teaser

if i were to put half as much energy into my blog that i put into twitter i'd be writing up a storm! with that being said though, twitter has been very good to me! ;-)

i also have finished a few projects and started a few more, of course - with christmas less than a week away!

want to know details? you'll have to check back in a couple of days!

Knitting in the Round

wow...knitting in the round is a lot harder than it looks. i don't know if it's because the needle i'm using is kinda short or because my cast on stitches are kinda tight...i'm having difficulty making my first round!

Practice Hat Project

follow the progress of the hat at Ravelry!

you know you want one! Win a WiiFit @ MileHighMamas

If you haven't tried a WiiFit - you are totally missing out! WiiFit is not only tons of fun - but it's exercise even!

Don't even think about trying to buy one right now - they're about impossible to get your hands on! BUT the chicas over at MileHighMamas have one to *give away* if you enter their contest!

What are you waiting for? Go on over to MileHighMamas.com and enter to win!

"frustrated incorporated..."

what to do with myself? that is the question i'm constantly asking myself these days. i'm ueber-frustrated with my job situation - i am so sick and tired of being underemployed and not having a reliable and consistent paycheck.

at my current job, which is at a large chain clothier, i make total crap wages, am lucky if i get anywhere near 30 hours per week and have to work all sorts of random weird hours and shifts. don't get me wrong, though - i like the job well enough, i just don't like the fact that it's my ONLY job at the moment. okay, i'm *technically* a substitute teacher also, but i can't necessarily bank on that either.

there is a job possibility in a nearby town...but it wouldn't start until next fall and isn't a guarantee. DH just applied for a job in STL, so maybe we can move there and my job woes will be less woeful. who knows?

if only i could make pretty crafty things and sell enough of them to make the money i'm not making at my job...i'm terrible at promoting myself though and my etsy never seemed to ever have any views. :-( i need to get some new things made and revamp my etsy shop altogether.

anyone have any ideas for this frustrated chica?

Saturday with Sally

Sally and I had made plans to meet up in her part of town today.

first, we had lunch at Chick-fil-a. we both had the chicken sandwich. YUM!

After devouring heaven on a bun, the adventurous brave souls that we are braved the crowds at Oak Park mall to get free Godiva Truffles!

caramel apple tarte truffle. mmmmm.....

then we headed to the grocery to buy supplies for our soup. we made a LOT of Minestrone...i can't wait to dish it up!



while we were waiting on the soup to soup itself, we indulged in another obsession: Beading. Sally made earrings while I whipped up a necklace - while watching "Nightmare before Christmas".



What a perfect way to spend a cold wet - snowy, even! - Saturday in November!

Still plenty more ways to green up!

Things have been kind of crazy the last week -ergo the blogging has been pretty much nil.

I do want to share that I'm quite distressed that one of my new favorite 'green brands' isn't quite as green as I once thought them to be! :-(

The following article will explain all!

Coming Clean: Campaigning for Organic Integrity in Bodycare Products

looks like i will have to keep searching for eco-friendly body care products!!

Just do it!

Today has been a very busy day for me - and continues to be! What I will leave you with for today is a fantastic website giving plenty of inspiration for places to start greening up!

treehugger.com

enjoy!

One small step for me, One giant leap for Mother Earth

One of the hardest things for me when I decided to make a concerted effort to go green was to decide where to start. I'm really more of an "all or nothing" type of person, but with my budget, my schedule and my husband, I knew that this really wasn't an option. I knew that by starting small, I could slowly infiltrate green into my daily habits with little or no interruption to my usual routine. A few months in, and my plan is working beautifully! For my contribution today, let me share my strategy.

The Distractivist's
Greening Up Strategy

Phase 1

Recycle everything which is able to be recycled.
If it cannot be recycled, re-purpose it or find some use for it.

check out these sites:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/
http://www.freecycle.org/

Phase 2

Start replacing things with greener versions.
So far, I've replaced dishwasher and laundry detergents, kitty litter, pet shampoo, toothpaste, moisturizer/base makeup, face powder, deodorant, toothbrushes, razors and grocery totes. I also tend to buy greener groceries whenever I can.

Look around at your local grocery - you might be surprised what sorts of green products you can find when you look for them. In my area, Hen House and Hy-Vee both have fab green mini-markets located in one section of their stores. Price Chopper tends to mix their green products in with the regular merch - but it doesn't seem to have as good of a selection.

Other great places, of course, are natural foods markets, co-ops and the like. Whole Foods/Wild Oats, GreenAcres Market, and Nature's Pantry are just a few in my area, but you can find ones in yours by looking in the phone book, asking around, googling for them or checking out GreenPeople.org.

Phase 3

Buy things which were locally produced whenever possible.

I started doing this with milk; I exclusively buy Shatto milk for 3 reasons:

1) Shatto cows live only about 50 miles from me
2) It comes in eco-friendly glass bottles ($1.50 refundable deposit)
3) It is really really good - and I don't even like milk!

There are loads of other things one can buy locally - produce, meats, furniture, etc. Where can you buy local goods? Check the Farmer's Markets, ask at the Natural Foods Market, look at the labels of the things you already buy, think about joining a Co-Op or even growing your own vegetables. Here, in KC, we have First Fridays in the Crossroads - a perfect place to meet local artists and artisans. We also have the Bad Seed, the City Market and a host of other like-venues for local goods. In the writing of this post, I chanced upon two great websites which I intend to use: KCFoodCircle.org and VegKansasCity.com. Stores, restaurants etc. which are labeled for vegans and vegetarians, I often find, are GREAT places to find eco-friendly things.

Supporting local business makes sense - local businesses, more often than not, are small businesses fighting against the giant mass-retailers for their rights to sell their wares or services. Also, buying locally means less shipping (if any at all), which creates less pollution and damage to the environment. Though, sensibly, I knew this was true, I never thought about the impact that buying local had until I read about the 100-mile diet. I honestly haven't tried it yet, but it's on the list of things to do.

I'm going to leave you with just these 3 phases for now - this is a lot of information to digest and I neither want to scare you off nor overwhelm you with too much info right from the start! :-)

Greening Up in April: Celebrate Mother Nature (Intro)

April: a time to bask in the spring sun and spring through the spring rains. I know I always seem to appreciate the grandeur of Mother Nature most in the Spring - Spring seems to hold such promise after a miserable, cold, dreary Midwest Winter! I love the cheerful spring flowers (especially the crocus and daffodil because they always seem to bloom first) and I also love Spring holidays - such as Easter and Earth Day because they seem to really emphasize the beauty of Nature.

This year, in appreciation of the great Mother, let's do what we can to 'green up' our act so that we can keep Mother Nature healthy. I understand that for some being green is all or nothing, but also that for others green is as green does; this month I will be blogging daily about simple ways we can green up without changing our entire lifestyle (unless you want to). I will post reviews of eco-friendly products which I have tried, info on places to look for green products as well as links to green news and websites.

A few seemingly-minor elements of your habits and routine can mean a significantly serious impact for our environment - you decide if you want that impact to be positive or negative.

A little education goes a long way

This post is too late for voting in Missouri primaries, but perhaps it'll start the mental juices flowing so that you'll prepared for November's elections.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcqmkb63_119gf9zcscg

information gathered from http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/