Get it Together!

My inspiration has been pretty short-lived lately. Flaky. Like my dry little elbows.

Remember how I read "Urban Homesteading" and got all psyched up to transform the barren glass-strewn dirt patches of the neighborhood into verdant guerrilla gardened oases? Or when I made elaborate blog schedules and even mentally blocked off writing dates in my calendar? (Do you see what I did there? I only blocked off the dates in my head rather than committing to them on the binding agreement pages of my planner). I started researching definitions for my Word Nerd posts, but trailed off somewhere; assuming that if my attention was not being held by the subtle joys of household vermiculture, yours probably wouldn't be either. And trying to "cook from scratch" for the month of June was a complete flop.

I think I was so enamoured of this Chihuly sculpture because it reminds me of the chaos of my brain:

 
Reflecting on this scatter-brained refrain of "too many ideas and not enough steam" has given me some helpful insight into restructuring the G3 blog's future. The experiment is already 1/4 over, and so far the only "results" I can show you would be 5 inches of gray roots, some "Everything I touch/eat/smell is going to give me cancer" paranoia and my sock bottle.

But here's the good news: Just like I rarely hit my groove at work before lunch, I think the best stuff is yet to come. I've had a few months to try out the "Throw All Your Random Ideas at the Blog Whenever You Have a Spare Minute" approach, and now I'm ready for a new approach. Focused, calmer.

Less like yellow hot mess of Chihuly and more like lovely daffodils.

The Sock Bottle Gets and Upgrade, and Finally Goes to Starbucks

I made this brown felt Mug Snuggie (Smuggie? Did I just invent something?) for my infamous Bottle in a Sock so that Les would not cringe every time I decided to take my sock bottle out on the town with me.

Just kidding. That's a total lie.

I made the Smuggie for me. I had no problem filling up the Bottle in a Sock coffee mug with organic, fair trade java and some soy milk (and sugar, and dark chocolate syrup) at home and taking it out for a drive or a walk. But every time I thought about taking it to Starbucks for my weekly (twice weekly?)Guilty Pleasure Latte, I would get up to the counter and freeze. I Just. Couldn't. Do. It. I couldn't bring myself to hand my sock bottle over the counter to the hipper-than-thou barista. I couldn't bear the thought of the suited up Loopers behind me in line cocking their eyebrows at my makeshift to-go mug. The same way I sigh and shake my head when the lady in front of me orders a Nonfat One Splenda No Whip Decaf Coffee Caramel Frappucino. (That actually happened. 15 minutes ago.).

But today, the Smuggied Bottle made it out of my bag and over the counter. Hooray! One small step for repurposing posers like me, one giant leap for my Starbucks disposables waste reduction. And guess what? I got not one, but TWO complements on my "cute" coffee bottle. Yeah, the barista who was actually making my nonfat latte had some trouble getting the steamed milk into the bottle in an orderly fashion, but he smiled and said "no problem!". Like any properly indoctrinated baristas would do. I explained to him that it was my first try with the new coffee bottle. And he just handed me my bottle and said "Enjoy!".

And I am. Enjoying my very FIRST waste-free Starbucks Latte.

Finally. Only 4 months in the making.

Paved with Good Intentions

This blog should really end up being a confessional.

Because despite my good intentions, I still end up getting lattes in disposable cups, I only made it one day so far on natural deodorant, and it is already June 17 and I have cooked from scratch exactly 2 times.

One of those two cooking extravaganzas was on Wednesday, and it reminded me of why I so very rarely cook completely from scratch. It is a huge pain in the butt. It took me over two hours, not including the overnight soaking of the black beans, and I dirtied 3 pots + 3 lids, one baking dish, one big storage container for the beans, 2 colanders, a cutting board and 2 knives. To make one dish.

I tried to choose my recipe wisely. I consulted these cookbooks:

I settled on a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance called Black bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers. The ingredient list had only about a dozen items, several of which we already had, and the actual instructions were just two short paragraphs. I'm a big fan of recipes that fit onto just one cookbook page. So I thought I was safe.
First, since I was trying to avoid canned stuff as much as possible, I soaked a bag of black beans overnight. This wasn't so hard, it just took a little forethought. I had planned to make this dish on Tuesday night but had forgotten to soak the beans.  Anyway, while the beans started cooking (for an hour and a half!), I chopped up the veggies.

Lots of mushrooms

Lots of garlic

This recipe also calls for a chopped onion, but I didn't want to take any more pictures of chopped white things. I prepped these beautiful big organic green peppers (Bell peppers are on the Dirty Dozen list, so always try to buy organic!) for their stuffing while all the veggies cooked.

After about an hour and a half, the veggies, beans, and quinoa were ready to get stuffed into the peppers. When it was all said and done, they looked like this:

A little organic tomato sauce on top

Overall results were quite tasty. Les and I agreed that next time I would add more quinoa and more chili powder.  They are also supposed to have fresh cilantro on top, but I couldn't find any organic cilantro, and after reading the article last week about the average bunch of conventional cilantro having over 34 pesticides on it I decided to skip it.

