Amazing facts.

I was glued to the YouTube!

I am guilty!!

I am so guilty! This is an addiction that I am trying to conquer! I just love lattes! I hate to admit it, but, I get a soy vanilla latte about 4 times a week!!!! UGH!! I know thats not as bad as some do, but I once vowed to never get this bad! Some weeks I get more than 4!! The first time I knew I had a problem, was when I walked into a Starbucks, and they knew my order before I opened my mouth. I also knew it was a problem when I order a different flavor and they saaid..."Whoa Rita, switching it up today!"

This is a habit that I have broken before, and am striving to gain control of! I actually liked the way I felt when I was caffeine-free! And who knew it took 50 gallons to make one latte!!??

My plan of changing this non-green habit is to make coffee at work until I decided to go caffeine free. I will save money, calories, and wasted water and cups. But, I think will allow myself a friday treat!!

Pest control.

I'm going to make this quick, because it's not a topic I like to dwell on these past few days... it causes me nightmares!  I'm actually just pretending I live in a dreamworld filled with bubble baths and organic gummy candies & chocolates, and a personal organic farmer/chef.  A world with no uninvited "guests" in my home.

Alas, the true story, much as I hate to confess it, is that I WANT ALL THE RODENTS IN A 5 MILE RADIUS OF MY APARTMENT TO DIE.  Yes, I said it.  Ok, long story short, we've had a mice problem in our apartment in the past month or 2.  And, I regret to inform the blogosphere, that's not the worst part.  We knew there was a small (we thought) problem and kept telling the landlord and he didn't do anything.  I think every time I called he thought I was some helpless and hapless wimpy girly girl who was afraid of one little mouse being in the storage unit behind (and attached to) our  rented townhouse.  I don't like them, but I wouldn't have cried wolf (or "MOUSE!") at just one, trust me.  I mean, is there ever just one anyway?  We'd  been trying to handle the issue ourselves as he suggested, keeping all food put away, setting traps.  We'd seen a few out in the storage unit, heard them inside our walls, seen evidence that they'd been in the kitchen and bathroom (who knows why).  Apparently they were nesting, as they stole corners of my kitchen rug and pieces of a box from the closet and insulation from in the walls.  Wonderful.

Then I saw one the other night 3 times.  Evidently getting brave, one just darted across the kitchen floor NEXT TO ME while I cooked, then under me while I sit on the couch! I'm like crying myself to sleep and having nightmares at this point.  I told the Hub that the next day HE was calling the landlord and threatening to call the health dept. or whoever will listen to us if the problem is not addressed ASAP.  Finally last Wednesday a pest control guy comes and I tell him the sordid tales of invasion, and start trying to show him where we've seen them and believe they are entering, and I go to show him behind the washer, and I see a huge one, just laying there!  NOT in a trap.  I scream and tell him and run and jump up on the couch like the wimpy girl I admittedly am!  And he says.........wait for it.............. "that's not a mouse it's a RAT!"  So I start losing it, screaming and crying and having a panic attack and not breathing!  I call my hub at work (yes I was there ALONE!) and exclaim,  "WE ARE MOVING TODAY!  I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!  I FEEL LIKE MY LIFE IS OVER!  EVERYTHING HERE IS TAINTED NOW!".  He tried to calm me down, but honestly he was as disgusted as I was, minus the fact that he DIDN'T SEE THE RAT WITH HIS OWN EYES!  Now, lest you think less of me and my home, let me assure you all, it's not like I live in the dirty city ghetto amongst trash cans and open sewers.  We inhabit nice townhouses in a nice small town.  I vacuum everyday, sometimes more than once.  I mop the floors, sanitize the counters, never leave a mess.  Both myself and the Hub are germaphobes for crying out loud!


