Mother's going GREEN Day 95 - Natural Teething Poducts

Some of you may have noticed that I have not been posting everyday and have skipped a couple of days and am now playing catchup with my posts.... well, I do have an excuse explanation, make that several explanations.

One being my little girl is cutting teeth and has stopped sleeping through the night. Her new schedule is sleep at about 7pm or 8pm. Awake at about midnight then again at 4:00am and then she is up for the day. She will then nap briefly for about half and hour in the morning and if I am lucky and I mean really lucky I may get her to sleep in the afternoon for a good 3 hours. If I am unlucky it will be an hour in the afternoon.

Needless to say I have been a little sleep deprived and have been going to sleep in the evening at 9:00pm with no time to blog. Add to this, my husband has been working 12 hour days for the last 8 days - which has left me feeling much like a single parent of 3. And when you thought you were coping you get a bonus surprise of a little boy waking you up at 3am with some sort of a stomach bug. (Why do they always seem to get sick in the middle of the night?). Anyway I declared it a relax on the couch watch TV because you are sick day -which gives me a little more time to catch up with this Mother's going GREEN. The joys of motherhood.

But back to the topic of this post: Natural Teething Products. I have 2 great ones.

First there is Sophie the Giraffe and as her marketing blurb states: "She is made in the French Alps with natural rubber and non-toxic paint, Sophie has been safely cuddled and chewed for over 40 years! She is soft, light, and easy to grasp and fits perfectly into little hands. Sophie is loveable and amusing. She even makes a happy sound when squeezed. Babies especially love her bumpy head to soothe their teething gums."

Now as you have read in a previous post - that it is not always a good idea to fall for 'marketing' I was drawn to this product because it was natural and non toxic. And my little one loves it. It certainly, for me, lives up to the marketing blurb. If you want to purchase one just Google 'Sophie the Giraffe' and you will get many links - I have also seen it for sale on eBay.

Secondly, is an item I picked up recently and it is a "It's Only Natural" Organic Teething Ring - Made by a company called Little Star (their website is still under construction - but they offer a toll free number). And again my little one loves it. It is made from organic cotton (4 layers) and an unfinished Birch wood ring which will not splinter. It is made in Canada.

So armed with these teething toys I am hoping for a little more calm as my baby chews her pain away on these natural products.

Mother's going GREEN Day 88 - Pre-School Jitters

My oldest is about to start school - kindergarten -in a few weeks and I am starting to feel anxious. Not about him leaving home and going to school, actually I am looking forward to him being away a little. Stretching his wings, gaining some independence and yep, you guessed it a bit of a break for me.

What I am anxious about is him leaving his 'green' nest and going into that toxic world of school. I am anxious about his school supplies - which I have not purchased yet and will not be given an indication to what he needs until 3 days before he starts. Not sure why that is but for the kindergarten class we will meet with the teacher a few days before class starts and as per the letter they mailed: "(the teacher) will be giving you a handout at that time regarding their school supplies and snacks." My mind starts to panic...where am I going to get environmentally friendly school supplies on such short notice. If he needs crayons - do I just purchase whatever they are selling in the store even if it goes against my green ethics. Do I just send him to school with the old crayons we have from home rather than purchase the other new crayons and then wait to order some soy crayons. What about a ruler which is better for the environment plastic or wood are their any other options??? Pencils, erasers where to buy? What to get? And if required can I get them on such short notice.

My husband says I should not worry about it - just pick up the supplies at the store just like everybody else. This is the husband who routinely breaks all my green rules - it is clear that he is not worried. His worry, if anything, is that our son might be singled out for his mothers "greenness". No batman or spider man back pack or lunch bag with matching plastic drink container for him.

Perhaps I am being a neurotic mother and in some part of my sub conscious am being obsessed with the 'green school supplies' to calm my unacknowledged anxieties of him going to school.

If anyone out there can offer some suggestions and guidelines for this 'green school supply syndrome' I would appreciated any comments or feed back.

