Happy Valentine’s everyone! I did my Valentine’s date last weekend with my sweetheart and it was spectacular. In fact I had so much fun that I didn’t feel like blogging much this week. Just wanted to sit on the couch with my honey and snuggle. Oh well!

We went out for an early dinner and ate one of our favorites… sushi! We had a sushi place in Phoenix that we considered “our place” and had not had much luck finding a place like that in Columbus but I think we finally did. We got a sushi boat for two, salad, miso soup (which I picked the tofu out of), and mochi ice cream. All was delicious! After dinner we went exploring in Polaris mall and ended up getting a couples massage at an Acupressure place. Then we went to a theater and saw Chronicle. My husband got to pick but luckily we have the same taste in movies. It was really good and action packed. After the movie we both noticed how close we were to Powell and there is a Jeni’s Ice Cream in Powell so well, yeah we had to go out for ice cream… again. It was so nice to spend so much time together, just the two of us!!

This week I got my annual delivery of heritage seeds from Seed Saver’s Exchange. W got a lettuce mixture, Dragon carrots, Tennis Ball lettuce, Scarlet Globe radishes, Five Color Silverbeet swiss chard, Kale, and Red Butterhead Lettuce. This year we plan to grow our own salad bar and not grow any tomatoes, like last year. We had way too many!

I have been pinning up a storm on my Pinterest Gardening Board. I also have some good gardening posts from the past if you are interested: Getting Kids Excited About Gardening, Urban Gardening for City Farmgirls, Garden Tool Sets and Gear for Children. I am excited for spring and for gardening!

Other cool links from the blogosphere:

Think Twice Before You Buy Hershey’s Kisses for Your Valentine by Diane at Big Green Purse. She shows how being selective with what chocolate we buy can help stop forced child labor. Amen!

Since I have been cooking with cast iron so much I needed this article about how to properly season your pots and pans. Great info!

I also liked this article from a fitness blogger who took on the subject of bladder challenges after childbirth. I had my own issues after birthing three, 9-10 pound babies and then I ran across a doctor who told me that Kegels were the worst exercise you could do to tighten this region and that they actually made the issue worse! This article and interview with a biomechanical scientist says the exact same thing. Instead of kegels we should be doing squats and trying to firm up our bums and thereby our pelvic floor. All I have to say is that after almost a year of squats in the gym, I am a big time believer.

Along those same lines a good book I have been hearing about is Lose Your Mummy Tummy. It discusses the fact that the abdominal muscles separate to allow for a growing uterus when we get pregnant. For some 98% of women that split never closes up totally and you get a bulging tummy long after you have your baby/babies. The author advises that sit ups and crunches make it worse  and she highlights some exercises that will actually help. After 3 babies and 2 abdominal surgeries (not c-sections) I am wary it could help me but I will give it a shot. ;)

Chobani Champions Yogurt Giveaway!!

Lastly I have a giveaway. Chobani yogurt recently sent me some of their Chobani Champions flavors for kids to try and they were big hit here. I have mentioned before that I am something of a Chobani addict. They are my favorite brand of Greek yogurt, or any yogurt for that matter. I sometimes feel guilty that I don’t buy the organic Greek yogurt that is out there but the flavor is just not as good so I hesitate to spend $2.00 a cup on something I don’t absolutely love. Chobani is pricey enough at $1.29 a cup and often times I am stingy with it for this reason. My kids loved having their own Chobani.

The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the yogurt they sent is non-fat. I refuse to buy the non-fat Chobani varieties because I don’t believe our food should be non-fat. I refuse to jump on the low-fat bandwagon. If the folks at Chobani read this please provide full fat and organic options in the future please!

So… I have a case of the new flavors (3 packs Orange Vanilla/ 3 packs Vanilla Choc Chunk)  to give away to two readers. To enter just leave a comment and tell me if you eat yogurt in your house and what your favorites are. For an extra entry “Like” the Chobani Champions Facebook page and leave a second comment telling me you did so. Good luck and have an awesome weekend and Valentine’s Day!!

This month the Green Moms Carnival is tackling love for the month of February but not in the usual sense. Participants were asked to share the green books and authors they love. At first I was rather anxious because I thought it was just what books we love in general and that would be, for me, like picking which grains of sand I like best. I go to the library 2-3 times a week. I have 20-30 books checked out at any given time. I always have my nose in book and have since I was a teen. Books are like oxygen to me and I love quite a few of them. But green books is a much more manageable a task to identify. Or is it?

