Well, my vacation was wonderful! I went to Ohio for a week and got to enjoy some chilly fall days, the turning of the leaves, and some good food and good friends. What more could I ask for? The best part of it all was that I actually felt like life was normal again. For months now and for a few more months to come my life is consumed by my cancer diagnosis.
Well, when I went to Ohio I actually felt like life was back to normal and it was so enjoyable. I guess that is why I have already planned another trip :). I am leaving tomorrow for a quick getaway to southern California. I am taking the kids to Disneyland and Universal Studios. My oldest son has been to both probably half a dozen times but my two youngest have never been so it is time for some good family fun at the happiest place on earth.
I do often feel a twinge of guilt becuase travel is not the most planet friendly activity but that just gives me an incentive to find all the ways to make travel a greener pursuit. The blog over at Your Elegant Bed and Bath has a nice “living green” section and in this post it discusses this exact topic and gives some good links for eco friendly travel ideas.
Now I can go see Mickey and feel a little less guilty about it.

I am leaving in just a few hours to go and enjoy a little bit of autumn in Ohio. I had planned on taking my laptop with me but I think I will just leave it behind and enjoy! I’ll be back in a few days. See ya later!
This week on Natural Moms Talk Radio, Carrie Lauth is interviewing babywearing expert Rebecca Wolf. She wrote the book on slings – how to pick the best one for you and for baby, the benefits of using baby carriers, and more. Stop by and have a listen!
Also be sure to check out Rebecca’s book.
If you’re anything like me, this time of year you find yourself trying to find ways to ensure that Halloween stays fun AND healthy for the kids. I absolutley LOVE Halloween and I could go broke buying decorations and costumes so I for one am also interested in Halloween products that will help me save a buck or two as well. Well, I ran across some Halloween products today that I wanted to share with you.
The first is a Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit. Give more than candy this year…give knowledge about the importance of Fair Trade! First launched in 2005, our Fair Trade Trick or Treat Kit in 2006 will include:
- A bag of Equal Exchange Fair Trade chocolate candy to hand out to Trick or Treaters (42 individual pieces)
- Large colorful Fair Trade is Boo-tiful poster identifying yours as a Fair Trade family!
- A large stack of 42 festive Halloween postcards for you to hand out
- Traditional Papel Picado Mexican party streamers (pictured on right)
- Trick or Treat Bag-A recycled Kraft handled bag decorated with our friendly Fair Trade ghost
Postcard Contents: A list of how you can help Fair Trade succeed, information about Fair Trade and how to identify Fair Trade Certified products, contact information, and a pre-written detachable postcard addressed to the CEO of Nestle USA, demanding that Nestle begin selling Fair Trade chocolate. ONLY $15.00!!!I also found some DIY Halloween products that look promising:
Make Your Child’s Halloween Costume EZ Face Painting
EZ Pumpkin Painting Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween!
I just read an article yesterday that outlines the horrors and travesty of our current animal food product production system in this country. The article claims that vegetarianism is the answer to all of this. I am not at all convinced.
I am not a vegetarian. I think this surprises many people because vegetarianism seems to be touted in recent years as the most “natural” way to eat. It surprises them even further to learn that I did in fact used to be a vegetarian (although not a vegan) but eventually went back to my meating eating ways when I decided that it was not in the best interests of my health to give up nutrient dense animal products. I was happy to find another who came to the same conclusions recently when reading Full Moon Feast�(an awesome book BTW). IMO the problem is not that we eat meat or animal products but the volume we consume and the way we go about producing those foods. A good book that kinda goes into that is Full Moon Feast which talks about eating according to the phases of the moon and eating the way we did hundreds of years ago. Interestingly it mentions one researcher a lot that traveled the word finding isolated tribes and groups of people that still ate and lived the way their ancestors did and he could not find one group that was vegetarian. All groups ate animal products of some sort and were among the healthiest individuals he had ever seen. Their bone health was amazing in comparison to so called progressive societies.
I always admired vegans and their dedication because I could not fathom living without things like delicious raw milk, and farm fresh eggs. But this book makes a good case for the fact eating animal products is a natural and healthy way to eat just not the industrialized stuff that is massed produced today.
Here is a quote from Full Moon Feast:
As far as I know, there is no evidence of a thriving, vegan culture that has been able to provide adequate nutrition to its people generation after generation. Every group Price studied not only valued animal products for their nutrient density, but also made special arrangements to ensure that all members of the community had at least periodic access to them that would not be interrupted by war or weather.
The stuff mentioned in that article (above) is appalling but it is just means that we cannot trust or eat the products of industrialized farming. I don�t think vegetarianism is the “solution” like that article says. IMHO the solution can be found in books like Full Moon Feast and The Omnivores Dilemma. We must make the move to small scale, local, organic, and sustainable food production.