I will sign this post off as "the neurotic mother who is crazy green"

Mother's going GREEN Day 64 - Cloth Diapers and Vacation

As those of you already know from reading my blog on a regular basis, I use cloth diapers on my baby and love them. Deciding to go on vacation brought on a challenge of keeping the cloth diapers clean. Although I probably could find a laundromat near the hotel I am staying in - did I really want to spend every second evening washing diapers after a fun filled day which would probably leave me exhausted? What about the film of 'bad' detergent left behind in those washers and driers? And I do not think I could trust the hotel laundry service to use a natural detergent. You see one of the things with cloth diapers is you do need to wash them with care and with a natural detergent in order for them to retain their absorbency...

Hence, for our vacation I opted to go with a disposable diaper. Now not any disposable diaper would do. My babies bum has been chemical free for sometime now and I hated the thought of placing a 'disposable diaper' on her bottom. My search began for a 'natural disposable' diaper. I did find a few out there Seventh Generation and Nature Babycare to name a couple. I choose to go with Nature Babycare. The packaging is 100% biodegradable. The diaper is too. Now I know that is not 100% accurate of anything as it still finds its way into a landfill where the conditions are not quite right for it to degrade as it should, but at least it is a possibility and made from all natural ingredients and is cholrine free.

To read more on this diaper and the company behind it, visit: http://www.naty.com/.

Okay, so I am cheating on my cloth diapers but only for a few days..... I will be back to them as soon as I get home.

Mother's going GREEN Day 63 - Green your Hotel Stay

As with your air travel when going on vacation you can look for hotels you are doing something for the environment and state as much in their policy. For us though we chose a hotel that would offer us a good rate - since my husband is in the industry we got a really good rate. However, although they have an environmental policy on their corporate web page - in my opinion it does not add up to much.

Having said that there are ways you can still "green" your stay at the hotel and it is similar to what you are already doing at home. (just thought of something funny....call ahead and ask what type of light bulbs are in the rooms - if it is not the environmentally friendly kind - perhaps we can pack a few and replace what is in our room anyway - an environmental token) Anyway back to how you can green your stay....

-- On entering your room unplug some of the many lamps (there always seem to be so many lamps in hotel rooms) as we already know that even if it is plugged in it still uses energy. Turn the air conditioning down or off or heating down.

-- Conserve water as you would at home (not running the tap while you clean your teeth; maintaining your 3 to 5 minute shower)

-- Ensure that you turn off all lights when leaving the room - if you get a turn down service ask that they do not turn on any lights or radio. (My pre-mother life was also in the hotel industry and I remember that when our VIP hotel guests would check in we would have the room set in a 'welcoming atmosphere': some gentle lighting (light turned on) their favourite music playing on the radio (radio turned on) etc. Looking back I can see how wasteful this is as guests never show up when expected and that energy just wasted perhaps for hours).

-- Reuse your towels for at least a week. That is what we do at home - so why should it change when on vacation. Most hotels offer you the choice - that if you hang your towel up - you do not require new ones. Although this is not always followed by the housekeeping staff I found a cool little sign from Go Green Travel which is what I will be using to ensure we reuse our towels and elimanate the energy used to wash them after we have only used it once.

-- Don't use the little packages of soap, shampoo and body wash. It is probably full of chemicals. Instead bring and use your own tried and trusted products which are environmentally friendly and you will not waste all the 'small' packages.

-- Use the little recycle bin that most hotels offer in the room and recycle all that you possibly can.

Enjoy your stay and make it GREEN.

Mother's going GREEN Day 62 - Air Travel

Well it is almost time for our family vacation. This is not an annual activity for us - the last time we travelled as a family was 2 years ago and was to visit family out east.

On Saturday August 2, 2008 we head off to Disneyland.... The kids are so excited...so am I (neither my husband nor myself have ever been).

A family vacation comes with many green challenges and the first one is: How to get there? I took this one quite seriously... I did the research on a train but when I learned it would take us 35 hours to get to where we wanted to go - there was no way. It came down to the environment or my sanity. Call me selfish but I chose my sanity. For those who would choose the environment - well I doubt you have ever traveled with 3 children under 5 and a husband.

The research then began on airlines. Some airlines like Air Canada have environmental policies and as stated in their policy they have ongoing commitment to finding and implementing innovative solutions for protecting the environment ......And are well on their way towards their ambitious goal of improving fuel efficiency by an additional 25% between 2006 and 2020. Needless to say we booked with Air Canada. So check out the airlines environmental policy before you fly.

