Do you know where your store gets is product from? Is it local? Can it be local (lets face it some of our everyday staples are made no ware near Minnesota.
Does your store ship products in and out using the greenest method possible?
Do they sell products that are eco friendly? Remember this doesn’t just mean recycled and organic. It also includes products that are manufactured using green power (wind or water,) products made out of sustainable material (think bamboo instead of wood or cotton.)
Do they encourage the use of cloth bags? Some stores give you a cents discount per bag others enter your name in a drawing and still others will donate a certain amount per bag you use to a charity.
Well this week was bad, I started off keeping track but I worked a weird schedule then I flew to DC on Thursday and just got back yesterday.
I hate terribly but I was on my feet for about 8 hours a day, unfortunately according to the scale this morning that didn’t matter. However a Tuesday morning weigh in doesn’t count because it made me grumpy so we will get back to our regularly scheduled program next week!
I would like to make the argument that I took all the healthy food I could pack in my suitcase but when flying your limitied pluss I”m at the paintball field all day so I have to eat what they have there.
My goal is to be down to 150 by my weigh in on October 1st so I’ve got some work to do the next two weeks. I also am going to have to do a good job of balancing life for the next two weeks, I have lots of pre-wedding stuff for a friend of mine, a house to keep up and over 5,000 pictures to sort and edit from the paint ball tournament this weekend. Plus I need to fit in some legit exercise…. Ooh here we go!
So once a month I do a post for the Expressions Vinyl Blog along with many other very talented and creative people. One of my current favoites by one of the other contributers is this Home Photo Wall Decor with printable vinyl.
Anyway on to my project from this month:
I’ve had this window for this exact project just laying around for months now, yes months. At first I was just going to leave it be, but upon further reflection I decided our living room was just to modern for this quaint old style.
So the point is if you find one that fits with your style the go with it and skip down to step # 5.
Step #1 Use a putty knife to remove the large chips of paint and splinters of wood.
Step #2 Sanding, I started with a 60 grit and used 2 sheets of it to do a really good job. Then after deciding which side was going to face out I used fine grain sand paper ( 220) for that side.
Step #3 Clean up your mess. Use a shop vac to clean up most of the dust and a damp cloth to pick up the rest. Then let it dry for a few min.
Step #4 Paper it up. I put a line of blue painters tape on the edge of the glass to make a clean line and then taped a few layers of newspaper to that.
Step#5 Paint! Any color, any style you choose. Craft paint, latex, spray paint whatever you want. Then let it dry.
Step #6 Clean the glass and clean it well, this will help the vinyl to adhear to it better.
Step #7 Cut out and use transfer tape to move the vinyl over to the window. I used my quilting board to center them.
I”m not a parent, but I was a student (oh a few years back.) But I remember that school involved a lot of disposables, notebooks, pencils, backpacks that dont’ make it through the year. Here are a few things I thought up, as well as some ideas I’ve gathered to start your school year off green.
Buy your older student a good quality backpack that he wont destroy in a year. If its too boring for them think of ways you can enhance it with materials from home. Sew on patches, use fabric paint or key chains.
For younger students check out good will for used bags that are cheaper so that when/if it falls apart you didn’t buy new or waste a lot of money.
Packing lunch for your child is a great way to control the quality and healthiness of the food they eat but remember to use glass or plastic re-usable containers. Another option would be a Snack Taxi or something similar from Etsy or Get N’ Green.
Remember to use foods that incorporate whole grains and try to avoid pre-packaged foods when possible. For more great tips on healthy school lunches and snacks check out this article from Naturally Savy.
Buy recycled, the more recycled content in your products the better. You can buy recycled notebooks, pencils, rulers, paper clips, binders, and so much more you just have to look.
For a few more great tips about taking inventory and only buying what you need from Treehugger.
So a few weeks ago I got some new shoes in the mail, and I was giddy as a school girl to try them on. Why? Because they were Heelys!!! I know I know what did I need with Heelys, I don’t have any kids I’m 28 and all of my cousins are 4 hours away. Well to be honest I don’t know either, but the bug bit and I went with it. I’m glad I did. They are so fun, I don’t typically go out with the wheels in them (because of an un-related recent hip injury I haven’t gotten to practice much) but I can tell you they are a blast.
These shoes are cute, I love the color I picked out, they look so good with some jeans and they have just a thick enough sole that I can wear some of my longer jeans with them. But my favorite thing is how easy it is to put in the wheels when I want to play around a bit and then turn them back in to regular shoes for large amounts of walking. But instead of talking about how easy it is let me show you:
Like I said earlier, I don’t have any kids but I can’t help to think how fun it would be to go skating with my kids and be the “cool mom” with the Heelys. Of course there are only a few precious years of being cool before you be come embarrassing so make sure to take advantage while you can
Overall I think they are some fun shoes, they have some style and some entertainment value, They are actually pretty darn comfortable and the soles have great traction, this is great for stopping when you have the wheels in but its also great for just walking around.
For more information about how to get your own pair check out the Heelys facebook page or their website. Also check out this cool webpage for some videos on how to skate and tricks you can do as well as an agreement you can review with your child for safe use of the skates.
I did receive these shoes for free in order to review them. However that did not influence my opinion of them.
I'm just a simple girl who is working on my life, love and being green. Here you will find info about being green, improving your life, my life happenings and all sorts of crafty things. Hope you like it!
