Green & Clean Mom Pre-launch Giveaway

June 1, 2008... Green & Clean Mom will officially be at http://greenandcleanmom.org/ and to celebrate and kick of this big event, I am going to be giving away some awesome prizes! These prizes aren’t sponsored by anyone but my wallet and green mullah! There will be lots of ways to win and enter but the biggest thing is to spread the word about Green & Clean Mom and the new site. It won’t just be a new look! I will offer green shopping alternatives, a Green & Clean Mom social networking site and forum, the beginning of a program where you can do good and help others go non-toxic, green fundraising opportunities and lots of green love! Remember, at Green & Clean Mom it’s sexy and sassy to be green but we don’t expect you to do everything, just something.

So here’s what you can win:

Prize A: Box of Natural Energy Tea and a CamelBak BPA free water bottle to drink your tea from.
Prize B: Not Nice To Bugs and Non-toxic Bug Repellant because you don't need nasty pesticides!
Prize C: The Book: The Organic Housekeeper, Non-Toxic Oven Cleaner and a set of Digital Day Counters
Prize D: Andrew the Organic Hippo by Mim Yim
Prize E: A year’s subscription to Kiwi Magazine, my favorite “green” parenting magazine.

Bloggers:

1.Spread the word about the launch of my new blog, http://greenandcleanmom.org/ by writing a post and linking to this giveaway. Green Karma rocks! Leave me a comment with what prize you'd like to win. If you have any comments on what you'd like to see more or less of on the new site, let me know. If you haven't subscribed to my feed or email, please do. Then you won't miss out on the two months of launch giveaways!

OR

2. Join my social networking site and put up a badge on your site. All those that join the social networking site after today are entered in the contest! Talk about easy!

Non-Bloggers:

1.Subscribe via email so you don’t miss out on anything and all subscribers entered on my Feed blitz account will automatically entered into the contest. If you have a prize preference be sure to leave me a comment with your email (same email you used to subscribe via email).

OR

2. Join Green & Clean Mom's social networking site and start learning from others about how to go green. It's free!

All winners will be announced at Green & Clean Mom on June 1, 2008. Winners must provide a way for me to contact them. Only one entry per email.

Yo Betty, lets go camping and pack the cocktails! A review and giveaway!

Where I live, Memorial Day weekend is the kick off for camping season! Except the cost of gas is $4.20 a gallon and its freezing cold. I haven’t seen too many campers headed into this normally booming tourist town. I could be wrong though. Personally, I’m not much of a camper but that doesn’t mean I haven’t slept ina tent with gross, camp fired scented clothing and toxic bug spray fumes and the sticky marshmallows on my fingers. I have. I just didn’t love it. I’d rather “hotel” it. I’m just not a fan of sleeping on rocks and rolling over next to a dewing wet tent and then having to pee like crazy and running to a gross bathroom that smells like crap or better yet, going in the woods. I always pee on my pants when I squat! So then I smell like urine, among the other great things. I know, I know…there’s lots of great things associated with camping and now that I’ve read the book Backcountry Betty, Roughing it in Style by, Jennifer Worick …I think I might consider giving the tent a whirl. I’m going to start in my backyard and work my way to the camp ground and then the woods with no bathroom. Baby steps.

I think my problem with camping is the dirty, stinky gross feeling. I like showers and being clean. That doesn’t mean I don’t get nitty gritty dirty but I’m a Betty, just not my Aunt Betty. Bless her heart but she’s so grumpy and never smiles. The very first chapter of the book addresses hygiene and how to stay fresh and feel fresh. This chapter made me love the whole book right from the start. The book, besides being witty and humorous (like this blog), has many practical pointer and tips. For example, if you have to go number 2 make sure you build a “cat hole” and locate it 200 feet from water and downwind. Now that’s practical! Oh, and do not go swimming in the ocean if your having your monthly Aunt Flow visit because sharks can sense this. Go figure?

Jennifer Worick does a great job in a very non-boring way, pointing out how camping can be fun and still have style and class if you pack and plan ahead. This doesn’t mean wear your stilettos (which I can’t wear anyhow) tromping through the woods! No, just your comfy vegan hiking boots from Zappos! I don’t know if they have these or not, but maybe they do? The point is to mesh practicality, organization and a little bit of pizzazz without wreaking or giving up all sense of feeling like a woman. Over and over it is pointed out to respect nature, not liter, carry your trash and used toilet paper with you (another reason I’m not a camping fan), do not disturb nature and again to respect nature. Just because you’re camping doesn’t mean you can’t have fondue or cocktails and Backcountry Betty shows you how! Ahh and if camping with your hot sweaty man is your thing there are lots of green and clean tips on how to spice things up without disturbing nature. Backcountry Betty helps keep you warm without the sleeping bag!

Not every idea is “green” but not every person camping is either. If you’re looking for a fun read, have a friend who isn’t so keen on camping or maybe you’d like some fun tips on making your next camping trip a trip that screams, “I’m a hot Betty and I can rough it (wink, wink) in style!” then this is the book for you. I have plenty of suggestions on how Betty can be more eco-savvy and sassy, like suggesting earth friendly products, recycled toilet paper, and not being so Ziploc baggy loving (but then it is camping). Get your copy from Mountaineers Books for only $14.95.

Wanna win a copy? K. Just leave me a comment and tell me a funny camping story. I need a good laugh. I’ll send a copy of the book to whoever makes me chuckles the hardest and pee my pants. I’ll announce the winner on June 1, 2008 when the new site launches.

Announcing the Green Contest Winners

Happy Belated Mother’s Day! My eyes are bugging out of my head right now because I’ve been sorting through FOUR contests that ended last night at Midnight EST. Wow! There was a ton of participation, great ideas and comments and now we have some winners. I have to make one quick comment before I disclose the winners, if a contest asks for a email address…please leave one! I cannot get in touch with you if I don’t have an email address. If you don’t want spam then spam proof it by typing out the words at for @ or dot. Here is my example: sommer at greenandcleanmom dot org. Now with that off my chest you must know that I had to do some redraws because I could not email the winner and that stinks. Enough crying and pouting let’s celebrate and announce the winners, who have already been emailed and have one week to reply or I will draw another name.

I used Random.org to draw five numbers 1-87 (there were 88 comments with one duplicate) for the PUR water filtration system. These are the five numbers that were drawn:

Here are your random numbers:
53 43 23 49 87
Timestamp: 2008-05-12 17:13:17 UTC

I am royally bummed that I couldn’t score an interview with Cindy Crawford but at least five more people are drinking safer drinking water and not buying bottled water. Thanks PUR and thanks for sponsoring this contest and thank to all the readers that helped support Thirst for Change!

For the Green Cleaning Kit, there were 216 comments and so many good green cleaning ideas. Baking soda, vinegar, and composting were common suggestions. I have to tell you, I can’t stand using vinegar. Sorry but it smells and it shouldn’t be used on granite counter tops and it’s too acidic for my floors. It may be natural and cheap but I had to find something different and that’s how I came to this green cleaning kit. Congrats to Connie, comments number 207!

The Kroger Reusable Bag Design contest surprised me because there was only one entry. Folks, don’t you want to win grocery money? Weird. So the one person wins it all. Lucky gal, she designed some cute bags, check them out in the comment section.

Ahh and the yummy Stonyfield Yogurt contest for $50 dollars in yummy yogurt! This contest, also had lots of entries and only one lucky winner who suggested pineapple as a flavor. It was time consuming to go through all the comments add up the entry points, write each name down the correct number of times, cut them all up and put them into a hat but Amanda, with four entries, must be glad I did! Thanks for everyone’s participation in helping Stonyfield raise money and thanks Stonyfield for being such a great company and caring so much about us and the environment!

That’s all folks! Shea Terra Organics giveaway is on the horizon and a few months of weekly contests for the launch!