If flying still makes you feel guilty you can purchase "carbon offsets" by buying carbon offsets lets you negate CO2 emissions that you would use in flying or just about any CO2 producing activity. Air Canada has also partnered with Zerofootprint and allows you to calculate your CO2 emissions and then purchase the required amount of offsets. So for a mere $25.00 I have offset our families air travel CO2 emissions.

While flying you can do other simple things: reuse those earphones from your previous flight and then just keep on using them; bring your own healthy snack in a food safe container to avoid the fast food and packaging that comes with it. Chose direct flights - it is the landing and taking off that produces the most CO2 emissions. Pack light - the less baggage you have the lighter the plane, the less energy required to fly.

Green your air travel provides the following air travel statistic: Flying to Europe and back from the US contributes 3 to 4 tons of CO2 per person. That’s more than what 20 people in Bangladesh produce per year and roughly half the CO2 produced by the average American annually via all other sources (home heating, lighting, driving a car, etc.).

Mother's going GREEN Day 60 - Children's Eco-Craft

Today's craft will add some sparkle to our summer nights on the deck.

Tin Decorative Candle Holders

You will need:

-- Tin Cans

-- Hammer

-- Nail

-- Tea Light Candle

-- Safety Glasses

Instructions (with an adults help if required):

-- It is best that you fill the cans with water and then freeze them - it just makes it easier.

-- Draw a design on the cans (after the water has frozen)

-- With a hammer and a nail punch out the design (this is when you may need the safety glasses)

-- Allow ice to melt. (I stuck mine in the garden where the sun melted the ice quickly and the water then went into the garden - rather than wasting it)

-- Insert the tea light candle

-- You may need to flatten out the bottom of the can especially if it pop out with the ice being in it.

And there you have it - A nice decorative candle holder.

Mother's going GREEN Day 58 - Some Updates

I thought I would let you know what has been happening with our changes that we have made so far.

Our garbage is now a bag a week. Not a big bag, but 20" by 21" bag - so in a month we fill one garbage can for pick up. Which is great. I made the challenge of 1 can a month.

Our worms are eating a lot of our produce waste and already we are seeing the compost develop. They are so low maintenance it is unbelievable. No smell and very few fruit flies which is great.

Also, since our dryer broke awhile back we have been hanging our clothes out to dry. The drier has been fixed, hopefully it is working as I have not yet used it again. It still amazes me how the stains come out of the cloth diapers. I get all excited now when I have a badly stained diaper as I want to see if this stain is too tough for the sun. Haven't had one yet.

I am also very happy with our switch in body wash. With the old stuff (the chemical stuff) I would always break out in little blisters on my arms after being in the sun. This would happen every summer when I ventured out into the sun. Initially the doctor said it was an allergic reaction and to change soaps. I did but the same old thing. Then she said just wear sunscreen and you will be fine. Whatever.... that was about 3 years ago. Now having switched to the natural chemical free body wash - I have no side affects from the sun. Coincidence, I think not.

Our walking everyday is great I have lost about 5 pounds of my post pregnancy weight in the last week and probably saved that in gas too.

Our vegetable garden is great - we are already eating lettuce and Swiss chard from it. I can hardly wait for the tomatoes to come. It looks like we will also have an amazingly large pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern come Halloween. The strawberries and blueberries get eaten by the children as soon as they are ripe. So nice for them to pick a fresh snack in the garden while they play.

Going green is not difficult - in fact rather simple - you should try it too

Mother's going GREEN Day 55 - Breastfeeding

Today's post will be rather brief. Our family has had a rather busy 'family' day with a picnic at a local natural lake with a barbecue and swimming. I was glad to see many families and families with infants and their mothers breastfeeding. We all have our own style some cover up discreetly, some find a very private and secluded spot and some (like me) well whatever.... My motto is: anywhere, anytime. And as I recently found out as a Canadian it is my right and is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Breastfeeding is the way to go both the health benefits for the child and mother, plus all the positives for the environment. No energy consumed (warming bottles, producing bottles and formula.) No water used in the preparation of formula. It is all ready and set to go.

