Remember to Thank Your Mother!

I am a spiritual person and feel a connectedness with Mother Earth. I feel her wisdom in the breeze. The dance of the leaves. The rhythm of the day.

And although I can't be in constant contact with her as much as I like, I do make sure to meet up with her at different moments throughout my day.

Digging in the Earth helps me stay close to her. You can feel her goodness in your hands.

Watching a garden grow and die, knowing the old plants and fruits will help sustain next years harvest.

If you feel used up. Exhausted, plant your hands into her and feel her strength given back.

Mother Earth is all about the life cycles of all our relatives: the trees, the streams, the animals. We're all connected.

We all rely on our Mother.

Phil Lane, Sr. of the Yankton Sioux Nation once said, "We're sitting on our blessed Mother Earth from which we get our strength and determination, love and humility, all the beautiful attributes that we've been given. So turn to one another; love one another; respect one another; respect Mother Earth; respect the waters-because that's life itself!"

In this season of giving thanks, remember to thank your Mother. Our Mother. She provides everything we need. And because we respect her, we live in harmony with her, protecting her resources, sharing our bounty with one another.

May you be blessed with a knowing loving relationship with Mother Earth.

Be a Mad Scientist! Eco-Friendly Alternatives for Everyday Cleaning...

by guest boat-dwelling mama blogger Cindy Wallach of spinsheet.com ...and yes, Cindy actually lives on a boat...isn't that cool ;)

A friend who was born and raised on the Chesapeake Bay told me a story recently. When he was a boy 40-some years ago on Harness Creek there was so much seaweed they had to constantly pull it off of their oars as they paddled along. And there were so many crabs that he and his little friends were constantly jumping around to avoid them as they waded into the creek. The one word he used to describe the Bay back then was "alive". I can count on one hand the number of living crabs my son has seen the past 5 years (though the dead ones rack up on fingers and toes) and we live aboard full time. Talk about a wake up call.

If you've got green running through your veins, greening up your everyday life is easier than you think. So get to it.

Instead of using... Use these Eco-Friendly Alternatives

• Bleach... Borax
  
  
• Detergent & Soap... Elbow grease
  
  
• Scouring Powders... Baking soda. Or rub area with one-half lemon dipped in borax, then rinse
  
  
• General Cleaner... Baking soda and vinegar. Or lemon juice combined with borax paste
  
  
• Floor Cleaner... One cup vinegar + 2 gallons of water
  
  
• Window Cleaner... One cup vinegar + 1 qt. warm water. Rinse and squeegee
  
  
• Aluminum Cleaner... 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar + 1 qt. of hot water
  
  
• Brass Cleaner... Worcestershire sauce. Or paste made of equal amounts of salt, vinegar, and water
  
  
• Copper Cleaner... Lemon juice and water. Or paste of lemon juice, salt, and flour
  
  
• Chrome Cleaner/Polish... Apple cider vinegar to clean; baby oil to polish
  
  
• Stainless Steel Cleaner... Baking soda or mineral oil for polishing, vinegar to remove spots
  
  
• Fiberglass Stain Remover... Baking soda and salt in a wet paste
  
  
• Mildew Remover... Paste with equal amounts of lemon juice and salt, or white vinegar and salt OR diluted tea tree oil
  
  
• Drain Opener... Dissemble or use plumber’s snake. Or flush with boiling water + one-quarter cup baking soda + one-quarter cup vinegar
  
  
• Wood Polish... Olive or almond oil (interior walls only)
  
  
• Rug/Upholstery Cleaner... Dry corn starch sprinkled on; vacuum
  
  
• After Cleaning Cocktail... One part rum mixed with 2 parts fruit juice. Add ice as needed...
  
  :)
  

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Punch Buggy Red...now Punch Baggy

As I was riding home from work a few months back on the back of our Vepsa I came to a sad realization. Growing up, my brothers, sister and I always played Punch Buggy...you know the game the first person to see a VW Bug screams at the top of their lungs "Punch Buggy _______ (and then the color of the VW)," and at the end of the drive that is how many times you get to punch (gently of course) your sibling. What a great game!

Today I realized that my kids won't be playing Punch Buggy, instead they will be playing Punch Baggy, because there are so many plastic bags littered around that they'll be easier to spot than VW Bugs. I counted on our drive home which is 13 miles and I saw 9 plastic bags. Americans use 100 BILLION

Tomorrow on your drive, no matter where you are going try it yourself. Count the number of plastic bags you see on the roadside, in the bushes, stuck in fences, they're everywhere. disposable plastic bags every year yet recycle less than 1%. Plastics which don't biodegrade.

