smells like patchouli...pay no mind

I smell like patchouli. No offense intended for anyone who also smells like it and enjoys that smell, but I do not. My first memory of this smell is from Fry St Fair my freshman year at UNT. I was walking by that old house next to Lucky Lou's, only when it was just a beer store before it was a bar. They had random shit strewn around the yard and the smell of patchouli was coming out of the house in unending waves. It was gross, and it is still gross.

So why then do I smell like patchouli? I've been on a quest to reduce the trash we generate. I buy what I can in bulk and TRY to remember to bring my own bulk bags. I'm not ready to go the 'no-poo' route so I figured I would try the bulk shampoo and conditioner on offer at The Cupboard. I noticed before that it was Nature's Gate, which I was using anyways, so I didn't look at the label any further to see what version it was and made plans to use it the next time I needed said shampoo and conditioner. Let me say one thing about Nature's Gate - it does have many unpronounceable ingredients, but none that I recognize as nasties(parabens and such) and it's much cheaper than the Shikai that I LOVE!

Off to the Cupboard I went for food and bulk shampoo and conditioner...I got it home and put the conditioner in the bottle I ALREADY had - making progress already. Then I smell it...the PATCHOULI...blech. I thought maybe it wasn't so bad, maybe it'll wear off as soon as it's rinsed out, maybe...but no, I smelled like it all day and actually got a headache from the smell (psychological I'm sure). I asked Shinerman about it and he said it smelled fine, what does he know?

So, now I'm stuck with half a bottle of patchouli smellin' conditioner. I can't bear to throw it away so I'll be smelling like this for a while, if I happen to see you, please...pay no mind.

Party Planning, the green way

The littlest man's birthday is coming up. I've been thinking about what we would do for several months now. So many factors have to be considered:

• Theme
• Venue
• Cost
• Greenness

And of course it must all make my son happy, sigh...

The man finally decided on a pirate (yea! no Thomas!) theme. I toyed with having it at a local park; it would have been free, but it would have been on a first come basis. So that was an issue and the man went to a party at a gym place and got really excited about a dragon inflatable - and that pretty much sealed the deal.

I found some wicked cute invites on etsy.com at AnneMadeArt. I bought a .pdf that I can print off, and I already have some postcard paper from his first birthday I can use. The .pdf includes thank you's and a coloring page. The coloring page will work great in the goody bag, especially since I'm including some of these CUTE eco-friendly crayons. One thing I really don't like about kids parties is the plastic baggie full of more plastic and candy, so I'm going to really try to avoid that trap this year. I'm making eye patches, too! I found a pattern online and bought some black felt and elastic at the store. I'll have to get started on that soon if I plan to get them all made in time! Not sure what I'll put all this in...

So decorations and tableware...Obviously we'll use cloth tablecloths, that's a pretty easy choice. But I think we'll do paper napkins. I just think it'll be more hassle than it's worth to do cloth napkins, plus that's an easy way to work in the theme.

My biggest issue right now is what plates to use. I really wanted to buy some Preserve durables, but I'm not sure if this year is the best time to spend the money. Not only would we use them at this party of course, but also anytime we need extra plates for parties. So, I'm going back and forth on this one. They would come in handy often, but perhaps more than we need to spend this month. I'll let you know what I decide :)

The littlest man hasn't decided what kind of cake or cupcakes he wants, but I already know what I'll be using to color them. India Tree has a set of primary colors you can mix to create a bunch of other colors. Since we don't buy much processed food that's not organic, we don't worry about artificial colors in our food. But take a look at your food labels, you'll be surprised at what's been colored. I bought some pickles the other day, and besides that the first ingredient was High Fructose Corn Syrup, they also included artificial coloring. I'm not sure why...

So I'm tired, it's late and I've got laundry to fold...I'm sure I'll be updating ya'll on the green party plans soon!

If you have any ideas, just let me know!

bring out the good paper plates, honey

Everytime I see one of these commercials, I get really ticked. It pretty much says "Let's trash the earth so I don't have to do the dishes" I don't really understand why you can't read your kid a story at bedtime AND do the dishes. And honestly, as old as some of these kids are in the commercials, they should be helping with the dishes anyway. The littlest man helps as much as he's able. But really - if you run out of time to get the dishes done before you're too dead tired (been there many a time), it's OK to have dishes in the sink. There is no Dish-Gestapo who will break through your windows to berate you for not having a sparkling efffin' kitchen!!