Now I understand the personal choice here. But I am also certain that one should take into account all the benefits when making that choice and they far out way the benefits of bottle feeding. Some mothers cannot breastfeed. My first child was a natural and I breastfed for 22 months. My second child was a little more difficult. It was very challenging at first just to get started any much of my support suggested just switching to formula. That was not an option for me so we continued and struggled and persevered until she was about 41/2 months and then I started to supplement with formula. The thing is I never gave up and even with supplementing I continued to breastfeed her until she was 18 months old. My newest arrival has taken to feeding quite well and I look forward to another 22 months of breastfeeding her.

The point is breastfeeding is the "green" way to go. It is good for mother earth. The mother and the child.

Mother's going GREEN Day 54 - Green Ribbon Pledge and Shopping

Some days when it comes to writing my blog, I have so much to write on it can be tough to decide.. My husband suggested I write about the wonderful organic and local meal he prepared for dinner, I was going to write on deodorant; but after I read one of my fellow green bloggers post - I got side tracked into shopping (not for deodorant but for cool cool green stuff.)

Jollygoodandgreen wrote of the Green Ribbon Pledge - I decided to check it out and have joined her in her pledge. This is my pledge: Over the course of a year, the energy saved as part of your green ribbon pledge is 6810 kWh/year and 200 gallons of gasoline.

But while taking the Green Ribbon Pledge I clicked on to the store: The Rain Forest Site and here you can buy gifts for anyone and everyone and the great thing is you give back to the people who created your item, you give back to the environment. For the most part their products are organic, recycled, fairly traded and ethnic. You can purchase gifts to help others or animals. I purchased a pair of school shoes for a girl in Africa. South Africa is where I was born and raised it is my home so I chose to help those less fortunate on the continent Africa.

I could spend hours perusing the site. Great selection and always an opportunity to help the environment with every purchase.

Guys and Gals - GO SHOPPING!!!!!!! (guilt free - yes there is such a thing).

Mother's going GREEN Day 53 - Children's Eco-Craft

When Fridays come along, I usually head to the recycling can and try figure out what we can create this week because we have an abundance of milk jugs I decided to put them to use. We also needed some sort of plant markers for our rooftop vegetable garden which is growing so well - so the idea of Vegetable Plant Markers came to mind.

Vegetable Plant Markers

You will need:

-- Empty Plastic Milk Jugs

-- Pictures of Vegetables

-- Glue Stick

Instruction (with adults help if required):

-- Cut long 'rain drop' shape from recycled milk jug (2 per marker)

-- Glue picture on the top of 'rain drop' shape cut out (I used printed pictures on the back side of an already used paper, but you can either draw your own or cut some from a magazine)

-- Glue on second 'rain drop' shape to cover picture - this will provide some waterproofing so our pictures do not get damaged.

-- Place markers in garden to identify your vegetable plants.

Mother's going GREEN Day 52 - The Car Wash

My car is probably one of the not so clean cars on the road. I honestly do not have time to wash it and quite honestly have better things to do. But when it gets really dirty and dusty - when it is tempting to write on it with your finger "please wash me" then I head of to the drive through car wash. (okay - so not as dirty as in this picture)

Today, was the day I headed for the car wash and as we were going through it the thought occurred to me that this might not be the best environmentally friendly way to wash my car. As soon as I had a spare moment I was going to investigate this and here is what I found:

What is the most environmentally friendly way I can wash my car: doing it myself or going to the local car wash?

I figured washing the car by hand would be the most environmentally friendly way to go - since most of the time to be 'green' one needs to go 'old school' but as it turns out that washing our cars in our driveways is one of the most environmentally un-friendly chores we can do around the house. Unlike household waste water that enters sewers or septic systems and undergoes treatment before it is discharged into the environment. Which means that the water from washing your car in the driveway goes right into storm drains -- and eventually into rivers, streams, creeks and wetlands where it poisons aquatic life and wreaks other ecosystem havoc.

The water from out washed car includes the following harmful ingredients: gasoline, oil and residues from exhaust fumes; not to mention the detergents used in wasting the car, unless of course you are using an environmentally friendly detergent but even so it has the other chemicals I have just listed.