So immediately we packed up and moved into his parent's house for the time being.  The landlord and pest control are supposedly exterminating and patching up holes or wherever they are coming in.  Upon further investigation of my complaints (which started at least a month ago), the landlord found that the mice had chewed a huge hole in the drywall between the storage unit and our apartment.  And I swear that had better been the only rat.  But when do they ever travel alone, like I said of mice?  Not likely.  We are NOT going back until I am assured in every possible way that no corner has been left unchecked, no doorframe has an extra quarter inch of space inviting a rodent to slip through, and they are completely gone from my home.  And that the entire place is sanitized from top to bottom.  Even then, I'm not sure I can ever feel safe there again.  We may be moving sooner than we wanted to.

At least my in-laws have a comfy big house and we've made ourselves at home in the whole second floor of their home.  But all of our furniture and stuff is back at our apartment with the mice and other...  

UGH!!  Who needs a(nother) drink?? 

My Diet

I have been trying so hard to eliminate dairy from my diet. I don't like what I have read on the dairy industries and their treatment to the animals and the earth. My confession this week, is...................... I eat CHEESE!!!!! AND EGGS! I once went an entire year milk-product free. I felt great! I lost weight, had great skin, and rarely felt sick. But sometime in the past year I don't even think twice about eating it. I don't drink milk, but I do eat cheese! Why? I don't know. Maybe exposing my lack of self-control will motivate me to do what makes me feel great!

I will probably always eat eggs that come from a chicken I know. A family friend gives me a dozen every so often. I know that those eggs come from a chicken that was fed a vegetarian diet, and given fresh air and natural light.

So I am going to give up milk products!! Starting tomorrow.... and I will update occasionally on my confessions.

I confess....

...I just love Dar!

And I love her suggestion to try growing your own food, but start with one thing that's hard to kill and go from there. I confess, if it weren't for Bix, we wouldn't have home grown food all summer long. I must have the blackest of black thumbs. I'm a good weeder though...I'll just stick with that!

living with Ed...I mean Bix.

Did you ever watch Living With Ed on Planet Green? That show cracks me up...kind of. The premise (in case you haven't seen it) is that eco-man Ed is full of ideas on how to implement green living into his life while his wife tries to run a normal-ish house. He would be happy as a clam installing a 50-gallon fluorescent chartreuse rain barrel at the entrance to their house, while she would rather find something that complements the decor.

I feel like i'm living with Ed sometimes.

Bix just installed a water saving something or other on our upstairs toilet. I had no problems with our toilet before, but he felt we could be saving more water. I'm all for saving resources, so...our toilet now saves water. Did I mention I had no problems with our toilet before?? Now, when I need to flush the toilet, I have to stand by the toilet, holding down the handle for a few minutes while it gathers the momentum to actually flush. If you take your hand off of the handle (because who has time to stand by the toilet waiting for it to flush?!) it stops the flushing process and you have to start all over again.

Oh, Bix, what have you done to me?!

the bounty of fall...in my kitchen

So back in the day, before our little man arrived, we were members of a local CSA. For those of you who don't know, a CSA (community supported agriculture) is a farm that members buy into and in exchange receive an allotment of (usually) organic and local produce. We enjoyed our membership, but we wanted more of a variety of the vegetables we really liked. For me, that meant tomatoes, corn, peppers, onions and sqush. For Bix it was kale, spinach and lettuce. So we decided for the next year we would support local produce stands. We found two great stands nearby and rarely had to buy produce at the store throughout the summer. Now that fall is here, I have been buying butternut squash like nobody's business! It is definitely a favorite in our house.

For the little man, we roast the squash with nutmeg until tender. Then we either puree with water until smooth or cube it and mix with tiny whole wheat pasta stars and organic tomato sauce.

For Bix and I, I like to add a bit of a kick to the squash. I roast it with nutmeg for about 35 minutes. I then add diced jalapenos and roast for another 10 minutes. I love pureed squash, so I put it in the blender with a little bit of water until it's creamy. Last night I made a vegetarian lasagna with thinly sliced carrots layered between spinach sauteed with garlic and onions, organic tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and, of course, my butternut squash and jalapenos. Yum.

I have another squash sitting on the counter for dinner this weekend....any other good squash recipes out there?

