The Mother's Way

I’ve been looking FOREVER for a composter that didn’t look like an ugly plastic bin sitting in the middle of my garden, and I think I’ve finally found one! 

Algreen was kind enough to send me a sample of their new tumbling composter.  The Algreen tumbling composter not only looks like a piece of art, but it also makes compost fun!  Instead of having to worry about turning a compost heap, I can just spin the compost tumbler with ease.

According to recent tests, leading brands of bottled water in the US turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals 3 times higher than California’s health standard.  These tests challenge the notion that bottled water is purer than tap water, which is what many brands of bottled water assert.

I think it’s time to invest in metal water bottles.  Not only is bottled water expensive, and environmentally-unfriendly, but now it’s been shown that the water quality is no better (if not worse) than tap water.

Click here for the complete story.

I’ve startegd my Christmas shopping.  And I find that I’m buying more and more from online toy stores.  When I shop online, not only does it save me time, but it also reduces my carbon footprint.

According to “Economic and Environmental Implications of Online Retailing in the United States” (Matthews et Hendrickson), e-commerce sales have both a cost advantage, and environmental benefits.  According to their study, a product purchased online has a carbon footprint because it may be shipped partially by airfreight across the country, and require local truck delivery.  Furthermore, the product is likely to be packaged and the packaging cannot be re-used.  However, the adverse effects of repeated trips to shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers outweighs the carbon footprint of online shopping.

So this Christmas, I’m going to shop online to say time, money, and the environment!

I always make sure that my daughter wears a helmet when she bikes.  According to Helmets.org, 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year, and 770 of these bicyclists died in 2006.  Quite frankly, the statistics show that 1 in 8 cyclists with bicycle-related injuries had a brain injury.

So when my daughter’s friend showed up this weekend without a helmet, there was no way I was letting her ride helmet-less with my daughter using one of our bikes!  Her friend’s head was too small, and her head would not fit any of our helmets.  And quite frankly, a helmet that is loose-fitting (and can be moved from side to side exposing the head) will do nothing to protect a victim in the event of an accident.

So I improvised.  Since I was going for a run anyways, I let my daughter’s friend run along with me for the first 3km, so she could run back home to her parent’s place.  She, out of breath, then managed to pick up her helmet, and her own bike, and I accompanied her back to our house.

As a parent, my motto is always: safety first!

I tried Wii Fit for the first time, and I loved it!

I am not a gamer.  Video games bore me.  I don’t care for explosions or life-like graphics and screenplay.

What first attracted me to the Wii was the interactive aspect of the gameplay.  It seemed like a great way to “trick” children into actually doing exercise!

“Instead of joining Sony and Microsoft in the arms race to pack their consoles with ever-higher-performance graphics chips (to better attract sophisticated gamers), Nintendo built the Wii–a cuddly, low-priced, motion-controlled machine that broke the market wide open by appealing to everyone from grade-schoolers to grandmas. “  John Gaudiosi, Business 2.0 Magazine

Now, with the Wii fit, I can get a great aerobic workout at home, work on my yoga stances, do strength training and conditioning, and play fun and interactive balance games!  Wii Fit makes exercise fun!  And the console actually charts my daily progress against my fitness goals.

Wii Fit is great fun for both yourself, and the entire family!  The only problem is, if you want to get it for your family for the Christmas holidays, you had better start scouring stores now.  Wii Fit is in such high demand, that they are hard to come by.