Why Not Go Green on St. Patrick's Day?

Viv chose this clover for embroidery clover for St. Pat's. Machine embroidery is her latest attempt at craftiness. We'll let you know how that goes! >

Are you wearing your green today? It's March 17th, St. Patrick's Day! In lieu of the traditional drinkin' and partyin', why not choose to make a difference in your life this St. Patrick's Day by going green? With a little effort, you can start an Earth-friendly tradition to recycle year after year!

Plant a tree. This time of year is all about renewal and rebirth. The birds are singing, chicks and ducks are being born, flowers are blooming. Why not take the kids out tree-shopping? Unlike in December, when we simply chop them down to decorate with ornaments, you can use this day to plant a healthy, happy tree, and celebrate new life this Spring.

Take out the trash (bags). If you're still using plastic grocery bags instead of re-usable cotton or canvas totes, gather up all those old bags cluttering up your house and take them back to the store for recycling. Then head out to the craft store for a plain tote you can design and decorate yourself. Get the kids involved with some green finger-paint and let them press their hand-prints onto their own earth-friendly totes. Let your creations inspire you to stay green throughout the year--keep them in the trunk of your car for those times you have to pick up a dozen eggs or a couple gallons of milk.

Check out home-healthy, green alternatives. For cleaners that are dye- and perfume-free, nontoxic, biodegradable, naturally derived and never tested on animals, visit www.methodhome.com, Mrs. Meyers or Seventh Generation. It's healthier for the earth (and your family!).

Be powerless. When you turn off your PC, you may think your power is off, too. Actually, power continues flowing to your printer, scanner or other peripherals. Consider purchasing a Bits power strip ($32.99) to stop the waste (and lower your electric bills!). Go to www.bitsltd.net to find out more.

Turn on the light. Remember when a picture of a lightbulb over someone's head meant, "Hey, I have a bright idea?" Here's a bright idea: switch out your regular lightbulbs with GE Energy Smart Lightbulbs and you can save as much as $59 over the lifetime for each lightbulb you replace!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For environmental services, projects and events available in your community, check out www.earth911.org.

Is It Wrong to Be the Cool Mom?

Check out Viv's response to this fascinating debate over at MayasMom.com (you'll see her comment on page 2).

Are you the "Cool Mom" in your neighborhood? Why or why not? We'd love to hear your opinions, too! Take our Cool Mom poll and leave a comment below.

Oh, and don't forget to enter our giveaway! Comment on this post or the one below it and you'll be entered to win the latest Baby Einstein DVD! (see the post below for complete details, and if you have a blog, link to the post for an EXTRA entry!)

Win the latest BABY EINSTEIN DVD!

Leave a comment on THIS post, and you will be registered to win the Baby Einstein DVD reviewed below, Baby's First Moves: Get Up and Go!

Link to this post in your blog for an extra entry (just let Viv know in your comment)!

Make sure to include an email address where you can be reached with your comment!

Review: Baby Einstein DVD

I know that you have all heard of Baby Einstein before. When you were looking for something educational for your child, something to help you parent your young one (maybe feeling a little guilty even as you did so, even though you were putting in those long days and nights, because you were on the quest to become The Perfect Mother) invariably, Baby Einstein is what stopped you in your tracks. I can almost hear you giving thanks that someone out there understood that just because you needed a little help now and then coming up with the umpteen-kajillionth activity to stimulate (but not overstimulate!) your baby didn't mean you were a bad Mom. Thank goodness someone out there understood.

Well, Baby Einstein is still getting it right today. They've released a new DVD for kids to play along with, entitled Baby's First Moves: Get Up and Go! I use those words, "play along with," deliberately, because this DVD isn't intended for mindless, couch-potato, glazed-eyed viewing. Rather, it's a way for Moms (and Dads, too!) to connect with their children one-on-one.

While watching the video, Moms are encouraged to talk to their child, linking what they see on the video to real-life situations, helping their infant or toddler make real-life connections. When the puppets in the video jump and dance, you can cuddle your baby in your arms and dance right along, or bring out your own puppets for a homemade version of the action on screen.

Baby Einstein's Baby's First Moves: Get Up and Go! is chock-full of activity--joyful babies clapping, jumping, dancing and more, all set to beautiful classical music you don't mind listening to again and again (which your baby will surely want to do!). Intended for children 3 months and older, the DVD actually encourages your child's developing motor skills.

And that's something every Mom can feel good about (without feeling guilty!).

Yoplait Kids Blog Tour!

Did you know that adding yogurt to your diet every day can help you lose weight, while adding calcium for strong teeth and bones, much-needed vitamins and protein? Well, maybe you did, because you're a Mom, and Mom Knows Everything (or at least that's what we tell our kids!).

But how do you get your kids to make the healthy choice and eat yogurt themselves? Easy-peasy. All you have to do is offer them Yoplait kids, as I find out last week.

We had two kinds of Yoplait kids yogurt in our house, both with cute new Dora the Explorer packs, with all different flavors for the kids to try.


First, the peach and strawberry-banana multi-pack went--fast! The kids would come home from school hungry for a snack, and I would offer them a choice. They usually went for the strawberry-banana, which meant I had my favorite, the peach, to myself.

Once those were gone (with two gr-o-o-w-ing boys, it didn't take long), we quickly went after the Yoplait kids yogurt drink in bottles. I have to admit, the boys were a bit leery of the bottles. In our house, they are firmly entrenched in the "yogurt should be in a cup" camp. But we "dared" each other to try it, each of us picking a bottle. I told the kids they only had to take a slurp, just to try it, but they both ended up drinking down the yogurt and asking for more. For those of you with younger children, Yoplait kids yogurt drink is smooth and silky, so it's easier for toddlers to drink and digest than other yogurts.

So now, I am all out of Yoplait kids yogurt! But don't worry, I'm going out to get more! And now, you can too, because thanks to our friends at MomCentral.com and Yoplaitkids.com, you can get money-saving coupons from Yoplait kids!

Enjoy your yogurt. Oh, and by the way, I actually lost a couple pounds eating yogurt every day. YMMV, but there's no doubt a little yogurt will do you--and your family--good.

~Viv