Monthly Archives: April 2008
Why I haven’t been posting…
| April 29, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
My computer crashed! It was not a very good day. I lost a photo shoot (thankfully one the client already had), tons of docs, and all my recipes that hadn’t made it to my recipe box yet. Right now I’m going through allrecipes.com and other such websites trying to re-build.
I have learned my lesson.. if it’s important put it on my other hard drive or USB key.
Next month will be very busy for me… garage sale this weekend, husband graduates, best friends graduation and party next weekend, husband’s birthday that week, anniversary the next week, at least one photo shoot, and a trip to Branson. It will be crazy!!! So if you don’t hear from me don’t worry, just very busy.
Happy Earth Day!!!
| April 22, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Here are some tips for going green, fill free to leave your own. You don’t have to do it all at once, even small changes make a big difference.
Cleaning
Rinse a sink full of dishes at a time in a sink full of water, don’t just leave the water one the whole time you rinse
Use earth friendly cleaners. Method is one of the most affordable and avilable at Target, Lowes, MethodHome.com, and somethings at amazon.com
Another great brand is Seventh Generation they are in most health food stores, amazon.com and Walgreens.
Use old t-shirts as cleaning rags to cut down on paper towels.
Get a microfiber cloth for mirrors. I love the one Method sales.
Ditch the Swiffer (donate it please) and get a mop like the O-Mop that doesn’t have all the trash. They use microfiber washable cloths for wet and corn based biodegradable cloths for dry.
Use cold water in your washer. (I still use hot for sheets because of allergies and dust mites)
Wash dishes and laundry in full loads
Use dryer balls, biodegradable dryer sheets or dryer sheets that can be recycled.
You can find dryer balls at Wal-mart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and other stores. I like Shaklee’s dryer sheets and they can be recycled and are biodegradable, I also like Method’s dryer sheets which are also biodegradable.
Buy a bagless vacuum.
Better yet one with a washable filter so it has no trash other than what you vacuum up.
My favorite is the Dyson canister.
Use a drying rack or clothes line.
Clean the coils on your frig.
Food
Look for organic. Organic food is grown in a way that is easier on the world and it’s better for you. Most organic foods have more vitamins and minerals and lack all those nasty chemicals.
Amazon.com has great prices for a lot of organic foods. Target’s brand of organic food is taste and low cost as well!
Be careful with labels like “all natural.” It’s up to each company for what that means.
Save more on organic food by checking out websites of organic food companies you use and looking for coupons, if they don’t have any e-mail them to ask if they can send you some, most will be happy too.
Buy local. Have a farmers market? Use it! The farmers love to tell you how it is grown and a lot of times you will find foods grown organically just not cert. so much cheaper and you cut the C02 by it not being shipped as far.
Don’t used bottle water. Most of it is just processed tab water anyway.
Drink Vodka. Less chemicals are used to make it than most other alcohols.
You can also find organic alcohol.
Use real dishes. You will save money and is it really that hard to wash some dishes?
If you have to use that fake stuff which is a huge pet peeve of mine by the way, get recycled stuff.
Use reusable containers not Ziplock bags.
Use cloth napkins, most people say it makes dinner seem fancy.
Make meals in amounts you will eat.
Eat leftovers!
Eat at home. Better for the waist, wallet, and the environment.
Beauty
Take timed showers, time yourself now and cut back as much as you can, even a minute saves a lot of water over time.
Use a low flow shower head.
Don’t keep the water running while you brush your teeth or while you shave.
Ditch the chemical makeup most are wearing these days and switch to a true mineral makeup (don’t be tricked by the big companies making “mineral makeup” check them out on skin deep)
My favorite is everydayminerals.com . Tons of Bare Minerals wearers have switched due to cost and most like them better! The ingredents are better for you as well.
Car
Keep your car tires inflated to the right amount to safe on gas.
Use the car AC as little as you can to also save on gas.
Home
Switch to CFL bulbs.
Be sure you get rid of them the right way since they do have mercury. Check out http://www.energystar.gov/ to find out how.
Recycle, find out if your town has curbside and what they recycle at earth911.org
Recycle plastic bags at your local grocery store (if they don’t do it ask them to).
Better yet use reusable shopping bags. The cheapest come from grocery stores but you can also find really cute ones everywhere. I found some great ones at Maurices and Wal-mart.
Rumor has it Walgreens is carrying them now.
Use sunlight, on those bright days open the curtains and let the sun in, it will kill a lot of the germs in the house, give you vitamin D and you can turn off some lights and save power too!
When replacing applanes get energy star items. It will save you money on your electric bill.
Get powerstrips and turn them off when items aren’t in use to keep from wasting standby power.
Use junk mail for scrap paper.
Fill trash bags as full as you can to save on trash bags.
You can get more eco-friendly trash bags from Seventh Gen.
Unplug items you rarely use.
Buy items you use a lot in bulk (check cost), it uses less packaging.
