Clothesline update...as promised

We had a HUGE storm after Shinerman fixed the clothesline and one pole ended up a few feet away, but nothing broke and the line itself actually stayed connected. I'm just glad that there weren't any clothes on it! He fixed it again and it's been serving us well since then. We haven't used the dryer since May! So, I think we're doing very well for this year's Clothesline Challenge.

I left you hanging a bit on the Green Party Plans, though, didn't I? It was great, a little less green than I would prefer, but not too bad.

We did do paper napkins, with a pirate theme, of course. Unfortunately, we had a whole package left over - I hate that! I guess they'll be used at a later date though. For the plates I used Chinet. They are 100% recycled material, not post-consumer material, but better than the competition. And they can be composted at home - double nice! The tablecloths were these really cute striped indoor/outdoor fabric that I think will really get used - I bought them at Target.

The Man asked for chocolate cupcakes for his class party. I'll have to find the recipe to post - they were apparently the BEST CUPCAKES EVER. The frosting was for sure, I just used the recipe for cream cheese frosting in my Joy of Cooking book. I finally had to pour water in the food processor because I kept putting my fingers in there to taste the leftovers! Step away from the frosting, mmmmm... I used the same recipe for his party cake, just used a cake pan. I found some India Tree sprinkles and food coloring at Whole Foods. The colors weren't as bold; I couldn't get the water to look blue for the life of me, so lavender it was - I think I was the only who noticed. Even then, I love that they are all natural and will use them from now on.

No change in the favor bags, except I did get some organic lollipops from Yummy Earth to put in there. I used small paper tote bags (yeah to no plastic!!) and we put stickers on them.

So like I said a little less green than I would prefer, but not too bad...

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!

Homemade Laundry Detergent - the math

I had a couple of requests to talk about my laundry detergent, so I decided to focus on the money aspect in this post. With the economy like it is I know everyone is trying to save where they can. Be forewarned - I am not a math person, there is a reason I write for a living, so do not expect all of the numbers below to be 100% correct. Thank you for your understanding.

I've been making my own laundry detergent since August, here is the post where you can find the laundry detergent recipe I use. I really like it, it works great on the littlest man's clothes. He's 3 going on 4, so that's saying A LOT! It also lasts forever. I just made my third batch, so that works out to four months per batch. We average three loads a week, so that's 48 loads . The ALL Free & Clear we used to use says it has 32 loads. That's over a month's worth of laundry more! The ALL is about $8, so $.25 a load. Compare that to the numbers below.

Most of the stuff I just got at my local store, including the Dr. Bronner's for my first two batches. For this last batch, I ordered the last Dr. Bronner's from vitacost.com. Their prices are great and they have $4.99 shipping no matter how much you get. The soap I ordered was $2.80 per bar. I saw later they had a three pack for 2.39 per bar. I will definitely buy this one next time. That would make it $.08 per load!!

Conclusion - The homemade laundry detergent is DEFINITELY a good buy!!

The batch itself is a bit more than can fit into my biggest mason jar, so I put the extra in a smaller jar and gave it to a friend. She shared it with her mom and now they both are making their own laundry detergent. I cannot tell you how excited that makes me! I love hearing how I'm making an impact on people and how they view greenness and the planet.

I've been creating some other homemade things at the Green H - those posts will have to come later, it's late here and Shinerman has fallen asleep on the other couch - sorry Mom, sofa :)

Earth Hour 2009

This upcoming Saturday is Earth Hour. Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007, last year it had spread across the globe, and this year looks even bigger. All it takes is turning off your lights at 8:30pm local time for an hour. And don't forget to let the folks at Earth Hour know you're on board! Turning off your lights will not just save energy, but will let our leaders know that we care about our planet and they need to act to protect it.

There is a whole section of the site for kids and schools. I think I'll print out some pages for the littlest man to color.

Last year, Shinerman went a step (or two) further and turned the electricity off at the panel. The house was so quiet! We were babysitting a little girl and we all had a candlelight dinner and even did some crafts by candlelight. We left everything off for more than the hour, so after crafts we read several books by candlelight and the kids fell asleep on the couch. All in all it was a very fun and relaxing night. I'm excited about this year's Earth Hour. I think we'll play a board game this time as well as the crafts and coloring.

