Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category.
Happy Earth Day
Something quick and easy that you can do to decrease the amount of landfill waste . . . choose eggs in cardboard containers rather than styrofoam . . . there is no difference in the eggs!
And that goes for coffee cups too . . . shame on you Dunkin Donuts!
Styrofoam takes 80 years to disinegrate.
Try New Recycled Aluminum Foil from Reynolds . . . FREE!
Happy Earth Day!
Here is a link to get a free roll of the new Reynolds Recycled Aluminum Foil. We really should all be using biodegradable wax paper instead of plastic or aluminum wrap . . . but sometimes anything but the real thing just won’t do . . .
http://www.reynoldsrecycled.com/index.html
Enjoy!
Pesticides and Arthritis
According to an article in Health magazine (April 2009) – women with the highest levels of pesticides in their blood are one-and-a-half times more likely to suffer from arthritis.
The grass is always “greener”!
Oooh – I came up with that tag line myself . . . pretty cute, huh?
Anyway . . . looking to have an eco-friendly Easter? Skip the plastic grass and make your own! Just put colored paper (old school crafts from the kids) into a shredder – and 10 seconds later – you’re ready to stuff it into the kid’s Easter baskets or a care package for the grandparents!
Informative Web SIte
Do you think that reading food labels is enough? There could be certain chemicals, preservatives and additives in your every day beauty and fragrance products that could be harming your health.
Log onto www.cosmeticsdatabase.com for a comprehensive list of products and their ratings.
Volunteering as a Family
One of the most satisfying, fun, and productive ways to unite is volunteering for community service projects. Volunteerism also sets a good example for your kids and helps the community.
Reasons to Get Involved
Why should your family lend a helping hand?
It feels good. The satisfaction and pride that come from helping others are important reasons to volunteer. When you commit your time and effort to an organization or a cause you feel strongly about, the feeling of fulfillment can be endless.
It strengthens your community. Organizations and agencies that use volunteers are providing important services at low or no cost to those who need them. When a community is doing well as a whole, its individuals are better off, too.
It can strengthen your family. Volunteerism is a great way for families to have fun and feel closer. But many people say they don’t have the time to volunteer after fulfilling work and family commitments. If that’s the case, try rethinking some of your free time as a family. You could select just one or two projects a year and make them a family tradition (for example, making and donating gift baskets to care facilities for the elderly around the holidays).
What Kids Can Learn From Volunteering
If volunteering begins at an early age, it can become part of kids’ lives — something they might just expect and want to do.
It can teach them:
A sense of responsibility. By volunteering, kids and teens learn what it means to make and keep a commitment. They learn how to be on time for a job, do their best, and be proud of the results. But they also learn that, ultimately, we’re all responsible for the well-being of our communities.
That one person can make a difference. A wonderful, empowering message for kids is that they’re important enough to have an impact on someone or something else.
The benefit of sacrifice. By giving up a toy to a less fortunate child, a child learns that sometimes it’s good to sacrifice. Cutting back on recreation time to help clean up a beach tells kids that there are important things besides ourselves and our immediate needs.
Tolerance. Working in community service can bring kids and teens in touch with people of different backgrounds, abilities, ethnicities, ages, and education and income levels. They’ll learn that even the most diverse individuals can be united by common values.
Job skills. Community service can help young people decide on their future careers. Are they interested in the medical field? Hospitals and clinics often have teenage volunteer programs. Do they love politics? Kids can work on the real campaigns of local political candidates. Learning to work as a team member, taking on leadership roles, setting project goals — these are all skills that can be gained by volunteering and will serve kids well in any future career.
How to fill idle time wisely. If kids aren’t involved in traditional after-school activities, community service can be a wonderful alternative.
Volunteering on Your Own
If you’ve never been involved in community service before, volunteering as an individual may be a good place to start. Want to improve your computer knowledge? You may get free on-the-job training. Have you been out of the workforce raising children? Volunteering may be a painless way for you to get back into the routine of working before taking the plunge into a paid position.
And if you’re looking for a career change, community service is a networker’s dream. You can meet people who may offer opportunities you’ve never thought of. You can sample different workplaces and see how you like various fields. Your volunteering will definitely help others and may help you, too.
Getting Your Family Involved
The Internet offers lots of sites with information about volunteer opportunities. You can also call a favorite charity, hospital, or church directly to see if they have any needs, or look up “Volunteerism” in the phone book in the Human Services section (often in the blue pages).
Or contact a local volunteer clearinghouse, which matches up volunteers and community organizations and can help you find openings at nonprofit organizations in your area.
Be prepared to answer questions such as:
What are your interests?
What are your skills?
Do you have any special needs?
Do you have a method of transportation?
How many hours a week do you have to volunteer?
Why do you want to volunteer?
You’ll probably be interviewed again once the clearinghouse matches you with an appropriate job. Some situations require more information. If you want to work with kids, for instance, you may have to undergo fingerprinting and a criminal background check.
Be sure to be just as thorough when you question the organizations. Find out exactly what’s expected of you before you accept the volunteer position. Be realistic and ask specific questions.
When looking for a volunteer position, remember that it may be difficult to find the perfect volunteer slot. Be flexible, and keep looking if the agency you were referred to doesn’t meet your needs. It may take a while to find a perfect fit, but once you do, it will be worth it.
Once you do become involved, be responsible to those who depend on you. Be on time, dress appropriately, and let the volunteer coordinator know if you can’t make it.
Good Volunteer Jobs for Families and Kids
Families can do many volunteer jobs. Even the smallest child (with adult supervision) can pick up garbage at the park, playground, or beach. You don’t even have to be part of a big effort to do this. Get your family together, find some garbage bags, and head out.
Or become involved in repair and renovation efforts for low-income residents. Younger kids might not be able to do the big jobs, but helping out by fetching a paintbrush or holding the nails involves them just the same.
Work at a community food bank or soup kitchen as a family. Find an organization that serves the elderly. Take food to people who are homebound and visit with them. Your kids can brighten a lonely senior’s day instantly. Offer your family’s help at the local animal shelter. Help plant flowers or trees. The possibilities are endless.
Whatever you choose to do, volunteering and community service can benefit both the community and your family. Get involved today!
Easy Go Green Tip
Ditch the stainless steel cleaners for olive oil. Dab some olive oil onto a soft cloth, rub it in, rub it off with a clean, soft cloth and you will have shiny stainless steel appliances while saving the earth from harsh chemicals.
Get Rid of Phone Books Forever!
www.thebite.com . . .
Don’t cheat yourself or the forest. Sign up and you’ll never receive another paper phonebook. Taking notes?
The Benefits
- More paper for textbooks. About 540 million unsolicited phonebooks arrive at American doors annually – takes a lotta trees to make those.
- Majoring in waste reduction. Phonebooks make for about 660,000 tons of trash every year.
Wanna Try?
- YellowPagesGoesGreen – enter your info here to get your name off the mailing list.
- Earth 911 – recycle your old phonebooks (if you have curbside recycling, just toss them in there).
Berry Good
Here’s an excuse to snap up that extra pint of raspberries on your next farmers’ market run: a recent study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that snacking on berries might help lower your blood pressure and boost your levels of HDL (good cholesterol). Sprinkle them on your cereal, mix with yogurt and granola or whip them up in smoothies!
Unplan Your Life
Summer is such a great time to let go of the millions of schedules you follow. Although it is wonderful to have fun days planned here and there . . . there is such a thing as too planned. While you can’t necessarily toss your calendar out the window, you can make room for the wide-open, could-be moments that an airtight agenda might otherwise preclude. For every one thing you can plan, there are hundreds you can’t - and that is where you’ll find some of life’s best surprises!
1. Pencil it in. See your schedule as a sketch of what you’d like to do – but don’t feel that you need to stay so rigid about it if situations change.
2. Tweak a habit. If you are used to getting latte at one place, try to switch it up and go to someplace different, change the side of your part, go to a new park – change is good – who knows what you will discover.
3. Reigger your to-do list. Definitely put the must-do chores on hold for a day for something that you would really like to do. If it is a beautiful day for the beach, forget your shopping and take that drive . . . remember, while you have obligations to your family (and work) you also have a big obligation to yourself.
4. Say yes. Packed schedules naturally discourage spontaneity. Just for fun, try saying yes to the next halfway decent invitation that comes your way – even if it interrupts your plans.
5. Wing it. Next time you take a trip – try it a little less planned . . . you’d discover as you go, asking locals where to be, you’ll be free to pop into a quirky boutique and just explore rather than have your nose in a “Let’s Go” guidebook. This approach gives you a hieghtened sense of possiblity and potential and inspires a fresh connection to your world.
Body+Soul, July/August 2008
