Happy New Year

Happy 2011.

Here's to a year of love, laughter, health and success.

I'm going to focus on my family and my business and my personal relationship with myself.

I'm going to focus on inspiring my children to be all that they can, they are already so much...they fill me with pride daily.

I'm going to focus on my husband and helping him be happy and calm when he is at our home.

I'm going to focus on my business becoming more successful and am going to try and grow it every day.

I'm going to focus on me and what is best for me, finding my center and inspiring it from within and with help from the outside - excercise, food and positive influences.

I'm not going to focus on the negativity or those whom are negative around me.

I never update this..

We all know I'm bad at it...

But I know I used this to discuss my early mom days...prior to those days of a 'diagnose' even... wow it's been a while.

I even tried another blog for a while...whatever I'm a maniacal mom plain and simple.

BTW...tonight we had a dance party...it was fun. We had a great time and then suddenly Aiden wanted no part of it, but Conor and I were having fun so I told Aiden to go ahead and go in the other room and watch a show if he didn't want to play with us.

I didn't know he was bawling his eyes out.

I didn't know why.

(I still don't)

He came in and said "Mom I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Bawling his eyes out (and I could tell at that point he had been for some time).

What's your fault?

Why are you crying?

Don't you know you are the best boy?

The best boy ever who everyone always says is so well behave and who mommy loves more than the sky above and the world beyond???

Don't you know???

been a while

We all know I suck at this.
Anyhow, Today marks the first day of February, my favorite month. Not sure why it's my favorite month, it always has been and I think it's because my birthday is at the end of the month. I think it is one of those residual things from when I was a kid and birthdays were such an awesome thing. Not so awesome when you are over that 30 bridge...but whatever.

Anyhow...randomness for you - meals for the week (I did the month and shopped for it...woo) are:
Slop, Sausuage/Peppers/Onions, Stuffed Shells, Chix w/ Rice and Veggie, Pizza, Crab Cakes (may be postponed due to functions on Sat. night) and Pollo Relleno.

Today is Monday and I have no am appointments so must get back to my cleaning routine. Monday includes daily cleaning and a focus on the den and upstairs bath. :D

Later gator.

The Best Christmas Tree Skirt

Okay, here are the cast of characters for the best Christmas Tree Skirt .. ever. Promised to become one of your most prized possessions, even in all it's not so perfect glory...which makes it even more Perfect IMO.

First off...You need a few supplies. Not many though promise.

1) Boring ol XMas Tree Skirt...Plainer the better...this is just a piece of polyester cut into a circle shape, I got it somewhere for dollars.
2) Paint. I used the kids green crayola paint the first few years, I don't recommend that as it starts to fade and this year I had to go over it with some green puff fabric paint (which I put on with a brush so it wasn't puff). I used just a basic black acrylic paint this year, it's darker and will stay longer. You can not wash this so don't bother with mixing it with the textile medium as per the paints probable recommendations.


3) Black Sharpie to write the names and the year. And something to go over that. Again I used a fabric puff paint, this one is a gold glitter paint.
4) A paper plate.
5) The hands or feet of your featured subjects!
6) Lots of towels - paper or rags like I use...this project is messy. :D

So I bought the skirt for like $2 as I have said before. I cut a line down the middle of one side so that it would easily wrap around the tree (yours may already have this because I think most do, but again, it was $2).

I decided that that my slice mark was the 'middle' and I choose to have a separate side for each kid.

You could group yours together by year, alphabetical order, child preference (kidding), what have you.

I'd try and place them as close together as possible though, as you can see I did not do that at first and now I'll regret not having the space later....though I think the 1 year old may have had something to do with that in 2008. ;)

Anyhow, put your paint on your paper plate. I added some water so it wouldn't be so thick.

Put your skirt down on a flat surface, towels at the ready.

