Halloween!

Hello everyone! so for Halloween - how to make it green. Just a few brief ideas... I have an office Halloween party and a real Halloween party to go to - but the outfit I have for the regular party is a bit too um inappropriate for the office - lol - what to do? Recycle! I am going to wear either one of my old pageant dresses with a sash and be a beauty queen or my old cowgirl clothes .. all things that are in my closet already! and some of the best costume finds are in second hand stores - Goodwill, higher quality second hand stores work too! Just gotta put some time into it or borrow a friend's old costume - it can be a great time and trying on ridiculous outfits is always fun. Going to Goodwill is also a fantastic idea because it saves resources since you aren't buying new! Have a very Happy Halloween!

All your Crap!

I know not very attractive title but hey I'm sure it got your attention! Anyway I believe the title is a link but if not here is what I am writing about today! The Story of Stuff this is a great little video and it talks about all your stuff - basically where it comes from where you fit in and where it goes after you've thrown it out. It is very eye opening and the cartoons make it fun to watch! Here is where it is green - it teaches you about your stuff then gives you alternatives. Here is the thing about stuff - you probably don't need it - it costs you too much - you're now bored with it - it serves no functional purpose (some things do) but anyway here is my own story -
I wanted a TV for the guest bedroom, I immediately went onto Craig's list and low and behold I scored a 32" TV with an unattached DVD Player for $25 total!!! and they are only two years old! The TV is a Toshiba and the DVD player is a Panasonic - so they are good products and they are recycled!! There are always great deals out there if you are willing to look!

For Gifts the thing I have found since people don't need more stuff is getting them experiences - what do I mean by that? Well a massage, a dinner out, a concert, going to the zoo, oooh a housekeeper for a day - it seems that memories or experiences are much more greatly appreciated. If you go with people to these things now you have great memories and a good time! The other thing I LOVE is hand made gifts - I would much rather get something like this because it means you sat down with this and thought about me! I'm sure most people feel the same, something from your heart home made is such a nice thought!
Hope you have a great day, week, weekend!

- oh if you have something you would like to talk about or have me blog about, just email me and we'll get it on here - we could even have a guest blogger! Love to all - peace.

Junk Food Cows??

Ok I'm going to try to embed this video in here, I want you all to look at this and realize this is from the Wall Street Journal - a fairly reliable source I would say:




Is this not the most ridiculous horrendous thing you have ever heard of??? seriously can not even fathom what they were thinking - well I guess I do $$$$ but at what real cost - ok folks just think of it this way - Mom or Grandma used to say "you are what you eat!" and that is quite the true statement - realize that these cows that are factory farmed, hardly see daylight and if they do they are still in cramped quarters are only fed corn which is not their natural diet and are fed antibiotics daily because they are weak from no movement and also from weakened immune systems and they would get deathly ill if they didn't have these antibiotics pumped into them and they never even see a blade of grass.
Ok all that being said now they are eating potato chips and M&Ms?? So basically you are eating junk food cows complete with pesticides (sprayed on the corn they eat), antibiotics, and now what potato chip, M&M flavored beef?? Seriously WTF!!! Not trying to be crude but then there is also on top of that the cost of shipping - the cost of the environmental impact of it as well as hard costs of it.. so not to be a total downer - let's try to be eco friendly and animal friendly (as much as possible in this situation) here is what i propose:

1. check www.localharvest.org which will show you local farms and ranches - or just check on www.greenmaven.com which is actually a "green" search engine that has cool articles but besides that if you search out "beef" I bet it will direct you to some "green" and cruelty free choices.

2. buy a half a cow or quarter of a cow - my friends and I did this in college - obviously you will need an extra freezer but this is well worth it or go in on it with some friends and split the meat between your freezers - get the beef from a local farmer who feeds them grass - what they are supposed to be eating!

3. just remember you really are what you eat! No wonder disease is running rampant in this country and prescriptions are given out like candy - just think about what we put into our bodies for once. PLEASE - imagine how much better you'll feel if you make conscious decisions about what you put into your body - treat it like the temple it is - it takes care of you please take care of it - organic or natural "grass fed" beef and other natural meats are better for you as are organic veggies and fruits - yes they are expensive but if you really start to eat right you will eat less.

Believe me I am a struggling "greenie" with three jobs and I manage to do alright if I look for sales and plan my meals, oh and eat "in Season". What's better for the world is what's better for you - you know the old "think globally, act locally" and if you could care less about the environment (not sure why you'd be reading my blog then - lol) just think about you and how much better you will feel! ok off the soapbox - this video just got me riled! lol
take care and eat well!

