Planning a Green Baby Shower

It’s easy to throw an eco-friendly baby shower with a few quick adjustments to the usual routine. Start off right — go paperless! The pre-designed cards at Punchbowl (www.punchbowl.com) are cute and easy to manipulate — five minutes from start to send. Comparable services exist at www.pingg.com and www.evite.com. Your matching set of custom save […]

Review: The Divvies Bakery Cookbook

There’s no better motivation for creating allergy-free desserts than raising a wee one with serious health issues, as I found out myself several months after receiving this cookbook. Though it’s written with children in mind, Divvies showcases a sweet collection for all ages, treats that inspire worry-free sharing — possibly the true definition of dessert. […]

Review: The Vegetarian Option

Laid out a bit like your grandmother’s holiday table — everything in its carefully doilied place —, The Vegetarian Option separates recipes by ingredient into more than fifty small sections. Despite this fusty approach, Hopkinson manages a feat most vegetarian cookbooks don’t even attempt: singular focus on the vegetables. While he turns to a handful […]

Review: Lucid Food

Lucid Food arrives, already a present, gorgeous with scrolling artwork and vibrant images, wrapped and ready. I am enamored. Also, I am hungry. Thumbing past photography for Chickpea Cakes with a verdant green Cilantro-Jalapeno Sauce, Fall Fruit Focaccia succulent with apple wedges, Crispy Yuba Rolls that look toasty brown and crunchy, ready to dip, I […]

Review: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

I read Blue Like Jazz, Miller’s first and wildly successful memoir, in what seems now another life and another frame of mind. But Donald Miller is travelling with me in a freakish parallel universe. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years tracks Miller learning to view his life through a camera lens. This hook, life […]

Review: Good Mail Day

Innovative, bright ways to re-invent your junk mail and build relationships via the old-fashioned art of correspondence wait for you in this book. Gone are the days of the pony express, sadly. Yet we humans still loiter around the mailbox, rallying our hopes if the postal worker’s bundle looks interesting. If I received any of […]

Review: Green Mama

A compelling, well-written book for aspiring environmental mommies, Green Mama manages to fulfill its “guilt-free” promise with solid, simple advice that’s easy — for even the busiest moms! — to implement. “Leaving things better than I found them even started to seem, well, a little like something Jesus would do,” says Bianchi. Bianchi’s appealing slice-of-life […]

Review: The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects

Stand by for change! Free Spirit Publishing empowers kids and teens with the power of service in The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects. From animal safety to environment issues, this well-designed book lets kids flip to services areas that appeal their natural gifts and quickly implement programs to change a whole community. Kids can do […]

FURemover: Pet hair removal without waste

Furremover Last week I found this FURemover, a zippy brush that promises painless pet fur removal, for sale at my local Walmart for $4.99. I was skeptical. I’ve been promised results before. But, aware that my foot-long lint roller with sticky sheets made for pet hair removal was using 8-10 sheets on a single couch, I thought it was probably worth a try. I have three couches (well, two plus a loveseat), and several pet beds throughout the house that need a good once-over after a hot summer with two dogs and cat nesting in them.

Typically, I buy replacement rolls several times a year. My usual method is to vacuum each couch first, removing the easy, surface fur with the vacuum’s brush extension; then, I use the lint roller to nab embedded hair that needs extra prodding. I’m not a fan of spending $8 for a single bout of hair removal, so I crossed my fingers and bought the thing.
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Xeriscape Experiment

Finishing the landscaping around our house

The hubby and I wrapped up this year’s landscaping attempt with two half-price perennials from Home Depot. We’re excited to try Dipladenias, which can grow as large as you train them, in our xeriscape, drought-tolerant garden. Normally, we’ve purchased plants from High Country Gardens, where the site will let you know what grows best in your area and recommend different plantlife based on rainfall. High Country Gardens also has an edible plant category, so you can enjoy foliage two ways. We love buying rare bulbs and seedlings here.
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