Monthly Archives: November 2009
Making Your Christmas Green
| November 30, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Everyday I hear someone talk about how stressful the holidays are, some would rather not even celebrate. People rush around buying gifts, trying to have the best decorated house, etc… Just look at Black Friday. I’ve talked about the commercialization of Christmas but how do we start some green traditions this year?
If you have kids start by talking to them. Tell them why you want to start new traditions and see if they have ideas of things that would be fun. If they feel they are apart of things they will be more willing to go along with it.
I don’t have kids but I do remember as a kid a few Christmases where my parents talked to my brother and I about having less gifts so we could sponsor a needy child. We would often sponsor a boy and a girl and my brother and I would help shop for them. So we got to shop but it was for a good cause and we got to feel like we were helping.
While I think we all like gifts and it’s fun on Christmas morning to open all the presents under the tree, that part of Christmas comes and goes quickly. By the next year you have likely forgotten most or all of what you got the year before. It’s the memories of time spent together that you will remember.
Traditions have to start somewhere so start some now, doesn’t matter if you have young kids, older kids, no kids, grandkids, whatever. Here are some ideas for things to do this year.
Watch Your Favorite Christmas Movie Together
My family has watched It’s A Wonderful Life for as long as I can remember. I think we all know every word.
Bake Together
My husband and I like to make gingerbread cookies each year. I guess I really bake them but we eat them together. Even if only some of the family is doing the baking the smell of the baking is likely to make everyone happy!
Make Decorations
This can be a fun green project. You can do it together or even has a contest to see who can come up with the coolest decoration using things around the house. You can make popcorn garland, paper chains from junkmail, crochet or knit ornaments, salt dough ornaments, whatever you can think of.
Give Back
Giving back can be very rewarding for your family as well as the one you are giving to. You can sponsor a kid from the Salvation Army Angel Tree, help at a soup kitchen, volunteer at a local animal shelter, make scarves and blankets for your local homeless shelter, the ideas are endless.
Have a Handmade Christmas
Make a rule that at least one gift for each person has to be handmade. This can mean either by the person or from a store like Etsy. It can be fun to see whatever one comes up with.
The traditions don’t even need to be normal Christmas traditions. My family is going to a Flaming Lips concert on New Years Eve as part of our Christmas this year. It may not be a normal Christmas thing to do but we aren’t a normal family. So make your Christmas not only green but unique. You don’t have to do whatever one else is doing, it’s more fun to be yourselves.
Have you started any green Christmas traditions? Will you be starting new ones this year?
Giveaway: Esse Reusable Bags *Closed*
| November 30, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Remembering all the reusable items you need when you go shopping can be hard but Esse makes it easy. With there all in one systems you only need to remember one tote that has everything you need in it.
The system includes:
It all fits together nicely in the carrying tote. There are pockets on both sides, one for the produce bags and one for the everyday bag. There are also pockets on the front and back which can hold your receipts, shopping list, coupons, etc.
The nice people at Esse are going to give one of these systems to one lucky reader! You can keep them for yourself to help with holiday shopping or give it as a gift to someone just starting to go green.
And now for the rules-
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Esse and tell me which tote pattern you would choose.
3. Enter by December 7th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
Extra Entries (post separate comment for each):
1. Blog about the giveaway, post link.
2. Post on Twitter, post link.
3. Add me on Twitter @retrohousewife5, leave username in comment.
4. Follow me, let me know which way you are following. (Google, Facebook, NetworkedBlog, E-mail, other)
5. Add my button to your site. (the button and code are on the right side of the page) Be sure to leave a link for where you put the button.
6. Follow @Esse on Twitter, leave your username in comments.
Remember post a separate comment for each of the above ways to enter! They will only count if they are separate.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Esse. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post but I did receive a sample in order to write a review. These are my honest views on the product.
Giveaway: Wild Dill *closed*
| November 29, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
If you are looking for great great toys and gifts for the kids on your list check out Wild Dill.
Wild Dill’s products are are organic, fair trade, sweatshop-free, natural and/or recycled. And if you are worried green toys will be boring then you need to check out their site! Wild Dill’s products are anything but boring.