Once I got to thinking about all the memoirs, local food books, homesteading guides, green energy/green living books, eco crafts, nature enjoyment books, etc. that I have read, I started thinking maybe it wasn’t so easy to pick just a few to highlight here. With some heavy sighs I will try to isolate some of those grains of sand…

I must start off with some of the very first green books I ever read.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour – This was one of the first books I ever read about self sufficiency and sustainability. I had grand dreams of having a farm and growing/raising my own food. At the time my husband was so not interested in any of it. Now… 7ish years later he is the one devouring this book and others like it and insisting we take steps to become more self sufficient and responsible for our own food. This book is a true classic.

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader - It was this book that made me see that having a big farm was not necessarily the only route to go. The author, Joan Dye Gussow, is an inspiration and she lives on a suburban lot where she grows lots of her own food. As a big city lover I found this book very inspirational.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - This book by Barbara Kingsolver was another important book in my own journey. Like me, she moved from the Southwest to the East in search of greener pastures, literally. It was her family’s mission to buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.

EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture  – A wonderful look inside an eco village, and planning for sustainable futures as a group and community.

Some Newer Books I Love…

Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini – A book that made me change my mind about something I never thought I would change my mind about. A book that most likely will have inspired me to buy my first hunting license very soon. I almost hesitate to classify it as a green book but it is very much about local food!

The Dirty Life - It follows along on the real life adventure of Kristin Kimball who was a writer working in NYC. She met a farmer while on assignment, married him, and they started an ambitious “whole diet” CSA.

Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride - Choosing simplicity is green and that is what this book is about. The idea behind the book is to show us how being frugal and simple in our taste is really an art form. It has nothing to do with being miserly or being a cheapskate and everything to do with living well, even luxuriously, on less. LOVE this book!

Big Green Purse by Diane MacEachern – I think this is such an important book because it shows how we can create world change by being mindful about how we shop and what we buy. It doesn’t encourage senseless spending or rampant consumerism but it does address the fact that everyone is still going to spend money on the products that matter to them. If money talks then we need to be aware of what our money is saying. It is all about using the power of our purses to affect change. Read my review here: Shopping for World Change. Diane is also one of the most amazing, intelligent, and inspiring ladies you could ever meet. I feel honored to have met her last month.

A Mile in Her Boots – Women Who Work in the Wild (multiple authors) - It has essays and stories from park rangers, smokejumpers, field scientists, and other female outdoorswomen.

Fave Authors 

I could really only think of two non-fiction authors that are on my must-buy list… as in it doesn’t matter what the book is about, I must have it. I would of course buy other books by the authors mentioned above but the two below have multiple books on the market and I have them all.

Amanda Soule of Handmade Home, The Creative Family, and The Rhythm of Family. All her books are beautiful and inspirational. The projects inside them are green and resourceful usually and the whole concept behind them is to live in simplicity and with greater mindfulness.

Any book by MaryJane Butters. She is the Martha Stewart of homesteading and farming. My fave’s are MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook : For the Farmgirl in All of Us and MaryJane’s Outpost. I get them out and re-read at least once a year.

What you think? What are your favorite green books/authors?

One of the really fun things I got to do on my trip to Detroit for the auto show (NAIAS ) was go to the Henry Ford Museum. I got to see an exhibit that has not opened to the public yet AND had a catered dinner right there among all the amazing cars. I felt kinda bad being there without my Dad though… he would have loved it! I did however, get to have dinner with some amazing green mom friends.

As a big history buff I just love museums so this was right up my alley even if cars really aren’t.

The highlights for me had to be the car Kennedy was in when he was assassinated…

The chair Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated…

And Rosa Park’s Bus.

We even got to sit inside the bus. Amazing.

My daughter thought Kennedy’s car and Lincoln’s chair were morbid when I showed her the photos. It was a very solemn experience seeing them and one I won’t soon forget. That is what I love about history, how it can reach out and grab you, and make you teary eyed even many years after the fact. It makes us think, and remember, and think some more. It makes us wonder what we would do if we were put in certain historical situations. Would we be that brave? Would we be that honorable? Would we stand for that injustice?