And their whole line about preventing diease through a paper cup...I'm 30-some odd-years old and have NEVER used a cup to rinse after brushing my teeth. And I'm pretty healthy, too.









In the interest of full disclosure, I do have paper plates. I have some leftover from my non-green days that we pretty much only use when we camp. We also have more enviromentally friendly plates I bought for a camping/bbq. I got them at Wal-Mart. I don't remember how much they cost, but they couldn't have been to expensive.

On another note, sorry I've been AWOL for so long! No excuse, just life. I plan to do better in the future!

Green checks

So, we don't use checks very often here at Green H. Most everything is done online or with the credit or debit card. But, we do have the occasional bill that has to be paid with a check. I recently had to order new checks. Usually I just go to the company my bank endorses and click, I'm done. This time I looked to see if there was any modicum of greenness – nope. So, I decided if I was going to order I'd order one of the charity themes. I made my choice and was checking out and saw they had these little sayings you could get. I liked the 'Save the Planet' one. Just before I completed my order I stopped…

How bad would it look to say 'Save the Planet' on these checks that only get used once, are not made form recycled anything, and use ink made from petroleum?! I just couldn't do it.

So I did some looking around and found Check Gallery. They use 20% post-consumer fiber "with biodegradable, vegetable-based inks, free of toxic solvents and residues." Not only that, but it was way cheaper (more than 50%) than the other company. So, I went with them, got a really cute Please Recycle logo, and no guilt.

All in a day's work!

BPA leaking from plastic

According to an article from the New York Times today, Canada is looking into labeling bisphenol-a (BPA) toxic. This is the ingredient in many of our water bottles and food containers. I've heard of this before and since I wasn't using the man's bottles anymore anyway, decided to get rid of them. But it's baby-having season around here and time to give gifts. I usually just buy off the registry, you know so they get what they want, but this time I went out on a limb and found some really cute bottles from Green to Grow . I don't know if they could be any cuter. I went with a gift set that included an organic cotton canvas tote bag. The tote bag almost didn't make it to the new mom – I wanted it!

Shinerman and I have been on a general 'remove the unnecessary plastic' path. Using glass cups, instead of the free plastic ones (although it doesn't look like those are too worrisome) you get when you go out to eat. Then, as the plastic cups wear out, we recycle them. I do keep the little containers from the sour cream and things like that, though. You've got to reuse what you can.

That's not the only place to worry about, don't forget your canned food. Yep, those cans are lined with BPA. We eat a lot of beans and I am not looking forward to having to cook those from scratch – I have a fulltime job, people! Anyway, here is a good source to get some questions answered.

For specific information on baby products, visit Z Recommends. They are a wonderful source and they'll even send a text to your mobile phone with a recommendation on a specific company. Z Recommends: The Z Report on BPA In Children's Feeding Products, Third Edition

Electricity comes from windmills, mommy

That's what the littlest man said tonight after bath when we turned out the bathroom light. It made me so proud; it also made feel a tad guilty. Because ours doesn't. It's my own fault, every time we see a windmill – even the decorative ones – I talk about how you can use windmills to create electricity. He's only two, almost three, so he doesn't know that we don't have green power. But, I do and so I've got to move that one up on the To Do list here at the Green H household.

We went to the Live Green Expo in Plano this weekend – it was PACKED. It was a windy day so there were tons of kids (let's be honest – they were really just Dads) flying kites. They had a bunch of cars you could test drive; including the Mercedes SMART car – not for me, but I think we have my mother-in-law convinced (her major worry was the lack of air conditioning – please, it's a Mercedes!). I, however, am still in love with the Prius, but Shinerman was looking at the Saturn – so, we'll see.

We also met an amazing woman, Sara, and her daughter Bella (we didn't get to meet her husband, Matt). They are touring the US in an RV powered by veggie oil. She welcomed the littlest man and me on board with open arms; they've done a great job fixing it up using sustainable materials, sunflower countertops people!! She's all about less materialism and loving what you have. Please visit the website and if you're in San Antonio, that's where they'll be this weekend. http://www.livelightlytour.com/2008/04/07/texas-eventsdemos/

I didn't make it to any of the presentations, but I'll be talking about some of the things I did see in the next post.