Posts Tagged ‘respect’
NOTE: This giveaway is officially closed – congrats to Huma! - but you can still take advantage of the coupon code below until February 28, 2011!
Valentines Day is coming! Are you trying to figure out what to get your sweetie? I have a suggestion for you that won’t break the bank, you can feel good about, and unlike a piece of jewelry can be shared.
My favorite! Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt
How about Equal Exchange Fairly Traded Chocolates?
If you hear words like “fair trade” and “equal exchange” and wonder what exactly that is, let me tell you. As defined by Etica Fair Trade.com, “Fair Trade is responsible commerce that takes into consideration the value of all people, from the producer to the consumer.The producer group agrees to provide good working conditions, safety procedures and adequate health standards for all workers.” That means that all the way from the workers in the fields picking those coffee & cacao beans to the producer bagging the beans, to everyone else involved in the production of that product until it gets to you. By choosing Equal Exchange fairly traded products, you help provide small-scale farmers the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future for their families and communities.
If you read this blog, you know how frustrated I get trying to get my kids to eat a better variety of healthy foods, especially vegetables. My kids really aren’t bad about junky food, they just have such a limited number of foods that they will allow to pass their lips, especially vegetables that are – gasp! – green. I thought you would enjoy a good giggle at this Xtranormal animated short I created to vent. If you haven’t seen the Mompetition videos on YouTube, then you are in for a treat, check those out as well.
Without further ado…
Now, you know that since I’m reviewing my new purse, I had to use that title. There was just no other!
It was an odd thing, I had been searching for a purse that would carry my stuff around, like any other woman. But if you knew me, you’d know that I only started really carrying a purse over the past year. And a tiny one at that! But stuff multiplies in a purse, as we all know. I was looking around in stores, trying to find something that fit my needs but wasn’t plastic looking, too expensive, or made in China. Tall order for a purse these days. I had seen Earth Divas on Twitter and checked out there website, and WOW! I loved their
My new hemp bag, I love it! Thanks Earth Divas!
stuff! And here’s the odd part – not long after, Heather Levin reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to review a bag. Would I?! Yes, please!
Being a mom trying to live green means so many things.
It’s about working to get unnecessary chemicals out of our lives. Cutting down on our dependency on plastics. Trying to feed my children the most wholesome, organic food I can possibly get them to eat (which, as you know, is my single biggest challenge. My children would rather give up their favorite toys than eat some of the foods I put on our table, delish or not! Pardon me while I pull my hair out).
It also means teaching my children through example and sometimes endless lectures (gotta work on that, their eyes glaze over after a few minutes) about being thoughtful and kind.
“It’s not always about you.” is a familiar refrain around here. I am BIG on being thoughtful. Think about others before yourselves. This is not an easy task for an 8 1/2 and an almost 6 year old. But, I suppose, we start early and hope it sinks in. My children, in turn, assume that most adults are thoughtful and think of others before themselves.
Not always so!
Take, for example, the public rest room. Anywhere. Your kids have to go. Your little boy has to go into the ladies room with you because you can’t let him go into the men’s room by himself yet. (Well, I’m not ready to let him, anyway. He’s ready). Both kids want to go into their own stall by themselves because they are ‘big kids now’ and they don’t want you in there. I understand! Great! Go pee or what have you, by yourself, I’ve been there enough for that. Go solo, child, with my blessing.
Then comes the howl of indignation.
“Mommy! I sat in PEE! AHHHHH!” This, to a child, is the height of grossness.
Their little legs can’t squat over the bowl like adults can. They don’t think to check and wipe the seat. And really, who wants to wipe up some strangers pee pee from the seat before they sit down? What?! No hands raised? I didn’t think so. I don’t want to, either. You were probably squatting because someone else pee-peed all over the seat and didn’t wipe it off.
So you might have read this on the bathroom wall in middle school, it gets the point across, and it bears repeating.
If you sprinkle when you tinkle,
Be a sweetie, wipe the seatie
It might be wordless Wednesday in Bloggerville, but I need to put this out there.
I want to thank M.D. Taz at Maternal Dementia for bringing this video to my attention.
Annie Leonard spent 10 years researching the story of where our stuff comes from, where our stuff goes, and the repercussions of it all. The price we pay as a society and the effect it has on other countries.
If you are a seasoned Green Mom/Dad, tree hugger, eco-lover, you most likely have seen this. I want everybody else to see it.
I had my two children, Max (almost 6) and Sophie (8) sit down with me to watch. I had to pause and explain some things in simpler language. But the animation kept them interested, engaged. And I know they will need to watch it a few more times throughout the years before they get it all. But they were so enthusiastic about what they did understand. Pointing out ways to use less. Pointing out my mistakes. “Mommy, you got a new laptop this summer! Why didn’t you use the one we had?” “Because it was 4 years old. The 
mouse doesn’t work properly. We get the blue screen of death at least 1-2 a day. AND! You kids picked the letter ‘J’ off. There is no more ‘J’. I need ‘J’.”
Please watch and share. Click on the poster:
