Deal now closed. To see what today’s deal is go here!

The Deal of the Day at Reuseit is for these super practical produce bags. I have some bags like these myself (though I needed to get more!) because they are perfect for Farmer’s market season and shopping the bulk bins at natural grocery stores. Instead of your market vendor bagging those yummy green beans or cucumbers in a plastic bag you can just hand them one of these. You can also fill one up with bulk grains, nuts, or seeds from the bins at Whole Foods. These bags are polyester but I actually like them better than cotton bags because the latter tend to shrink and get holes. :(

I don’t know how many times these nifty bags have saved me from having to accept a plastic produce bag.  They are well worth the initial, small investment. Today only a five bag set is 30% off, making them $7.76. Use code FLIP30. Enjoy!

To understand what the slow movement is and what it could mean in our lives, we first need to take a look at what life is currently like for most of us today. We have schedules that are generally jam-packed full of things to do ranging from work, to errands, to chauffeuring kids to after school activities. Often times our schedules are so full during the week that it is often hard for some of us to plan meals and cook a decent dinner… which of course can mean purchasing take-out foods several times a week. Proper nutrition and the connection we have with family at meal times should be one of our biggest priorities and yet we are so busy that they get sidelined for faster and easier.

The slow movement is a completely opposite lifestyle. Instead of cramming as much as can be crammed into the schedule, slow movement advocates are purposely slowing things down so they can pause and enjoy life. The slow movement is a cultural shift that touches on a number of areas in life, including:

• Food – As mentioned above, a lot of folks are eating fast-food several times throughout the week. I used to be one of them. The slow movement though emphasizes mindful eating, which is not compatible with the fast-food culture prevalent today. Advocates of slow food believe in eating the right foods, carefully picked, at a slower rate so they are thoroughly able to enjoy their food and relish in the nutrients that are bringing health and wellness to their bodies. This is why many slow food fans enjoy artisan fare, local markets, and foods celebrating various cultures and heritages.

• Travel – Even our vacations seem rushed and not relaxing enough. We try to pack in as much adventure as we can and end up feeling anything but refreshed and relaxed by the end of our “vacation”. Slow travel advocates focus on slowing down when they travel. Instead of rushing from location to location while on vacation, slow travelers often choose destinations where they are able to mingle with the local residents and connect with the community there in a meaningful way.

• City Life – Believe it or not, entire cities are considered “slow.” The concept of “slow cities” originated in Italy. These communities generally have no more than 50,000 people who all agree on meeting certain principles and “slow criteria.” Often, these cities have a slower feel to them as they have less noise and traffic. I actually love to read about living in countries that value this slower lifestyle so I can see how to incorporate some of that into my day to day life. Good books that come to mind are Go Slow Italy, Under the Tuscan Sun, and The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France. I have an entire shelf in my bedroom of books like these.

• Education – Advocates of slow schooling place more emphasis on teaching children how to connect with the world than the information found in text books and test scores. Slow educational practices focus more on discovering how individual children learn best, finding out what they love, and combining these with real life experiences and adventures to enhance learning.

• Investing – Advocates of the slow movement believe in shopping local and investing their money in the communities where they live, work, and play. They believe that by investing in small enterprises and businesses within the local community, they will be able to better stimulate the local economy, which helps everyone. It also makes them more mindful of where their money goes and what it goes to support.

• Reading – Yes, believe it or not, the slow movement even touches literacy. Today, there are a number of reading aids available to people… tablets, e-books, e-readers, blogs, etc., which is making the traditional book rare. The world is becoming so wrapped up in the “do-it-now, do-it-fast” mentality that we are losing the simple pleasures in life… such as reading physical books. There is nothing wrong with reading e-books on your tablet or e-reader, but it is helpful to unplug and pick up a real book on a regular basis. Reading helps reduce stress, improve motivation, and start inspiration.

Even though I am always taking steps to go slower I frequently have moments where I know I could be doing more. This past weekend I went to see a new release movie and I ended up taking my seat 35 minutes before the start time. I brought a book but it was too dark to read so I played on my smart  phone until it went dead. The realization that I was uncomfortable to just sit and do nothing for 15 minutes without something to occupy me and entertain me, really bothered me. I made a conscious decision to embrace that time and be content with having nothing better to do than people watch and be with my own thoughts. It was refreshing. Why is it so hard to be mindful of this all the time?