Part I: Shea Terra Organics Review with a giveaway to come!

Moms need a break and a little time to be pampered, right? Mother’s day is coming up and frankly, I’d love a spa treatment. The problem being it costs a fortune, the products aren’t natural or organic and I asked for a clothesline! Lucky me, I have my very own spa in my bathroom right now! Shea Terra Organics offers natural body and skin care products that utilize healing African oils, botanical and butters for nearly a decade! I just turn on my shower and wahla, I have my own spa. When I first decided to give these products a try, I was reluctant. I’ve been trying to go more “green” with personal care products but many of the lotions and potions are kind of smelly. I have one lotion that my hubby calls the “sex repellent”! I wear this everyday now…just kidding! The very first time I put on my Miombo Mango body lotion I think my hubby came sniffing around the corner winking at me. It smells that good!!! Apparently my natural body odor and other natural products don’t give off such a good aroma. The smell is a just a bonus, the lotion is 20% Shea butter but happens to be wonderful for rashes, eczema, and stretch marks.

After trying the lotion I couldn’t wait to give all of the other products a try so quickly door was shut and the shower turned on. The hubby just had to deal with the kids because Mom had some products to review and needed a spa treatment! Unfortunately, I wasn’t so “green” when it came to my water conservation but I promise to make up for it or at least try. I tried Lavender of the Khoisan shower elixir, made of indigenous silk and Shea butter. Let me just tell you that not all Shea butter is created equal or use fair trade and not all silk is cruelty free. I did my research with this one and many companies don’t use fair trade and they raise the price considerably! With Shea Terra Organics, you know you’re getting the best and the silk is cruelty free. I’ve been using this for a few weeks now and it is not drying, my son requests it because it smells so nice. I had a nasty paper cut when I gave the Pink Guava Pomegranate indigenous Shea butter Dead Sea salt scrub. It hurt bad, I would have really liked one of those Pomegranate cocktails Oprah makes to make it feel better. So I waited to try this product until I was free of cuts and what I love, beside the blissful smell, would be that it wasn’t greasy. I’ve used tons of these scrubs and they feel greasy like I’m wearing baby oil. My skin felt very smooth after scrubbing down with. A great treatment for those rough and dry spots but the spa treatment didn’t end there…I have to tell you about my favorite product still!

African Lemongrass black soap elixir that also is made with 10% Shea butter and pure black soap for a clear complexion. BLACK SOAP? That’s what I thought when I read the bottle and poured the soap onto my hand. It is black like the night and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to put it on my face. I’m open minded though and black soap has been used for ages in Africa to solve all sorts of skin problems. This now happens to be my favorite product. I love, love, love this stuff. My face feels so tight and smooth. It is completely non-drying and I had some ugly spots that are smooth and clear. A Green & Clean Mom thumbs up! What is black soap you might wonder? It’s actually paw paw fruit, plantain leave, cocoa pods, coconut and herbs and its burned into an ash where oils of palm, sesame, coconut and Shea butter are added. This is the process that makes the soap naturally black.

The last two products I’ve been giving a whirl is the Bourbon Vanilla Shea butter that’s made from 40% Shea butter and the Shea Nilotica. I use these every night for the rough spots like the knees, feet and hands. Great for right before bed and my nail cuticles look so nice and they’re all healed from the rough dry winter air. I have so much more to tell you about Shea Terra Organics and can’t wait to introduce you to the woman behind the products in my next post. A woman who cares so much she formulates 100% of the products herself and contributes a portion of all her sales to a number of self-empowerment projects throughout Africa, and has created her own Ethiopian Goat Project. A woman with 11 kids should need every penny she can get to feed and cloth them but she’s the most giving and kind hearted person I’ve spoken with. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss meeting her or the giveaway!!!

Oh, and I personally ordered there sets for mother's day gifts (shhhhh) because I like these products so much AND Shea Terra Organics is committed to ecologically responsible production, with all its products made by hand to off-set carbon waste. Product packaging is recyclable. Packing materials are made from recycled paper and pulp. Promotional material is printed on recycled paper with soy ink. Yeah!!!