Get Rich!....A Secret To Absolute Wealth

Oh, yeah, baby...I'm rich!

I'm the richest person I know...And I'm richer than I've ever been in my entire life! I have everything I've ever wanted and more...

Why? How?

I'll let you in on a little secret...

I have close to nothing and almost everything, all at the same time...

"They may not have a lot of material things, but that doesn't mean they are not successful," says A Cherokee Feast of Days, a daily meditation book by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. "The Elders say that what everyone really wants is to be happy and have a peaceful mind. Material things by themselves do not bring happiness and peace of mind."

Therefore, when you define true success in the peace, love, and happiness that you feel and share, there are no boundaries to how rich you will become!

I personally don't have a lot, but I always tend to give away almost everything I have. And - somehow, some way - all that I need seems to comes along. I think it's the Universe's way of saying, "Thank you for your generosity" with a smiling handshake.

Charles Eastman once wrote, "When I was younger, I knew the love of sharing. Since I have become civilized I have lost such wisdom." Today, we are so consumed with consuming - building our own little castles of stuff, collecting every thing that we can buy - that most of us have lost a bit of what it is to be human. We are all struggling with something (or someone) and if we just helped eachother out a little more, all the woes we feel would be greatly alleviated.

Giving is also a way we can live harmoniously on and with Mother Earth. She shares with us everything we need to live and survive. It's all about being like fruit, and living life like a Three Sisters Garden - the corn, bean, and squash - sharing with eachother nutrients, shade, and support thus creating a strong and healthy harvest.

I feel that by sharing everything you have - whether it's left over compost or simply just the love and compassion in your heart - you will not only be taken care of - somehow, some way - but you'll also feel richer beyond your wildest dreams.

The moment you stop being consumed with your own needs and start reaching out to others and sharing all that you have - all that is you - and helping in any way you can, you'll instantly feel it. That richness will fill your life, your soul, your spirit.

You will be blessed.

:)

My Journey to being a Green Mama...by Amanda Green

My journey to becoming a Green Mama started years ago. Soon after my husband and I got married in December of 2000 he started a job at a local BioTech company. One day while at work he learned about the process of the non-organic chicken's life and death, he came home and told me of his day. That day was the day we both vowed to only eat organic meats and we've never gone back. We learned that this path into a "green lifestyle" was a slippery slope and soon everything in our lives was "green." All of our vegetables, household cleaning products, paper products, laundry detergent, the list goes on and on.

Although we were not at that time ready to start a family we knew that we were preparing ourselves for the healthiest lifestyle possible and in doing so giving our future children a healthy start. We spent 7 wonderful years married, just the two of us when we decided that it was time to start our family. It was a wonderful 7 years of just the two of us but we were ready to know the miracle of children.

We were so blessed to get pregnant the first month we started trying in January of 2008, and we couldn't be happier. Sadly that pregnancy ended with a missed miscarriage at 14 weeks on April 11, 2008. Until this moment in my life I never knew that missed miscarriage's even existed, I assumed (naively) that the pregnancy was fine as long as there was no bleeding. I couldn't understand how this could happen to me, I was healthier than almost any pregnant woman I've ever known and yet they all went on to have healthy pregnancies. This single event in my life took the ground out from under me and my husband, we struggled with daily life and finding our path to happiness again. We spent each month after that trying again for a baby only to be disappointed month after month. 8 months to the day of my D&C, December 11, 2008 we were thrilled to find out that we were expecting again. All of the pain, loss and grief we had gone through the last 8 months was finally overshadowed by pure elation and happiness.

That brings us to the present. I am now currently 25 weeks pregnant and due August 21, 2009! I have never felt better in my life. I did not suffer from a single moment of morning sickness (for this I feel very lucky), I have had the most amazing pregnancy. I have dreamed my whole life of being a mother, of being pregnant and relishing in this miracle that is growing inside of me, but never in my life did I imagine I would LOVE being pregnant as much as I do. I knew I'd love it, but I never knew I could love it this much. From the moment I knew I was expecting this baby my husband and I felt so blessed and promised to not take a single moment of this pregnancy for granted, every single day we feel so blessed to have this miracle in our lives and we cannot wait to meet our son/daughter (we waiting until delivery to find out the sex). Until that moment we are going to enjoy every minute of every day and not take a single second for granted.