Gruppie Girl

I'm back!

2010-08-16T09:42:00.005-05:00

It's been over a year since I've written anything longer than a permission slip to the bus driver. It's been over a year since I've given much of a thought to Gruppie Girl. Lately though, Gruppie Girl has been creeping into the forefront of my mind.

A few months ago my mother lost her battle with appendix cancer. A few weeks later, her mother passed away. Life as I've always known ended. I found myself in the unwanted role as a 30-something matriarch.

Life over the past year has been filled with many challenges and firsts. I would love to blame all of the horrible occurrences on the zodiac calendar, the phases of the moon or maybe global warming. Time to put my big-girl boots on and take charge of my life.

No more going days only eating donuts and diet soda. No more hiding from the world. No more ignoring myself. Life will never be the same, but I'm ready to create a new version of life for myself and my family.

I would like to start writing to make myself happy. No heavy expectations or goals. Just allowing the happy Gruppie Girl thoughts rolling about in my mind to get out onto paper.

Gruppie Girl is about my life as a granola yuppie living in the suburbs. I felt the need to explain my absence. Back to gruppie life.

If It's Good Enough for the Obamas

2009-06-09T16:07:00.006-05:00

Leading the country by example the Obama family cleared way for the return of a vegetable garden on the White House grounds. Local food that you can be sure it's history. (no scary food recalls) Healthy food that doesn't need pesticides. (healthier food = less trips to the doctor's office= more money in your pocket)

Sadly, Eleanor Roosevelt was the last first lady to grow her own veggies at the White House. After World War II more and more people followed the trail of convenience. Thus changing our diets more radically in the last fifty years than had been changed in the thousands of years before.

This spring, the Gruppie family set off to change our little corner of the world with a vegetable garden of our own!

With ground is as hard as a rock (thanks to my builders for striping away all of the nutrient rich soil), raised beds were the only option. Go vertical!

Two raised beds twenty inches high and made of untreated wood. Creating the raised beds was Hubby and Little Guy's favorite part. What is it with boys and wood? giggle Next, we lined the raised beds with newspapers to kill any weeds or grass that may grow. Then, we lined the beds with leaves from last fall that I, ummm, liberated from a neighbor's yard. The entire mix was watered well to start the decomposing process.

Finally, came the endless wheelbarrows full of compost. Up the hill. Down the hill. No matter how many trips I took, the pile magically never shrunk!

Tune in tomorrow for starting seeds.

Kindergarten Trends

2009-05-28T07:30:00.004-05:00

Now that Memorial Day has come and past, people everywhere are talking about new summer trends. I generally ignore the summer trends and follow the sit on my butt with my toes in the sand trend.

Speaking of trends, Little Guy has been loving life in Kindergarten. Lots of new buddies, learning new things and of course snack time. Lots of new peer trends to follow.

When I sent Little Guy off to kindergarten I knew that he would pick-up a few new ideas from the other kids. I was thinking more along the lines of violent movies and nasty new words. Oh no, Little Guy has picked-up some ideas worse than pretending that he is a character in Star Wars. Little Guy and his friends talk about hair care.

Conditioner to make their hair lay flatter. Gel to keep their style even through a sweaty recess. The little boys in the class compare their hair routines and share tips.

After my initial shock wore off, I decided to indulge this new Kindergarten fad and search for an organic gel, free from plastics and other nastys for Little Guy to goop on to his strawberry head.
The Skin Deep Comsmetics Safety Database is always my first step when looking for a new product for my family's skin or hair. Lots of products will say "natural" or "safe" and it equals a load of greenwashing. The facts need to be checked out.

Trends will come and go. Here's to the first grade trends include reading and math. Is that too wishful on my part?

What's Old is New Again

2009-05-19T19:17:00.004-05:00

Cruising through the aisles of the food store I stumbled upon an amazing new product. Waxed paper bags!

Since waxed paper easily breaks down in the compost bin, I use it (and then compost it) often. Waxed paper wraps sandwiches and covers the tops of food in a pinch. So when I found waxed paper folded into bags I was happy as a freegan in a fresh dumpster.

The my mummy popped my bubble.

Apparently waxed paper bags have been around since somewhere in the vicinity of forever. Mummy's lunch included waxed paper bags back in the 1950's.

Gardens, reusing, line drying and waxed paper bags. I guess that all that is old is new again.

Turn It On

2009-05-11T19:12:00.002-05:00

Last August I blogged about my adventures in attending the Antiques Roadshow in Hartford. It was a once in a lifetime experience that would have been amazing if any of my treasured antiques were worth any real money.

Part 1 of the Antiques Roadhshow Hartford series is on PBS tonight. If you are looking for me in the background, I am the one in my 30's. I was also behind the woman in the full-length fur coat with Mickey Mouse heads all over it. (Where does one buy a coat like that?)

Spoiler Alert! I personally heard a person freak out over a table that was valued in the $300,ooo range. If that was me, I would be blogging remotely from a hut in Bali with my personal cabana boy. Ah to dream...

Who Cut the Mustard?

2009-05-05T17:25:00.005-05:00

After posting a few months ago about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup I seemed to find that nasty, liver-stressing, diabetes-causing ingredient almost everywhere. Even in the innocent looking jar of honey mustard in my refrigerator.

Since my kids are huge honey mustard fans, I set out to find a jar of honey mustard that contained just that; honey and mustard. Period. Like everything else in my life, that was easier said than done.

My local food store carried only one brand of honey mustard free of high fructose corn syrup. Mustard, honey and a few extras. This brand of honey mustard created a new problem. Foam. When I washed out the empty container the water came out seriously foamy. No, I didn't add any soap. So why did the nearly empty container foam?

After thinking that I was losing my mind with a foamy container, I purchased yet another identical container of honey mustard. Again with the foam. So now my kids were no longer eating HFC, but not they were eating some kind of foaming agent. Disgusting!

Finally the light bulb over my head (a LED bulb of course) turned on. Why not make my own honey mustard? That way I could be completely sure of the ingredients.

A little natural mustard mixed with some local honey and I got the yummiest sandwich topping. I mixed the sandwich topping right it in an old glass mustard jar (less waste) and voila a sandwich topping that my kids beg for that is safe too.

In my busy life I realize that not all of us (including me) can be 100% free from processed food. Still, this experience was a wake-up call letting me know that we can never be sure of exactly what's in our processed food.

New Arrival!

2009-05-01T13:04:00.006-05:00

It seems like everyone around me is having adorable little babies. Photos of these new sweeties are arriving in my inbox daily. Oh no, don't jump to any conclusions. I will not go down that route again in my lifetime. Still, I somehow can't feel a little jealous that they get to show off their new precious arrivals.

Now it's my turn to show off my new arrival.

Isn't she cute?

Yes, my compost bin is a she. Who else but a girl could take a bunch of junk and turn it into rich soil?

After a long winter of pouring kettles of boiling water on the compost pile to make room. I thought it was time for a sibling.

My girls are getting along famously!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T07:53:00.004-05:00

Dear Mummy Earth,

Best wishes for a green Earth Day! Hoping that your residents are treading lightly you.

Today the kids and I have pledged not to use the car. That means four round trips to school for me; morning, afternoon kindergarten, volunteering in the library and finally pick-up at the end of the day.

Why then are hale, thunder and rain are predicted for later today? As of right now I'm thinking that I am hardy enough to push through the weather. That will change in a hurry if I start to get pelted by chunks of ice.

It's OK. Still love you anyway.

~Gruppie

This photo was taken last year on a sunny Earth Day. My flag is no longer wrinkled. I would describe it more as soggy and limp.

Just 3 More Shopping Days

2009-04-19T17:24:00.004-05:00

Today's Sunday newspaper is crammed with store circulars as usual. What is unusual about today's advertisements is all of the "green" stuff they are hawking.

Water filters, recycled paper notebooks, garden soil, cleaning products, books, TVs, toothpaste...I could go on and on.

Looks like Earth Day has gone the way of Valentine's Day, Christmas and my birthday. Just another reason to get out there and shop.

Happy Earth Day week to all of the Gruppies out there. Let's give each other the gift of simplicity this week and stay out of the stores. No more stuff. No more in our landfills. No more spending. No more!

Green Museum

2009-04-18T12:11:00.005-05:00

Yesterday marked the last day of the kid's April vacation. Sniff! Sniff! Mummy and I decided to take the kids to the Boston Children's Museum.

I have fond childhood memories of the museum. Driving through the tunnel to get there, climbing down into the kid-sized manhole, working on a assembly line to create spinning tops. All fun stuff.

It looks like the Boston Children's Museum is even more fun in 2009! They have lept into the 21st century while riding the green wave.

The museum building is Gold LEED certified. Built with lots of recycled materials and full height windows for less reliance on artificial light. Green, living roofs were installed to help collect grey water for the toilets and irrigation. The living green roofs also keeps dangerous storm run off from entering and polluting the waters of Boston.

Traveling with my mummy meant that I fully examined all of the bathrooms (twice!). Dual flush toilets (up for liquids and down for solids) were well marked.

I wanted to take a photo of the dual flush toilets, but I was afraid that I would freak out the other museum patrons. Sorry!

My museum map was in perfect condition. Great to know it will be reused or recycled.

We will be back soon. Thank you Boston Children's Museum!

Naturally Easter

2009-04-12T17:44:00.006-05:00

Some childhood memories make me shake my head with amazement. After regularly playing in the back of a moving station wagon and exploring the neighborhood until all hours as a little gruppie, I am happy that I made it out relatively unscathed. The memories of dying Easter eggs have now moved into that head shaking category.

Little did I know back then that those same food dyes that I was touching with my little hands and were seeping into my hard boiled eggs were so toxic. How can something that is wrapped up in such a cutesie package be so dangerous?

Artificial food dyes have been shown to cause hyperactivity, allergies, tumors and even cancer. Scary when you stop to think about how often artificial dyes can be found in the foods we eat. Scary when you know that the EU has stepped-up to begin banning food dyes from the foods their citizens eat and the US is not following suit.

This Easter my family made our own safe eggs dyes. OK, I know what you are thinking. Gruppie is trying to channel Brie and Martha again. You naysayers would be wrong. Dying hard boiled eggs couldn't be easier.

A quick Google search will turn up recipes for specific colors. Since I don't have the attention span or stove size for such rules. I winged it.

A can of blueberries and a slosh of water simmered on the stove top for 30 minutes or so. A splash of vinegar. Let it cool and your eggs will become the most beautiful shade of blue.

Left over red wine (it was a slow week) and a slosh of water simmered on the stove top. Add some vinegar and allow to cool. Your eggs will turn a beautiful shade of...ummm...dirty egg.

OK, so I don't recommend using red wine to dye Easter eggs. But it does help with the process if you are drinking red wine while you are dying the eggs.

Next year the kids want to try using boiled carrots and a whatever we have in the spice rack.

The completed eggs. Minus the one that rolled away...

Happy Easter!

Spring Cleaning

2009-04-11T13:09:00.004-05:00

I don't usually open forwarded emails. Maybe it's because I have heard enough about the signs of a stroke, about conspiracy theories and the truth about UFOs But one forwarded email caught my eye enough for me to hit the open button. This email had a warning about a certain brand of cleaning product.

Apparently, a popular cleaning product that is used on the floors makes dogs sick when they lick the product off of their paws.

"Duh!" ~ 8 year old Gruppie

Big companies who hawk their so-called cleaning products have brainwashed us to think that our homes need to have an artificial smell in order to be clean. We need to stop willingly giving money to companies who combine a host of potentially lethal, fragrances ingredients into a pretty little bottle and call it a cleaner. Many of these products do just the opposite of clean. These products can pollute our indoor air quality and have lasting health affects on the people who live in our homes.

Years ago I read that housewives (who marries a house?) are 55% more likely to be diagnose cancer than their counterparts who work outside the home. It only makes sense. A person who is at home is probably going to perform most of the cleaning tasks. Closed windows + Toxic fumes = health problems.

What should clean smell like? Nothing.

What should clean look like? Nothing.

What should clean taste like? Nothing. Strange I know. But your cleaning products should be safe enough to eat.

Baking soda is my go-to product. Marker on the counter, erased. Scuff markers on the floor, erased. Stains on the fridge, erased. All with a cheap product that is so safe that you will find it in your recipe book.

Combine baking soda with water or lemon juice to make a gentle paste.

Combine baking soda with phosphate-free laundry detergent for a strong, tub cleaner.

Combine baking soda with vinegar to make a tough drain cleaner.

Use baking soda alone to absorb odor and dampness from carpets and mattresses.

All for 50 cents a box!

Happy spring cleaning!

It's Phone Book Season

2009-03-28T13:15:00.005-05:00

The melting snow has ushered in a new round of phone book deliveries. This time it was three phone books all wrapped up in two shocking orange plastic bags. Paper waste wrapped in plastic waste. Ugh!!

My theory is that magical, computer illiterate beings blanket the entire town with plastic bagged phone books while us innocent villagers sleep at night. No matter how hard I try to find the magically culprits, they are as elusive as Santa Clause on Christmas Day.

The wonderful town I live in allows phone book companies to distribute as many phone books as they wish, yet they do not accept those same phone books for curbside recycling. And opting out didn't seem to work either.

The solution? Hide a tiny blue barrel behind a nondescript phone company building on the other side of town and label it "phone book recycling". Yeah, that's going to keep all of those phone books out of the waste stream...

Today I did notice that a new phone book collection bin was added to my side of town. Ugly as all get out, but it's there never the less.

Peeking through the slot, I noticed that my phone books were the only books in the bin. No friends for my lonely phone books.

These bins are bandaids at best. I've opted out of phone books and chased down mysterious phone book vomiting vans. What can I do to stop the hundreds of repetitive (useless in my house) phone books from being delivered to my neighborhood every year? Why don't I have the right to decide what is delivered in my driveway?

Lost My Way

2009-03-24T12:56:00.004-05:00

Lately, I've been steaming mad at the world. My mummy is sick again and it's the world's fault.

Mummy and myself have both been cleaning our houses naturally, eating organically, gardening without pesticides and generally being as green as we possibly can. I am the first to admit that our reasons for being green were purely selfish. Making green choices is the only way we knew to keep our family and friends healthy.

It was all futile.

All of these feelings of anger have kept me from a lot of things that I loved doing. Specifically, writing about my personal journey.

Thank you to everyone who has helped pull me out of my gloomy hole. Thank you to Alicia for forcing me to talk when when I really wanted to do was talk about her sweet baby girl. Thank you to Marisa and Petra for sincerely offering to take my kids at anytime so I can hold my mummy's hand whenever I need to. Thank you to Hubby for supporting me when I needed to watch endless hours of reality TV while eating endless pints of Ben and Jerry's. Thank you to Andrea for cleaning my plate without a second thought. Thank you to Kim for listening to every detail. Thank you to the kids of the children's museum where I work for bringing amazing amounts of innocent energy to my class.

It's tough to be mad at the world when my mummy is feeling hopeful and ready to fight. It's tough to be made when I have a great group of friends who are supportive. I think that it's time for me to get back in the saddle. (reusable cork leather saddle...of course)

A few weeks ago I was fearful that this post was going to praise the virtues of Round Up and toxic air fresheners. Now, I can truly say that I lost my way for a little while and now I'm ready to continue writing for me. Writing about my journey is good for my soul. In the immortal words of Sheryl Crow," if it makes you happy. It can't be that bad."

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

2009-03-10T07:43:00.006-05:00

People are spending less. The economy has fallen in the low-flow toilet. School budgets are being squeezed to the point of no return. No news there.

We now hold a greater responsibility as to where we chose to spend our money. We can drive our cars over to the the big chain store to save a few cents. But are we really saving?

When we shop at a locally owned store and spend $100; $45 of our money will go back onto the local economy. Keeping our money close to home is good for all of us.

On the flip side, when shopping remotely or shopping at a nationally-owned chain, the numbers are very different. Spend that same $100 at the chain store and only $14 of your purchase will go back into the local economy. Is that worth the few pennies you saved at the register?

Speak with your wallet. Take a walk down to the mom and pop pharmacy to buy your cotton balls and band aids. Visit the small grocer that you have been meaning to check out and pick-up the ingredients for tonight's dinner. Even better, look for food products that have been made in your home state. Go ahead and patronize the small restaurant down the street instead of visiting that same chain.

I live in a small Connecticut village with quite a few stores and a couple of restaurants. Again and again I hear people talk about the downtown businesses and how they've never patronized these businesses. Yes, everyone has great intentions. It's time to follow through on those intentions and support our neighbors.

Bob from Sesame Street best summed up my thoughts with this song. It was a favorite of mine as a kid and I sing it to my kids (When did the kids learn to roll their eyes?). Enjoy!

Big Girl Bed

2009-03-02T11:26:00.005-05:00

I'm a dork. Seriously. Why else would I be so excited about getting my own big girl bed?

You may remember the meanie company that asked me to try their Zero VOC paint and never came through. Those meanies used me for pictures of my horribly decorated bedroom. I'm still having nightmares about the red circles.

While that whole experience made me a bit more leery about strange paint ladies, it also pushed me to do a little decorating in my own bedroom.

Adults are supposed to own bed frames complete with headboards and foot boards. Since people keep telling me that I am now an adult too, I guess that it was time to act like it. Goodbye to the dorm chic look.

After months of waiting....my new Big Girl Bed is here!!

P.S. The old bed frame went to a nice family on Freecycle.

Do It Yourself

2009-03-01T21:09:00.002-05:00

In my naive Gruppie brain I like to believe that every cloud has a silver lining. Million of greeting cards can't be wrong. The dark recession cloud of today has a silvery green lining. People are discovering that being green and saving money can go hand and hand.

The Gruppie family has been attempting to do more for ourselves. We are becoming do-it-yourselfers.

Take this weekend for example. We hosted a basketball team party that got a little out of control. Apparently the cute little b-ballers grabbed as many items from my garage as they could and proceeded to break them. In years past these broken items would have gone into the trash without another thought. Today's greener version of myself whipped out the super glue and repaired the sprinkler in a single leap. Today's greener version of myself discovered that the local hardware store sells replacement broom handles. A few twists, saw it down to size, add some leftover paint and the broom is as good as new.

In years past whenever the car would clang or sputter I would drive the two towns over to the dealership to get it fixed. Pollution and high costs. Now that the family station wagon is getting on in years, the shaking and knocking is a daily occurrence. Hubby has sprung to the rescue by talking to handy friends and reading up on automotive repair. He has fixed up the old wagon (mostly) by himself.

Hubby has also found a new trade to fall back on. He has become a master at cutting Little Guy's hair. A stool in the garage with some cheap clippers and Little Guy is done for a month. Honestly, he does a better job than the salon that we used to take him to and I don't have to listen to the salon gossip.

My Gruppie family of 2009 has come to terms with the fact that we are fairly helpless. We realize that we don't know how to do much on our own. We don't create our own energy, grow our own food, make our own clothing or even make our own entertainment. But we are trying! Is there anyone is suburbia who can truly take care of themselves without the help of others?

Lock The Window

2009-02-19T09:41:00.005-05:00

There are three stories on my narrow house. The windows on the bottom two floors have always been securely locked at all times while I never payed much attention to the windows on the third stories. Why notice them? Meanies could only get to those windows if they had a fire truck or maybe the ability to fly.

Recently I was walking by one of my unlocked third story windows when I noticed a strong, cold draft. (damn you New England winters!) The window was shut, so what was the problem? I tugged, pulled and pushed on the window. Nothing. Then, I simply locked the window and the draft disappeared.

Ding, Ding. Ding. There was that light bulb over my head!

The window lock helps to keep the windows completely sealed. In the immortal words of my eight year-old Gruppie self, "duh!"

Green Library

2009-02-17T19:18:00.005-05:00

American libraries were not originally founded on green ideals. Still I cannot think of another group, located in nearly every small town and big city, that is quite so environmentally friendly.

Borrowing magazines and books instead of buying them is the obvious first thing that springs to mind when I think of the ways in which libraries are green. Less trash, less paper, less ink. But, the libraries of today are so much more. Video games, toys, CD players, games, DVDs and downloadable books are now commonplace. Items that may have been watched or played with maybe twice after being privately purchased can now be used by many residents.

Museum passes are one of my favorite green library perks. Back when the family first moved to Connecticut, I had no clue what to do around town. Consequently I spent my weekends traveling far and wide. Since I discovered my library's free museum passes, my traveling has been far more local. Less pollution and my money is being spent locally.

Over December vacation (AKA cold and trapped at home for two weeks), the kids and I grabbed a library pass and headed over to Hartford. We discovered the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. Lots of new and interesting facts were learned during our free kids tour. For example, did you know that Harriet's son was Andy Samberg's doppelganger?

In my spare time, the library has proved to be a great place for me to do a little guerrilla greening. My passive aggressive self just loves to tack notes to the bulletin board outlining how to dispose of CFL bulbs or discussing the importance of composting. It is also a great place for me to strategically place my pre-read magazines like Mothering, the natural family magazine. (Shhh...don't tell the librarians it's me)

The librarians of the past in their cardigan sweaters and pointy glasses may not have planned to show love for the earth and your pocketbook through their libraries. Let's hope that in the era of budget cuts and zero growth, our librarians of today (in their seasonal sweaters and bright skirts) will be able to continue with their missions and change with the times.

Have you hugged your librarian today?

Spread the Love

2009-02-14T14:03:00.004-05:00

In my gruppie opinion, Valentine's Day is a holiday for kids in school. It's the one day every year when each kid is guarenteed to receive 20 Valentine's (mostly filled with candy). Valentine's Day may be one of the most exciting of all of the 180 school days. After the sixth grade, the day begins to loose it's luster.

Consumerism and the pressure to act romantic puts Valentine's Day near the bottom of my favorite holiday list. Sorry Tweed Day! My bitterness really peaked that year in college when I decided to dump my boyfriend on Valentine's Day. (Gosh that was a good decision)

Crafty Girlie created her own Valentine's Day mailbox using an old soda box and some scrap paper.

For all of those with love in the hearts and their wallets firmly stashed in the top drawer. Enjoy this day!

Water Woes

2009-02-08T17:59:00.006-05:00

My yard is covered in melting snow. Water is dripping off of the roof. Tiny rivers are running down the street. Winter (dreaming of spring) in Connecticut is here. That means water!

It's easy to forget just how serious our global water situation is. Dire would be a great word. Australia is on fire. Kids are dying of thirst and dysentery in Africa. Water shortages are abound. We each need to do our part to lessen our fresh water usage.

I was dreaming in green last Christmas. As all good little Gruppies do, I wrote a letter to Santa. In my letter I asked Santa for solar roof panels and a low-flow shower head with a pause button. (You know, for those soapy moments when you really aren't standing under the shower and all of that clean water is just falling down the drain.) Seeing that I had been extra good I thought that I was sure to score with my gifts.

Well, the solar panels must not have fit in Santa's sack, because the Waterpik showerhead was one of my only gifts under the tree. Maybe I wasn't as good as I thought...

On Christmas day I immediately ran to the shower and installed my new low-flow showerhead (because I'm crafty like that) and proceeded to take a shower. I'll keep this all PG, but when it was time to soap up I slid the pause button only to have the water slow. As all five year olds know, pause means stop. Like stop completely. Who are these Waterpik packaging writers who believe that pause means "just slow down a little"?

In addition to the annoying false advertising, the water stream was amazingly narrow. I found myself talking longer showers just to make-up for the lack of water covering my body. I began to think that my fancy new low-flow shower head was costing me money and wasting more water.

Long story short, I paused my dream of easily conserving water in the shower for now. When I soap up, I turn off the water completely. It's a pain, but it will have to do. As for the new shower head, I did what any frugal parent would do...made the kids use it.

Five Questions

2009-02-06T15:35:00.005-05:00

I get great questions from my readers all of the time. Cheree over at The Verbosery was sweet enough to keep the five questions for a blogger train going.

Here we go...

Gruppie,

OK.. I kept the questions mostly about "living green". I thought this would be an excellent way for you to talk more about things you maybe haven't talked about yet, and some of the harder parts. You make it look so easy, sometimes (well, like WORK, but easy) (Cheree, I'm the one who feels like a mess!), so those of us who already feel like we're chasing after our lives sometimes feel a little bit intimidated. :) And NO BENCH QUESTIONS! :) I hope you enjoy them!

1. Is Mr. Gruppie (or would that Gruppie Boy?) as fanatical about living green as you are?

Gruppie Boy or "Hubby" as I like to call him when the tights come off, has worked really hard to move closer to green. I would say that I initiated things, but Hubby is sharing the reigns and running with it.

Hubby is a talker by profession, so he easily slides green speak into his conversations. Once he even started a conversation with a client about the benefits of cloth diapers.

You would never peg either of us as granola if you walked by us on the street. Us gruppies are cleverly disguised as yuppies. (apparently one of us also wears tights)

2. What was the hardest change for you to make, in terms of giving up something you enjoyed or having to find a better alternative?

Like all of my readers, my time is precious. Since I've really focused on cleaning up my life, I've had to give up a lot of convenience.

Now I can't just run to the drugstore to buy something like make-up or sunscreen when I know that it will harm both my family and the planet. I need to plan ahead tons more.

3. Do you have one secret, guilty non-"green" pleasure that you allow yourself occasionally?

Cover your eyes. This is super secret and super naughty.

Sometimes I like to eat at McDonald's. :(

4. Of the things you do to live a more earth-friendly life, what do you find is the most time and/or energy consuming?

Food! Making food from scratch, learning how to grow my own food, researching CSAs and even eating in season has been the biggest time eater (punny) for me. It probably doesn't help that I detest cooking.

Life would be tons easier if I just grabbed watermelons in the winter or ate all prepackaged foods. But I have to think ahead as to how those decisions affect all of us.

5. What's your favorite just-for-you special "green" treat or extravagance?

I buy expensive organically grown fair trade chocolate and don't share it with a soul. Third drawer down, under my socks. Don't tell.

ChereeRandom & Capricious

Everyday Plastic

2009-02-05T13:06:00.003-05:00

Hi, my name is Gruppie and my kids like to eat lunch meat.

Hi Gruppie.

OK, so I buy the antibiotic-free lunch meat. Still, it's loaded with nitrates and other yuckies...I know. One of the worst features of lunch meat is all of the plastic that it comes wrapped in.

The other day Hubby was off to the local food store when he mentioned that the kids wanted lunch meat and sliced cheese. "Oooohh, perfect!" I had been meaning to bring my reusable glass containers to the deli, but kept forgetting. Now Hubby could be the perfect guinea pig.

The brave hunter gatherer came back from the store with two reusable glass containers filled with turkey and cheese. "They looked at me funny" was all that Hubby said.

What do all of you other plastic-haters do with the deli price sticker? Do you allow the friendly meat cutters to stick it onto the glass container only so you can spend the first ten minutes after you arrive home picking at it? Or do you do something entirely more intelligent?

Plastic Cap Dilemma

2009-01-30T10:48:00.004-05:00

Usually I'm fairly shy. I like to pretend that I'm outgoing, but I'm really not much of a small talker. But one day last fall, the planets must have been aligned perfectly. I walked into the Aveda store and began chatting with the friendly sales associate. I noticed a special anniversary bottle and she shared that it was made out of recycled plastic caps. First, Aveda began recycling its employees caps. Then, they tried opening the recycling program up to their customers. Now, the program has gone nation wide!

A store who takes responsibility for what they sell and actually takes it back? Fingers crossed that this is the newest trend of the (near) future.

Plastic caps cannot be left on plastic bottles when they are recycled. Local towns don't stress that point enough. Municipalities need to step-up and educate their residents more fully. (that's a whole different post) Walking around my neighborhood on a Sunday night, you would notice that most of my neighbors add their plastic caps in their recycling bins. Mistakenly believing that these caps can be recycled.

Plastic caps cannot be left on plastic bottles when they are recycled! (that point was important enough to say twice.)

Put on your science thinking caps kids...All plastic has different melting points. So if a plastic recycler was to melt down #1 plastic for recycling and a few caps with a different melting point found their way into the batch, the entire batch may become contaminated.

Plastic caps have also shown to clog up recycling systems and even become dangerous projectiles in the recycling facilities. Pinnggg....

What to do? What to do?

The Aveda Corporation realized that poor defenseless caps were being tossed away to forever live in the landfills. They also realized that the plastic used to make caps can be worth more money that regular old plastic bottle plastic. The friendly people at Aveda have devised a way to recycle rigid, plastic caps into new plastic bottles.

Aveda accepts clean, rigid plastic caps for recycling at most of their store locations. Also, if you have a school or group that collects these caps, they will send you free mailing labels to return the caps. Easy smeeshy.

My kid's school has welcomed the Aveda cap recycling program. Collection boxes can be found in the school hallways, the cafeteria and in the staff room. And boy are these boxes filling-up fast!

The cap recycling was easy to start. I just sent Aveda and email, asked the friendly principal (report cards are coming soon) for permission and tossed some labeled boxes liberated from the lunch room out in the halls. A quick emailed note (not to waste paper) went out to the parents. So easy that even you could do this at your school, office, church, restaurant or dance studio (Thanks Amy!). Hint Hint

It makes me smile on this dark, frigid day to know that there are a few less caps in the landfill today than there were yesterday.

Ode To My Slippers

2009-01-26T12:47:00.004-05:00

Ode To My Slippers
By Gruppie Girl

For years I denied you.
Returning you back to the store after Christmas.

"I'm too young!"
"I'm not a grandma!"
Slippers weren't for me.

The I got a little greener
and my thermostat got a little lower.

Then I slipped down the stairs
Three times, maybe four.

I finally gave in and went to that store.
That store with elastic wasted pants and suspenders.
That store with the big selection of grandma slippers.

My new slippers keep me warm and snug.
They keep me from bruising my patootie (again).

I wear them all day.
At night they sadly slip off.

Yes.
I truly love my grandma slippers.

Those Phone Books!

2009-01-25T16:55:00.006-05:00

Last summer I posted about the never ending parade of phone books that arrive in my driveway and the stress they bring me. When I was 4 the Boston phone book was the perfect boost for my tiny bottom (some things never change) at Grandma Dot's dining room table. Now that I'm older I see these books in terms of tress and toxic inks.

In my town, phonebooks aren't accepted into recycling. The town expects it's residents to drive fifteen minutes (each way from my house) to the other side of town to deposit my used phone books in the parking lot of a nondescript phone company building. Not going to happen in today's busy world. In my informal poll of neighbors and friends, not one person actually drives their phone books to the designated drop spot. No one even knew about this spot.

After numerous phone calls and emails I was convinced that the 8 to 10 phone books I receive per year were never going to go away. Until now.

Yellow Pages Goes Green is a nonprofit group that is helping local governments establish ordinances that will not allow yellow and white page phone directories to be delivered to residents who do not want them. No more hearing that ominous thud on the driveway. We are now gaining the power to say what is and what is not to be left in our driveways and on our doorsteps.

The YellowPagesGoesGreen.org site includes an area to sign-up to be removed from phone book distribution lists. Because, come on, don't you just Google information anyways?

The YPGG site also shares some startling statistics about phone books. Did you now that 500 million phone books were printed int he US last year? 19 MILLION trees had to be harvested to create those phone books! 268,000 cubic feet of landfill space will be used when those same phonebooks are trashed.!

Why are we paying for this landfill space? Why are we paying to trash our air quality? Why are we paying for something that we didn't ask for?

Please take a minute to opt out of unsolicited phone book deliveries. You will never have to chase down a sketchy van in your jammies again. (true story)

Pin Drop

2009-01-20T21:43:00.003-05:00

Today I dropped Little Guy off at school precisely at noon like I usually do. Only today the elementary school was amazingly quiet. None of the usually running in the halls, fooling in the bathrooms, laughing in the classrooms type of noises were heard. The school was simply quiet.

The kids were all busy watching Presidents Obama's (that feels nice to type) inauguration. There were TVs in the cafeteria, TVs in the library, TVs in the halls, TVs in the classrooms. All 300 sets of little eyes were glued to the action.

I wonder how many of those 300 little brains understand just how important today really was in the course of history? I wonder if my little brain understands how important today was?

No matter how your political alliances lean, you have to agree that today is a day that will go down in the history books. Today we all were given a front row seat to that history. A major shift in our country is happening. Only time will prove just how historical today was.

Today was so moving and historic that I had to I redo my mascara twice! Thanks a lot President Obama!

Aww Snap!

2009-01-18T18:16:00.005-05:00

A few months ago I received an email from a friendly person who own a Zero VOC paint company. She wanted to know if I wanted to try her paint in exchange for a review.

"Yes", I told her. This was my perfect excuse to finally paint my bedroom.

In my adult life (I'm an adult already. Right?) I have never decorated my bedroom in any way. No paint. No art. Not even a headboard. All of my time, effort and money has gone into the kid's rooms and the common areas of the house. Woe is me....I'm always last.

With the prospect of a fresh coat of paint I spent an entire week choosing the perfect big-girl bed for Hubby and myself. (With my track record, it will be with use well-past our 60th wedding anniversary) Tall and simple. Sturdy and rich. Perfect.

The seemingly friendly paint people offered to give me color suggestions for my upcoming project. "Just send us photos." Simple sounding.

After not hearing from the paint people for months, an email appeared in my inbox. Apparently they had blogged about my disastrous decorating. The photos of my bedroom had been posted for all the world to see! In the style of a sorority horror film, these friendly people took out their red pens and circled the particularly heinous areas of the room!

In the immortal words of Hannah Montana, "Aww Snap!" They got me.

Give Back Filters and Number 5

2009-01-14T18:35:00.003-05:00

I missed the date. I missed the date when Brita began accepting their filters back for recycling. I missed January 12th.

I'm not really surprised. In the past, I have prided myself on my extreme promptness. 2009 is solidly turning into my 10 minutes late year. Bummer.

Now back to the good news!

Forward thinking bloggers, led by Beth from Fake Plastic Fish pushed Brita to take back their plastic water filters for recycling. Brita was running commercials claiming the filters were environmentally friendly. "Not so" said Beth. Brita was recycling their filters in the EU while they claimed the filters couldn't be recycled in the US. "Foul" cried Beth.

With lots of blogger pressure, Brita finally struck a deal with one of my favorite companies, Preserve to recycle their filters into usable products. Whole Foods then stepped in and agreed to collect the filters and #5 plastics. That's right kids, all of that yucky #5 plastic can now be dropped-off at most Whole Foods locations for recycling.

For all of you out there who drink filtered water (there isn't anyone left who drinks bottled water...is there?) You can mail your used filters directly to the "Preserve Gimme" location listed on the Brita site or you can drop them off at your local Whole Foods.

Problem solved. Thank you for stepping-up and finding a solution to another plastic problem Beth!

Back to the Coal Mine

2009-01-07T08:52:00.004-05:00

Vacation is over. The new year has begun. I'm fired-up to get back into my routines.

For once I have the drive to wash the floors (with Dr. Bronner's of course), return my emails, send thank you notes, fold the laundry, take a daily shower. You know, all of those things that tend to loose their luster as the year goes on.

I want to get back into the coal mines. That's a clean coal mine of course. (wink! wink!)

Mother nature is not granting my wish. After nearly two weeks of school vacation, Mother Nature brought a delayed school opening on Monday. Then, today she cancelled school entirely.

Looks like today will bring hours of Wii bowling. Bowls of air popped popcorn. Baking the leftover box of organic ginerbread cookie. Lots of neighbor kids. And certainly no shower or make-up today.

Come on Mother Nature...can't you cut a fellow mummy a break?

Goodbye Chirstmas Tree

2009-01-04T15:35:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite post-Christmas sights is on the dunes of Cape Cod. Locals line the sand dunes with their Christmas trees in hopes of slowing the winter beach erosion. Beautiful and resourceful.

In my neck of the woods, the only sand I see in the winter is the road sand that gets tracked throughout my house. In my neck of the woods Christmas trees get chipped into mulch for spring gardens. Thumbs up to my town officials for great reusing and recycling.

Just the other day I hauled my old tree out to the curb (I've got the sap on my hands to prove it) in anticipation for the town's pick 'n' chip. Soon after I took the tree outside it magically disappeared. Or so I thought...

Through the neighborhood pipeline I heard about a mystery Christmas tree placed in a neighbor's yard. Surprisingly this tree was festively decorated with bras and panties. Shocking to the friendly residents. (they had to have snickered a little)

Now I can't confirm or deny my involvement in this Christmas Tree caper. All I know is that if the bras are cute and in a size 36C, can someone send them this way? You can keep the panties.

Hang Up Your Coat

2009-01-03T16:42:00.006-05:00

Recycling is more than tossing your cans and jars in a curbside recycling bin. There are lots of opportunities to recycle and reuse (therefore reducing..wink...wink) in your very own neighborhood.

Take dry cleaning for example.

Dry cleaning your clothes isn't a very environmentally friendly option for cleaning your clothes. Tons of nasty chemicals are used in the process. These chemicals find their way into our water and air casuing birth defects and cancers. Beating your dirty clothes on a rock while using a phosphate-free soap would be a better option. (Does anyone have a spare rock?)

To be realistic, sometimes dry cleaning is a necessary evil in my family. Take the fact that I've got a hubby who occasionally has to wear a suit and pair that with my complete inability to figure out how to clean those suits. Mix them together and that equals a trip to the neighborhood dry cleaner now and then.

My dry cleaner is similar to others who might be in your neighborhood. While not outwardly green, they are making small steps iu the right direction. Most cleaners will happily accept your used wire hangers and plastic bags back for reuse. My local company will even pay it's customers $2 for every package of hangers they return. Oh, how I love saving money!

Next time you must use the dry cleaners, grab your hangers and plastic bags to return to the store. Keep additional trash out of the landfills and help your neighborhood dry cleaning company save money. You've got to love a win-win situation!

Cat's Cradle

2008-12-29T11:34:00.008-05:00

Recycling is good. But it still uses lots of energy and resources.

Reusing is even better! Reusing uses little or no additional resources while not adding to the landfill. Not to mention the cost savings of reusing the stuff you and your neighbors already own.
Recipe

1 cord from a coffee cake box
1 eight year-old Girlie

Mix together to create a fun game of Cat's Cradle.

Biodegradable Myth

2008-12-27T18:23:00.010-05:00

While sitting in the stands at an indoor soccer game, I was chatting friendly fellow soccer mummy named Robin. Friendly Robin had been reading my blog and really knew a thing or two about being green.

Robin mentioned that her family recently test drove new biodegradable plates made from banana leaves. The package promised Robin that the plates would biodegrade. Any logical person would assume that biodegradable plates (or bags or cups or utensils) easily break down without creating trash. And we all know that trash isn't something that we need more of on the planet.

What a load of greenwashing!

Since I'm not a scientist and refuse to wear white (black is more stylish), I will not regurgitate the technical mumbo jumbo about biodegration. Basically, you only need four things to break down biodegradable materials. Oxygen, water, nutrition and heat.

In most of today's modern landfills your trash is first disposed of in a plastic bag and then the entire landfill is capped in plastic. Oxygen and water do not penetrate the plastic in the volume needed to break down the biodegradable materials.

Biodegradable materials like veggie scraps, dryer lint, egg shells, wine corks and banana leaf plates can take much, much longer to break down in a landfill then they do in a simple compost bin. For example, if it takes say one month for the average newspaper to compost in a compost bin, that number could jump up expediently in a capped landfill.

Take Hubby's favorite soap as a real life example. This particular Tom's of Maine soap comes packaged in a biodegradable plastic wrap. Instead of landing in the landfill in another plastic bag, I toss it in the backyard compost bin. Once the plastic goes in the bin it seems to magically disappear. With all of the soap that hubby uses (he sure likes his showers) I have yet to see the biodegradable plastic again after it lands in my compost bin. The time it takes to compost seems amazingly short.

(Is it too early to ask Santa for a new camera for Christmas 2009?)

(I'll update this photo when I can catch a little natural light)

What if I was to toss this same biodegradable soap wrapper in the trash? How long would it linger there?

I have posted this question before, but it is worth asking again. Why don't more towns and states offer free or reduced compost bins? Don't they realize they will save more money and resources by simply educating the public about the simplicity of composting and supplying a bin cheaply? How many tons of food and yard waste could they keep out of their landfills? How much money could towns save by cutting the volume of trash?

I recently posed this question to the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority. They replied that they don't have enough storage to support the program. I also asked my local highway department about about discounted compost bins for residents. They said that they aren't planning any such program. They are sure missing the boat.

Hide and Seek

2008-12-26T12:58:00.004-05:00

Today is the day that families around the world follow the age-old tradition of post-family hide and seek.It's the day after Christmas and all of the well-meaning relatives have left. Today is the day that we find all of our stuff. All of the stuff the relatives borrowed, cleaned-up and moved only to be put back in mystery locations.

Our family just loves Hide and Seek Day! The kids look forward to this day all year. They think of today as a giant family game.

Who can find mummy's blow dryer? Under mummy's bras in the linen closet. (huh?)

Soap Nuts? In the trash can. (huh?)

Who can find the potato peeler? In with the cereal bowls. (huh?)

Who can find the bath towels? Downstairs in a showerless bathroom. (huh?)

How about the clementines? In the garage, of course. (huh?)

Maybe these new and different locations make sense to my extended family. Maybe they are simply insane. Really, it could go either way.

Enjoy your family's hide and seek game after the relatives go back to their own fruit-filled garages and combination bra and blow dryer shelves.

Gingerbread Success

2008-12-24T11:24:00.005-05:00

Last Christmas I had the romantic idea that the kids and I would create a gingerbread house together using one of those easy-smeashy all-in-one kits.

Big joke.

This Christmas we ditched our lofty hopes of ever creating a house made of yummy treats for a more reasonable goal of cooking gingerbread cookies.

Less stress. More fun. More Yum.

A simple and magical Christmas to all!

Hartford Courant

2008-12-23T21:40:00.005-05:00

Thank you to America's oldest newspaper, the Hartford Courant, for asking little old me to write a regional story.

I had loads of fun!

Now, can someone tell me why the period at the end of the Courant's title is just hanging out there?

Wrap It Up

2008-12-19T16:46:00.010-05:00

It's no secret that I wrap my gifts in cloth bags. Christmas, birthdays, new baby, be nice to my kids on their report card. Whatever the occasion.

These cloth bags can go around and around through family and friends. A few of these cloth bags have even made it back to the house as gifts for my family. Most of the gift bags linger out there in the unknown. I like to think that they have been lovingly reused and have crisscrossed the globe as they are gifted from friend to friend.

For years I have purchased gift bags from online retailers and little old ladies at craft fairs. This year my bag suppliers have dried up. My favorite (and reasonably priced) online fabric bag seller closed it's site. The craft fairs aren't drawing the little old ladies like they used to.

So what's a girl to do?

After my sewing machine debacle of 2007 my friendly mummy bought me a drugstore special sewing machine for $8.99. Big surprise...it didn't work.

I then invested my own ten dollars and three hours of my life into a hand held jobby that could only sew four inches at a time.

I got my money back, but those three hours will be lost forever,

Fourth time's a charm. Right? Maybe? I put down seventy dollars on a real life sewing machine. It had lots of bells and whistles, but I was only looking to sew in a straight line.

This fourth machine helped me sew goodie bags for girlie's birthday. One eight hour day later and the bags were done. "Primitive" I called them. "Um, my eight year-old daughter sewed them... Yeah, that's what happened."

Now, here we are at Christmas time again. And here I am in need of more gift bags. Looking at the prospect of working for many days and nights just to make a few bags, I did what any enterprising suburban gruppie would do.

I called my dealer.

My sewing dealer. Gutter brain.

My friendly neighbor down the street started a small sewing company creating purses, vests and the like. I called her up using my most desperate voice. "Sandy, I um tried really, really hard to make my gift bags this year. I even bought lots of cute fabric on sale. Since you are really talented and I um and pitifully arts and crafts challenged. Could I commission you to make my gift bags this year?"

A Christmas miracle came early this year. Friendly and talented Sandy said "yes." She agreed to be my new fabric gift bag supplier. In one swoop she saved me and saved a little part of the world.

Next time you are lucky enough to receive a fabric gift bag with a wonderful gift inside, take a minute to ponder all of the places that bag has traveled and the woman who may have lost hours of her life trying to make that very bag.

Handmade Toys in Danger

2008-12-16T20:21:00.004-05:00

I am a huge fan of handmade toys. The ladies who sell their sweet dollys craft shows always pull me in. The older men who create trucks out of wood call to me. The online sellers of Etsy who dream up original toys set me in a trace for hours at a time. I myself even once had a small business selling wooden toys.

All of that may come to an end very soon.

The large toy companies who have knowingly allowed nasty chemicals to be included in our children's toys have spoiled the fun for everyone. In just a few weeks a new law will mandate all toys to go through a $4000 safety test before they can be sold to American children.

This $4000 per toy fee would include the stay-at-home mom who sews while her babies nap. This fee would include the part-time person who is making a go at importing toys to sell online. This $4000 per toy fee would give all of the power to the big guys.

So what's the answer? Allow the big guys to continue to make unsafe toys and import them? Put all of the little guys out of business? There has to be an answer.

Please take a moment to read about Diane's thought over at dkMommy Spot. She has posted a great video and lots of additional compelling facts about the issue.

If you feel as upset about the possible loss of handmade toys forever, please sign the petition to save handmade toys.

Playing With Fire

2008-12-09T07:07:00.006-05:00

Last year I blogged about an amazing nonprofit group that runs a website called www.healthytoys.org. Through private donations, Healthy Toys accepts suggestions from it's readers as to which toys to test for safety. No safety tests being quietly sponsored by toy companies. This group is completely in it for the kids.

Healthy Toys hadn't updated it's database in quite some time. Now it's back and better than ever. Thank you!!

Please take a minute to look-up your gifts before you give them to a child you love. You can also look-up the toys you already own. Be prepared to completely freak out and feel abused by the toy industry. I personally have freaked out on a couple of occasions after searching (and finding)toys that the family owns.

It's rocks and sticks for the kids again this Christmas.

The toys being tested by Healthy Toys aren't obscure toys that you've never seen. This list plays out like the who's who of every playroom across the country.

On the Healthy Toys site, I like to search by type of toys. "Vehicles" is always my first step. Those millions of tiny little cars and trucks that Little Guy lives for can't be that bad. Right?

Wrong!

Unfortunately there are literally thousands and thousands of little vehicles out there and Healthy Toys can't test them all. What do I do? Toss them like I did to Girlie's PVC-laden baby dolls? Hope he grows-up and outgrows them soon (never!)?

For one quick example on one of the hundreds of toys you can find on Healthy Toys, peak around to see if you have a Leapster 2 hanging around the house. If so, then you also have dangerously high levels of lead and arsenic with lower levels of bromine, chromium and mercury tossed in too.

If you knew these facts before you bought this educational game system, would you still have purchased it? Would you allow your kids to touch these poisons? Breathe them in? What do you do now that you've already spent your hard-earned money?

What do we do when toy companies have two production lines? One for the EU and one for the kids of the US? What do we do? Why aren't we fighting for our kids a little louder?

More Good Than Bad

2008-12-07T20:07:00.003-05:00

Pick-up any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast. Go ahead. I'll wait...

... .... .... .... ....

Do you feel like the world is going to hell in a hand basket? Do you feel like you are the only person out there who isn't an evil meanie? Well, I feel like that all of the time. Even my kids are staring to feel like the rest of the world is crazy.

I try to tell the kids (and myself) that there is much more good then bad in the world. The bad events and people are the ones who get all of the press. It's the bad that sticks in our mind. But it's the good that's truly winning.

Take a seemingly normal day last week. Little Guy and I were driving home from the children's museum class I teach. We had yet to make it to school on time after my classes and on that day we were organized and right on time. Until we blew a tire.

Since I'm no helpless mamby-pamby woman I proceeded to speed dial the school to tell them to prepare Little Guy's now laminated late pass ready. Then, I lept up on my stacked heels, grabbed the spare tire out of the trunk and flew into action.

Being the daughter of a mechanic, the cars I grew-up with were well-used. Dad's theory was that he could always just fix them so why buy new (or even from the current decade). Consequently, I have had just about everything go wrong with a car. Good experiences now that my mechanic father lives hours away.

Imagine my surprise when my tire iron didn't fit my lug nuts. Sure I just love hanging out on the side of the road in the freezing rain with a five year-old. But wowsers was my day not going well.

Just when hitchhiking with my five year-old started to look like a good idea, a friendly man with a five year-old of his own stopped to help. This friendly man ended-up coming back on three separate occasions with tools borrowed from various friends. All without knowing me.

When I asked friendly Rob and little Ryan why they stopped to help, Rob looked puzzled and simply replied "you needed help."

Simple you might say. But with all of the road raging, financially stressing, shopping cart bumping angry people that I see everyday, it's nice to know that there are people out there who actually think of strangers. Good people who care.

Thank you to Rob and Little Ryan. An extra gift is heading over to you Ryan as a thank you. I know that your daddy tried to refuse, but I want to thank you for my own selfish reasons. My fingers are crossed that you will grow-up and be one of the good ones like your daddy.

The Last Supper

2008-12-01T13:49:00.003-05:00

Ever since the weather turned frigid and the growing season ended, I have been out of ideas as to what to cook for my family. "Grilled cheese and clementines again Mummy?"

It used to be easy. The CSA would give me a bag of veggie each week. Each week I would plan recipes around the veggies in the bag. We would eat them. Easy smeashy.

Now I walk into the grocery store and are greeting with millions of possibilities. Too many for me to even want to chose from. Often it's just chicken pot pie again. And again.

If I was a smarter Gruppie or I possibly lived back in 1765 I would know just how to preserve those summer veggies to last all winter long. In fact, learning how to preserve food is on my it's too cold to go outside so I might as well learn something new agenda.

Last week I dug deep into the depths of my cabinet and emerged with two small sweet potatoes and a clove of garlic left over from the farm. I took them and made a Real Simple recipe of sweet potato risotto.

Yummy....Still, the question lingers. What do I cook for dinner tonight?

First Snow

2008-11-30T10:01:00.008-05:00

There is a kind of magic that only comes with the first snowfall of the year. An exhilarating, hopeful and childlike magic. A feeling of hope and a sense that everything is right with the world if only for a moment.

Everything that once looked dead, dark and tired now looks clean, bright and new. The once boring backyard turns into a wonderland. Kids and adults alike can't help but to smile and look toward the heavens.

Angels land on uninspiring driveways.

Stay tuned in February for another snow related post entitled "What is With All of This Freakin Snow!"

End of a Good Run

2008-11-28T12:01:00.003-05:00

Just over a year ago I decided to really kick-up my family's commitment to conserving electricity. Every month our kilowatt hours slid further down and the reading the newest electric bill was a pleasant experience. Replacing conventional bulbs with CFL bulbs, unplugging unused appliances, showering in the dark. All of those changes added-up in a great way.

The newest Gruppie family electric bill arrived this week. It's flat. No change from November 2007. Bummer.

So how do I kick my electric usage even lower? Threaten the kids when they don't turn off their lights? Stop watching reality shows? Become a raw foodist? I'm open for suggestions.

Soles4Souls

2008-11-21T13:54:00.004-05:00

The teachers and families at my children's elementary school are working on a green initiative this year. Sure, I've read all about the many sustainable schools around the country...Walls made of hay bales, kids growing their own organic food, solar panels on the roof, protected wetlands on the property... Amazing, right?

But what do you do if you are a high-performing school public school on a shoestring budget with standardized testing and budget cuts constantly looming? You get creative.

The newest step in the school's initiative is a shoe collection. The school has partnered with Kinderschuhe to collect new and gently used shoes of all sizes and styles for Soles4Souls. Kinderschushe's friendly owner Kimberly has graciously offered to pay for the shipping of the collected shoes and provide us with marketing materials.

Unlike Recycling, reusing doesn't use any additional resources. Reusing our possessions should be our ideal goal. For example, reusing shoes helps other people while at the same time lightly treading on the earth. (punny huh?) Both reusing and helping others are ideas that young children can really understand and get behind.

Many of us take something as basic as shoes for granted. Will I wear the patent leather pumps or the stacked boots today? For many other people in the world, something as simple as shoes can mean the difference between attending school or going without an education. Shoes can mean the difference between looking professional and landing a job or having to stay in a shelter.

After collecting the gently used and new shoes, Soles4Souls distributes the donated shoes both domestically to 45 states and abroad to 61 countries.

Domestically, Soles4Souls gives the donated shoes to victims of natural disasters who may have lost all of their possessions, to women in shelters so they have professional shoes to wear to job interviews and to summer camps for disadvantaged children who may not have adequate footwear.

Abroad, the donated shoes will travel to village women who have to walk long distances to obtain water for their families, orphanages where shoes are scarce and to people who have to sort through landfills in order to meet their basic survival needs.

Next time you go through your closet and find a pair of shoes that just isn't your style anymore, please take a minute to visit www.soles4souls.org. There you can find a list of local drop-off sites where you can give your old shoes a new life.

No More Paper Towels

2008-11-21T12:55:00.006-05:00

Thank you to the friendly people over at United Methodist Church of Hartford for sending me such a sweet note and these nifty handmade hand towels!

My new hand towels are an excellent replacement for paper towels. Not only are they helping my family to save a tree or two, but they look so darn cute!

Whenever I wipe my wet hands I will not only be saving a tree, I will also be reminded of you.

You Spin Me Right Round

2008-11-16T20:41:00.011-05:00

Isn't it funny how summer can make you forget what cold weather feels like?

Now that the cold weather is starting to settle in for lots of us, it's time to reverse those ceiling fans.

In order to more efficiently force that hot air down from your ceiling to where you can feel it, simply reverse your ceiling fan direction. Clockwise in the winter to draw down the warm air.

My bedroom ceiling is pretty darn high. Keeping the fan on a slow speed during the winter has cut down on my heating oil use.

Happy spinning!

Tastes Like Plastic

2008-11-12T12:25:00.006-05:00

On Sundays, I always make it a point to read the Travel section of the Hartford Courant. Sitting at the kitchen table on a dreary Sunday morning always makes me long from someplace distant and exotic.

This Sunday I noticed a travel advisory for Australia. Could they be throwing tourists on the barbey?

Apparently a crocodile was moved from a remote area to a locale 600 miles south as part of a wildlife relocation. After the move, this same crocodile began showing up on tourist beaches. Shortly after, it was found dead.

Officials found 25 plastic shopping bags in the crocodile's stomach. These plastic bags prevented the crocodile from digesting food. The plastic bags starved the croc to death.

Sadly, animals will often mistakenly view plastic in the water as yummy jellyfish, small fish or even plankton.

After reading this disturbing story, a friend and blog reader named Jean sent me an email outlining her journey to ditch plastic shopping bags for good.

Jean openly admits that she is far from green. Still, she is really trying to make an effort. Jean's first plan of action was to buy and use canvas shopping bags.

The first time Jean intended to use her reusable bags at the food store, she forgot them at home. No worries there. Jean asked for paper bags (in our area paper is required to be in a brown paper bag for recycling...counterproductive...I know). Since Jean was busy doing things like watching the scanner for prices and refereeing her children, she missed the fact that the bagger had bagged all of her groceries in plastic bags and THEN put the plastic bags in paper bags.

Fast forward to the next week. Jean remembered her canvas shopping bags! Again there was the price checking and kid threatening. The grocery bagger placed the newly purchased food in plastic and THEN put the plastic bags in the canvas bags.

Seriously???

Bringing reusable bags is not a new concept for stores. My bags have been accompanying me for the last eight years. Others before me have been doing this since the advent of merchants. How do these stores not take seven seconds of their training to talk about reusable bags?

Keep on trying Jean! Try bringing those bags to the sporting goods store, the pharmacy and the mall. Think of all of those happy crocodiles that are busy eating yummy tourists because people like you have said "no."

Soap Nuts

2008-11-09T20:06:00.004-05:00

Recently a friendly woman named Gail emailed me with an offer to try her soap nuts from Soap in a Nutshell. Nothing dirty about her nuts she claimed. Just toss them in the washing machine in lieu of detergent and you are done.

Gail said that after the soap nuts have shrunk (4-5 washes), they can be boiled down to make dishwasher soap, shampoo, all-purpose cleaner, pet cleaner...the list goes on and on. An all natural product with no plastic waste. Sounded great to me!

I emailed Gail the soap nuts lady back and mentioned that my friendly neighbor Lauren and I were just talking about how the skin is our biggest organ and how easily it absorbs toxins. The conversation turned to safer detergent alternatives. (Jealous of our fabulous bus stop conversations?)

Gail surprised me by sending out two packages of soap nuts. One for me and one for neighbor Lauren. What a great surprise.
Neighbor Lauren agreed to write a review of the soap nuts for Soap In a Nutshell. Enjoy!

My neighbor gave me these great soap nuts! I had heard about them and always wanted to try them out.

My first reaction was that they had no smell. Its kind of strange a product like this can clean your clothes just the same a laundry detergent. But I was pleasantly surprised!

My clothes smelled naturally fresh and even got out food stains on my kids clothes. I have used the same 4 soap nuts 5 times and now will boil them and make an all purpose cleaner. I am pleased with the soap nuts and like the fact that the soap nuts have multiple uses! I will continue to use them.

Thanks Gruppie !

Thank you Lauren! But I still have one question for you. You promised to provide "adult drinks" every Friday now that the bus stop us at your house. Where are those drinks? Still waiting...

Excuses

2008-11-08T08:07:00.003-05:00

I have been a bad blogger. I've been too distracted to blog.

But I have some really good excuses...

My cat ate my computer.
I have a running blog in my head. Now if technology could just come up with a way to get those thoughts on the computer without me having to open the computer.
I got a job at the local children's museum teaching a class.
My laundry is all done, folded and put away for a change.
Being Grand Poohbah of the PTO is a lot more work than I guessed.
Hubby has been traveling a ton.
Spreading organic fertilizer for the winter sure is time consuming.
Obama has distracted me with his perfectly-presidential speeches.
I'm still recovering from the field trip from hell.
Third grade homework is tougher than I thought.
It's not easy being green.

Let's hope for less distractions and more writing next week.

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

2008-10-31T15:41:00.007-05:00

It began as a seed scattered by Little Guy.

Then, it grew bigger than a basketball.

Yesterday that very pumpkin became...

Compost..to grow more pumpkins next year

Yummy baked seeds

A Jack-O-lantern.

Happy Halloween!!

A Scare (for Halloween)

2008-10-30T13:28:00.006-05:00

This scary tale begins with me agreeing the chaperone a third grade field trip that included a bus ride and eight year olds yielding hammers. One would think that those facts alone could easily comprise a story scary enough to straighten your hair. You would be wrong.

Girlie's third grade class has been studying rocks. Everywhere we go she picks-up the rocks she sees. Apparently rocks are very interesting to eight year olds. And here I was just enjoying the shiny, gift wrapped kind.

These days I find rocks all over the house. ALL over the house...in the dryer, in the sink, in my car, in her bureau, on the front stoop...you get the idea.

Yesterday was the day of the big rock field trip. The excited kids and prematurely tired chaperones all loaded on to the yellow school bus. We drove at an unreasonably high rate of speed through the narrow and winding Connecticut roads. The roads were originally built for horses. Not for a bazillion ton school bus. The icing on the road trip cake was the steep cliffs. Most of our route was bordered by plunging drop-offs. No guard rails for these hardy New England residents.

Finally, we were granted a break from the treacherous roads. The school bus entered a privately gated nature area. I peered our enthusiastic geology tour guide ceremoniously locking the creaky gate behind the bus. Who were they trying to keep away from the rocks? Or were they trying to keep someone IN? Gulp! The scene was set for the perfect horror movie.

The school bus pulled onto the rocky field and proceed to perform a three-point turn. Backing up centimeters from a steep drop-off down to a river. Again, no guard rail there. The kids in the back (including Girlie) started screaming for the bus driver to stop. Ava, the friendly chaperone near me squeezed her eyes shut in prayer and grabbed onto her son. I, for my first time, cried on the school bus. The kids in the front may have had a chance of survival, but Girlie and myself in the back were sure to be pancakes.

The bus ended-up only this far away from careening down the embankment and into the river. This close I tell you.

Then the fun began. All of the eight year-olds were given hammers and told to crack open rocks. Seriously? What happened to visiting the post office like I did in the third grade? Who was the brain trust who decided to give kids hammers anyway? Or for that matter, who trusted me with a hammer? I came this close to amputating a child's finger when she raced out to grab a rock I was attempting to smash.

Our geology tour guide was very ummmm jazzed about his rocks. He said something about a big sheet of ice and lots of weight. I must have blanked out from laughing. Thank you to chaperone Marissa for the crack about the tour guide "getting his rocks off."

My prayers were answered and the field trip did in fact come to a safe end. Feet and noses frozen from the blustery day. Can someone tell me why my daughter has added a rock smashing hammer to her Christmas list?

Beware of the tale of the rocky field trip!

The Thrill of Compost

2008-10-21T13:32:00.005-05:00

OK, OK. I had a tough time coming-up with a catchy title for this post about compost. Maybe compost is exciting to me, but I realize that most people don't get the same buzz from rotting food.

A few years back, when I was still a Rhody, I saw a press release touting $25 compost bins. The friendly people at Rhode Island Resource Recovery were selling new compost bins at 1/3 off of their retail price to the people of Rhode Island. Progressive huh?

My compost bin traveled through my move to Connecticut and was promptly set-up in a sunny spot in the backyard. It happily gobbled-up leaves, pine needles and other assorted yard waste. In return, my compost bin presented me with nutrient-rich soil whenever I wanted it.

This year I have taken to feeding my compost bin and more diverse diet.

1. Loads of kitchen scraps...apple cores, potato peels, lettuce stumps, egg shells, corn husks

2. Waxed paper....great for wrapping sandwiches and can be found on sticks of butter

3. Corks...I love myself some wine

4. Shredded newspaper...in the height of summer when brown matter was scarce

5. Dryer lint...for those of us who can't line dry all of our clothes

Actual Gruppie family dryer lint...don't get too excited.

When I needed rich soil to fill-in the lawn's bare spots this fall, there was a half-full compost bin waiting for me. All for free!

Composting does not just add to your wallet it also takes away from the landfill. When you add food scraps and other compostables to the landfill they tend to hang around for quite some time in their plastic bags and in the plastic-capped landfills. Toss those same compostables into the compost bin and they can disappear in a matter of weeks.

My best estimate would be that my family of four keeps 1/2 of a bag of trash out of the landfill each week from religiously composting food waste. That equals 26 bags in a year. Pretty exciting stuff for a boring Gruppie like me.

My compost bin is starting to feel lonely. Aaawww. It could really use a friend. Maybe the friendly people at the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority will read this post and follow Rhode Island's example to save tons of waste from languishing in our landfills.

Terracycle's Fire Logs

2008-10-19T12:22:00.008-05:00

I get emails from people all over the world wanting me to help sell their products on my blog. Everything from natural pesticides (isn't that an oxymoron) to cloth diapers (hopefully it will be a few years until I start needing to wear them). Generally, I feel that being green is not about buying more stuff. Living green is living simply. But if you have to shop, it's great to try to shop more responsibly with the earth on your mind.

George over at Terracycle sent me an email announcing the company's newest recycled product and offering to let me give it a whirl. You may already know that I am a huge fan of Terracycle and their worm poop... Spray some worm poop on your plants or lawn and watch them smile...

Maybe I would be a fan of Terracycle's new firelogs?

Two days later a neat little box of logs arrived on my doorstep. That same day, Hubby was feeling down in the dumps about the end of the warm weather and the beginning of the long-dark nights. A late-season cookout seemed like the perfect remedy. Veggie burgers, beer and an outdoor fire. We even invited the Dynamite family and their onion dip over to join us.

Presently, there is no way to recycle wax cardboard. The friendly people at Terracycle decided to gather-up wax cardboard that was bound for the landfill and pack it into a log shape. No more cutting down trees, let's use-up the wax cardboard we already have.

The directions ask you to leave the wrapper on the logs when you burn them (even less waste!), but I of course had to sneak a peak.

Unwrapping the logs completely isn't directed unless you have an excited five year-old setting-up.

Kindling isn't nessasary. Another case of a five year-old helper.

As someone with outdoor allergies, it used to be torture to sit anywhere near a wood-fueled fire. Stuffy, sneezing, itching. Not worth it. No worries with these logs. I was able to warm my tootsies and breathe all at the same time. Amazing.

Terracycle's firelogs are supposed to burn for three hours. In my experiment, the logs really burned well for two hours and then smoldered for the last hour. Pretty good when compared to wooden logs. As for the waste left over after burning, I just tossed it in the compost bin. That counts as brown matter. Right?

The final decision is a big YES. Allergies will make me suffer during those summer neighborhood fires no more. Not to mention the savings to my neighbors now that my father won't have to liberate logs from their personal wood piles. If the wax cardboard is already in existence, go ahead and burn it instead of loosing another tree.

Last CSA of the season

2008-10-17T10:29:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my last pick-up of the nineteen week Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season.

Over the season I have exposed myself and my family to many new foods are recipes. A large portion of the food we now consume has been grown or made locally. The family's diet is now primarily vegetarian..and we aren't missing having meat everyday. In fact, when we eat more than the occasional piece of meet it makes us feel ill.

