I hope everyone has fantastic plans for New Years Eve and that the weeks leading up to tomorrow gave you an opportunity to reflect on 2011 and all the possibilities that 2012 can hold for you.  That is what I like about the new year. I like that it is a clean slate where you can set new goals (if you do that) and focus on what you want to accomplish in the year. But let's not set ourselves up for failure mmmmkay? Be realistic with your goals and you will achieve them. 

One of my goals (from my 101 in 1001) was to set up a Facebook page for this blog. I was looking for an opportunity for us all to connect and chat about environmental issues that may not be big enough to warrant a full blown blog. Plus I wanted a place where you could post about what you are doing so we can all learn and grow together. So I set up the Facebook page. Come on over and 'Like' it.

Now let's talk about Google Friend Connect. Starting in March Google is discontinuing GFC for all non-Blogger blogs. This blog is on the Blogger platform so as far as I can tell GFC is safe and you will still get my posts dumping into your feed. But I think it is time to not rely on it so I will be removing it from the page. In its place I will be adding FeedBurner so you can subscribe in whatever manner you wish. 

Over the years we have perfected our gift wrapping abilities. Where we can we use gift bags that seem to circulate through the family year after year. Tissue paper is reused as well...until it gets to wrinkly and has holes in it. We used to use wrapping paper that was FSC certified and could be recycled after use. This year we made our own wrapping paper from paper we saved from packages we received. 

But what is wrapped around the present is just the tip of the iceberg. There can be so much packaging on gifts (especially toys) that it can add up to a lot of waste at the curb the week after the holidays. Here are some tips so you can reduce the amount of waste at your curb:

Here is what our waste look liked this week. The green bin is 75% full and is from the full week (that turkey takes up a lot of room!). The garbage bag is 3 weeks worth of waste. The blue bins are 2 weeks worth of recycling and no we did not drink all that in the box on the far right. I was de-cluttering and got rid of our collection of wine/booze bottles.

How often do you look under your bed?  I can't remember the last time I looked under there...and I mean really looked not just looking a few centimeters under while looking for a lost elastic or something. Yesterday I was looking for something for Joey and on a whim I decided to look under the bed. It was right near the edge so I didn't have to look very far but once we opened the box we found these little bugs on one of the bags. I lost.my.shit.  I went upstairs and vacuumed the crap out of our room. I got right under the bed too, not just the edges. I found all kinds of stuff under there including feathers from our pillows, pennies (finding these means clearly I can retire early), cat puke (dear lord how long has that been there??) and freezie wrappers. I did not find any bugs thankfully so they must have been from within the package itself. 

Ensuring you have a clean home (not military clean because come on....that just isn't going to happen) will ensure that you are reducing any negative health implications onto your family. Dust in the air can affect your respiratory tract, cause dry eyes and lead to an excessive amount of boogers. Which in our house means a certain little boy has his finger up his nose far too often. 

Do you know what dust is exactly? It is made up of many things including dead skin cells, hair and POOP.  Dust is in the air, on the floor and on furniture. This means dust mites are also on the floor and furniture. Cleaning often will probably not get rid of them completely but it will reduce the number that you have. Dust mites gross me right out so I have upped my cleaning schedule. What I like about it is that I don't spend very much time cleaning. That deep clean of our bedroom yesterday took me 35 minutes. My goal is to clean for 1 hour a day (doesn't have to be all at once). 30 minutes of that is the every day cleaning like dishes and wiping counter tops. The other 30 minutes is spent deep cleaning other rooms in the house. I do 1 room/area every day which means that each room/area is deep cleaned every 10-14 days. 

You don't need any chemicals to keep your house clean either. Use steam cleaners (not the one I have), vinegar, baking soda, non toxic cleaners and vacuums with filters. There is absolutely no sense in have a clean house that got that way by using toxic chemicals. You are just trading one health hazard for another.

Cleaning is Step 1 in our journey to a healthier home. I don't think it is the most important decision we will make but I do think that it is the cheapest and easiest transition to make. 

I have always hated New Years resolutions. I used to make them every year and they would last maybe a month and then I would be done with them. I am sure I am not alone in this. A few years ago I started doing the 101 in 1001 instead of making New Years resolutions. I liked this idea because it meant I could make a list of meaningful list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish over 1001 days. More time is exactly what I needed. Also I didn't feel the pressure to make it big things like I typically tried to do with New Years resolutions.