Where are we at part II

Ok the final thing I wanted to talk about, what have we done to offset our carbon footprint? Well at least 3 days a week we are carpooling - huge savings there. Then we are monitoring the temperature at the house (we don't have a programmable thermostat yet - that's next) and turning the temp up during the day and down at night so it is comfortable to sleep in. We bought "green" laundry detergent, dish soap, and glass cleaner, and are about to buy floor cleaner. We have a bagless vaccuum with hepa filters - the bagless part is wonderful and less wasteful! and just today I made homemade bread!! great thing about that is - it costs pennies to make is easy (although time consuming) and has no preservatives in it and tastes about 1000 times better than store bought! go to www.thesimpledollar.com and search for bread for a step by step process and it has pictures - plus your house smells fantastic as well. So turning green has it's advantages in more than just saving money department it also increases the quality of life! (home baked bread yay!) have a wonderful day be back soon!

Where are we at?

Update!! ok from the food end of things, I have within the last week started an eating program - lifestyle change - call it whatever you wanna call it just not a dare I say "diet" - lol - ok so what does this have to do with turning green? Well I'll tell ya - I buy only organic food and I try my best to buy local - there is a store called Sunflower Market and they buy local as often as possible. I am also eating less meat - and only lean and starting to buy grass fed organic beef or "natural" meats as much as possible - now this is a pricey option but if you limit you meat intake )most people have much more protein than they really need) and maybe do a meatless meal or two a week it will come out about even.

The cost and materials of raising animals for the store is outrageously expensive and horrible on the environment and usually inhumane to the animals. Buying organic or natural meats really helps to cut down environmental damage because of the better conditions these animals are raised in compared to the mass market way. Some people take this to the farthest end and go vegetarian or vegan - not me or my family because I believe there are other alternatives but it's definitely an option!! Here is a very entertaining film on the subject http://www.themeatrix.com/very informative and fun at the same time.

Carbon Offset

Ok so it's been awhile but I'm back! so I wanted to feature the carbon footprint today. Basically finding out what yours is and what you can do to help your own. Why is this important? because this is our beautiful planet and we can ALL - weather wealthy or poor impact things in a positive way - as a matter of fact the less money you have, the more doing these things can impact you in a positive way - fortunately for us "turning green" also comes with the saving money benefit!! ok off the soap box - go to www.earthlab.com and you can either just do a carbon footprint calculator or sign up for the Earth Day 2008 challenge which basically says that in the next year you will work on making your carbon offset 15% less than it was or you can just use this to figure out your offset http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

or here is one more http://fightglobalwarming.com/carboncalculator.cfm this is a good one too.

ok so I will share my households personal calculator: My Earth Conservation Score is 358 and my carbon output is 15.2 tons/year (yikes!) and here is what they say about that score "Generally, scores range from 150 - 900, lower the better. Your ECP score is calculated based on six categories related to Home, Energy, Work, Commute, Travel and Lifestyle. The average score in the US is 325; in Canada is 305."

I actually thought that it would be higher considering both my honey and I commute 60 miles a day total. He does ride his motorcycle pretty frequently and I drive my 4 cylinder truck everyday so I guess it's better than what it could be!

Next up I will share what I am doing so far...

Balance in all things

Ok so I have to go back to this book that I've been reading it was talking about how Benjamin Franklin had a set of virtues and every week he would work on one of the virtues. The book broke it down into fewer categories (I believe old Ben had 13). Anyway I think that is a great starting point for this whole thing. However I did start my physical program yesterday, my goal is to be 10 pounds lighter by June and more toned about 20% body fat. The body fat I care more about than the goal weight - what you should always find is that to measure success in fitness - look how your clothes fit, do a jiggle test (OMG!!), look for toning in your muscles that wasn't there before - these are the things that should matter not the weight on the scale - however having said that my 10 pounds is where I think I will be at 20%.

So the exercise regimen consists of this: 3 days a week weight training, 2 days a week cardio and 1 extra day of fun cardio - riding a bike or hiking or rollerblading with doggies - things like that. So yesterday was the first day of the program - I 5 minutes of cardio, then weights (all over body), then about 5-10 min stretching.

My eating was average - could do much better but I did buy Amazing Grass - it is a superfood supplement you can check it out here: http://www.amazinggrass.com/ I will be having one superfood shake a day which basically includes a scoop of protein, scoop of Amazing Grass, one cup of yogurt, frozen organic berries, maybe a banana and then orange juice or milk as a base. We'll see how this works out - more to come - love to all!

Where I'm at now

So I am creating this to track the changes that I'm making in my life to become better, healthier, more spiritual, more educated, more caring, loving, adventurous, financially successful, and all the while trying my best to be considerate and caring of the earth and her creatures. Over the last two years I've really gotten into the "green movement" however like my blog says sometimes it might make you a bit ill trying to figure it all out! :) hopefully through my trials and tribulations this may help others as well, I believe in balance and I do believe you can have your cake and eat it too you just have to open your eyes and heart to the possibility and then let the energy and answers flow in. Love to all, and away we go!