Boing!! Spring!

Well, not really...and for those of you to the Mid-West to the Mid-Atlantic, I know that the notion of Spring is but a teasing whisper in your ear.

But do you know that feeling...?  When you are *done* with Winter and all the fun it entails.  We've loved the snowmen, the snow days, the cozy days drinking hot chocolate, but then, then, you get a whiff of Spring.  Maybe the temperature is above forty degrees, even if just for a few hours.  Or you hear a bird chirping outside your window.  Or...The Seed Catalog Arrives.

That's where we are right now.  The air felt warm, the bird sounded happy instead of pining, and the catalog just arrived.

So, of course, in the spirit of Spring, this blog needed refreshing AND I suddenly felt my husband needed this for Valentine's Day (from Gardener's Supply Company):

(The woman is not included)

This year, I so resolve to break out my copy of Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots



Most intriguing to me is A Garden of Giants! I would love for my children to be able to get lost in a maze of towering plants; to forget about the outside world for a while and to create their own surrounded by flowers.

And finally, a special thank you to Nini Makes who selected me personally (oh, I know it was luck of the draw, but how lucky I am!) to receive such a delightful pin cushion! Thank you, Joanie!

Are you dreaming of Spring?

Today is Chilly & A Couple Pictures from the Farm

The Kiss of the Sun for Pardon

My gosh, the temperature must have dropped at least 20 degrees.  It's overcast and rainy, which after days of sun, high temperatures, and humidity, I call cozy.

Could it be that summer is winding down?  Here are a few posts I have planned  for Gift of Green this week:

Checking in with SaltandChocolate.  She always has good ideas for transitioning to/from work between the seasons.

A review of My Teenage Werewolf by Lauren Kessler.  If you have daughters you'll want to read this, what I call, memoir of the author's daughter's middle school years.

Do you have any Teenage Werewolves at your house?

A Welcoming Path

Join Sew, Mama, Sew's back to school sew-fest!

I've recently discovered (or maybe re-discovered) the fabulous site Sew, Mama, Sew!  Join them (and me) for a month of fabulous tutorials, pattern give-aways, and ideas for getting back into the swing of school...even if it's just the school of life!

I Heart Spoonflower

Even though I don't really consider myself crafty (although see here and here), I am fascinated by fabric as so many of you are...

Have you visited, therefore, Spoonflower?  I suggest you have a paper bag next to you as you peruse this site - you may hyperventilate at all the yummy choices.  You may design and print your own fabric, or, lucky us, we may benefit from the designs of others.  What will it be?  Cheater Quilt?  Retro Travel?  Or this pattern for a wrap skirt, all in one yard!  Betcha can't order just one!

Follow Spoonflower at http://twitter.com/spoonflower

Where Am I?

Ah!  Good question!  I ask myself that on nearly a daily basis.  The fact that I am off work for the summer contributes to my confusion.  Is it Monday or Thursday?  The end of July or the beginning of August.  It's nice to lose track of time.

So this fall I start my third year as an elementary school librarian.  Hard to believe.  I still pinch myself to see if I've really landed that dream job. 

In two more weeks I will be done, done, done with the seven classes I've been taking (didn't I make it seem so simple?) that I needed to get my full teaching license.  No.  More.  Classes.  (After one more large project - grrr).

And what will I do with all this "spare" time?  It's so easy to over commit when you are starting the next phase, but I intend to concentrate on Pip and Sprout.  They'll both be in elementary school together - ah, bliss.  I will concentrate on that aforementioned dream job.  There are so many FUN things to do and plan.  Speaking of...do you have a question about books for children?  Ask the Librarian (that's me).  Leave a comment and I will answer your question in a future post.

And finally, oh Joanie save me, I'm about to craft again!  (I did make it on Crafty Crow, you know).  I'm starting here... 

And what about Green Husband you ask?  He's about to embark on his on little landscape design business and try his hand at being Stay-At-Home-Dad.  Yes, with the economy there's been a ripple effect, so there are some changes afoot.  "You have to throw a stone to get the pool to ripple."