#FordNAIAS

** Ford Motor Company paid for my travel and accommodations at the 2-day Innovation and Design Fantasy Camp event, I was not compensated in any other manner for my time. Opinions posted here are my own.**

January is named after the Roman god Janus, god of doorways and thus January is the door to the year. Janus had two faces, one to see the past and one to see the future. Likewise we can reflect back on the previous year, learn from our failures and successes, and look to the future with exuberance.  This is the month we spend looking inside ourselves to set a path for the year and prepare for our journey with focus.

My goals for 2011 are still very much in effect. I will keep on hitting the gym and exercising. I will also keep carving out time for me. But I have some other goals too.

This year I resolve to…

Have More Fun

I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t take many photos in 2011 but honestly we didn’t do much photo worthy stuff. I had grand plans but I let it all fall apart when life got busy. We had a big illness (ie cancer) within the extended family and my husband worked tons of overtime. The only thing even remotely close to a vacation for us was a day trip to the Hocking Hills. I also turned down several fun business travel opportunities because I felt my kids were still a wee bit too young for me to be away (been doing that for years). This year needs to be different. We will take a real vacation and I will make sure my family fun plans actually make it out of the planning stage. I will also travel for business and leave my kids in the reliable hands of my husband. For that to happen it would help if I…

Make More Money

I have a confession. I don’t work all that hard. I worked my arse off for several years when I was just starting my home business and ever since I hit a certain point in my income I have been happy to coast along doing the bare minimum. Yes, technically I earn more with each passing year but imagine what I could earn if I actually put some effort into it. I like to tell myself we don’t NEED more money but my husband has worked a little too much overtime for that to be true. I need to step up and earn the money I know I can make. If it turns out we don’t actually need the money, we can spend it on wants… like the aforementioned FUN. I hear DisneyWorld calling my name. Or we can send it along to our emergency savings and/or IRAs.

In order to make more money I think I need to buckle down and…

Get More Organized

I am sooo badly organized it is tragic and it has to change if I want to earn more money and remember all the fun events coming up that I want my family to take part in. I am sick of dropping the ball on opportunities because the pitches get lost in my email inbox or I just plain forget about a fun event in our hometown. I also need to spend less time on Facebook playing games and reading blog posts in my RSS feed that will not advance my goals. It would help if I knew exactly what I needed to be doing and make sure that was done BEFORE play time.

These 3 goals or resolutions are enough for now I think since my 2011 goals are still in effect… make time for me and also for exercise and fitness. To kick things off I am armed with a To-Do list that I print (on recycled household paper) each day. Each evening I brainstorm and figure out what needs done from blogging to cleaning the toilet. I keep it at no more than 15 things and I try to get everything checked off by the end of the evening. I also have a daily planner on my desk where I can write down all the fun family stuff I saw in the paper or online, even months out, so I will remember them. Above my desk I have a white board calendar with appointments, bill due dates, and work deadlines.

Also helpful are these 3 books. I hope to write more about them soon…

Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life

Organize Now! 12 Month Home & Activity Planner

Organize Now! Your Money, Business & Career: A Week-by-Week Guide to Reach Your Goals

I also accepted a business travel opportunity in late 2011 and I leave in a few days. Woot! Plus I bought a ticket to BlogHer12 and reserved my hotel room in NYC for later this year. This year is going to be awesome. I just know it!

What have you resolved to do for 2012?

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – Soulemama

Around this time of year it is common to see lots of tips for how to keep kids entertained, how to make sure their getting outside to play, and generally having a fun summer. That’s all well and good but what about mom? If the start of my summer is any indication I think MOM needs to carve out fun time or relaxation time even more. So far this summer I have been feeling like an unpaid babysitter. My kids all have friends over every day that want to be entertained, fed, and generally looked after while their parents work. When I protest about the extra cooking, cleaning, and even laundry (towels for after water play) that I have to do I get rolled eyes and talk of how mean I am being. In order to keep my cool and be able to handle all this extra work and stress, and yes other people’s kids stress me out, I need to make sure I am getting some me time each day and taking it easy. Here are some of my ideas:

1. A Rockin Summer Reading List – Our public library is promoting summer reading for kids right now but instead I am making my own reading list. I am stepping away from computer work and reading something fun and entertaining every day. I love to read but usually work comes first, but for the summer I think I need to make more time to read. I recently read Divergent, a dystopian novel that I loved. Also The Iron King and The Iron Daughter which are two books in a trilogy about mythical creatures and fey. Just started reading The Iron Queen last night. I also recommend The Hunger Games trilogy and Graceling. I love that I can read wherever my kids are too.