Have the kids press one hand in the plate. Make sure when they lift it off the plate it is evenly covered and that if anything is going to drip it drips back on the plate (otherwise you have to do creative hand placement to cover the drips that land on your skirt) ;)

Have them hold it over the skirt, fingers splayed (is that really a word splayed?) and help them press it down gently.

Press over their hand and each finger so all the paint transfers (if you use the watered down acrylic it transfers really well).

Have them gently remove their hand and wash it...or give them a towel. It depends on the age of the kid, younger the kid, the faster you should wash that hand!

Then repeat with the other hand.

Write their names underneath (or have them do it if they can write - which again will make it even more special one day) and the year with sharpie.

Go over that with the gold puff paint.

Let it dry for at least a half hour (especially the puff paint).

And voila. Best Christmas Tree Skirt Ever.
PS - It doesn't photograph well due to the textures of the paint (since hands aren't smooth) so just be aware it's even cuter in person. :D

Honestly...

This is my 101 post. Sweet right? I've only not updated since oh...June. Whatever...totally suck at this. :D

Butter

I'm under the weather.

So when my husband came home last night from work I decided to go lay down a bit, lest I spread swine flu to my entire family (not really but well, I can be paranoid).

I came out at one point to find out why my almost two year old was screaming "Mom Mom Mom Where are you???!!!" and found a butter wrapper on the floor.

This scenario has played out before:
1. Butter was removed from the fridge by crazy one year old.
2. Butter was unwrapped by crazy one year old with great fine motor skills.
3. Dog was fed said butter.
4. Dog barfed.
5. I cleaned up melted half digested butter off my kitchen floor.
6. Everyone was wicked excited.

So of course I yell to my husband..."have you seen butter???!!"

And of course he looked at me like I had six heads.

Me: "Butter, there's a butter wrapper on the floor."

Him: "No, haven't seen it."

Me: "Damn dog probably ate it. Uggggh CONOR!"

Him: "That sucks."

Me: "You're dang straight that sucks because now the dog is going to puke again and I'm going to have to clean it up. What were you doing while Conor was out here pealing a stick of butter feeding it to the dog?"

Okay, so that was an inappropriate thing to say because Conor is super stealth super fast genius child (said so I don't kill him) and could probably do things a professional illusionist only dreams of. He was however sitting in the den playing video games w/ Aiden.

Then I look in the den.

And sitting straight up on the arm of the couch NEXT to where my husband was sitting was a pristine unwrapped stick of butter.

Then I laughed my ass off.

And the worst thing, hubby had no idea why I was laughing. He didn't even SEE the stick of butter even after I lost my crap laughing at it.

A diagnosis.

(I'm not going to give excuses for the looooong time away, I'm here right now and we'll all just have to get over that month + hiatus)

Aiden has a diagnosis. It's kinda what we were thinking all along, he is on the autism spectrum and he has a disorder known as PPD-NOS.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) is a 'subthreshold' condition in which some - but not all - features of autism or another explicitly identified Pervasive Developmental Disorder are identified. PDD-NOS is often incorrectly referred to as simply "PDD." The term PDD refers to the class of conditions to which autism belongs. PDD is NOT itself a diagnosis, while PDD-NOS IS a diagnosis. The term Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS; also referred to as "atypical personality development," "atypical PDD," or "atypical autism") is included in DSM-IV to encompass cases where there is marked impairment of social interaction, communication, and/or stereotyped behavior patterns or interest, but when full features for autism or another explicitly defined PDD are not met.

It should be emphasized that this ''subthreshold'' category is thus defined implicitly, that is, no specific guidelines for diagnosis are provided. While deficits in peer relations and unusual sensitivities are typically noted, social skills are less impaired than in classical autism. The lack of definition(s) for this relatively heterogeneous group of children presents problems for research on this condition. The limited available evidence suggest that children with PDD-NOS probably come to professional attention rather later than is the case with autistic children, and that intellectual deficits are less common.

Christmas and Budgets

We all had a great Christmas. It was good for us to open presents at home and the boys loved their toys. Aiden is still continuously playing with his 'guys' so way to go! Conor is a nut and doesn't play w/ anything for an extended period of time yet...w/ the exception of knives and batteries.

