Earth Day 2009

I love Earth Day! There are so many ways that 1 person can make a difference in 1 day. I have just a few tips for you.

If you go by Home Depot today here is how they are celebrating:
1) By 1 get 1 on seed packets for your garden
2) 1 free CFL light bulb per customer
3) 1 free water aerator- this makes less water come out of your faucet saving gallons of water and some money along the way.

I was directed to this website by Mamasource this morning:
http://www.knowh2o.org/site/c.jgLLITOFKtF/b.3429435/k.BE42/Home.htm
I thought I knew a lot. Not so much. I think this was very interesting and eye-opening. Take their quiz and see what you know.

Reynolds is now making recycled aluminum foil! If you go to this link you can sign up for a 100% rebate on 1 roll! http://www.reynoldsrecycled.com/print-rebate.html?rebate=9CN9OH

I recieved this email from Evite:
Evite gets even more eco! To celebrate Earth Day, Evite and BRAVO will donate $1 to the National Audubon Society for each invitation sent from our BRAVO celebrity collection.
http://www.evite.com/?src=newsletter_20090421_1&eDialog=true

Whole Foods is having a contest: Make a Simple Green Resolution and Win! It is really nice to read the ways others are changing to help the Earth. The prize is $25 and a Feed 100 bag!
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/04/make-a-simple-green-resolution-and-win/

I am going to turn the air/heat off today, make dinner from things that need minimal processing and not oven/stove, use my cloth diapers, keep the TV and computer off (after this!) and take a walk. I also live across the street from a school. If you have ever seen the amount of trash that Elementary kids produce after school, you know what else I'll be doing. Picking up trash!

I challenge each one of you to do something good for the Earth today. She makes our lives better and we need her to be healthy for us to be healthy. Yes, I am a tree hugger at heart! If nothing else-it is 1 day that can make a huge impact if everyone on Earth just tried to make some little change! Happy Day, Mother Earth!

Working together toward the common goal.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago when we had an unexpected snow fall in March. To a Northerner-no big deal. To a Southerner-a huge deal! This made me think of the small things that we do that are toward the common goal. My goal is to be the type of parent that my children remember as always there and willing. I don't want to be remembered as the one who sat on the sidelines.

I had a professor once who encouraged her audience of 600 college students to play with pudding. She was teaching a course on sexuality but I still think of her lecture and the ways in which we could all use some pudding in our lives. It keeps us young. It is good for our senses and it taste good! I think we will pudding paint for snack today!

I am reminded today of the way we impact our children on the smallest levels. Our everyday choices make a big difference in the lives of our little ones. The tone of my voice tells my children whether they should or should not be doing what they are doing, it tells them to be cautious, if I am happy or upset. I can tell my children how to be calm by lowering my voice to a whisper. The routines I set in my daily life tells them that I can be depended on. That their needs will be met and they are safe. I also am responsible for teaching my children how to be flexible when need be. To deal with the unexpected with a smile and calmness. Like our snow. It made things different in a good way. It gave us time to play outside as a family without hesitation or worry. It was a spur of the moment happening-which in our life of two little ones is hard to come by.

I also think that by sending your children to school prepared and getting them there on time sets a couple of examples:

1) school is important

2) it is a child's job-it sets the precedence for when they are working. (If you are sick enough to stay at home then you are sick enough for a doctor.)

3) school, like work, has a peer group that depends on your presence every day.

4) the only way that we truely learn to depend on ourselves is to be put in a situation to use our coping skills, big and little. Everyday problems help us grow as people. It all starts in preschool.

I agree with Erma Bombeck that "Everything you need to know, you learned in Kindergarten."

I hope that you work towards your common goal today!