It was a good recipe, and one pepper was very filling, healthy, and delish. BUT, I would recommend doing this recipe when you've got some left over soaked/cooked beans and some pre-chopped veggies looking for a dish. The extra dish washing alone is enough to make me prefer to skip a repeat.

An Armpit Manifesto?

It's only 9:32am and I can already tell you that the Alba Botanical deodorant is going to make me completely crazy by noon.

Today is my first trial run of the safer stick, and to be fair, I'm wearing a sort of irritating little jacket over my dress, but sticky pits are derailing my already flagging concentration.

I know that deodorant is not the same as antiperspirant. And I also know that if I were wearing a more breathable, less-armpit-snug ensemble today I might not be so bothered. But today, my armpits = gross.

So I'll try it again tomorrow with a smarter outfit choice and see if that makes a difference. But handily, Twitter brought me this post from the Mother Nature Network with a few additional home-made deodorant options. Including how to use cornstarch and baking soda to reduce that sticky-pit sensation that has made those sweet-smelling-but-toxic antiperspirant sticks a mainstay of even the crunchiest toiletry cabinets.

This is what my armpits want:

• Safe ingredients that are not linked to cancer, death, doom, or any other human or environmental badness
• To not have my clothes stick to them, or become soggy in a pool of sweat
• To smell at least neutral, and ideally pleasant
• To be cared for for less than $18 per deodorant stick (even a really pretty, sweet smelling, safe deodorant stick)

G3 readers - Anyone want to go on a home-made deodorant adventure with me? We could try different recipes and report back. I know at least one of you (my favorite Nashvillian) has gone home-made and lived to tell the tale.

Just mix 1 part Fear and 1 part Laziness...

There are tons of recipes available online that will instruct you on how to make just about anything. Wood floor cleaner? Toothpaste? Granola? Why buy it in a store, in a package, when you can make it?

Notice I said YOU can make it.

I love DIY. I love saving money and customizing stuff that fits my life. I also get some thrills and jollies from being able to say "I made that!".

So what, pray tell, is preventing me from actually making my own shampoo, glass cleaner, and mouth wash? I have bought all the ingredients for them. Paid money. Money that could have been spent on lattes.

Well, I'm kind of afraid that they won't work, and I'm also kind of lazy. I don't personally know anyone who uses baking soda to cleanse her hair, or vinegar in a spray bottle to wash her bathroom mirror, or anyone who has cooked up a pot of vodka, water, lemongrass, and minty essential oils into some home brewed mouthwash. My goal for this week is to try all three of these concoctions and let you know how it goes. Les is begging me not to try to make my own mouthwash until he is satisfactorily convinced (via consult with his chemist dad) that I will not poison myself.

But if you can't stand the suspense, or know me well enough to suspect that I might just give up and watch JAWS on DVD rather than clean the bathroom tonight, you can check out this handy "Does it work?" road test of some popular home-made cleaning products, brought to you by Gizmodo.

Green Dogs

It is not super easy to have an eco-friendly dog in the city. At least, it is not easy for us. Aside from the myriad food and treat containers (cans, bags, boxes, etc.), you also have to deal with the fact that your small furry creature cannot use the toilet.

(I know a couple who successfully trained their cat to use the toilet, which both impressed and freaked me out).

Dogs do all their pooping outside (hopefully), and in the city that means you have to reach down and pick up that poop and throw it in the trash. And since we don't really use plastic grocery bags anymore, we end up buying rolls of neatly perforated Poop Bags for this purpose.

The ridiculousness of this scenario has not escaped me.

We are BUYING plastic bags to use to carry poop around for 5 minutes. And then we throw it in the dumpster.

When Jackie and I watched the movie "Bag it" (a movie about single-use plastics, not dog poop, FYI), the guy used a handful of newspaper to pick up his dog's poop, then gently crumpled up the page of newsprint and tossed it in the trash. I like this idea, but we don't get the newspaper. So today I swiped a lazily discarded Chicago Tribune from the metra seat next to me on my way out the door to see if I could get used to the Newspaper Poop Grabber idea. I know it will take more than a little convincing to get Les to use paper to pick up after the Augster, but it's worth a shot.

And then today on ReNest, I saw info about dog poop bags that dissolve in water. They are called "Flush Doggy" bags.  Hmmm.... I like this idea better than newspaper scooping, but it still involves buying something to use to pick up poop. Definitely better than landfilling, but maybe just ask big an "ick" factor as using newspaper, and newspaper is free for the taking.

Of course, the convenience and neatness of rolled up plastic bags are a big selling point. Who wants to carry around old papers? But as I inch closer to sincerely desiring simplicity, economy, and gentle practices for every area of my life (rather than just telling myself that I SHOULD desire those things), this kind of unpalatable stuff seems less daunting.

