and non-toxic products that you now know are much better for you, go here. My intention is to educate you about healthier products so you can make better choices. If your choices include Shaklee, great. If not, that's ok too. I am just as happy hearing that you learned something here and will stop using the toxic chemicals you've read about!!
Ok, let's not actually answer that.
The first green products I learned about were for cleaning. One day I was bleaching my kitchen floor...the next day I was packing up all the toxic stuff and sending it off to the garage. I started using Seventh Generation, Method, Green Works, and a few others. They were expensive and not usually effective, but I was dedicated to using green products and stuck with them. (This was before I discovered Shaklee).
Very shortly after my cleaning product revelation came my enlightenment about personal products. I packed up all our Pantene, Bath & Body Works, Johnson's and whatnot, and offered the fuller bottles to my mom and sister. What they didn't absorb (no pun intended) got squirted into the garbage or the toilet, and the bottle recycled. Ya, seriously, I stood there and emptied each bottle so I could recycle it. Who DOES that? Anyway, I was left with a few items I couldn't get rid of 'just in case' and of course I get stuff now and then that I'll never use...whether by gift or freebie or whatever. These unusables get stashed away and forgotten.
In my quest to replace everything we ever use anywhere, there was definitely a trial and error process. There have been numerous natural products that have not worked out, and end up sitting in a cabinet or closet. Just because it's natural or non-toxic doesn't mean it's going to work or be the right product for us. The Beebs and I found that out the hard way. After a very scary incident with an allergic reaction to the 'Fragrance' in a Burt's Bees baby wash (97.3% natural!), and a very humorous incident (I wasn't the one laughing) with a face wash/lotion for me where I ended up looking like I had lobster-red sunburn on my face, I realized that not everything from the health food store is going to automatically be the right product.
So the question is: Where do your abandoned products go?
Well, I suppose we can call it the product graveyard. I've definitely got one and to my husband's chagrin it is in the garage. A big old cardboard box full of Windex, bleach, wipes, bathroom cleaners, kitchen cleaners, floor cleaners and more; all full of the type of chemicals that I do NOT allow in my house anymore. Pretty much all my Shaklee cohorts have a similar box in their garage. And those personal products...? Lucky for me I've got a little extra storage space in the bathroom closet. I'll never use that paraben-laden sunscreen on the kids, or the lotions, or makeup, or hair products, but there it sits. I don't even use perfume, though I have half-dozen bottles of it sitting in the closet.
Crazy, you say? I'll admit to a little crazy. But the thing is...I've done a lot of research on this stuff. I might seem paranoid or over-the-top to some, and others might say they are way too attached to their signature fragrance or mascara or favorite bathroom cleaner to ever give it up. Fine. I'm not trying to convince you to give up what you love. Do what you want. But be informed about what it is you are bringing into your home or putting on your body, especially if you have kids at home. I could use this opportunity to tell you how great and green and non-toxic everything Shaklee makes is and how that's mostly what we use now, but me selling you better products is not the point here.
The point is simply: When you've come to your senses and learned enough about the ill-effects chemicals can have on your family's health, and you replace all your bad stuff with good stuff, there is a solution for all those unused products! And it's not that you have to stand at your garbage can squirting out six bottles of Johnson's baby lotion!
The easiest and most economical way to get rid of these chemicals is to use them up. Then you can recycle the bottle and be done with it. If you don't want to do that, and I don't blame you for not, read on.
Toxic products can't actually be recycled, per se. Disposing of chemicals improperly can cause a lot of environmental problems like soil and water contamination...check out what happens from chemical runoff. You can take your stuff to a hazardous waste collection facility, or most communities often host events for gathering all the unwanted products...and some even do it year-round. Contact your village or your local solid waste or sanitation department to find out when and where you can take yours. Hopefully there isn't some dude in each town with a garage full of cardboard boxes...
For anyone who didn't notice the first time...let me point out that these products are considered hazardous waste! If they have to be taken to a hazardous waste collection facility to be disposed of...why are you using them in your home?!?!
To find out what products are bad, check out this awesome glossary, or visit EWG and Cosmetics Database. To get the green and non-toxic products that you now know are much better for you, go here. My intention is to educate you about healthier products so you can make better choices. If your choices include Shaklee, great. If not, that's ok too. I am just as happy hearing that you learned something here and will stop using the toxic chemicals you've read about!!
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