Out with the Old and Fruit Fly Don't Bother Me!

Now, I know that this confession sounds EXACTLY like Nichole's confession last week, but I am a food waster and and a bug killer!

There is a cabinet at work filled with junk. I hate that cabinet! You open the doors and fruit snacks, chips, and sugary cereals come falling out. In the 4 years I have worked here it has been like that. Well, I have a goal of greening things up in this house! Last night I asked the parents if I can throw things away. They told me that they would do it themselves, but they don't know what to keep or toss. Well, I took care of it. Except I feel both invigorated and disgusted! The amount of food (money) that I threw away is embarrassing, and it isn't even my fault. A very large kitchen garbage bag didn't even hold the contents of past date, unappealing food. And the oldest thing in the cabinet...... a bag of dried pineapple, expiration date..... December 26, 2006!!!! Ugh!!!

I did, however, empty past due fruit cups to recycle the plastic. I recycled all the cardboard packaging, and anything else i could sort out.

Even though I felt horrible tossing so much out, it needed to be done! Now that I have a lot more control over the grocery shopping, I'm so excited about healthier choices being in the now half empty cabinets.

Now for the bugs. I have been in an on and off battle with fruit flies.Here, at work, we have our own tomatoes and compost pile. My theory on how the flies infested the house is.... compost-pile "natives" left little eggs on the tomatoes and while the tomatoes sat on the counter, they hatched out and took root here in the house. ALWAYS wash your vegetables as soon as you bring them in!

I can not keep up with them! They find their way into the trash, into the garbage disposal, and into the guinea pig cage (poor Lady Jane). I can even see them perched on the window sill. So I made little "humane" traps.... i would take a bowl, put mashed banana inside and cover it with plastic wrap, making a very small opening. When the bowl was full I would cover it and release them outside. That didn't work. They are laying eggs somewhere! So this week I changed the guinea pig cage numerous times, tried not to throw anything they consider yummy in the trash, and made a death trap! I used an old salsa jar, put some apple cider vinegar in it, and the poison....... dish detergent! They went in for the snack but the sticky soap caught them and they drowned! I also sprinkled borax in the trash cans and down the garbage disposal. Today.... is a better day!! Hopefully this method will work. I have looked up other ways.... like plants they don't like... so, I am going to try that next week if they are still here Monday!

Just so you know... I actually do feel bad killing bugs! But I feel no remorse about killing the fruit flies.

I despise leftovers.

Well, after Nichole's amazing life-story post, this seems silly and menial, but alas it's my Friday confession.  I throw away food.  "People are starving in Africa," and I THROW AWAY FOOD!  Ok, that Africa thing is a bit old school, something your parents told you when you wouldn't eat your broccoli as a child.  Which, frankly, to this day I don't understand how my eating something that I don't want helps a starving child in Africa (or anywhere in America for that matter).  Food drive donations or helping at a soup kitchen may, but eating leftover tuna casserole that has seen it's day will not.  One of the problems is cooking for two.  When it's just the Hub & I for dinner, we don't eat an entire casserole or dish I prepare.  With false hope I think, "Oh good, we'll eat that another night this week and I won't have to cook!!!", but it just never turns out that way because we're not in the mood for the same thing twice.  And other than Italian, food doesn't generally taste as good the second, third, or fourth day.  Sometimes the Hub will take some leftovers to work with him for lunch, which makes me feel like a good wife.  And I hope as his male co-workers warm their Lean Cuisines up in the microwave, he shows off a good home cooked meal and they wish their wives could be more like me! ...  But more often than not, even if he does take some for lunch one day, we end up throwing away a good portion of a perfectly tasty meal, and I do feel badly about wasting food.

Maybe we need a dog.

I should have written this 8 months ago.

My confession today isn't as much a confession as it is something I've been putting off doing for 8 months now.

