snickerdoodles

chic & eco-friendly pet toys...

   Dogs love to chew.  There is an amazing array of garish plastic dog toys out there made in China and probably not the safest.  Better dog toys seem to be expensive and limited.  I was very happy to find Wagga Wool  toys recently.

The wool is 100% untreated, un-dyed and natural.  It's heavy and durable and the filled with coconut fibers.  When the dogs get a chomping the toy makes a light crunching sound Rufus seems to really enjoy.  Best of all when the toy is finally conquered it's biodegradable. 

This jute donut style from the web page also looks like a hit.  I found my toy at Homesense and the price was well below regular retail.  You might luck out as well or you can show at ABO GEAR online and have a way better selection.   Maybe even show this product off to your favorite pet store and encourage them to expand their line.

Don't forget to leave a little something under the tree for a special pooch friend or two.  How fun would it be to bring a basket of goodies to a local shelter this holiday season?

Woof!

sweet little kids...

   In a perfect world all treats would be lightly sweetened with honey or maple syrup...natural stuff.  Things just ain't so unfortunately and I am always torn between giving the boys a whack of sugar or sugar-free goodies when the option is there.    I definitely offer them sugar-free versions of soda when they have it as an average can of regular pop has 15 cubes of sugar.  We chew sugar-free gum all the time too...there are so many worries about aspartame and such I really liked this piece from Mom Logic.  Sometimes you just have to weigh your decisions and use you gut instincts on these things.

Enjoy this read sweeties...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#5MtzdT/www.momlogic.com/2008/09/are_artificial_sweeteners_dang.php/

I know some of you strong souls out there with food willpower will be thinking I should just cut out sugar all together.  Not possible, my sweet tooth needs nurturing, even if it's just dried fruit or a nibble of chocolate.  I am well aware how bad sugar is...it's  horrible, but right now it's my vice and I need to take the reductions in baby steps to make it a life choice not a severe change that doesn't last.

handy houseplants...

A little plant here and there can do your house and your health a whole lot of good.  I found this article on Oprah.com, a favorite place of mine to land while flying around the internet.

 

4 Houseplants That Clear the Air

By Rachel Mount

These hardworking houseplants can sweeten every breath you take.

 

Illustration: John Burgoyne

Put Your Plants to Work

In the early 1980s, when NASA researchers were looking for ways to purify the air inside the space pods of the future, they didn't just look to engineer a pricey, high-tech filtering system. They also turned to the humble houseplant. As the months grow colder and darker, driving you indoors, take a cue from NASA and put your plants to work absorbing the air pollutants lurking in your home or office. O asked Bill Wolverton, PhD, who helped pioneer the NASA studies, to select a trio of potted powerhouses. (For freshest results, Wolverton recommends covering soil with a one-inch layer of pebbles or decorative gravel, which cuts the risk of mold and bacteria.)

1. Palms (bamboo, lady, and areca varieties): Palms not only are top performers in removing airborne toxins but can add up to a liter of moisture to the air per day—perfect for counteracting the desert-dry effects of indoor heating systems

 

Keep reading and learning by taking this link to the whole article...

 

Take little steps to 'green up' you life daily...it can lead to big changes.  What if each person starting taking green baby steps to reduce their ecological footprint?  What a difference we could make together.  It's Eco Friday and Christmas shopping season, please keep this in mind when you hit the mall.  Choose Earth Friendly presents for your loved ones...not sure what to get?

 

The World Wildlife Fund  has lots of options for gift-giving, as does World Vision.  Honor those on your list you aren't sure what to give with a gift that gives back instead of burdening them with another random chatchka.  A small air-cleansing plant in a lovely pot is also a present that shows you truly care.

earthkeepers...

   I recently read an article about Betsy Blaisdell in Women's Health Magazine.  Betsy is an enviro-scientist that works for Timberland.  Timberland is leading the way in creating eco-guidelines and Green Indexes for other companies to learn from. 

Betsy is committed to corporate sustainability.  As a result Timberland now hasemployee incentive programs, like offering $3000 to staff that buy hybrid vehicles, an organic company garden and Earthwatch expedition rewards to honor the greenest employee.

I hopped on Timberland to browse their new collection of Earthkeepers  footwear and learn more.  Earthkeepers are made with green rubber that is made from recycled tires.  They are also designed to be taken apart when they are worn out and recycled...very clever, and very, very stylish...

The A Lounger,

A perfect winter slip on boot.

Also love this tall style:

It's called the Mount Holly and comes in three classic shades.  Perfect for tights and a big cozy sweater.

Being the bargain hunter that I am, I couldn't resist perusing the sale section...check out these spunky guys sneaks:

They are on sale for $49.99.

That's all for this Eco-Friday folks...I am still fighting a nasty flu bug and my eyes can only last so long staring at the computer.  Time to reload on peppermint oil and Advil. 

Happy Weekend!

recycled Halloween costumes...

 
"...Apparently it lasted for a good while, until he got overzealous going after a piñata. Consider yourself warned."