What will you be doing this Saturday at 8:30pm? I hope you join us in turning off the lights and giving the Earth your Vote!

I'm really not an angry Hippie

So a friend of mine who read my last post (and didn't leave a comment) said she's worried I've become an angry hippie. She thinks I need some yoga, which isn't a bad idea anyways!

All kidding aside...

I do get angry sometimes reading about how big corporations and the government are just messing with our food and other things my son comes into contact with on a daily basis. I was reading today that the FDA is having another meeting about BPA. This chemical has been proven in study after study to mess with hormones and reproductive systems, but the FDA is still listening to the industry telling them it's really just fine. Other countries have already banned it's use and retailers have removed it from their shelves, but the FDA says it's still just fine...

but anywho...on to what I'm not angry about. Since I've started on the Green Journey there are tons of things that make me happy!

1. Cutting our trash down to a not-full-bag a week
2. Venturing out and eating way more vegetables than my parents ever thought I would
3. Making my own laundry detergent
4. Local food!!
5. Discovering wonderful handmade items

The best thing? Hearing my son talk about keeping the Earth clean, not wasting electricity and gas, recycling, and about organic ('ganic) food. Just today, he was talking about keeping the Earth clean. It just makes my heart full to the brim.

Take our Planet Back

I've liked will.i.am for a while now - everytime I hear him speak it's about important things and he actually has something to say.

Here's a new song and video he's done - I really like it and hope you do, too!

PS I got the video code from Grist.org - a site I cannot recommend strong enough!

Free Shipping*

So, I've talked about this shoe company before. Simple Shoes, I love their stuff! Right now they are having free shipping for a limited time. Yes! Oh wait - I'm supposed to be not buying anything for myself and only for my dear loved ones...drat! hmmm, maybe the littlest man will buy some for me for Christmas. Anyway, check out the site AND this little video they made.

Happy America Recycles Day!

This is obviously an industry funded 'holiday', but it's a good cause. So if you don't normally recycle your stuff, find a Texas event near you. There's one in Ft.Worth and Carrollton.

Plus, the national site has places where you can make recycling pledges and a "Conversionator" - a cute drag and drop game where you find out how much you save by recycling.

So, go forth and RECYCLE!

More plastic news

A friend sent this link asking me for my opinion. My response was "Well, As far as anyone can tell those are safer. The problem comes in a couple things: 1) you don't really know – I mean the FDA still says BPA isn't an issue. 2) even if they are safer, they still break down over time and we don't know what they are breaking down into."

I did more research, the link was from 2003. I found this article from just this last week. It says the FDA is criticizing its statement about BPA safety. Studies have come out linking BPA to diabetes and heart disease. The article refers to a finding of BPA in the blood of "92% of American over the age of 5" (this wasn't attributed to anything in the article, but it doesn't seem too far off to me).

Then I saw this on Enviroblog from yesterday. (BTW, if you don't visit EWG and Enviroblog often – run don't browse! your way there now {well after you finish reading this}). Recently a university lab group discovered chemicals leaking from plastic lab equipment and ruining a drug experiment.

BPA? Nope! Quaternary ammonium – an anti-microbial agent and oleamide – a plastic softening agent. And they didn't come from #7 plastic, either. Rather from polypropylene or #5 plastic ( a previously "safe" plastic). How much #5 plastic do you have? I have (soon to be gone) a ton.

Like the article writer I am getting pretty darn tired of hearing about things that are in products that is being kept from me. Tell me what you're making the stuff from and what its risks are and I'LL decide if it's worth the risk for me and my family.

I think the FDA and other governmental agencies need to get to doing their job of protecting the public and start paying attention to science. We've had an 8yr drought of scientific thought and I for one cannot wait until it's back! Hopefully, we can get past the damage done.

So I'll be getting rid of most of my plastic, even the none #5 stuff, my view is why risk it? We got rid of a ton of stuff with the BPA issue, but I kept the random sour cream containers and such. I just felt it was wasteful to recycle those right away without reusing them. Now, I'll just put them in the recycling bin as I try to think of other sources that don't include plastic.