Our little man is 8 months old as of this week...wow! He had his first almost crawl last night! Anyway, when I was pregnant almost this exact time last year, we found out that he had a 2 vessel umbilical cord. I had never heard of this, and we soon came to find out that it happens in about 2% of pregnancies. Bix and I soon began to drive ourselves crazy reading information online about 2 vessel cords. From personal blogs to medical websites....he had to ban me from researching it because I couldn't stop thinking and worrying about it. We went through extensive ultrasounds, and although we decided against any genetic testing, we were told that there was a strong likelihood that our little man would have Down Syndrome. As you can imagine, the worry we had as first time parents was beyond belief. We knew we would have incredible love for our baby, no matter what, but the fear of the unknown was what we thought about on a daily basis. We spent the next few months preparing a nursery, taking natural childbirth classes and trying to stay off of medical websites!

Just months after that first appointment with the midwife, our healthy little man was born (via emergency c-section, but that's another story!) Weighing in at 6lbs, 12 oz, we thought we were in the clear as far as his health was concerned. When we left the hospital, his weight was below 6lbs, but we were told it was normal for a baby to lose weight shortly after being born. When the nurse came to our house a few days later, he had lost more weight. We didn't see it then, but looking back at pictures, he was just skinny arms, legs and ribs. After another 2 months of struggling to keep weight on him, I learned that he didn't have the breastfeeding skills that I had so hoped he would have. His cries were cries for food and it broke my heart that I couldn't give that to him. Again, reading blogs and message boards helped at times and other times it was just too discouraging.

I sit here now, watching my little man shovel in whole grain toast, avocados and bananas for breakfast and the first few months seem like forever ago. Around 4 months old, he got breastfeeding. It was like a switch turned on one day and he discovered he could get food from me! Nothing can stop him now...he will eat anything that I send his way. He's still a skinny little guy, but the day we noticed he had a tiny little belly, was one of the greatest days!

So back to my confession....when this was going on, there were a number of blogs that chronicled the story of people who had been in the same boat that we were. We were able to extract glimmers of hope that all would turn out alright. When our little man was born, we wanted to add our story to those that had comfort for us. So here it is. Yes, it was a struggle in the beginning, to keep a positive attitude both when we were first given this medical news and when we were struggling to feed our little guy, but things turned out okay. More than okay, actually. Take from this story Hope. If you are going through the same thing, I learned firsthand that doctors can be wrong...ultrasounds can be misleading...and things can turn out good in the end.

There...it feels good to have that off of my chest and out there where it will hopefully help someone else.

Nicci's Staples of life.

These products are among my favorite in the world, staples that I always keep around so I have something easy and healthy when I need it:

Stoneyfield farm yogurt

Oikos Greek yogurt

(also by Stoneyfield)... I like the honey flavor!

Thai Kitchien Lite Coconut Milk

I use this in a few different recipes, but our fave is rice (any kind, but we love Jasmine rice with it) made with coconut milk and a little bit of water. Try it!

Panda licorice

Yummy organic and natural candy! A dream come true.

Quorn chik'n

(meatless and soy free products). These are a lifesaver!! They taste so similarly to chicken I don't think many would be able to tell the difference. They make these cutlets, a breaded cheesy chik'n patty, nuggets, meal starters, etc. Check them out at www.quorn.us.

Archer farms

I love almost all of their products! And they are conveniently sold in Target, somewhere I'm shopping on a regular basis. I especially love their strawberry fruit bars and their granola.

365 brand (Whole Foods) Natural Peanut Butter

I actually like almost all brands of natural peanut butter, but we usually buy this one because it's very reasonable priced. Though I do have to admit I like the Jif and Skippy brands because you don't have to refrigerate them. I'm not sure why you do with some and not other brands??

Wholesome sweeteners light agave nectar

Just a squirt or two is great for sweetening ANYTHING! I use it in coffee, tea, smoothies, oatmeal, and lots of others things.

Tribe hummus
This is my favorite hummus other than homemade because they don't use garlic in any flavors except the roasted garlic one. Being a person who gets sick on too much garlic, I rejoiced to find them! I love the regular, lemon, and forty spices flavors.