Gearing up for the New Year I'm excited to enter into a Forget the Joneses bootcamp. :) Wahoo~! I hope I can be successful w/ it and hoping some of my friends join as well for that extra support.

We start on Thursday and will be having a 21 day spending freeze.

Yes I'm still fired...

For being a slacker blogger. Perhaps it'll be a 2009 thing to try and do it more frequently...like more than 10 times a year.

Anyhow...wanted to share this sweet Furoshiki instructional image:



For those of you like me who have yet to finish wrapping (or started) and would like to be a little more green this year. :) (Personally I have to use what I have...next year I'll be greener, I promise)

Banana Bread

I just made the best GF banana bread!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
4 med, ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 teaspoon milk
2 cups Wendy Wark's flour mix (I'll share that in a bit)
1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Oven - 350, 5x9 pan (butter it)
Cream butter, sugar, vanilla
Beat in eggs one at a time
mash bananas with a fork (w/ milk) and set aside
combine flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt in a bowl
blend dry ingredients w/ the banana mixture into the creamed mixture

Put batter into pan, bake for one hour until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack in pan for a few minutes and then turn out of pan to cool completely on wire rack...attempt to wait for it to cool before you cut it, but if it's half gone before it cools...well that's ok too (since that is what happened here). LOL

For the flour mix -
1 cup brown rice flour
1 1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup potato startch flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch flour
3/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons xanthan or guar gum

(I actually used 3 cups of brown rice flour and omitted the white rice and sweet rice flours)

An update...

Well I spend so much time spouting off about 'serious' issues that I'm not talking much about 'us' these days. Though I guess we are quiet serious.
I think it's because I am unsure where the line is on what is too personal to put out there in blog land?
Or perhaps because I don't want to sit down and think about it all?
Or is it that if I put here, it becomes permanent, therefore real...and not something that I just think about or discuss in hushed whispers.

Here's a recap version, it will still probably be really long but I promise, it's actually the 'quick' version. Back in April, Aiden's ped recommended a neurological assessment. For those that don't know, Aiden has had Early Intervention, Speech Therapy and inclusion preschool...so we've covered our basis for the most part. We contacted Hasbro and Children's Hospital. Hasbro said "No." Period. They don't take our insurance and won't see us. Children's said "Okay, we don't take your insurance, we will still see you, please expect to pay $3,000 upon walking in the door and oh yeah, there is a 19 month waiting list." Around this time we also had Aiden's second TEAM meeting, which is the one that qualified him for preschool. I asked what they felt about the neurological assessment. This was in a meeting with the head of the Early Learning Center, the woman who gave his educational assessment (later to become his teacher), the Occupational Therapist, and two of his Speech Therapists. They said, they felt that with the addition of Preschool to his IEP that it was enough and we didn't really 'need' the neurological assessment. Sweet...works for me. Honestly, in the back of my mind I think I knew that it shouldn't be that easy, but I didn't need someone to tell me twice, and well I was wrong for that.
Fast forward to last month. Aiden had a private assessment with a local Speech and Language Center and of course qualified for more services (two sessions a week for 45 minutes per session of one on one speech w/ the therapist there). This is on top of the one on one session he receives once a week at school. The therapist asked if we had had a neurological assessment for him. I went through the tale told above. He said he noticed some 'markers' (this was after I told him about Aiden being on a GF diet because it helps his behavior) and said that he encourages it, because if we do get an 'official diagnosis' than he will be able to qualify for more services.
Aiden is very intelligent, we all know that. But he is very scripted and memorized and unable to comprehend part of a sentence/direction and tries to answer/respond as best he can w/ limited info, he has an unusual intonation pattern and doesn't know how to respond to new situations, he also has echolalia and some phonological errors...anyhow...all this is okay when you have to list your colors, numbers, shapes (planets, presidents, national landmarks) but when there is a direction such as 'circle the tree above the line' only parts of that are heard/understood. So he would either circle the line or circle a tree, not necessarily the one asked. Mr. Aiden is also a bit of a perfectionist. Ask him if he wants you to draw a picture for him, sure. Here are examples from two particular occasions - First occasion - he requested Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night. I'm not joking. Second occasion - requested a picture of the Great Sphinx. He gets upset if they don't look like them. He wanted to draw Starry Night and got VERY upset that it wasn't coming out right. OK, you are four dude...you aren't going to recreate VanGogh the first time you try...sorry. I don't think anyone could! He wanted to play Piano when we were on vacation and we said, sure let's show you how to play a song - no, I don't want to play Mary Had a Little Lamb - I want Beethoven, like this - And he starts humming Beethoven. Forget it when it comes to writing. We are trying to get him to write his name, he'll have no part of it...he tries a few times and then gets so upset that his A looks more like a Mountain than an A that he refuses to continue. I told him it was okay, it doesn't have to be perfect, we are just practicing, nope...nothing is working. He is in the third week of school and now waking up refusing to go...because he is facing challenges that he can't complete. Or at least can't complete perfectly. He is four. My happy boy is turning into someone who is using avoidance rather than the face possibility of failure, this is not the school career that I want for him.
He is actually home today from school, he has an ear infection. We went to the ped earlier this morning and will have a script for him in a bit.
Conor is being Conor and we will be headed Early Intervention soon, we still aren't talking.
Oh and I did finally fill out all the paperwork to get Aiden into Children's Hospital for his neurological assessment, this is the paperwork I had to gather to send in with it:

-Early Intervention
Developmental Profile 10/19/06
Developmental Profile Update 06/07/07

- Public Schools
TEAM Meeting Summary 12/04/07
Special Education Eligibility Determination 11/29/07
IEP 11/29/07
Speech and Language Assessment 11/26/07
Progress Report 03/10/08
TEAM Meeting Summary 4/15/08
Occupational Therapy Evaluation 3/28/08
Educational Assessment 3/24/08
Speech and Language Update 4/03/08
IEP 4/12/08
Progress Report 08/04/08

– Speech, Hearing and Language Center
Initial Speech and Language Evaluation 9/12/08

Thankfully, when Aiden started Early Intervention I decided to keep a binder with all of his formal assessments so I had all the info handy. I'm going to do that with Conor too, just in case. We also had paperwork that the school had to fill out and send in - so I believe four of his teachers met and finished all of that.

It's a lot of work.
It's frustrating.
It's depressing.
It's necessary.
It's going to be okay.

From Green Blog - Congrats on your Dodo Palin!

Sarah Palin Wins 2008 Rubber Dodo Award



The former unknown Alaskan Governor who is now running mate with John McCain and, maybe, soon even Vice President of the USA has been awarded the 2008 Rubber Dodo Award.

It is the Center for Biological Diversity that this year gives their unflattering Dodo Award to Sarah Palin. Why? Because she “has sought to remove endangered species act protection for the polar bear, suppressed and lied about state global warming studies, and denied that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee.”

“All global warming deniers are eventually forced to suppress scientific studies, and Palin is no different,” said Suckling. “To maintain her ludicrous opposition to protecting the polar bear in the face of massive scientific consensus, Palin stepped over the line to lie about and suppress government science.”

“Palin’s insistence that Arctic melting is ‘uncertain’ is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff,” said Suckling. “It’s hopeless, reckless, and extremely cynical.”

You can read more about the award and why the Center for Biological Diversity gave the award to Sarah Palin here.

The Guardian has even more shocking news about Sarah Palin and her fight against polar bears. They reveal that Sarah Palin got help from known climate change deniers and the oil company ExxonMobil “to back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species.”

“In official submissions to the US government’s consultation on the status of the polar bear, Palin and her team referred to at least six scientists who have questioned either the existence of warming as a largely man-made phenomenon or its severity. One paper was partly funded by the US oil company ExxonMobil.”

Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace US, says that this “shows that she is completely out of touch with the urgency of the climate crisis.”

Tonight is Sarah Palin’s big debate night against the Democratic Vice President candidate Joe Biden. If you want to know more about the two candidates’s stances when it comes to the environment we got all you need to know: Sarah Palin’s awful environmental record and why the League of Conservation Voters Hails Joe Biden.

By Simon Leufstedt

5.4 Earths...

We need 5.4 Earths to sustain us. What? Huh? What do you mean?

I mean, we need 5.4 Earths to sustain us. We are using 5.4 Earths resources to sustain us...hard to imagine right? Sounds weird right? We only have one earth right?? Oh yeah...that IS right. We DO only have one Earth. Have I mentioned that we need 5.4 Earths to sustain us? Are you getting it yet?

However, this year as of September 23rd we used all the resources that the Earth can produce this year. That means we are already using next years resources...and you think we aren't borrowing from our children?

From Green Blog...

Earth Overshoot Day Happens Earlier Every Year



As of September 23 we humans have used all the resources our earth can produce this year. That means we are borrowing resources from 2009 and that we are literally consuming our children’s resources.

And as each year passes Earth Overshoot Day happens earlier and earlier. Last year Earth Overshoot Day happened on October 6. Then we consumed 30% more natural resources than what the earth can reproduce under a whole year. Now in 2008 that number has increased with 10% as the Global Footprint Network expects us to use 140% of the Earths resources.

“Globally, we now require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. But of course, we only have one Earth. The result is that our supply of natural resources — like trees and fish — continues to shrink, while our waste, primarily carbon dioxide, accumulates.”

Some countries contribute more to these numbers than others do. If everyone lived like a resident of the following countries we would need this many earths:

* United States 5.4 Earths
* Canada 4.2 Earths
* United Kingdom 3.1 Earths
* Germany 2.5 Earths
* Italy 2.2 Earths
* South Africa 1.4 Earths
* Argentina 1.2 Earths
* Costa Rica 1.1 Earths
* India 0.4 Earths

What do you think? How can we manage to overcome our increasing consumption rate and overpopulation? And how can one personally contribute to ending the Overshoot Day?

So what are those other countries doing? Or what are they NOT doing? What are YOU doing? Think about it.

Please.

Foreign Policy...

I've decided that since I grew up in Maine, and I went to Quebec w/ my French Class freshman year, and I was president of my freshman class and vice president of National Honor society and I lived near Bangor International Airport (do you know how many world leaders have been through the airspace over my head growing up?!) - I therefore have foreign policy experience. Period.



Does anyone think this is in our future at this point?



Hmmm...look it's the VP candidate for 2024!

For Kara - Picture of Bread from Bread Machine

 

Different breads come out differently - so I'd experiment with your recipe if you do not like how it comes out in your machine.

From left to right I have a Rye Bread, Parmesean Pepper Bread and Gluten Free Flax bread.

The Rye Bread and the Parm. Pepper bread were made in the same breadmaker and are actually the exact same 'size' loaf - 1.5 lbs. They were made in a breadmaker that has a sideways pan. Rye was made on Sunday and Parm. Pepper was made on Moday. Obviously they look VERY different and well, they should - they are different types of bread.

The GF bread was made in the breadmaker shown previously (a standup pan) - also made on Sunday (had dueling breadmakers going). It's an extremely heavy bread (you would be too if you had all those ingredients) and it was very very humid here after the whole hurricane storms we were getting...so it's kinda sad looking...hehe...tastes the same and well the kids don't care anyway.

Hope that helps Kara! If you need some recipes, let me know - as you can see I make non GF bread too! :)

Making Bread...

I have had a few people ask about the process of making bread here at the Mahoney's. For those who don't know...we are a Gluten Free Household (except hubby). With two young boys, bread is something we go through quickly...so I make my own. Store bought stuff tastes rather horrific and store bought mixes grow $$ fast (that means expensive, they don't grow money - unfortunately). So here is the process...