If you have any good books to recommend let me know in the comments so I can add them to my library reserve list!

2. Catch a solo movie – In the summer the theaters open early with showtimes at 10 or 11 AM. I will often go catch the early show by myself. Sometimes I might take my oldest boy too. That way I can see Pirates, and Thor, and X-Men.. all the latest summer movies (I am a huge movie buff) and get time away from the house and my duties. I save money by going before noon (for only $5), by using a rewards card that earns you free movies, and by buying theater gift cards at Giant Eagle to pay for my tickets. Each $50 gift card I buy earns me .20 cents off up to 30 gallons of gas. We get tons of free gas by using this little trick… buying gift certificates for all the places we shop.

3. Get a pedicure – If you keep it simple and just get a basic pedicure… aka massage, buffing, nail painting ect. you can minimize exposure to chemicals and still get pampered. Most places will even let you bring your own nail polish so you can buy polish without toxic chemicals and still have pretty toes. Most places also have massage chairs so you get a whole body massage and gorgeous piggies. It is a great way to spend and hour!

4. Go to the Gym – My husband and I have become gym junkies of late and when either of us has to miss our designated time it can throw off our mood off for days. We NEED that exercise and time away. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I get up before anyone else is awake is sneak away for water aerobics, a bit of running on the treadmill, followed by strength training with weights. I come home feeling refreshed and energized. I think a big part of why so many kids in the house this week has stressed me is because I missed two workout days!

5. Cook Easy Foods – I have stopped cooking big evening meals for summer because I hate heating up the house and I don’t just don’t feel like spending so much time in the kitchen. This is the season for watermelon and green smoothies for dinner! Other ideas are finger sandwiches, fruit kabobs, veggie kabobs (grilled outside), granola cereal with almond milk, chocolate/veggie smoothies served in a bowl like ice cream, flax crackers and salsa, and lots of salad. Time to whip out the 365 salad recipe book.

6. Park Fun for Parents - If you take your kids to a public pool or water park make a deal with your spouse that you will trade off watching the kids and give each other 20-30 minutes alone a couple times throughout the day. That way Dad can watch the kids while they play in the baby pool or on the water slides and you can go get in the lazy river for awhile. Another idea might be to find a couple tweens/teens you trust and offer to buy their park admission passes in exchange for 2 hours of the day spent babysitting the kids while you and hubby enjoy the park alone.

7. Take a Walk – Sometimes a 15-20 minute walk around the block can be just what we need to get away for a moment. A few evenings ago I was getting peeved about how the neighbor kids were making a huge mess in our house so I decided to round up my kids only and take a walk. We walked about a mile away to get sno-cones at the corner store. We could have drove but I need that walk! Going it alone is also a nice way to get some alone time.

8. Get Gardening – Gardening really is therapy. I enjoy carving out time to water my garden in the evenings or early mornings and also water all my houseplants. There is something about seeing your plants thrive that makes you feel content and thriving yourself.

What do you do to relax and make time for yourself during the summer months?

When I was reading it I could not help but remember what I used to collect as a child and into my early twenties… snow globes and shot glasses. I would collect them at truck stops, museums, flea markets, amusement parks, ect. Every year for Christmas we would go to Disneyland and my parents would buy me a special Disney themed one. But as I grew older I got tired of dusting them all the time and they just didn’t appeal to me as much so I gave my favorites (like the Disney Villains one) to my kids and then sold the rest at a garage sale.

Reading this book made me want to collect something else but the minimalist in me recoiled at the thought. Then I looked upwards in contemplation and saw something shiny and beautiful. I remembered that I already collect something, I just never thought about it as a collection. I collect crystals! And I collect prisms too. Hurray, I have a collection! ;)

Here are some of my favorites.. and yes they do make me happy just looking at them.

I have an old jewelry box on a bookshelf next to my computer desk and it houses most of my crystals… adventurine, quartz, citrine, lepidolite, moonstone, agate, amethyst, jasper, etc.

If you lift the tray they sit on you see a hidden section where I keep Chakra crystals, separated by each individual Chakra… or the seven power points in the human body that circulate energy or the life force also known as prana. These are some of my faves… blue lace agate, bloodstone, carnelian, lapis lazuli, snowflake obsidian, sodalite, leopard skin jasper, blue chalcedony…

Those are tucked away quite often but I have many that are out and about. A prism is what I saw that reminded me of the collection. I have some hanging in windows and others just laying around on surfaces. How can you not be happy when they cast their rainbows all over the room?

