Posts Tagged ‘Featured blogs/products’

Today’s guest post is my IRL buddy Andrea from BYOG. Remember the Labor and Delivery Gown I wore 3 weeks ago? She is the mastermind behind the fashion!

Marjorie Priceman how to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A.

My son (who had just graduated Kindergarten) brought this book home from the library last Summer mixed in with Star Wars comics and some gross out science books. I actually think he threw this one in by mistake or maybe he liked the illustration on the cover? This book isn’t just about baking. It is more a lesson in history, geography, chemistry and a tour of the United States. The story follows a little girl who goes on an adventure to find everything she needs to make a cherry pie. She travels to New Mexico to find clay to make her bowl, then Pennsylvania to gather coal for the pie pan while exploring National Monuments and gathering historical facts along the way. My husband was trying to encourage my son to read this book (or any book for that matter!) As an incentive for finishing the book, he promised they would make the Cherry Pie together when they were finished with the book. That did it! Noah was off and reading! I glanced at the recipe inside the book (which called for fresh or canned sour cherries and homemade pie crust ) and seriously had my doubts. I then pictured myself rolling out the dough with a rolling pin…do I even own a rolling pin? They finished the book on a Tuesday and the next day were off to the Farmer’s Market to buy cherries…a lot of cherries! I have never made Cherry Pie from scratch. O.K. who am I kidding? I’ve never made a cherry pie! I was wondering how they were going to get the pits out of all those cherries and how I would get the stains out of their shirts when they were done? Turns out there is a tool for that (the pits…not the cherry stains!) and that was part of the fun of making the pie…boy’s like anything that involves using tools.

I felt a little guilty for doubting their father/son baking skills as I watched them carefully place the lattice crust across the top of the pie and pop it in the oven. They did it without any help and only left a category 3 mess in the kitchen. I have to say…when this pie was baking, the whole house was filled with the amazing aroma of real cherry pie! Not the kind that starts from a can! I opened all the windows to entice our neighbors as they purposely unknowingly do to us all Summer long with their billowing BBQ’s. Yeah, that’s right, we may not have a fancy grill but, we bake cherry pies…from scratch! We couldn’t wait to try it and my husband Noah was so proud of his accomplishment. This book has definitely become a Summer tradition in our house. I am also happy to say that my son who had to be forced bribed coaxed to read a book last year is now reading non-stop and loving it! Like most boys, he is a hands on learner. Having an activity to go along with the story and a map to follow helped keep his attention and reinforced what he had read. 

GrEeN iDeA…

I love how the book explores how each item is made and where it comes from (before it magically appears at our local Target.) If we train ourselves and teach our kids to really think about the energy and resources it takes to make each common household item, these items will become less disposable and we will hopefully create less waste or find a way to repurpose things.

Recommended reading level for this book is ages 4-8 but, younger kids will enjoy the colorful illustrations and can follow the map inside too. If you read the book…don’t forget to make the pie and sprinkle a little sugar on top. Once you try fresh, homemade cherry pie, you will never waste calories on the canned version again!

Marjorie’s other books…

How to make an Apple Pie and See the World

Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride

Thanks Andrea!!

See what me, Andrea and Donna (from Blessed Nest) have cooking over at MOMday Morning this Month!

Today’s guest writer is one of my friends, Allison, the resident go-to-girl for all things “Green” at OC Family. Check out her biz site, BuyGreen.com to find awesome green stuff! In this post she’ll answer all your questions about what you can recycle. We a big on recycling around here!!

Can I recycle this?

Of all the questions I am asked about going green, probably the most common is “can I recycle this?” Most people want to do the right thing by recycling, but it’s not always clear what is recyclable and what is not. Everyday, the average American produces 4.6 pounds of trash – 75 percent of which is recyclable if we just pay a little attention to how and where to recycle.

If you aren’t recycling at the home and office, start today. Many cities have adopted a “single stream” collection system so recyclables do not need to be sorted in separate bins. All recyclables can be placed in one bin and are taken away and sorted at the site. So really, it only takes the addition of one separate recycling can in your home and you are well on your way. Despite this fact, members of my own extended family (who shall remain nameless but know who they are) still can’t seem to participate. Of course this drives me completely crazy and I just end up just taking my recyclables home with me whenever I visit them. For me, recycling is just something you do as a member of society – like paying taxes or obeying the rules of the road. It’s just a given and there is really just no excuse for not doing it, except lack of information. So let me try to shed some light on the recycling rules for the different materials that we should all be recycling.

Metal – One of the most recyclable materials, virtually all types of metal can go in the recycling bin including soda cans; canned food containers (a quick rinse of these is fine, only remove labels if requested by your recycling facility); rinsed aluminum pie tins and foil; metal bottle caps; wire hangers; empty aerosol cans (yep, even aerosol cans as long as they are empty); and other scrap metal. Only note on metal recycling – no batteries or electronics. Those items should be dropped off at your local hazardous waste disposal location (check earth911.com to find the drop site nearest you).