Now it’s your turn. What steps have you taken to “go slow”? Do you struggle with it?

Recommended: In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed

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Added to the Green & Natural Mamas Blog Hop

When Easter rolls around the the eco conundrum that all green families face is what to use to dye or paint the Easter eggs. Actually the bigger dilemma for me is the fact that I buy nasty, factory farmed, bleached white eggs to make the dye job easier but we consider the paint/dye as well. Since my beautiful pastured brown and green eggs won’t dye well (we’ve tried) we buy the conventional white ones for this endeavor and we don’t eat them. Some day we may get around to trying to blow the yolks out so we can reuse the eggs but until that time we use one of three ways to get eggcellent color.

Dying Easter Eggs With Natural Homemade Food Dyes

Most people color their eggs with store bought egg kits that contain dyes made from petrochemicals, but in times past eggs were colored with plant materials found in nature. It’s fun to get back to the basics!

To dye eggs with natural coloring put raw, white-shelled eggs in a pan and cover with water and a teaspoon of white vinegar. Add your coloring agent and bring to a boil and then let the eggs simmer for 15 minutes. Rinse and allow to cool.

You can also hard boil them first and then fill glass jars with water and the coloring agent, putting the jars in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and then stirring. Then allow the eggs to sit in the jars overnight.

For pink and red colored eggs use cranberry juice, beets, or raspberries.

For yellow eggs use saffron or tumeric

For purple eggs use red wine.

For blue eggs use red cabbage leaves or blueberries.

For brown eggs use grape juice, rosehip tea, or coffee.

For orange eggs use yellow onion skins.

Dying Easter Eggs With Natural Store Bought Dyes

Our favorite natural egg dying kit is Eco Eggs (see above photo).  Gorgeous no?

The dyes are made using natural plant, fruit, and vegetable extracts. It includes three natural dyes (orange, blue and purple), a color chart for creating 6 colors, and instructions for coloring eggs.

Coloring Easter Eggs With Natural Plant Based Paints

This is the route we went this year and we turned to GLOB Natural Paints, which is an old favorite of ours. Specifically we used the Glob All Natural Paint Pigments Set. You can use them for egg painting as well as regular painting and even tinting natural play dough. The set has four colors.. basil, lemon verbena, pomegranate, and berry blue. The powders are all crafted from fruits, vegetables, flowers, and spices. Just add water and you have paint. They even smell like the yummy foods/plants used to make them!

The eggs in the top photo are what we ended up with. I think for more perfect photo worthy eggs the Eco Eggs dye is better but for kiddie fun the Glob paints are tops. My kids had a blast mixing the paints and then hand painting their eggs. We also like the marbled look.

How will you dye your eggs this year?

One of the issues I have with hitting the gym (or a CrossFit class) in the early mornings is that it kind of screws up normal mealtimes. I also cannot eat a big meal before exercising or I will get crampy so most days I grab a Lara bar and call it my morning meal. Then when I get home I debate whether or not to fix a meal for myself (everyone is still sleeping) or snack until we can eat a meal together. Either way I usually have a cravings for breakfast style foods whether it is actually breakfast time or lunch. Pancakes is one thing I LOVE to eat post workout.

Today was one of those days when I just grabbed a banana and waited until lunch time before I made my first big meal of the day. I wanted a change of pace from our usual coconut pancakes but my order from Tropical Traditions arrived just as a I got home with Organic Maple Syrup. Yum! This is my fave maple syrup ever! So, to mix it up I made cheesy french toast pancakes. Okay the name is lame but they taste like french toast without the toast and in a pancake form with just a hint of fried cheesecake in the middle. Seriously good and they are grain free and lacto-paleo.

Creamy French Toast Pancakes Recipe

4 pastured eggs
8 ounces (one package) organic full fat cream cheese
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cap full pure vanilla
Coconut oil for cooking (we use Tropical Traditions coconut oil)
Pure maple syrup

Mix up in a good blender (I am partial to the Vita-Mix) and pour on to your cast iron skillet or griddle, aiming for pancakes about six inches in diameter. Use cooking oil to grease your pan/griddle if need be. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side. They will be a glorious golden brown. Top with pure maple syrup and enjoy!

This recipe makes about 15 thin pancakes and three of us gobbled them all up today so if you have a big family you may want to double this recipe.