Also on my bookshelf I have a Feng Shui tree with tumbled clear quart crystals. I just love these little trees and would like to collect more of these specifically. I will be looking for them at yard sales and auctions this summer.

Closer to my work space is a flourite wand that is used for concentration and creative expression. I will often hold it when I am working on something important, writing, or I need creativity boost.

Here is a closer pic.. it is quite pretty. That is a rose quartz crystal next to it, which is good for emotional healing.

And on a decorative shelf to the side of my desk I have a little green adventurine crystal elephant hanging out. Elephants signify health and good luck and adventurine is for wealth and abundance. Each crystal has specific metaphysical properties so when I decided to add this little guy I knew immediately I wanted an elephant and that he needed to be carved out of adventurine. The rose quart above is just a tumbled stone but many have a heart shaped rose quart to signify that it helps with emotions and matters of the heart. In addition to selecting the ones I need or want carefully I also carry one in my pocket when I need a little something… be it confidence, healing, good concentration, or the ability to attract abundance.

I am going to psychic fair and metaphysical wellness seminar tomorrow. I wonder if I will find any new treasures to add to my collection…

What do YOU collect?

Click to enlarge

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – Soulemama

Link to YOUR moment in the comments.

Happy B-Day to my little guy. He is 5!

Just thought I would pass on this great deal from Mamapedia. $6 for an annual subscription to Kiwi magazine which is a mag for organic, green, crunchy parents. This is a new feature at Mamapedia I think… the Groupon style group buys. I picked up a full price movie ticket for only $4 there as well. Plus you can opt to send 5% of every purchase to the local school of your choice… pretty sweet.

I love these type of web sites because for the most part they offer services and experiences at a discount rather than “stuff”.. aka memberships to the local art museum and tickets to the laser tag place around the corner. Make sure to check them out.

1. Borax Crystal – Purple Swirl, 2. Borax Crystal Ornaments for Christmas – Candy Cane, 3. Dominos, 4. Sourdough Starter and Kefir in Ball Jars, 5. Dinosaur, 6. Fairy Princess, 7. I Heart Wool, 8. First Day of School, 9. First Day of School, 10. Titanic, 11. Woodland Wonderland, 12. In a Cessna, 13. Playing in a Fountain, 14. Lincoln Memorial, 15. The US Capitol Building, 16. Playful, 17. Stuffed in a Locker, 18. I LOVE Hot Tubs!, 19. Dirty Hands, 20. Little Boy Big Tree, 21. Garbage Clean Up Crew for Earth Day, 22. Last Child in the Woods, 23. Playing Piano, 24. KISS!, 25. Tree Climbing Girl, 26. Child’s Play, 27. Softball!, 28. Spring Flowers, 29. Warming up with Soup!, 30. Toddler Hiking

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember – Soulemama

I stumbled onto a green gift that my husband just adores recently. You see he is the only coffee drinker in this house so I don’t do much research into how to make coffee drinking a little lighter on the planet but he has tried for me. Last year when his coffee maker croaked he search for a used one and ended up with a cute little vintage coffee maker that I actually like seeing on the kitchen counter. And he started taking his coffee to work with him in the only drink containers we really have other than stainless steel tumblers for the kids… glass jars.

Then he mentioned that he leaves his coffee in the car and drinks up whatever is left after work, cold. It didn’t take me long to figure out that he didn’t want to walk around a factory floor carrying a quart size, glass jar. But I pushed that aside mentally until he started making daily trips to Tim Horton’s, when I finally decided we had to do something about this. For his birthday recently I got him a reusable coffee mug that looks like a paper cup from Starbucks or some other coffee shop. I have seen them for years and always thought they were a really cool idea, just not something I needed.

There are plastic cups and porcelain cups and both usually have a silicone sleeve to help with grip. Since my husband does a lot of moving and walking at work I decided to get him a BPA Free plastic coffee cup. The porcelain cup (pictured above) is greener and what I would have preferred but not practical for what my husband needs it for. Still, it will allow him to carry his coffee every day and avoid the disposable cups from Tim Horton’s. The verdict? He LOVES it. When he told me that I should blog about his cup I knew we had a winner and he uses it every day.