However federal laws in both the U.S. and Canada require commercial carwash facilities to drain their wastewater into sewer systems, so it gets treated before it is discharged back into the great outdoors. And commercial car washes use computer controlled systems and high-pressure nozzles and pumps that minimize water usage. Many also recycle and re-use the rinse water.

The International Carwash Association, goes on to say that automatic car washes use less than half the water of even the most careful home car washer. According to one report, washing a car at home typically uses between 80 and 140 gallons of water, while a commercial car wash averages less than 45 gallons per car.

For more info on this topic you can visit the following sites: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/car-wash.html

http://www.imagesautospa.com/Environmental.html

Needless to say I was thrilled about my findings - taking my car to the commercial car wash was in deed the green thing to do.

Mother's going GREEN Day 51 - Strawberry Jam Forever

Strawberry Jam Forever and ever. You guessed it we made strawberry jam with all those Strawberries - 15 jars of it. Enough to last us at least 11/2 years to 2 years. That is if we do not give anyway as gifts. Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, teachers gifts. Homemade and it really tastes GOOD!!!!

One less thing to pick up from the store. Produced locally (I would like to say it required no energy - but it did to cook but I am sure not as much energy than those mass produced jars of jam.) The plus side is we can reuse the jars a thousand times over making other jams and pickling our veggie garden harvest.

Here is the recipe we used (we made a few adjustments to the original recipe) My husband who is a chef said this was okay to do - I on the other hand nervous to how it would turn out not following the exact instructions, but it worked out just great and delicious too. The anxious part for both of us was waiting for the lids to "pop" to ensure a good seal. But after the pop we breathed a huge sigh of relief. Our hard work was not in vain.

Strawberry Jam Recipe:

4 cups crushed strawberries

1/4 cup bottled lemon juice (we used fresh lemon juice)

1 teaspoon (5ml) of vanilla essence

4 cups of sugar

1 package (57grams) Fruit Pectin

-- Combine all ingredients except fruit into a large deep stainless steel saucepan and bring to boil on high heat

-- Add sugar

-- Stirring constantly, return mixture to a full rolling boil that can't be stirred down.

-- Boil hard for 1 minute.

-- Remove from heat and skim foam.

-- Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars within and 1/4 inch from the top rim.

-- Using a non metallic instrument remove air bubbles.

-- Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness

-- Put lid(s) on jars and screw tight firmly

-- Place jar in canner (we did not have one of these - instead we used a large pot of boiling water, enough water to cover the lid of jar by 1 inch.)

-- Boil jars for about 10 minutes.

-- Remove jars without tilting. (we used BBQ tongs for this task)

-- Cool upright and undisturbed for 24 hours (you may actually like we did hear the lids 'pop')

SEALED LIDS CURVE DOWNWARDS

-- Label and store in cool dry place

Mother's going GREEN Day 48 - What we can do to combat Light Pollution

Yesterday, I spoke of the environmental and human health concerns that light pollution poses. Today, I will suggest ways in which we can help combat light pollution.

First off I joined the International Dark-Sky Association for $30.00. by doing this the money generated through membership and donations will help reduce light pollution; conserve energy
and enhance human health & the environment.

Other options I can personally implement are: Using light sources of with a minimum intensity required to accomplish the light's purpose; Turning lights off using a timer to turn off light when they are not needed and Improving lighting fixtures, so that they direct their light more accurately towards where it is needed, and with less side effects.

As opportunity presents itself I will also attempt to be an activist in lessening light pollution in my community, hopefully as time goes on I can attend community planning meetings where I can raise the issue of light pollution and suggest alternatives.

Mother's going GREEN Day 46 - Children's Eco-Craft

Today's Eco-craft was crafted without my children . Their dad had the day off so they spent some quality time with him, and I according to my husband I was "sticking garbage together to hang on our door." Today I made a wreath out of recyclables.

Go Green Wreath

You will need:

-- Twigs (flexible ones) We collected ours the other day from the woods near our house

-- Recyclable items. (It can be anything) I used: Cardboard egg carton, pop bottle caps, milk jug lids, plastic bag from fruits, large yoghurt container lid, milk jug & the shower scrubby.

-- Paint and paint brush

-- Glue

-- String

Instructions: (with adults help if required)

-- Bend twigs into circular shape to create a wreath (tie as required)

-- Using the glue (glue gun works best) decorate wreath with recycled materials.