Earlier this year I came to the end of my first 1001 days with somewhat mixed results. I didn't accomplish all 101 items and really I was okay with that. I carried some over as I made my new list of 101 items and made more realistic goals this time around....things that didn't rely as heavily on step 1-3 happening first.

I have completed 5 items already and have 19 others that are in progress.

Blog - There will be some changes in the new year...I am excited about starting them and hope you will be too. Just time for some spring cleaning and a new face lift! I'm also branching out into Facebook so we can all chat a bit more. Look for an announcement on that in the next few weeks!

Family - We have been trying to have more date nights. Whether that means we go out or stay in...it still counts and I love that we are trying to make more time for nights like this.

Fitness/Health - We have a little Healthy Holiday Challenge going on at work right now that is really helping me with a couple of the items in this category. If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that basically I abruptly stop tweeting around 11:15 every night. That is because one of my goals is to be in bed by 11:15 5 nights a week and because I get points for every night I do this I literally run up the stairs and jump head first into bed at 11:14.

Food - Lots going on with this category. In the new year I will be talking about finding a CSA that works for you and also looking for farmers that you can buy direct from.

Home - We have lots of projects on the go and we are considering our environmental impact on all of them. I will share our success and hilarious failures as we finish them up. 

This time of year we all struggle to find that perfect gift for those who we love. For my family it is even worse though...because my birthday is only a few days before Christmas. So what does someone get an eco-chick? Not useless stuff that is for sure. This year Joe took me to the restaurant Borealis that serves all local food. I know that the asparagus in the chips we had with our spinach dip are from a farm a quick 20 minute walk from our home and that Joe's beer came from the city beside us.This restaurant is like a dream come true for me. I love knowing that I am eating local food and supporting our local farmers. Best of all the food was out of this world good. 

I am a firm believer in supporting local businesses where possible and I know that can be really hard sometimes, especially depending on where you live. Food however can be much easier but usually just when we are looking to buy and prepare at home. I love that when we go out to eat we have an option now that reflects our lifestyle when we are at home. 

I encourage you to look for restaurants similar to Borealis in your city. If there isn't one then look for restaurants that have local dishes on their menu and chose those options. The more demand there is for local dishes the more dishes will appear on the menu.

 Picture from Borealis website

Do you ever just feel like a giant? It could be because you are wearing a kick ass pair of heels or because you are surrounded by 2 year olds or if could just be because you are driving a vehicle that is about 2318758238 times larger than your own.  My car was due for its Drive Clean test and yesterday the results of that test were a big fat F. Everyone including the technician were shocked. I was pissed that I was potentially driving around a car that was spouting off 50% more NO emissions. Today Joey had to take my car in to get a diagnostic run so we could figure out why it failed and fix it. This means I had to drive his truck. Today my friends I felt like a giant driving to work. Each car I passed was like a little ant that I could squish at any moment. 

Sometimes I feel like that in life. Like if I am not the perfect environmentalist that I am going to get a big fat F in the eyes of my eco friends. I am sure that we all feel that way sometimes. At points there are moments where I think 'OMG what if someone asks me something and I don't know the answer???'  I wonder if I have set myself to fail by calling myself an environmentalist. If I am making myself a giant in a world full of 2 year olds. 

As I reflect on the year passed I think about the successes and the failures we have had. I linger on those moments that make my sides hurt from laughing, those moments that we seriously high 5'd over. I don't think as much about what we did gloriously wrong because it really isn't worth the energy. There is no shame in not being the perfect environmentalist or not knowing all the answers. No one is perfect, not even the eco-hero's we all look up to. 

Our day ended on a few positive notes. It turns out the car did not get a big fat F on the Drive Clean test...in fact it got an A+. You see something went wrong with the first test and the equipment malfunctioned resulting in the F. I also made it home tonight without squashing a single ant.  And celebrate a day of feeling like a giant I made these.

On the way to work today I stopped to get some gas and this is what was on the pump. Okay this first picture is mine but I had to take it from the comfort of my car on the DL because the employee in the booth was giving me the stink eye (and because it isn't safe to use your cellphone whilst fueling your vehicle).

 Also, seriously rain in December - COME ON MOTHER NATURE!!! 