Some of my favorite items are the following:
To help you get even more great green gifts this holiday season the wonderful people at Wild Dill are offering one lucky reader a $40 gift certificate!
And now for the rules-
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Wild Dill and tell me what you would spend your $40 on.
3. Enter by December 6th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
Extra Entries (post separate comment for each):
1. Blog about the giveaway, post link.
2. Post on Twitter, post link.
3. Add me on Twitter @retrohousewife5, leave username in comment.
4. Follow me, let me know which way you are following (Google, Facebook, NetworkedBlog, E-mail, other)
5. Sign up for the Wild Dill newsletter.
6. Become a fan of Will Dill on facebook.
Remember post a separate comment for each of the above ways to enter! They will only count if they are separate.
*This giveaway is sponsored by Will Dill. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post.
Buy Fair Trade
| November 26, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
This seems to be the season of spending so why not let your gifts give twice? Watch this video.
Here are some of my favorite fair trade products/stores:
Beads For Life
I have a necklace sitting next to me from here. My husband got me it and a bracelet. I love them and wear them often.
Ten Thousand Villages
They sell lots of need handmade and fair trade gifts.
Global Exchange
You will find many items that are fair trade here.
What are some other places you like to shop for fair trade items?
Have a Green Thanksgiving!
| November 25, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Only 2 days until Thanksgiving! Tonight I’m making sure every dish is clean and the kitchen is all clean because my cooking starts tomorrow. We (or should I say I) make dinner for my in-laws. Since I cook it all from scratch I start the day before.
Here is this years menu:
Free range no antibiotics or hormone chicken (couldn’t find a natural or organic turkey that wasn’t huge)
uncured ham (didn’t end up with an organic one but we rarely eat ham so it’s not terrible)
organic mashed potatoes
organic green bean casserole (made with homemade alfredo sauce as I’m allergic to mushrooms)
organic cranberry sauce
organic yeast rolls
organic stuffed jalapenos (for the hubby as he doesn’t like most thanksgiving food but will love these!)
organic chocolate cheesecake cupcakes
I will be making everything other than the meat, mashed potatoes and green beans tomorrow. It makes Thanksgiving morning much less rushed.
I’m very excited about not just the food on Thanksgiving but also since we got a whole chicken I will be making chicken stock with the leftovers. I also always make up a whole bag of potatoes and make mashed potato soup with the leftovers.
Nothing gets wasted! Normally the green beans are gone the day of (and I make a lot of them!) and everything else gets eaten over the next few days. If there anything left that doesn’t get used for sandwiches and such I freeze it to put in casseroles and other dishes.
I’ve been having cluster headaches since Saturday so didn’t feel like writing a greening your Thanksgiving post so here are some that others have written.
Crunch Domestic Goddess gives us 10 great and simple ways to be green this Thanksgiving.
Fake Plastic Fish tells us how to say no to Thanksgiving waste.
Product Review: Esse Reusable Bags
| November 23, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Esse is making shopping with reusable bags a bit easier. They have made a new reusable system that includes everything you need!
The system includes:
It all fits together nicely in the carrying tote. There are pockets on both sides, one for the produce bags and one for the everyday bag. There are also pockets on the front and back which can hold your receipts, shopping list, coupons, etc. The carrying totes come in six cute styles and all just have one small logo on a side pocket.
The bags are all also made from recycled plastic bags and you can even send them back when they are no long able to be used and Esse will recycle them.
The Grocery Bag will hold up to 35 pounds and are designed like paper bags. They are simple and black so even guys won’t mind using them.
The Everyday Bag replaces 2-3 plastic bags and designed in the style of a plastic bag. They fold to be just 2”x5” and are great to throw in your purse for quick trips.
The Produce Bags are light weight but are much stronger than the plastic bags. Plus who wants plastic produce bags in their reusable bag?
So if you want a great system for your reusable shopping needs check out Esse. It would make a great holiday gift. You could even wrap it in one of the Everyday Bags.