And finally, finally, oh joy!  I finished Summer's Lease by John Mortimer.  It took me five. FIVE summers to finish it, but I did it and I've now netflixed the movie.  I urge you to try it.  It won't take you five summers to finish.

Sigh

And double sigh.  And sigh again.

La La La L.A.

For a year and a half I lived in Los Angeles, working at UCLA.  Contrary to what most people think, my little corner of the universe - West Los Angeles & Santa Monica were totally accessible by bus.  Work was could even be a walk home if the weather was nice and ah, the weather *was* nice.  You had to be careful though...you might trip over some avocados that had dropped onto the sidewalk from an overhanging branch.  I mean... Ah, Caruso...paradise on earth.

Back on the East Coast, this time of year always reminds me of Los Angeles.  Maybe because the flowers are in bloom, reminding me of the jacaranda trees - or the warm, perfumed air before it turns all hot and Hell-like.  Who knows.  I am glad to be living where I am.  Green Husband grew up here and there is something extremely pleasant about running into various generations peeps from way back when you drop into the hardware store or the barbershop.  And of course, Spring is never so delightful when it has been a hard winter.  But still, I do loooove L.A.

green LA girl has been blogging right along since who knows when about all green things LA.  Now I can live vicariously through her posts this Spring, with an eye out for my former stomping grounds.

Sometimes You Just Gotta

sigh.

I miss.

It was the very first blog I read and her writing, her mod home, her daily dress, were little postly gems.

I have no reason for writing this; I guess it's like when you've reached the end of a darn good book series and you're in search of another one.

Tomorrow we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming and The Giveaway will be revealed.

All Things Great and Clotheslines

I happened upon two great posts yesterday on all things clotheslines.

First, head on over to Heather's post at Enviromom and then to The Greenest Dollar to get inspired, and then sign on for Gift of Green's Clothesline Challenge that begins (for those of you, like, er, me, who don't actually air dry year round!) May 1st!

And then, oh beauty, if you are in need of some inspiration there are two Flickr groups - who knew there could be such beauty in clothes hanging out to dry?

Clothespins & Beautiful Clotheslines

Warm Southerly Breeze

For those of you who live north of the Mason-Dixon line, you are going to laugh when I tell you how miserable the cold is making me. Not to mention The Cold of The Century that I have and the two little petri dishes I have (in the form of children) who are at the doctor's office as we speak (no, Green Husband has taken them there; I am not live blogging from the waiting room), no doubt being diagnosed with strep throat (again).

So you can imagine my sheer joy and almost shedding of tears when I heard this on the weather report: "Today may be the last cold day of the season, with a warm Southerly breeze bringing a warming trend to our area with highs tomorrow in the upper 40s." Warm Southerly Breeze. Upper 40s.

And please note that I am aware that I am driving you crazy with my almost weekly changes in blogger templates. I am itching for a real change. Can anyone suggest someone who will design a new blogger header for me?

I am so excited, not just for the upper 40s, but for all the greenness that is coming my way once again. I have an upcoming review of a new book from Barefoot Books (with a giveaway of said book), a new book from the Reader's Digest family on organic gardening, and, shall I mention it again, Gift of Green's Clothesline Challenge 2009!

And if you are having a rotten day, just look at Mary Beth's photo...doesn't it just bring a Warm Southerly Breeze to your face?

Alphabet Summer

Slouching Mom posted her summer acrostic over at Grasshopper New Media Parents. I love acrostics, so I thought I would try my hand at creating my own based on her own "Summer with Kids" - I thought it would be fun to do mine first before reading hers to see how much our summers are similar! (If you really like acrostics, I encourage you to check out Leslie Evans' great book of summer acrostics, beautifully illustrated.) Here goes:


Acting out plays
Beach and Bay
Catching fireflies
Docks
Eating popsicles
Filling sand buckets
Giggling
Hot dogs
Ice cream trucks
Juice boxes
Kiddie pools
Late bedtimes
Meeting up with the cousins
Napping
Outdoors
Popping bubbles
Quiet moments
Reading books about summer
Sweaty faces
Too humid!
Up and at 'Em!
Visiting grandparents
Water wings
Xtra large sunflowers
Youtube!
Zero worries

Enviromom's Tricks of the (clothesline) Trade

Renee over at Enviromom has an awesome post up today, demonstrating her clothesline technique (it involves bungee cords) and giving us a live look at her clothesline in action as it was featured (along with her adorable family) on Portland-area television.