I use a breadmaker and have a container where I keep the majority of my bread supplies, so I can just pull it down when it's time to make it (I also keep the recipe in there).

Here are the cast of characters (yes there is a lot).


I mix the dry ingredients in a bowl first, then add it to the breadmaker after I have put in my wet ingredients. Since I've pulled out all those crazy ingredients anyway, I also do up two batches of dry ingredients only (no yeast) in zip locks so that in a few days I don't have to bring out all those ingredients again...this way I only have to pull out all the ingredients about once a week.

Here is the recipe:

Put wet ingredients in the breadmaker first:
3 large eggs
1 2/3 cup water
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 teaspoon vinegar

In separate bowl - the dry ingredients:
1/4 cup brown or white rice flour (I use brown)
1 cup tapioca flour (I buy it by the case from Amazon)
1 1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 cup flaxseed flour (or meal I use meal - keep it in the fridge to keep it fresh)
1/2 cup skim milk powder
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum (this stuff is pretty $$ but you don't use a lot and it's a necessity for most gluten free recipes so make the investment! You can't skip out on this!)



Add dry contents to wet and mix (I don't mix because my breadmaker does it for me). With your finger make a depression and add 2 1/2 teaspoons gf yeast. Set breadmaker on whole wheat, light crust and press go.



If you use your breadmaker every three days like I do, it will start to look like mine. It's okay...it's not dirty, it's just bread (and burnt remnants of crazy bread that took over the breadmaker once...we scratched that recipe)...Don't waste your time trying to get it to look like new again, it's not going to happen.

Be sure to drink copious amounts of coffee

Just an update...

I've only been doing this a few days...cloth diapering sucks. But not giving it up just yet, because I need to give it a few weeks to get the hang of it (and get more supplies...I've started making my own diapers actually and the one I made last night worked quiet well).

Not using the dishwasher is okay but there are times I'd rather just pop stuff in it than stand at the sink scrubbing.

There are items that have been invented by society to make things 'easier', but also to convince us that these things (household'chores') are an inconvenience, we can do better things with our time...like...watch TV for example and see all those commercials for those disposable items that have been invented by society to make things 'easier'. Do you see where I'm going with this? Whatever happened to the time that one took pride in the care of their home, feeding their family, etc, isn't that as important or even more important than the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the title of our job? Is it such a 'chore' to show that your home, your belongings you work so hard to obtain, the place where your children play, crawl, sleep - is it a chore to show that that is a place that is filled with love and deserves as much attention and MORE so actually, then television??

Just curious.

Holy crap I did it.

I bought cloth diapers. I had some anyhow, but bought those G diapers and stuck an old cloth one in it instead of the disposable ones they come with (yeah ten disposables and two covers for $25 eek) but I think the cover will work with cloth diapers, well we'll find out huh since boy is in bed for the night with one on...he was rather giddy about it...or about the fact that he was finally going to bed after his mom schlepped him all over the place tonight (not so good w/ the no driving thing but hey, I actually never said I wouldn't drive), I'm not really sure which. However he was quite happy.I feel kinda weird about it, like I'm breaking some sort of law/rule or something...how totally twisted is that?

So I want you to read this (forcing you since if you are reading my blog you have to, right?):

The No Impact Philosophy
None of the practical questions about no impact living would be relevant if my wife Michelle, my daughter Isabella, our dog Frankie and I intended to approach the challenge by becoming ascetics. Until now, we have been your typical convenience-addicted, New York City take-out slaves. Asceticism is not a realistic way forward, not for my family and not for the world.