Stacy's Pita Chips
What goes better with Tribe hummus than Stacy's?? Nothing!

Gardenburger veggie burgers
I especially love the sun-dried tomato basil flavor!

Nature's Own Bread
Well if it isn't a bread that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup!? Still sweet and tasty, soft and yummy... I do believe I'm in love! With every flavor!

That concludes my list for this month, there may be more posts like this to follow! And if any of you have a great organic vegetarian food product to recommend, comment here and thanks in advance!

Amy's Organic

One of my favorite and most convenient food brands is Amy's Organic. It's a food company that makes delicious all natural vegetarian/vegan foods. They have a great website with a lot of information on their products. This company is very sensitive to costumers with dietary restrictions, providing many gluten-free options, along with dairy-free, soy-free and nut-free.

I often enjoy the black bean burrito for lunch. It is so quick and easy... perfect for a busy day. I also love their soups! Adding more fresh veggies to it makes it extra delish... my favorite?? AVOCADO! I am always looking for more things to add avocado to!!

Amy's Organic carries a great alternative to chicken noodle soup. So next time you have a cold and wish there was a vegetarian version try Amy's Organic no-chicken noodle soup!!

Although a little pricey, Amy's Organic products are tasty and easy. I highly recommend you try out the many tasty options!

I am a gas guzzler!

I am a gas guzzler, and a procrastinator, this "friday" confession is being posted on a tuesday because of my relentless procrastination! I am sorry! I am sure that my semi-green friends will forgive me!

So this, I mean, last week I went to work at 6am... I sent the kids off to school... and drove all the way back home for my break. Then at 2 pm drove all the way back to work... worked and drove all the way back home again. It's not that I live that far away from work... but far enough to put use quite a bit of gas. Also, I don't drive a fuel efficient car either! I drive a Honda Element to and from work equaling 26 miles.... so last week doing this 3 times added an extra 78 miles on my car... causing, not just wear on tear on it, but also the environment! I'd like to say that i drove nice and slow, conserving gas mileage, but i did not.... I WANTED TO GET HOME AND GET HOME QUICK!! Well.... this has cost me... not only the extra gas money, but also the hefty ticket I got on Friday!

Needless to say I am driving slower, conserving my gas. I am also finding things to do near work that won't involve long drives.

Bob's Red Mill

Before I get to my favorite food themed post this week, i'm going to show off my organized (and moth/worm free!) pantry. It's just so neat and tidy that I couldn't help but take a picture of it...quick, before Bix comes looking for a snack!

So on the second from the bottom shelf, you'll notice (in air tight containers) my favorite brand of grains, Bob's Red Mill. Bob's Red Mill makes "whole grain foods for every meal of the day." Don't you just love the idea of eating whole foods for every meal? I really try to do this and this company makes just what I need to incorporate whole foods into our diet. I am a huge fan of steel cut oats (yes, Nicci, it's on my list of top cereals!) and now little Leo is becoming a fan of them too. Guess what...Bob's Red Mill makes them! Oh, by the way, i'm not getting paid for product promotion....hmm,, I wish I were though....Anyway, what I really love are the selection of gluten-free flours, mixes, etc that are now available. Back in the day, when I was a young-in', I led an allergic life. My nutritionist had me on a restricted diet of soy, meat and veggies. I drank soy milk before it was the cool thing to put in a latte. My soy milk was downed in the school office, during recess, with a handful of vitamins...but that's another story for another time...(you sure are curious though, aren't you?) About a year and a half ago, I was gluten free for a few months, and Bob's Red Mill got me through that with things like Garbanzo Bean Flour, Quinoa Flour and Sorghum Flour. I'm not gluten free now and so I can make use of a fascinating array of other flours. I am fortunate to have a Wegmans nearby...if you are not on the East Coast and have never been to a Wegmans, I truly feel for you...Wegman's stocks almost the entire line of Bob's Red Mill....no online ordering for this foodie! Speaking of Wegmans...did you ever notice the Wegmans brand groceries on top of the refrigerator in the breakroom on The Office? Now there's a bit of trivia for you! So there you have it, my fabulous food find for the week. Enjoy!