Thanks, Renee!!

Green Musings

Jinkies, we have a lot of catching up to do!

It just seems that with the coming of spring the opportunities for getting into the green of things are endless!

April 1st is right around the corner and that means I will be turning over a new leaf (for two months, anyway). I will be joining Mamas on the Compact where I pledge to eliminate the purchase of new items. Gulp. Anyone care to join me?

Have you heard the buzzzzzzzzz about "The Great Sunflower Project" out of San Francisco State University? My good friend Lakshmi alerted me to this site where participants can help researchers achieve their goal of increasing our understanding of where bees are doing poorly and how the pollination of our garden and wild plants are being affected.

Say project leaders: "We're hoping you will join us by planting sunflowers in your garden. Community, demonstration, and school gardens are invited to participate. We'll send you some free native sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed and twice a month, we'd like you to time how long it takes for 5 bees to visit one flower on that sunflower. This information will give us an index of pollination that we can compare across the United States."

Win some gardening goodies from the National Gardening Association when you enter their When You Garden You Grow giveaway.

I have two great bloggy book give-aways coming up! Stay tuned for a chance to win a copy of the Holistic Moms Network's cookbook "Growing Healthy Families" and, just in time for Spring (or a little late), Leslie Evan's beautifully illustrated Spring acrostic book.

And finally, I am super excited to say that as my good friend Sue toils over my blog button, I am gearing up to give you details on "Gift of Green's Clothesline Challenge 2008"!! The challenge will begin May 1st and I hope you'll sign on for the summer! More details coming up soon!

Getting a Visual - Chris Jordan's "Running the Numbers" Series

Green Gramps emailed me this morning with a website alert! Seattle-based artist and photographer Chris Jordan offers a glimpse of his most recent work, "Running the Numbers":

"This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming." ~Chris Jordan

Using common goods to depict staggering numbers Jordan, even in the details he has chosen of his immense works, represents everything from the number of children without health insurance to the number of plastic bags used in the United States every five seconds.

If you are living in Oberlin, check out Jordan's exhibit up close and personal at the Allen Memorial Art Museum and file a report from the field, would ya?

***Update***

And then there's this little article in the L.A. Times from March 14th: "Popular 'green' products test positive for toxicant".

The Back of the Police Station is...

Orange juice, canned or cartoned, is now evidently OUT.

[I think only my dad will understand the title of this post]

Yup. Still Reading.

I really do need to hurt my sister-in-law as she was the one who INSISTED I just take ONE more course to get this whole certification thing over with. She doesn't even read my blog!

Please don't get me wrong, however. It is a lot of reading but do you understand the JOY of HAVING to read? I mean I can't fail the class. And I can't waste tuition fees and...honey, can you put the kids to bed? I have to READ. Can you give the kids a bath (okay, Green Husband does that anyway)? I HAVE to read. Honey, can you get up off the couch and make me some coffee. I'm very busy over here. Reading.

So, two quick things -

Bumper Sticker of the Week: "Recycle Yourself - Be An Organ Donor"

and...I just had to steal this quote that's featured on a new blog I'm catching up on Walk Slowly, Live Wildly:

"Beware of activities that require new clothes"
~ Henry David Thoreau

Plastic Bags Redux Redux

I have been receiving quite a number of comments on the plastic bag/ziploc posts and they have included a number of swell ideas for at least cutting down on the amount of Ziplocs (I'm expecting to hear from S. C Johnson at any moment about trademark infringement, so let's call them...zipper bags) being used on a daily basis. I thought I would highlight some of them as some great ideas often get hidden in the comment cellar.

First of all, let me just draw your attention to Not Quite Crunchy Parent because she had a post on precisely this topic so head on over if you haven't seen it before.