Saving this planet depends on finding a middle path that is neither unconsciously consumerist nor self-consciously anti-materialist. The idea for No Impact Man is not to be anorexic but to be abundant, not to be eco-efficient but “eco-effective,” in the words of the environmental scientists William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

In their book Cradle to Cradle, McDonough and Braungart discuss the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin, who have harvested wood for sale from their forested land for many generations. In 1870, the Menominee inventoried 1.3 billion standing board feet of timber on their 235,000 acres. Since then, they have harvested nearly twice that amount—2.25 billion board feet. Considering the “clear-cutting” methods of the corporate lumber merchants you hear about, which completely strips land of its trees, you’d expect that the Menominee would have barely a single tree left, not to mention any forest wildlife. In fact, they have 1.7 billion board feet left, more than they had in 1870, and a thriving forest ecosystem.

That’s because the Menominee tend to cut only the weaker trees, leaving behind the strong mother trees and enough of the upper canopy for the arboreal animals to continue to inhabit. They have figured out what the forest can productively offer them instead of considering only what they want to take from it.

This is largely how every other species on earth lives—in harmony with the environment. Lions neither starve themselves nor gorge to the point of wiping out the gazelle population. Instead, they promote the health of the gazelle herd by culling its weaker members and preventing herd overgrowth which in turn prevents overgrazing of the savannah. Animal waste does not poison the ground but fertilizes the soil so that it can produce more vegetation for the animals to eat. Bees feed on the pollen of flowers but far from damaging them they provide the crucial service of pollinating them.

This is what I mean by “eco-effective.” The philosophy is based not only on restricting consumption but on changing what is consumed so that it actually helps or at least does not hinder the world. If bees had the idea that they wanted to save the planet, they would not go on crash diets and start eating less pollen. They would continue to live their lives abundantly, because their lives are already eco-effective.

That is the philosophy Michelle and I hope to realize during our no impact experiment. The emphasis will ultimately not be on tightening our belts so that our consumption does not poison the earth—although there will certainly be an element of that—but on trying to change our consumption patterns so that our abundance helps or at least does not harm the planet in the first place. We will, like the Menominee, figure out what our world can productively offer us rather than considering only what we want.

My new hero...that was taken from No Impact Man

See, you want to go buy cloth diapers now too don't you? Even if you are a little frightened....

Oh and don't tell my hubby, he was totally a No on the whole cloth diaper thing...hmmm guess someone has a surprise in store...

Oh and another 'oh'...um yeah, I'm grounded for buying the cloth diapers new (12 diapers and two covers) but shoot me. I'll get some more covers second hand...it's not that gross...you think those from a diaper service are all new? No. Thank you very much.

The Mahoney's are turning GREEN

I have been trying to be earth conscious for some time now...recycling, changing the lightbulbs, no papertowels, etc...but now I'm pretty sure I may drive us all crazy. But, we'll see. It's worth a shot and I'm happy to try anything once to see if it's doable, even if we have to alter our 'convenient' ways...just to make this world a better place for my boys, and their children in return.

Yesterday I put myself and hubby on the Opt Out list and took our name off lists for distributions of Catalogues...so hopefully within a few months our junk mail accumulation will be far less...We get so much! No joke! And most goes into the trash (shred first) or burned because our recycling doesn't take paper...crazy right? So, I'm working on making a shift and figuring out where I can take our paper because we accumulate a lot of it.

I'm challenging myself to not use the dishwasher for a week. GASP!

I will not buy anything new, only second hand as far as clothes, toys, etc. go (except for underwear and socks...blech).

AND I'm even going to give cloth diapers a whirl...yup! Just have to work on how to get them, where to get them, what I need, etc.

Oh and we've started switching off surge protectors...what doest that take an extra five seconds? So as of right now the downstairs is all off, the playroom is off and the living room...sweet right? Because, here's another new thing...NO MORE TV (during the day to start, I'm not sure I can give it up Cold Turkey)but typically I used to have it on for background noise, one on in the playroom, one on in the living room and sometimes...one on in the bedroom...ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I know, horrible!

So...here you go...here's a new fun thing to watch and snicker at...I may just drive us all crazy...but hey, saving the Earth is a Team Sport ya know?