Hello, Friends! How was your 4th of July? We ended up spending the afternoon soaking in the hot tub, floating in the pool and ended the night eating homemade sorbet and watching Once Upon a Time.
This weekend, our amazing friend Phyllis is stopping by for a visit. I think I will serve these organic frozen gin lemonades, along with a Greek menu. Then, for dessert a yummy vegan pineapple-colada sorbet. Watch for those recipes coming up next week!
While Eben and I ride our bikes over to the grocery store to pick up some goodies for the weekend, here are a few green things if you are in the mood:
I was excited to receive my Ecocentric Mom Box last month – OK, I am always excited to receive it. My favorite goodies in the box are always the beauty products – however, one of my favorite snacks was included too. Here’s a peek of what was inside of the box in June.
#1: Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques Lip Colour ($12) This lip colour was smooth and kept my lips hydrated all afternoon. It was a little shiny for me, the color itself was really beautiful. #2: Happy Seeds Watermelon Foaming Hand Soap ($5.45) This hand soap smells super yummy – I put it in our main bathroom for guests and several friends and family member mentioned that it smelled wonderful. #3: Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips ($1.29) Our family is a fan of Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and we have enjoyed them several times before in our home. These were already a hit with us!
#4: Turtle Moon Health All Natural Mosquito and Tick Repellent ($12) I usually make our mosquito repellent, however we haven’t had to use any so far this summer. When we go camping we usually run into mosquitoes, so I will be packing this toxic-free spray for our next trip.
#5: Brigit True Organics Magic Healing Skin Balm Stick ($5.50) The eczema on the misters hands has been flaring up again so I immediately gave him this healing skin stick balm. It’s the perfect size to stash in his pocket for easy access at work.
#6: Essence of Antiquity Pomegranate Lip Scrub ($6.95) I am a huge fan of lip scrubs and I think this product was my favorite in last month’s box. I keep it in the shower and scrub it on as soon as I step in, then rinse while washing my hair. My lips feel and taste amazing after using it. The mister isn’t complaining!
#7: Shea Terra Organics Rose Hip Black Soap Face Wash ($18) I am loving this product – I have been using it to get rid of dead skin (especially after a week in the Florida Keys sun), it leaves my skin feeling clean, fresh and calm.
#8: Green Leaf Lotion Bar ($6) I love small-batch, handcrafted lotion bars – they are easy to carry in my handbag (no spills) and these would make amazing gifts.
#9: Jenuinely Clean Laundry Power Wash ($9) I thought this detergent smelled really good and it seemed to work as well as the other eco-friendly laundry detergents that I use.
#10: EcoTrek Fitness Whole Foods Bar ($3) I rarely eat fitness bars since I work and exercise at home. However, these are great if I am venturing out for the day or if Eben is looking for a sweet treat around the house.
In total, June’s box retails for over $50 – yet costs only $21.
SUBSCRIPTION DISCOUNT: You can get $3 off a monthly subscription by using the coupon code ECOMOM3OFF – bringing the total to $18!
It’s Independence Day! Yay for America! Our plans to visit friends in Atlanta were put on hold, so we will be staying close to home today. We plan to hang out by the pool this afternoon – and hopefully catch the fireworks this evening. Also, I really want to make an organic Fourth of July treat and I plan to make our red, white and blue as green as possible!
I hope you are enjoying a day of friends, family, fun, BBQs, and maybe a bicycle parade!
We just ran over to Whole Foods to pick up some goodies for the 4th of July and upcoming weekend. As usual, I had my stack of organic and sustainable coupons with me. When we arrived at the store, I stopped at the service counter to pick the The Whole Deal, Whole Foods coupon book. I was pleasantly surprised to find coupons for a couple of items on our shopping list. Did you know that even if you have a coupon for a free item, you can combine it with a store coupon and receive money back? For example: I had a manufacturers coupon for a FREE package of Stonyfield YoKids yogurt cups, I combined that with a $1.00 off store coupon – equally a dollar back into my pocket. By using a combination of store and manufacturers coupons, I purchased $30.77 worth of groceries for $1.17. Not bad!