Elizabeth, one of my parenting and heck, all around idols (who probably doesn't know how much a brief comment she made on the concept of "choice" has changed my life) writes, "I freeze lots of things in the containers w/lids we get soup in from chinese take out. They are great and we use them for tons of things: food, craft supplies, snacks in the car, bug catching -- you name it!" If this also means I need to order more Chinese take out, I'm all for it.

Village Mama says, "DO give up those little monsters - we use the plastic packaging from cereal, keep all our bread plastic bags, and sometimes use parchment paper over and over." while Mom Go Green says that reusing can go a long way too. Baby steps, I've always said baby steps.

And finally, I have chosen Noel's comment as my quote of the week and possibly as my motto on my baggie free quest: "I understand the need for keeping moisture out, but sometimes I think life is a little more important than a soggy sandwich!"

Attention Green-Mart Shoppers!

I have stayed away from making holiday gift suggestions simply because there are so many of you serving up adorable ideas, but I just want to bring your attention to two possible options for, you know, the gal who has everything (but does she have a beehive) and the fair trade lover in your life.

Green Nana reminded me about Heifer International. And no, it isn't just about heifers anymore! The milk from one goat or the honey from one beehive can make a huge financial difference to a family that is choosing between sending a child to school or having them earn much needed money for the household. You can even surprise a mama with a llama! And don't worry - you won't have to concern yourself with shipping and handling charges for the water buffalo. It's all included.

If you're lucky enough to be in Bar Harbor, Maine right now, trip on over to a new shop on Firefly Lane and browse Fair Trade Winds' selection of fair trade goods. Not going to be Down East any time soon? Order from the dozens of products on their website; free shipping on orders of $50 or more through December 31st! I purchased several items and received them promptly by mail in boxes that had obviously been recycled. Fair trade and green to boot!

Happy shopping!

***

Update: Stayed tuned for "The Mac Goes Back" post. Yes, that's right. To the store. So disappointed my MacBook friends.

Bloggy Giveaway Winners!

We have a winner(s)!! Congratulations to Ames from yay pie! and hooray for bananas for scoring a copy of Autumn and to Smiling Mama for getting her bloggy paws on a copy of Winter. Oh, you lucky ladies - I envy you! Oh wait, I already have these books! Yay! Thanks for entering everyone and I hope to have another bloggy giveaway very soon.

I managed to burn the midnight oil last night and thanks again to Kellie's excellent tutorial, I finished up Sprout's tulle ballet skirt.
I was very happy with it, if I don't say so myself, and Sprout wanted to wear it to daycare which I took to be the ultimate in compliments.

Deb from I'm Organic emailed me to let me know about her site and to mention that she has some giveaways (one a week) for those of you who sign up for their newsletter. Lots of cute stuff, Deb, and there's even an organiblog! Thanks for sharing!

For all you non-vegetarians out there...what are you doing about your Thanksgiving turkey? Organic or Butterball?

Green Musings

'Ello luvs.

Lots of chit chat to share with you this evening.

First, as I mentioned, lots of linking to green giveaways to ensue...My Two Boys is featuring a lovely tool set from Natural Pod and an adorable doll from HappyGreenBee.

Perusing through the Post this morning...back to back items of interest. One piece about bloggers and 10 tips to see and be seen in the blogosphere, and another about green, green, and more green by Michelle Thomas. Setchi is a new boutique on Wisconsin Avenue in the Georgetown section of D.C. According to its owner, Jessica del Pilar, all of the store's items "lay claim to at least one of four green concepts. Every item is made of organic fabrics or reclaimed materials, or it is produced locally or according to fair-trade standards." Worth a look-see even if if the Again Clutch is entirely beyond my budget.

Speaking of fabulous things but within budget, I must make a shameless plug for Because I'm Me...'s Etsy shop, now almost fully stocked. I purchased one of her quilts some time ago now - the fabrics are just luscious.

Non-sequitor - Big Binder has drawn my attention to a clever little program in Michigan...Paper Gator Recycling...as a fundraiser. So long Sally Foster!

While I have decided that I am no longer entirely uncrafty, I sure am not crafty enough to make one of these fabulous eco-friendly lunch bags. See 'em and swoon over at Sew, Mama, Sew.