Mother Nature's Fuel??? Notice the green leaves too...those are there so that you will think that this gas is eco-friendly. So why are such claims being made? Well the claim is that the fuel is blended with ethanol that comes from surplus grain and that fuel that contains plant bases reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Great that sounds awesome right! Sure but reading further I found out that the maximum amount of ethanol in the fuel is 10% meaning the other 90+% is coming from places like the Tar Sands and I am pretty sure Mother Nature is hella pissed about that project.  Keep in mind that most provinces have regulations in place that mandate that producers put ethanol into their fuel anyways.

I'm all for making fuel burn more efficiently so that we do not create as many emissions while we try to find a way to stop our reliance on oil in the first place. And if that means adding more ethanol than what is mandated then that is fantastic but be clear with your branding and marketing. Don't change your colour to green (pumps used to be blue and red), add some leafs and throw in a catchy name to make people they are buying something that they aren't. Because what they aren't buying is a sustainable solution and they certainly aren't buying something Mother Nature would be proud to have her name on.

There is a personal sense of satisfaction when you find exactly what you are looking for and it is made locally. We usually try to find things that are made in Canada but it is a bonus if they are in the same province/city as us. 

* Farmers markets can not only have local food but also local crafts, furniture and jewellery

* We try to support local businesses even when it comes to a big box store (Zellers instead of Walmart, Rona instead of Home Depot). 

* We ask if there is a Canadian made option when buying items like furniture 

* Look for your countries flag on products...we always look for the red maple leaf

I like shopping on Etsy when I can because homemade just seems better to me! You can look specifically in your local area for vendors as well. I like that you can determine what local means to you. Does it mean the same country, province or city. I usually try and search for Canada and then narrow it down from there. When looking for dolls for my niece this holiday season I narrowed the choice down to a doll made in New Jersey and one made in Toronto. In the end I went with the Toronto doll (even though it cost more) because it was local. 

I stumbled upon a really cool site today when I was leaving a link to my blog on the Great Canadian Link Exchange.  100 Mile Finds lets you enter in your location details, what product you are looking for and how far away you want to look.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I find this site AFTER I am done my shopping?? This site just made shopping locally a little bit easier.

As part of our Healthy Home Challenge we decided to first focus on our floors. My steam mop sucks ass and is either haunted or broken so I am on the hunt for replacements. Our vacuum also sucks....well actually it doesn't suck and that sucks for a vacuum. Old Dusty does however make the best cat fur baseballs but I have been told that this is "gross". (Haters).

Our replacement for Old Dusty is not as easy as the steam mop. It was like a Coke vs Pepsi battle up in here! I grew up with portable vacuums and Joe grew up with a central vac. But he made some fantastic points and so we are researching central vacs. Our house is roughed in for one but we have recently come to realize that when the previous owners built our home they made some changes to the floor plan and the builder in turn did not change the location of the central vac ports and pipes. So when the pipe should run down the inside of the wall it actually does something entirely different because that wall is not there. We don't know where it goes or what it does so that should add some "fun" to this project.

Central vac vs portable vacuum is a personal decision. From a green and health perspective there are not that many major differences. You want to look for the following in either option:

From an environmental perspective you want to go with a canister option because it means you don't have to use or throw out bags. But from a health perspective bags may be the better option because you won't get particulate matter getting back into your house when you dump a canister. An option would be to dump the canister outside of your house (this is easy with a central vac because you can locate it in your garage). 

So why does having a good vacuum matter?  No one really likes vacuuming right so if you are going to do it you might as well get it done right (so you don't have to do it as often). You want to get all the dust, dead skin, dust mites, dirt, poop (yep there is poop) and other particulate out of your house. You will find there is less dust in the air and that means better quality air for you and your family. Buying a good quality vacuum is a great step in accomplishing this.

We are in the middle of another busy weekend. Doesn't that always seem to be the way things go this time of year?  I just thought I would write a quick post to show off what B and I worked on last night. We are making our own wrapping paper using packaging paper that I have been saving from random packages we have received.  Originally I was going to paint with him but I didn't have time to research some natural paint recipes (without paying the price for natural paint). Oh well...next year.

This year we coloured with crayons. It is really hard to come up with simple holiday things that B I can draw. Joe kept suggesting things like a sled, elves, Santa and the baby Jesus and I am sure I looked at him with this look on my face.