That last pick-up is my signal that the freezing weather and dark days are before us. Gone are the days of playing outside in flip flops. Gone are the days of endless fresh fruit. Gone are the days shaving my bikini line.

Raise a glass of hard cider to the promise that next spring will come soon.

Do Not Mail Registry

2008-10-15T12:37:00.004-05:00

Love dinner time because of your silent phone? Thank you Do Not Call Registry!

Want to love your mailman too?

A Group called ForestEthics is compiling a petition for the creation of a national do not mail registry .
Imagine all of the trees, ink and glue that could be saved each year? Imagine the intrusive letters that would cease from arriving at your house? Imagine what your letter carrier's physical therapist will do with their new found free time?

"The statistics are crazy: 30% of all the mail delivered in the world is US junk mail, and the emissions of junk mail's logging, production, and distribution equal the CO2 emissions of more than 9 million cars."~ Jon at ForestEthics

Please take a minute to sign your John Hancock on ForestEthic's petition. And for those ambitious gruppies with little Trick-or-Treating gruppies of their own, the website includes a printable page for you to get your neighbor's signatures on Halloween.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

2008-10-12T15:00:00.003-05:00

Have you seen those commercials on TV promoting the health of high fructose corn syrup? I totally thought that I was watching Saturday Night Live. This had to be some kind of joke.

"Don't give that to the kids. It has high fructose corn syrup in it."
"You know, that's just a fancy smanshy name for corn."
"Great! Let's feed it to the kids with a side of mercury and lead paint."

Hang my head in shame, but while I knew to stay away from HFCS I had no idea why. As a girl with a major sweet tooth, I knew that I needed to do a little research.

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. I don't even wear white (black is way more flattering).

Fact #1 HFCS is made from genetically modified corn and is then processed with genetically modified enzymes. Frankenfood

Fact #2 Most companies use HFCS instead of sugar because of the expense of importing sugar. Corn crops are subsidized in the US and therefore are much cheaper than corn. Cheaper ingredients equal great profits.

Fact #3 Studies have found that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS are up to 10 times richer in harmful carbonyl compounds than diet soda. Carbonyl compounds are elevated in people with diabetes and are blamed for causing diabetic complications such as foot ulcers and eye and nerve damage

Fact # 4 Glucose is metabolized in every cell in the body but all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. That's a lot of extra stress on the liver.

Now the Corn Refiners Association has begun to realize that the American people are waking-up and not making their food purchases blindly. Cue the horrible commercials.

I poked around on YouTube (what could be more fun on a lazy Sunday afternoon) and found a few parodies of the Pro-HFCS commercials. Funny I tell you. This one in particular is a hoot. Anytime you can compare companies blindly leading American consumers to the Nazis, it really drives the massage home.

Deccorating By Nature

2008-10-10T13:48:00.004-05:00

Recently a friend stopped by and complimented me on my table's centerpiece. At first, I looked around and couldn't figure our what she was talking about. I'm not one to take lots of time to dress my table. Dressing myself is a challenge enough.

This time of year it is easy to make a nice looking table without even really thinking about it. Squash from the CSA...Two apples waiting to be munched...Grandma Dot's old silverware box.

Edible and always changing. Isn't fall beautiful?

Yakkity Yak

2008-10-10T13:31:00.003-05:00

Thank you to the friendly people of the United Methodist Church of Hartford I had a wonderful time talking to you about all things green.

Just one thing!

Smells Like Soccer

2008-10-03T13:43:00.004-05:00

Up until this fall I have could been labeled a dance and violin mummy. Both activities take place in a nice, climate-controlled space. Comfortable in any weather. Safe for little ones too.

Now I can add soccer and football mummy to my resume.

I'm not thrilled about it.

I woun't mention the rain, bugs, blazing sun and freezing wind. It is that smell that has be running scared. You know that smell. The smell of freshly applied pesticides.

Thousands of kids and parents sit walk, run and roll around in the pesticide laden grass every weekend. Thousands of my neighbors exposing themselves to toxic cocktails all in the name of good, clean fun.

Recently Connecticut enacted a law banning dangerous pesticides on elementary school fields. Great for the few kids who only play at the elementary schools. What about my kids and the countless others who practice at the high school and the town field? Doesn't their health count? What about the water supply, wild creatures and families who live near the upper-level schools?

In a few hours I will be off to sit and cheer in the middle of a sea of chemicals. I will try to keep reminding myself that I am doing it for Little Guy. Still, I can't help but wonder if I am doing more harm than good.

Make Me Up Before You Go Go

2008-10-01T12:55:00.004-05:00

Just because I like to hug an occasional tree doesn't mean that my face has to look like one. No, we are not talking about going as far as say Tammy Faye Baker . Just a light dusting a make-up to enhance the right things.

On the day I learned about the Skin Safe Database, I also learned that I was completely and voluntarily poisoning myself in the name of all that is cute.

Scary sounding polysyllabic frankengredients that cause fun side effects like neurotoxicity, allergies, developmental /reproductive toxicity and biochemical or cellular level changes were included in my products. All contained in the everyday cosmetic brands you find at the drug store or department store. Just because the product is pricier, doesn't mean it is safer either. Many of the high priced cosmetics are the worst offenders.

When it finally dawned on me that my skin is my biggest organ and what I put on my skin does penetrate into my body, I decided to make some serious changes.

I started on the first step of the staircase. With with my lipstick. Who wants something toxic so close to their mouth?

The next steps came quickly. Eye shadow, mascara, foundation, powder. Nothing above a 3 on the database. Most closer to a 1.

In my search, I have discovered my two favorite brands...

Coastal Classic Creations is owned by a friendly woman named Jane and her husband. The have made it their mission to educate your teenagers just beginning to use make-up and breast cancer patients who are keeping their bodies as toxin-free as possible.

My favorite product from Coastal Classic Creations was a surprise to me. Instead of traditional eye liner, try dipping a wet brush into Surfer's Beach eyeshadow. Beautiful!

The friendly people at Afterglow Cosmetics were helpful in choosing the correct colors for me. "What would you recommend for the Irish Spring commercial girls?" My favorite product has to be their organic setting powder (light). Beautiful!

Of course I forgot to take a before picture of my make-up drawer...here's the happy after picture. Simplified and safer!

It's The Great Pumpkin

2008-09-29T12:38:00.007-05:00

Remember when you were a kid and ate a piece of fruit with seeds. Watermelon, apples, plums... Then you would get the lofty idea that you could dig a little hole in the backyard, pop in the seed and suddenly a full-grown fruit tree would appear.

OK, maybe that was just me.

That fruit planting gene must have been passed down to Little Guy. Countless apple seeds have been buried in the yard. A bag filled with watermelon seeds sits in the garage waiting for spring planting.

Last spring Little Guy spied a seed display and ran towards the pumpkin seeds. "Mummy, we can grow our own jack-o-lanterns!"

So we planted the seeds. And forgot about them. Until now.

Those innocent looking pumpkin seeds not only sprouted, but the chutes are twelve plus feet long and filled with yellow flowers.

The best part is that we grew an actual pumpkin! OK, so it's only one pumpkin. But it's a doozy!

One big, orange, round pumpkin! Bigger than a basketball and all because of Little Guy's and a 69 cent package of seeds.

Smells Like Flaming Plastic

2008-09-24T06:50:00.007-05:00

Have you ever noticed all of those mummies out there who seem to have their act together? I mean really together.

Fashionable outfit, clean kids, orderly home, showered...

Occasionally I go through a phase where I convince myself that I can do everything. Usually it is on a Monday when I wake-up rested and ready to take on the world.

Then I fall on my butt.

Take this Monday for example. The kids were clean and well-dressed for school pictures. (OK, one kid only owned clothing that said Red Sox or Patriots, so we did end-up making a Monday morning shopping trip for a shirt without a sports logo.)

I returned from clothes shopping with my five year old only to spend an hour answering emails and calls. Planned the weeks meals and did the food shopping. Took a shower. Half completed three loads of laundry. Put on make-up. I even wore heels!

The day was too beautiful to stay inside, so why not reseed the lawn and spread a layer of compost? Just for giggles I also decided to skip the school bus and walk the kids home.

Eventually bellys started to rumble and my arms started to give out. Time to banish the neighborhood kids and the needy elderly neighbor. Time for dinner.

Delusional Monday morning Gruppie was going to whip-up a seafood feast because the experts keep telling us that seafood is essential. Monday night Gruppie was going to boil water for oatmeal.

Then comes the flaming, molten plastic. I mistakenly took sixty seconds of "me time" in the bathroom and inadvertently set a plastic container of peanut butter on fire.

Smoldering stinky plastic, kids screaming, ashes flying. Brain cells packing their bags.

Anyone want a cheesestick for dinner?

UPDATE: I'm at it again. Almost left a burner with an empty pan on while I left to do a host of exciting activities like Kindergarten drop-off. The stove is officially off for the next few days. I don't trust myself.

New To Me

2008-09-19T13:27:00.005-05:00

My first fourteen weeks of being a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) member is still going strong. Every Thursday I show-up and am handed a bag of whatever fruits and veggies were picked on the farm that week. Easy smeeshy.

That simple brown bag of veggies has really expanded my horizons from simply potatoes and carrots all the way to bok choi (hubby wants to replace the lawn with a field of bok choi next spring) and now husk cherries.

On first glance, husk cherries resemble tiny paper lanterns. Delicate and paper like.

When it finally dawns on you to tear open the covering, you will find perfect pale-red spheres. When it finally dawns on you to taste one, you will notice a taste somewhat like a sweet tomato with hints of something I can't put my finger on.

In this week's CSA newsletter the farm included a recipe for husk cherry pie. Gosh, stick anything into a pie crust, add sugar and I will be your best friend.

1 unbaked pie shell
1 cup husked cherries
2 eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 table. flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line pie pan with the pastry and fill with the husked cherries. Beat eggs with salt. Add sugar and flour. Add milk and vanilla and stir well. Pour over the husk cherries and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 -30 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve Plain or with whipped cream. http://www.recipezaar.com/

The plan is to cook the pie after soccer practice (Little Guy's. I don't pretend to have the ability to kick a ball). I'll update you then.

Update: The pie was a little too custerdy for my liking. OK, so I ate a piece anyway. Gilrie and Hubby wouldn't touch it.

Cute, but I will have to try a different recipe next season.

One is Silver and the Other's Gold

2008-09-13T16:39:00.005-05:00

Way back when my hair was blond (not green) and I was way too perky for my own good, I began teaching second grade.

On an early September morning, twenty-five mostly eager little faces walked into my classroom. One in particular stood out.

Kirsten was a precocious, little girl. Big blue eyes, glasses, a Brownie uniform and lots of questions. At seven she could already spell circles around me...
"Ms. Gruppie? Doesn't cocoa have an a at the end?"
"Ummm, sure. I was ummm, just testing to see who was paying attention."

Eventually I learned that Kirsten and I shared a birthday. March 8th to be exact.

Then, I learned that Kirsten was also adopted.

After I heard Kirsten openly discussing her adoption with other kids I was an instant fan. Here was a seven year-old that was openly discussing something in a way that my twenty-three year-old self was unable to do.

As a kid I never told anyone that I was adopted. It felt like a secret to me. Even today when I tell people, they always respond with a hearty "Really?". They seem to be shocked that someone who is relatively normal and devastatingly cute could be adopted. These reactions have always made me feel different and strange.

Kirsten and I went on to have an annual pizza lunch together on our birthdays. A few other lucky Pisces joined and we even expanded the lunch to kids born on the 7th and the 9th. Can you imagine if I will still teaching? "Pizza party for everyone who was born in the winter!"

After I "retired" to stay home with my sweet little Girlie, Kirsten continued to invite Girlie and me to her birthday parties. Then to summer pool parties. Twice a year is the norm. Kirsten's amazing mummy Eileen really kept the connection going.

This year Kirsten is a senior in high school. I simply will not believe that she is old enough to drive a car and take the SAT's. I simply will not believe that I am old enough to have taught someone who has taken a college tour.

A few weeks ago Kirsten and Eileen invited my family over for lunch and some swimming. Where has the time gone? Kirsten now plays the role of a fun aunt and Eileen is the grandma who loves to spoil my kids. What happened to Kirsten being the little one?

Next school year I am sure that I will be baking cookies and sneaking five dollar bills into greeting cards for Kirsten when she leaves home for college. Someday she too may have her own little girl. When that little girl is in second grade and I hope that she will remember her second grade teacher and smile.

It's Not Easy Being Green

2008-09-12T09:43:00.005-05:00

My hair is green.

Just like Kermit, Oscar the Grouch and other assorted Muppets. My hair is green.

For years I have highlighted my hair. Brightens it up. Recently it dawned on me that hair dye may not be the safest thing to put so close to my brain. So all summer my friendly hairdresser has been attempting to get my hair back to it's original color. (whatever that may have been)

This summer each time my hair was colored, it would disappear and be back to it's streaky-brass self in about a week.

At this week's hair appointment my hairdresser claimed she had the trick to make the color stay. Some sort of French word for magic.

I emerged from the salon chair looking a bit like a deranged Snow White. Skin the color of snow. Hair the color of coal. Only without the birds perching on my fingers, it didn't look so cute.

Fast forward to the next day. I took my shower, brought Little Guy to Kindergarten and popped-in on Girlie and her friends in the cafeteria.

Staring. Pointing. Giggling. The table full of eight year-old girls who couldn't take their eyes off of me. I was rocking the sweatpants...

"Ms. Gruppie. Why is your hair green?" Huh? "Mummy, your hair is green."

Lovely.

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

Pedal To The Metal

2008-09-08T14:03:00.004-05:00

I wish I could report that my family travels by bike everywhere we go. We are Gruppies after all.

Maybe if we lived in someplace progressive like Amsterdam or someplace that has been recently planned like the Southwestern US I could say "yes." Alas, here in ye olde Connecticut where narrow and winding roads that can be treacherous are the norm, my bike riding has been banished from the roads. Even when surrounded by six air bags, many of these roads feel a bit like a roller coaster ride gone wrong.

Now that Little Guy is five ("one of the big boys now", says he), we have been able to get out and bike as a family. Mostly on local bike trails and once off road in the woods. Did you know that breaking on a sandy hill is not the smartest idea?

When we go biking as a family we tend to look like the bike trail misfits. T shirts, sneakers and the occasional flip-flops are the standard. Why do I get the feeling that those hardcore bike families look at us funny.

You know those families. All in spandex. Space age helmets. Backpacks with snakelike straws.

Seriously, there is no way that I could get so thirsty in a single hour that I would need to drink out of a backpack. OK, OK. That statement does not count during college years. I vaguely remember a certain LL Bean backpack filled with a coconut run and apple cider mixture. shudder

Just yesterday the kid's school had a family bike trail parade. Lots of families showed-up complete with decorated bikes. Even the friendly principal and her hubby brought their bikes. Family togetherness. Exercise. Enjoying nature. What could be better?

I'm proud to say that my bike has saved me from the dark, dank gym over the last three months. Fingers crossed for global warming to head off winter this year.

Party Time!

2008-09-05T08:19:00.006-05:00

I know, I know....Being green is about living simply and not buying more stuff like the media would lead you to believe. But sometimes a Gruppie just has to make a purchase in the name of green.

With the fabulous social life my family leads, there seems to be a lot of plastic cutlery involved. Summer beach cook-outs. Cape Cod street parties. Backyard birthday parties...I could go on, but I don't want to make you insanely jealous.

What do all of these celebrations have in common? Trash! Plastic junk that will be on this earth for lifetimes. Plastic plants spewing toxic air for innocent residents to breathe. And can someone tell me why those plastic forks snap every time you need to actually cut something?

Here is my solution...

Aren't They Cute?

To-Go Ware was founded by a US woman in order to create a fair income for women on the Thai-Burma border. A happy addition to that fact is that these creative women are using tons of plastic that would otherwise be relegated to landfills or the ocean to create the pouches. The company's tag line reads, "turning one persons trash into another person's livelihood." Beautiful.

Each rolled pouch is made of old plastic bags and newspapers. Inside, the bamboo cutlery sits comfortably. Knife, fork, spoon and chopsticks. If your kids are anything like mine, the chopsticks will be perfect for spearing watermelon from the fruit bowl, marshmallows from the bag and sometimes for spearing each other.

Did you know that Americans toss out enough plastic cutlery each year to circle the equator 300 times? That little fact certainly shocked me into awareness.

Next time you are at a party (where is my invite?) or enjoying some take-out ice cream, take a second to think about that plastic you may be holding in your hand. Once we use it, it's here forever.