Yeehaw...the blogesphere is full of contests this month!

When I first began blogging I started reading the blog, A Cowboy's Wife and My Wooden Spoon. They’re owned and operated by a mommy blogger who lives in Texas and blogging is her business. She’s pretty darn good but what I’ve learned to like best about her blog, she’s transparent. Lori is human and she admits it. I’ve learned a lot from Lori and she’s been great to me when I email and bug her with questions. I’m still working on getting her to be a “Green & Clean Mom”!!! Her blog, My Wooden Spoon, is having a three month contest and she’s giving away some great kitchen tools that could help all Green & Clean Mom readers do some o’natural cooking with their CSA veggies! Her recipies are also very down home, easy and yummy. Are they organic and do they use all natural ingredients? No, but if you want you can convert any of the recipes to be as healthy as you’d like for them to be. I’ve converted a few here and there. The pumpkin cake with Cream Cheese frosting is to dye for! When you get a chance, take a gander and try winning the stand mixer that she’s giving away this week. Pretty big contest and this is only the second week. I can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeve.

Oh, and don't forget about trying to Win $50 in Stonyfield Yogurt, A Pur Water Filter System, and a pack of green cleaners, right here at Green & Clean Mom! Momsational is giving away some Baskin Robins coupons and Amy over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess has a huge mother's day giveaway in the works. One of my favorite blogs, Green Mom Finds, they're giving away a pair organic jammies that I know my little guy would look so cute in. The Soft Landing, another Green & Clean Mom read is offering all those that subscribe this month the chance to win a BPA free teething sampler kit. I've started writing for Busy Mommy and they have a fun Spring Giveaway that's a must for all moms to check out. And did you hear about Katja over at Skimbaco being endorsed by Tom Cruise on Oprah, right? Check out her story and she's giving away some of the same shoes that Tom's little girl loves on a few blogs (A Cowboys Wife). It's a great tale! So moms, go win your self some goodies and don't forget who told you about all of this! If you know of something else going on, post it right here! Good luck!

You won't want to miss what is coming up at Green & Clean Mom!

Ladies this is the one of those time where I am telling you that Green & Clean Mom is raising the roof and doing a dance! I have a three part series of posts coming up because I have so much great stuff to tell you. The first part is going to be a sexy and sassy review of Shea Terra Organics products that I’ve been sampling over the last few weeks. I haven’t been saving too much water doing this review because I keep wanting to take a shower and try the products. They smell heavenly. The second part in this series will be a honorary interview with the CEO and founder of Shea Terra Organics. I say honorary because she has 11 children that she home schools and she is running a major company. WOW! Last but not least, the third post will be a summary of the review, interview and a CONTEST! Oh, yeah mama’s you’re gonna be able to win some spa quality products for your very own use and they’re natural and organic. Too darn good to be true! Start cutting back on the water now because I promise you, if you win you’ll take some long showers! Not to mention a little zest in the s-e-x- department! LOL! I’m not going to tell you when I’m going to post about all this good stuff either so if you want to be in the loop, subscribe so you don’t miss out! Plus I have the big launch to the new site taking place soon and I’m going to have some even bigger and better giveaways. Remember the Fridge Box? Yeah, well April wants to generously give two away!

I tell you, there is so much good stuff in the works I can barely contain all the secrets! Do you have a earth friendly, green lovin’ product that moms have to see? Maybe you want to offer a discount, do a giveaway and have me review your products? I am looking for sponsers to help support this move and help give Green & Clean Moms the site they deserve with the power of information. I’ve been reading the book, The Big Green Purse (a launch giveaway and review) and women spend $.85 for every $1.00 spent in the U.S. This means we have some major spending power to make companies go green and move in a more earth friendly direction. I can’t wait to tell you more but I have to finish the book. Just wanted to leave you with some green food for though! Don't forget to subscribe at the left hand side of this blog so you don't miss out!!!