Are you using a nifty reusable coffee cup yet?

I will likely be heading out of town for Thanksgiving this afternoon but of course all week long I have been reflecting on what I am thankful for. It is amazing how often we can let life’s little problems blind us to all the wonderful things we have.

I am THANKFUL to be 5 years cancer free.

I am THANKFUL for an amazing family…. husband, kids, mom, dad, brothers…

I am THANKFUL for a lovely home that is warm, cozy, and ridiculously low priced. How did we luck into that?

I am THANKFUL that I am self employed and that I only have to work 10-20 hours a week AND that I truly love what I do.

I am THANKFUL that both my husband and I have have good jobs, when so many others in this country do not.

I am THANKFUL that we never have to worry about money or paying our bills.

I am THANKFUL that we have so much freedom to pursue our dreams and do the things we love.

I am THANKFUL for the readers of this blog. You rock!

I am THANKFUL for my husband, who I have loved since I was 16 and who puts up with all my drama with a loving smile. Who right at this moment is patiently waiting for me to finish blogging so we can go out to breakfast…

Oh and I am THANKFUL I do NOT have to get up at dawn and go shopping.

I am THANKFUL that my life is so good.

What are YOU thankful for?

The weather here in Central Ohio is making the shift to foggy and cold. Shorts are packed away and the leggings and jeans are at the ready. My daughter wears leggings quite often as they go so well with long knit sweaters and they can be paired with skirts and dresses to keep a feminine, yet “warm” look. She has several pairs of cotto/lycra leggings but we are really liking these new Merino wool leggings from Merino Me.

They are made of light weight pure New Zealand merino wool jersey. The color of these particular leggings is “bright blue”. Wool helps to regulate body temperature so they would be fine to wear in any season but something about winter and fall just screams wool. Unlike cotton/lycra leggings, merino wool is completely natural and breathable and thus more comfortable to wear. They also have few seams and no elastic but they fit like a dream.. or a second skin rather. I can see no advantages to using a lycra blend when wool fits this well.

They are also eco friendly, sustainable, biodegradable, ethically farmed, stain resistant, odor resistant, wrinkle resistant, UV protective, breathable, machine washable,  flame retardant, self extinguishing, and hypoallergenic. Wool is just amazing really and as these pants demonstrate, it can be very attractive too.

Merino Me has all sorts of clothing made of the same gorgeous wool… shirts, scarves, dresses, vests, etc. As with any high quality product the monetary cost is going to go beyond a Wal-Mart budget but the clothes are worth it IMO. It was my own mother who who taught me since I was very young that a few high quality, pricier pieces will last far beyond a bunch of cheaper ones and mom knows best. These leggings ($34) are also a hit with my daughter, who has a slightly bohemian flare. She was quick to point out that they will go well with her tye dye shirts and her hot pink mini skirt.

The BEST thing about these leggings though is that they are made by a mom and sold via Etsy. I “heart” Etsy and I love supporting family run businesses.

Woot! I had a mom’s night out on Wednesday thanks to Disney and a semi-local PR firm working with Disney. I am not sure why they decided to invite me to a screening of Secretariat but hey.. I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially since this movie was about… a horse. Maybe someone read between the lines of my blog and knows I am a HUGE movie buff, despite only having reviewed 2-3 movies here. Or maybe they just know I love horses, either way… I thank them for the lovely experience.

In addition to getting to see a truly awesome movie, I also got to see it at The Gateway, which is a swanky theater near the Short North in downtown Columbus. Driving up the Short North on the way home as almost as wonderful as the movie. I simply love downtown Columbus and rarely get out to see it at night.

But on to the movie.. LOVED it! It is a wonderful family film with a great story and I was a bit skeptical at first. I come from “horse people” myself and spent my summers at a farm and my Aunt and Uncle’s stables. My family was involved in show horses, barrel racing, and cutting (what I call “dancing with cattle”). The picture below is none of those things though… just a trail ride in Arizona. Me… on a horse… no Old Spice, but I may or may not have smelled like a man. ;)

Distance horse racing always seemed kind of cruel to me and on some level I think it still is BUT this movie isn’t about some massive stable operation trying to make some money off their hundreds of horses and then discarding them when they don’t perform. It was about a small family operation and a horse that was a member of their family becoming what many believe to be the greatest race horse who ever lived. It was fun seeing it with my mom because she remembered when this all happened and how captivated people were by this amazing horse… Secretariat. I was amazed by how gutsy his owner was… Penny Chenery (played by Diane Lane). Seriously this little ol “housewife” was out making 6 million dollar gambles because she knew in her heart that this was the horse that could win the Triple Crown.