Suburban Twilight Zone

2008-09-04T19:10:00.002-05:00

The phone line is dead.

My Internet connection is spotty at best.

Mailman Keith forgot to come to my house.

Has Big Brother cut me off from the world?

Could this be a case of the twilight zone in suburbia?

Feminism Today

2008-09-02T10:09:00.006-05:00

Now that Little Guy is heading to half-day Kindergarten I seem to get the same question wherever I go. "What are you going to do with all of your time?"

Are people really concerned that I will cease to fit through the front door because of spending my days eating bon bons or is this some grand test that women give to each other.

"Gee, I was going to spend all of my free time contemplating world peace while watching reality shoes."

Yes, Little Guy will be in school for three whole hours each day. Enough time to shower, return calls and maybe plan a dinner. Maybe I will take some time for myself (gasp!).

Even if the kids were in school for fifteen hours a day and I wanted to stay home, why should I have to defend that choice to anyone? That is my family's choice.

Funny, not one man has asked me what I was going to do with all of my new found "free time."

When will women step-up and support each other? Whatever decisions we make regrading our decision to stay home, work or something in between are the right decisions for us. Isn't modern feminism all about individual decisions and understanding that other people's decisions might be different from our own?

Just today I decided to turn down a possible job offer. The position was the most perfect job fit for me. An educator at a local children's museum. Unfortunately, the time and money constraints that went along with the job were far from perfect. Ultimately, this job didn't come at the right time.

I was afraid to share the details about the interview with too many people. If I chose to go back to work I might be viewed as abandoning my little one. If I chose to pass on the job I might be viewed as lazy or IQ-challenged. No win.

Here is my call to all of my female readers; Support the women in your life. Whatever her choices are.

See the change

2008-09-01T06:30:00.007-05:00

Today is the last day of summer.

That last sentence alone could comprise one completely depressing blog post.

This morning I woke up freezing for my first time in months. Hubby was so cold that he broke down and put on a long sleeved shirt. While the days will continue be warm, here come the cold mornings and evenings.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. That means today is the last day of summer vacation. Not only will Girlie be heading off to the third grade (I am so not old enough to have a third grader), but Little Guy will be downstairs in kindergarten. (Little Guy is so not old enough to be in kindergarten)

Another tell tale sign of summer slipping away is right on the trees. The leaves are starting to change. As beautiful as the leaves can be, I see the leaves as an ominous warning. Here come the coats, boots, busy schedules and the end to playing all day.

Goodbye sand between my toes!
Goodbye ice cream for no special reason!
Goodbye flip flops!
Goodbye summer!

Grand Poobah

2008-08-27T19:20:00.004-05:00

I have agreed to become the Grand Poobah of the PTO.

Power? Money? Fame?

No.

Just work.

Maybe they'll let me wear a cool hat?

Antiques Roadshow

2008-08-26T05:28:00.006-05:00

A few months ago I was aimlessly flipping through the channels and landed on a PBS show called Antiques Roadshow.

Formally dressed and often thick accented appraisers look over people's cherished family heirlooms and yard sale finds. In every episode you will see people saying something like
Regular Lady: "I bought this pretty vase at a yard sale for 50 cents."
Appraiser: "Do you know how much it is worth mam?"
Regular Lady: "No clue"
Appraiser: "This is a rare, second century vase in mint condition. It is worth $560,000!"
Regular Lady: "AHHH!" (faints)

At the end of this exciting episode there was an announcement that the Antiques Roadshow was coming to Hartford. Free tickets. Just email PBS to get into the lottery.

Smelling like an adventure, I sent in an email. After a few minutes later I remembered just how unlucky I am (the only thing I ever won was my ninth birthday cake...6 people entered) I decided to enter my mummy to.

Wouldn't you know it, a few months later I received an email telling me that I had not been chosen for tickets but thank you and keep watching. Gee thanks.

Completely forgetting that I entered my mummy, I got a call from her a few days later. "Ummm, did you do this? Did you request Antiques Roadshow tickets? I got two tickets!"

Fast forward to Saturday. Mummy and I each rounded-up two family antiques that we thought might be worth something. A neighborhood signature quilt, a silver cup, old porcelain dolls and letters from Paul Revere.

We arrived at our designated time and stood in line for an hour. Like Disney World, that line was just a teaser. We still had to wait in four additional lines to speak with the individual appraisers. With the average age of the Antiques Roadshow viewer being somewhere around 78, that meant the lines were filled with chairs, wheelchairs and walkers. If my nerves were frayed and I was tired, they were certainly wiped out.

I'm still puzzled as to why the friendly people at Antiques Roadshow weren't prepared for lines lasting four hours in the painting section. Or two hours in the folk art section. This was the 90th Roadshow. Shouldn't they know how to make things run smoothly by now? Shouldn't they know that they are catering to an older audience?

The lines would have been worth it if I too had a table appraised at $300,000 like a particular weeping woman.

Mummy and I started at the "manuscript and books" table. We had letters from Paul Revere that my great grandfather may or may not have liberated from a certain state house. Turns out the letters are actually from Paul Revere's son. Not the Patriot himself. "Lots in the market. Not worth much" we were told.

Next up was the "doll" table. An 1870's Springfield Doll that had been well-loved and an 1880's German doll in pretty good condition. Not worth anything special.

Then came the little silver cup. Grandma Dot used to let me use it in my sandbox as a kid. I grabbed it from her house for sentimental reasons and now use it as a pen holder. Just recently I was dumping out the pens in a desperate attempt to find lip balm when I noticed the date. 1792. Seeing that the cup was that old, I hoped that maybe this would bring in a high appraisal number.

Turns out that Grandma Dot should not have allowed Little Gruppie to play with an eighteenth century silver cup from St. Petersburg, Russia. I dinged and dented the bottom of the cup reducing it's value "exponentially." Bummer.

Last up was my pick for the highest value. A signature quilt from 1850's Newburyport, MA. My grandfather's family arrived in Newbury, MA in the 1620's and apparently stuck around for a while.

The quilt spent many years in my mummy's hope chest and has been hanging on a quilt rack in my house for the last ten or so years. It is simple (like my tastes) and historical (I can be a bit of a history geek), so naturally I love the quilt.

"Sentimental value" the appraiser said. "So, umm, could you put a monetary value on the quilt?" I hopefully asked. "Zero" the appraiser said. She went on to say something about lack of color and bunching in the batting.

I'm looking back on my experience with the Antiques Roadshow as an adventure. I didn't find any lost money, but I did learn a little more about my family heirlooms. I saw hundreds of people who love antiques over new purchases. And really, what could be more green than antiques?

Green Sox

2008-08-23T06:34:00.010-05:00

The family spent this weekend away. Again. It's not like I am ungrateful to have friends and family who will willingly take in the Gruppie Clan. It's just that I'm tired.

I haven't had a chance to sit in my hammock swing and just read. I haven't had the chance to watch all of the reality shows on my DVR. I haven't had the chance to unpack my toiletry bag. I haven't had the chance to play one game of UNO with the kids.

Hello. My name is Gruppie. I'm an overscheduled parent.

Enough with the poor me. I did get to spend the week with my mom in Cape Cod. I did get to walk alone on the jetty with my kids. I did get to really play on a playground where no one knew me and only my kids cared that I could get to the top of the rock wall. I did realize that I will either have to have another kid or loose a heck of a lot of weight if I want to be able to balance on one side of the see-saw with my kids on the other. I did have a great time with my family.

This trip began the kids and myself tagging along on Hubby's business trip to Boston. We stayed in an amazing suite (upgraded!) with beds so soft they felt like clouds. The kids begged to stay in the room for the rest of the summer. (OK, I begged a little too.)

The family took in our first Red Sox game together. Those of you in the Massachusetts area understand what it truly means to be part of the Red Sox Nation. For those of you who live elsewhere the feeling can be summed up in one word. Insanity.

Red Sox fans have to be the most loyal fans in the world. They love their team and don't mind dressing head to toe in Red Sox gear to prove it.

At the game there were just as many women, if not more than, as men. A fact which surprised me. These woman knew their stuff and yelled it often.

Little Guy is a huge Big Poppi fan. When Big Poppi first got up to bat Little Guy yelled in his tiny voice. Hearing Little Guy yell made our nosebleed section go crazy. That's all it takes. A little strawberry headed five-year old to make the Red Sox Nation Roar.

I was pleasantly surprised with how nice everyone around Yawkey way really was. People who saw our matching B hats on the T (Subway) went out of their way to offer directions. The T drivers (yes, we ended-up taking a few trains) announced when the Kenmore or Fenway stops were coming up and reminded everyone going to the ball game to get off.

Another example of the kindness of the Red Sox nation lies with the Irish fans. Quite a few members of the Red Sox Nation are Irish and tend to have skin as wimpy as mine. One of these members offered me sunscreen after noticing that the weird ballpark purchased sunscreen was not actually working. She then confessed that it wasn't her sunscreen and she had borrowed it from someone a few rows ahead.

Each time we bought a Fenway frank or Cracker Jacks from a roving seller our row passed down our money and passed up our food. Their willingness to help happily surprised me.

Long story short the Red Sox got smeared by Toronto. It was messy. At least it we weren't playing the Yankees.

PS I forgot about the GREEN part of our Red Sox experience. There were recycling bins throughout the park. There were also a group of people called the "Poland Spring Fenway Park Green Team." They walked around collecting plastic bottle from the fans in the stands. Not wonderful, but a great start.

Maybe I Don't Get It

2008-08-16T13:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday Hubby called me up and suggested that the family make a trek to the movie theater that night. Long week...stormy night...WALL-E was still playing locally.

Cute little robot. G rating. None of the usual violence. It was a go.

Partly because I am cheap and partly because the idea of creating excess trash disturbs me, I usually bring the BIG PURSE to the movie theater. SIGG bottles filled with water. Cloth bags filled with air-popped popcorn. "We are not opening the big purse until the lights go out." You get the idea...

Yesterday I made the mistake of going to the theater hungry and way too tired to prepare. "Yes kids, you can get the three-in-one snack tray. Yes, I would love extra butter on my popcorn. May I please have a trough of soda?"

Then the movie started.

Then my guilt started.

WALL-E is a sweet cautionary tale of a time when the earth is too polluted to support human or plant life. People live in a space ship confined to chairs with television screens perpetually in front of their faces. Bones have shrunk from generations of misuse and humans have lost the ability to walk or even use their arms.

The only "living" things left on earth are a surprisingly lovable cockroach and the cutest little robot that was left behind for the past 705 years in an attempt to clean the earth.

A love store ensues, of course, and there is lots of tame action.

Color me surprised.

Here I was, sitting in the theater. Clutching my three used napkins and plastic straw. Assuming that I was going to be entertained by the usual dancing princesses or talking race cars.

Oh no. I've just been horrified about the future health of the earth by a children's movie. Are cartoons allowed to slap you in the face like that? Somebody unfreeze Mr. Disney. Quick!

In my family's two hours at the movies, we created nearly a half of a bag of trash. More than we created all week at our house.

So what if we try to act as environmentally responsible as we can at home if that all goes out the window as soon as we close the front door.

When WALL-E hits on-demand and DVD, I completely recommend you take a look. Even if you don't have anyone in the house under the age of ten, this movie can be a true wake-up call.

And, I promise that you will have a completely different perspective on cockroaches. Aren't they sooo cute?

I Wanna Stapler

2008-08-12T20:09:00.005-05:00

An author. My Little five year-old guy has proclaimed himself an author.

Little Guy has spent his non-beach hours drawing on scrap paper and then attaching the pages together with stickers. This method of bookbinding is not one that is sure to catch on since really only the top and the bottom pages stay stuck.

Like any good amateur author/bookbinder Little Guy has requested a stapler.

The chance to buy a new green, stapleless stapler that punches the layers of papers sounded fun to me. Where would a girl in the 'burbs think to look for this eco-stapler?

Staples? That was exactly what I was looking for, so why not shop in a store with the product in the name. Also, the ads claim that shopping there is "easy."

Lies I tell you. After talking to three separate sales associates I was told that Staples does not carry staple-free staples.

This stinks of irony.

What is a budding author with green thoughts to do?

Upcycling

2008-08-07T11:17:00.007-05:00

In the past I have written about my love for the new television network, Planet Green. Not only is the channel great viewing for people like me who get easily jazzed by watching others save a little chunk of the earth, it is great family viewing during this time of violent television.

The kids and I caught a recent episode of Renovation Nation. The show visited TerraCycle, Inc. As my family uses the company's worm poop on our lawn and gardens (while snickering of course), the show caught my eye.

Besides harvesting worm castings, the friendly people at TerraCycle, Inc. have been collecting old juice pouches from local schools and upcycling the pouches into bags.

I have two feelings on the upcycling of juice pouches; On one hand, I feel that it is a great use of trash. Instead of vanquishing the trash to the landfill, the pouches are given a second life. On the other hand, I absolutely detest the bags. By using the bags we are giving environmentally uncaring companies free publicity. Also, we are promoting the consumption of these unhealthy, sugar-laden drinks to young kids.

Maybe that's what today's environmentalism is about. Good work, but you have to take a little bad with you good.

After the show aired, Girlie slept over a buddy's house. The buddy's friendly mummy served the same juice pouches that were featured on the show. My Girlie rounded-up the empty containers, punched holes in them, added string and drew pictures on the plain side of the package. Viola! Girlie created her own upcycled purses.

Gosh she makes a mummy proud...

Oh yeah. Then she decided to paint the nails of the very expensive American Girl doll her grandma bought for her. Just like saving the earth...my Girlie isn't perfect. She mixes a little bad with a lot of good.

After a long day of playing Cinderella, I finally unearthed the purse for it's close-up. Whew!

Not In My DNA

2008-08-01T15:10:00.004-05:00

Some people have been bred for generations to excel in the same areas that thier ancestors exceled. Some may excel at swimming, others at math and others at the art ofpaper folder folding.

My genes have spoken to me loud and clear. I do NOT come from a long line of animal people. There is no possible way that my ancestors farmed with animals. No way in hell.

Recently Hubby surprised me with a trip to a horse stable in Litchfield, CT during our tenth anniversary weekend. After going on a total of three trail rides over the course of my life, I have been dreaming about trying riding again.

I had even bragged to hubby about trail riding. "Just sit on your horse and it does the rest." "These horses are trained to walk the trails in their sleep." "They will match us with the sweetest horses."

Brave Hubby had never been on a horse. That didn't stop him from being giving a horse that more accurately resembled a giraffe. He received exactly zero seconds of riding instruction. Stairs were punched over to the horse. "Get on"

I was the lucky recipient of a horse who decided to bite another horse who dared to walk by his stall. Aggressive? No...no stable would pair an aggressive horse with a beginner rider for a relaxing trail ride. Right?

The ride started with the horse biting my captive foot. Yes, I was told the horse was going after a bug. Yes, they were lying in order to make me feel better.

After the shark bite, the horse decided that he didn't get enough breakfast. So he suddenly jerked of down the embankment to munch on some weeds. He munched again and again as I was being told to "pull the reigns harder" and "kick harder." My little horse did not seem to get the horse memo on what pulling the reigns meant and decided not to follow this direction.

And what about this kicking thing? As a person who owns an eight pound cat and a glass full of sea monkeys, kicking an animal repeatedly over a thirty minute period seems abusive.

Next, my horse bucked-up and decided to kick the horse behind it. Luckily the sweet woman behind us was an experienced rider who volunteered to go on this ride. After the face-kicking, the leader then reminded us that I was indeed riding a "mean horse" and everyone else should keep their distance.

By this time my hands started shaking out of pure fear. A first for me. That fear motivated me to demand to turn around.

Hungry, meany horse kept eating and kept veering off down embankments while I held on with my shaky hands. Then all of a sudden he started backing up (who knew that horses had reverse). No amount of yelling, pulling of kicking (while quietly apologizing for kicking) would make this horse go forward.

The woman behind me started screaming "oh no....oh no...oh my God!" Which could only mean that she was completely freaked out. Then my horse started to violently throw it's head back and forth. I felt like I was going to be thrown off.

Cue the ugly crying.

"Let me off!" "I'm done!" Get me off of this thing!"

"Against the rules. No one is allowed to dismount their horses." My rule-loving self complied for maybe three seconds until I realized that this crazy horse lady couldn't force me to do anything. They can't possibly have horse detention. Could they?

"I AM getting off of this thing! Come and hold on if you don't want it to run away!"

