Food Drive

Help us fill our box for Ginny's Helping Hands food drive.  We are currently accepting food toiletries and household items to help others in the community.

Bring in a couple cans or jars to help those who need. 

CP & Company is matching all donations to double our efforts!

Addicted to meat?!

Yes, I agree a juicy burger on a warm summer afternoon can really taste great.....but....I have gone vegetarian (trying to get to full vegan) for 6 months now.  I can't tell you how great I feel!  Your body reacts with meat and diary products with inflammation (among other things) trying to digest these items.  Not only will your body feel better with more plant based foods, but it can make a huge impact on our carbon footprint:
*Raising livestock for food is one of the largest contributors to global warming, accounting for 20 percent of man-made greenhouse gases emitted each year.
*If all Americans skipped their daily eight ounces of meat one day per week, we could save more emissions over the course of a year than if we gave up traveling by cars, trains, planes, and ships combined.

Read more at Wholeliving.com: How to Be a Healthy Vegetarian

Specialty Infant Drink

Neocate Splash drink:  "Hypoallergenic, nutritionally complete, ready-to-drink amino acid-based medical food for children 1-10 years of age with gastrointestinal tract impairment."

Know anyone who uses this drink?  We just received 4 cases of this specialty drink.  Sells for $171.00 per case from Amazon.com....our price $60.00 per case.

Spread the word if you know someone who could use this.

Teen Years

Many of us are headed towards this crazy roller coaster of teen years.  I found this great resource on www.girlsheath.gov.  I know we would like to think we have all the answers (and at least tell the kids we have all the answers), but sometimes it is good to hear another opinion.

Check out the parent's guide to teen years.  If we made it through midnight feedings, we can make it through midnight curfews!

Spring is for the birds!

Spring is in the air and my bird feeders are starting to get busy again!  We have 3 nests in the eaves of our home that are occupied every spring with a new flock of robins, and then abandoned the rest of the year.  I'm ok that one of them is only used temporarily since it is above the front door and we get attacked by the Mama bird if we are taking too long to come in or out.

Some interesting info I didn't know about our feathered friends: bird nest info  I didn't know each type of bird, makes it's own type of nest....I guess it makes sense, not everyone lives in the same types of houses either.

If you find a nest, ask the kids to help identify what bird might have built it.

More spring bird activities:
homemade bird feeder
curly bird craft

Don't forget the batteries!

Pac-Man trivia

Growing up glued to the Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man games, I found this article interesting: pac-man article

I would never have guessed the true reason for creating the game was to turn girls into gamers!  I guess it worked...I'm not an avid gamer, but have been known to squander an hour or two on my angry birds on my phone.

Do you know all the trivia in the article?

Lower cost cooking

This year I have been reconnecting with my domestic side...not the cleaning side much to my husband's disappointment...but I have a renewed interest in cooking and cooking from scratch.  My family is still eating well, and we are spending much less on our groceries (nice side-effect).  I am amazed at how much we can actually cook at home with minimal effort.  The biggest effort I have run across so far, is spending more time planning what we are eating.  Not a big deal, something that can be done in while watching my cooking shows!

A great blog I found is http://unsophisticook.com/  I'm going to try the sourdough bread starter next.  My family loves bread, and nothing smells better than something being baked at home!  I'm excited to make the tweak of using whole wheat flour to increase the nutritional values and sneak some more goodness in our diets.

Try it out...what are your best tips to make more meals at home?

International Women's Day

March 8 celebrates 100 years of International Women's Day.  In 1911 more than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.

100 years later, this organization is still working on making all mankind equal and have the same opportunities to grow and be successful.  Currently this organization is making great strides in helping women of developing countries gain the freedoms and success we have.

Check their website to learn more about this important work:www.internationalwomensday.com

Another great organization working to increase women's rights: www.womenforwomen.org 

I urge you to find more information and see what you can do to help women around the world.  If we all act together, we can make a change.

Spring is Coming!

Every day we get more encouraged that Spring is around the corner when we get in great pieces like this:

 This wicker chair is in excellent condition!  Custom cushions upholstered in a neutral ivory color give this chair the option of fitting in any room in your home. Add pillows of your choice and it will instantly blend with any color scheme you already have.