Waste-Free Lunches aka Bento

Since elementary school I have been concerned about the environment. I was the kid who really perked up and paid attention when they talked about recycling, planting trees, etc. It pained me to throw things in the trash unless it was absolutely necessary. I was a member of Club Earth in high school and wrote my college thesis about recycling. When we lived in TX I collected all my recyclables for about a month before driving them to the bins located on post. They piled up in my pantry and garage and filled up the back of my Trailblazer. It makes me happy to know I have influenced several friends over the years to start recycling and they now enjoy it!!

Now I have curbside recycling pickup, yay! But if you remember correctly, recycling is just one third of the triangle. There's also the equally important, "reduce" and "reuse."

Here's a catchy tune to remind you...

Recently, a mom at our favorite local nature center mentioned her son's lunchbox, I forget how we even got on the subject but I was intrigued. She explained to me that her son has a Planet Box and admitted it was on the pricey side. I could only kind of picture what she was talking about so I got home and Googled it. They are really quite cool, you can check them out at www.planetbox.com

She had a thing against plastic, but I don't necessarily, so I spent the next couple hours over the next couple days researching other lunch packing options. I quickly came across the term bento. Bento is the Japanese term for a "single-portion, home-packed meal" which are typically quite carefully and artfully prepared (wikipedia). Now most of the Moms I Googled weren't packing sushi and rice balls for their Kindergarteners but the creativity in their lunch prep was definitely impressive and bento is the inspiration. I liked both the artistic, creative fun of the lunches plus the benefit of reducing waste in the lunchroom.

I especially liked easylunchboxes.com and found tons of inspiration on her fan site. My favorites so far from that list are Another Lunch and Wendolonia. If you've never given any thought to how many plastic baggies and snack wrappers are thrown into your childrens' trash cans after lunchtime, now would be the time. There are so many fun, creative, dishwasher safe(!) options out there. Oh and that's just one reason these awesome moms are packing such fun lunches! Check them out, there is a lot to learn about health, nutrition, and the special love your child will feel opening their lunch box each day.

I did purchase the easylunchboxes and probably have used them every day since they arrived, often by the kids' request. I should add that I do not even pack school lunches... yet. I have until August for that, but we do love to have outdoor picnics and pack healthy snacks for when we're out and about. Look forward to photos of my fun lunches and snacks in my next post.

Nature's Playground

What to do on a Saturday morning? Well the weather is nice (humid but not overly hot and not raining) so we went to one of our favorite parks. Cali grabbed our exploring gear on the way out so we headed down to the creek first thing.

If you want to make your own explorer's kit grab the following and throw it in a bucket:

• a small net (for scooping up minnows or tiny frogs)
• cups for scooping water (or holding above mentioned creatures)
• a small shovel
• binoculars
• magnifying glass
  
• bug jar

Water shoes are a great idea too so they can wade in the edge and not hurt their little feet. I put sneakers on D because he hates getting park mulch in his sandals, I wasn't thinking we'd walk in the water today but I should have known better with my two. Its just too irresistible. Speaking of which, an extra set of clothes and some towels could come in really handy.

While you're out there enjoying the great outdoors it would also be really nice if you picked up a few pieces of trash you see lying around. Better yet, take a bag with you just for this purpose. Clean up your favorite park and set an awesome example for your kids while you're at it.

How to Upcycle

I'm sure everyone knows a thing or two about recycling, but have you ever upcycled? According to Wikipedia: Upcylcing is a component of sustainability in which waste materials are used to provide new products. It is generally a reinvestment in the environment. "Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value."

At home you can upcycle by taking items you would usually toss, donate or send to the recycling bin and create something new and useful. I saw an article recently about creating reusable shopping bags out of old t-shirts and couldn't wait to try it. As I went through some of the kids' outgrown clothes this week I found several items I wanted to upcycle. I took two of Cali's little tanks tops and turned them into the cutest little bags in a matter of minutes (after I remembered how to use the sewing machine).