I proceeded to get off of the horse, walked by poor hubby stuck on top of his giraffe horse and walked out of the woods. Still shaking and $70 poorer. Leader yelling something about my bit coming unattached.

Not this Gruppie's actual horse. Pretty darn similar.

Here is the kicker (punny huh?), Hubby's boss has a house in the area. He has only visited the house twice this year. The last time he drove to his vacation house he noticed a horse throw a rider and then take-off, saddle and all, down the main road where the trail rides travel.

That crazy, unsafe stable has imprinted a fear of large farm animals...my poor ancestors.

All Clear

2008-07-30T15:03:00.002-05:00

Today my mummy got the results from her blood tests and CAT Scan....

100% clear!

100% cancer free!!

Everything is right with the world today.

Local Food

2008-07-28T06:41:00.005-05:00

Now this is what I call eating (or drinking) locally!

Hubby and I toured this local vineyard and sampled lots of different wines just to make sure we bought the best varieties. Tough work, but I was willing to make the effort.

Much more fun than beet greens and swiss chard. Don't you think?

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

2008-07-27T17:09:00.011-05:00

After years of taking long weekend vacation trips (if we were lucky), the family packed-up our bags and headed out for an entire five days of vacation! Our destination was Vermont and our plans were open.

Just crossing over that state line made my heart beat slow.

The trip started with a visit to our old college friend's house in central Vermont. I first met Alicia the day before the first day of classes in college. We were both running to a placement test for elementary education students. Me with my granola bar in hand and Alicia with her flannel shirt.

We immediately hit it off and proceeded to have almost every class together for four years. (How did we ever pass chem/physics?) Alicia and I were even placed together for student teaching. We were lucky to have taught at the same elementary school...across the hall from each other..both in the third grade.

Long story short, Alicia married her college sweetheart Josh. She slowly morphed from a Jersey girl into a quilt making, food growing, Subaru driving, fifteen pairs of skis owning Vermonter.

Alica even introduced me to Hubby (my college sweetheart) during a political science class. They lived in the same residence hall and met because of how very social they both were. At Hubby's and my first meeting I thought that Hubby's earring was cute (barf now!) and so was he (still is).

The family spent our first day in Vermont playing with little Ben, catching-up and reminiscing about old times. Alicia and Josh live in the "suburbs" as they call it simply because they have cable TV and share a road with neighbors. I would call it the woods, but hey I can hear my neighbors making dinner. What do I know?

After spending the night we continued on to Burlington, Vermont and Lake Champlain.

Let me tell you how happily surprised I was as we first arrived in town. Street signs reminded drivers not to idle, as it is bad for the air quality. Recycling bins lined the busy streets. Bike riders and bike trails were everywhere. Restaurants touted the fact that their food was all from local growers, cows and bakers. Used bookstores and thrifts shops were more prevalent than chain stores. What a change from the fast-food driven, car driving, trash loving area that I like to call Connecticut.

Was this Gruppie heaven?

The family even spent a day on beautiful Lake Champlain.

(Hubby doesn't want me to blog about Lake Champlain because he is afraid of others finding out about it's unspoiled beauty. In respect of Hubby I won't tell you about how sparking clean the lake was. I will not mention how calm and warm the water was. I will not tell you about the restaurant that filled an old boat with beach sand and put it next to their lake-front restaurant to keep the kids busy while Mom and Dad drank local beer. I will keep my lips closed.)

I will tell you about a few of the yummy touristy destinations we encountered. First, we toured the Ben and Jerry's factory. The tour included amazing free samples (strawberry cheesecake is to die for) and we of course had to buy more ice cream at the end of the tour.

Hubby as Ben Gruppie as Jerry

Next, we toured Lake Champlain Chocolates. Not so much toured as stood in front of a glass window and watched the chocolate makers as if they were fish. (FYI, if you knock on the glass they wave back) That tour also came with lots of freebies and we, of course, purchased more chocolates afterward.

Finally, the family debated weather or not we should do the Cabot cheese tour. Ultimately, we decided that our stomachs could take no more.

My experience with Vermont was almost like I had visited another country. The locals are so proud of what is made in Vermont that they don't have to go to great lengths to use and consume Vermont products. From the smallest dive diner to the fancy-smanshy of restaurants, the food was made in Vermont. From the toy store to the art gallery. All Vermont. Why? Maybe it's because Burlington is a college town. Maybe it's because they are relatively isolated from other cities. Maybe it's the resourceful Yankee in their DNA. I don't know. Whatever the reason Vermonters seem like an environmentally friendly, low-consuming, locally focuses bunch of people.

Chicken Pot Pie

2008-07-19T19:31:00.005-05:00

Diane over at dk Mommy Spot is running a healthy recipe contest. Diane is a green girlie who knows a ton about natural cures, foods and healthy living. She also hosts lots of amazing give aways....not that I have personally ever won anything....yet!

Diane has asked for healthy recipe submissions. She is posting them on her blog and will be giving away a wonderful prize to the winner of the yummyest recipe. Fingers crossed.

I submitted the one and only recipe that I have ever created myself that doesn't contain copious amounts of sugar. The recipe started with one that my friend Kim used to cook a chicken pot pie for me when Little Guy was born. I tweaked the recipe to make life easier for me. What could be better than cooking once and getting two meals?

This chicken pot pie is the meal that I make for my sick or elderly neighbors. My friends who have had babies have also received this pie. It is nice to be able to cook for a friend and yourself at the same time.

Disclaimer: Not my actual pie. Mine look more...homemade.

You should know that my family loves this recipe so much that we have our own chicken pot pie recipe song. Sing it to the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn.

"Chicken pot pie and I don't care.
Chicken pot pie and I don't care.
Chicken pot pie and I don't carrreee
It's yummy anyway!"

So, we aren't the most musically inclined bunch. But, we sure do know how to eat. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie for Two Nights
Gruppie Girl

1 package of antibiotic boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Shredded
1 16 ounce package of organic frozen, mixed veggies
4 pie crusts
2/3 cup organic butter
2/3 cup chopped organic onion
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 large 30 ounce box of organic chicken broth
½ teaspoon pepper
1 cup organic milk

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line two pie pans with pie crust.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Odd onion, cook and stir 2 minutes or until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper. Stir until well blended. Gradually stir in milk and broth, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.

3. Add cooked chicken and uncooked veggies; mix well. Spoon mixture into the crust-lined pie pans. Top with second crusts; seal edges and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.

4. Bake the first pie at 425 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown, covering the edge of crust with strips of foil during the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Wrap and freeze the second chicken pot pie. Should freeze well for a month.

Buy This Book!

2008-07-17T10:07:00.007-05:00

My good friend, neighbor and drinking buddy Ruth Cullen has just written a new book....and it's GREEN!

This book began as an assignment from Ruth's publishing company and grew into a lifestyle for her entire family. A few of Ruth's new green habits have been noticeable to all of us neighborhood girls. The mini van was traded in for a more fuel efficient vehicle, cloth shopping bags on the front seat of her new little car, a metal coffee mug in the cup holder and her kids haven't been bathed all summer. What a savings!

The Little Green Handbook is just that, a little handbook. The book is easy enough to slide into your locally made purse or your organic denim jeans pocket. Each page of the book contains one of 145 simple steps to save the planet. The steps give ideas for change and many even contain website links.

The Handbook is different from other green books because it isn't preachy or overwhelming. Like I'm really going to dig my own well and then spend a bazillion dollars to get off of the grid. I need tips that I can really use. A few of my favorite tips include:

*Reversing your ceiling fans to follow the seasons

*Use cloth diapers...don't contain harmful chemicals, don't pollute the water supply, and looked so very cute on my babies bottoms

*Try natural remedies...Who knew that tea and rosemary repels fleas from pets?

*An entire green office section

*Use a rainbarell...I LOVE my rainbarell

*Give green gifts...spread the word

Speaking of green gifts, this book would be a great present to give to a friend who is thinking about greening their lives. I'm planning on giving it to my parents. My father is going a little more green every day, yet the format will make it a perfect read for a person who is dyslexic.

The Little Green Handbook will be in stores and online starting August 15th.

Look Mum, I Grew it Myself

2008-07-16T09:41:00.004-05:00

I admit that I am easily amused. My potted veggies have been a big source of amusement lately.
Those boring little seedlings have grown into actual vegetables. No magic, no hard work, no extra praying. As a suburban girl, this concept is completely wondrous.

Hot peppers, green beans and teeny tiny cucumbers. Oh my!

Cute little green beans
(The family will be feasting on all 13 of those beans tonight...Remind me to plant more than 2 seedlings next year.)

Happy little green pepper
(Excuse the blurry photo. Note to Hubby~ Add camera to my Christmas list.

Portugal Hot Peppers
(I can't believe how well these are growing!)

Teeny-weeny cuccumber

(You may have to squint to see it)

In Season Cooking

2008-07-11T09:37:00.003-05:00

Challenges are good in life. They help you grow, change, blahhh, blahhh, blahhh. I'm sure you've head that line before.

The last four weeks of receiving shares from my local CSA have been a challenge for me. Most of the foods in my weekly share have been complete strangers to me. Like Google the names to match the vegetable strangers. Still, the guilt from possibly wasting these local, organically grown veggies has driven me to step-up my cooking.

Here are a couple of the recipes from Wild Carrot Farm that the entire family has loved.

General Tao’s Stir Fry with Bok Choi

1 pound extra-firm tofu
¾ c. cornstarch
1-2 T peanut oil (I used olive oil and substituted peanut butter)
1 T extra virgin olive oil
3 chopped green onions
1 T minced ginger
2 T minced garlic
2.3 c. chicken or vegetable stock
2 T soy sauce
4 T sugar
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1 T white vinegar
1 head bok choi (thinly chopped)

Press water out of tofu and cut into 1” cubes. Place tofu in a mixing bowl with cornstarch and toss to coat tofu completely. Watch out that the cornstarch doesn’t clump at the bottom of the bowl. Heat peanut oil in pan and fry tofu until golden. Drain tofu and set aside.

Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and sauté until garlic begins to turn golden. About 1 minute. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes and vinegar. Add green onions, bok choi and tofu and cook about 4 minute.

Serve immediately over rice. Super yummy!!

Garlic Scapes Pesto

1/8 pound garlic scapes
¼ c. olive oil
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Chop scapes into ¼” sections. Blend scapes with olive oil (a food processor works best…trust me…I had a blender disaster). Remove from food processor and add parmesan cheese.

Use on bread, pasta, potatoes or as a dip.

If You're Fond of Sand Dunes and Salty Air....

2008-07-10T09:56:00.006-05:00

Last weekend I moved my flat butt all the way from the local lake over to the beach on Cape Cod. Whew! Tough move on my part.

Jen (a loyal reader and beach chatter) and Gruppie

I am no stranger to the beaches of Cape Cod. As a kid I spent my summers in a cottage near West Dennis beach. My mummy, brother and myself would "beach it" all week long while my dad came down on the weekends. In my teenage and college years the beach became less about swimming and more about looking good and socializing. Life has come 180 degrees and now I'm spending my time watching my own kids prune in the ocean.

This weekend Hubby, the kids and me took the now longer (3 hour) trip to the cottage for the long Fourth of July weekend. Lots have stayed the same about my little sandy road while lots more have changed.

My parents are now the old timers on the street. When I was a kids my parents were the young ones. The street is now filled with kids. When I was a kid I only had my baby brother to play with. The cottages used to be bare bones and now they are decked out with cable TV and washing machines.

As for the same, the "street people" still all hang out together for barbecues with baked beans and cole slaw. Everyone still ventures to my dad's shed to visit his kegarator. No one comes over until my mummy's shade is raised. Still the same.

Here's to another summer doing lots of the same and different!

Neighborhood Children's 4th of July parade.

Oh The Letters!

2008-07-01T19:16:00.003-05:00

Every time I uncover an environmental injustice I like to fire off a friendly letter. A letter here. A letter there. The letters are now being fired-off weekly. My fingers are tired...

I have written to Horizon Organics about their use of #5 plastic to package their cream cheese. Not recyclable. Not the safest choice. Horizon Organics wrote back. The answer was canned and was probably not heard as a suggestion to anyone with power in the company.

In the spirit of Fake Plastic Fish and her quest to have Brita recycle their filters in the US just like they do in the EU, I emailed Kenmore asking how I should recycle their water filters. I was told to make a service appointment to "fix my problem.

The fresh little Gruppie in me did call to make a service appointment. I asked to have a repair person come into my home to tell me how to recycle my filter. That went over like a load of bricks.

My latest writing campaign has been more locally focused. Recycling and properly disposing of waste can be tough to adhere to in my little town. Case in point, having to drive thirty minutes total just to recycle a phonebook.

Now, I do realize that my town officials have more important things on their mind than phone books...taxes, safety, budgets, marathon town meetings. But phone books are the only tip of the iceberg. While the town has certainly made improvements to benefit the earth recently, I would love to see them go further.

My first written response from a town official was very brief and he completely dismissed me. Serious downer. Since that first response, the rest of the emails have been very different. The officials have been very receptive and have wanted more information about what other issues I saw. The latest person to reply stated that he would like to talk further about starting a committee and included a phone number. Score!

Hubby joked with me that when I finally get in front of these people in charge I may surprise them a bit. Most people who meet me in real life are expecting a woman with a greying ponytail and Berks. Watch out world. Us smokin' hot gruppies will keep you guessing.

Fore

2008-06-29T17:22:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Hubby took me to my first PGA golf tournament. While he was enjoying the game and chatting-up clients, I was there to play my role as the charming, intelligent and devastatingly beautiful trophy wife.

I have played golf. Quite a few times in fact. I think I even own a bag. Unfortunately my attention span doesn't last longer than a few holes and a mad dash in the golf cart.

As you can imagine, the skill level at the TPC River Highlands was monumentally different from my own. Once a year or so I head out the the golf course with Hubby as a wifely duty. He lets me drive the cart (much more fun than a car), reviews the rules and doesn't freak when I "take off" holes.

My biggest tip, if you must attend an all-day golf tournament on a hot summer day and you are not a die-hard fan, is meeting someone with a luxury box. Hubby's company had this elevated, roofed area complete with an always changing buffet, open bar and all of the snickers you could eat. Once I saw that luxury box, my day completely turned around.

My first drink of the day was a diet soda. After watching grass grow for the past two hours I needed a pick-me-up. (Don't fret, the pomegranate martinis weren't far behind) The bartender asked me to kindly reuse my cup for the sake of the planet. This statement made my Gruppie senses tingle. Were the cups made of biodegradable corn perhaps? Had I stumbled onto a greener sport than I had thought?

It turns out that the cups were of the plain old polluting variety. The friendly bartender explained that someone did a study of cup use at these large events and found that each patron was disposing of ten cups.

Ten cups each? So was the event really just trying to save money and had the perfect cover with the recent "green fad?" Maybe helping the planet was just a happy side effect. My take on the situation was money. Money, money, money rules the world. Those cups must add up. Only the icing was green.

Golf has always struck me as a sport that is tough on the environment. Bazillions of tons of pesticides. Lots more water usage. All that mowing. And those itchy collared shirts....don't get me started.

With hubby loving golf and holding tight to the dream that we will retire on the edge of a golf course someday, I have set out in the search of green golf courses.

Audubon International certifies courses that provide wildlife sanctuaries for animals. Nice. But what about the pesticides and water use? Through Google I was able to find low-impact courses in New York, Yosemite National Park and another in Hawaii. Why is Connecticut so far behind on trends? Did I mention my neighbor who wears the Starter jacket?

Hopefully by retirement time we will be able to live on an organic golf course together. If Hubby gets golf can I get my own cabana boy?

Working Against Me

2008-06-27T10:52:00.005-05:00

This morning I heard that all too familiar thud in the driveway. Yet another phonebook.

Every few weeks the plastic shrink wrapped phone books mysteriously arrive. A few different companies. Many that look the same. They keep coming by the pound.

After today's newest addition I set-out to recycle a stack of phone books as high as my hip that had accumulated in a closet. In my town phonebooks are not allowed to be added in with the paper recycling. You have to take them to a specific facility in the downtown area of my village. Before I left I called the recycling number proved in one of the phone books to confirm the location.

After I dropped Girlie off at a new friend's house, I asked the mom if she had any phone books that needed recycling. The mother handed the phone books over with a confused look on her face...will her daughter be allowed to play over at the crazy recycling lady's house? I have my doubts.

On my way home I swung by where I remembered the phonebook recycling bin to be. Only it was gone.