  Have you gotten a Halloween costume together yet?  My two older boys still haven't decided what they are going to be this year.  I was skipping around on the internet searching for ideas and I found a couple great links from the Daily Green.  One of the best things about a truly unique Halloween costume is that it usually is made from things you have around the house or from a second hand shop...re-using at it's best! 

Have a boo at these links and see if you can find a way to recycle items into a fabulous get-up.

Link #1 from the Daily Green...

and yet another full of ideas from The Daily Green again...

organic bed cozies...

  Our bedroom has been the most neglected room at Birch Hill so far in terms of decorating.  Brown velvet curtains from our old living room are tacked up over the window, the furniture is jumbled around, not quite in the right spots yet.  Our bed is decked out in whatever bedding was left after we got the boys rooms suited up.  Here is the rather embarrassing "before" shot:

another angle to further illustrate the mish-mash...

 This is looking from the middle of the room into the ensuite.  As Debbie Downer would say (SNL fans will get this) Whaaaah, Whaaaah.  I also think I might need to later re-paint the bathroom a warm stony grey too...the blue is pretty but not great with the tile.  Oh that darn tile tricked me big time at the showroom...but that friends is another story.

Things are a happening though.  The bed has rotated to face the window and the view.  I am going to paint the outdated pine a warm grey/brown like the lamp base on the night stand. 

Then, I want to order a Silk Concepts Duvet in a King size to hang over both sides of the queen bed.  Read more about this dreamy product here:  http://snickerdoodles.typepad.com/snickerdoodle_life/2009/07/silky-sleeps-with-silkconcept.html

Since it's Eco-Friday I also thought I would share the fabulous organic bedding they have now at    West Elm. 

Loving these Organic Cotton Pin-tucked duvet cover sets...this is the Clay colour which is probably the best choice for us as I like to munch toast with Nutella in bed and read.

If we were a Spic & Span clean kinda family I would choose this instead...

Here is the West Elm description:

Organic, undyed, 230-thread-count cotton is left in its purest, most natural state. Multiple pintucks add textural dimension to the Zenlike simplicity of the design. Our certified organic cotton is grown and processed without the use of herbicides or pesticides - making it better for you and better for the planet. 

I also ADORE this Danish inspired set, even though I don't think it would be a lasting choice for the bedroom...

Plus, I shouldn't be showing it today as it's not an Eco-Friendly set.  How fabulous would this print be on a heavy cotton/linen for drapery panels downstairs though!  If you like this and feel like being a tad naughty it's also very much on sale now!

I've never actually stepped foot in a West Elm store but I have been swooning over their catalog and web page for years now.  There is a Canadian store now open in Toronto for the lucky folks living in Ontario, everyone else will have to click away with me on the West Elm internet shopping site.

Winter is a coming fast...time to make your beds extra cozy.   Thick covers and dreamy fabrics lead to hibernating at it's best!

 
 

very gourd advice...

  For Eco-Friday I am sharing a very good article I found on The Daily Green ,

Get Your Gourd On

Instead of plastic seasonal decorations, look for gorgeous natural materials.

Photo: Siri Stafford / Getty Images

related articles

Top 10 Ways to Go Green This Halloween The Best Recycled Halloween Costumes on the Web Heirloom Pumpkins and Squash Top 10 Green Thanksgiving Tips The Case for Disposable Diapers

By Brian Clark Howard

Buzz up!

Instead of garish plastic witches, polystyrene pumpkins and cheap Halloween toys that may be contaminated with lead paint, decorate for the fall holidays with natural materials such as gourds, pumpkins and dried corn, leaves and grasses.

By avoiding all that unnecessary plastic and foam, you'll be saving nonrenewable petroleum for other uses. Instead of something that takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment, you'll end up with material that can be easily composted in your own yard, returning nutrients to the soil. Between 1960 and 2003, plastics surged from 1% to 11.3% percent of our waste stream, and more and more products are made from the stuff every day.

 

Last week at Davison Orchards we found these amazing gourds:

SNAKE GOURDS...Ryan was facinated.  These would be awesome for decorating with.

GOOSE GOURDS, these also dry well so you could use them year after year.  You could make a cute turkey with these too, it would be crazy... but cute.

Happy Decorating!

 

feeling of dread...

    I have to be honest with you, I am not feeling very creative today at all.  For the past couple of days I have actually been feeling distracted and almost ill.  A while back we cleaned out our computer and hubbie transferred my photography from the past three years or so to our new external hard drive.  I was super nervous but we checked and they were all there.  He then deleted my files from the PC.  Anyways, a couple of days ago I went to pull a long overdue set of shots for a friend to burn a disk and every file I opend came back with a dreaded message...

this file is empty

I cried and tried not to completely loose it with my hubbie who got very quiet as we kept trying other files.  I am so scared.  If they are really gone that means I have lost every picture I ever took since Ryan was born...three years worth of shots of the boys and life. 

Okay, now I am crying again and I am terrified to delve deeper into this mix up.  Praying that they are in that little black box somewhere different than the obvious spots.  Hubbie has one more night shift then we'll have time to really look into it and perhaps take it to an expert. 

