Friends Of A Feather

Have you ever had so much fun that you had to literally physically recover from the brain?  Today I’m moving like an 80 year old woman.  Prying my eyes open and propelling my aching body out of bed was such a feat that I’m kind of offended that I didn’t get a medal for achieving it.  What a weekend.

Saturday started our Mama Speaks getaway, where BossLady Ashlee treated Steph and I (the only writers who could attend) to treatments at the spa including a one hour Swedish massage and citrus hand and foot treatments.  Oh.  Magosh.  Incredible.  My first ever massage, and let’s just say it was the first of many (do you hear me, dear husband?).  We laughed, we bonded even more, we wore warm lavender mitts:

We noticed all the funny chotckes, like a cat with a suit on holding a cello, a frog candelabra, and a Victorian poodle with a wig on who honestly looked a little melancholy:

Afterwards there we painted a tree of life on Steph’s pregnant belly, ate yummy Popeye pizza and watch a sweet movie before heading off to dreamland.  Sunday brought nothing but lies and laughter and the biggest surprise I’ve ever been a part of. Eliciting faces like these:

But you can read all about that over here.  Amazing, exhausting, uplifting and some of the most fun I’ve ever had.  Ever.

I hope all of you are blessed to be surrounded by people who you love and love you back.  And at the very least, I hope you run off and get a chotchke or two.  The conservation of Victorian poodles depends on it.

Too Bad I Don’t Like To Talk

Well I’ve been a run around sue today.  Why, you ask?  Thanks for asking! Here’s why:

I’m questioning the safety of CFL bulbs over at Mama Speaks today.

I’m talking about how important the Mom Vote is in this year’s election at Chicago Moms Blog.

And I’m still talking about the Green Our Vaccines rally at my other blog, Stop Looking At Me, with video and canaries!  Sorta-ish.

Too bad I don’t like to talk AND don’t have any opinions, right?

Memories

How about I lighten it up a little ’round these parts this weekend?  I still have plenty of things to keep sharing about my time at the Autism One conference, so stay tuned, but this weekend I’m thinking about memories.  I hope to get off this computer soon and go make some of my own (we finally have some gorgeous weather!).  I think a kiddie pool and a Snoopy machine snow cone is in my future.

Thinking about memories made me realize what I needed to get for my dad and my husband for father’s day.  Not a goofy tie or an iPhone (you wish, hun), but something that would matter.  Something they’d remember next year and the year to come.

I wrote about what I got them over here, so come on over and visit if you’re needing some great gift ideas, and check in with us at Mama Speaks next week for the upcoming Father’s Day Gift Guide awesomeness!

Mama Speaks: Looking For A Rock Star

Do you think you have mad writing skillz?   Think you want to write about causes that are dear to your heart?  Think you want to write about cool products?

Mama Speaks is looking for a new contributor, so come read about the responsibilities and give it your best shot.  It’s an open call for mamas, baby.  And not only would it be fun and fulfilling, and not only would you get to work with me, but you’d get to work with some other really awesome women, too.

Best Shot Monday: Speed Skater

I love how this hoodie makes him look like he’s on his way to the gold medal in speed skating. These clothes are amaaazing. Look for my review on them at Mama Speaks soon.

It’s been dark and dreary here, as reflected in this pic, but I’m posting something green and sunny up next. Stay tuned!

For more Best Shots go here.

What We Are Doing

Lotus over at Sarcastic Mom sent out a challenge recently, for everyone to take time to pick up trash around their neighborhood and look at changes we can make in our own habits and households to help keep nature beautiful. This would not normally be too big of a challenge, but with the sub-zero temps we’ve been having I decided to let nature fend for itself this week. Since I can’t sacrifice my nose or toes to pick up trash at the moment (but in a few weeks–litter, you better be scurrred), I decided to still participate in the challenge and post about what we as a family are doing to make every decision count.

We haven’t always cared about recycling or living green, and honestly we sort of thought it was a lost cause. Why bother? We’ve also been really anti-Hollywood since leaving Los Angeles, so the whole green celebrity trend did not help matters. Slowly I started feeling convicted…am I participating in squandering this beautiful gift (our planet) that God gave us by not going out of my way to make it better? We’re stewards over our money, our children, our bodies…and as I now believe, the Earth. While finances prohibit us from getting crazy about things (no hybrid GMC’s in my future), and we’re still on the fence about this whole “humans are boiling the Earth” stuff, there’s not really anyone who could deny that taking care of our planet while we’re on it is spiritually and humanly important.

So, what can we do? We’ve been card carrying members of natural health for quite some time, so getting the rest of the chemicals out of our bodies was an easy place to start. We buy organically when possible, we are building up our collection of reusable grocery bags (great post about them here, and reviewed at Mama Speaks here and here), and are working harder and harder to get the chemically processed foods out of our diets. Picky eaters make this tricky…not gonna lie. But it’s important to us to support those companies that contribute these types of foods (including local farmers, I can’t wait for the summer veggie co-op) so that they can become more widely available and cheaper. Also because red food dye makes my kids wild beasts, and that evil stuff is in everything!

We have also gotten almost ALL harsh chemicals out of our home (the last man standing right now is the toilet cleaner!), which is really no small feat when you still want the products to clean the gunk really well. Purchasing online is the way to go when you live outside the city (i.e. next door to farm mecca) and it’s too dang cold to go shopping anyway. We buy our cleaning products from Good Earth and Method, and when you plan ahead to purchase enough to last you a while your shipping is usually free. Once again, the benefits are not only that our house is free of these toxic things, but we’re supporting companies who are doing the same. And that matters.

Recycling is something we’re getting better at, but are still very green (badump bump) about. We’re experts on separating the cardboard (we’ve got it good, our recycle pick-up takes everything, and doesn’t make us break anything down!), but the plastics, etc. are a whole other animal. I’m hoping as soon as the weather isn’t trying to kill us that we’ll be setting up our own recycling station in the garage. I can’t wait for that, actually! We’ve begun purchasing mostly recycled paper products for those paper items we do use, and are working to get rid of the plastic water bottles (hello Nalgene, you saucy minx). If we can support companies who reuse and reduce waste by purchasing their recycled products, then we feel better about those disposable things we have to consume (I won’t be giving up paper towels any time soon).

Lastly–the baby area! We use only natural skin care on the kids (actually on our skin as well), and it’s almost all from Arbonne. We also use Seventh Generation diapers and wipes, purchased for less from Diapers.com. I can’t get myself to do even MORE laundry than my boys already create, so cloth diapers are not an option right now. Seventh Gen makes diapers from recycled materials, so at least we are helping in the re-use department. We also like the fact that the diapers are not bleached–another place chemicals are introduced to our little ones’ booties and bodies.

Writing it all out makes me feel better about the direction we’re headed, and seriously folks…if we can do this, anyone can.

I wanted to participate in this challenge to spread the word that even normal every day people can make small changes to clean up this planet we’re on, without turning the environmental issues into a pseudo-religion. You don’t have to have money to recycle, and often times buying recycled products would simply re-allocate funds that you were already sending in a different direction. Give it some thought, think about the planet as a gift, and join us in keeping it beautiful!

Peace.

For a great list of links to get you started taking your first bite out of this elephant, read Mama Speaks’ list here, or peruse our awesome Eco-friendly category in all its glory right here.

Time To Listen

I wrote about something near and dear to my heart over at Mama Speaks today.  Take a gander.