Help Cindy Crawford and be a winner!!!! Keep it PUR contest!

As a Green and Clean mom, you would think I drink a ton of water. Seeing that I have a new water bottle I should be consuming tons of it. What do you actually know about water? Did you know that 70% of your body is made of water? How about that your hair, skin, nails and entire body needs this clear liquid for nourishment? Okay, I’m a mom and I’m lecturing and I’m the pot calling the kettle black. Maybe you’re like me and you doubt the cleanliness of the water. How old are those pipes in your city and what about the scary stuff in the news that talks about water being dirty and contaminated (you know you’ve heard it)! The doctor told me I could give my children tap water because it was safe but then why don’t we actually drink the tap water? We have three water filters in our home, one at the tap, one at the fridge and one in the fridge! Maybe this is where the word CLEAN comes into the blog title! I could scare you with all of these statistics I have about dirty water and people getting sick and dying but that’s kind of boring to read and it would freak you out and in all honesty, in comparison to what third world countries...we are better off. Regardless of this moms still want the healthiest, safest choice and that’s why they have water filters. So let me cut to the chase and just tell you I’m going to be giving away 5 PUR water filtration systems ™ to help my other Green and Clean moms out there keep it “PUR”!

This is part of a big campaign with Cindy Crawford (tried to score an interview but no luck…maybe she’ll post here) and PUR filtrations systems™ to help provide safe drinking water for children in impoverished countries. The campaign is titled, Thirst for Change and Cindy designed a Sigg water bottle with all of the proceeds going to support the campaign. Go to, Thirst for Change, buy a water bottle and help children in third world countries have safe drinking water. It couldn’t be any easier! The idea is very simple, buying bottled water is out and not good for you with all the bad plastic and stuff and the fact that it hurts the environment. Except then you wonder about your tap water. This is where you can insert the idea of a PUR water filtration system ™. You get to have tap water and a reusable water bottle that you purchased to help someone else! Love it and please note, no payment, to use such an affectionate word!Want to try to be a lucky winner? I know you do!

Here’s how it’s going to work and I’m going to keep it simple and PUR!

Bloggers:

~Post one comment that tells me that you have linked Thirsty For Change and this contest to your blog and you are entered (must link back to this blog, which equal more people buying bottles).
~Leave me your email address but please spam proof it for your sake (i.e. sommer at greenandcleanmom dot org or yourname at hotmail dot com).


Non-Bloggers:

~Stumble me, digg me, subscribe by email or feedburner and leave what you have done as a post along with your spam proofed email. If you subscribe you're sure to hear about all my great contests right away! Yeah, just subscribe and the stumble and digg will just score you good green karma!

Anyone that scores me an interview with Cindy Crawford will win one for sure! It could happen so I have to put it out there and try...right?

Contest Begins May 01, 2008 and a winner will be drawn on Mother's Day!!!

Open to U.S. Residents and one entry per household.

Stonyfield has my vote and one lucky winner will get $50 in free yogurt!!!

You might not know this but I’m actually a maize and blue fan, verses a green fan! Go WOLVERINES!!! This actually ties into my post because an outstanding company you know as Stonyfield Farm (no "e" after "n" or before "y"… I can spell) works with the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems to provide the best packaging they can. Go blue and go Stonyfield because what they discovered is unbelievable and they took the time and money to figure it out. How many companies really do that? Um…not enough. Not only is the yogurt organic but it's in safe plastic*, you can recycle the containers (I literally just dug one out of the garbage) and if you don’t have a recycle center near you, clean it out and they’ll recycle it! Soon we might even have a yogurt cup made out of corn and beets…now that is sassy! I am telling you all of this because most people just go to the grocery store and look for the yogurt, milk or ice cream on sale but what they don’t get is, you’re purchase votes for a company. The more times you buy from that company the more votes you give it and the more times you tell that grocer…buy from Stonyfield! Why support and vote for Stonyfield, Green and Clean Mom, this isn’t an election? Isn’t it? I’m thinking, if the yogurt and milk brands could talk, it might be worse that Hilary and Obama! I won’t weigh in on Hilary and Obama but I’ll tell you why to vote Stonyfield….