It is one of those movies where the audience claps insanely every 20 minutes or so. It is also very tense despite the fact that you know the outcome before you even go in. I was biting my nails the whole time. But it was very good and an A++ movie choice if you care to go anytime soon. Great story, great acting, and really great cast with a lot of my faves.. Diane Lane, Scott Glenn, John Malkovich, and Nelsan Ellis.  It opens today.

Have you ever seen the children’s cartoon Dora the Explorer and wished you could jump into the pages of a book the way Dora and Boots do? Or have you wished you could jump into a framed photo the way Blue can from Blue’s Clues? Or maybe it is just me that always had this secret childhood desire to actually go into the world I see on book pages and in photos, I don’t know.

Well, this week I got to jump into the pages of one of my fave magazines… Country Living. I went to the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio. And it REALLY is like stepping into the magazine for a day. There were hundreds of tents there with vendors, decorators, boutique owners, artists, ect that have been featured in the magazine. It was held in a historic little area that used to be a small Ohio town… where all the old buildings and homes have been preserved and left as they were in the 1800s. So while you shopped around and admired the reclaimed barnwood tables or the primitive Halloween decorations, you could stop and take a walk around the kitchen of an 1800′s farm family. Among all the tents were large apple trees so I guess the area used to have a large orchard too.

I took pictures galore of cool decorating ideas that I saw and I managed to keep my wallet in my purse for the most part, although it was HARD. I had some delicious mushroom soup and some divine pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting too. All in all it was a perfect Fall day and I can’t wait until next year…

I WANT this Halloween Tree!

I am a big fan of child led learning. Many school principals and I have squared off over this issue. For some reason they just don’t like it when they come to you to complain about how your child doesn’t want to work on the assignments given to them and you say in return… “Well, perhaps it is boring them to tears. Have you tried reaching them by finding out what THEY want to learn about?” Often this is met with a sigh and look of pity about my apparent naivete. But I know it in my heart to be true. I know it because when the words “let’s go the library” are uttered in this house my children scream in happiness like wild banshees. Why? Because they are in charge. They get to follow their passions. For some bizarre reason adults think that kids shouldn’t have that right. But I delight in seeing what my children are interested in and then doing what I can to facilitate that learning.

My nearly ten year old son has been on a big time history kick for long while. Part of our recent trip to DC was to facilitate his learning about American history and the political system. At the library this week he got books about September 11th, The Perfect Storm, military tanks, and his biggest passions currently… Titanic and WWI. They boy can spend hours poring over books about these topics and on the rare occasions when he watches TV, it will almost always be the military channel.

This weekend we took the kids to the local science center, COSI. I spent hours in this place as a kid and now my own kids do too. The husband kindly took the two youngest kids to the play center and my oldest son and I got our boarding passes with White Star Lines for our journey on the RMS Titanic. Unfortunately they do not allow photos in the exhibit but it was quite awesome. On our boarding passes we got new identities as passengers who were actually on the Titanic. I was a 48 year old chicken farmer and mom of 5 from Sussex who was jilted by her husband and decided to go to the US to live with an older daughter. My son was a two year old child who was kidnapped by his father and was running to America.

We walked the halls of Titanic… seeing the first class and third class state rooms, looking at people posing as passengers and White Star Lines employees, seeing artifacts that were at the bottom of the ocean for decades. There was even a complete replica of the grand staircase. As you entered the dining Hall the music from the movie Titanic was playing. It was an awesome experience and my son was in heaven. At the end of the exhibit we perused the names of the passengers. My son, Master Edmond Roger Navratil, survived the sinking… I did not, Mrs. Edward Ford. All of the stuff he learned that day will be with him forever because he is passionate about it. Maybe what he learned is not important in the eyes of government or prospective employers but it is important to him and what is more important in life than to persue our passions? NOTHING.

What do you need to do? Ask Congress to get behind the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010!

And in the meantime check out some of my safer products posts:

The Toxic Bubble Bath Debate

Ditch the Nail Polish Nasties

The Green Beauty Guide