I used:

-- The shower scrubby for the 'ribbon' on the wreath

-- The yoghurt lid painted with the recycling sign

-- Colourful circular accents are the milk jug lids

-- The 'Go Green' sign was painted on a plastic piece cut from the milk jug

-- To make the 'pop top flowers' we cut 2 sections of a cardboard egg carton, painted the inside green. Glued a circular piece of clear fruit bag plastic to the centre to create a petal effect and then glued a bottle top in the centre as the flowers center.

Voila - we had our wreath. Be creative there are limitless possibilities to creating a wreath with a recycled theme.

Enjoy displaying your wreaths so everyone will know that you are 'Green'.

Mother's going GREEN Day 43 - Drying our Clothes

Again, you may note that I am posting a day later for day 43. Internet is still intermittent - but I see crews in the neighbourhood working to get it fixed. Today I post for Tuesday July 8, 2007.

As I had noted in an earlier post on Day 29 - Greening your Laundry - sunshine is the best way to dry your clothes. I also mentioned that my husband probably would not be open to the idea of hanging our clothes outside to dry. How things change in a few days.

On Monday - the same day our power went out - well our dryer broke too... It is still under warranty thank goodness and we are waiting for a repair man to come and have a look at it. Until then those cloth diapers still need to be washed and dried - so by default my husband has no option than to have them drying outside. I set up a nice little area on our front deck (it gets the most sun) and it is not visible from the street - just a visual bonus. My husband was impressed by the set up and announced "Hey, why don't we dry all our clothes outside on a sunny day - they will smell so good and we can save energy. Now that's something for your blog" Sometimes we (wives & women) just have to let them think it was their idea while we are already 3 steps ahead. So it was decided drying our clothes outside - weather permitting. Victory for mother earth.

Now let me tell you how impressed I was with drying the diapers in the wonderful sunlight.... words just can't express my amazement. One of the blogs I read regularly: Jolly Good AND Green suggested that sunshine is probably the best natural bleach out there and she goes on to explain how the stains came out of her babies diapers by hanging in the sun. I had to try. Cloth diapers get stained - you wash them and they are clean but stained. Yes throw in some natural oxygen bleach - but they are still a little stained. Put them in the sun to dry and those stains that you thought would never come out are GONE. Yes gone completely gone - not a hint of a stain even on the badly stained diapers. Just gone. If you don't believe me just try it yourself. It is miraculous - IT IS THE POWER OF THE SUN.

Mother's going GREEN Day 40 - Recycled Toilet Paper

I remember back to my teenage years when we would joke about "recycled toilet paper" in the future. Well, that future is here and it is no joke.

But the day has come when we switched to recycled toilet paper. As I have mentioned before, my husband always buys in bulk, especially when things are on sale like toilet paper, Kleenex and paper towels. He often comes home from grocery shopping with large volumes of these products - it used to drive me crazy as we would then have to store all of this stuff.

But I am happy to say we have now used our last roll of the "virgin" toilet paper. And now it is okay for my husband to go out and buy in bulk as long as it is the 'good' stuff - like the stuff he recently purchased. Cascades 100% recycled. The label reads:

-- Recycled content(majority post consumer fibres): 100%

-- Virgin Fibre: 0%

-- Chlorine Bleaching: 0%

-- Water saved vs. paper industry manufacturing average: 80%

-- Added fragrances and colours: 0%

-- Environmental certifications: 2

-- Quality: 100%

A study shows that if every household in the United States just replaced 1 roll of the regular toilet paper with a roll of recycled toilet paper we could save 423 900 trees. Now that is a lot of trees.

For some fun facts on toilet paper and what has been used prior to 'toilet paper' visit: Toilet Paper World.

And in case you are wondering - Recycled toilet paper is not made from toilet paper but other recycled paper.

Make the change to recycled toilet paper.

Mother's going GREEN Day 37 - Driving "Green"

We live about an hours drive outside Vancouver, British Columbia (60km or so) along a beautiful mountain road with lots of twists and turns. And sometimes I need to make that trip into the city.