• When you buy Stonyfiled you support organic farmers that use certified organic practices and actually care about the animals, earth and people…not just the green buck behind it all. I really urge you to watch this video about life on a farm.
  


• Stonyfield gives away 10% of their profits to educational organizations across the country ($1,947,109 in 2007) to support the environment and organic program. Organizations like Ecologyfund.com or Pesticide Action Network North America, to name a few.



• Stonyfield yogurt is organic and that means your children don’t have to eat yogurt, drink milk, have an ice cream treat and be eating hormones, artificial flavors, gelatin and unnecessary sugar or anything for that matter.



• Stonyfield loves their cows. I love cows. I think they’re cute. I don’t like their poop or methane stuff but I’m sure they don’t like mine either! I can even have-a-cow and not really have one in my living room or yard. I can expose my kiddos to life on a farm and have them virtually meet and learn about a cow of our choice. A program that started in 1989…yeah…a long time ago folks and it’s still around! So get on board and have-a-cow!!!



• Stonyfield is trying to help make over vending machines in schools!!! Yes! Yes! Yes!



• Stonyfield is willing to donate $20,000 to Every Count Click, an environmental works group to keep nasty chemicals out of our food, and all you have to do is go to this website and click: http://www.yobabyyogurt.com/donation



• Stonyfield is part of a collaborative effort to offer a report card to rate companies on what they are doing to make a difference when it comes to being green and treading lighter on Mother Earth. You, as a consumer, can go to: http://www.climatecounts.org/ and learn more about what companies you buy from are doing to make a difference. Maybe you won’t want to vote for them anymore until they start doing a little better and score higher! Think about it, consumers with power…what will the world be like then?



• Okay, last but not least…my kids and family love the stuff so if all of the above isn’t enough reason to vote Stonyfield, I’m not sure what is.
  

We have sampled a wide array of Stonyfield products in the last week or so. I love the After Dark Chocolate (must confess I ate almost all of it in one night). My son fills up on the Wild berry Stonyfield Smoothie but personally, I’m not a fan of it. We all have different taste buds and I’m not the Wild berry girl. Oh, and he asks for a strawberry squeezable yogurt that we freeze, almost nightly! My daughter loves the Yobaby smoothie because she learned to drink out of a straw and thinks she’s super cool. All flavors get her approval (yes, we’ve tried them all)! I was a skeptic on the milk because I’ve been turned on to the glass bottle, local farm milk and remember, I don’t like milk. Well, I have to say…Stonyfield you rock with this one! So many flavors, variety and stuff to try so how about I let you do the rest/

It is not a contest but a C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N!!! One, Stonyfield wins my election on organic milk products (milk, yogurt, icecream) verses the yucky hormone, artifical color, bad stuff. Two, they’re turning 25 years old! I want to turn 25 again! Enough pouting, let’s have a Green & Clean Mom celebration and giveaway a whoppin prize!! Fifty dollars in Stonyfield YoBaby and YoMommy yogurt coupons. Yahooo!!! Want to win??? You don't have to be a blogger either!

1) Take a picture of your little one eating Stonyfield yogurt with a link back to this contest and you get 5 points! Not required, you just get more entry points!

2) Subscribe, stumble, digg or email this post to someone and you get 1 point.

3) http://www.yobabyyogurt.com/donation and help Stonyfield donate for 1 point.

4) Leave a comment with your favorite flavor or what you'd love to try and your spam proof email with what you've done to enter, so I can easily tally the points! 1 point

Contest will End on Mother's Day, 2008 and is open to U.S. residents.

*Here's what Stonyfield had to say about BPA plastic and their containers...