High Heat.

Ok, my first Friday confession is that I dry most of my laundry in a dryer, and don't have anywhere to hang it outside.  I live in an apartment, and although I'm not trying to make excuses, there you have it.  I know that I could make some sort of line out back, it would only be about 4 feet wide, and makeshift at best.  I could buy one of those racks and set it up outside every time I do laundry, I know I could, and I'm just being lazy.  One good thing I will say for myself, is that due to a fear of shrinkage or wearing clothes out before their time, my mother taught me never to fully dry many of my clothes.  So I only dry my jeans, shirts, and dress clothes (and some of my husband's shirts) for about 8 minutes and then hang them up on doorways in my apartment, so that does cut down on some drying in the dryer...but I do dry everything else fully. 

Ok, I will work on remedying this awful truth, I'll make a promise to you, my blogger friends!

I am a killer. And a food waster.

Whew, it feels good to have that off my chest. Now for the sordid details...

Yesterday morning, bright and early, I am standing in my kitchen drinking my coffee before the little one wakes up. Bix (the hubs) was packing his lunch and getting ready to head out the door for school. I notice coffee drips on the counter and so I wipe them up and decide to give the coffeemaker a quick wipe down....for an appliance that gets used so heavily, I have no idea how it gets dusty so quickly. I move the coffeemaker and grab the rag to wipe the counter and it is then that I notice little white worms on the counter. Now, I need to say at this point, before you think I am a disgusto who doesn't clean my kitchen and just lets bugs gather to feed off of the crumbs that I let sit around, I am a clean freak. I seriously am. I am always disinfecting, dusting, vacuuming, picking up, etc., so to find a pile of squirmy worms on my kitchen counter behind my coffeemaker was almost more than I could handle that early in the morning. Actually, I probably wouldn't have handled it well later in the day either....

"Bix, handle the worms," I say handing him the rag, backing up in disgust. Dear hubs that he is, didn't complain, but got right to it. It is then that I notice, there are not just worms on the counter, but they are on the pantry doors and, oh my stinkin' nerves, are even in my pantry!

This might explain the moth problem we had a few months ago. I think I narrowed it down to contaminated red pepper flakes. I was so freaked out then, that I bought plastic, air tight containers that could house all of my flours, rices and grains. The dual benefit of these containers (besides keeping out bugs) was they made my pantry look super organzied. There is nothing better than a super organized pantry. (Did I mention i'm an organization freak too?!)

So, back to yesterday morning, Bix saw I was coming close to a meltdown and decided it might be smart to leave for work and let me handle the worms. And handle them I did. I first cloroxed (yes, bleached) my counter to get rid of any moth/worm eggies. Then I proceeded to empty out my entire pantry onto the counter. This actually took me the better part of the day, because the little man wanted me to hold him and not clean the pantry out. When I reasoned with him and explained that I didn't want to eat worms for dinner, he let me get down to cloroxing (yes, bleaching) the pantry, removing the shelves and examining every nook and cranny for worms/moths. And oh did I find worms. Just when I thought I had gotten rid (read, killed) every last worm, another one would appear. And the cherry on top of this little tirade? Opening a can of salt and vinegar almonds and having a moth fly into my face. Salt and vinegar almonds...are you kidding me? What would a moth even want with salt and vinegar almonds? That made me mad. So mad that I started tossing food. Out went the almonds...and the honey/flax cluster cereal...and pretty much anything that was opened and not in an air tight container. Did you know moths liked spices? Neither did I...that is, until I opened a container of chile powder and found webs.

So there you have it....I am a bug killer and a food waster.

Although, can you blame me?

How I am a Semi-Green Girl by: Rita

I was born to live as naturally and eco-friendly as can be. It was a desire inside of me when i was a little girl. I loved the outdoors, I loved nature and I was all about 'saving the rainforest'. My grand-parents and parents have always been very conservative in their use of things... although mostly for the sake of being frugal, it has been an encouragement. Things in my house always got reused. I thought ALL house-holds reused plastic bags... I never saw a plastic bag being tossed without it having a second usage first.