Are you a couponer? Do you have any couponing tips to share?
We recently moved into one of the largest family friendly neighborhoods in Palm Beach. We were super excited to move here, especially considering the wide sidewalks for riding bikes, an amazing lake for hours of fishing, large expansions of grass to play on, a resort style swimming pool and even cool, woodsy areas to explore. We thought and still think it is a great place for Eben and were hopeful that he would make friends quickly.
The problem? In a neighborhood known to be family friendly – there are no kids to be seen anywhere. Except the pool – where they HAVE to be supervised by an adult, it’s a RULE (which it should be.) If you are lucky you will spot a kid or two riding a bike or fishing in the pond here or there, usually with a parent hovering nearby. It’s hard to make new friends in a new neighborhood during the summertime if the children don’t go outside! It’s makes it harder when you have an only child – I don’t necessarily want to send Eben out into a new neighborhood by himself to explore, I would rather he make a friend to do that with. So far, no dice. It’s a good thing he has friends outside of the neighborhood. What has happened to all of the free-range children?
Growing up we lived in a small cornfield community in rural Utah, in a neighborhood that was flooded with kids. Whether it was before or after school or during those long summer days and evenings, I remember spending every possible moment outside with the gang. It didn’t matter who you hung out with at school, when you were home all of the neighborhood kids ranging in age from elementary all the way through high school would get together. We played capture the flag, freeze tag, jumped on the trampoline, rode our bikes on the dirt mounds in vacant lots, hung out in empty houses under construction collecting nails and extra wood to build forts with, walked to the gas station to buy candy and waded in the irrigation ditch looking for frogs.
Our parents didn’t schedule play dates. Most of the time, they didn’t even know the parents of our friends. We were left to make our own friends, work out any differences or arguments that we had and decide who we wanted to hang out with. Our parents weren’t hovering nearby to work things out for us when an issue occurred – we learned to work them out for ourselves.
Did I also mention that I had (what I considered) very strict, protective parents – so much so, I felt I never got away with anything. Yet, they still let me play outside with my friends every day and some evenings. I still went to sleepovers, was dropped off at the mall, movies or amusement park (another phenomenon to me – do kids still do these things alone?) and even stayed home alone with my siblings all summer while my parents worked. While they were strict and protective, they also trusted me and gave me space to learn how to be independent.
And as I grew older the more confident, self-reliant and independent I became. I went through a rough time in high school and my early years of college. There was a period of time where I didn’t have anywhere to stay, yet I feel that through those adventures as a child I grew into a smart, capable and competent teen and young adult who was very capable to taking care of myself. I survived, adapted and was able to get myself back on my feet and moving forward – by myself. I was able to rely on myself when no one else was there to help me.
I am certain this mysterious case of the missing children is based on worse case scenario thinking as parents. We are more influenced by the influx of panic-inducing media coverage that has caused a new cultural trend of parental paranoia than actually statistics that show the U.S. is safer now then when we were children. Instead of letting our children gain independence – we hold onto the “what if” – it paralyzes us.
As an adult I worry that the children of this generation may more than struggle if they fall on hard times once they are out of the family nest. What if they aren’t able to go back to their parents for help? Will they be able to survive and thrive on their own – if they haven’t ever had time to practice those skills?
Thoughts? Do you allow your children to be free-range, adventurous types? Or do you stick to more protective approach? Or a little bit of both?
What is the most adventurous thing that you ever did as a child? What is the most adventurous thing that you ever allowed your child to do?
—————————————————– P.S. A little side story, while in the Florida Keys the mister and I wanted to go for a walk along the beach and Eben wanted to stay and snorkel in the shallow waters. At first I was hesitant to leave him there “alone” while we went on a walk. I really had to tell myself that he is an amazing swimmer (remember he saved 2 girls from drowning earlier this summer) and he is super competent in the water.
