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.

One Picture Four Ways

Grandma requested a new fridge magnet of this picture while she was here. Went ahead and made one for a few other special people (who are probably reading this blog right now)... and one for myself too of course!

No-Sew Camisole Conversion

I had a few camisoles I was setting aside for Goodwill this week. I have a year-long goal of de-cluttering before our potential move next Spring so I pull things out I no longer need/use as I find them. Cali happened to see the camisoles and kept telling me how pretty they were. She could use a few "new" nighttime things so I had an idea....

You will need a cute adult-size camisole, scissors, and about 5 minutes.


1. Cut straps
This one had adjustable straps and a plastic ring where the strap attached to the back so I cut off the whole adjustable part but kept the ring.


2. Estimate how long the straps should be and tie a knot
With the rings on this camisole I slipped the strap through that and tied a knot there. On another version with regular spaghetti straps I snipped the strap in the middle and tied the two ends together at the top of the shoulder.


3. Fit on your little one, make adjustments as needed and trim the ends. Make sure the straps are short enough now that the chest is covered and straps won't slip off the shoulders.


This is the simplest version with no sewing involved. I'm sure you could do something fancier with the straps (possibly add beads?) and if you want it to be more fitted you could take in the side seams.

Homemade "Cage"

For some reason after looking at this box sitting in my kitchen floor for 3 days, something told me "That would make a great stuffed animal cage!" I started by simply flipping it over and showing D he could put his animals in there. Next, I let them decorate it with crayons and stickers while I made dinner one evening. Then, because I had nothing better to do (but even more so because it was too tempting staring at that giant piece of candy every day) I painted it black then had fun decorating it with our Crayola Gel Markers. It has gotten tons of play every day and D even discovered he can fit himself into it which he finds quite hilarious. And no I definitely did not a buy a whole case of Reese's, it just looked like a good box to put all my Sam's Club groceries in last week.

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!

Empty Ribbons Spools

I recently emptied a bunch of my ribbons into a big clear jar and had a pile of empty ribbon spools. Now I'm not one to throw something like that away so I finally got around to Googling it. Turns out I could sell them on Ebay, freecycle them, or make these nifty little mini albums.


I think I'll try that 3rd option. Click here for full instructions.

National Crayon Recycle Program

Hooray! One more thing I can start recycling. This is so exciting. Send all your broken crayon nubs, wrappers and all to:

CRAYON RECYCLING PROGRAM
LAF Lines, Ltd.,
721 Village Road
Pelican Lake, WI 54463


They melt them down to create fun new crayon creations and even collect all the wrapper scraps to make fire-starter. Check out their website at CrazyCrayons.com for even more exciting details. I'm definitely rounding up some of mine to send in. Please pass this info along and leave a comment telling me you did!

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.
  

Its Blog Action Day

• Yep, its Blog Action Day:

  On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

  I had no idea. My friend Vanessa clued me in, especially since the subject this year is the Environment and that's my forte!
  

So here's what I want you to do... RECYCLE!! Seriously people, its not that difficult. I really have a hard time throwing things away, and not because I'm emotionally attached but because I hate to think of it sitting in a landfill for hundreds, thousands, or billions of years. I don't know why but that has always bugged me. In college I did my Senior Thesis on Recycling and explored how to bring a feasible Recycling program to my hometown of Fairbanks, AK. Not easy considering the remote location, costs of transportation to Recycling facilities, etc. Unfortunately I did not find an easy solution, but I did find out a lot from my research and I got an "A" on the thesis. I also took a private tour of our local landfill, very eye-opening and a vivid image that remains with me every time I have to throw something out.

Here's something to think about the next time you throw something away.
Average time it take to decompose a...
■ banana -- 3 to 4 weeks
■ paper bag -- 1 month
■ cotton rag -- 5 months
■ wool sock -- 1 year
■ cigarette butt -- 2 to 5 years
■ leather boot -- 40 to 50 years
■ tin can -- 80 to 100 years
■ aluminum can -- 200 to 500 years
■ plastic 6-pack rings -- 450 years
■ plastic jug -- 1 million years
■ Styrofoam cup -- unknown? forever?
■ glass bottle -- unknown? forever?

So, the point is you should RECYCLE. Here's how I do it: I shop at the commissary where they happen to have huge recycling drop off bins for paper, cardboard, plastic and aluminum. When I shop I ask for paper bags and that is what I use for my collecting "bins" at home. I happen to have a large pantry so I keep my "bins" on the floor in there: one for paper, one for plastic, one for cardboard and I rarely drink soda but if I do I keep those cans too. When the bags get full I move them to the garage, when I go to do my grocery shopping I load up the back of my SUV and drop it all off in the recycling bins before I go in to shop. Its that simple. Really. I rinse out all my plastic bottles when they are empty and dump them in the plastic "bin". I gather up all my newspapers, junk mail, office papers, dump them in the paper "bin". All my cardboard boxes whether from mail packages or gifts or boxes of cereal, I unfold them, flatten them and stick them in the cardboard "bin". Unfortunately my location doesn't take glass, but I wash and save those too and use them for crafts or tool storage or find someone who needs them, people even buy/sell baby food jars on Ebay! After all this recycling I usually only have two bags of garbage per week. Its amazing how much "garbage" you can reduce by recycling the majority of your waste. My neighbors bins are always overflowing and it doesn't have to be that way.

Your assignment: wherever you live and whatever your situation, take some time this week to research your recycling options. Many cities have pick up service, you just have to call and request a bin (some cities charge a little extra for this service). Maybe you have the ability to recycle at work, do it! If your office recycles paper, save your home papers and bring them in to recycle too (ask your boss but I'm sure they won't mind). Maybe you will find a local recycling center that has drop off locations and some recycling places even pay you back. Please, for me, for the planet, for your children. Take the time to think about recycling and see how you can start recycling in your community, then spread the word to your friends & neighbors too!!