This should be hanging in an art gallery somewhere. I totally nailed the essence of that reindeer. The scribbles are not mine...they belong to B. And look I actually wrapped presents with it!

Martha Stuart is probably so jealous.

I tried the Fragrance Free, Lavender and the Cucumber Green Tea and the results did vary. The Fragrance Free did not work at all. Like within a few hours I felt like I stunk like a compost bin on a hot summers day. I ended up having to carry it around with me all the time so that I could reapply when required. I actually become pretty ninja like applying it on the down low.  The Cucumber Green Tea and Lavender performed a bit better but I think that is because the light fragrance helps to mask things so that I don't need to reply as often (I guess this is what all scented deodorants do). 

What I like about this product is that it is cheaper than the expensive Secret deodorant I was using before. It also lasts longer (even with the constant reapplication) and is aluminum free. 

We always have a choice in life. We make them every single day. Blog or play around on Facebook, organic vs local, paper or plastic, water or pop, walk or drive, sleep or coffee. Sometimes things work out perfectly and we don't have to pick between two choices that we like. We can buy local food that is also organic. But most of the time we do have to make a decision. We have to pick which is the lesser evil, which is going to have the least impact on the environment. It can be a very personal decision. Like if I only have the choice of local and not organic or not local and organic I will pick the local option because I like to support our local farmers and there is less environmental impact in getting that food to me. But others may chose to go the organic route regardless of origin. 

With Christmas I had a choice to make...shop in a store and have a hard time finding a selection of eco-gifts or shop online and have a huge variety of options. I chose the latter but this year it seems to have come at a cost...that looks like this:

This is the new packaging that is being used by Chapters. The packaging boasts the following:

* It reduces weight in each package which reduces shipping costs (and by default fuel). I find this to be debatable because the craft paper they used previously did not seem to make the boxes weigh more. 

* It can be reused in other packages 

* When deflated will reduce by 99% of its volume. 

* It can be send for recycling which involves deflating them and sending them to South Carolina. 

Now you tell me which of these is the greenest solution? I have placed an ad on a local Mom 2 Mom board as well as Freecycle so hopefully someone will take them for reuse in shipping holiday packages (if you are local and need packaging for parcels email me and I will give you these for free). Sending them to South Carolina may mean that they get recycled into new products but it also means that there is emissions and energy usage from getting them there. In fact the better option if I can not find someone to reuse them would be for me to deflate them and recycle them in our blue box program. 

Now was it worth it? I still say yes because I was able to buy environmentally friendly non toxic toys for the kiddo's in our lives....items which I have not been able to find in any local store (maybe they were just sold out..who knows).

We focus a lot on reducing our impact on the environment...essentially on the community in which we live. But what about the impact that we are having on ourselves? What about the environment inside our home? Enter the newest book in the Skinny Bitch series by Kim Barnouin. It focuses on Home, Beauty and Health and let me tell you I was only a mere 16 pages in when I put the book down got up and went upstairs to vacuum.  

What I like about this book is that it tells you all the fucked up things in your house and it freaks you right out. It makes you check the top of your fridge and put your pillows in the freezer. But then it tells you what you can do to create a more healthy home. It gives you options....things you can look for if you are buying new or in need of replacing items in your home and it also gives you options if you can't or don't want to buy something new. I like this because Kim is realistic in her approach. There is no need to throw out that mattress that you bought 6 months ago but you can protect yourself by buying covers for it. She also gives you resources that you can check out to find the products you are looking for or the certifications that you should look for to make sure you are getting an eco friendly and healthy product.

I'm not done reading the book yet. I am about 75% of the way through it because I am literally reading every single word and then stopping mid way through chapters to vomit clean. I really encourage you to pick this book up. You can find it in your local bookstores, online or it is available for e-readers. For me this book will be life changing. I feel like we have a good handle on our impact on the environment outside of our home (still load of work to do though) but I feel it is time to refocus some of that energy on the environment inside our home. It not only will have a positive impact on the environment as a whole but also on our health. 

We have already made some positive changes that help to create a healthy home. We have switched to natural or homemade cleaners, I am in the process of switching all of my body care products (B's products are already natural), we painted using low VOC paint, B has an organic mattress, organic sheets and sustainable furniture with non toxic stain. We have not even scratched the surface on our journey to a Healthy Home.