As a teenager I was an inactive "green" girl. Lazy, and effected in the wrong way by the disgusting non-conserving ways of my time. In 11th grade my science teacher brought that desire back to surface. The science class was called "Environmental and Natural Resources". I loved that class and all i learned. All the documentaries, projects, and field trips got that earth-loving desire to become active.

In recents years, though, I am a green girl in many new and active ways. Natural beauty products have become a must in my life. Natural shampoos have changed my hair, jojoba oil and tea tree oil has changed my skin. Conventional medicine is a last resort. I don't eat meat, and have VERY minimal dairy products. I recycle like crazy and love co-ops!

I love thinking of new ways to minimize the impact on the environment. The beautiful things on this earth is a gift, and I want to take care of them!

The Good:

• I try my best to do the 3 R's...............REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
• I teach these ways to the 3 children I am a nanny for.
• No Meat
• Natural Products
• I compost
• Opts for organic whenever possible

The Bad and Ugly:

• When I am really thirsty and don't have my reusable water bottle, I BUY BOTTLED WATER!!!
• I love 'to-go' coffee.... the convenience, the flavor! But oh! the amount of cups i toss!
• Even though I'm a vegetarian, I buy leather shoes..... oh! the hypocrisy!!!
• I travel far distances to have fun.... Oh! the gas I waste!
• I often leave lights on in empty rooms........ I DONT DO IT ON PURPOSE! I PROMISE!!

I am Rita, a GIRL trying to live a SEMI-GREEN life.

Hi My Name is Nicci and I'm a Semi-Green Girl.

I do so want to be green. I want to be the envy of the hipsters, the crunchy moms, and whole foods shoppers everywhere. It's just...so expensive/ exhausting/ HARD! I try though, and I succeed sometimes. Hence my semi-greeness.

It's really easy at work because I work for a family of green people. I am a nanny for a 1 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. There I drive their Prius, eat their ALL-organic foods, take the little girl to her hippie school (Waldorf) dressed in hippie clothes, recycle, conserve electricity, use cloth diapers, clean with green and environmentally safe cleaners, and watch NO tv. At home I do many of these things too, but don't always buy organic since I live in a small town with either a WalMart or tiny grocery store to shop in with hardly any organic products. But I try to go to Whole Foods when I can and stock up! I do watch tv...well tv on dvd when at home, and I don't personally drive a hybrid car. I am a vegetarian who recycles though! I buy local produce at our town farmer's market, and I've recently switched to cloth napkins and paper towels (mostly...some messes require the paper!). We've switched all our bulbs as they burned out to the energy saving ones, and only use the A/C at home when absolutely necessary... I recycle any plastic bags I do get from the store, but try to always take my reusable totes when grocery shopping. I will admit though that I am addicted to candy, sugary things that are bad for me, and even eat things containing high fructose corn syrup. I eat dairy and not always organic dairy. I have more clothes and shoes than I can wear, and none are made of organic materials (that I know of). I'm not crafty in the least bit and I eat fast food once in a while!

I'm horrible!

Alright, I'm probably just normal, but this blog will chronicle my attempts to be greener. Read often and tell your friends!

my semi crunchy life...by Nichole

the good me...

• uses cloth napkins & paper towels
• uses cloth diapers & wipes
• has been a vegetarian for 13 years
• has two rescue pups
• regularly recycles (even though there is no curbside pickup)
• buys organic (most of the time) & tries to shop local
• loves to cook for my hubby and son

the bad me...

• is a sucker for a cute baby toy....aargh, plastic!
• sometimes throws away a plastic bag (w/o reusing it!)
• uses Clorox Clean-up instead of homemade vinegar cleaner
• sometimes cracks open a jar of (non=homemade) baby food
• likes Taco Bell...aargh, fast food!
• is obsessed with OPI nailpolish...aargh, toxins!