5.17.2008

getting kicked...

Okay - so at the same time I am excited about everyone else kicked in the ass, I am having to face the reality of getting my own ass kicked.

I vacillate between wanting to re-decorate the whole house, buying a new car, getting a completely new wardrobe OR making Tyler proud.

I started growing my own little herb garden in my kitchen the other day. I felt very green and sustainable... until my friend told me about raising her own chickens... which pretty much popped my balloon.

I get very excited about being green being sustainable and recycling composting blah blah blah but I admit I fall very short of the mark.... very short.

So I am grateful for a real opportunity to get my rear in gear.... with the gas prices so high it gives me just enough push to set up some realistic goals for the summer. They may seem small but they are doable (I hope).

1. no more bottled water...even if I am dying of thirst at the grocery store...only water fountains and our SIGG bottles

2. shop at Walmart for as much as I can (grocery-wise). This is a particularly hard one for me. I hate Walmart...for many reasons.... but with food costs rising I can't indulge in the local fancy grocery store.

3. only eat out once every 3-4 weeks. The Walmart rule can be broken if I have to go to the fancy store to buy meat (i refuse to eat Walmart meat - no matter what) and while I am there I can pick up a few things that will make eating at home better. Sprouts, fancy cheeses... junk like that. Make what ever you can at home instead of eating out... even if it is junk food... ice cream burgers pizza etc.

4. limit errands in the car. in the old days the whole family would pack up in the car on a Saturday to run errands and eat lunch out, even if we didn't have anything we really needed to get done. Spending money to eliminate boredom. So now I limit how often I leave the house. During the week I leave once a day(T W TH) to get Braden from school. Monday is MOPS and Sunday is church. I don't leave the house for anything else. If grocery shopping needs to get done I do it on Sunday on the way home from church, the post office gets done on the way home from school - you get the idea. Mason has stopped coming home for lunch during the week. Our goal is to make a tank of gas last 2 weeks.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This message is part info-bite and part shameless plug for my store, Free Market Organics,
http://www.freemarketorganics.com
which was primarily started to offer people a safe place to shop where they needn't read labels or stress out. Everything has been researched and screened beyond the FDA's wildest dreams.

First off, I have read that Eden Foods and Trader Joe's no longer line their cans with BPA. While it is ofcourse better to source your food locally and fresh and freeze or can it, once in a while we like to save a little time so lucky for us, there are two brand options. If you would like to find a local farm or coop in your area that can offer your local organic produce check out Local Harvest:

http://www.localharvest.org/

Secondly, I care deeply about all of this stuff and have heavily researched BPA. I called Dr. Fredrick Vom Saal, the scientist who discovered the issues with BPA and phthalates after reading his 1997 interview on PBS Frontline.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nature/interviews/vomsaal.html

Dow Corning and other oil/chemical/plastic giants have a lot of clout with the FDA. But I say- lets not dwell on that. There is no time to be afraid or angry or to feel guilty for using Polycarbonate bottles, and this is coming from me, who lost my mother and paternal grandmother from non-genetic breast cancer and from one who has a little girl.

Lets just not support the use of BPA to the best of our ability. Let's vote with our dollar. Let's buy safe and rightous goods for our families and we will in turn do good by our neighbors, our producers and our environment. It is the only way to turn most politicians and the FDA and to minimize the voice of the unethical giants.

This is why I opened my store, Free Market Organics: to get in the game. To open a one-stop shop for people wanting to buy the safest goods on the market that sit closest to their skin and food, with out stressing out about what is safe and what is not. I also work with people's budget to help them get what they need.

we carry all glass food storage containers:
http://freemarketorganics.com/glfost.html
glass baby bottles:
http://freemarketorganics.com/weekitchen.html
stainless steel water bottles and sippy's:
http://freemarketorganics.com/togo.html
organic bamboo utensils and prepware:
http://freemarketorganics.com/shopkitchen.html
petroleum-free skin care screened by the Cosmetic Safety Database:
http://freemarketorganics.com/shopbody.html
certified organic clothing, undergarments and essentials from newborn on up to mom and dad:
http://freemarketorganics.com/freeshop.html

Lastly, avoid any water bottle or sippy that is lined with secret propriatary ingredients. Sigg for instance - is lined with epoxy. One ingredient in epoxy is Bisphenol A. They won't tell you this but they will tell you they test for leaching BPA, but they don't test for it properly. IF they did, I'd be carrying their bottle and getting rico with everyone else.

Remember- alot of this good stuff can be found cheap at estate sales!

Amelia Royko Maurer
Free Market Organics
http://www.freemarketorganics.com

Jen said...

I long to be sustainable with you.

Anne said...

We cannot wait for our garden to start providing it's bountiful blessings this year! I love being able to eat squash anytime I want to without having to pay ridiculous prices at the store for tiny little ones!!

Hopefully we will have plenty of tomatoes and bell peppers and jalapeƱos as well! Yummy!