Now I had to drive home and call the friendly people at the highway department. Sometimes I wonder why they pick-up when they see me calling....again. This time they did in fact pick-up. I was told that the closest phone book recycling center is a fifteen minute drive...each way...from my house. Seriously?!?

Is the town TRYING to make phone book recycling difficult? They allow phone book after phone book after phone book to be dropped on our driveways yet they don't give us an easy solution as to how to get rid of them. Why can't we drop them by the town garage? Why not the town hall? The library perhaps?

By having the recycling bin behind some random phone company building on the other side of town, the town is practically forcing us residents to toss the books in the trash. How many other people are as crazy as I am to go out of their way to recycle something as everyday as a phone book? I bet my reusable, metal water bottle that the vast majority of those phone books will be forever relegated to the landfill.

Back in 2000, my fair state of Connecticut set a recycling goal of 40%. We aren't there eight years later.

Governor M. Jodi Rell has spearheaded the One Thing Campaign in order to promote environmental awareness and help the citizens save energy. That's great Governor Rell, but what can you do to help my town become involved?

Calling all neighbors! I'll swing by this afternoon to pick-up your old phone books for recycling.

Life's A Beach

2008-06-26T14:05:00.005-05:00

Everyday since school let out last Friday at 1:15 my little Gruppie butt has been firmly placed in a beach chair on the sand with my toes dangling in the lake water. That's it.

In less than a week of my "beaching it" my middle has already grown and is starting to pop out of my tankini. My senses have been dulled by idle chit chat and chick lit. My leg muscles are weak and I can only comfortably walk as far as the snack bar.

All of my wonderful, healthy meal planning has been tossed out the window. Replaced by take-out pizza and ice cream shaped like a superheros. The kids may have forgotten what a veggie looks like.

When did it become socially acceptable for a 30 something mom to spend her days wearing halter tops and swim skirts while discussing the merits of local nail salons?

One more week until camp starts. Then I'll start hiking, biking and cooking. OK, maybe I'll start slow and buy the one ice cream selection from the vending machine with nuts in it. Nuts are good for you. Right?

My First Time

2008-06-19T15:58:00.008-05:00

Lately there has been a lot of press about the sky high prices of food…gas…heating oil…everything. I like to think that there is a sliver lining of this tough prices. The lining may be that more people have started to look closer to home for their resources.

CSA’s (community supported agriculture) has been in the news a lot lately. CSAs are when a small farm sells a share of their bounty to a number of families. This fee is usually due at the beginning of the season.

The money collected helps small farms who may have been struggling to buy seeds, pay for their farming help and generally run the farm. On the consumer end, food prices can be cheaper, produce is fresh, you are supporting the local economy and contributing very few emissions from lack of transport.

Today I picked-up the family’s first share of the 19 week season over at Wild Carrot Farm.
The kids and I walked into the barn and were immediately greeted by two friendly farmers. Debbie and Carlen (like George she said) shook my hand and happily introduced themselves. I grabbed by share and off we went. Easy Smeeshy.

Debbie and Carlen were sweet enough to let me snap a photo!

Luckily, my share included a newsletter complete with a list of what was contained in this week’s share. Bok choi, cape daisy plant, garlic scapes, kale, lettuce, scallions and strawberries.

So I understand strawberries and lettuce. But the rest of the veggies are more of a mysterious challenge. The friendly farmers must have anticipated veggie-challenged people like me because they included a written description of the more exotic vegetables along with a few recipes. Garlic scape pesto anyone?

See you next week Debbie and Carlen (like George)!

Wedded Bliss

2008-06-18T13:03:00.005-05:00

My foray into the world blogging has introduced me to many new ideas and people. One of the people that I have met in "imaginary blogging world" is Dolphyn over at Verbose Means I Ramble.

It's funny, but after reading Dolphyn's blog, I really feel like I know her. The distance between Connecticut and California just isn't important in the Blogsphere.

My interest in Verbose Means I Ramble started out because of how similar Dolphyn and I are. We were born just days apart. (Aren't Pisces wonderful?) We both have a son and a daughter. We are both active members on our PTOs. We like being green. We are both devistatingly beautiful. And to top it all off, I really like Dolphyn's wickedly dry sense of humor.

There is one big difference between Dolphyn and myself. I have been married to my soul mate for the last ten years. Dolphhyn and her soulmate have not been allowed to be married... Until yesterday!

Maybe I'm just a sheltered New England girl, but I find it hard to believe that it is 2008 and all people in this country are not treated as equals. I can't stop thinking about how I would feel if I wasn't allowed to marry my Hubby ten years ago? I knew that he was the person that I wanted and need to be with. The person I wanted to share my life with. I wanted everyone to know! I can't begin to imagine how crushed I would have been if I wasn't allowed to marry him.

Congratulations to the Verbose family!

I Made It Myself

2008-06-15T16:56:00.005-05:00

I like to say that I have become green through little baby steps.

As a preteen I shopped at Body Shop because they didn't test on animals.
Again in the preteen years I stopped eating red meat after reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.
In my teen years I discovered recycling and reusing bags.
In college I discovered vegetables and living simply.
After a horrible health scare with my then toddler daughter I discovered environmentally safe household cleaners.

And I soldier on....

This week I actually ate the first thing that I grew by myself!!! And it tasted good.

The the lettuce that I planted in a pot on the driveway has grown. The family ate three meals worth of delicious, organic, super-locally grown salads!

Little Guy has even gotten into the farmer act. He will periodically exclaim that he is hungry and run over to pick a lettuce leaf to eat. My sugar-loving guy is begging to eat lettuce because he has ownership in the growing of the lettuce. What's next? Overalls and a straw hat?

I even planted a few more lettuce seeds to replace what has been eaten. If you have a magnifying glass handy you can see them. Cross your fingers and hope that they grow bigger.

My other "crops" in the front flower garden are coming along well with the exception of two seedlings that have been munched by some meanie animal. The only problem with my other "crops" is that I forget which is which. I suppose that when they are fully grown I will eventually figure it out. Green beans and cucumbers should look different...

Little Guy has been asking to plant berry bushes. I really think that he is planning for the next snack time.

Pat, pat, pat on my back...for today.

Time for Cake

2008-06-12T12:29:00.004-05:00

I recently wrote about the tough choices that we all have to make for a cleaner world;

*If you want to buy localish organic butter, then it will be wrapped in a non-degradable foil-like substance. The non-organic, far-flung butter is wrapped in waxed paper that goes directly into the compost bin.

*If you want to plant new trees and bushes you will create a ton of plastic waste from the pots. Cleaner air and a more attractive yard now or greater plastic waste and harmful contaminants spewing from the plastics factory?

*If you want to buy organic cream cheese so your son doesn't have an allergic reaction to the additives, then it will be packaged in potentially dangerous and non-recyclable # 5 plastic. The chemical-laden stuff comes in recyclable paper with a small layer of foil-like covering.

I run into examples like this everyday. If only my allergy-fog brain could make those ideas come to the front of the line.

After I ran my blog post I forwarded it off to the friendly people at Horizon Organics. I also included a brief note urging them to rethink their packaging. This is what I received back;

Thank you for your recent e-mail to Horizon Organic. We appreciate your interest in our company.
At this point there are no nation-wide recycling standards. Each state and jurisdiction has different recycling rules based on cost-effectiveness, quantities of the materials in circulation and regional differences.
We are an environmentally concerned company and will always strive to use the most earth-friendly packaging available. Your comments are appreciated and we will not rule out any future changes, but at this point we feel that we are using the most environmentally friendly and cost effective packaging for our products.
Thanks again for contacting the Consumer Affairs Department.
Sincerely,
Metcy Betancourt
Consumer Response Representative

Gee Metcy, thanks for the canned reply. I wonder if my email will ever get beyond Metcy and to people who can actually make changes.

What can't I have my cake and eat it too???

Of course that would be a big slice of fairly traded chocolate cake made locally with all organic ingredients. And I would eat it with my hands which are completely reusable.

Here Comes the Yuppie

2008-06-09T18:23:00.005-05:00

I live in the northeastern part of the US. The part that is supposed to have four seasons. One of those seasons is the season formerly known as Spring.

Today the heat index climbed to 105 and the actual high temperature was 98 degrees. Seriously! Didn't my friendly local meteorologist get the memo that spring in New England is not supposed to feel like this?

I just know that I am going to have global warming nightmares tonight...again! Hiking to the Twinkie factory to find the only food left on earth...skin looking like George Hamilton...scary stuff!

Somewhere I read that the vineyard owners from California were buying-up land in Connecticut in preparation for advancing global warming. The climate of Connecticut is supposed to be similar to that of California wine country in just a few short years. Positive = local wine. Negative = world burning up.

So here I am today. Reading about the residents of NYC and how the power they used today was the more than they used any day last year. Demand isn't lessening and alternative sources aren't coming fast enough.

As for me in today's heat: I hung the laundry out to dry. The ceiling fan is cranking. The kids have been shooed away from the TV. And still, here I am dependant on my central AC. The yuppie in me complete with my make-up and dry arm pits is fighting with the granola me and my love of low consumption. Today the yuppie mostly won.

Survivor

2008-06-08T19:39:00.004-05:00

I have always tried to be the best parent I can. I have tried to keep the kids safe while giving them just enough rope. I try everyday and sometimes I feel like I may have missed the mark.

That was until I watched home videos of myself growing-up...

For as long as I remember my parents have talked about organizing the old audio-free home movies onto a video tape. A few weeks ago I finally rounded-up the reels and had them transferred onto a DVD.

1975 through 1987. Most of my childhood. All viewed in 45 minutes.

Disclaimer: I love you Mummy and Dad. Please don't threaten to write me out of the will.

The DVD started from minute one with me as an infant being fed beer.

Everyone around me, inside and out, was smoking.

This little Gruppie was fed cake and ice cream at six months old.

My father was shown holding me upside down and swinging me back and forth. I was under one and supposedly this was a favorite game of mine.

I was just starting to crawl and my family gave me plastic bags to play with.

...and this is just what was caught on the brief home movie! What could I have possibly blocked out?! Dancing on glass? Lion feeding for toddlers? Lawnmower repair?

So I grew to a normal height, have a normal IQ, all of my limbs are firmly attached. I made it out of childhood OK.

Next time I freak out because the kids are eating conventional strawberries, worry that their brains won't develop if they quit playing the violin or spaz as they ride their scooters without helmets, I need to take a step back and give them a longer leash.

If I made it through without a mental or physical scratch (I think) my kids should be better than fine.

*Hello to Michelle over at This is Metrowest. You and your sister came to my fourth birthday party! Pointed hat and all. Who would have thunk that we would both grow-up to be brilliant bloggers? (wink wink)

Utah in the House

2008-06-05T07:11:00.010-05:00

Recently I blogged about my love for the map feature on my "stalker software." It has been a great geography lesson for me.

I have learned about far away places like Ljubljana Slovenia, Tallinn Estonia, Viborg Denmark, Hong Kong and the Isle of Man in the UK. Connecticut is getting a little boring. Can I come visit? Anyone? Anyone? Buller?

In the same post I mentioned that Gruppie Girl had readers hailed from forty-nine states. Sorry Utah.
Update: Utah is in the house! Readers from Provo, Lindon and Lapoint have stopped by! Diamond*Diva even took a minute to leave a comment.

Welcome Utah! Hello from Connecticut!

What To Do

2008-06-04T17:36:00.006-05:00

I try. I really, really try to keep the earth in the forefront of my mind all of the time. The problem is that there seems to be some mystical meanies working against me. (Ooh..remind me to blog about friendly ghosts soon)

When we bought our home nearly three years ago the yard was a blank slate. The rest of the homes in the neighborhood had been there for the past sixty to one hundred plus years and had yards to match. Lilacs as tall as Big Bird. Pine trees that could rival any skyscraper. Veggie gardens with layers of loose compost that could yield an eggplant as long as Dirk Digglers Dingle.

My poor little yard was sort of green with a bunch of weeds thrown in for good measure. The only plant was the one poor little tree that we planned on letting Little Guy hack down and eventually replace.

I discovered the local nurseries and mail order catalogs. First, was a perennial garden that promised three seasons of colors (lies I tell you). Next were shrubs to keep my power-hungry neighbor from mowing and fertilizing twenty feet into my yard. Then, came more flowers and more shrubs. Finally, lots and lots of mulch was purchased and protectively placed around my tender new plants.

And all of it came wrapped in non-recyclable plastic. Plastic!

In my attempt to cut down on my family's carbon footprint I inadvertently created more waste. The trash barrels were filled to the brim. Oh the guilt!

I know that a few companies sell their plants in degradable containers. I have read a lot about these wonderful containers but I have yet to see one in real life.

Now to the cream cheese question....

Little Guy is allergic to the additives in conventional cream cheese. (weird I know) He can only eat organic cream cheese. So off I go to my local health food store feeling pretty good about myself because not only am I buying organic, I'm supporting a local business owner and walking to the store. Then I saw the package. #5!

Why would the friendly people at Horizon Organics package their organic cream cheese in yucky #5 plastic? Not only is this plastic not recyclable in my town, it may leach into food.

The friendly local store owner Barbra says that she has complained to her distributors with no luck. She is unable to buy another brand at her small shop and Horizon won't change it's packaging.

What is a girl to do? Why am I always choosing between the lesser of two evils in the name of the earth? Maybe a cow would help. Anyone have a good recipe for cream cheese?

Planet Green is Coming!

2008-06-03T13:47:00.008-05:00

Just what I need. Another excuse for my DVR to run overtime and for me to spend too much time glued to the TV.

I can't wait!

A few weeks ago Discovery teased us with a preview of a new network they are launching. Planet Green. Cool beans!

The little ones and I watched a show (or three hours) on the Planet Green network preview. My favorite show is called Wa$ted.

Host Annabelle Gurwitch (haven't I seen her someplace else?) finds families who are wasteful and then breaks their lifestyle down for them to really see their impact. One months worth of trash dumped on the lawn perhaps? Then, the show maps the footprint that this one small family has made on the earth. This particular family's impact was something like 200 times their land mass.

Eventually perky Annabelle teaches the family how to make less impact. She follows up a few weeks later and SURPRISE the family has changed their ways.

Contrived? Yes. Interesting to a family like mine? Yes! Yes!

Looking on the Planet Green website there are lots of other new shows to pick from. Living With Ed is Back! Adrian Grenier has a show...I don't know what Adrian's show is about, but I guess that most any woman from the ages of 12 to 100 is sure to want to watch him weekly. Mean Green Machines should be a big hit with Hubby and Little Guy. Even Bill Nye has his own show on Planet Green.

Back when hubby and I visited Las Vegas we were asked to be lab rats for a show called Reverend Gadget. Flea (I think) from the Red Hot Chili Peppers brought his car into a shop run by an eclectic crew, including Reverend Gadget. The car (maybe vintage) was converted into an electric car. Apparently Flea is very environmentally conscious and has a solar system on his house. The sun collected on his roof would run his car. The show was a really interesting for people who like cars, music buffs and us gruppies. Fingers crossed that Reverend Gadget gets picked-up by Planet green too.

Because 900 channels just isn't enough anymore, today I called my cable representative to ask if I would be receiving Planet Green. The meanie told me that I will NOT be receiving planet Green. He would put in a request to corporate, but couldn't promise anything.

Five minutes later my now friendly cable representative called back to say that he checked into Planet Green and I WILL in fact be receiving the channel starting next week. Channel 113 to be exact for those of you in central Connecticut.

Hmmm? What do you think my carbon footprint will be if I watch planet Green all summer?

Cockels of My Heart

2008-06-03T13:16:00.008-05:00

Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and sweet during the last few very rough months! You have meant the world to me.

Mummy is doing very great! She is home almost two weeks earlier than expected. Mummy is eating and is even planning to walk to the end of the driveway today. All good.

As for myself, I am starting to come back to the land of the living. It is funny how when something really serious happens to someone that you love, how your priorities change. Make-up, writing thank-you notes, reading, volunteering, chatting about all things green....it all falls away. And I didn't miss any of it until today.

Today I made plans with a friend to go to the beach. It's 90 degrees today Dolphyn! I went to the food store. Called an old friend. Threw in a load of laundry. Normal stuff that I haven't had any interest in for some time. (to be completely honest, I still could care less about the laundry)

Thank you to all of my friends in the Blogspehere for reading my rants and sending your kind notes. Thank you to Ruth Dynamite my blog and real life friend for dropping by with a lavender plant to cheer me up. A special thank you to Carolyn and Dr. Martin Goodman for saving my mummy's life!

Back to living the healthy green life!