Wish me luck.

Not so Sweet Surprise

Not so Sweet Surprise that the corn industry, by way of the Corn Refiners Association, is up in arms. Apparently the backlash against High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has caused them to get two websites going and I recently saw my second commercial today. The first pro-HFCS commercial had me absolutely flabbergasted and falling back on the couch. The biggest problem with the Popsicle she's pushing in the park is there is nothing in it that really belongs in your body! Red #40, anyone? YUM!

The commercials essentially say it's OK to make fun of people who are choosing to consume as little HFCS as possible; saying 'it's ok in moderation'. Sure, anything is OK in moderation, including arsenic – but that doesn't mean you should go ahead and consume a ton of it. Which is something they don't mention; it's in EVERYTHING – you basically cannot get away from HFCS.

If you want to be able to eat store-bought food, you essentially have to be a detective to find anything on the shelf that does not contain HFCS. They talk about how it's great – the same as sugar and honey AND it acts as a preservative. Unfortunately, the preservative use has exploded the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup, causing the average American to consume far too much.

They say 'it's natural'. Yes, natural and PROCESSED to oblivion. To paraphrase Michael Pollan in Omnivore's Dilemma: Essentially all of our processed food is made of corn in some sort of fashion. If all you're food has corn in it, there is no way to moderate you're intake.

And in this pro-HFCS article they insist that Moms shouldn't worry about what the kids eat, so much as the caloric count of what they eat. So, maybe a 50 cal pre-made dessert with HFCS instead of a 50 cal banana?! That really doesn't make sense. In this pro-HFCS commercial, one mom is pouring grape drink for a kid's party. How about this – some REAL grape juice or apple juice? Why does it have to be fake?

Now, I like Popsicles and other not-so-healthy foods like any other person. But don't insult my intelligence by saying that it's perfectly fine in moderation - especially since moderation is impossible when it is essentially included in every processed food you eat.

Laundry Detergent Update

I had a comment from Joy asking if you can use the laundry detergent in the new HE machines. That what Shinerman and I have and it works just fine, not had any problems. One piece of advise: Keep the door to the place where you put the detergent in open. You'll probably need to smush (very technical scientific term, yes?) the detergent when the water starts flowing. My first load had about a third of the detergent caked in the cup after the wash was done. The clothes came out fine and we didn't rewash them.

Another thing I did was buy one of those Downy balls. I'm not sure our machine really understands that I want to use the fabric softener cup, and we haven't been able to figure out how to make it work since we bought the machine. I put some lemon essential oil in my white vinegar bottle and use the vinegar as fabric softener.

I put the lemon in there because, apparently, I don't enjoy the smell of the outdoors. When I get the clothes off the line, all I smell is "little outdoor boy" smell - not pleasant. But I'm please to say that not only are my line-dried clothes softer, but they also smell like lemon - yummy.

Full disclosure - the towels are still crunchy. Not as crunchy, but still crunchy nonetheless. We've learned to deal with it, so can you!


Happy laundry day to you!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been using vinegar as a general purpose cleaner for a while and have even tried making my own dishwashing detergent. Not so successful with that last one. The stuff doesn't seem to want to rinse off of my dishes.

But, I can claim success with making my own laundry detergent! Woohoo! I've had the ingredients for a while, but was pretty intimidated and worried that it wouldn't work – although that shouldn't have made me not do it; the worst that could really happen is that I'd have to rinse the washer out a few times and rewash the clothes.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this site, where she (I'm assuming) had 10 different recipes for laundry detergent. I've seen several, but the powdered ones all call for using Fels Naptha laundry soap. If you look at the ingredients it's essentially oil in bar form, it's made up of mostly petroleum products – not what I would call 'green'. So, I bought Dr. Bronner's Castile soap and then proceeded to not make the detergent. However, on this site, it gave the recipe for powdered detergent calling for Fels Naptha, but THEN said you could try whatever soap you wanted! The heavens parted.

So yesterday I made some laundry detergent, my recipe is below. It didn't take very long at all, about 20 mins, including time to take these pictures. I spent the most time grating the soap using my micro planer, but if you have a decent food processor you could use that. I then mixed up the rest of the ingredients and - tada - Laundry Detergent.