 Please, please, please....photos mean so much to me.  I know I have three healthy kids to look at everyday and be grateful for but I need to have shots to look back at and blubber about how fast they are growing.  I am so mad at myself for not printing off any shots either...I just keep putting it off until I get a chance to edit, to play on photoshop, to frame.  I'd be more than happy to have  anything back at this point.  Luckily I have a couple memory cards of stuff to draw from still.  Kerri, I have your family shots on a card still so don't panic, they are coming. 

Keep your fingies crossed for me.

thanks for listening...eco post to come as well,

oxo

the true cost of stuff...

   Leo  Babauta has long rocked the world of blogs.  He is the creative genius behind Zen Habits.  Zen Habits isn't his only blog though...he has powerful message about minimalism on his other blog mnmlist .

  For this Eco Friday post I'd like to share his clever message on the True Cost of Stuff,

http://mnmlist.com/the-true-cost-of-stuff/

Wow, does he ever bring up a lot of things to contemplate.  He definitely doesn't enjoy  a good visit to Winners like I had today!   

Just kidding, I resisted buying a lot of knick knacks that were adorable but not needed.  I did walk out with several lime green enamelled stainless bowls with snap lids for school lunches though.  They are cheery and way more resilient than the glass ones we've been sending with the boys.

Hubbie has been obsessed with finding a used second vehicle and I am strongly opposed.  We've been a one car couple since we got married years ago.  Yes,  it does sometimes create a bit of juggling with trips, a bit of waiting around, and sometimes a bit of limitation.  Financially, environmentally and logically though it is a huge savings and a worthwhile sacrifice.  Hoping he reconsiders.

You could spend a lifetime exploring all the blogs out there in blog-land, but, if you seek simplicity and following your bliss (like Snickerdoodles) I would strongly suggest putting aside some reading time for Leo's work.  There is a reason he has one of the top 100 blogs in the world.

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. - Socrates  (and to soak up all the loveliness of what you already have) -me

scrub away marriage woes...

  To start this story off right, let me tell you my hubbie is a bit of a house wrecker.  He is often rushing around and does most things fast and vigorously. 

 He comes by in honestly growing up in a house of serious door slammers.  When his folks get in the car the slams that follow make your ears ring.  You could lose a body part if you come to close when they are entering or leaving the cottage with the loose front door during fly season.  No one wants flies in the cottage but their door slamming speed and velocity is extraordinary.   

 Really though, it's a small problem in the whole scheme of things.  They are all amazingly good, fun, loving people so generally I am able to let it all go.  Plus hubbie basically paid for the whole friggin house so really it's his to do as he pleases.  If he wants to wreck away his hard-earned money I am not going to get in the way. 

Moving in to Birch Hill has been a bit nerve-wrecking...everything is new and fairly pristine.  A bit too new for my liking.  We've been waiting for the first painful  bits of home destruction to break us in.  It's rather like the first scuffs on your new sneakers, or the first scratch on your new car, you know what I mean.

It didn't take long for the first incident to occur.  Days after moving in after showering he enthusiastically squeegeed off our new shower in a rush to get ready.  His squeegee job was so enthusiastic that he pushed past the rubber squeegee part and rubbed the stainless steel onto the acrylic corners of our shower walls.  He later told me that he'd scratched up the new shower.  When I saw it, I tried to be neutral but my heart sank....long grey scratches in all the corners on the shining new surface.  Oh well, at least we didn't shatter the glass door.  I tried to move on but every shower those rotten scratches were taunting me and I was sure there must be a way to get rid of them.

Baking soda didn't work.  I was tempted to try a Mr.Clean magic eraser but those things are full of deadly toxic stuff.  I remembered a Norwex home party I went to recently when they featured eco-friendly home care products.  They had a paste that scrubbed away all kinds of nasty messes.  The plumber also recommended it for hard water stains.

 

I had resisted buying it as it was something like $32.  I did buy a couple of their cloths and they are excellent, especially the face clothes.   I considered looking up a local consultant but first...

I hit theSuperstore to see what they offered as they carry eco-friendly lines like Meyers,Nature Clean and their own Green line.

Lo and behold,  the cleaning angels came down from heaven and showed me this little miracle...

President's Choice® G.R.E.E.N™ Multi-Purpose Cleaning Putty

  

Extra concentrated and powerful, our revolutionary cleaning putty cuts through grease on glass cooktops, sinks, appliances and removes lime and calcium from bathroom fixtures, non-porous countertops and more. Fragrance-free, dye-free, and won't release toxic chemicals into our lakes and rivers.

Dampen the included sponge with water and watch stains disappear

This ROCK STAR of a cleaning product buffed away all the scratches making our shower look new again.  The sponge included is stiff and with very little effort you can clean most anything.

Best of all...it is under $5.00 and you don't have to host a home party.  I am hopelessly in love with this putty and will be buying it for little gifties for months to come to share the love.

 

Try it, you'll love it too, especially if you despise cleaning as much as I do.

 

Did you know that President's Choice has been making their Green Products for 20 years now?  Hurray President's Choice!  It makes me so happy to be close to be a store now.  Check out their whole line on the web page here.

 

 

Happy Eco-Friday friends!