Thursday, October 30, 2008

Birth Control: Voting Green

Have you all been following the races around the country battling it out over basic access to birth control? Sheesh! Follow the links in my post over at the Green Phone Booth to learn about how the extreme, extreme right (not the vast majority of our country including pro-life voters who think we should have access to birth control) is trying to equate being conservative with telling pharmacists not to stock the little clamshells. Read more!

Makin' the First Move

I'm writing at the Green Phone Booth today about makin' the first move! You know, those little steps you take in getting green that just make you want to click your heels in the air while you walk? Nothin' huge, just little happy-making shifts. Tell me yours! Read more!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Green Phone Booth: Simple Halloween Party

Hey, I'm planning EGirl's kindergarten Halloween Party and need some help keeping it simple and easy, capiche? Head on over to the Green Phone Booth and give me some advice. Thanks! Read more!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Green Phone Booth: Locavore Fairy Godmothers

In case you haven't switched your subscription yet, head on over to the Green Phone Booth to read all about the wonderful women in my neighborhood who hooked us all up with farm-fresh veggies for the season. A great how-to on getting a CSA delivery to a location near you! Read more!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Testing Toys for Toxins

I had great fun with a lot of green moms at BlogHerDC yesterday! I can't wait to tell you all about 75,000 things that I learned but I have to start somewhere. So go check out my very first GreenPhoneBooth post about The Smart Mama's XRF analyzer and my kids' (arsenic, chromium, phthalate, and lead-laced) toys. Read more!

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Green Phone Booth: Where Ordinary Women Go to Become Superheroes!

So, I've been pretty busy lately (haven't we all?) and part of what I've been up to is plotting the launch of a phenomenal new community blog called the Green Phone Booth. I could not be more excited to report that I will be abandoning this blog flat on its arse and happily taking up residence at a new site. Our new gig will be a group blog, and my fellow writers are a pretty amazing lot: Green Bean Dreams, BurbanMom from Going Green, and the Purloined Letter.

Dontcha want to meet the Bulk? Olive S. Oyl? Green Bean? or the Green Raven?!

I'm tickled pink to be writing with these women, and even more thrilled that we will be able to not only take on issues dear to our green mothering hearts, but to do so in a nurturing community. Put the Green Phone Booth on your speed dial! We're live today and will be posting daily starting one week from today.

If you're going to BlogHer DC, hope to see you there - please find me via Twitter.

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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Alternatives to Neon Electrolyte Drinks


In case one of your tiny loved ones gets the barfing flu this winter (can you believe I just wished that on you?!), I thought I would pass along my recent research on non-neon electrolyte beverages. When EGirl was feeling terrible recently, I decided that the last thing her system needed while it was down and out was a whole mess of artifical colors, flavors, and sweeteners. Naturally, I turned to twitter for advice.

Thanks so much to the many people who helped me out. It turns out that you can make your own electrolyte concoctions, or purchase coconut water at Whole Paycheck or find this premade organic electrolyte drink. I did the first of the two options. I will have to admit that EGirl has tasted Gatorade before so she looked at these drinks like they were rat piss after one sip. I figured she was fine with just water, a little of the electrolyte, and some banana for potassium. Maybe the premade will help us out in the future! Worth a shot with your own kid, though.

Also, you should know there is a natural version of jello (anyone know how to make it with gelatine and fruit juice?), and we always hit up the probiotics for tummy troubles. Now to 'splain to CBoy that the white flour products in the house aren't coming back for awhile. His refrain of WANT COOKIE (animal crackers) is going to get ignored for a bit while we move back into the land of fiber. Hope you and yours are transitioning to fall with happy tummies.



*Photo courtesy of sxc.
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Moving Away From Teflon: Sticky?

So, I make one of my kids scrambled eggs a lot. I got rid of our Teflon pans a while ago because of health concerns. And I pretty much hate doing dishes at all, but the daily layer of impossible-to-remove-scrambled-egg gunk was pretty much making my head split right down the middle. Does *everything* healthier have to be a PIA, I wondered?

Actually, it turns out I am just a lousy cook! What I needed to be doing was to heat up my pan super hot and then add the olive oil (if I used butter, it would stick even less). Who knew there was a different way to cook to keep the horrid scrambled-egg crust from bonding like SuperGlue to the bottom of my pan?

Apparently, Ask Metafilter (thanks to not martha) and Harold McGee knew. I love the way the interwebs make me a better person cook.



*Photo courtesy of sxc.
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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

DonorsChoose - Targeted Gifts to Public School Class Projects

So, I may be a giant, bleeding heart but I think we can all agree that the crazed roller coaster our economy's been on over the last couple weeks does NOT mean that the public school systems have won the lottery. I'm just sayin'. Anyways, just because none of us will ever be able to retire doesn't mean that we have nothing left to give! Check out the widget on the sidebar of my blog (top right) and click through if you are so inspired. Give a buck, give a couple thousand, whatever it is, I know it will help. This organization seems pretty cool. They ask teachers for projects and then - without having to funnel the money through some giant Kafkaesque bureaucracy !cough! DCPS - they send the materials right on over to the schools.

Those of you who know me in real life know my dad's a huge birdwatcher and naturalist. That's why this program description pretty much made my heart go pitter-pat:

"I'm the visual arts teacher at a Title I elementary school in southeast Washington, DC. I currently teach visual arts to over 400 students in grades ranging from Head Start (two-year-olds) to 5th grade (twelve-year-olds). I have been teaching in the same school for the past ten years.

Our local park is truly a gem in our Nation’s Capital. It offers visitors an opportunity to reflect and soothe their spirits through the beauty of nature. Fresh air, majestic trees, wild animals, and the ebb and flow of the creek emanate the delicate aura of the forest. It is the home to over 200 different species of birds.

Birdwatching means learning to identify the birds and understand what they are doing. Life suddenly gets more interesting when you become aware of the varied bird life all around you. To do this effectively the naked eye alone is not sufficient enough, in order to do it efficiently the students will need medium powered binoculars to explore the nearby park habitat and find the various birds in their natural habitat and the notebooks so the student can be effective recorders. The books would let the students match their birds with the correct species that are commonly found in North America, more specifically Washington, DC.

With your help my students will have the opportunity to further their experience in life science while exploring a new lifetime hobby. Research has shown that children who do not regularly encounter wildlife, develop unreasonable fears. Everything wild becomes strange and scary. Studies also suggest that unless these personal connections are made in early childhood, they may not be possible on such a deep, meaningful level.

My students need 20 pairs of binoculars, steno pads and 2 Birds of North America resource books. The cost of this proposal is $1,129."

Imagine being able to give a child something tangible that might kindle in him or her your father's lifelong passion. Sold!

There are projects of all sorts, something to tug at your personal heartstrings no matter their flavor. I wrote about the details to kick off the month-long DC Metro Moms Challenge if you want to read about more unbelievable reqests (like from a PE teacher who has no equipment and all he's asking for is hula hoops and bean bags. Sigh. Banging head on keyboard). What an inspired idea to give teachers the power to instantly make their students' lives more fulfilling.

Thanks for reading, folks, and if you're a blogger and feel so inclined, spread the word! If you're a person with a change jar you can swing into action, do it! I appreciate your generosity from the bottom of my heart.

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