www.greenandcleanmom.org--I have left blogger

On my way out the door...I screwed up my sexy and sassy blogger template from Judith Shakes Designs. Blogger is making all of these upgrades and I was trying to redirect traffic to my new site: www.greenandcleanmom.org by setting up a custom domain, under publishing. It says to use a classic template, so I backed up my template (like you should always do) and tried to do the new custom pubshing. Um...you can see the results. I cannot get my wonderful design back and I tried. At first I freaked but nah, I'm not promoting this site anymore and want you to come on over to where it's really sexy and sassy...

Http://www.greenandcleanmom.org

They says things happen for a reason. Come on over and visit the new and improved site!

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.

Don't believe climate change is happening? Read this!

Just yesterday the BBC reported, scientist traveling with Canadian troops discovered a network (more than one folks) of cracks in the areas largest arctic ice shelf, Ward Hunt. New cracks you wonder? YES! This is a clear indication to the scientists that climate change is indeed happening. If you didn’t believe it before you should read the full article for more details and information. Proof that we need to do something and moms, every little thing we do counts. It all adds up.

A great video to watch that does more investigtion on global warming and climate change: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7395383.stm

TOXIC car seats...what's next?

I checked my email and could not believe I was reading about car seats being toxic.

Mom's Rising sent me this:

A recent study conducted by the watchdog group, Friends of the Earth, found that 56% of infant carriers, 44% of car seats, and 40% of the strollers they tested had dangerous levels of toxic fire retardant chemicals.[1]

This is downright scary--and is yet another toxic exposure on a long list of children's products with toxic chemicals to come out lately. We have to turn this tide.

The good news: Graco, the giant manufacturer of children's products, responded to the Friends of the Earth report the day it was published. Graco says they want to do the right thing, but they haven't yet committed to removing these chemicals from their products. If Graco gets rid of these chemicals, other baby product manufacturers will be under enormous pressure to follow suit.

*Ask Graco, and other manufacturers of children's products, to not use any more halogenated fire retardants - period!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1230

Haloge-what? Halogenated flame retardants have been shown to cause serious health disorders including endocrine disruption, cancer, birth defects and a host of reproductive and neurological disorders in developing fetuses and offspring in animals.

No frickin' way! What will be next? We buckle our kiddos into their car seats to protect them but the foam they're bottom is in, it is loaded with toxic chemicals. Watch this CBS video to learn more:

Reusable bags make SUV eco-savvy!

My very "ungreen" vehicle seems to fill up with kids junk. Toys, books, sunglasses, etc. You know how children have to lug everything with them? In my case, I have every prehistoric dinosaur toy stored in my car. Seriously. I needed a solution for storing this "stuff". I have tons of reusable bags and decided, what a good way to utilize two of these bags, hang them on the back of the seats! Each child has their own reusable bag filled with their, "stuff"! My son can easily bend over and reach for his bag and not have to unsafely ask me to reach over and hand him a toy. I'm using the reusable bags, staying organized, the kids are happy and my hands are on the wheel and eyes on the road! I think the reusable bags make my car more earth friendly!

Green & Clean Mom drives a SUV...so what!

I’m buying a new vehicle (my husband doesn’t know this yet). What I want is not practical for where I live or what I need it for. I have a family of four. We live where it snows (lots of snow people) October through March and sometimes April. I drive back roads almost daily. For my business I haul lots of stuff, along with the kids, strollers and groceries. My husband has the perception that bigger is safer and the more mass the more protected his family is. He doesn’t care about gas prices or the environment when it comes to his family. The day we brought my son home from the hospital, he took us home and went to the dealership and bought me a Yukon XL. Ask me if I was green then and I’ll say, no, but the SUV is green!

Scream at me now, I really don’t care! I am so tired of people being judgmental about going green and doing things earth friendly. It is stupid. If I want to drive a gas hog but use reusable bags then that is my business. Isn’t it better that I used the reusable bags then the plastic? I have people write me and say they don’t know why they bother trying because they’re never “green” enough. EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS! I could go buy a hybrid but that doesn’t mean I’m green or more earth friendly. Just yesterday, I saw somebody at the grocery store whip in with their hybrid smoking a toxic cig, threw the gum wrapper in the parking lot and had no reusable bags in tow. You know what they were buying? Toxic cleaning products! Driving a hybrid doesn’t make someone more earth loving than me or better and visa versa. There are lots of myths out there about hybrids and one of them is that they are more fuel efficient and have lower emissions, read myth number three from this article. A car does say a lot about who you are and what you believe but that timely saying, “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover”, should very much apply. Even The Daily Green posted an article about the misconceptions of “green” cars and it would do everyone some good to take a gander.

In my research for vehicles and pricing, I decided to check out a favorite site of mine, Tree Hugger. I found a recent post from one of their “tree huggers” that bought a SUV that was not a hybrid. I was even a little surprised but as I read through the interview and then the comments I understood. I became upset with the judgmental comments made but not surprised. Buying a car is a personal choice and you cannot change the perception or feeling of safety, case in point…my husband. What a person drives should not dictate who they are or how eco-savvy they are. If we want more moms and more people to do better things for the Earth and be more “green”, all of us need to be supporting even the smallest of choices and changes. A family that simply switches to organic milk and begins composting is making a difference, whether they drive a hybrid or not!

Seeing that I don’t live in the city, there’s no public transportation, I frequent snowy back roads and have a family, I will not be choosing a bike or a small hybrid. This doesn’t mean I don’t want one and it does not imply I am any less eco-savvy then the mom driving a hybrid. Thumbs up to her! When you and the kids need a ride maybe we can car pool and we’ll use my vehicle! What vehicle will I choose? Not a GMC, if I have my way! I’m really unsure at this point but I’m leaning towards a mini-van. If any car companies want me to do some test driving to make up my mind, I’ll love to do the review! LOL! I’ll let you all know when I decide but until then, keep you mean SUV opinions to yourself and start worrying about what choices you’re making and how you’re helping to support others out there going green. Passing judgment and acting holier than though doesn’t really do the “Green” movement any justice.