Maybe if I can get myself to use discarded Tribs instead of purchased plastic poo bags, I can figure out a way to wean AugDog off of the pee pads that we have come to depend upon. Tiny dog + tiny bladder + long nights and not-quite-early-enough mornings = Thank Heaven for Pee Pads! The pee pads have saved a lot of paper towels, if you can rationalize it that way.

Right now the greenest thing about our dog is his blanket.

The Chocolate Scandal Part 2 - Make the Call!

Every once in a while, a chance to actually DO something about a social ill that puts our undies in a twist kind of falls in our laps.

I've seriously SERIOUSLY been on a chocolate mission since I read about the extensive use of child labor (which some would even call child slavery) in most commercial cocoa production. You can read my original rant here.  But besides just seeking Fair Trade chocolate for my quick fix, I didn't really do much research about how to actually advocate for change. Because I am lazy.

But today, this headline came to me from the Twittersphere:

Call Hershey Today to Fight Child Labor and Trafficking

Yes! I can do that. They even have a script all worked up for you, including responses for when you get fed the party line about the little bitty baby steps they are going to claim they are already taking to be more socially responsible. Check out the article on Change.Org - http://news.change.org/stories/call-hershey-today-to-fight-child-labor-and-trafficking

I'm at work, so I haven't actually called Hershey about this yet. But I DID sign their petition to urge Hershey to get with the program and go Fair Trade. And I included a strongly worded personal message in the petition text. And may have mentioned that I have a blog, and that I'm not afraid to use it...

Anyways, if it hurts your heart to know that your s'mores or mini Snickers or Special Dark with almonds was produced by exploited, desperate little kids, at least take 5 seconds and sign the petition. Make a call.

Do it. And tell your friends.

Thanks Friends!

For the last couple of days now, I've had trouble posting reply comments to all your great responses to my posts! I have no idea why blogger isn't letting me post comments, but I didn't want you to think that I haven't been reading them.

Thank you for taking the time to post a comment, or send me an email, or give me a call because of something you read on G3! I'll keep try to get into my comments section, but in the meantime, know that I appreciate you all a super ton.

If I had lots of cash, I would send you all some flowers. Local, farmers market flowers. And I'd have them delivered by bike. And they would look like this:

Ok, ok, so only the peonies came from the farmers market. The snapdragons came from Whole Foods, and the hydrangeas came from Dominicks. But I'd send you the peonies, and you would smile because they smell so incredible and because they were grown in a family farm in Michigan.

When I called the grower this week to request as many of the ivory peonies as he would sell me for the wedding on Saturday, he said that he was out in the "peony field" at that very moment. Can you imagine? A whole field of ruby, magenta, white, and even lemon yellow peonies? Imagine it. Let it be your happy place.

The Stinky Truth about Antiperspirant

GOOD Health just published this helpful article about why antiperspirant is bad for you. Really bad. Even if only some of the potential risks turn out to be as bas as they sound, it's probably worth considering an alternative.

Which is distressing, because there are few things that gross me out about my body more than sweaty armpits. I hate hate HATE the feeling of damp pits. And the sneaking suspicion that YOU are the stinky person that everyone is scooting away from on the Metra on the ride home.

I got this little trial size of Alba Botanica deodorant to try:

Which I'm excited to try next week, because the women's deodorant they recommend in the GOOD Health article (La Vanila) is EIGHTEEN DOLLARS per stick.

$18?

Really?

Could I just make some myself?  Well, that will be my next trick. My friend Kathi has made her own anti-stink sticks, and thinks they work pretty well. If the Alba doesn't do the trick, I will be your home made deodorant guinea pig.

June Gray Progress Report

Happy June!

My hair is a hot mess these days - split ends, wavy, mostly air-dried and crazy looking. But I keep getting compliments on it, so I'm going to try to relax and go with it.

I'm thinking about cutting some long bangs, just to give it some shape. The texture is changing, both from the gray and from the natural shampoos and stuff I have been using (still haven't gone "no 'poo"). I like the texture, but it is definitely NOT Pantene Luxe. It is only shiny when I go for a day or so without washing it. Oil-slick style. It is moderately soft (softest on aforementioned unwashed days). And it doesn't swing beautifully in the breeze or cause you to want to reach out and touch it. I used to have hair like that. In high school. No, really, I did. Soft, mahogany hair that I would roll up into hot rollers so I could have these huge bouncy coils of shiny hair. I loved my high school hair. Sigh.

Les told me out of the blue last night that he really likes my "multicolored" hair, and that he thinks the natural wavy, unkempt look is pretty. That means a lot to me, since I was afraid he would decide that I am starting to slide down the hill into the abyss of unattractiveness.

True Confession: Despite the fact that I really want to get some bangs or something, I actually really do LOVE my hair so far. Most days. I get self conscious about it, and I still feel slightly compelled to tell everyone that I am doing this experiment so they do not look askance at me, but most days I really like the wavy craziness of it. And the silvery streaks.

Never would have expected that.