My Laundry Detergent recipe:

1 bar pure castile soap, finely grated
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
½ cup powdered oxygen bleach – chlorine-free
20-30 drops lemon essential oil

I'll let you know how it goes...

Picky Eaters beware!

Let me start with full disclosure. I was a picky eater when I was a kid and on into my twenties. I didn't start eating different things until I went on Weight Watchers and even now I'm still finding new things to eat in my food co-op share. I ate beets for the first time really last night - pretty yummy! BUT, the littlest man does not have my issues with food. He'll try anything, he doesn't always like it, but he will try it. Unlike this article, I don't credit this with my great tasting breast milk or (obviously) living in an exotic land. I credit it to the fact that we don't make him special meals and we don't have tons of junk food in the house on which to fill up. Our philosophy is that you don't have to eat whatever is on your plate, but that's all you get - there is no snacking later. So sometimes early on, he would go hungry. But he would definitely eat what was on his plate at the next meal.

What does this have to do with being green?

When you think of the things that some folks put on kids plates in an effort to get them to eat, you think of all sorts of fake foods. Boxed pasta with powdered cheese and 'chicken' nuggets? There is nothing green about those two things.

How does your house get clean?

I'm finally catching up on work and personal email after my trip to Mexico (no I didn't buy carbon offsets - I know I suck) and visited BabyCenter - it went green! Just kidding, it was just a couple of posts. But, I saw in the comments of this blog post that people are just in LOVE with bleach. I have memories growing up of a sink full of a bleach/water mixture 'cleaning' our white enamel sink. I hated having to put my hand down in that to pull the stopper - it hurt! - and I did occasionally ask my dad to do it for me. I've never liked the smell of bleach; so I've never used it in my house as a general cleaner, just in the laundry. I did, however, use a plethora of chemicals to clean our three bedroom two bath home. Scrubbing bubbles, toilet cleaner, formula ### - you name it. But several years ago - the dot com bust actually - we went through some not so fun times and one of the things I did was make my own cleaning products. So I've really been using vinegar for a while, but I have recently discovered baking soda. I now use it when I clean the bathroom; the tub, toilet and sink, and the kitchen as well. My friends joke about how we should have a soap-making party (they joke, not so much me) and I recently read about a group doing Green Cleaning parties. It's like a Tupperware or Avon party - only not earth-killing. But I'm not sure if I could justify the cost of paying for that when I could just do it myself, we'll see.

Anyway, so how do YOU clean your house? Any ideas on a decent do-it-yourself dishwasher detergent?

Live Green Expo

April is filled to the brim with great eco-friendly activities, Earth Day is coming up. Our calendar is already full at the Green H household, and I'm sure yours is as well. (Did everyone have a secret meeting and decide March and April was the best time to have a kid?) Anyway, we will be making time to go to the Live Green Expo in Plano tomorrow. I heard about it in a 'commercial' on NPR and raced home to look it up online – here's your link so you don't have to: http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Environmental+Services/livegreenexpo/.

You wouldn't think it, at least those who don't live in Plano (me included) wouldn't, but they have some pretty progressive views for the area. They even have a Household Chemical Reuse Center, just for Plano residents. Mmmhmm, that's right – who'd a thought? Go Plano!

The Expo looks crazy neat; they have a bunch of presentations, music, a kid's area and even an Eco-Fashion Show. Anyway, we'll be there after music class and hope you can make it, too! If not, I'll let you know how it went and what I learned.

Other upcoming events for your planning pleasure:

Garland Goes Green

Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Day

Spring Cleaning, 2008

Why I’m here

I've decided to start a blog to track my steps on the path to a greener life; this includes the family as well. I've already made many steps, but I'd like to be able to talk about them without people giving me a funny look (yes, you the guy at the sandwich shop who didn't know what to do with the reusable bag I gave you upon checkout…put my sandwiches and chips in there, please! Thank you). My focus will be mainly on things going on in my neck of the woods (North Texas), but of course we have to think globally, so I know we'll be talking about the rest of the world.

Thanks and I hope you're enjoying your path as much as we are!