Added to Traditional Tuesdays

When I reserved this book from my library I had no idea if I would enjoy it or not. I don’t read too many parenting books anymore because my kids are getting older. While attachment parenting is a topic near and dear to me I don’t need a refresher on subjects like breastfeeding, babywearing, and co-sleeping so much. Rather I go for books about specific issues nowadays and geared toward older kids. I think I ended up getting it because I really, really like Mayim Bialik. I loved her show Blossom when I was a child, I loved how she gave up acting to get her degree and PhD in neuroscience, and I REALLY loved how she chose to parent in a holistic, natural, green, and attached way. She just seems like the type of mom I would love to hang out with and be friends with. So who wouldn’t want a peek inside at the inner workings of her house and family?

The book, Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way, was such a breath of fresh air and I enjoyed it so much that I had to share. I devoured and enjoyed every morsel of this book from start to finish, even chapters that discussed baby stuff I will likely never be confronted with again until I have grandchildren. Actually this book really had part of me really longing to have another kiddo so I can experience some things I wasn’t that receptive to when my youngins were babes, like elimination communication. Yet by the end of the book I was sighing in contentment because I still have lots of my parenting journey left and we are in a place now where we can enjoy it without the sleep deprivation. ;)

The opening chapters go into what you can expect to learn and why this is such an important issue. Mayim takes her background in neuroscience and shows that attachment parenting not only makes sense logically, it is based in science as well. There are many scientific reasons and many biological reasons to parent this way and often that gets overlooked by those who would claim attachment parenting is too granola touchy, feely or prone to raising dependent brats. The science does not agree with these latter ideas… at all. Lots of good information to be had here for when you run across naysayers.

The chapters on natural childbirth, breastfeeding, constant holding, co-sleeping, potty learning, etc were all a little irrelevant for me, even though I do still have a six year old in my bed. I loved reading these chapters anyway though. I think this book would have been pretty darn near the perfect book for me back when I became a mom for the first time and I will be recommending it to all the moms-to-be that I come across. I also loved that it is a look inside the life this family unit and it holds nothing back. Being an attached parent can be very isolating in the first few years because you are essentially devoting your life to the very valid needs of your child who wants to nurse on demand, be held constantly, sleep in your arms, and otherwise be the center of your world. You also tend to stay away from social settings where others might try to make your parenting values seem bizarre. Getting to read about another mom experiencing all of this makes you feel less alone.

From here the books goes into consumerism and toys, media in the home, medical interventions, letting kids be kids, and gentle discipline. LOVED it all! There wasn’t anything that I recall that I disagreed with. In fact I think I must have looked like a bobble head with all the head shaking going on to show how emphatically I agreed with Mayim’s point of view on just about everything. I also loved how she kept confirming that despite her belief in these things she was by no means perfect in their practice. Many authors remind you that they are not perfect examples of what they preach and that their ideas are not meant to judge in any way but few get that message across as well and as believably as Mayim Bialik, in my opinion.

My favorite part of the book was the section on mommy needs and keeping your relationships strong. As I have said before, attachment parenting can be very difficult where balance is concerned. When you have young babies your time is devoted to them and their needs and it can be easy to forget that other relationships need nurturing as well. I was not very good about keeping this in mind and my marriage almost collapsed a couple times during those early years. Most attachment parenting books don’t even discuss this all import topic either.

I feel that when our children are young THEY should be the priority. That means breast feeding wherever and whenever baby is hungry, co-sleeping even when you’d rather have your husband all to yourself, and never letting my child cry or go without being held because I have “other things” to do. As my kids get older I think they benefit from seeing parents who love themselves, prioritize some of their own needs, make time for each other and the marital relationship, and have varied interests. As they get older they benefit less from having a shadow to meet their every need and more from seeing good examples of others doing and living for themselves. So in terms of priority for the first five or so years of their lives it was all about them. Now the priority list looks somewhat different but during those early years there were lots of things I could have done to make sure my relationship with my husband was secure and attached as well, even if it never involved a date night or even leaving the house. Thankfully I married a great man who put up with me.

So… I give this book a very enthusiastic two thumbs up and will be recommending it all around. It has sound science, great advice, logical answers to challenging questions and issues, and important information about often overlooked aspects about this style of parenting. Check it out when you have the chance!

Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way