She used this one to store her dress-up shoes and took the other to the store to buy her new flip flops today then used it as a back pack when we visited our friends down the street.

I also created a pile of favorite shirts that she has outgrown with plans to "quilt" them into a blanket for her. I'm really not much of a sewer so I'll keep you posted on that one.

Also while I was browsing around on Photojojo.com I found this fantastic idea for upcycling old glass jars into picture frames. Really! So simple and I never, ever throw glass away so I already had the jars handy. I love it.


If you're looking for more inspiration to start upcylcing visit etsy.com or ehow.com and search "upcycled" and/or a specific item like "sheets" or "glass." I'd love to see what you come up with or if you already have projects to share please tell us about them.

Happy Valentine's Day

Love must truly be in the air... I came across both of these while traipsing around Austin yesterday. Hope everyone has a happy day full of love and surprises.

Austin Adventures

Dave has a 4-day weekend for President's Day, the forecast said high of 78 and minimal wind. That meant a perfect day to spend outside in downtown Austin. First, we took the kids to the Austin Nature & Science Center at the far end of Zilker Park. They have this awesome "Dino Pit" where the kids can dig for fossils plus lots other BONES to explore inside. Cali is still fascinated with bones, skeletons and fossils so we knew she'd just love it. Funny enough Diego has even learned from her the word "bone!" and recognizes what a bone/skeleton is. For lunch we loaded up the bikes and road the trail beside Town Lake over to the Playscape area. Can you believe both bikes (we didn't even have to remove the baby seat) and the bike trailer fit in the back of the Trailblazer no problem? After eating, potty breaks, and playtime at the park it was past 2:00 so we headed back out on the trails. D went to sleep within minutes, just as we'd hoped. Cali enjoyed the relaxing ride. We circled the entire Town Lake trail then back to the truck. After a wardrobe change (we could've all used a shower by this point), more potty breaks, and re-loading the bikes we went to our favorite place - Whole Foods Market - to browse around and find a treat/snack. We all tried Gelato for the first time: the kids had Cookies & Cream, I had Pineapple Basil. Both were very tasty. More potty breaks, and playing on the 3rd floor terrace playground. Diego looked like he could fall asleep at any minute so we packed up and headed for home. Didn't have any set dinner plans so ended up stopping for a quick bite at Sonic when we were nearly home. Showers, jammies, toothbrushes, stories and the little ones are fast asleep.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you like the song, its Laurie Berkner's "Running Down the Hill" from her album Under a Shady Tree. I give the whole album 5 stars, highly recommended!

Compost

This might sound odd to some, but I've been wanting a compost bin for quite some time now. We'd looked at the one at Sam's Club before and on Monday Dave said he wanted it for his birthday present. Ok! He knows I've been wanting it too so that was easy. It only took about 10 minutes to set-up, thanks to all our "helpers." Now I won't feel that little twinge of guilt every time I toss out carrot peelings or an apple core, and we'll have some fantastic garden soil to boot!
Excuse us little buddy, we need to put the compost bin here...

Recycle Your Old Christmas Cards

Recycle your cards from Christmas Past and benefit St. Jude's Research too. Visit http://www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php for more details or just gather up your old cards and mail them to:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude's St.
Boulder City, NV 89006

ETA: Thank you Beth for the address correction!

Juice Train & The Lorax Project

On the way to storytime at our new Barnes & Noble we had to wait for a train. It was a tanker train and I've told Cali before that they carry "liquids" she asked "what is a liquid?" so I explained "things like water, juice, milk, and fuel are liquids." So today she decided that the train was on its way to storytime too and said the tanks were full of juice, "the train is bringing juice to storytime for us!"

At storytime we read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and learned a little about The Lorax Project and that some (maybe all, it wasn't clear) Dr. Seuss books are now printed on recyced paper. Check out the Lorax Project details by clicking here.