Plastic – The key to plastics is the numbers found on the bottom of the containers. #1 and #2 are almost universally recyclable. Plastic numbered #3 through #7, depend upon the recycler, so check with your waste management company to see if they are what plastics are recyclable in your area. To simplify plastics recycling, here is the basic rule of thumb – if the plastic bottle has a neck that’s smaller than the body and has “alor2″ symbol on the bottom, nearly every recycling program will accept it. But remember to remove the caps from the bottles before recycling them. If left in with the recycling, those little caps can ruin a whole batch of recyclables. Plastic bags are generally not recyclable in curbside waste collection (though many recyclers are beginning to accept them). If yours doesn’t, you can drop them off at most grocery stores – you will find a bin at the front the store for bag recycling.

Glass – Just rinse out glass bottles and jars and throw away or recycle their caps. Don’t worry about the labels. They will be burned off at the recycling facility. The only thing to remember about glass is that some programs won’t take certain colors of glass (particularly blue). Also treated glass, like broken dishes, incandescent light bulbs, and window glass should be thrown in the regular trash can.

Paper – Paper can be recycled up to seven times, and it is easier, cheaper, and more energy efficient to make pulp out of recycled paper than wood. So recycling paper makes a huge difference. In 2008, 57.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. You can recycle paper in almost all forms, from cardboard to newspapers, copy paper to envelopes (yes, even with that little plastic window), and even the glossy paper found in advertisements and magazines. You don’t even need to remove staples, paper clips, or spirals in notebooks; they’ll be taken out during the recycling process. The only thing to watch out for are Pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs), which can ruin an entire batch of recycled paper. So remove any complimentary address labels and other stickers before you toss your junk mail. The same goes for sticky notes. Stamp adhesive is fine, it’s just the peel & stick kind of stuff that gums up the paper recycling process. Also, don’t shred paper unless you really need to. Most recyclers are not able to accept shredded paper.

Probably the most important thing to remember about paper is to leave out anything that’s food-stained, like pizza boxes (though you can rip the box apart, discarding the soiled part and recycling the rest). Here’s an interesting blog post to check out on this subject from the Mother Nature Network. When in doubt though, throw it out. Food is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process. Whole batches of otherwise recyclable paper end up in the landfill because of spoilage due to food. Also out: plastic-coated paper plates and cups (but flattened milk cartons are usually acceptable); heavily dyed, brightly colored paper (it’s just too difficult to bleach it back to a usable form); and books (but you can donate these to a local library, school, or charitable organization).

Still unsure about what can be recycled or where you can go to recycle your items? The best source of information on this topic can be found at earth911.com. Just enter what you want to recycle and your zip code to find out almost anything you need to know about recycling in your area.

Thanks Allison!! I had been doing a few things wrong!!

Happy Father’s Day!!

What did you get your Dad?

I’m not ashamed to say that I’m giving my Dad something I won from Thoughts N’ Stuff’s Geeky Dad’s Giveaway:

Battlestar Galactica Propaganda Poster Set

 My Dad is one of those “hard to shop for” Dads.

He has it all, if he doesn’t have it he just buys it for himself and the stuff he does want is way out of our price range.

AND he’s not one of those gift people.

He’s happy with lunch and pictures of the kiddos. We can’t complain!! He’ll even spring for the lunch!

For the contest I had to leave a comment about why my Dad is a geek (Sorry but true Daddy). And my comment is also one of our favorite family memories.

Read for yourself:

I would love to win the Battlestar Galactica Poster Set for MY dad for Father’s day. My dad (and I) are total geeks. I started watching Start Trek with him as an infant and I memorized the opening of the show by the time I was 2! I still know the whole thing to this day (the original and next generation versions… because they are different. In case you didn’t know). One of my mom’s favorite memories is me sitting in my dad’s lap with my lil’ blond pigtails sticking out and reciting the whole beginning in a toddler accent!

I love how the that the posters have a vintage art deco look. I think we hit the nail on the head as far as something he will really like! And if he ever gets his office organized they will look great on his walls.

Thanks for being such a great Daddy!

Happy Dad’s Day!! See you at lunch

Now if you want to play along with the “I got it at…” Carnival, just add your link below…

Do you want to learn how to take pictures like this:

Here are the workshop details…
When: Saturday, April 24th
Location: Orange County exact place TBA
Time: 10-2pm
Includes: Hand-on Class, Delicious Lunch, Practice Photo shoot, and endless encouragement from Mali and Noel.
$175.00 value!!!
Go here and click on “the class” at the bottom for some Q & A about the workshop!


Here’s How You Win…
*****MUST be a Southern California Resident or willing to travel to Orange County, CA for the workshop!!!*****
Main entry (mandatory): Click on over to Bosh Images blog OR Bosh website OR the Anytime Art site, OR Mali’s site (whew!) then come back here and let me know one of your favorite shots in a comment! (note: you just need to go to one site… just giving loads of options to see their AMAZING work!!)
In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you…
~Subscribe to the Bosh Images blog RSS Feed in the navigation bar. (3 entries)
~Follow Bosh Images on twitter HERE! Leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already follow (2 entries)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “So Cal residents!! Learn how to use that camera with this free photo workshop w/ @boshimages here http://bit.ly/dcjk8J $175 value!” (3 entries per day)
~Facebook about the giveaway with a link to this post! (3 entries per day)
~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog (2 entries)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you tweet about the giveaway leave 3 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Thursday April 1st 9:00pm PST. Which leaves plenty of time to buy the workshop if
Whether you win or buy the workshop, it won’t be long till you are doing this…