There is a rail track that runs right next to the road but alas no passenger trains or I would by far prefer to take the train. It is a 'political' thing that their is no passenger train - I would say about 50% of our community commutes to the city on a daily bases for work (my husband included). Lots of CO2 !!!!!! Now if only the train could take you there that would cut down on some of that pollution. But I think that is going to take awhile for that to happen.

However, there are green ways to drive, and I use the book Green for Life by Gillian Deacon as reference to some of them:

• Drive the speed limit - cars engines will operate more efficiently at the speed limit, as they are designed for this. Plus it is safer too.


• Keep your cars tires at the correct pressure - Tires that are not inflated enough cause a drag on the road - hence using more energy, gas and creating more pollution. To know what pressure is right for your tires - look at the sticker that should be inside the door frame of the drivers side.


• Keep your oil clean - The cleaner your oil is the better the car will run - more efficiently. I prefer to have my oil changed 'professionally' this way the oil can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. If you choose to do it yourself, please ensure that you dispose of the oil correctly.


• Do not idle your car - not even to warm it up - Idling your car only wastes the gas and creates unnecessary CO2. It is best to drive a car to warm it up and if you live in a really cold place it is more energy efficient to buy a block heater that can keep your engine warm. Along our highway into the city - there is a lot of construction going on - in preparation for the 2010 winter Olympics, hence there are often times when cars are stopped for construction purposes. There are signs posted asking us to save the air and turn off our cars and I think this is just great - although some people do not and prefer to idle for the 10 - 20 minutes that they need to wait.

So even if you do not yet drive a 'green' car - at least drive green!!

Mother's going GREEN Day 35 - Body Wash and so much more

Body wash- something I have been researching for sometime. Knowing that I would soon run out of my regular chemical ladened body soap - and need to replace it with an environmentally friendly soap.

My search turned up many options some turned out to be quite expensive and then others I questioned how green friendly they were.

Finally I came to a decision. Dr.Bronner's Magic Soap. The bottle lists 18 different uses, but according to their website it has many more. Some uses include: dish washing, car washing, pet washing, laundry washing, deodorant, shampoo and the list goes on.

I purchased the lavender scent for my children and it can be used as a body wash, bubble bath, shampoo you name it. You only need 2 drops of it so I am sure it is going to last much longer than the regular stuff. Lavender I choose for my children to calm and soothe them before bedtime.

For my husband and myself I purchased the peppermint scent - this one because of it peppermint scent you can even use it as toothpaste. We will use this as a face wash too. I chose the peppermint as a fresh lively scent that will get us up and awake it the morning.

I know that I am going to enjoy these soaps. Oh and did I mention that it is Fair Trade too.

Mother's going GREEN Day 33 - Cloth Napkins

I picked up a package from the Post Office today. Yippee, my cloth napkins had arrived and just in time too.

Having small children can be messy at meal times and we have always given them a 'paper' napkin to wipe their hands and their face. My husband as you may recall does all of our grocery shopping and likes to buy in bulk so we had a ton of paper napkins - we just this morning used the last one, so my package arriving today was great timing. No more paper napkins, that get used once and then tossed out. We are now going with cloth.

I bought my napkins off E-Bay - vintage was the description which means 'used' - So we are not only going to save throwing away the paper but we are also reusing. Ones mans junk is anothers treasure. I purchased 45 napkins for approximately $1.00 each. Enough napkins to last us through several meal periods without having to wash them. It would be a shame to waste additional energy to ensure we had clean napkins - sort of counter environmentally productive.

I think now I am going to invest in some 'napkin rings' just to add some flare to our meals. Having the cloth napkins too reminds me of meals with my grandparents who always used cloth napkins. A mix of differnent patterned cloth napkins - just like mine.

Mother's going GREEN Day 32 - Childrens Eco-Craft

Finally the sun came out in our part of the world....Yippee!! We crafted something simple outside in order to enjoy the sun.

Pet Rocks (a classic)

You will need:

• Nice smooth rock
• Paint
• Google Eyes (if you have any – not required)

Instructions:

• Paint rock in pet of choice (we did a Lady Bug – but you could do a bee or a regular bug whatever your creative heart desires).
• Stick on Google eyes
• We placed our 'Lady Bug' in our garden for a little bit of colour.