Also, you may notice a new feature on my sidebar. I went back and started labeling a lot of my older posts so you'll be able to keep up with my random postings and go back and browse through them while I'm away.

EcoSearch.Org

A new "Green" Search Engine. The following is a post from Goodyblog.com:

It's simple: Search for everything from car seat safety ratings to college savings plans, all while helping save the earth. Just log onto EcoSearch.org for all of your "googling" needs. You get the same search results that Google produces (promise!), but with one difference - each search helps raise money for eco-charities. EcoSearch is the first non-profit search engine, and is committed to donating 100% of it's proceeds directly to improving and supporting our environment. (They've already donated to non-profits like the Rainforest Alliance, the Sierra Club, and the National Resource Defense Council.) If this isn't one of the easiest ways to "Go Green" I'm not sure what is. So help me spread the word and send this post to all your friends. Then, make EcoSearch.org your homepage. And, finally, if you know of a charity that you'd love for them to support, email the EcoSearch team at info@ecosearch.org and let them know your thoughts - then tell us about them too!

Green Fact: If one million users search twice every day on EcoSearch.org, the corporation will raise $15 million for green initiatives every year!

Polar Bears & the Trash Vortex

Polar Bears were recently added to the list of "threatened" species. Click here to see how the Oil Companies responded. Click here to see read what Canada thinks.

On another very sad note, I learned today that there is a HUGE vortex of trash (mostly plastic & sytrofoam) swirling around in the Pacific Ocean. It is located between California and Hawaii, and it is LARGER THAN THE STATE OF TEXAS. Horrible, just horrible. There is one group out of California actually researching the phenomenon and they found that the plastic actually outweighs the plankton at a ratio of 40:1 by weight. As if the trash just being out there isn't bad enough, what you must realize is that sea life is eating this garbage, putting them at great risk. Plus, the "garbage patch" is so large it is shading large areas, reducing the amount of light reaching the ocean floor to grow the kelp, and kelp in turn is a large contributer to removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. I learned all this from one of my favorite new shows: G Word on the new PlanetGreen channel.


So if you're as devastated as I am about the "Garbage Patch" news and wondering what you should do about it... one word: RECYCLE!

More links about this tragedy:
Article featuring Charles Moore, captain of the private research vessel Alguita
Continent-size toxic stew
Greenpeace article

Doing Dishes

What do you think is the more eco-friendly way to do dishes? By hand or in the dishwasher? Lucky for us busy mom-folk its the dishwasher!! Yay! It actually uses about half the water as doing a sink full of dishes by hand (11 gallons v. 22 for by-hand). Just make sure you're doing a full load to be the most efficient. Source: Family Fun Magazine. (and I also heard it on TV the other day)

Tired of sinks full of dishes every time you turn around? Try this clever trick. One mom of 8 got so sick of all the dirty dishes she boxed up all her dishes, bought each family member ONE plate, had them personalize it with glass paints, and made them responsible for their own dish. They even figured out it only took 12 seconds to wash their one plate. Smart! (Also, from Family Fun magazine)

Physics lesson for the day - heat will contract glass. At least I think its physics, I never took that class. Anyway I had two glass Pyrex bowls hopelessly stuck together for the past couple months. I tried to trick Dave into using one so he would have to unstick them but he gave up and used a different bowl. He did make a passing statement that heat should make the glass shrink thus letting us pull them apart. So two days later the bowls are still in the sink. I try spraying Pam around the stuck edge and pry in a fake credit card from the junk mail, no luck. So I finally go with the heat trick. Put some water in the top bowl and microwave it 2 minutes. Tada! It worked, I was so excited. Yay for Physics!!

Do This

• Do you get a million credit card offers a day? I do and it drives me crazy! I kept hearing there are places you can go to get yourself off those lists and I just ran across this one today... Its optoutprescreen.com, just enter your name and address and they should stop completely within a couple months. I chose the 5 year option but there is also an opt-out forever option. If you're nervous about your security and whether this is legit, check out this FTC site for more details.