Gardening
Use left over water from glasses to water your garden, I keep it in my watering can.
Collect rain water for your garden, I have a watering can I sit out when I know it’s going to rain, I have been known to drop what I’m doing and run outside in the rain to put it out.
Use nature friendly bug sprays and lawn sprays from stores like planetnaturals.com
Use natural plant food like Terracycle. Terracycle can be found many places. I have gotten it from Wal-Mart but I know it’s sold in many other stores.
Other
Donate items you are through with but are still in good shape.
Use Freecycle.com to do the same thing and to find things you need for free.
Stop the junkmail! You can opt out of magazines here_________ (link to come)
You can opt out of credit card offers here _________ (link to come)
Go paperless at the ATM.
Check to see what plastic your town recycles and if you will not be reusing the item buy a plastic you can recycle.
Donate health magazines to your doctors office.
Donate other magazines to other offices you have seen with magazines.
Spend more time outside, be sure to turn everything off when you leave the house.
Watch out for big companies saying they are “going green.” Such as Clorax with there “green” cleaners. While they are better than normal cleaners only use if you can’t get the better
and won’t make your own.
Take your own mug to Starbucks. They sale some pretty awesome ones and you get 10 cents off to use your own. If you get coffee everyday you will safe a lot.
Buy organic clothing. Brands like Hanes and Levi have organic cotton clothing. Victoria’s Secret is starting to carry some organic cotton clothing as well.
Also Wal-mart sales “Mutts Organic” sleep wear, which is what I’m wearing right now.
If you have a smart phone, e-mail on it. Smart phones use less power than computers.
Another Fibro Awareness Update
| April 22, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Looks like The Daily Oklahoman (a newspaper) wants to do a news story on me and Fibromyalgia. While I’m totally nervous it’s such a huge step for Fibromyalgia awareness.
I should get more info on this today or tomorrow and I will let you guys know what is happening.
Quick Update
| April 15, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I thought I would post real quick while I was waiting on dishes to soak a bit so I can run the dish washer. I have been busy and will be busy at least the rest of this week. Since I got my proclamation I have a lot of stuff to do for Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. I’m trying to get in touch with news stations and newspaper. I did get an e-mail from Maggie Carlo from KOCO saying she would be in touch with me about the story, I’m hopefully it really will happen. If anyone reading this wants to help in anyway let me know!!!
I also have tons of cleaning to do, we are going to have a garage sale so I’m going through our stuff and also helping my MIL go through there stuff and helping her clean and get things more organized.
I did find out that my husband’s g-ma got us in to a timeshare in Branson so we are going to get to have a nice vacation before my hubby has to go back to work and school. Branson was not our first pick, he has been and didn’t like it that much (but I’m sure that is just due to who he was with and what they did) and I have been a ton. Our first pick was San Antonio but it was all booked and out of 17 places we had his g-ma check on in Branson only the one was open and of course it was our last choice but it’s still very nice and it’s a nice graduation gift for Justin.
I’m still really excited about my proclamation, finally my work for awareness has paid off! Well I can’t say it didn’t before because I know I have helped others with the website I run but it’s nice to have something like this! I’m pretty shy so it makes me proud of myself that I can over come that to spread awareness and I have with Ron Paul stuff as well.
Well I’m off to wash dishes and then hopefully go to bed.
Fibromyalgia Awareness Day Proclaimed in Oklahoma!
| April 12, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I just got a proclamation in the mail from Gov. Brad Henry. It proclaims May 12th, 2008 Fibromyalgia Awareness Day in Oklahoma!
I’m so excited and hope this helps me get news stations to either do stories or announce it. Here it is-
Meal Plan Monday
| April 7, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
It’s been awhile since I have done this. Hopefully I’m down to just allergies and my normal health problems and can get back to normal things because I’m way behind! Anyway so here is what we will be eating this week.
Monday
Cannelloni
Homemade garlic bread
veggies
Tuesday
Mexican Pizza
Mexican Rice
Veggies
Wednesday
Spaghetti and mozzarella stuffed meatballs
Homemade breadsticks
Veggies
Thursday
Cajun Chicken
Cajun Potatoes
Veggies
Friday
Dinner with friend
The Faces Of Illness
| April 4, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
This is a video I made, it’s not totally done yet but I still would like to share it.
What’s For Dinner?
| April 2, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I have been sick so didn’t plan meals for this week but I thought I would post what I’m making tonight.
Crispy Baked Ravioli
*As normal I’m not making it just like the recipe, we don’t like sour cream for one. Also I’m going to put a little beef in the sauce because my hubby is a huge meat eater.*
For the bread crumbs I’m making homemade ones like this recipe, again not just like it but close-
Seasoned Bread Crumbs
With this we are having homemade garlic bread and veggies.
Why Eat Organic??
| April 2, 2008 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
There are many reasons to eat organic foods but in case you want to know the scary reasons you should here is a video on the evils of Monsanto and what they are doing to your food!