Thanks for your inquiry about our packaging and specifically our use of polystyrene #6 for our YoBaby products.

First, none of our packaging contains BPA, the chemical currently in the news and which is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.

As for our use of polystyrene #6, you’ll be reassured to learn that #6 containers are considered safe for food use by the both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union (EU). The FDA requires the styrene content of the packaging be less than 5,000 parts per million (ppm). The styrene content in Stonyfield Farm’s polystyrene packaging does not exceed 400 ppm.

Green & Clean Moms take on Motherhood

Motherhood is one of those deep words. The meaning is usually so entwined with emotions and attachments that it has me stumbling to figure out how to briefly describe the word. I went through digital photo album after digital photo album trying to find one picture to describe the raw emotion of the word, motherhood. I learned I had very few pictures of with of me and my children together. I’m mostly behind the camera. The first time I looked at this picture, I smiled, paused and remembered the moments. The moment of excitement and glee, teaching my son about a starfish. The moment of discovery when he touched the water and felt the creature and the giggle that came out of his mouth. The moment of relief that he did not cry but enjoyed the experience and wanted to touch it again! Motherhood for me is just that, moments that nobody can take away from me. You might not see anything special when you look at this picture (other than I have way longer hair) but I see irreplaceable moments and this photo captured them and helps me to remember them. Enter you photo in the motherhood contest.

Hope, inspiration and a green clean giveaway for Earth Day 2008!

Happy Earth Day all of you Green & Clean Moms out there!!!! What a beautiful day! I have barely been on the computer because the children I have been taking walks, planting, and picking up garbage. I opened up my inbox and had an email from the Environmental Defense Fund and thought I’d share this very inspiring video. It speaks of hope and possibility and I think if more of us mommies unite there is indeed hope and possibility.



I also want to take a few sentences to firmly stand behind a product I so firmly believe in and a company, Shaklee. You can listen hereto my thoughts and feelings about Shaklee and the word “green”, in a recent interview I had with the company. I do not toot my own horn often and say I am a Shaklee Distributor because that is not what this “blog” is about, however, today seems like a very fitting place to tell you my feelings and point out to you while many companies are making their products “green” they are not a “green” company. Did you know that Shaklee was the first company to be certified climate neutral by the E.P.A., among other great environmental feats and connections? These are reasons I am with this company and their products are right for me and my family. Click here to watch a recent clip from the Rachel Ray show and what she has to say about the products.

I’d like to do a giveaway, sponsored by, myself! For one lucky family I would like to giveaway some green cleaners, that I love! To enter this contest I would like for you to do two things.

1) Leave a post with your spam proof email.
2) If you have a natural and non-toxic green cleaning tip or short cut for the home or garden tell us about it.

Begins Earth Day and end on Mother's Day...two very honorable days!

Of course, when you stumble me, dig me or subscribe I get more of the oh so “green” Google juice and I can’t get enough of that!!! If you have time you might want to also check out this wonderful article I was emailed from Kiwi (my favorite green mom magazine)! Happy Earth Day!

Fresh farm milk, bpa sippy cups, and my green blog agenda (with a contest)!

Happy Monday everyone! Good news to report, my family has made the switch to buying local milk (within a 100 mile radius) that is not certified organic but is only miss a sheet of paper. There are no antibiotics, no growth hormones used, no pesticides used and the farm is family owed. We can drive to visit the cows that make our milk and I cannot wait to do this! I researched this before I made the leap and wanted to know how the glass containers are cleaned ,why the farm was not organic, if they sold raw milk and other specific questions. I was actually excited and proud to take home my glass milk container and my husband thought the entire situation was weird. I don’t even like milk but decided to pour myself a glass so I could taste the difference. I have to tell you, it was remarkable. I had some organic milk from Horizon left over (which I like) but the fresh from the farm milk was so creamy and perfect. I might become a milk fan!!!

