Mama needs a yard upgrade (and a body makeover, to boot)!

Our whole family has been eating pure crap lately. We spent a week at the beach and I kid you not, I gained 7 pounds in 7 days. Chips, beer, cookies, ice cream, more beer, cheese, hot dogs, oh, and more beer. Now we’re back home and the trend has continued. It was 99 degrees today in Chapel Hill. You’d think I wanted nothing more than a crisp, cold salad and some ice water. Think again. Ice cream and cold beer is on my list of must-eat/drink items on these lazy, hazy days. Someone please drag my ever growing ass to Weight Watchers quick!

It would be different if I were only damaging my own body. But my kids have been mainlining high fructose corn syrup thanks to busy camp and school schedules, a lazy mom, and their own unhealthy beach diet of Icee-Pops morning, noon and night. Don’t ask me what possessed me as I was filling the grocery cart with CapriSun, ‘Smore flavored granola bars and Fudgesicles the other day. Landfill-bound packaging be damned…I was all about the convenience (or maybe I’ve just been huffing too many minivan fumes).

Just when I needed it most, I received an email from New American Dream challenging me to buy 1 pound of locally grown food a week for the next month (think fresh squash, southern peaches and mouth watering tomatoes rather than Oscar Meyer and Yuengling). It’s part of their C3 (Carbon Conscious Consumer) program. I’ve blogged about local food before, and I realize that ‘going local’ is a small step that can lead to big change environmentally. According to New American Dream, food in the U.S. typically travels 1500 miles and the transportation of conventional food generates five to 17 times more carbon emissions than food grown locally. So, I’m taking them up on their pledge, and asking you to do the same. As an added bonus (for me!), if you do sign the pledge because I told you so, I could possibly win a $6000 eco-friendly yard makeover. In addition to needing to lose a few lbs, mama could use a yard makeover as well!

What yummy things are you eating this summer? Surely you’re doing better than me!

a little Greek philosophy

I’m in the middle of pulling together a presentation so my blogging (as well as my house cleaning, cooking and parenting) has fallen by the wayside. I happened upon this quote in the signature line of an organizer’s email the other day and I copied it down. Words to live by:

“. . . grant that I may become beautiful in my soul within,
and that all my external possessions may be in harmony with my inner self.”– Plato

I’m feeling pretty darn harmonious myself after tackling a major playroom cleanout this past week. Carter just built a totally sweet treehouse for our kids. They’re having so much fun in their new play space that their toys have been forgotten. So I took the liberty of getting rid of all the unloved and unused plastic and plush and happily dropped it off at the PTA Thrift Shop this morning. Ahhhh, organizational bliss!

Be a double do-gooder!

We’re back from a glorious week long vacation at the beach. I just realized that it was exactly a year ago that we launched our first six month consumer free experiment. I wish I could say that our family was forever transformed and we’re living the simple life, but alas, I’m still jonesing for stuff just as much as the rest of my clan. I do, however, feel that our awareness has been raised and we’re much more conscious of our environmental impact as a family of four. Thanks to numerous articles and events during this past year, green has gone “in your face”, and just about everyone who is anyone is talking about changing their lightbulbs to CFLs. I still think we’re up for another consumer free experiment in the near future. Now that I’m driving that big honkin’ van around, I’ve got to do something to right myself with the universe.

I was just about to purchase my Terrapass for the new van and stumbled upon this. I’ve always been disturbed by our throw-away culture and how quickly tech devices become obsolete. Terrapass will now allow you to trade in an old cell phone for a Terrapass product. It’s a double do-gooder opportunity! We have a number of old phones floating around our house that I’m sure have some life left in them, and I certainly don’t want to toss them in the landfill. Terrapass makes it easy to recycle your phone AND offset the carbon output from your vehicle. They even offer a FREE postage label to mail in your phone. I’m off to dig up my old phones right now!

I’m a van driver

After a year’s worth of searching, debating, discussing, fretting, complaining and saving, we purchased a Nissan Quest minivan yesterday. I found a used 2006 with only 12K miles and way more bells and whistles than we need or want, but that pimped out ride is suh-weet. The DVD player isn’t working right now, so we’ll have to get it fixed, but otherwise, it’s kid-totin’ perfection.

To shake off my 20 MPG guilt, I plan to carpool frequently and purchase a Terrapass so I can keep striving for that carbon neutrality my buddy Gore always talks about. The upside is, I can fit a litter of kids in that car with very little cursing over car seat struggles AND I will be chopping off no tiny limbs with heavy doors that won’t stay opened on our cliff-side driveway. All these benefits, plus Carter and I celebrate our 13 year wedding anniversary tomorrow. Just think of the sex he’ll want to have when sees me pulling up in that love machine every day! Clearly, I’ve consumed the kool-aid and I’m one happy mom!