Product Review: Singing Dog Vanilla Extract
| November 22, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Make your baking this holiday season even better with real vanilla extract. The difference between the real stuff and the fake is huge.
Singing Dog’s pure vanilla extract is the best vanilla extract I have used. It has a good strong flavor. The first thing I made with it was chocolate chip cookies and they were wonderful. I have also been using a little bit in my oatmeal, something I would eat not eat all that long ago but with this vanilla and some cinnamon and I’m loving my oatmeal!
Singing Dog’s pure vanilla extract is made using certified organic vanilla beans, has no added sugar or fructose, and is Fair Trade Plus certified.
While shopping for some vanilla extract you can also get some coffee, whole vanilla beans, cinnamon, and Pohnpei pepper. So hurry and order some for your holiday baking!
The Sigg BPA Controversy
| November 21, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I’m sure by now you know about the Sigg BPA issue. I’m still mad that I was drinking out of a bottle with BPA. I found out about this at a #ecowed Twitter party. I was more than a little upset about it. My husband and I had several bottles and we had gotten my in-laws to get some and we had even given my mom and dad Sigg bottles. I had recommend them to many people, only to learn they weren’t BPA-free.
Photo credit: FlickrI e-mailed Steve Wasik telling him how upset I was about it. He e-mailed me back telling me they don’t leach and what not but nothing really to make me feel better about trusting that even the new liner is safe.
It has seemed like Sigg wants us to believe that exchanging the old liner bottles for the new ones is enough. But do we want to trust Sigg again? My husband and I chose not to, we have switched to stainless steel bottles.
I hate to think of the money we spent on our bottles, only to find they may not be safe. We did send our bottles back to exchange them. We decided to use them as gifts for my husband’s students because they are the new liners and they are better and safer than what these kids would otherwise use.
It was a pain exchanging them. It took them more than a month to get our bottles and the whole thing was a mess.
So how do you feel about Sigg? Will you trust them again? Did you exchange your bottles? If so how did it go for you?
For more info read Crunchy Domestic Goddess’s post.
Don’t Have a Trashy Christmas
| November 20, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I remember last year looking at the trash cans in my neighborhood after Christmas was over, they were all over flowing. So how can you cut down on the trash?
Wrapping paper is a large about of the waste but that is simple to fix. Use reusable or recyclable wrapping (or at least recycled wrapping paper). If you get gifts from others in normal wrapping save what you can. Bags are easy to reuse as are ribbons. If the wrapping paper itself is in good shape you can reuse it as well. Even small pieces can be useful if you want to make greeting cards or other crafts.
Christmas dinner can bring a lot of waste as well. If you can use real dishes, but if not an option Verterra is a great option. Verterra dishes are made from fallen leaves and are very strong.
Cloth napkins are another great option but if you don’t have enough use recycled napkins from a company like Seventh Generation.
Sometimes the waste is even the gifts. Not every gift you get will be something you want but that is no reason to waste. If the gift can’t be returned for something you can use then donate it. Many people get no Christmas and will love your gift.
And remember to recycle your Christmas tree after the holidays. A lot of towns will do this for you so call and find out.
Do you have any tips for keep your Christmas less wasteful?
Update From The Garden: I Made Dirt
| November 19, 2009 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Last night we had a freeze warning and even though I don’t think it got below 40 I wanted to go ahead and work on my garden before we did get a freeze. I pulled out the plants that were done producing, pulled weeds, put a layer of cardboard, then leftover potting mix, my own compost (see below) and then filled it with leaves.
It’s very exciting to finally see the results of all the trips to my compost bin. It is some very dark wonderful looking compost. Since we eat organically it’s even organic! And it didn’t smell at all.
I did have a few things still growing in the garden. Some broccoli, tomatoes, and jalapenos. Hopefully I will get a few things out of them before the freeze.
My sweet dog “helped” me. She has learned to not beg to be petted when I’m busy and will just lay and watch. She is a good little “farm” dog.
I also harvested the lavender, I had some more buds so maybe I will get one more cutting.
It was a long day with lots of work but worth it. (Patience has the right idea, a nap in the sun did sound nice!)