Ahhh, except I poured this healthy hormone free milk right into a BPA sippy cup. Yes, I know slap on the wrist a thousand times over (it was a gift). I’m recycling all of the "bad" sippy cups as soon as my samplers pack of BPA FREE cups arrive from The Soft Landing ( not all of my cups are unsafe, mind you). I have some things on my green and clean mom agenda that I am personally researching and changing over so that my family is safer and more" green".

In the very near future…

*I will blog about the new BPA water bottles I’ve begun using and why BPA is so bad, along with a giveaway!!! Yeah! This will be any day so check back real soon!
*I’ll be trying out some safe BPA free sippy cups for my two children and hope to have a ruling on which I like best, no my children like best! I’ve contacted several companies about their cups for samples or giveaways for my wonderful readers and hope to hear back from them!!!
*Crocs, everyone seems to be wearing them (including my kids) but they’re made in China and can you recycle them? Are they non-toxic and what’s the best way to really clean them (I have a secret). What is the company doing to be Earth Friendly???
*All about my C.S.A. and what I learned last year from my experience and some helpful tips.
*I will be personally, purchasing a wide array of healthy, organic snacks from http://www.yumyumsnacks.com/ to sample for my family and hope to blog about this experience. I don’t have many options in my small town. We have three grocery stores attempting to carry more organic food options, Wal-Mart that is completely sporadic with what they carry but cheaper and Kmart that has nothing. Cosco is four hours away!
My home is about 50/50 right now but Tiffany over at Nature Moms Blog, has inspired me to do better with her personal story and tips.

I have lots more in the works but I wanted to give you a heads up so you’re sure to keep checking back. I think it is very important to point out, I’m a mom just like most of you, trying to do her best to live some shade of green, each day. I’m not perfect and my family did not eat healthy or organic growing up so I am learning and sharing. I am trying new and safer products to share them with you and give you my feedback. I research, research, research and read, read, read and then hope to tell you my honest opinion, thoughts and findings.

Mom-a-licious could give your fridge a green makeover!

Like most of you moms out there, I’m learning along with all of you on how to be natural, green, and organic. I just happen to spend hours and hours reading, researching, trying new products, shopping and experimenting. I’m doing it for me, my family and the environment and then telling you all about what I learn. I get very excited about revealing some good news or must have "find" that I just know you will love! One area that I am continually learning more about is organic food and cooking. It’s hard to move away from the processed refined food that most of us grew up with (pop-tarts, Kraft mac and cheese, hot dogs, fruit roll ups, etc.) and to cook with healthy natural raw food. Understanding labels can be confusing and what is kale? Not only am I teaching my children how to appreciate fresh foods and natural flavors I have a Wonder bread, Little Debbie, cheese puff lover for a hubby.

I’m pretty sure if mom-a-licious, Domenica Catelli, came to my house and cooked up some kale or egg plant my husband would eat every last one of bite! If she spent the day with us, I’m pretty sure he’d give up the Little Debbie’s! That’s why I'm registering to win a refrigerator makeover contest, for a chance to have this first class, celebrity chef teach us some kitchen tricks and help us stock our refrigerator with healthy organic food. The contest ends, April 30th and is super easy.

Simply send the following items to contest@organicearthday.org

1. A photo of your family
2. Photos of the inside of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer
3. A brief (100 words or less) explanation of why YOUR family needs a grocery makeover

One lucky grand prize winning family will receive a day with Chef Catelli in their kitchen, which includes a trip to the grocery store for a full pantry, refrigerator, and freezer makeover with FREE organic groceries and a cooking lesson!
Five first prize winners will each receive a signed copy of Chef Catelli's new cookbook, Mom-a-licious, and a $200 gift certificate, so that they, too, can have a fresh start!

I encourage you to visit Organic Earth Day, for recipes, sign up for their newsletter for ideas on how to go organic and learn more about some terrific organic brands. I’m so happy I’ve stumbled onto this website and if I win the contest…you’ll know. Oh, and speaking of contests, have you entered to win the sexy and sassy organic tee? It ends tomorrow so hurry.